#(I know I can watch the campaigns in whatever order with little issue I just like to do things chronologically đđ)
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Had mentioned my interests kinda being all over the place, and currently Iâve been watching D20 and having a lotta fun with it. I have some doodles I want to post, but gonna post this one separately first cus I love Sofia Lee đ„ș
#my art#described#dimension 20#the unsleeping city#sofia lee#Sofiaâs definitely my fave from the unsleeping city. Rickyâs a close second but Sofia is top tier#all the player characters across the campaigns have been SO GOOD tho itâs genuinely hard to choose a favorite most of the time#but I love Sofia Lee sheâs literally so good character#also yes. new fall out boy song just for my dear blorbos. excellent HWVDJSBSJA#Iâm kinda trucking through d20 cus I RLY wanna catch up to neverafter before it ends. might have to just start watching it a lil early tho#(I know I can watch the campaigns in whatever order with little issue I just like to do things chronologically đđ)#but Iâm at TUC chapter II atm!! and almost done with it I think Iâm an hour into episode 16!#I adore brennanâs dming style and further adore all the players. they all work so well together and I love it so much
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https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRwEC2cV/
You should do a fic based off this with Eddie Munson
OMG YES YES YES YES YES!
Me or D&D?
Eddie Munson x fem!Reader
Word count: roughly 1.2K
Eddie wants to work on his Hellfire CampaignâŠbut his girlfriend has other plansâŠ
Warnings: Slight NSFW (reader flashes Eddie), terms of endearment (sweetheart, baby), reader has boobs, use of Y/N, silly slight NSFW fluff! Â
Authorâs note: Ok so I received an ask based on this tik tok for Eddie and it literally haunted my thoughts all day today so I knew I had to write it asap! Itâs so very on-brand for him and anyway to the anonymous user who requested it THANK YOU SO MUCH and I hope this fits the vibe you were going for!Â
Y/N let out a sigh as she finally flipped off the shower. It had been a long day so the very first thing she wanted to do upon reaching Eddieâs was to take a shower, something he happily granted her. He had a new plot to work on for D&D something about the cultists.
âYou see they need a motive,â he had been explaining on the car ride over, so animatedly she wondered if he was even looking at the road. âThatâs been the issue! There hasnât been a motive-â
âEddie! Eyes on the road!â Y/N scolded as she clutched onto her seat.
âAnd before that was fine,â he rambled on, no change to his driving whatsoever, âBut now weâre far enough down the line that theyâre starting to question me and the one thing I wonât tolerate is being questioned!â
âThe one thing?â she had teased with an eye roll. "The list I could come up with of things you don't tolerate. Basketball players, school in general, any music that you deem 'fake music'-"
âOh come on!" Eddie exclaimed, driving a bit too close to the edge of the curb for Y/N's comfort before swerving back over, "Some music is just bad and you know it!â He shot her a little glance and a smile, âAnd I always let you question me! Itâs just those idiots I donât take it from!â
âUh-huh,â she nodded with a little laugh.
And so needless to say as soon as the pair had entered the house Y/N had set down her things, heading for the shower and Eddie had thrown himself right back into his campaign. Hence that was exactly where she found him as she stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel and feeling remarkably refreshed.Â
Eddie, much to Y/N's amusement, was laying stomach down on the trailer floor surrounded by guidebooks, maps he had painstakingly sketched himself with intricate levels of detail, and pages upon pages of notes.Â
âEddie, Iâm gonna get dressed so we can watch a movie, âkay?â Y/N called as she watched him work, not even looking up from the page he was holding as he chewed his pencil in his mouth.
âMhm,â he replied absence-mindly, obviously not hearing a word she said.Â
âIâm going to order from Enzoâs, do you want anything?â She said as she walked into his bedroom, searching for one of his shirts and her pants from earlier.Â
âOh wow,â he replied from the other room causing her to let out a soft chuckle. I could say literally anything right now and he wouldnât clock it.Â
âIâve decided Iâm going to go to school naked tomorrow,â she called, glad Wayne wasnât home to hear her jests since heâd definitely have some questions.Â
âWhatever you say, sweetheart.â That got a genuine laugh out of her as she pulled on his shirt and her pants, using a mirror to make sure her hair wasnât going to dry funnyâŠbut looking at herself in the mirror gave her an idea. A small smirk came to her face at the thought as her hand trailed down to mess with the hem of her shirt.
I wonder what will get his attention�
With that, Y/N turned and headed toward the room. When she arrived, Eddie hadnât moved an inch but his position had changed. Pencil still tapping against his lips, he was holding one of the maps now, seemingly muttering something to himself that was too low for her to hear.Â
âEddie?â She asked as she slowly made her way over to him, double-checking all the blinds were closed.Â
âMmm?â He hummed, still not looking at her as he scanned the man for some invisible linking detail to fully tie together his campaign. She shook her head with a smile as she came to kneel close enough to him that she knew she was in his visible but far enough away to not disrupt his current chaos. After having seen him fuss at the Hellfire members one too many times for exactly that, she knew it would only deter her plan and she didn't have time for that.Â
âEddie, baby,â she cooed, âBefore you get too deep intoâŠall of this, would you just take one second to look at me?â She watched as her words this time did seem to register just a bit since she was now closer in proximity and she received her reward.
âYea-â Eddieâs eyes went wide and his jaw dropped ever so slightly as he turned to see his girlfriend on her knees, in her jeans and one of his shirtsâŠwell sort of in one of his shirts. Because the second he turned to face her, Y/N lifted the hem to reveal her boobs, her boobs without a bra. His face instantly lit up into a large smile as he processed exactly what he was seeing, the pencil still in his grip as he grinned like an idiot.Â
He took a moment to look back at the map he had been examining but couldnât help to look back at her as well, causing Y/N to beam as she continued to hold up the shirt.
âSoâŠâ she prompted in a sing-songy tone, âWould you rather do that right now,â she gestured with her free hand to the map, âOr, would you rather do this?â Eddie gasped at her question and fully turned to look at her with a look of mock hurt and disbelief written across his face.Â
âWhat kind of a choice is that?â He scoffed, making her giggle. âWhat kind of question is that?â He scrunched his nose making her laugh harder, drawing his eyes to the way her chest moved as she did. A smirk came to his face as he looked back into her eyes, holding onto the map as he had before she had effectively flashed him. âIâve been waiting to work on this,â He held up the map to her but kept his gaze locked with hers, still smiling, âalllllll day,â his dramatics had her giggling again as he shook his head, eyes flickering between her and her boobs still on full display, âDamn Y/N, what kind of a question is that?â The girl had a little huff of her own and faked a pout as she looked at him, making her eyes especially wide and pitiful.
âSoâŠâ She began to lower her shirt down, keeping that same pouty look, âYou picked-â
âNo, no, no!â He said quickly as he threw down the map and pencil, effectively leaping to tackle his girlfriend into the carpet, sending them both sprawling to the ground. Y/N let out a little squeal which dissolved into giggles as he laid his head right on top of her chest. Eddieâs hands trailed up her sides as he pulled her close to him.
âYou better be damn proud of yourself L/N,â he said with a teasing scold as he nestled right up into her as her body shook with laughter, âYouâre the only person on the face of the entire Earth, in the whole frickinâ universe, that Iâd set aside D&D for!âÂ
âFor me?â Y/N asked as she tapped her finger to her lips, pretending to think before looking down at him with a smirk, âOr for my boobs?âÂ
âHmmmâŠâ He returned her smirk as he moved his hand and began to push up the shirt she was wearing once again, âWell L/NâŠyouâve got me there.â
âEddie!!â
âYou! Obviously you!âÂ
Yay!!! Omg, my first request! Yâall, I canât even tell you how excited I was when I got this! First off, the tik tok is absolutely adorable, and second off, I was so excited to write it because I could see exactly how it would play out with the two of them in my brain! Eek anyway, to whoever requested it, THANK YOU SO MUCH! It was so fun to write and I hope itâs what you hoped it would be! Anyway, requests are open anytime yâall!
#eddie munson#eddie munson x reader#eddie munson x y/n#stranger things 4#stranger things x reader#eddie munson fluff#eddie munson smut#requests open#request#oneshot#x reader
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I donât understand people who are upset we donât have all the answers about the Veil right now because quite frankly I thought that was the point? Like if we had all the answers then we get to the issue (that a lot of these same people had) where the seasons feel disconnected and like little actually matter until the last one before the expansion. They didnât give us everything probably because weâre supposed to discover the answers as the year goes on before we chase the Witness through whatever portal it made. Bungie is doing what they wanted and yet people still complain
Yep, pretty much. They also did explicitly say in the latest TWAB that yes, the story will continue throughout the year. Some people took that as Bungie "having to tell us that there's more story because of how shit their writing is" but what I saw was community managers trying to politely explain to tens of thousands of raging players that the story isn't over. It felt almost passive aggressive to me given that this is exactly what players wanted:
We know there are still plenty of questions left unanswered at the end of Lightfallâs Campaign that youâre all eagerly awaiting answers to. As the events of Season of Defiance get into full swing this week, know that this is just the beginning of the next year of storytelling that will connect the events of Lightfall and The Final Shape. We canât wait for the community to learn more about The Witnessâs origins, its objective, and the ways we can thwart it and its disciples throughout Season of the Deep, as well as Seasons 22 and 23 later this year.
You made a great point about that. People asked that seasons become more meaningful. I remember that initially seasons were kinda all over the place and not really connected into a full story. Like, there were very few connecting points between Undying-Dawn-Worthy-Arrivals. Nothing that couldn't be summarised in 2 sentences. Even less if you look at Black Armory-Drifter-Opulence seasons from Y2.
On one hand, it meant that you could skip any and not lose much. But on the other hand, those that weren't skipping complained that the seasons aren't very well connected between each other and the main campaign of the year. This was a serious enough complaint that it became the reason for more connected seasons and also a reason to let seasons last the whole year, as detailed in a TWAB from April 2020:
We have been making progress carrying the overarching narrative Season over Season in Destiny 2. Saint-14 and Osiris led to the Warmind which leads to⊠[REDACTED]
Itâs not perfect yet. The bridges between Seasons can definitely be improved, and we could do a better job of recognizing prior Seasonsâ narrative threads in the active Season.Â
In Year 4, we are going to build a better interconnected narrative and, more importantly, let players be a part of that narrative no matter when they enter the current year.
I'm putting this here because people have notoriously bad memory, but we have tangible proof of people asking Bungie for seasons that have more meaningful and interconnected narrative. Bungie listened, but that also meant that skipping a season became harder if you wanted to stay in the loop. Obviously you can watch a playthrough online, but you know. But clearly the majority wanted seasons to be meaningful and were happy when Bungie listened.
And now suddenly we don't want the story to continue during the year? I understand the FOMO complaints and monetary complaints. If you buy an expansion, you want to NOT feel forced into buying all seasons for it in order to experience the full story. It's just strange to me that we are dropping that issue at Lightfall when BL and WQ were the same. A lot will say that they liked it before, but now just got tired of the same thing over and over, but what exactly is that thing? A good and connected narrative that links expansions and seasons? Do we now want a break year where seasonal stories are irrelevant and nothing meaningful happens?
Obviously, connected seasons benefit Bungie. I am aware that connecting the narrative like this means more people will feel compelled to buy the seasons. But if they're already making contect they want us to buy, then people want their purchase to mean something instead of getting content they easily could've skipped. It's kind of an impossible conundrum? We want the seasons to be good and narrative rich and meaningful, but we also want the seasons to be easy to skip and not necessary to play. That's kinda contradictory.
I genuinely don't know what is the solution and I welcome discussion about it. I just find most of the discussions about this kind of stuff to be very strange. Like, in most cases it just boils down to a contradiction of wanting the story to feel worth investing yourself into, but also easy to sit out. Those two things just can't both be true at once.
#destiny 2#destiny 2 spoilers#lightfall#lightfall spoilers#ask#i'm a hater of the capitalist hellhole we live in and i hate how the modern gaming industry works#just getting that out of the way in case people think that I am 'defending triple A companies'#it's something people say a lot online whenever someone dares to not fall in line and shit on the game 24/7#i am simply confused as to what people want and expect#they obviously want to KEEP playing destiny. and if we want to keep playing then story has to keep happening#so seasonal narratives have to keep being important#or else we'll be playing shitty seasons that don't progress the story and don't mean anything in the grand scheme of things#which is the exact complaint people had when this was the case#i definitely do enjoy a discussion about the seasonal model and possible changes and things that bungie can do better though#things can always be improved and the seasonal model is not an exception#i just don't think that a connected and important narrative is something that we should be removing
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Thess vs Attrition
Thing I figured out about Warhammer: Total War III? Thatâs one for a day when I have literally nothing else to do. Definitely not for before-bed play. Itâs definitely interesting from a tactical perspective, at least from what I could tell from the story campaign prologue thing (what little I played of it last night), but hooooboy do the combats take awhile. Kind of fun to watch once all the tactics are set up, but still. I think Iâll stick with things that are a little less ... epically large on work days.
On the subject of work days - Temp can go straight to hell. I did two fifteen-minute long monstrosities and about a dozen five-minute long messes today, and yet she still tries to just leave the seven- and eight-minute bits of dictation for me (or someone else, I guess, but given Iâm the only other dedicated typist, itâs usually me) to get done. Well, tough luck on you, Temp; I remembered from yesterday about checking the length of my various dictations, and timed my dayâs end so that your âLetâs just leave it sitting here and take advantage of [Thessâ] tendency to actually take things in date order like weâre fucking supposed toâ wasnât going to pan out for you this time. If I can do the fifteen-minute monstrosities, you can break your apparent personal rule about not doing anything longer than three minutes unless forced. Or maybe not, because I guess I forced the issue. Or rather, common fucking sense did. It wasnât a great pain day and I refused to push any harder than I already did to do the shit she doesnât want to do.
I swear, Iâm going to start keeping a collection of screenshots of exactly what the typing queue looks like after sheâs done her little cherry-picking routine and send them to Scruffman to underline what sheâs doing. The most I do in terms of taking things out of date order is, âOh, thereâs a few urgent reports; theyâre short and thereâs a lot of long ones here, so Iâll just nab those as well as the long bullshit so I can bash them out real quick and get them out of the wayâ. That or, âItâs nearly the end of my workday and I donât have time to do the long-ass nightmares that Temp has left for me but there are a few urgents, so Iâll do those with my last ten minutesâ.
I swear, itâs a war of attrition at this point. She keeps just doing whatever the hell she wants like she hopes Iâll just cave and go, âOh, fine, since she really doesnât want to do those, I guess Iâll have toâ. While I admit I occasionally have the urge because this is just getting frustrating and stressful, mostly what sheâs doing is giving me access to my spite-related energy reserves in the cause of thwarting her. I will do my share of the tough ones, obviously. Theyâre part of the job. And honestly, if she just came to me and said, âI really struggle with this one individual; can we work something out about this?â, we could figure something out so that the workload was divided more evenly in terms of the long annoying cases. But it isnât that. Iâve asked twice. Itâs just, âOh, I donât feel like Iâm being productive if Iâm not doing a whole lot of reportsâ. Which ... bitch, please. Thatâs her saying, âI donât care if you look unproductive because youâre doing so few reports compared to me; as long as itâs not me looking unproductive or being inconvenienced in any wayâ.
I mean, seriously. I have tried everything. Iâve talked to her, Iâve given her my macros to make the long ones easier for her, everything. But she still avoids anything longer than three minutes like the plague and itâs Riverdancing on my last fucking nerve. And while Iâve talked to Scruffman about it, and he does believe me, I still feel like showing him proof in the form of screenshots when sheâs really taking the piss would be beneficial. I want her to know that while Iâm happy to take my share of the long and difficult cases, I wonât have them all dumped on me. The long and complicated ones are fucking painful for me. Literally. At least the shorter ones give me microbreaks; I canât stop for a minute in the middle of a fifteen-minute long mastectomy report, especially not when itâs being dictated by someone who insists on dictating things out of order, makes corrections at the end of the report for something he said ten minutes ago, and sometimes gets careless and forgets whole sections of block key.
Sorry. Itâs been a hard day and Iâm frustrated and sore. Still, itâs a pretty day and I was able to have the windows open to let in the fresh spring air (albeit laden with pollen; everyoneâs allergies have gone nuts this year, and mine are no exception), and my plants are flourishing. Later there will be leftover risotto, and there will be video games. Just ... not the really long drawn-out one.
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Yeah I can go in a little bit, though I don't really wanna do too much because I've been active in the fandom most of the time I've been on the internet, so my thoughts are pretty played out--
Strictly criticizing it as an adaptation of the manga:
The opening episodes rush through inciting incidents that are delivered significantly better both in the manga and the earlier anime. The emotional gut-punches that are memetic to people who watch anime are only remembered as such because of how well they were delivered in their two earlier tellings (mostly the 2003 anime, though, because many more people watch anime than read manga). BH delivers a fast facsimile of these like it's checking off obligatory boxes and assuming we already know everything that's going to happen.
I don't like the art. Personal taste thing, but I think the character acting is bad, the early days of all-digital anime production don't benefit enough from their being digital to warrant the loss of the softer look achieved from a hybrid production, and good action doesn't make up for these shortcomings.
The manga ultimately misses the mark in its portrayal of what state-sanctioned imperialist/racist violence looks like, but an attempt was at least made by the author to ground itself in historical precedent for what war and war crimes look like. BH (and the manga, tho to a less egregious extent) isn't interested in the internal lives of characters who are oppressed by the state (name one Ishvalan character who isn't Scar. We have his dead brother, Miles The Amestrian Soldier, and that other soldier that Roy kills in his Doing A Race War Made Me Sad OVA. Two cops and a guy who had to learn how to Stop Being Mad About The Whole Genocide Thing). Its version of the Ishval war as a flat portrayal of two armies of similar strength and purpose, a sea of mindless drones of either red eyes or blue, is in extremely poor taste to what happens in actual war between a colonized nation and its industrialized, fascist neighbor. Edward's role as the ultimate moral compass of the narrative legitimizes his comments that boil down to All Lives Matter talking points, leading to a series that basically includes a genocide For The Flavor with absolutely nothing to say about what ingrained imperialist violence actually looks like.
FMAB introduces "Difficult" subjects, like state sanctioned racialized violence, but it does nothing more than present them as something horrific that happened In The Past. It's three kids in a trench coat trying to be taken seriously Because A Racist War Happened. I would rather watch a series that makes no attempt at discussing systemic violence and focuses on digging into whatever "easier" issues it actually has the capacity to explore.
To check my bias here: I love the old/original anime very much. It was very artistically formative for me, and its portrayal of imperialism is very mature for what is functionally a YA cartoon. Roy Mustang is not appointed Fuhrer in this telling-- The office is dissolved entirely, he cedes his rank, and government is returned to a parliament. This divergence, for me, represents the foundational difference in each canon's ethos. Both the manga and BH shirk the responsibility for Amestrian fascism onto Father and seek a return to the status quo without him. They claim that the military government that went on a genocidal campaign only a decade prior can be reformed by the very soldiers who "just followed the orders." The divergent earlier anime says that the system is rotten and must be destroyed.
All said, I don't think BH improves anything the manga falls short on, both in its themes and narrative structure (Edward Elric is still walking around in the snow doing nothing of interest for entirely too long), and simultaneously erodes the pieces of the work that are passable/strong.
it's 2023 and I still get jumpscared by the sheer volume of people who think fmab is like. A good adaptation. Or even a good show.
#this is my short version I promise#hopefully this comes across in good faith while also making it clear that I just#simply do not like this show#and I don't think it's good#even though it on the surface looks like the thing I do like#it sure doesn't feel like it#the pieces that I like in bh are all there in 03#so I'm not missing anything by just ignoring the version I don't like
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About the Adventure: reboot, the likely reason why it exists, the question of target demographic, and whether I would recommend it or not
I think this reboot has been kind of a strange outlier in terms of Digimon anime in general, in terms of...well, just about everything. I also feel like everything surrounding it has kind of been giving us mixed signals as to what the intent and purpose behind the anime is -- well, besides âcashing in on the Adventure brandâ, but looking at it more closely, that might be a bit of an oversimplification.
Iâm writing this post because, having seen the entire series to the end for myself and thinking very hard about it and what it was trying to do, I decided to put down my thoughts. This is not meant to be a review of what I think was good and bad, but rather, something that I hope will be helpful to those who might be on the fence about whether they want to watch it or not, or those who donât want to watch/finish it but are curious about what happened, or those who are curious as to why this reboot even exists in the first place, or even maybe just those who did watch it but are interested in othersâ thoughts about it. I'm personally convinced that -- especially in an ever-changing franchise like Digimon -- how much you like a given work is dependent on what your personal tastes are to the very end, and thus itâs helpful to understand what kind of expectations you should go in with if you want to watch something.
With all of this said and done, if you want to go in and best enjoy this series, I think it is best to consider this anime as a distinct Digimon series of its own. The relationship to Adventure is only surface-level, and by that I mean itâs very obvious itâs doing things its own thing deliberately without worrying too much about what prior series did. Of course, I think everyone will have varying feelings about using the Adventure branding for something that really isn't Adventure at all, but we are really talking about an in-name-only affair, and something thatâs unabashedly doing whatever it wants. So in other words, if youâre going in expecting Adventure, or anything that really resembles Adventure, youâre setting yourself up for disappointment. But if youâre able to approach it like yet another distinct Digimon series, and the other aspects of it fit your fancy, youâll probably be able to enjoy it much better. And, conversely, I think itâs also important to remember that this series seems to have a writing philosophy with a fundamentally different goal from most Digimon series, and since itâs understandable for most long-time Digimon fans to have their tastes built on those prior series, itâs fine and completely understandable that this reboot may not be your cup of tea, for reasons that probably donât actually have much to do with whether itâs an Adventure reboot or not.
There are no spoilers in the following post. (Although I use some emphatic language for the duration for it, these are mostly just my personal thoughts and how I see the series and the overall situation.)
On what exact relationship to Adventure this series has, and why itâs an âAdventure rebootâ
If you ask why they did an Adventure reboot, the easiest answer to come up with is âAdventure milking, because itâs profitableâ, but thatâs kind of an oversimplification of what the issue is. This is especially when you take into account a key fact that official has been very well aware of since as early as 2006: most kids are too young to have seen Adventure, and therefore have no reason to care about it.
Thatâs the thing: Adventure milking only works so well on todayâs children, and Toei and Bandai know this. This is also the reason that the franchise started going through a bit of a âsplitâ starting in around 2012 (after Xros Wars finished airing), when the video game branch started making more active attempts to appeal to the adultsâ fanbase with Re:Digitize and Adventure PSP. (Although they were technically still âkidsâ gamesâ, they were very obviously aimed at the adultsâ audience as a primary âtargetâ.) The generation that grew up with Adventure and other classic Digimon anime was getting older and older, and targeting that audience would require tailoring products more specifically to them -- ultimately culminating in 2015 and the solidification of âvery obviously primarily for adultsâ media in the form of both games (Cyber Sleuth and Next Order) and anime (tri.). Note that Appmon ended up getting its own 3DS game, but since it was targeted at kids, it seems to have been developed by a completely different pipeline/branch from the aforementioned adultsâ games, so even that had a split.
So if we want to talk about full-on nostalgia pandering, thatâs already being done in the adultsâ branch. In fact, Appmon development specifically said that they felt free to not really care about the adultsâ audience because that was tri.âs job. Of course, the hardcore Digimon adultsâ fanbase is still keeping an eye on the kidsâ shows, and itâs good to not upset them -- and, besides, even if weâre all suffering under the hell of capitalism, people who work in kidsâ shows still tend to be very passionate about the content and messages theyâre showing the kids, so they still put an effort into making good content that adults can enjoy too. But, nevertheless, adults are still the âperiphery demographicâ, and a kidsâ show is not a success if the kids (who have not seen and do not care about Adventure) are not watching it or buying the toys. Appmon ended up being extremely well-received by the adultsâ fanbase, but that all meant nothing since the kids didnât get into it.
Most kids are not super incredibly discerning about so-called writing quality (itâs not like they donât at least unconsciously know when something is good, but theyâre much less likely to be bothered by little things adults are often bothered by), so thereâs a certain degree you have to get their attention if you want things to catch on with them. Critical reception does matter a lot more when we talk about the adultsâ audience, but for the kids, the more important part is how much youâve managed to engage them and how much fun theyâre having (especially in regards to the toyline). Moreover, thereâs the problem of âmomentumâ; Digimonâs sister shows of PreCure, Kamen Rider, and Super Sentai have sometimes had really poorly performing shows (critically or financially), but have managed to recover it in successive years to avoid getting cancelled. Digimon never managed to get to that point, with sales nearly dropping to half with Tamers and again with Frontier. So in essence, Savers, Xros Wars, and Appmon were all attempts at figuring out what was needed to just get that âkickstartâ again -- but things just never lined up for it to work.
So if kids donât really care about Adventure, why would they do Adventure nostalgia pandering? The answer is one that official has actually openly stated multiple times: they want to have parents watch it together with their children. Both Seki and Kinoshita said this in regards to watching the reaction to Kizuna, and it was also stated outright as a goal for the reboot, but, believe it or not, thereâs reports of this having been stated back as early as Savers (followed by an admission that maybe 2006 was a little too early for people who grew up with Adventure to be old enough to have their own kids). So the little nostalgia references in Savers, Xros Wars, and Appmon aren't really meant to magically turn the series into Adventure as much as theyâre supposed to be flags waved at the parents to get them to pay attention, so that they can introduce their kids to Digimon and watch it together with them, until the kids eventually take an interest on their own and they donât need to rely on that kind of standby as much. (I say âas muchâ because of course PreCure, Rider, and Sentai all are still very indulgent in their anniversary references, but theyâre not nearly as reliant on it to the point of life-and-death.)
This is also why Kizunaâs existence and release date two months prior to the reboot is a huge factor in this. The reason tri. wouldnât have done it is that it never actually reached a properly âmainstreamâ audience. Itâs a huge reason I keep emphasizing the fact that tri. and Kizuna are two separate things with completely different production and release formats, because tri. being a limited OVA screening released in six parts over three years means that, although it was a moderate financial success that did better than the franchiseâs other niche products, in the end, it didnât actually reach the âextremely casualâ audience very well. We, as the âhardcore Internet fanbaseâ, all know people who watched all six parts, and the difference between tri. and Kizunaâs release formats doesnât hit us as hard because of international distribution circumstances, but even on our end, if you talk to your casual friends who barely remember anything about Digimon except what they saw on TV twenty years ago, you will almost never find anyone who got past Part 1, maybe 2 at most. (Thatâs before we even get into the part where a good chunk of them got turned off at the character design stage for being too different.) Sticking with a full six-part series over three years is a commitment, and if youâre not someone with a certain level of loyalty to the franchise, you arenât as likely to put aside the time for it!
Kizuna, on the other hand, was a full-on theatrical movie with full marketing campaign that was aimed at that extremely casual mainstream audience, including a lot of people who hadnât even heard of tri. (due to it being too niche) or hadnât bothered to commit to watching something so long, and thus managed to âhype upâ a lot of adults and get them in a Digimon mood. (Critical reception issues aside, this is also presumably a huge reason Kizuna isnât all that reliant on tri.âs plot; Adventure and 02 both averaged at around 11% of the country watching it when it first aired, but the number of people who even saw tri. much less know what happened in it is significantly lower, so while you can appeal to a lot of people if youâre just targeting the 11%, you'll lock them out if youâre overly reliant on stuff a lot of them will have never seen in the first place.) Weâre talking the kind of super-casual who sees a poster for Kizuna, goes âoh I remember Digimon!â, casually buys a ticket for the movie, likes it because it has characters they remember and the story is feelsy, and then two months later an anime that looks like the Digimon they recognize is on Fuji TV, resulting in them convincing their kid to watch it together with them because theyâre in a Digimon mood now, even though the actual contents of the anime are substantially different from the original.
So, looking back at the reboot:
Thereâs a huge, huge, huge implication that the choice to use Adventure branding was at least partially to get Fuji TV to let them have their old timeslot back. Neither Xros Wars nor Appmon were able to be on that old timeslot, presumably because Fuji TV had serious doubts about their profitability (perhaps after seeing Savers not do very well). This isnât something that hits as hard for us outside Japan who donât have to feel the impact of this anyway, but itâs kind of a problem if kids donât even get the opportunity to watch the show in the first place. While thereâs been a general trend of moving to video-on-demand to the point TV ratings donât really have as much impact as they used to, I mean...it sure beats 6:30 in the morning, goodness. (Note that a big reason PreCure, Rider, and Sentai are able to enjoy the comfortable positions theyâre in is that they have a very luxurious 8:30-10 AM Sunday block on TV Asahi dedicated to them.)
Since weâre talking about âthe casual mainstreamâ, this means that this kind of ploy only works with something where a casual person passing by can see names and faces and take an interest. This is why it has to be Adventure, not 02 or Tamers or whatnot; 02 may have had roughly similar TV ratings to Adventure and fairly close sales figures back in 2000, but the actual pop culture notability disparity in this day and age is humongous (think about the difference in pop culture awareness between Butter-Fly and Target). 02, Tamers, and all can do enough to carry âadultsâ fandomâ products and merch sales at DigiFes, and the adultsâ branch of the franchise in general, but appealing to the average adult buying toys for the kids is a huge difference, and a big reason that, even if theyâre clearly starting to acknowledge more of the non-Adventure series these days, itâs still hard to believe theyâre going to go as far as rebooting anything past Adventure -- or, more accurately, hard to believe theyâll be able to get the same impact using names and faces alone.
This advertising with the Adventure brand goes beyond just the anime -- weâre talking about the toyline that has the involved character faces plastered on them, plus all of the ventures surrounding them that Bandai pretty obviously carefully timed to coincide with this. One particularly big factor is the card game, which is doing really, really well right now, to the point itâs even started gaining an audience among people who werenât originally Digimon fans. Part of it is because the gameâs design is actually very good and newcomer-friendly, but also...nearly every set since the beginning came with reboot-themed Tamer Cards, which means that, yes, those cards with the Adventure names and faces were helping lure people into taking an interest in the game. Right now, the game is doing so well and has gained such a good reputation that it probably doesnât need that crutch anymore to keep going as long as the game remains well-maintained, but I have no doubt the initial âAdventureâ branding was what helped it take off, and its success is most likely a huge pillar sustaining the franchise at the current moment.
Speaking of merch and toys, if you look closely, you might notice that Bandai decided to go much, much more aggressively into the toy market with this venture than they ever did with Savers, Xros Wars, or Appmon (Appmon was probably the most aggressive attempt out of said three). They put out a lot more merch and did a lot more collaborative events to engage the parents and children, and, presumably, the reason they were able to do this was because they were able to push into those outlets with the confidence the Adventure brand would let them be accepted (much like with Fuji TV). Like with the card game, the important part was getting their âfoot in the doorâ so that even if it stopped being Adventure after a fashion, theyâd still have all of those merchandising outlets -- after all, one of the first hints we ever got of Ghost Gameâs existence was a July product listing for its products replacing the rebootâs in a gachapon set, so we actually have evidence of certain product pipelines being opened by the rebootâs precedent. (The word ćŸçȘç” literally means âthe TV program that comes afterâ, so itâs pretty obvious this was intended for Ghost Game; in other words, the rebootâs existence helped ensure there be a âreservationâ for this kind of product to be made.)
I think one important thing to keep in mind is that Toei and Bandai have as much of a stake in avoiding rehashing for their kidsâ franchises as we do. Even if you look at this from a purely capitalistic perspective, because of how fast the âturnoverâ is for the kidsâ audience, sustaining a franchise for a long time off rehashing the same thing over and over is hard, and even moreso when it involves a twenty-year-old anime that said kids donât even know or remember. Ask around about popular long-running Japanese kidsâ franchises and youâll notice they practically rely on being able to comfortably change things up every so often, like PreCure/Rider/Sentai shuffling every year, or Yu-Gi-Oh! having a rotation of different series and concepts, or the struggles that franchises that donât do this have to deal with. And, after all, for all people are cynical about Toei continuing to milk Adventure or any of the other older series at every opportunity, as far as the kidsâ branch of the franchise goes, this is only capable of lasting to a certain extent; if they tried keeping this up too long, even the adults and kids would get bored, and there is some point itâll be easier to try and make products directly targeted at the kidsâ audience instead of having to rely on the parents to ease them into it.
So itâs completely understandable that the moment they secured a proper audience with the reboot and finished up their first series with this, they decided to take the risk with Ghost Game right after. And considering all thatâs happened, this is still a risk -- theyâre changing up a lot (even if not as much as Appmon), and thereâs a chance that the audience theyâve gathered is going to shoot down again because theyâve changed so much and they no longer have the Adventure branding as a âcrutchâ to use -- but theyâre taking it anyway instead of going for something at least slightly more conventional.
Which means that, yes, thereâs a possibility this will all explode in their face, because the Adventure branding is that huge of a card theyâre about to lose. But at the very, very least, Ghost Game is coming in with the âmomentumâ and advantage that Savers, Xros Wars, and Appmon all didnât have: a brand currently in the stage of recovery, all of the merchandising and collaborative pipelines the reboot and Kizuna opened up, a fairly good timeslot, and a premise somewhat more conventional than Xros Wars and Appmon (Iâm saying this as someone who likes both: their marketing definitely did not do them many favors). There are still a lot of risks itâs playing here, and itâs possible it wonât be the end of more Adventure or reboot brand usage to try to keep that momentum up even as we go into Ghost Game, but itâs the first time in a long while weâve had something to stand on.
Okay, so thatâs out of the way. But the end result is that we now have 67 episodes of an Adventure ârebootâ that actually doesnât even resemble Adventure that much at all, which seems to have achieved its goal of flagging down attention so it can finally going back to trying new things. This series exists, we canât do anything about the fact it exists, the period where its own financial performance actually mattered is coming to an end anyway, and we, as a fanbase of adults hanging out on the Internet keeping up with the franchise as a whole, have to figure out how each of us feels about this. So what of it?
About the contents of the reboot itself
One thing I feel hasnât been brought up as a potential topic very much (or, at least, not as much as I feel like it probably should be) is that the reboot seems to be actively aimed at a younger target audience than the original Adventure. It hasnât been stated outright, but we actually have quite a bit of evidence pointing towards this.
Letâs take a moment and discuss what it even means to have a different target audience. When youâre a kid, even one or two yearsâ difference is a big deal, and while things vary from kid to kid, generally speaking, it helps to have an idea of what your âoverall goalâ is when targeting a certain age group, since at some point you have to approximate the interests of some thousands of children. Traditionally, Digimon has been aimed at preteens (10-11 year olds); of course, many will testify to having seen the series at a younger age than that, but the "mainâ intended target demographic was in this arena. (Also, keep in mind that this is an average; a show aimed at 10-11 year olds could be said to be more broadly aimed at 7-13 year olds, whereas one aimed at 7-8 year olds would be more broadly aimed at something like 5-10 year olds.) Letâs talk a bit about what distinguishes childrenâs shows (especially Japanese kidsâ shows) between this âpreteen demographicâ and things aimed at a much younger audience (which Iâll call âyoung child demographicâ, something like the 7-8 year old arena):
With children who are sufficiently young, itâs much, much more difficult to ensure that a child of that age will be able to consistently watch TV at the same hour every week instead of being subject to more variable schedules, often set by their parents, meaning that it becomes much more difficult to have a series that relies on you having seen almost every episode to know whatâs going on. For somewhat older kids, theyâre more likely to be able to pick and pursue their own preferences (the usual âgot up early every week for this showâ). This means that shows targeted at a young child demographic will be more likely to be episodic, or at least not have a complex dramatic narrative that requires following the full story, whereas shows targeted at a preteen audience are more willing to have a dramatic narrative with higher complexity. This does not mean by any shake of the imagination that a narrative is incapable of having any kind of depth or nuance -- the rebootâs timeslot predecessor GeGeGe no Kitaro got glowing reviews all over the board for being an episodic story with tons of depth -- nor that characters canât slowly develop over the course of the show. But it does raise the bar significantly, especially because it prevents you from making episodes that require you to know what happened in previous ones.
The thing is, the original Adventure and the older Digimon series in general didnât have to worry about this, and, beyond the fact that their narratives very obviously were not episodic, we actually have concrete evidence of the disparity: Digimon has often been said to be a franchise for âthe kids who graduated from (outgrew) a certain other monster seriesâ. Obviously, theyâre referring to PokĂ©mon -- which does have the much younger target demographic. Thatâs why its anime is significantly more episodic and less overall plot-oriented, and Digimon wasnât entirely meant to be a direct competitor to it; rather, it was hoping to pick up the preteens whoâd enjoyed PokĂ©mon at a younger age but were now looking for something more catered to them. This is also why, when Yo-kai Watch came into the game in 2014, that was considered such a huge direct competitor to PokĂ©mon, because it was aiming for that exact same demographic, complete with episodic anime. When Yo-kai Watch moved to its Shadowside branch in 2017, it was specifically because they had concerns about losing audience and wanted to appeal to the kids who had been watching the original series, but since they were preteens now, they adopted a more dramatic and emotionally complex narrative that would appeal to that audience instead. So you can actually see the shift in attempted target demographic in real time.
Adventure through Frontier were aimed at 10-11 year olds, and hereâs the interesting part: those series had the protagonists hover around the age of said target audience. We actually have it on record that Frontier had a direct attempt to keep most of the kids as fifth-graders for the sake of appealing to the audience, and so that it would be relatable to them. You can also see this policy of âmatching the target audienceâs ageâ in other series at the time; Digimonâs sister series Ojamajo Doremi (also produced by Seki) centered around eight-year-olds. Nor was Seki the only one to do this; stepping outside Toei for a bit, Medabots/Medarot had its protagonist Ikki be ten years old, much like Digimon protagonists, and the narrative was similarly dramatic. The thing is, thatâs not how it usually works, and thatâs especially not really been how itâs worked for the majority of kidsâ series since the mid-2000s. In general, and especially now, itâs usually common to have the protagonists of childrenâs media be slightly older than the target age group. This has a lot of reasons behind it -- partially because kids are looking to have slightly older characters as a model for what to follow in their immediate future, and partially because âthe things you want to teach the kidsâ are often more realistically reflected if the kids on screen have the right level of independence and capacity for emotional contemplation. Case in point: while everyone agrees the Adventure through Frontier characters are quite relatable, itâs a common criticism that the level of emotional insight sometimes pushes the boundary of whatâs actually believable for 10-11 year olds...
...which is presumably why, with the exception of this reboot, every Digimon TV series since, as of this writing, started shifting to middle school students. That doesnât mean theyâre aiming the series at middle school kids now, especially because real-life 13-15 year olds are usually at the stage where they pretend theyâve outgrown kidsâ shows (after all, thatâs why thereâs a whole term for âmiddle school second year syndromeâ), but more that the narrative that they want to tell is best reflected by kids of that age, especially when weâre talking characters meant to represent children from the real world and not near-immortal youkai like Kitaro. In fact, the Appmon staff outright said that Haru was placed in middle school because the story needed that level of independence and emotional sensitivity, which is interesting to consider in light of the fact that Appmonâs emotional drama is basically on par with that of Adventure through Frontierâs. So in other words, the kind of high-level drama endemic to Adventure through Frontier is would actually normally be more on par with what youâd expect for kids of Haruâs age.
But at this point, the franchise is at a point of desperation, and you can see that, as I said earlier, Appmon was blatantly trying to be one of those âhave its cake and eat it tooâ series by having possibly one of the franchiseâs most dramatic storylines while also having some of the most unsubtle catchphrases and bright colors it has to offer. Moreover, one thing you might notice if you look closely at Appmon: most of its episodes are self-contained. Only a very small handful of episodes are actively dependent on understanding what happened in prior episodes to understand the conflict going on in the current one -- itâs just very cleverly structured in a way you donât really notice this as easily. So as you can see, the more desperate the franchise has gotten to get its kidsâ audience back, the more it has to be able to grab the younger demographic and not lock them out as much as possible -- which means that it has to do things that the original series didnât have to worry about at all.
Having seen the reboot myself, I can say that it checks off a lot of what you might expect if you tried to repurpose something based on Adventure (and only vaguely based on it, really) into a more episodic story that doesnât require you to follow the whole thing, and that it has to break down its story into easy-to-follow bits. In fact, there were times where I actually felt like it gave me the vibes of an educational show that would usually be expected for this demographic, such as repeated use of slogans or fun catchphrases for young kids to join in on. That alone means that even if the âbase premiseâ is similar to the original Adventure, this already necessitates a lot of things that have to be very different, because Adventure really cannot be called episodic no matter how you slice it.
Not only that, even though the target audience consideration has yet to be outright stated, we also have interviews on hand that made it very clear, from the very beginning, what their goals with the reboot were: they wanted the kids to be able to enjoy a story of otherworldly exploration during the pandemic, they wanted cool action sequences, and they wanted to get the adults curious about what might be different from the original. Note that last part: they actively wanted this series to be different from the original, because the differences would engage parents in spotting the differences, and the third episode practically even goes out of its way to lay that message down by taking the kids to a familiar summer camp, only to have it pass without incident and go âha, you thought, but nope!â Moreover -- this is the key part -- âsurprisingâ people who were coming from the original series was a deliberate goal they had from the very beginning. Theyâve stated this outright -- they knew older fans were watching this! They were not remotely shy about stating that they wanted to surprise returning viewers with unexpected things! They even implied that they wanted it to be a fun experience for older watchers to see what was different and what wasnât -- basically, itâs a new show for their kids who never saw the original Adventure, while the parents are entertained by a very different take on something that seems ostensibly familiar.Â
On top of that, the head writer directly cited V-Tamer as an influence -- and if you know anything about V-Tamer, itâs really not that much of a character narrative compared to what we usually know of Digimon anime, and is mostly known for its battle tactics and action sequences (but in manga form). In other words, we have a Digimon anime series that, from day one, was deliberately made to have a writing philosophy and goal that was absolutely not intended to be like Adventure -- or any Digimon TV anime up to this point -- in any way. And thatâs a huge shock for us as veterans, who have developed our tastes and expectations based on up to seven series of Digimon that were absolutely not like this at all. But for all it's worth, the circumstances surrounding its production and intent don't seem to quite line up with what the most common accusations against it are:
That itâs a rehash of Adventure: It really isnât. Itâs also blatantly apparent it has no intention of being so. The points that are in common: the character names and rough character designs, some very minimal profile details for said characters, Devimon having any particular foil position to Angemon, the use of Crests to represent personal growth, the premise of being in the Digital World and...thatâs it! Once those points are aside, itâs really hard to say that the series resembles Adventure any more than Frontier or Xros Wars resembles Adventure (which are also âtrapped in another worldâ narratives) -- actually, there are times the series resembles those two more than the original Adventure, which many have been quick to point out. The majority of things you can make any kind of comparison to basically drop off by the end of the first quarter or so, and trying to force a correlation is basically just that: youâd have to try forcing the comparison. The plot, writing style, and even the lineup of enemies shown just go in a completely different direction after that. So in the end, the base similarities can be said to be a marketing thing; if I want to criticize this series, I donât think âlack of creativityâ would actually be something I would criticize it for. (Of course, youâre still welcome to not be a huge fan of how theyâre still guilty of using Adventureâs name value to market something that is not actually Adventure. Weâre all gonna have mixed feelings on that one.)
That they donât understand or remember Adventureâs appeal: Unlikely. All of the main staff has worked on character-based narratives before, which have been very well-praised while weâre at it. The producer, Sakurada Hiroyuki, was an assistant producer on the original series, and I would like to believe he probably remembers at least a thing or two about what they were doing with the original series...but, also, heâs the producer of Xros Wars, which definitely had its own individuality and style, and, moreover, was more of a character narrative that people generally tend to expect from Digimon anime. (Still a bit unconventional, and it has its own questions of personal taste, but a lot of people have also pointed out that this reboot has a lot in common with Xros Wars in terms of its writing tone and its emphasis on developing Digital World resident Digimon moreso than the human characters.) All signs point to the idea they could make a character narrative like Adventure if they really wanted to. Itâs just, they donât want to do that with this reboot, so they didnât.
That they misinterpreted or misremembered the Adventure characters: Thereâs been accusations of said characters being written in a way that implies misinterpretation or lack of understanding of the original characters, but the thing is, while I definitely agree they have nowhere near the depth of the original ones, there are points that seem to be deliberate changes. (At some points, theyâre actually opposites of the original, and certain things that operate as some very obscure references -- for instance, Sora complaining about having to sit in seiza -- seem to also be deliberate statements of going in a different direction.) The lack of human character depth or backstory doesnât seem to be out of negligence, but rather that this story doesnât want to be a character narrative to begin with -- after all, weâre used to seven series of Digimon that are, but there are many, many kidsâ anime, or even stories in general, where the story is more about plot or action than it is completely unpacking all of its charactersâ heads. In this case, this reboot does seem to have characters that are taking cues from or are âinspired byâ the original, but, after all, itâs an alternate universe and has no obligation to adhere to the original charactersâ backgrounds, so it stands to reason that itâd take liberties whenever it wanted. (Again, the head writer outright stated that he based the rebootâs Taichi more on V-Tamer Taichi than the original Adventure anime Taichi. He knows thereâs a difference!) Even more intriguingly, the series actually avoids certain things that are common misconceptions or pigeonholes that would normally be done by the mainstream -- for instance, the Crest of Light (infamously one of the more abstract ones in the narrative) is fully consistent with Adventureâs definition of it as âthe power of lifeâ, and, if I dare say so myself, Koushirouâs characterization (emphasizing his relationship with âknowledgeâ and his natural shyness) arguably resembles the original far more than most common fan reductions of his character that overemphasize his computer skills over his personal aptitude. In other words, I think the staff does know what happened in the original Adventure -- they just actively donât want to do what Adventure did, even if itâs ostensibly a reboot.
That itâs soulless or that thereâs no passion in its creation: Well, this is subjective, and in the end Iâm not a member of the staff to tell you anything for sure, but there are definitely a lot of things in this anime that donât seem like theyâd be the byproduct of uninspired creation or lack of passion. Itâs just that those things are all not the kinds of things that we, as Digimon veterans, have come to develop a taste for and appreciate in Digimon anime. That is to say, there is an incredible amount of thought and detail put into representing Digimon null canon (i.e. representing special attacks and mechanics), the action sequences are shockingly well-animated in ways that put most prior Digimon anime to shame, and the series has practically been making an obvious attempt to show off as many Digimon (creatures) that havenât traditionally gotten good franchise representation as they can. Or sometimes really obscure âmeta fanserviceâ references that only make sense to the really, really, really, really hardcore longtime Digimon fan (for instance, having an episode centered around Takeru and Opossummon, because Takeruâs voice actress Han Megumi voiced Airu in Xros Wars). If you follow any of the animators on Twitter, they seem to be really actively proud of their work on it, and franchise creators Volcano Ota and Watanabe Kenji seem to be enjoying themselves every week...so basically, we definitely have creators passionate about having fun with this, itâs just that all of it is being channeled here, not the character writing.
So in the end, you can basically see that this series is basically the epitome of desperately pulling out all of the stops to make sure this series lands with the actual target demographic of children, dammit, and gets them into appreciating how cool these fighting monsters are and how cool it would be if they stuck with them even into a series thatâs not Adventure. The Adventure branding and names to lure in the parents, the straightforward and easy-to-understand action-oriented narrative so that kids will think everything is awesome and that theyâll like it even when the story changes, and the merchandise and collab events booked everywhere so that they can all be reused for the next series too...because, remember, they failed with that during Savers, Xros Wars, and Appmon (I mean, goodness, you kind of have to admire their persistence, because a ton of other kidsâ franchises failing this many times would have given up by now), so itâs a bit unsurprising that they went all the way to get the kidsâ attention at the expense of a lot of things that would attract veterans, especially since the veterans already have a well-developed adultsâ pipeline to cater to them. This does also mean that this series is more likely to come off as a 67-episode toy commercial than any previous Digimon series, but itâs not even really the toys as much as theyâre trying to sell the entire franchise and the actual monsters in the hopes that theyâll stick with it even when the narrative changes.
Nevertheless, here we are. The series is over. Ghost Game -- which, as of this writing, is looking to be much more of a conventional Digimon narrative, complete with older cast, obviously more dramatic atmosphere, and pretty much everything surrounding its PR -- is on its way, presumably thanks to the success of this endeavor. Itâs hard to gauge it; we have it on record that they also intend it to be episodic, but remember that this doesnât necessarily prevent it from having an overall dramatic plot or nuanced drama (especially since the abovementioned Appmon and Kitaro were perfectly capable of pulling off this balance). Nevertheless, it seems to be a lot more of the conventional kind of Digimon narrative we usually expect, so, as for us, adult long-time fans of the Digimon franchise (many of whom donât have kids anyway), what exactly should we make of this? Well, as far as âsupporting the franchiseâ goes, youâll get much more progress supporting Ghost Game than the reboot; I highly doubt view counts and merch sales relative to an already-finished series will do nearly as much for the franchiseâs health as much as the currently airing series, and, besides, itâd probably do us all a favor to support the endeavor thatâs actually new and fresh. So when it comes to a âpastâ series like this, itâs all just going to come down to a question of personal preference and taste: is this a series you, personally, want to watch, and would you find it entertaining?
For some of you, itâs possible that it just wonât be your cup of tea at all -- and since, like I said, the majority of us here have based our expectations and preferences on up to seven series of Digimon that were not like this, thatâs also perfectly fine, and in that case I donât actually recommend you watch this. Of course, Iâve never thought that it was ever fair to expect a Digimon fan to have seen all of the series released to date; the more series we get, the more inhumane of a demand thatâll become, and I think this franchise becoming successful enough to have so many series that most people wonât have seen it all is a good thing. (Itâs actually kind of alarming that the percentage of people who have seen it all is so high, because it means the franchise has failed to get much of an audience beyond comparatively hardcore people who committed to it all the way.) But I think, especially in this case, with a series for which adult fans like us were probably lowest on the priority list due to the sheer amount of desperation going on here, itâs fine to skip it, and if youâre someone who lives by a need for character depth or emotionally riveting narrative, the fact this series is (very unabashedly and unashamedly) mostly comprised of episodic stories and action sequences means you wonât have missed much and probably wonât feel too left out of any conversations going forward. Thatâs before we even get into the part where itâs still completely understandable to potentially have mixed feelings or resentment about the overuse of the Adventure brand for something like this, especially if Adventure is a particularly important series to you.
But for some of you out there, it might still be something you can enjoy on its own merits. Iâve seen people who were disappointed by the limited degree of Digimon action sequences in the past or the fact that the series has gotten overly fixated on humans, and had an absolute ball with the reboot because it finally got to represent parts of the franchise they felt hadnât been shown off as well. âFunâ is a perfectly valid reason to enjoy something. Itâs also perfectly possible to be someone who can enjoy character narratives like the prior Digimon series but also enjoy something thatâs more for being outlandish and fun and has cool Digital World concepts and visuals -- and, like I said, it does not let up on that latter aspect at all, so thereâs actually potential for a huge feast in that regard. I think as long as you donât expect it to be a character narrative like Adventure -- which will only set you up for disappointment, because itâs not (and made very clear since even the earliest episodes and interviews that it had no intention of being one) -- itâs very possible to enjoy it for what it is, and for what it does uniquely.
#digimon#digimon adventure:#digimon adventure reboot#digimon adventure 2020#digimon adventure psi#shihameta
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Secret Santa (Alex Morgan x Reader)
Reader is in the military and surprises her wife and daughter (with a little help from Preath). Merry Christmas from @literaryhedgehog and Me!!!
âLittle bit still hasnât told you what she wants for Christmas yet?â Kelley asked, munching on some pretzels and hummus. Â
Alex rolled her eyes sliding into a seat next to her. âNo, she utterly convinced that it wonât come true if she tells anyone but Santa.âÂ
âDidn't she write a letter? Why didnât you just take a peek?â Tobin interjected, sitting on Kelleyâs other side. Her fiancĂ© had been so excited to have her niece for the day.Â
âShe mailed it to god knows where with Christen before I could,â Alex sighed, shaking her head. She had been fine with the whole mailing letters thing (actually watching your four-year old try to write out something heartfelt in blue crayon was kinda adorable), but then Camren had insisted on mailing it herself. Alex felt a little bad for the person in Antarctica who was getting the random letter.Â
âDamn,â Kelley huffed, blowing her cheeks out, trying to drum up ideas.Â
âYeah, apparently itâs a Press family tradition or whatever, and Chris did it because Y/n isnât here to. If she was she at least could have curbed some of her enthusiasm long enough to take a picture of the letter.â Alex grumbled, chewing thoughtfully on a pretzel. Your big sister had been picking up a lot of slack while you were away with the SEALs, but it just wasnât the same as having you there.Â
âWe hired a Santa, so just listen to whatever she tells him,â Tobin shrugged, a look that Alex didnât recognize crossing her features.Â
âAnd pray to god it gets here overnight,â Kelley snorted. Hopefully whatever Camren wanted could be found at a local Walmart.Â
 *****
The holiday party was in full bustle. There were benefits to doing training in Florida, so while Camren still had her heart set on snow for christmas, the adults had strung the outdoor tent with string lights and decorated it with holly and mistletoe. Camren had promised to eat at least two bites of every food there -- even the healthy ones that looked weird (her words not Alexâs) -- before she ate too many of Emilyâs double chocolate chunk brownies, and so Alex was feeling rather proud of herself. She and her daughter were both there, dressed up, and only 15 minutes late for the party-- not bad for single parenting skills. Maybe after Camren was done talking to Santa, Carlie or Lindsey could be persuaded to babysit for a bit so Alex could go introduce herself to that lovely bottle of merlot she saw hiding in the corner.Â
Alex was surprised with how comfortable her daughter seemed on Santaâs lap. Camren was a bit nervous walking over, but it was nothing compared to her fear last year, when she had bawled until you eventually gave up and held her behind the poor man. Perhaps it had to do with how tenderly the poor suited person seemed to hold the small child, and the little glimmer in their eyes. .Â
Santaâs eyes met Alexâs for a split second, and the sense of security the slight contact brought her was slightly alarming. They looked so familiar and sent warm tingles through her chest.Â
âDid you get my letter?â The little girl asked, drawing the bearded oneâs attention back to her. Alex bit her lip, there was no way this random stranger got the letter addressed to Rudolph at the North Pole.Â
The Santa nodded, their features softening. âI did. It seems you were very concerned about your mama getting her gift?â
The little girl nodded rapidly. âHow do you know where to take it, if sheâs on top secret missions all da time?â Her brow furrowed, âwhat if she doesnât have a chimney to hang her stocking on?â
âI just know. Remember I know if youâve been good or bad, or if you move. I promise sheâll get everything she wants. Now back to you. What do you want for Christmas?â Santa tried to explain.Â
The little girl thought for a moment, her finger tapping on her chin, before she leaned up to cup the personâs ear. She whispered a few words, leaned back to look the bearded person in the eye. The (very fake) white beard at the top of the red coat bobbed up and down in a nod, and Alex saw a sparkle in their eye as their lips twitched above it.Â
âWell thatâs quite the order.âÂ
âPwease? Its not that tall, and Itâs the only thing I really want,â Camren pouted, pulling the puppy dog eyes that never ceased to make her parents melt. This was important, and if she only got one real chance to talk to the person who could make it happen, she wanted them to know just how much she wanted it.Â
âIâll see what I can do,â the Santa said, nodding seriously and stroking the beard as Camren jumped up and ran back to Alex.Â
âWhat did you ask for?â Alex whispered. Good grief, wasnât the whole point of hiring a Santa to hear what the munchkin wanted?
âCanât say. Want it to happen,â Camren whispered back, twirling slightly as she buried herself in the hem of her momâs skirt. This was going to be the best Christmas ever.Â
****
Alex smiled widely as the Santa pulled another wrapped present from the gaudy red bag. It was a nice spin on their usual tradition, and she just hoped Pino didnât get her for a secret Santa. That woman forgot every year, and Alexâs name hadnât come up yet and that bag looked suspiciously empty. No wait, there was one- nope, that was Beckeyâs present from Alyssa. Maybe there was a gift card in there somewhere? Alex looked down at Camren, who despite practically nodding off in Sonnetâs arms an hour ago, had woken up during the secret santa exchange. She was now sitting on the ground playing with the toy horses, blind to her surroundings.
âHey, um Kelley? Who was running the secret santa exchange again?â Alex whispered, grabbing her arm. âI think my person forgot to get me a present.â
âWhat?â Kelley, turned to her shocked. âI think maybe Tobin was in charge this year, weâll ask her if someone wrote down who your person was.â
âOh thatâs not necessary,â Christenâs voice broke in. Alex and Kelley turned to look at her and Tobin, who were standing with a very confused Emily. âIâm really sorry, we just didnât get a chance to wrap your gift. Youâll get it at the end of the party.âÂ
âIsnât it like against the rules for Christen to get Alex since they actually spend Christmas together every year?â Sonnett whined. If she couldnât buy presents for Lindsey, and Sam couldnât do it for Kristie then that totally wasnât fair.Sister-in-law and fiance-of-sister-in-law definitely had an unfair advantage on the âknowing what presents to buyâ front. She had to buy Jullieâs gift, and had just settled on some tea-rex patterned socks and a starbucks gift card.Â
Lindsey glared in her direction. âCan it disonny,â she wasnât about to let her girlfriend mess up a surprise that had been 6 months in the making.Â
âItâs fine Chris, you didnât have to get me anything,â Alex smiled sadly.Â
âI mean that would have been cruel since Camren has been campaigning pretty hard for your present,â Christen snorted. It was all your daughter could talk about. She had even harassed every Santa she saw while they went Christmas shopping, and wrote several letters (that she forwarded to you) about the issue.Â
âShe told you what she wants, and you didnât tell me?â Alex asked exasperated. She had been fighting with your daughter for a month to know what she actually wanted. Why on earth would she tell her aunt but not her mom? She was going to have to have a conversation with Camren about how Santa had different rules from wishing on a star or a birthday candle. Namely that she should tell her mom what she wanted!
Christen shrugged, a smile pulling at her lips, though Alex didnât know what she was so amused about. âWell, it was for you, so I get a pass,â
âI for one think that Christenâs present is totally on point, even if itâs wrapped in ugly, sweaty red velvet,â A new voice joined the conversation, just as arms wrapped snugly around Alexâs waist.Â
Alex froze, her eyes going wide and her mouth opening and closing several times.Â
You chucked from behind her, spinning her around so you were face to face for the first time in almost a year.Â
âHi love.â
âHoly shit,â Alex breathed. Her hands reached up to touch your cheeks, the sense of touch confirming what she couldnât trust her eyes to see.Â
âSurprise,â You mumbled, leaning in and finally connecting your lips. You sighed into the kiss, thoroughly enjoying the way they moved together, and the taste of your wife. She impatiently pulled down the beard when you paused to breathe, and your hands found her hips, pulling her closer, while her fingers tangled in that baby hairs at the base of your neck. âLetâs do that again,â you said, your breath fanning against her lips before she pulled you back in. You had an awful lot of time to make up for.Â
âWhy is mommy kissing Santa Claus,â Camren asked from somewhere below your feet. You were fairly certain you heard one of your wifeâs teammates explaining in the background that Santa left a little while ago, and Mama had just dressed like him to surprise Mommy. You were a tad busy to explain anything right now.
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The point is control
Whenever we think or talk about censorship, we usually conceptualize it as certain types of speech being somehow disallowed: maybe (rarely) it's made formally illegal by the government, maybe it's banned in certain venues, maybe the FCC will fine you if you broadcast it, maybe your boss will fire you if she learns of it, maybe your friends will stop talking to you if they see what you've written, etc. etc.Â
This understanding engenders a lot of mostly worthless discussion precisely because it's so broad. Pedants--usually arguing in favor of banning a certain work or idea--will often argue that speech protections only apply to direct, government bans. These bans, when they exist, are fairly narrow and apply only to those rare speech acts in which other people are put in danger by speech (yelling the N-word in a crowded theater, for example). This pedantry isn't correct even within its own terms, however, because plenty of people get in trouble for making threats. The FBI has an entire entrapment program dedicated to getting mentally ill muslims and rednecks to post stuff like "Death 2 the Super bowl!!" on twitter, arresting them, and the doing a press conference about how they heroically saved the world from terrorism.Â
Another, more recent pedant's trend is claiming that, actually, you do have freedom of speech; you just don't have freedom from the consequences of speech. This logic is eerily dictatorial and ignores the entire purpose of speech protections. Like, even in the history's most repressive regimes, people still technically had freedom of speech but not from consequences. Those leftist kids who the nazis beheaded for speaking out against the war were, by this logic, merely being held accountable.Â
The two conceptualizations of censorship I described above are, 99% of the time, deployed by people who are arguing in favor of a certain act of censorship but trying to exempt themselves from the moral implications of doing so. Censorship is rad when they get to do it, but they realize such a solipsism seems kinda icky so they need to explain how, actually, they're not censoring anybody, what they're doing is an act of righteous silencing that's a totally different matter. Maybe they associate censorship with groups they don't like, such as nazis or religious zealots. Maybe they have a vague dedication toward Enlightenment principles and don't want to be regarded as incurious dullards. Most typically, they're just afraid of the axe slicing both ways, and they want to make sure that the precedent they're establishing for others will not be applied to themselves.
Anyone who engages with this honestly for more than a few minutes will realize that censorship is much more complicated, especially in regards to its informal and social dimensions. We can all agree that society simply would not function if everyone said whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. You might think your boss is a moron or your wife's dress doesn't look flattering, but you realize that such tidbits are probably best kept to yourself.Â
Again, this is a two-way proposition that everyone is seeking to balance. Do you really want people to verbalize every time they dislike or disagree with you? I sure as hell don't. And so, as part of a social compact, we learn to self-censor. Sometimes this is to the detriment of ourselves and our communities. Most often, however, it's just a price we have to pay in order to keep things from collapsing.Â
But as systems, large and small, grow increasingly more insane and untenable, so do the comportment standards of speech. The disconnect between America's reality and the image Americans have of themselves has never been more plainly obvious, and so striving for situational equanimity is no longer good enough. We can't just pretend cops aren't racist and the economy isn't run by venal retards or that the government places any value on the life of its citizens. There's too much evidence that contradicts all that, and the evidence is too omnipresent. There's too many damn internet videos, and only so many of them can be cast as Russian disinformation. So, sadly, we must abandon our old ways of communicating and embrace instead systems that are even more unstable, repressive, and insane than the ones that were previously in place.
Until very, very recently, nuance and big-picture, balanced thinking were considered signs of seriousness, if not intelligence. Such considerations were always exploited by shitheads to obfuscate things that otherwise would have seemed much less ambiguous, yes, but this fact alone does not mitigate the potential value of such an approach to understanding the world--especially since the stuff that's been offered up to replace it is, by every worthwhile metric, even worse.
So let's not pretend I'm Malcolm Gladwell or some similarly slimy asshole seeking to "both sides" a clearcut moral issue. Let's pretend I am me. Flash back to about a year ago, when there was real, widespread, and sustained support for police reform. Remember that? Seems like forever ago, man, but it was just last year... anyhow, now, remember what happened? Direct, issues-focused attempts to reform policing were knocked down. Blotted out. Instead, we were told two things: 1) we had to repeat the slogan ABOLISH THE POLICE, and 2) we had to say it was actually very good and beautiful and nonviolent and valid when rioters burned down poor neighborhoods.
Now, in a relatively healthy discourse, it might have been possible for someone to say something like "while I agree that American policing is heavily violent and racist and requires substantial reforms, I worry that taking such an absolutist point of demanding abolition and cheering on the destruction of city blocks will be a political non-starter." This statement would have been, in retrospect, 100000000% correct. But could you have said it, in any worthwhile manner? If you had said something along those lines, what would the fallout had been? Would you have lost friends? Your job? Would you have suffered something more minor, like getting yelled at, told your opinion did not matter? Would your acquaintances still now--a year later, after their political project has failed beyond all dispute--would they still defame you in "whisper networks," never quite articulating your verbal sins but nonetheless informing others that you are a dangerous and bad person because one time you tried to tell them how utterly fucking self-destructive they were being? It is undeniably clear that last year's most-elevated voices were demanding not reform but catharsis. I hope they really had fun watching those immigrant-owned bodegas burn down, because thatâs it, that will forever be remembered as the most palpable and consequential aspect of their shitty, selfish movement. We ain't reforming shit. Instead, we gave everyone who's already in power a blank check to fortify that power to a degree you and I cannot fully fathom.
But, oh, these people knew what they were doing. They were good little boys and girls. They have been rewarded with near-total control of the national discourse, and they are all either too guilt-ridden or too stupid to realize how badly they played into the hands of the structures they were supposedly trying to upend.
And so left-liberalism is now controlled by people whose worldview is equal parts superficial and incoherent. This was the only possible outcome that would have let the system continue to sustain itself in light of such immense evidence of its unsustainability without resulting in reform, so that's what has happened.
But... okay, let's take a step back. Let's focus on what I wanted to talk about when I started this.
I came across a post today from a young man who claimed that his high school English department head had been removed from his position and had his tenure revoked for refusing to remove three books from classrooms. This was, of course, fallout from the ongoing debate about Critical Race Theory. Two of those books were Marjane Satropi's Persepolis and, oh boy, The Diary of Anne Frank. Fuck. Jesus christ, fuck.
Now, here's the thing... When Persepolis was named, I assumed the bannors were anti-CRT. The graphic novel does not deal with racism all that much, at least not as its discussed contemporarily, but it centers an Iranian girl protagonist and maybe that upset Republican types. But Anne Frank? I'm sorry, but the most likely censors there are liberal identiarians who believe that teaching her diary amounts to centering the suffering of a white woman instead of talking about the One Real Racism, which must always be understood in an American context. The super woke cult group Black Hammer made waves recently with their #FuckAnneFrank campaign... you'd be hard pressed to find anyone associated with the GOP taking a firm stance against the diary since, oh, about 1975 or so.
So which side was it? That doesn't matter. What matters is, I cannot find out.
Now, pro-CRT people always accuse anti-CRT people of not knowing what CRT is, and then after making such accusations they always define CRT in a way that absolutely is not what CRT is. Pro-CRTers default to "they don't want students to read about slavery or racism." This is absolutely not true, and absolutely not what actual CRT concerns itself with. Slavery and racism have been mainstays of American history curriucla since before I was born. Even people who barely paid attention in school would admit this, if there were any more desire for honesty in our discourse.Â
My high school history teacher was a southern "lost causer" who took the south's side in the Civil War but nonetheless provided us with the most descriptive and unapologetic understandings of slavery's brutalities I had heard up until that point. He also unambiguously referred to the nuclear attacks on Hiroshmia and Nagasaki as "genocidal." Why? Because most people's politics are idiosyncratic, and because you cannot genuinely infer a person to believe one thing based on their opinion of another, tangentially related thing. The totality of human understanding used to be something open-minded people prided themselves on being aware of, believe it or not...
This is the problem with CRT. This is is the motivation behind the majority of people who wish to ban it. Itâs not because they are necessarily racist themselves. Itâs because they recognize, correctly, that the now-ascendant frames for understanding social issues boils everything down to a superficial patina that denies not only the realities of the systems they seek to upend but the very humanity of the people who exist within them. There is no humanity without depth and nuance and complexities and contradictions. When you argue otherwise, people will get mad and fight back.Â
And this is the most bitter irony of this idiotic debate: it was never about not wanting to teach the sinful or embarrassing parts of our history. That was a different debate, one that was settled and won long ago. It is instead an immense, embarrassing overreach on behalf of people who have bullied their way to complete dominance of their spheres of influence within media and academe assuming they could do the same to everyone else. Some of its purveyors may have convinced themselves that getting students to admit complicity in privilege will prevent police shootings, sure. But I know these people. Iâve spoken to them at length. Iâve read their work. The vast, vast majority of them arenât that stupid. The point is to exert control. The point is to make sure they stay in charge and that nothing changes. The point is failure.Â
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After being reminded of how awful canon film is I wrote my own self indulgent version of Batman Vs. Superman. I want the story to be self contained, so no Doomsday or Darkseid forewarning. Warning: Rambling, me being butthurt while high on sugar, really trying to make this a coherent storyline with genuine development, some Bruce x OC moments shut up you demon!
The beginning is the same as in canon with Lois in Africa???Middle East??? With her partner James Olsen trying to resolve a hostage situation. James gets killed trying to protect a hostage, but before anymore are killed Superman comes in and rescues them. He subdues not kill the terrorists but gets into trouble with the intelligence agency for interrupting their mission. This incident reaches the ears of Helen Hunt's character the no-nonsense Senator. However Superman is more concerned for the deceased James and the unharmed hostages than getting in trouble with the government, he feels guilty being unable to save James in time.
After James Olsen's funeral Clark and Lois are unsure what to do next. They decide the best way to honor his memory is continuing their line of working bringing light to troubling issues as well as a troubling rose of villains. They also find out that the terrorists had weapons given to them by Luthor (to protect interests in that region).
Meanwhile, Lex decides to capitalize on the post destruction of Metropolis by launching a smear campaign. He also starts pursuing charitable events to make himself look good in front of the masses. Because of growing negativity towards Supes, Clark starts feeling a lack of confidence but from reassurance from his mom he redirects his focus hero by doing small stuff around Smallville. Gradually the town starts to see him in a far better light but there's still Metropolis and the larger world. Clark goes there to help rebuild. At his job at DP, he gets the chance to interview visiting millionaire Bruce Wayne in Whatever City (not the actual name but a totally different city from Metropolis and Gotham). At the press meeting Bruce is rather cold & not as Clark expected. He's even working with Lex Luthor as part of a business deal, which makes Clark wary as he knows about Luthor's criminal activity.
Superman goes out in a flight to clear his head. While flying around he sees a kid walking on the railroad tracks hy himself with a pair of headphones....and a train steadily approaching! Supes swoops in and saves the kod from being nuked and chastises him for being so reckless. The teenager apologies and introduces himself as Jimmy Olsen (a nephew of the deceased James). He had been listening to music as a way to cope with his uncle's death. They talk for a while and Superman brings Jimmy back home. Several weeks later Clark ends up mentoring Jimmy as a school project.
Back in Whatever City we're introduced to one of Lex's assistants Nicola. She's a former Holliday Girl who had overheard Lex's plan and vowed to stop him. She managed to get in contact with an old friend: Diana Prince. Nicola brings up Lex's plan and hidden research of metahumans. The Amazon surmises that such a scheme could result in the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of people. Diana decides to bring her agency to stop him & asks Nicola to stay low. Diana gathers her old armor and prays to the Gods for luck.
Lex apparently likes Nicola enough to send her an invite to a charity ball, where she crosses paths with Bruce for the first time. They talk for a while only to be interrupted by Clark.
After a meeting with Luthor to discuss a merger with their companies, and seeing hints of Luthor's true selfishness, Bruce grows suspicious of him and started to dig around. We see through memorabilia that his initial coldness towards Clark and other people wasn't out of spite but of grief: Jason Todd's death some years ago.
Clark continues his good deeds and is slowly regaining his respect. He even makes plan to visit a children's hospital but is forced to cancel when Superman gets called to show up for a Congress hearing. At the meeting Superman admits his guilt but tells about James and how he died a hero. The Senator doesn't know where Superman is going with this but is listening. Then Superman's voice trails of as he hears a beeping noise and shocked he leaves the room in a hurry. He briefly searches the place and finds a bomb strapped in a closet. He carries the bomb out and throws it as high into the sky as possible Back inside the audience and senator are bewildered by his absence then hear a loud booming noise outside. There's shock as a bright light flashes in the sky...
Superman legit rejected their hearing to save them from a bomb. A bomb planted there by Tess on the instructions of Luthor...a plan she was willing to sacrifice her own life for.
This leaves the senator reconsidering her stance: if he really was as bad as people say then he wouldn't have saved them.
After the incident the entire country begins to have a more positive opinion of Superman while the government launches a search for possible terrorists. Bruce hears about what happened and after sneaking around as Batman, finds out about Luthor being the one responsible for the attempted terror attack. Later on he (as civilian) makes an announcement that he is not going to go through with the merger with LexCorp.
Hearing the news that Superman foiled his attempted assassination (and losing out on Wayne Enterprises), Lex gets very pissed off and threatens to fire Tess. She tries to save face by reminding Lex of his contingency plan...making Lex calm down and grin as he begins to remake his plan.
Nicola agrees to a date with Bruce and prepares. Meanwhile Lois and Jimmy are enjoying a night on the town while Clark stays behind to work on a news story. The two friends were about ti make it back to their hotel before being accosted by some men who force them into a car and takes them to Lex Corp.
At the HQ Lois calls him out that his plan could spell doom for the world. Surprisingly Luthor agrees but makes it clear he doesn't care. He orders his men to capture her, but Jimmy manages to escape and goes off to find Clark (who is writing a story to expose Luthor's actions). Jimmy tells him learns from him that Lois is in trouble Superman tells him to stay as he fetches the police. In reality he jas gone to find her as his hero alias. He finds her but just as he's about to rescue her Lex threatens that he also has another certain someone (Martha Kent ) captured if he doesn't comply, seeing that Supes was often seen visiting her. Reluctantly Superman complies and Lois is freed from her bonds, yet Lex takes them as hostages to a room lined with Green Kryptonite. He leaves to his warehouse to check on progress of his prototype. Jimmy wonders where Clark has gone and goes to the police station himself.
On their date Bruce mentions to Nicola that he knows what she's up to. Nicola coldly replies what was he talking about and he mentions Lex's actions and her possible status as an accomplice This starts a spat leading to Nicola spilling that she is working against Lex (making her a foil to the blindly loyal Tess) and that her goal was to stop Lex from unleashing his plan. She already called a friend to help them yet when Bruce presses forward they see a kid (Jimmy) wandering around and concerned asks what's wrong. Jimmy replies that his friend was kidnapped and doesn't know what to do. Bruce leaves to find Clark while Nicola stays with Jimmy.
Nicole & Jimmy arrives back at the hotel and sees Tess Mercer waiting for them. She had been sent by Luthor to eliminate the witness. Nicola tries to talk her coworker out of harming an innocent kid but Tess refuses. They duel but Tess proves to be a surprisingly stronger fighter. Before Tess could come in for the kill a frightened Jimmy knocks her out cold from behind.
At HQ Lois & a weakened Superman attempt an escape. Lois believes its hopeless but Clark reminds her that Lex won't put them down for long. Batman arrives at the HQ and stealthily avoids the guards. He deduces the room Lois and Supes are locked up in and free them. Batman says thay a little birdie told him everything Lois and Clark grinning that it's Jimmy and the two superheroes decide to work together to bring down Lex.
Batman goes to save Martha (the warehouse fight) while Superman goes to confront Lex, dropping Lois off at the hotel where rhe police are waiting (Tess apprehended). Nicola researcher offers to take the reporter home but she declines, not wanting to sit back and watch Lex try to destroy the world. After giving her report to the police she and Nicole meet Steven Trevor (a descendant of Steve Trevor and an agent). Steven says he already sent his men to arrest Lex as they found that he waa behind the bombing. Lois sneaks away to see if she can help Clark.
Clark manages to catch uo to Lex at his lab and tries to reason with him. Lex says that he already unleashed his prototype as a test to see how many lives Superman is able to save. Superman argues that Lex has gone mad trying to play god, which he disagrees: "I'm not playing god I'm only playing favorites is all." Disgusted, Superman leaves and goes off to fight the prototype. As he does an entire line of trucks arrive...led by Nicola's special friend...
Lex realizes he has been found out and tries to destroy the evidence. Lois realize that the monster was made of Kryptonian DNA so she looks around for the spare Kryptonite and manages to grab a considerable long piece. Just as she does the place starts flooding and she runs. However she nearly drown. Fortunately she gets pulled out by a woman wearing armor. Lois doesn't even ask her name as she recognizes the W shaped emblem and blue&red color scheme. Lois gives the heroine the spear and tells her that she says she loves Clark. Wonder Woman nods and heads towards the direction of Superman.
Superman draws the monster out away from the city and is helped by Batman. Wonder Woman arrives with the spear. The final battles commences with Batman providing a distraction to lead the prototype away. Diana and Superman fight the beast but is soon overpowered. Clark takes the makeshift spear and goes off and manages to subdue the creature rather unwilling to kill it. However he gets blown up by a missile sent by the US military and everyone thinks he is dead.
To his he walks out of the smoke, banged up but alive, having narrowly escaped the blast. The monster has died, leaving Clark to wonders sadly if the monster could have been saved as it had no control over its actions. A relieved Lois embraces him as the other two supers look on in bittersweet triumph.
Several days later, the President, on the behest of the Helen Hunt Senator, gives Superman a full pardon. The world also starts to see rising of actual superheroes to take in the increase of villains having been inspired by the actions of the newly dubbed Trinity. The ending shows that long term exposure to Kryptonite left Lex without any hair, cementing his iconic look. He had also beem arrested and tried and ends up locked up at a mental institution on an insanity plea. His other henchmen & Tess are jailed and Luthor's company scrambles to do damage control. Bruce catches up to Clark and apologizes for being cold. They part ways on better terms before musing at the similarities between their alter egos. Diana teases that they make a great team and returns to the capital with her team. Bruce returns to Gotham and stops at the cemetery to place flowers on Jason Todd's grave, showing that he moved to the acceptance stage of grief. Jimmy also ends up getting a job as an intern for Daily Planet with Lois as his mentor this time. And Nicola goes to Gotham to work as a social worker and takes up a case: Cassandra Cain.
The final scene ends with Clark as Superman dressed up in Metropolis visiting a local orphanage/foster home, showing that at his core he truly does care about humanity despite all them haters. đđ đ happy ending everyone!!!
The movie ends with a montage of
- Cyborg walking around aimlessly in his hometown and finding a discarded newspaper highlighting the heroes' exploits and getting the idea to try becoming a hero himself
- Aquaman in his kingdom catching up with the surface world and becoming curious, and wonders about an alliance
- Barry standing in a hill in his city in costume. He grins and smiles, before pulling over his cowl and racing off
- And Lex, plotting an escape from his cell, suddenly sees a peculiarly tall guard looming over him. He makes a digging comment that the guard shrugs off. To his surprise the guard unlocks the cell and leads Lex out. Lex asks who the guard is; the guard slips off his disguises revealing a sapient Gorilla...Gorilla Grodd!
All This sets up a future plot point that wouldn't be explored until after Justice League where we're introduced to the cinematic LEGION OF DOOM!!! The prototype they fight is not doomsday but foreshadows the creation of Bizarro (who was one of the original members of the LoD).
With the actual Justice League movie we continue with the formation of the team through several subplots converging into one major story arc. The Helen Hunt Senator plays a huge role being their ally and influence on building the Hall of Justice. Plus more Brucola stuff because we need fun stuff in Batman, Tom King.
#they wasted jimmy olsen AND tess mercer so i decided to give them a larger role#anti bvs#rewrite#dceu#canon x oc#dc trinity#spoilers#long text tw#anti batman vs superman#world's finest#bruce wayne x oc#batman#superman#wonder woman#lex luthor#mercy graves#jimmy olsen#lois lane#DC OC#trying to make a (noncatwoman) love interest for bruce who is an fleshed out character in her own right
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This one is actually a continuation of that ask from a while back:Â âI heard you had lunch with ___â
Hope you enjoy!
Leon Kennedy was many things. He was a D.S.O Agent, a close confidant of the President, and, most importantly, a husband and a father. But, at the end of the day, Leon Kennedy may have been all of those things, but he was also just that, a man. And like many men, he got jealous.
His conversation with Claire about her boss, Neil Fisher, had put a lot of things into perspective for him. He knew that Neil was not a threat to him - never was and never would be. However, Leon would be the first to admitted that he has somewhat of a...possessive streak especially when it comes to his family. Personally, he thinks itâs a holdover from his line of work - keep his loved ones close and no one can hurt them. Whether that was true or not didnât negate the fact that his slight possessive issues were very much present and when that mixed with his jealousy, Leon was a force to be reckoned with.
So, while Neil possessed no problems within his marriage, he had shown an increasing interest in his wife and that was something that Leon could not just let slide. Thus, his master plan had been birthed.
He hid his intentions from Claire; if she found out he would most definitely end up in the dog house. That was a place heâd learned from experience that he did not want to be. So this operation had to be top secret - even if Claire would be involved later.Â
He planned and he waited - patience was a virtue of course. Finally, the perfect moment presented itself and Leon was poised to strike.Â
Hunnigan mentioned on Monday that this would most likely be a slow week - at least as slow as a government agency that deals closely with both the President and B.O.W attacks could be. She suggested he take advantage of that and use some of his accumulated down time to spend some time with his family. So, he planned to take off for just a few hours that Thursday to have a nice lunch with his wife. Heâd arrive early to make sure that Neil would see him sweep his wife off of her feet right before taking her out for a nice, well deserved lunch between just the two of them - a feat that they donât accomplish often now with a baby in the house.
So he planned and he waited - just a few more days. He thought up idea upon idea of how he could make it obvious to Neil that Claire was most definitely (and happily he may add) taken without all but saying it. PDA had never really been his thing - it kind of made him uncomfortable to be honest - but he was prepared to feel a little uncomfortable to make Neil uncomfortable enough to control his wandering thoughts about his wife.
                            _________
Thursdays were always interesting days for Claire. They were far enough into the week that one was most definitely ready for the weekend and terrible at the same time - taunting almost in the sense that the weekend was so close but so far away, safeguarded by two full days of work. It was good work; the work of a rescuer as her husband would say. It needed to be done and Claire enjoyed it - the knowledge that she was helping people. But, sometimes she wished that work didnât involve so much paperwork. She briefly wondered if Leon ever felt the same way. Sheâd seen the stacks of reports that had to be filled out after each of his missions and assignments; there was no way any of that was particularly pleasant to fill out.Â
So, as Claire got ready that normal Thursday morning, she found herself preparing for a hopefully boring day doing good work to help good people. And as she sat at the breakfast table watching Leon make goofy faces as he fed their daughter, she couldnât help but wish the weekend would arrive just a little sooner. She was already making plans to spend as much time as she could with her family.Â
It seems that everyone had been making plans that day, because when Claire made it to the office, she noticed that Neil had apparently planed a whole day of work for their team in what, she assumed, was a bid to grab her attention for a large portion of the day. Claire being more experienced in most aspects of bioweapons made her the perfect person for a go between her team and their boss as they created a campaign to bring more light to Umbrella and the viruses that still wracked the world even as the company began to sink.
Neil pretended to need extra explanations of certain aspects of the plan in order to extend their time together. Claire knew he was putting on a front, Neil was a smart guy, he wouldnât have his current job is he wasnât. But, Claire humored him against her own personal wishes, afterall, he was still her boss.
In terms of personal feelings against the man, Claire didnât have any in particular. Neil seemed like a nice enough man but she was aware of his feelings for her and she was a happily married woman. Even though she had told Leon he had nothing to notice about -Â and he didnât - but she felt it was still best to limit her interactions with Neil as much as she could.
It came as no surprise to her that when the typical lunch hour rolled around, Neil began to insist that they spend it together.
âI think it would be a great opportunity for you to further explain this brilliant plan of yours.â
âIâve already explained every minor detail to you. Now I think it would be best if you just read through the proposal on your own, maybe that way you can figure out whatever is confusing you. Sometimes itâs just the way someone is explaining it and not the content itself.â Claire began to gather her things and move to her own office to grab her purse and head to lunch. She had somehow managed to forget her pack lunch on the kitchen counter and would now have to go buy one.
âWell, then we could use this time to get to know eachother better. Every boss should know his employeeâs right? Especially ones he tends to work the most with.â
âWell, if weâll be working so closely together so often then I fail to see why you would want to spend more time with me.â She had reached her door now. Turning the nob she prayed she would be able to slip in and close the door on Neil without too much resistance.
âWho wouldnât want to spend more time with you Angel?â
She froze. Looking up she was shocked to see her husband sitting in her chair, a bouquet of red roses sitting in front of him on her desk.
âLeon? What are you doing here?â she shook her head, moving to embrace him as he stood, âi mean, not that iâm not happy to see you but still, what are you doing here.â
âWell I just missed your smiling face so much I had to rush over immediately to see you.â
She fixed him with a look that said she was not amused (even though she was).
âIt was kind of a slow day at the office and Hunnigan suggested I use that to my advantage. I noticed that you left your lunch at home so, being the chivalrous, caring man that I am, I decided I would come and whisk you away to a well deserved lunch. Just the two of us...alone...together.â
By this point she was completely wrapped in his arms. That familiar, calming sensation was enough to distract her from noticing how intently Leon was looking over he shoulder and through the doorway.
âHmmm,â she hummed, âThat does sound nice.â
Leon leaned down with, Claire assumed, the intention to place a kiss on her forehead or cheek like he was known to do in public. What she was not prepared for was a deep, heated kiss that would have been classified as that type of PDA that makes everyone around incredibly uncomfortable. The exact kind of kiss that Leon planted on her right in the middle of her office - a fact that was confusing to Claire considering she knew how much Leon preferred to avoid PDA.
The sound of someone clearing their voice is what finally caused them to pull apart. Claire would be the first to admit that she was a little sad the kiss ended so soon - having a baby on top of their already busy schedules didnât leave much time for them. They were always Claire and Leon, Isabelleâs Mommy and Daddy. Or, Claire and Leon, Terrasave and the D.S.Oâs best. Even Though she loved her daughter with her whole heart and believed just as strongly in the work she was doing, sometimes she just wanted to be Claire and Leon - thatâs it, just them.
She didnât need to turn around to know who was behind her - the smirk on Leonâs face told her it was Neil. Suddenly, Claire was begging to put two and two together.Â
âHi, Neil right?â Leon jumped right in.
âUm - â Neil was not able to get a real word in before Leon interrupted him,
âI donât think we got to properly meet at that event the other week, what with me technically working and all. Leon Kennedy,â he held his hand out for th either man to shake, â Claireâs husband.â Neilâs grip tightened at that.Â
Claire could see the pride flowing through Leon at the small slip in Neilâs outward stature. When he dropped his hand, he immediately snaked it around her waist, pulling her close. Even Claire thought that his hand was a little too close to her ass considering her boss was standing in front of them. Then again, that was probably part of whatever plan he had concocted in his jealousy.Â
âI forgot my lunch at home so Leon is going to take me out.â Claire stepped in, hoping that neither Leon nor Neil would make a fuss about the whole situation.
âI see he also brought you flowers...how nice.â Neilâs body language was stiff, it was obvious he was trying to restrain what was probably both disappointment and some varying degree of his own jealousy.
âOnly the best for my Angel. She deserves flowers as beautiful as her but, alas, no such flower exists. So, I settled for roses.â
Claire loved Leon and so, she tended to put up with a lot of his antics. This one, however, was starting to irk her and the confidant smirk on his face really did it in for her. She was done being a things for these two men to fight over - one of which who definitely had no right to.
Claire shrugged out of Leonâs hold, moving behind her desk to grab her purse.
âWell, times wasting. Common Leon, letâs go.â She grabbed his hand and began to pull him out of the room. She was thankful he didnât resist. As the passed him, she turned to speak to Neil one last time before leaving,
â I have some time after lunch if you really need me to go over the plan again. I still suggest you go over the proposals on your own first though.â
Neil let out a mumbles âof courseâ but Claire was more focused on getting Leon across the open office space, into the elevator, and away from Neil.
                           ___________
âIâve gotta admit,â Leon looked up from his fries to his wife as she spoke, âthat line about the flowers? Some of your best work.â
Leon chuckled but looked back down at his plate. Apparently once theyâd left the office he had found his shame at the way he had reacted even after being told by Claire he had nothing to worry about.
Heâd insisted that Claire pick where they go to dinner. She had decided on a small dinner not that far from her office that they used to frequent often on impromptu dates not unlike their current one. The milkshakes here were her favorite.
âYa well, itâs true.â
She reached across the table to hold his hand, milkshake forgotten in front of her.
âAs much as I love beautiful flowers and amazing lunch dates, you know that you really donât have anything to worry about. Neil is just my boss - a pretty poor one - but my boss none the less.â
âI get it, I do. I know you would never but, â he sighed, â I canât help it Claire. I saw the way he looked at you and it just - forgive me?â He looked her in the eyes, his own wide enough to portray all the remorse he truly did feel about what was probably an overreaction.
Claire just smiled, she could never stay mad at him. She knew that they hadnât been able to spend any real alone time together lately and that probably exacerbated his feelings threatening his fragil, male ego. Besides, she couldnât say she didnât enjoy that kiss earlier. Perhaps she should take Jill up on her offer to babysit more often.
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Out of sheer curiosity, what do you think of Wen Xu. Any HC?
Two Wen Xu asks came in back-to-back and I could probably have answered them both at once, but I'll use your daring moment of sheer curiosity to focus on headcanons/theories I have for him, Anon~!
Similar to Su She, who caused problems while lurking in the background, I think Wen Xu, who also caused problems while lurking in the background, is our guy who has been inciting several other rising conflicts between the Qishan Wen and the other sects over the years. He doesn't need explicit orders to do this, mind you, because he is simply doing what any self-respecting son of the Qishan Wen Sect would do. Just like the Twin Prides look to the Jiang motto of Attempt the Impossible and the Twin Jades look to the 3,000 Lan rules, Wen Xu is also guided by Clan tradition:
The Wen Clan used the sun as the motif of their clan, signifying that they could "compete with the sun for radiance, match the sun in longevity." (ch. 17, ERS)
The sun, however, is beautiful and warm and radiant all on its own, which means he doesn't have to play nice with the other sects if he doesn't want to. In fact, it goes against policy to treat the other sects as equals! Therefore, with him being the predominant Wen outside Nightless City, it seems apt to assign these events to him:
1. Monopolizing all the prime Night Hunt locations and excluding the other sects, which made the other sects resent the Qishan Wen even more
Remember Jin Ling setting up those 400 golden nets? That's expensive and entitled! I imagine Wen Xu was our first Jin Ling, except rather than using 400 golden nets it's Wen Xu and his friends and Wen favorites who are staking claims on all the best sites. They're having a fun time and everyone else can cry about it! Remember that guest cultivators love being with the Wen Sect! It likely comes with plenty of favors, and Wen Xu as Wen RuoHan's eldest son had much to offer to gain and keep their support for the Qishan Wen.
2. Pushing the Waterborne Abyss from Qishan into Gusu Lan territory, making it a Lan problem and making the other sects resent the Qishan Wen even more
I headcanon that this event is what eventually prompted Wen Chao to daringly declare that he killed the Tortoise of Slaughter. Did Wen Xu declare that he had killed the Waterborne Abyss (which would sound absurd since the only known way to defeat it is to drain the lake and keep it dried out for years)? Or did he own up to how he simply got rid of the problem? Either way, he made Qishan safe, which is what any cultivation sect is supposed to do for their region.
The Qishan Wen are good to the Qishan Wen and the common folk beneath them. It's really only the other sects that take issue with them and see them as a threat.
*Please remember that the Qishan Wen Sect isn't an empire. They aren't trying to take over the world. They are simply seeking dominance and prominence, with all the power and prestige that comes with it.*
3. It's canon that Wen Xu led the attack on Cloud Recesses, that he accused QingHeng-jun of something to validate this assault, that he ordered Lan WangJi's leg broken when he stood in their way, and that he is responsible for the death of QingHeng-jun (whom I headcanon died due to critical burns from the fire)
The big question here is what, exactly, was Wen Xu/the Wen accusing QingHeng-jun of? It could be something real: neglecting his duties or even something to do with Madam Lan, since we really don't know her backstory. Or something overblown: having two sons who wear clouds on their ribbons, and clouds block out the sun, and those two sons did better than the Wen in the archery competition, so it must be an anti-Wen conspiracy, etc etc. (Wang LingJiao had to learn that logic somewhere!) The latter appeals to me the most, and highlights how Wen Xu was a role model for his little brother. The difference being that Wen Xu had experience handling other sects without getting everyone killed.
Frankly, that Wen Xu destroyed Cloud Recesses and got their Sect Leader killed and made their second Sect Leader go missing and all the other sects let him get away with it just reinforces, to me, that he has indeed been up to no good for a long time and that he is incredibly strong in his own right. Although Wei WuXian comments that the Wen Sect has a higher proportion of weak and incompetent disciples/subordinates, I headcanon that Wen Xu is not one of the weak ones.
But also Wen Xu is not bloodthirsty. He did what he needed to do and the only one left dead was the one that the Wens had a undisclosed problem with: QingHeng-jun. Wen Xu is strong but he has restraint. He never pushed anyone into a corner which could incite a rebellion, which was Wen Chao's mistake.
Until Wen Xu finally did push too hard:
4. It's canon that he went against Wen RuoHan's speech which effectively said to leave the Qinghe Nie alone. By ignoring how Wen RuoHan said that Nie MingJue would not bend, he pushed the Nie into a corner and bit off more than he could chew and got himself beheaded
All the Wens appeared to agree that the Sunshot Campaign was just an act of arrogance on the part of the other sects. The Wens did not take it seriously during those first three months, and therefore neither sought to squash it out or defeat it.
Wen Xu is what proves them wrong when he gets himself killed.
But what was Wen Xu doing in Hejian!? I headcanon/theorize that he was trying to end the Campaign on his own terms. Wen Xu was used to winning and used to the sects capitulating to Wen power and presence. Cloud Recesses was already destroyed and Lan XiChen is no threat, Lotus Pier was conquered and the Yunmeng Jiang were annihilated, and the Wens expected the Lanling Jin to come crawling back to them when things got too rough. This left the Qinghe Nie as the last foe, and thus Wen Xu went on his own prerogative to take Nie MingJue out and claim dominance for the Qishan Wen once more.
RIP Wen Xu
I don't say all of this to somehow make Wen Xu look evil--the Wens aren't evil and I don't understand why some readers want to dumb down the whole story by shoving them into a little evil box--although I guess I headcanon him as having a big head and being something of a bully lol. He's just being the same kind of pompous rich kid like Jin ZiXuan and Jin Ling except he has actual power and authority to back it up. The Qishan Wen are the biggest, richest, most powerful sect. He is the one who will one day inherit it as he is Wen RuoHan's oldest son. So he is both simultaneously protecting the Qishan Wen name as well as reinforcing it's power. He is endearing himself to his father by "fixing problems" and "taking care of unruly sects" before the problem even reaches Wen RuoHan's ears. Considering what we see and hear from Wen RuoHan, and how Wen RuoHan fails to make decisions he's not already being ushered into by a third party, Wen Xu and others are very much pro-actively promoting the Qishan Wen on their own terms.
Wen RuoHan is thus very happy with this loyal and righteous son of his! And it leaves Wen Chao striving to follow in Wen Xu's footsteps.
I headcanon that Wen Xu is much older than Wen Chao, like at least 10 years older if not more. (Who knows how old Wen RuoHan is? However old or young I want him to be at any given time! lol) This puts their relationship in a funny/annoying range of Wen Xu being the big brother but also old enough to pull the adult/parent card. Wen Chao has poor cultivation and he's the baby, which is why he gets Wen ZhuLiu as a bodyguard while Wen Xu, who is arguably quite strong, just gets to run around with his subordinates. Wen Xu is the jock big brother who pushes Wen Chao's buttons and it looks like they hate each other--but I also headcanon that Wen Xu likes seeing Wen Chao succeed in whatever dumb thing Wen Chao decided to do today and Wen Chao wants to grow up to as respected and powerful as Wen Xu (and Wen RuoHan) one day. They are not adversaries although there is competition and conflict between them.
And, as I mentioned before, we get Waterborne Abyss vs Tortoise of Slaughter competition between them. Both of them don't believe it! Father, he is not that competent!
Wen RuoHan laughs it out and disagrees, because he appreciates that both his kids are doing amazing feats. (Are they though? Are they???)
Then there are headcanons of Wen Xu and Wen Qing! Their families were close because they are family and their parents were BFFs! I have yet to decide if I want Wen Xu or Wen Qing to be older. Da-ge or Da-jie? One idea I like for them is that they were close as children, but maybe grew up and went their separate ways a little. That Wen Qing never renounced the Wen Sect makes me hold fast that she did love her family and clan, even if she didn't agree with what they did for their sect. Wen Xu wasn't a bad guy even if he did bad things. (She disliked Wen Chao but maybe she liked Wen Xu a little more lol)
I headcanon Wen Ning's outstanding archery involved Wen Xu giving him some hands-on assistance. (Da-ge? Da-ge...!) Like everyone else in the Wen Sect, I headcanon Wen Ning would have also wanted to impress Wen RuoHan and be noticed by him, too. They didn't keep it a secret from Wen Chao on purpose, it just turned out that way especially since most of the work was done by Wen Ning. (Wen Xu was at the discussion conference but he didn't watch the archery competition, instead teasing it was for babies in order to make Wen Chao cross. Wen Xu likes Wen Chao but he needs to grow up!)
There are also headcanons about his mother, but that's a whole rabbit hole of its own lol My main headcanon is that Wen Xu and Wen Chao have the same mother, but she had difficult pregnancies that resulted in them being born years apart. Madam Wen and Wen RuoHan had wanted a large family and sadly only had two sons. Wen Xu did not grow up short on affection, which resulted in him wanting to protect the Qishan Wen name even more.
I headcanon that Wen RuoHan is a good father and his relationship with Wen Xu was very good, although of course it does not come without it's own difficulties and conflicts at times. (Considering how terrible all the other fathers are, statistically there should be one good one, right?)
There are other random headcanons I could throw in here but I will finish this off by saying I don't have a solid headcanon on who is Wen Yuan's father, although I can see the poetic appeal of it being Wen Xu. Wen Xu burned down Cloud Recesses and said the Wen would help the Lan grow from the ashes. Wen Yuan grows up there as if reborn from the ashes by help of the Lan, given a new name and family, too.
(That Wen Chao is explicitly given a wife in canon makes me headcanon him as Wen Yuan's father though, as I also like Wei WuXian protecting Wen Chao's son for my own dark delight~)
I also tend to think of Wen Xu as someone running around and playing around and not quite ready to settle down. But Wen Xu with a wife and a family of his own? I would love to see it!
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Lunar New Year Gift for muckkles!
For @muckkles, I hope you enjoy this!
*****
Pearls Dissolved in VinegarÂ
It isn't Wei Ying's fault. Lan Wangji was very firm on this matter. Â
When they were young, Wei Ying's habit of flirting with everyone in range had driven Lan Wangji off the wall. When he was gone, Lan Wangji had occasionally thought that he would happily watch Wei Ying flirt with every woman in a hundred li if it meant he were alive. Â
When Wei Ying did, in fact, somehow, miraculously, return to him, Wangji didn't doubt for a second that it was a trade well worth making. Which did not stop watching his beloved charm strange women from being extremely irritating. Â
Since the Guanyin Temple--since everything had come out in the open--since Wei Ying had become his, his, his--Wei Ying's flirtatious behavior with others had diminished. Not...ended. Not completely. Â
Wei Ying was just so friendly. And absurdly trusting of others' intentions, for someone who had been through everything he had, although possibly that was just his self-esteem issues surfacing again, leaving him unsuspecting that his brilliant smile was enough to inspire intent upon his virtue. Whatever shreds of it remained after Lan Wangji's very thorough and very much appreciated campaign to remove it, in any case. Regardless of the reason for his husband's obliviousness, Lan Wangji found that having his beloved did very little to quell the prickles of his jealousy. Â
Admittedly, it hurt less. Knowing that Wei Ying was his and any encouragement of others' attention was obliviousness and not intent, the fire that roared within him when anyone else dared to lay appreciative eyes on him was warm and free to be acted upon, not cold and futile and needing to be suppressed with all the Lan self-discipline in his possession. Â
Wei Ying yelped as Lan Wangji lifted him bodily from where he was chattering with a fruit-seller--dispensing loquats of all things, which certainly didn't help even if the connection couldn't reasonably be said to be the fruit-seller's fault. He threw his husband over his shoulder and stalked off towards the inn where they were staying for the particular night-hunt they had just completed. Â
People gave the two of them askance looks as they passed by, Lan Wangji carrying his husband over his shoulder as though that was a thing people just did, face unreadable to these strangers, Wei Ying keeping up a light chatter of insincere protests and (decidedly not obliviously) flirtatious complaints. No one, however, dared to do anything, perhaps due to their collective or individual reputations, perhaps due to the fact that Wei Ying was really very bad at pretending he wasn't delighted by his husband's outrageous behavior. Â
The innkeeper looked for a moment like he might be about to do or say something, but then he hesitated, and when Lan Wangji swept past with Wei Ying, the two of them were not followed. Â
Lan Wangji threw Wei Ying down onto the bed as soon as they reached their room, pausing only to close and lock the door behind him. Â
"Oof," Wei Ying said as he hit the bed, then pouted in a way that made Lan Wangji want to take his lower lip between his own teeth immediately. "Lan Zhan, what was that? Do you think that just because you're so strong you can manhandle this poor husband as you please? Have you no--mmf!" His disingenuous protests were cut off as Wangji followed his earlier impulse with a kiss that started out as a savage bite before turning softer and more probing, relishing in the wet heat of Wei Ying's mouth and the warm line of his body under him. Â
"I can't believe people think I'm the one who's shameless," Wei Ying gasped when Lan Wangji let him breathe again, in what Lan Wangji supposed was the most genuine complaint he had issued since he had physically removed him from the produce stall at the market. Â
"Mn," Lan Wangji said noncommittally, nosing his way down Wei Ying's jaw and neck. Wei Ying giggled and gasped, and something in Lan Wangji's chest purred smugly at his ability to draw these sounds from his husband. Â
"You scoundrel," Wei Ying said fondly as Lan Wangji temporarily stopped mouthing lasciviously at his collarbones in order to redirect his attention to the ties holding Wei Ying's robes shut. Wei Ying actually disliked it when Lan Wangji destroyed his clothes too often when they were on the road, so Lan Wangji nobly refrained, even when he really wanted to, so that he would have the leeway to do so when he really really wanted to. Ideally, any night passionate enough to result in serious sartorial damage would also be passionate enough that it wouldn't occur to Wei Ying to consider the state of his clothing until the following morning.Â
Lan Wangji was not yet ready to rule out that kind of night, but for the moment he was just barely patient enough to manage to get his husband's top off the long way. Fortunately, Wei Ying wore very few layers when the weather meant he could get away with it. Â
As soon as Wei Ying's chest was exposed enough, Lan Wangji latched onto his nipple with more teeth than lips, drawing an approving hiss out of his husband as he arched up into it. His other nipple barely had time to feel neglected before Lan Wangji's hand came up to pinch it, twisting viciously. Â
"Mean," Wei Ying panted. "My husband is so mean to me!"Â Â
"Mm," Lan Wangji hummed contentedly. Â
"So mean," Wei Ying said with a pout that showed off his swollen lip, a sight that set the smug and purring thing in Lan Wangji's chest off all over again. "My husband kidnaps me off the middle of the street and brings me back to his lair to ravish me in the middle of the day!"Â
"Mn," Lan Wangji agreed. Â
Wei Ying tipped his head back. "Ahh...there's no way for me to get free...I'm completely helpless, my husband is too strong..." Wei Ying could absolutely have gotten free if he really wanted to. It never failed to give Lan Wangji a thrill that he did not. Â
Lan Wangji pulled the ribbon from his head, surging upwards to capture Wei Ying's hands above his head, tying the ribbon around them and to the bed beneath. Wei Ying moved cooperatively underneath him. Lan Wangji kissed him again, harsh and sweet and full of so much love. Â
Wangji pulled away for a moment, over Wei Ying's nonverbal protest, to yank Wei Ying's trousers off. He fell back upon his husband immediately, kissing him greedily and groping him enthusiastically. Â
"Ahhh, no," Wei Ying sighed huskily, pushing his ass back into Lan Wangji's hand. "No...ah, I'm completely overwhelmed...there's no way I could stand up to the great Hanguang-jun."Â
Lan Wangji gave his ass an extra squeeze before releasing the handful of cheek he had captured and bringing his hand center-wards, sinking one finger into Wei Ying's hole as Wei Ying pressed back eagerly into his hand. Â
"Ah, ah, my husband is so cruel, he's going to do me without any kind of oil," he said. Lan Wangji wasn't sure whether he intended this as prediction or command, but either way he sounded plenty enthusiastic about it. Wangji obligingly added a second finger, gaining a number of delighted protests of "Mean!"Â
Lan Wangji moved on fairly quickly from two fingers to three, and then he was lining himself up and sinking inside in one stroke. Â
"Aa-ah!" Wei Ying cried, head thrown back, exposing the elegant line of his throat. Lan Wangji bent down to bite it, teeth sinking in around the protrusive Adam's apple. Wei Ying moaned in pleasure as Lan Wangji thrust roughly inside him. Part of Wangji wanted to nail Wei Ying to the mattress with full force and speed immediately, but he held back for the moment in order to make it last. Â
"Lan Zhan, please...ah, ah, so mean," Wei Ying pleaded. Â
Lan Wangji sped up a little, his thrusts rocking Wei Ying's body as he once again abandoned his pursuit of covering the entirety of Wei Ying's body with teeth-shaped bruises to grab his face for a frenetic, fantastic kiss. Â
If Lan Wangji were truly trying to do so, he could have held out for hours. But right now he had other concerns, such as staking his claim on Wei Ying's body in every way possible, including a few that were slightly implausible. When he finally came, after fucking his husband to orgasm three times in a row, he simply lay there, head on Wei Ying, reveling in the feeling and the smell and the sheer ecstatic knowledge of him. Â
"Not that I'm complaining," Wei Ying said, serious this time, "but what was the reason behind this little interlude?" Lan Wangji buried his face in one of Wei Ying's shoulders, savoring the cozy connection and marshalling his words.Â
"The fruit seller," he said. Â
"The one I was talking to when you grabbed me? What about her?"Â
"She was flirting with you."Â Â
Wei Ying broke into peals of laughter. Lan Wangji would have been more concerned by the possibility that Wei Ying was laughing at him if it wasn't such an incredibly beautiful sound. Â
"Ah, Lan Zhan, I'm a handsome man," Wei Ying teased. "I can't help it if I attract a few admirers." Objectively true. And yet. Â
"Mine," Lan Wangji said firmly. Â
"All yours," Wei Ying agreed softly, and the two settled in for a good long snuggle. Â
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The Honey Pot - Ch. 20 - The Queenâs Cruelty
Staring blankly at the art on the underside of your canopy, you try to unravel all that occurred tonight.
âThough I trust it will not come to that. You are a force of nature of itself, Honey.â Reaching for your hair, Varis takes a strand of it between two fingers, much like he had when you first met him. âOne I hope to claim for myself.â
It is taking all your control in that moment to not recoil in disgust, letting him twirl your hair between his fingers. Youâre already shaken by what heâs unveiled to you in this trip, your mind spinning in circles trying to figure out what he could possibly do with knowledge like this.
âBut...I am happy working for Zenos.â You murmur, frowning deeply. You meet his gaze head on despite your voice wavering slightly. âIgnoring the sex, loathe as I am to admit it, I have enjoyed our banter, our duels. And I donât think you can give that to me.â
Varis studies you silently, hand dropping from your hair and you swear you hear the guard behind you reaching for something. Instincts kicking in, you spin around and strike at his wrist, effectively knocking the gun he had just grabbed from his hand. Swiftly, you grab that same wrist and quickly spin behind him to twist his arm behind his back, grunting as he whines in pain as you kick the gun out of armâs reach.
Varis is still quiet through the whole event, hands tucked behind his back as a covetous look fills his gaze. Looking down at the guard you had disarmed, he tuts. âWhile I appreciate your quick action for her speaking out of turn against me...you are far out of your league.â He hums, eyes sliding back up to you. âNonetheless...this is an unfamiliar feeling to me.â Varis chuckles, eyes narrowing.
âFor all my life, I have had everything I have ever desired handed to me without question. Women have been no different. Any woman would be grateful for the attention I have basked you with, Honey.â The way he says your name makes you sick to your stomach, a sort of wanting that sounds warped and twisted. âNo one has resisted me as much as you have. It will make claiming you all the more rewarding.â
Whereas anytime you were forced to be in Varisâ company only filled you with indescribable hate, now you felt unnerved and wary of his presence. Something about his attitude changed where you were concerned and your instincts screamed at you everytime to give him a wide berth. You had hit the jackpot as it were in terms of information, the only issue is you didnât know what to do with it, and you had no way of contacting your superiors.
You had to wonder if they were worried about you. Surely they kept track of you in the news, but you wondered if they tried keeping track of you with shadier means. Zenos destroying your phone effectively killed any contact you had with them. Zenos making you his personal bodyguard scattered months worth of carefully laid plans like leaves on the wind. And after seeing first hand what the personal technology the Galvus name was capable of, there was no way you were getting any inside info out of the compound.
Itâs probably best it remains that way. May the Twelve save your soul when the police find out youâve been fucking the heirâs son because you wanted to. Really, you had no idea how things could get any worse.
Well, Varis could continue holding you hostage like he had been. It had only been two days since Varis had shown you the Aetherochemical Research facility, your mind still unable to fathom it. You knew it might as well have been the closest thing to rocket science, so you didnât feel too bad for not understanding it, but the persisting feeling of something much bigger at stake wouldnât leave you alone.
It was rare your gut was ever wrong, especially when you felt it so strongly. You wish you could explain the feeling, because you were positive that normal people didnât have a gut feeling so intense it sat at the back of their minds. Anytime you had tried explaining it to Yâshtola and Lyse they had brushed it off as you just being perhaps a little paranoid, but you were never wrong.
Whatever it was, you would just have to be on the lookout for it.
Dressed for the day, you dust yourself off as you waltz down to Varisâ office where you had begun to meet him to start the morning. He started his days a little later than his son, having no wish to work out at the crack of dawn. You leave out much later than Zenos does as a result, leaving you restless with nothing to do with the extra free time.
Reaching the door, you knock twice as you hear not just one, but two voices from inside. Raising an eyebrow, you hear a âcome inâ from the other side of the door, hand reaching for the knob and giving a solid turn as you step inside the office.
To your surprise, you meet not just golden eyes, but a pair of ruby ones as well.
âGood morning, Honey.â
Seated in one of the plush lounge chairs lies Elidibus, his ruby eyes twinkling with curiosity and concealed amusement. You feel almost as if he is studying you somehow, starting to feel unnerved by his presence, but for different reasons entirely.
As if he knows something you donât.
âGood morning.â You return with a bow, awaiting your orders. âGood morning to you as well, Emissary.â
Elidibus gives a polite nod of his head, a welcoming smile on his face. âIt has been a few months since weâve seen each other last. Have you been well?â
Nodding, you cast a wary glance at Varis who somehow seems less annoyed. âYes, I have been well.â Focusing on Varis now, you take a deep breath. âWhat are my orders for today?â
Frowning, Varis closes a folder you didnât notice was on his desk and fixes you with a disappointed look. âDue to the nature of business Elidibus and I must discuss, I am unable to keep you as my bodyguard for the upcoming months. You may return to your duties with Zenos.â
Shock stills your tongue for a moment, genuine surprise on your eyes as confusion stalls your thoughts. Brain finally catching up, you blurt out the first thing on your mind. âI thought you didnât want me anywhere near your son.â
Instead of frowning, Varis smirks, reclining back in his chair. âThis is true, but unfortunately it is more important that this information regarding my campaign trail remains classified. Your actions and failures with Garlondâs bodyguard have proven you untrustworthy.â His eyes narrow, but his smirk remains present. However, if you wish to make your position permanent...you may stay.â He pauses, smirk growing wider despite you not gracing him with an answer. âLoathe as I am to send you back to him, it will make winning you from him all the more satisfying.â
You can feel bile nearly come up your throat at those very words, quickly composing yourself as you give a deep bow. âI understand.â You reply, knowing you got off lucky this time and at least wonât have to serve under him for the foreseeable future. Giving one final bow, you turn to exit the room, nearly reaching the door before you sense something flying for your head.
With preternatural reflexes you turn just in time to catch it, finding you had caught what looks to be an inkwell that was once sitting upon Varisâ desk. Examining it, you look back at the two men in the room, finding Varis looking at Elidibus in question. Sliding your gaze to Elidibus, his own is even more scrutinous than before, though he seems to also look surprised. You didnât even hear him move to stand. âCan I get an explanation as to why I had something thrown at the back of my head?â You ask, staring both men down.
âI have heard rumors of your skill, and merely wished to test it for myself.â Elidibus answers, a purr to his voice as he circles the desk to retake his seat.
âWouldnât it make more sense to just ask to see me fight?â You huff angrily, tossing the inkwell back at him.
Astonishingly, he catches it without missing a beat.
âThat is true,â he sighs, rolling the inkwell around in his hand, ruby eyes looking at you in a new light. Now you especially get the feeling he knows something you donât. âIf you donât mind, perhaps I will come watch a spar with yours. That is, if young Zenos does not mind.â
Huffing a laugh, you give him a sarcastic look. âOh yes. Iâm sure he wouldnât mind at all.â You drawl, complete with an eye roll. How you felt so brazen in front of Elidibus was anyoneâs guess, especially given you were in front of your boss as well. There was a strange sense of ease you felt around the Emissary. Or rather you didnât feel you had to be so on guard around him. Given his relationship to Varis, you would think he would put you incredibly on edge.
Strange.
âEither way, I will take my leave.â You bow and turn back around to open the door and step out into the hallway.
That was weird, you think as you head to grab a few extra things from upstairs before heading back down to catch a car ride to the office. Zenos has been long gone of course, having done his training and headed off to work well over an hour ago, and your heart stutters in your chest to even think about seeing him once more. It had been well over a month since you had been able to speak with him; winterâs chill had finally set in and his gaze was as cold as the wind outside. Not that you would ever admit to anybody, most of all yourself, you were nervous.
Extra knick knacks in tow, you head on down to the front door and step outside to hop in the car where the chauffeur awaits. Yuyusho gives you a gentle greeting as you step inside, somewhat soothing your nerves. Engaging in some small talk helps keep your mind at ease as he drives along, Yuyusho driving neatly as he safely navigates the bustling streets of downtown Kugane. Once at the Galvus highrise, you swallow thickly, wishing silently Yuyusho wouldâve run over a broken bottle or something and popped a tire. Youâre here now, and thereâs no turning back, so you exit the car and wave goodbye and head on in.
Itâs strange to enter the building alone, not having to flank either Zenos or Varis as they go about their business. Building security welcomes you as you head toward the elevators, and you're thankful that Zenos takes after his father and keeps his office on the uppermost floors. This gives you plenty of time to think about what youâre going to say when you get up there and face him.
Would he be cold toward you still? Hell, did he even know you were on your way? He had to, right? Would he be happy to see you, but wouldnât show it like a normal person? Would he be happy in his own âZenosâ way? Maybe heâd tell you to die in a fire.
The more questions popped up, the sicker you felt until you had to stop the elevator on the closest floor and briskly walk to the closest restroom. Splashing water on your face, you gaze at yourself in the mirror, a few stray hairs clinging to your skin.
What were you so nervous for?
This man had seen you naked. Twice.
And despite him not being your first, you know heâs seen the most vulnerable parts of you had never dared show anyone. Not even Lyse or Yâshtola. You hand this manâs ass to him on a daily basis for crying out loud. He should be afraid to see you.
Yet, here you are, anxiety twisting your gut like youâre somehow a teenager working up the courage to ask their crush out on a date.
There was so much unsaid about your relationship. Perhaps sex did not change things for him, but it certainly did for you. You had never been a blushing maiden saving herself for marriage, but to you, sex was not just about the sex itself. The intimacy of it all, the kissing, the touching, how they would linger on your skin for hours after...that is what led you to Estinien.
That is what made everything with Zenos so confusing.
In the back of your mind, you knew why you were afraid. To face the unsaid, to unpack the feelings beginning to grow out of control was to acknowledge you felt anymore more than annoyance for the Galvus heir.
And as a fucking undercover cop, that just would not do.
It would be so much easier if he just treated you like shit in bed! How could you have ever guessed he would be a considerate, passionate lover? Any other day, he spoke to you as if you were his servant, barked at you, insulted you to the point that anyone else wouldâve cried or filed a lawsuit by now. But in his arms you felt safe.
You felt like you belonged there.
You felt like he cared.
Words are the only thing you understand.
You watch your eyes widen in the mirror, realization dawning on you.
Touch.
Zenos understood touch.
Twisted as it was, it made so much sense now why he was never bothered by you kicking his ass. Why he always saw your manhandling him as just friendly banter and flirting. Why he held you close in the fountain, why he never let anyone else near you, why he felt like he was making love to you--
A hysterical laugh bubbles up from your throat, escaping too fast to catch, and another one follows soon after. What did it say about you that a monster like him figured out how to communicate his feelings to you in a way you understood before you could do the same for him?
Not that you didnât know this already, but by the Twelve, you were fucked.
Smoothing your hairs back in place, you dust yourself off and straighten up in the mirror. Taking a deep, cleansing breath, you stride out the restroom feeling a little better, but not any more confident. You wonât let that stop you however, head held high as you head back to the elevators and resume your trip up the building.
Reaching the upper floors, you take one final breath before stepping out. Looking left and right, you find the hall is surprisingly quiet, not dissimilar to how it had been your first few days here. However, as the months had gone on, employees would chat more and converse amongst themselves. It was mostly due to fear of upsetting Zenos somehow that had kept them quiet, and you guessed that in your absence, he had been taking out that excess energy on his subordinates.
Frowning, no matter how much you wanted to see him, treating people, even if they were his employees, like shit was unacceptable. Feeling a bit more sure, you stride down the hall and make a beeline for his office. Passing by cubicles and copiers, you can see various expressions on their faces, ranging from surprise to relief at seeing you pass by. You swear you hear someone whisper âthank the kamiâ as you head by. Fixing your jaw, you reach the opulent doors that lead to Zenosâ office and knock three times, waiting for an answer.
âEnter.â
Sounding entirely too much like his father, you open the door, cool air brushing across your face as you step inside. The grand door shuts behind you and across the way you can see Zenos sitting at his desk, not an onze of surprise on his sharp features. In fact heâs scowling at you, so much so that if looks could kill youâre sure you wouldâve taken psychic damage from how hard he is glaring at you. Naturally, instead of offering an olive branch, you go straight for the throat.
âWell donât look too happy to see me.â You tease, throwing a smirk his way, though it fades as you realize he isnât rising to your bait.
Maintaining his frown, his fist clenches tighter around the pen in his hand. âIâm not.â He responds, clipped and to the point, his eyes jolting where you missed Livia sitting on the couch in your spot. Glaring at her for no reason other than the fact that you can, you repress a satisfied grin as Zenos orders her to leave. âI see father has deigned to take you back. You are dismissed.â
Livia, seeming to know what is best for her, stands and bows to Zenos, remaining entirely silent as she strides out the office without as much as a word. The door shutting again sounds much more final as it leaves you alone with Zenos in his office. Clearing your throat, you eye your spot, shrugging slightly. At least sheâs warmedit up for you.
Before you can move to sit down, Zenos cuts you off. âAnd what do you think youâre doing?â
Shooting him a deadly look, you find yourself getting annoyed quickly. âThe fuck does it look like Iâm doing? Iâm sitting down, you idiot.â You snap back. Zenos places his pen down with the utmost care, seeming to do so for worry of crushing it in his fist.
âI would have thought you had learned some respect while attending my father.â He seethes, the words scathing and meant to bite, but as usual you rise to the challenge.
âI kick your ass on the daily and you expect me to fear your old man?â You laugh, throwing your head back to cackle at the thought of allowing Varis to make you do anything. âThe bastardâs lucky I didnât kill him in his sleep. Trust me, I thought about it. I had plenty of opportunities to snap his silly, little neck.â The words sound wrong from your lips, not for the words themselves but how much you mean them.
Zenos seems to realize this too, but his expression doesnât lighten in the least. âI see.â Is all he says, picking up his pen again. âWell, since you are here, I have some work for you to do.â
Arching a brow, you stand up straight and cock your hip out to the side. âWhat happened to your secretary? Whatâs-her-face,â
âI fired her.â Zenos interjects, looking more annoyed by the second. âAre you really going to stand there and continue to question me?â He places his pen down once more, standing to his feet, shoving his hands in his pockets. His suit is tailored to his form as usual, accentuating his figure deliciously to the point you can already feel desire creeping into your gaze. âI spent a month without your presence, and I must say, it helped me realize what a terrible subordinate you truly are.â
Snapped out of your shameless ogling, you fix Zenos with a menacing look, remaining still as he makes his way toward you. âExcuse me?â
âI said you are a terrible bodyguard.â He huffs, having made his way toward you. Looking down his nose at you like he did the first time he met you. âYou talk back to your superiors. You think yourself untouchable and above consequences. You question orders instead of following them. Livia was the perfect picture of an ideal bodyguard. A silent shadow.â
Scoffing, you give him a sly look, seeing the lies in his words. âReally, Zenos. Youâd have me no other way.â
This seems to anger him as he raises his fist as if to punch you but your reflexes are faster, blocking it without a flinch. You hold his hand, gripping his fist tight within your palm. âNow I have a question for you: when are you gonna sit and talk like a fucking adult and say what you really want to say, instead of trying to go back to treating me like shit, huh?â
Jerking his fist back, he says nothing and retreats to his desk, leaving you standing in the middle of the floor amongst the furniture. âStand there for all I care. I have work to do.â
Sighing, you go ahead and plop down onto the closest couch, kicking your feet up on the coffee table and prepare for yourself for a long, slow day.
As the morning drags on, Zenos seems set on ignoring you, scribbling away at Hydaelyn knows what. Once or twice you comply with his wishes and do run a few errands for him since it seems he really did fire his secretary. She was a nice girl and you could not understand what could have possibly led him to sacking her; she did her job well and was pleasant to talk to. If this is what just a month without you around was like, you hate to think about how much the long term employees had to deal with. No doubt the majority of them felt the paycheck was too nice to give up and would rather deal with their bossâ abuse.
Once again he wasnât responding to any of your teasing, closing himself off and speaking to you in one word sentences. As the day waned on, you found that sad feeling creeping up again, just like you had felt that night at the gala. A wish to understand why he was being so cold to you, and what could be done to get back to normal.
Words are the only things you understand.
With the sun having set, you stand just outside the office, a stack of copies in your hand. It was easy to cling onto your pride, to try and maintain your moral high ground, because at this point it was the only thing you had. Because you knew as soon as you let go, that was it.
Would it be so wrong to be mine and mine alone?
Zenos had been vulnerable. He may not have realized it, but remembering that pained look on his face, the desperation to understand, he had bared his heart to you with sparkling clarity, and perhaps it was you who was closed off. In your fight to not give in, you had alienated yourself.
You could have easily left messages or snuck to see him during your time with Varis, anything to let him know that you still cared.
With a melancholy sigh and your mind made up, you push open the door and stride into the office, eyes set on the blond haired man across the room. âZenos.â
He doesnât even look up, still scribbling away at whatever documents are beneath his hands. While angered by this, you keep a cool head on your shoulders and make your way over to his desk. Standing in front of it, you place the papers down gently. âThe files you wanted.â
Not that you were expecting any actual thanks, youâre still pissed when you donât receive any. Deciding that your anger seems to be the only thing that ever gets anything out of him, you let the feeling take hold of you. âZenos yae Galvus.â You growl, slamming your hands on the desk.
That seems to get his attention, if only because you slammed hard enough to cause his hand to jerk and ugly mark now lies upon whatever document he was writing. With a cool and relaxed tone that sounds like the calm before the storm, those blue eyes you adore look at you with a look that is venomous. âSpeak quickly before I kill you.â
âYou wish you fucking could.â You snap, jabbing a finger in his face. âWe arenât doing this bullshit. Not again.â The surety of your words makes him frown but he says nothing more, so you continue. âAre you really going to act like a child, again, because your father dragged me around? You heard him yourself; heâs the top dog around here so if I want to keep my head on my shoulders I better fucking listen to him! Didnât you say that?â
You watch as his bottom lip nearly pokes out to pout but he stops himself. Barely. You're right and he knows it. âAnd what problem is it of mine?â
âWhat your problem is, is that youâre taking out your daddy issues on me! The only person on this damn planet that gives a damn about you!â You nearly yell, teeth bared as you let your emotions flow free. âI figured youâd be happy to see me again! I hated every moment of every day of every bell with that excuse of a man!â Your chest is heaving and you start to feel a little warm.
âYou assume much, thinking I spent any time thinking about you.â Zenos scoffs, crossing strong arms across his broad chest, eyes narrowed on your form. âI knew you were foolish,â
You cut him off with a frustrated yell, close to ripping your hair out. He didnât get it. He really didnât get it.
There was only one way to get him to understand.
Marching around his desk, you take satisfaction in seeing the small amount of alarm in his expression as you give a firm push on the back of his chair that pulls him from his desk. Spinning him toward you, you waste no time straddling his lap, grabbing him by the hair and pulling back, finding him already half hard beneath you. A filthy moan comes from that pretty throat of his and you swallow it whole, pressing your lips to his in a crushing kiss, passion sweeping you away as you feel what it is to finally be near him like this after so long.
Your tongue demands entrance before he gets the chance to do it first, your hand having a firm grip on his hair as you bite harshly on his lip, hips already rolling into his own. You feel his hands snake around your body to crush you to him, pressing you closer than close as you finally part for air. âYou fucking idiot,â you rasp, tilting his head to go for his neck, peppering kisses and love bites on his perfect skin, claiming what is rightfully yours.
It surprises you as much as it doesnât as he turns into putty beneath your hands, any tension that he had held at the mere sight of you all day going away with his hands on your body. His hands are greedy, groping your ass, your hips, your thighs. Feeling, touching, as if you had disappeared from the very star and he was sure you would never return.
His hunger is deeper than you could have anticipated, for he steels his grip at your hips to grind against your core, standing to his feet to sit you on his desk, the documents atop it instantly forgotten. The change in control is so jarring, his hand reaching to pluck yours from his hair, pinning it to the wood beneath you. âHoney,â he breathes, his other hand leaving your hip to undo the button on your slacks.
Unzipping your pants, he shoves his hand in them with a small amount of decorum, fingers wedging themselves between your thighs before you can spread them wider. âGive me a second,â You hiss, wishing he didnât have you crushed halfway beneath him with hardly any room to move.
âI wonât even give you that long.â He groans against your neck, finding what he was looking for as his fingers brush across your lower lips, still covered by your panties. Your hips jerk, almost to the point of embarrassment, having never felt so sensitive to a lover before. Granted in that entire month you hadnât even seen Estinien; going without sex ever since the day Varis split you and Zenos apart. Zenos seems to notice this, pleased as he searches for what he knows will make you scream for him.
With that thought in mind, panic shoots through you, trying to shove him off you for at least five seconds. âI didnât lock the door--â
âAnd I couldnât give a fuck.â
The use of such foul language is enough to still your movements from shock alone, body going rigid until he pulls your head back further by your hair, lips ravishing your neck. It was already enough that you werent supposed to be fucking the Galvus heir in the first place, and here he was refusing to lock the door just in case someone wants to pay him an unexpected visit and finds you kneeling under the desk with his cock halfway down your throat.
Twelve above, the idea excites you more than it should.
Because what is a bigger fuck you to Varis than immedaitely being released from his side to go do the very thing that got you there in the first place? What would grind his gears more than showing Zenos how much you care in the only way heâll understand?
At the very least the hour is late; most of the nine-to-five workers have gone home and if anyone pops in on you, itâll be a janitor looking to clean Zenosâ already immaculate office. However, with his aggression already this high, you donât doubt theyâll actually have something to clean later. In the corners of your vision you already see one of his pencil cups tipped over from how roughly he put you on the desk and you know the papers are crumpled beneath your ass. Humming, you let him have his way with you, knowing now that he needs this outlet.
âIf anyone has missed me, it is you.â He purrs, feeling how wet you are for him. Before you can even open your mouth to protest he nips at your bottom lip, gasping at your look of surprise. âYour body will always tell the truth, my beast. I like that about you. You may curse my very name until your dying breath, but your body will always let me know just what you feel.â He continues brushing the pad over a finger between your lower lips, his other hand moving to unbutton your shirt. âIâve been thinking...would you be opposed to wearing skirts? It would make this much easier.â
Clamping onto his shoulders, you try to push him off you but instead your arms curl around his broad frame. âI thought you wanted me to be a good bodyguard.â Your voice is already breathy, face warm from embarrassment. What happened to the control, the confidence you had walking in the room? Just a few touches, and now heâs got you bucking into his hands.
âIt took me time to realize...but I want you to be no one else but yourself.â He whispers, finally slipping a finger inside. He lets your body adjust as you throw your head back, toes curling in your shoes. With gentle lips he trails kisses along your pulse, inhaling deeply to breathe you in. âLivia bored me. She obeyed every order, and never spoke out of turn.â He frowns, pumping his finger out of your wet sheathe.
Whimpering, you move your hands to grab for your pants as best as you are able with him halfway on top of you. Shoving them down, you try to lift your hips but Zenos is stubborn and continues to pump that single finger within you. âLet me get my pants off--â You snarl, kicking him in the shin, smacking him on the shoulder as he barks out a rich laugh.
âVery well.â Pulling his hand from your pants, he backs off entirely, your body immediately missing the warmth. Not hiding your confusion, you watch as he sits back in his chair, almost slouching as he gets comfortable. âGo on. Take them off.â
Flushing deeply, somehow you find yourself stuck with stage fright. âA-Are you going to just watch me?â you ask incredulously, shoving your blazer off your shoulders.
âWell of course. Why not make it interesting?â He croons, eyes half lidded and molten with lust.
Despite your continuing nervousness, when you have one of the most powerful men in the world looking at you like that, itâs hard to not feel at least a little sexy. While you were by no means a lady of leisure, you did your best to finish his task of unbuttoning your shirt, letting it slip from your shoulders in a way you hope is sexy. You canât help but feel a little silly, but Zenosâ attention is focused on you entirely, and judging by the tent going on in his pants, he likes what he sees.
You only wish you had cuter underwear, your panties and bra built to be practical and not for looks. You decide to leave your bra on for now and begin to push your pants down your legs, hands gliding across your skin as the clothing falls to the floor. As you bend over to kick out of them and get them off your ankles, you canât help but stare at the obvious bulge in his pants, mouth watering as your eyes hone in on it. Continuing your way down to the floor, you rest on your knees and place your hands on his thighs, using force to start spreading them before you as he quickly catches on and splays his legs wide.
Scooting closer between them, your hands reach for his pants, caressing his length through the material, able to feel how firm and hot it is through his slacks. His breath hitches immediately, and you hazard a glance, finding his eyes still half lidded, but no less focused on you. He doesnât look smug or amused, he looks almostâŠ
Reverent.
With that in mind, you slowly unzip his slacks, hands fumbling in their hurry to free him from his underwear, which are of course as fine as the suits he wears. Face to face with the thing that rendered you unable to walk straight more than once, you give yourself a moment to look at it.
Most genitalia looked a little weird, but you had to give it to Zenos; he had certainly lucked out that it had looked as perfect as the rest of him. His length was just enough that you would need both hands to grip him effectively, and you didnât even want to start on his girth because that was the start of all your problems. The skin is like satin beneath your fingertips, his abdomen twitching as he remains silently still at your exploration. While giving head was not your most favorite activity in the world, you had to admit you wanted to do this more than anything to speak in a language he understood.
Leaning forward, you press the head of his cock to your lips, tongue darting out to swipe the precum beading at the tip, the salty taste coating your tongue. Pressing forward, you take the head into your mouth, a second hitch of his breath all the encouragement you need. Patiently, you slick his length with your spit until your hands can glide along with ease, lips still wrapped around the head of his cock.
You have no practice with deepthroating, but have heard plenty of tips from coworkers and friends alike, relaxing your throat as best as you can to take him as deep as possible. Given how big he is, you know you can only go so far, but it seems to not take much, for you feel a hand snake into your hair, pulling gently. Glancing upwards, his head is thrown back, his mouth agape as a moan comes forth, a sigh of Honey on his lips. Just hearing that has you moan around his cock, Zenosâ thighs tensing further at the vibrations you send through him.
Fully enamored with your task, you allow him to bob your head up and down at a reasonable pace you can handle, his eyes coming back to look at your lips wrapped around his cock. He still has that reverent expression, bordering on grateful, edging on...adoration.
On something more.
âYou feel,â He groans, hips threatening to jerk and push too far but you use your strength to hold him down as he uses your face, hand gripping tighter and tighter in your hair. âIâm close,â he grunts, and you take a deep breath, preparing for his orgasm.
He moans your name in bliss as he comes, cum shooting into your mouth and down your throat, and you do your best to swallow it all down. Pulling off, a last few drops spurt onto your lips and chest, the viscous liquid warm and sticky as it clings to your breasts. Reaching up with your fingers you swipe it off your skin, sticking your fingers in your mouth to lick them clean in an unintentionally lewd display.
You watch as he catches his breath, looking as if had sucked the soul from his body. His skin is entirely flushed, cock beginning to soften before your very eyes as his chest rises and falls with every breath he takes.
"Stand up. Now." Zenos orders, still sounding breathless in his post orgasm haze. Standing to your feet, he grabs you fiercely by the hips and pushes you back toward the desk, feet scrambling for balance as he practically forces you onto it. You land on your back with no amount of grace, propping yourself up on your elbows as more of the items atop the desk tip over.
"Use your words you brute," your tirade is sharply cut off with Zenos ripping off your underwear, seams digging into your skin before they give way to his superior strength. Habit compels you to complain, but somehow his impatience is so arousing you find yourself once again shocked into silence. This gives Zenos plenty of time to scoot forward in his office chair and take a thigh in each hand, kissing the skin as one might worship a god. It is like night and day the way he treats you in bed. You knew he held you in high esteem, but only by touch do you truly grasp just how much.
It is evident in how he does not explicitly ask to do things to you, choosing to forgo words as he gazes up at you from beneath his lashes, lips drawing nearer to your molten core, asking permission with only his eyes. There is a beauty in the respect that he gives you, knowing full well he could use his strength to overwhelm you and take you hard and fast, but instead he chooses to be nearâŠ
Subservient.
His lips brush just across your petals, breath hot despite the fire you already feel between your own legs. Curling his arms around your thighs, he flexes his fingers into your flesh, gripping just to the point of pain as he holds you still. When his lips first touch your center you whimper, hips instinctively jerking forward into his face of which he doesnât seem to mind. In fact, he grips you a little tighter, as if to encourage you.
His tongue slips between your lower lips, tasting you, his eyes fluttering closed as he throws himself into his task. It is your turn for your head to fall back in bliss, a long moan pulled from deep within, the looming threat of a passerby having fled your mind. The heels of your feet dig into his back, your fists clench without anything to hold onto. Zenos devotes himself to his task as well as he would training, using his strength to subdue you so you donât crush his head between your thighs.
Unable to take it anymore as he pushes you closer to orgasm, you finally lie back and thread your fingers through his hair, canting your hips toward his face and his mouth that is oh so lovely in this very moment. Your moans increase in pitch and frequency as he pushes you closer, that feeling of too close, too fast making itself known once again. Somehow only he has made you feel that way, as if he is giving you no other choice but to come.
When he hums, the vibrations shoot up your spine and you finally orgasm, crying out his name in abandon as you arch off the desk, crumpling the papers beneath you even further. Back arching taut like a bow, you clutch hard at his hair, the resulting moan providing an endless feedback loop of pleasure as the vibrations once again shoot through you as you still come down from your high.
Unable to hold fast to him any longer, you finally release his hair, watching as he sits up, licking his lips much like a cat. Only he is no house cat; he is a predator beyond compare, a beast in his own right. Something that could never be tamed or domesticated. Certainly not trained. A beast that would yield only to another just like it.
âDid you really not miss me at all?â you ask, wanting to hear it despite experiencing very clearly just how much he did. You allow him to move you as he wishes, his hand grabbing your own and pulling you up to a standing position. You give a sharp squeal as he unexpectedly spins you in his hold, pressing your back to his front.
He leans to brush his lips against your ear, his breathing ragged and torn with pleasure. âSuch notions are beneath me.â He asks, his length nearly to full hardness and ready to go again. You shouldnât be surprised at this point, but still, it was a wonder how you could go back to regular men after this.
He presses you harshly against the edge of the desk, the glossy wood pressing uncomfortably into your flesh. His hand presses firmly on your back urging you to lay your front flat against it, your hands shoving documents and stray pens aside. The cool surface does little for how warm you feel with him against you, the shuffling of clothing reaching your ears as you mull over how to respond.
âWell, I did.â You breathe, voice quaking much more than youâd like. âI-I missed you.â
His touch halts on you for a second, and fear grips your heart too tightly to even think about taking a look at his expression. Your face is on fire, a cocktail of embarrassment and vulnerability coursing through your veins. It feels like forever until he reaches for your left leg and hikes it up on the table, holding it in place as his other hand takes his cock and rubs it along your folds, slicking himself with your juices. Satisfied, he begins to feed himself slowly inside, his name torn from your lips as he slowly works himself inside.
He leans down above you, snaking a hand beneath your abdomen to hold you close to him, burying his face affectionately into your neck. You are surrounded by him entirely, his very existence eclipsing your entire being. It is hard to tell where he ends and you begin, especially as he is pushing those last few ilms of his cock deep inside you. Your hands reach for the other end of the desk to grab onto anything, until the hand that is holding your leg leaves it to grab your arm and pull it back toward his hair. You hold tight, enjoying the shiver he gives at the contact. Once he hilts himself fully he burrow further into your neck, tongue reaching out to taste and mark and claim.
He takes you.
He takes you as if there is no Galvus enterprises, no Varis, no Estinien.
As if you are not a cop and he, the son of a mob boss.
As if you are just a man and a woman in too deep but unable to turn back.
Every plunge of his cock into your core leaves you wailing beneath him, the desk shaking with the force of his thrusts, what few items remaining on the top rattling until they fall off entirely. Youâre distantly aware of his computer monitor crashing to the floor but you cannot bring yourself to care and neither can Zenos, if anything he pounds harder, determined to bring you to the peak once more.
Itâs personal.
Despite how much you donât want it to be, youâre tired of fighting it. Fighting yourself.
When Zenos tilts your head to kiss him, you donât bite back.
When you caress his face like one would a lover, you donât think too hard on it.
And when he brings your world crashing down on you with another orgasm that has you crying his name out against his lips, you revel in the feeling of him being there to hold you through it all.
Thereâs no getting around that your skills have suffered slightly in your time apart from Zenos, who happily takes it upon himself to come to your room for your own personal wake up call. Smug as ever, he stands in your doorway already dressed and ready for the day as you chuck the smallest pillow you have at his infuriating face. He doesnât even bother moving, cracking a joke that he would be more than willing to help you dress, to which you throw your alarm clock at him.
Of course, he catches it.
âCan't believe Iâve gotten this out of shapeâŠâ You sigh, throwing your head back to squeeze water directly into your mouth from your bottle. Sweat runs down your skin in small rivers, the air conditioning doing its job of keeping you cool. Seated upon the floor with your legs strewn, you look every bit unladylike as you are. Twisting the cap back on, you heave out a sigh.
âAll because what? I got a few hits on you?â Zenos scoffs, holding an offending out expectantly. Scowling, you toss the water bottle at him rather than toward his hand, and he catches it without flinching.
âYes.â You answer, smirking at him. âI canât afford to have you catching up to me. Someone has to keep you in your place.â
He returns a smirk of his own, only his is tainted with desire. âReally now? I look forward to it.â
Finishing off the last of the water, he tosses it with perfect aim into the trash can, walking over to where you were seated upon the floor. Reaching out, he offers his hand and you grab it without a second thought, allowing him to pull you up to your feet.
âDo we have anything planned today?â You ask, heading to grab your things from the counter on the far wall.
âToday all that is on the agenda is to prepare for a trip; there is another charity event we must attend, as much as I hate to do so.â He drones, making his way toward the door. Before he exits, he looks at you over his shoulder. âWe only have a few things to take care of at the office today before we return here and prepare for our trip. Or rather, you prepare for the trip. Packing my own things is beneath me.â
Not knowing what else to say aside from sticking your tongue out at him, you wave him off as he exits the gym and heads out to most likely shower before heading downtown. Slinging your gym bag over your shoulder, you make your way toward the door as well, opening it slowly only to find it stopped by a pale hand. Instinct immediately takes over, hand moving to strike whatever attacker had somehow made their way into the estate, before your hand only stops ilms from punching Elidibus in the face.
Releasing the breath you were holding, you nearly collapse from the shock alone, not expecting your mission to nearly end prematurely via way of âlocal bodyguard decks Garlean Prime Minister in the faceâ making the eleven oâclock news. âYou shouldnât sneak up on people, Emissary.â You finally get out as your lungs catch up with your racing heart. Where had he even come from? Was he lurking around some corner? You didnât sense him at allâŠ
âI apologize, I did mean to startle you so.â He chuckles lightly, ruby eyes gleaming with mirth.
âI merely meant to catch up with you. I knew you would immediately return to training with young Zenos, and made sure I woke up on time to speak with you.â
Relaxing a little, you find his eagerness to speak with you a little off putting, but otherwise you see no harm in it. It still baffles you that a whole ass dignitary would be scrambling for the chance to speak with you, especially since you canât figure out the reason for his fascination with you. âWhat did you want to speak about?â You ask, taking a few steps out the doorway and into the hall. You watch as he gently allows the door to shut, ruby eyes never leaving your form.
He is dressed in a stark white suit, accented with golden embroidery on the lapels and cuffs. His hair is neatly trimmed as usual, though it seems longer than usual, in a neat braid down the back of his neck. âI will say, your reflexes had certainly intrigued me. I had always...sensed you had something special about you, Honey, and had taken it upon myself to find out.â
Unsure what to make of that, you shrug lightly and begin making your way toward your room so you can take a shower yourself. Elidibus isnât through with you yet you realize, for he remains in step beside you. âWell, Iâve always been that way, since I was a kid. I was always faster than others, able to fight in ways nobody else could.â
âIs that soâŠâ He murmurs, something in his voice making you slow your walk to face him more. Once he catches you looking at him, he fixes his face with a suspiciously kind smile. âWhat a rare gift, you must have. I will admit, when I had thrown that inkwell at you, I had not believed my own eyes. So this morning, I sought to watch your sparring match with the young master.â He pauses, raising a hand to tuck under his chin as if in thought. âIndeed, I saw for myself your ability. Zenos has always towered above his peers in combat, but to see someone not just stand toe to toe with him, but to dominate him so completelyâŠâ
Frowning, you stop walking, facing him full on. âWhat are you getting at?â
He stops a few steps ahead of you, staring at you with a sudden wisdom that makes him look twenty thousand years older than you rather than twenty. âNothing...I just had the thought that perhaps some legends may become reality.â
A sense of apprehension fills you, one that is equal to the amount you felt when at the Aetherochemical Research Facility. Standing before the face of something greater, something far beyond your comprehension. âWhat...do you mean?â
The Emissary gives you an inquisitive look, as if he holds a million secrets and is willing to share none of them. âIt is most intriguing that you have no idea who or what you areâŠâ He murmurs, and you swear his eyes glow.
Standing before the Emissary, you feel as if he knows you better than you do yourself, and not in a way that makes you feel comfortable at all. You feel as if you stand before some sort of judgemental god, and he is readying himself to pass judgement on your poor mortal soul. âElidibus...do you...know something about my past?â
The Emissary stands there silently, watching, waiting. Seemingly thinking over what he is to say, or perhaps inwardly laughing at how he will tell you nothing at all. âHave you really thought nothing more of your abilities? Thought you were just extremely talented?â He asks, voice as neutral as possible.
Frustrated, you rack your brain for an answer. âI donât know. Growing up I thought...I just always thought I was really good. A strong fighter. You know how there are those like olympians? People who can lift weights with their pinky finger and stuff like that.â
He huffs out a short laugh at that, shaking his head, looking bemused as he takes a step closer toward you. âOh, Honey. Really, you think that being able to snatch things from the air when you donât have eyes in the back of your head isn't a little abnormal? Having the reaction time of coeurl is just a little quirk?â
âRookie, you put her down so fast it was almost unnatural.â
âNo one moves like that! Itâs unnatural! Youâre a freak!â
...Was there really something different about you?
Looking strangely content, Elidibus gives you an reassuring pat on the shoulder, jarring you from your thoughts. âWell, sorry to question you this early in the morning, my dear. Iâm sure Iâve held you up long enough and we both know young Zenos has a temper on him. Iâm sure weâll find another time to chat.â
Still a little shell-shocked you nod weakly, and give a limp wristed wave goodbye. âUh, yeah. Thanks for the talk. See you later, Elidibus.â You continue down the hallway, thinking on his words. Were you really that different? Were you just not an outlier?
When you turn back to try and ask Elidibus a question, you find the hallway completely empty.
The trip Gyr Abania is relatively problem free, the flight smooth and relaxing as you are once again treated to first class seating. You decide to have a juicy steak on your flight over, despite the flight taking only a few bells, knowing this was one of the few times Zenos couldnât monitor your nutritional intake like a damn hawk.
Once you set foot on Gyr Abanian soil, you find it strange that it is still so warm. Kugane will no doubt have snow in the next month if not next few weeks, meanwhile in the arid land of Gyr Abania, you could easily wear some short shorts if you wanted to. The landscape is so different from Kugane, where even the more rural parts of Hingashi are rolling plains and lush, green grass, Ala Mhigo is dust and dirt, but no less beautiful. There is a magic to the barren land, and you feel no less fascinated by it all despite Zenosâ unamused sigh.
You ignore him, because even if your cover is a street rat that got swept into gang life, even as a cop you could only dream about saving up enough money to leave the country. Hingashi had the misfortune of essentially being an island unto itself, surrounded by the Ruby Sea and the plains of Othard where natives of the Azim Steppe kept to the ways of their ancestors. Travel outside the country was a true luxury, and living in Kugane made rent sky high, and your savings very little.
âI honestly donât see the appeal.â Zenos feels the need to comment, expression bored as ever. The taxi rolls through the grand city, many of the buildings hailing to Gyr Abanian architecture, and you snap as many pictures as you can.
âI donât recall asking for your opinion.â You snark, flashing him an angry look. âIâm not going to listen to a rich kid whoâs probably seen it all already. So shut up.â
âShut up? I think not. Unless, you have something between your thighs that will keep me quietâŠâ he trails off, staring out the window as you whip around to face him, your cheeks on fire.
âZenos yae Galvus!â You hiss under your breath, sneaking a quick look at your driver who seems otherwise unaware of the words that just passed from his lips.
Zenos shrugs, smug look already in place as he fixes you with a molten look. âHe doesnât understand a word we are saying. However, if you require me to translate, my Gyr Abanian is rusty, but Iâm sure I could--â
Your hand is over his mouth before he can finish the sentence. Naturally, like a kid, his tongue licks a clean line on the palm of your hand and it takes all your willpower to not pull back on reflex.
Since that night at the office, things had become incredibly pleasant between the two of you, as if something had been unlocked and you had had the key all along. The key being that Zenos responded to touch, and as a result, you used it more. When you were angry, you had no problems throwing him over your shoulder. Now it was more tender gestures such as a gentle hand on his shoulder to get his attention, or a playful shove when he said some ridiculous innuendo. It made being around him feel the same, yet brand new all at once, but you knew that largely due to the fact you had just stopped fighting it.
âItâ being feelings you still were not ready to explore, but at the very least, you had dug this hole, so you might as well freshen it up a bit. Make a home out of it the best you can.
That didnât mean you didnât fight Zenos himself of course, but it made the days go by easier now that you werenât stuck in that state of constant denial. The state of trying to hold yourself back from trying not to fraternize with the enemy and failing miserably.
Friends with Benefits Plus you had called it, because what else did you call sleeping with your boss who you would kill and be killed for? The boss who would kill for you without question?
Unfortunately, you get no time to explore the city of Ala Mhigo, at least not tonight. With a few carefully placed touches and some begging-not-begging, Zenos had acquiesced to staying an extra night to tour the city the next day after the gala, given the two of you didnât stay up too late and party all night. Which, was unlikely to happen as Zenos hated these events anyway, and didnât even want to go.
âWhy send you then? I thought your father ate this shit up.â You ask as you ride in the limo with Zenos on the way to the event, senses on high alert due to this being a solo mission. Security is thankfully tight from what you saw, but you still remain focused on your job. Zenos had been taken away once, but you were determined to make sure that was the last time.
âI actually donât know.â Zenos muses, as if he is just now realizing it. âNot that he filled me on every single detail of his schemes, that or I tuned them out because I didnât care, but as of late heâs beenâŠâ his brows actually pinch together in thought. âHeâs not told me anything as of late.â
âI take it thatâs not a good thingâŠâ You mumble as you hear the crowd of the red carpet getting closer even from the inside of the limo.
Zenos doesnât answer, looking incredibly displeased and too deep in his thoughts. Deciding to leave him to it, you place a steady hand on his back as the two of you enter the limelight, pulling out your shades as the first camera flashes reach your eyes. Zenos becomes the picture of a celebrity in seconds, face schooled into an expression of cool indifference as paparazzi clamor him with questions. As his bodyguard you become his shadow, hanging just behind him as he answers questions, greets other celebrities, and makes his way down the red carpet to go inside.
Reaching the front doors the facade stays in place, the picture of the perfect son of Varis zos Galvus. As you tail behind Zenos, you spot Estinien and Cid across the way, the latter giving you a big wave to ensure you saw him. Naturally the paparazzi's attention turns to you immediately, and you duck behind Zenos' hulkish frame in a sudden bout of shyness. You don't have to look at Zenos to know he's rolling his eyes, continuing forward as more reporters attempt to swarm him.
Part of wishes you could leave Zenos long enough to go and speak with Estinien, to try and clear the air between you, but you canât leave Zenosâ side, not when you are the only one here to protect him and confronting Estinien would mean confronting your own feelings about Zenos as well.
By the Twelve, when did you become such a coward?
âSomething on your mind?â You hear Zenos ask, having zoned out on whatever conversation he was having with another businessman. That isnât to say youâre unaware of your surroundings, but you have been taking the time to gaze at the various art pieces for sale, studying them with your peasant like tastes. âYou have been concerningly quiet this evening.â He notes, flashing a winning smile at whatever celebrity waves at him as they pass by.
âNoâŠâ You murmur, suddenly quiet and shy, not wanting to tell him just what was on your mind. Things had gone back to normal, you would dare say even improved from the norm, but you still werenât at a place where you would willingly vent to him about your problems. That was Ardbertâs job.
âDo not lie to me.â Looking up, while Zenosâ voice was surprisingly gentle, his expression spoke of retribution if you dared to disobey him. âI hate lies. Are you unwell? Do we need to retire early?â He questions, reaching a hand for your forehead, skin to skin. Your face heats immediately, stunned he would ask such questions.
âWhen did you start giving a damn about how I feel?â You ask, trying to push things back into more familiar territory.
Looking down at you, he arches a single brow. âDoes that matter?â He tuts, smoothing a stray hair of yours out of place. That he feels so comfortable and at ease touching you so intimately in public like this while youâre overthinking every single interaction with him makes you wonder what goes on in his head. âYou belong to me and I take care of things that are mine.â
Pushing his hand away (whereas months ago you would have slapped it), you try to not feel pleased by his words. âHow many times do I have to tell you people are not possessions?â You grumble, knowing your face is still warm from embarrassment. âDonât you care about paparazzi? What if the tabloids catch you doting on me?â Or worse your fatherâŠ
âI care little for whatever tabloids have had to say and that is not about to change.â He lets his arm fall back to his side, giving you a sly smile. âAnd perhaps, I want to make sure a certain person sees just who you belong toâŠâ
Looking up you follow his gaze to where you can spy a trace of silver hair retreating through the crowd.
âYou asshole!â You snap, smacking Zenos hard in the chest, wishing you could deck him in the face but sadly youâre in the middle of a party. âHow could you do something so cruel?!â
He scoffs, expression turning into one of irritation. âCruel? You would most certainly know of cruelty, Honey.â He breathes, leaning into your space as if there is not an entire party around you. âYou have been the sole object of my desire for months. Whereas you have gone between myself and another man, sleeping with him every weekend.â Your eyes brim with tears as he stands back to full height, giving you that condescending look that is oh so familiar. âNow, who is the cruel one?â
Your lip trembles as your heart breaks, hands reaching up to clutch each other as you find a deeply hidden pain you never wouldâve thought possible in his eyes. Unable to look at him any longer you back away from him until you push through the crowd to get away. You ignore the looks you get as you put as much distance between you and Zenos as possible. Reaching the exit, you feel like you can finally breathe as you stumble into the hallway, nearly keeling over with how fast your heart pounds in your chest.
Standing straight, you swipe a flute of champagne off the tray of a busboy as he passes by, downing it in one gulp as you let your legs carry you down the hall. The security guards stationed outside the doors give you a questioning look -- it is no secret who you are and who you work for -- but otherwise mind their business as you amble down the hall.
What a mess you were.
You hunch over into a slouch as you find a door that leads to an enclosed garden, the fresh air doing wonders for your nerves. The air is balmy and cool, and you are actually thankful for the warmer climate of Gyr Abania. Itâs not necessarily pleasant enough to stand out and hold conversation in, but feels nice enough that you can stand and think about what youâve done.
Now, who is the cruel one?
You were going to hell.
You were supposed to be the righteous one. The one who actually knew anything about feelings, who had any emotional intelligence, the one who knew how to not treat someone like a fucking slave.
And here Zenos goes, acting like he had the ability to treat you like a decent human being all along.
You wish you could laugh but youâre still technically in public, and decide to just silently weep into the night instead.
He had really wanted you for that long, huh...looking back, you wonder just how many of those touches were invitations. If he would let you flip him over because he loved to have your hands on him. If his insistence at instructing you was to save face, or was it to share something he enjoyed with you?
âGods...Iâm the clueless one.â You murmur to yourself, furiously wiping at your cheeks like a madman. While you were running off into Estinienâs arms, Zenos was pining for you the whole damn time, though heâd probably die before he admitted it. And where he was at least forthcoming about his feelings, you instead made things worse by sleeping with Estinien to run away from truths you did not want to face. And you ran back to sleep with Zenos when Estinien wanted more out of you than just sex.
âYou really are an awful person.â You whisper to no one in particular, no one aside from yourself.
âAre you sure Iâm not a bad kid?â
Blue eyes look down at you in surprise, a sweet face framed by blonde hair coming to scoop you into her arms. âWhy would you ever think youâre a bad person?â She asks, wiping some stray tears from your face. Your cheeks and eyes are puffy from your latest tantrum, lip poked out in an adorable pout.
âY-You said I was bad.â You stammer, rubbing at your eyes with small hands.
âWhat you did was bad, my dear.â The girl nuzzles your face, peppering your cheeks with kisses. âBut sometimes, the bad things we do do not make us awful people. We just have to promise to do better.â
Wiping the last few tears from your eyes, you gaze to the stars in the sky, finding comfort in their presence. It is not often you think about your childhood, what little of it you can remember, but sometimes you remember what wisdom Minfilia tried to impart to you as a child while essentially being a child herself. A calming breath fills your lungs with cool night air and you feel like youâre finally ready to face the music. Turning around, you exit the garden enclosure and head back to the party.
Oh Minfilia...what would you do? You wonder, still stuck in your thoughts until the sounds of an explosion reach your ears.
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Two-Faced Jewel: Session 12
Foolish Heroes of Barley
A half-elf conwoman (and the moth tasked with keeping her out of trouble) travel the Jewel in search of, uh, whatever a fashionable accessory is pointing them at. [Campaign log]
Last time, the party had returned to Barley to deal with a few loose ends. They've been staying in town for a while, waiting for their hired Deathseekers to deal with the dragon in the tower. This session, their stay comes to an end, and as you can see from the image here, they don't get into any trouble whatsoever.
A few other things happen before their fateful final night in town:
Kevin Softbreeze, the herbalist from the Deathseekers, visits town and sells Looseleaf some magic flowers that repel demons- though they're not very potent, and she'll need to stop by his garden in Cauterdale if she wants some seeds to try growing. Saelhen buys some potent knockout drops.
The villagers appear to still be arming themselves and preparing for battle with Wheat- since they didn't mention Arnie as the culprit at all, and tried to pin it on the dragon directly, Malath is still skeptical that they're totally safe from invasion, and defensive preparations continue.
Rumors spread that Chitch has gone missing, but no one can find the body. The party spreads rumors of their own- true ones- that Chitch went to go find his daughter after learning that the pain-wizard is dead.
On their fifth night in the village- somewhat earlier than expected- they notice something outside the window of their rooms in the inn. Lumiere's tower, previously unnoticeable, is suddenly aglow with some sort of yellow cylindrical magic barrier, made up of hexagonal panels.
Looseleaf rouses the rest of the party- the plan is to watch from a distance, and not interfere. A very loud roar is heard in the distance, which is suddenly cut off in the middle- it seems the Deathseekers have sprung their trap.
It's not too much longer after that when they begin to hear screams from around them in the village.
Saelhen's elf eyes spot... something rustling in the fields around the village. All of them. Quite a lot of somethings. Except despite the rustling, she can't make out anything but barley stalks. And the nothing- the hordes of nothing- is moving towards the tower.
The party leaps into action, heading downstairs with weapons drawn. On the ground floor, they see... something sort of familiar. Those Greed Echoes, the mud-and-grass monsters they fought on the road- one of them is forming itself out of broken bottles, dust, and wooden planks uprooted from the floor of the Harvester Inn. Cassie, the innkeeper, is watching in terror, knuckles white gripping a frying pan.
Congratulations! You're both right! The dragon is summoning an army of hateful Justice Echoes powered by the roused hatred of Wheat that's been stirred up in town!
Oyobi thinks fast, and oneshots the echo in the kitchen with an arrow, shattering a bottle that'd become its core. The screams outside continue, though, and the party exits the inn to find panicked villagers fleeing their homes. Justice Echoes made primarily from twisted stalks of barley have formed in their fields and homes, taking the weapons amassed for self-defense from their owners. They attack only those who resist, and make their way towards the tower.
Looseleaf: Let's just attack some hate-plague spirits and see if they decide to attack us instead. If they don't attack us at all, then we can just ignore them and run leisurely next to them and pick them off as we go. If they attack us, then it's a regular fight. "We're up to do some heroism this fine night, right, team?" Oyobi Yamatake: "Obviously!" Orluthe Chokorov: "Uh, I don't have that one prepared, do I? Uh..." Vayen: Saelhen du Fishercrown: "I am up to rub Mother K's face in the super obvious consequences of her actions while incidentally preventing pointless suffering." "Go team! Woo!"
Looseleaf starts us off by rending the spirit of the closest barley-monster, using her new Painspike ability to make the target Frightened of her.
However... these monsters have no purpose except to attack that which they fear, so rather than the normal effect of being Frightened, Looseleaf has now drawn aggro from this monster. Which is kind of what she wanted! So, that's a win! She now has a way to goad the enemy!
The party takes some swings at the monsters, knocking a couple out, but most of them seem to just be ignoring them, continuing to run through the fields towards the tower. They could become a problem for the Deathseekers if they're not dealt with- or for Wheat, for that matter.
Backup arrives in the form of Malath Kanthalga, who perceives these events as- what else?- an attack by Wheat. She's screaming, demanding to know who's responsible, and smashing echoes apart with her mace. Still, the echoes are mostly ignoring the village- they're grabbing anything they can find to use as a weapon, sort of ransacking the place, but most of them are just fleeing.
So Saelhen comes up with an extremely well-timed plan. It's a really good plan, I love it, and I'm excited to hit them with the consequences of her plan- until Looseleaf issues a timely bit of advice:
Saelhen du Fishercrown: Saelhen dashes (Cunning Action), steps forward, inhales a great gulp of breath... "FOOLISH HEROES OF BARLEY!" she bellows. "WHILE YOU FUTILELY WASTE YOURSELVES AGAINST WHEAT'S DEFENSES, I, THE SECRET SHADOW MAYOR OF WHEAT, WILL BE HERE BURNING YOUR HOMES!" "AND ALSO MENACING YOUR CITIZENS WITH MY PERMISSIVE IDEOLOGY!" She waves her hooded lantern, unlit, above her head, to drive the point home. "WHO AMONG YOU CAN STOP ME AND DELIVER JUSTICE? NO ONE, PROBABLY, I ASSUME!"
Vayen, in a surprising show of, let's call it camaraderie, is very much in support of this plan for some reason! He takes a break from his busy schedule of doing absolutely nothing every turn in combat to cast a helpful illusion, to ensure as many monsters aggro Saelhen as possible!
A few more rounds of combat ensue, with a good chunk of the monsters- including a few very large building-sized hulks- immediately turning to kill Saelhen. The party gets some good hits in, and Saelhen gets a little roughed up. She... would like maybe fewer things to be attacking her, actually.
Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Their attention is on me, Mother Kanthalga, the secret mayor of Wheat this entire time, but you might be able to calm their anger! These creatures were born from this town's... collective mind, or something, they may listen to you if you order them to stand down!" Benedict I. (GM): Not with advantage, but a 22... "Wh... what? What are you saying? That's..." She hesitates, then speaks, in a booming voice she- well, you spent a few days here, you know she reserves it for sermons. "STAND DOWN! The time to strike against our foe has not yet come!" "We must be prudent! We must defend ourselves, not attack!" [DEFEND OURSELVES,] the echoes agree, continuing to bear down on Saelhen. Saelhen du Fishercrown: Worth a shot!
It doesn't seem like these things are hugely receptive to emotional appeals or logical argument- they have the one emotion, which they're made of, and they don't super do other ones.
In the following combat rounds, Saelhen... takes a few more hits, which she is not designed to do on account of being a rogue.
Saelhen du Fishercrown: WHY DID I NOT DECLARE ORLUTHE THE SECRET SHADOW MAYOR
More echoes emerge from the fields and attack, and Saelhen is starting to look really rough- and Vayen just keeps the illusion on her, not actually helping in any way. Until... one of them goes for Looseleaf, instead. When it starts looking like she might be in danger, he fires off a bolt of blue electricity, which begins to singe one of the monsters attacking her for damage every turn. He's... a higher-level spellcaster than anyone else in the party, apparently!
Looseleaf, with a little room to maneuver, unfolds her wings and takes to the air- up and out of reach of the smaller monsters, drawing their aggro and forcing them to waste turns. Meanwhile, Orluthe and Oyobi, backed up by Malath and a couple of villagers who've reclaimed their weapons, cut down a few more echoes as more surge forth from the fields to replace them.
Saelhen... keeps trying to persuade Malath to persuade the echoes to stop. She does very well at persuading Malath to try that! Malath tries that, wholeheartedly, once again to no effect! Eventually, Malath stops trying.
Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Would you consider coming to them as a trusted comrade, who trained them to protect them, rather than the one leading them off to war? Maybe?" Malath Kanthalga: "I am going to come to them as a very angry warrior with a mace," she growls. Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Okay! Okay, fair enough. Spiritual remedies off the table, understood."
Orluthe is getting really tired, and keeps whiffing his swings- it's touch-and-go for a while. But Saelhen and Looseleaf's frantic attempts to kite enemies out of range have been paying off, and they manage to down the remaining super-hulks juuuuust before anyone dies.
Benedict I. (GM): Y'know, it's possible that making the two squishiest members of the party draw aggro was not the number one best strategic move Saelhen du Fishercrown: IT MAYBE WASN'T, NO Looseleaf: eh, it's worked out so far!
The combat wraps up, and we transition to a bunch of Athletics rolls to chase down and terminate as many of the smaller echoes as possible. They build a firepit in the center of town, to dispose of defeated echoes in- just in case that's necessary, because who knows what kind of magic is animating these guys.
So after a wild night of chasing, taunting, fleeing, and burning justice echoes- well, it's not so much a wild night as a wild twenty minutes or so- there's a point at which the fields just suddenly fall silent. A pair of echoes chasing Saelhen fall to the ground, inert.
With a good roll...
Saelhen du Fishercrown: "...of course, you're free to dismiss this as the ramblings of a crazed outsider. But keep in mind, Mother Kanthalga, that the ones who fell upon your town, tore it apart in a frenzy of violence, and stabbed you repeatedly for your pains, endangering your people, your daughter and your livelihoods, were repeating the words you taught them." Benedict I. (GM): Malath winces. "That... I don't know why they..." Saelhen du Fishercrown: "...think on it. You're reasonable people, around here. You can come to your own conclusions." Benedict I. (GM): "I tell you, I did not make these things! If not for..." She's kind of lost for words. "...Apologies. I have much work to do," she says, and leaves.
After some work mending the village and cleaning up the aftermath, Looseleaf heads back into the inn to check on Vayen, who hasn't been helping at all and is instead drunk at the bar. He asks "Did she make it?"- and Looseleaf gets a nat 20 on Insight.
She's pretty sure that he was talking about Saelhen- and that he sounded almost hopeful. He was unusually jazzed about a plan that involved her being attacked by a horde of angry monsters- and he chose to shoot the echo that was attacking her, not the one bearing down on Saelhen with a bunch of its friends. When she informs him Saelhen survived, she's able to tell he's disappointed.
Saelhen du Fishercrown: so he doesn't hate us, as a group he hates saelhen specifically Looseleaf: But also weirdly- okay, what if: what if he actually has an ancestral quest involving that bracer and he's mad that saelhen beat him to the punch and furthermore used it as a shitty cover story Saelhen du Fishercrown: saelhen going THE DE LA SURPLUS ANCESTRAL QUEST IS REAL???
Looseleaf switches to talking to Vayen via her spirit-magic imitation of the Message spell.
Looseleaf: (Like, Vayen, everything you're doing is about Saelhen in some way or other. And I can't figure out why. You seem pretty much ambivalent towards all of us except for her. I don't get it. If you want Saelhen dead, why haven't you just killed her? I saw that lightning bolt- if you wanted, I bet you could take all of us, in a straight fight.) (You're sending real mixed signals. If you want her dead, why isn't she dead? Why do you want her to be dead via a hand other than your own?) Vayen: He locks up. And then sighs. Looseleaf: (And now you're sitting here sounding all tired and sad and I feel bad about that.) (I dunno, do you want to, uh, talk about it, with someone.) Vayen: "I don't... want her... to be dead," he says, clearly choosing his words carefully. "I have nothing against her." Looseleaf: (Then it's the- bracer??) Vayen: I'm letting that one Insight roll do a lot of work here, but he definitely reacts to that. "I- um, no," he says, lying. Looseleaf: (There is literally nothing significant about Saelhen other than her bracer, unless you plan on telling me that your deepest desire is to defeat the dance emperor of Kanzentokai in a danceoff and reclaim your ancestral throne of dancing glory.) (Which, granted, if that's the case, that'd be amazing.) Vayen: "I don't know what you're- that's not..." "It's all coincidence. Whatever you're thinking. I don't have- I don't have anything against- Saelhen? Noeru?" Looseleaf: (Look, I- okay, here's how I see things. I don't know how the bracer works, it's weird magic stuff, but the way I see it, there's two major ways the bracer could work.) (That is, you either want the bracer for yourself, because whatever it does or whatever you need it for, you need to be the one wearing it- OR, you just need anybody willing to use the bracer to do whatever it is the bracer's supposed to do.) Vayen: "...Can you not?" "I- I have a job." "I have an important job." "It's from the School of Restricted Arts." Looseleaf: "Well, tell us about the dang important job then! Maybe we can help you with it." "I don't get why you're preassuming that we'd never do anything you might want us to do." Vayen: "It's from the School of- are you listening?" "It's secret." "Look, it's- you don't need to worry about it, okay?" Looseleaf: "Hhhhhrlgkrkshxzshktkrrrzzzzktttttkzzz," Looseleaf says, reverting to her natural dialect in a brief moment of frustration. Vayen: "Sure, it's easier if- I mean, she- that was her idea, she wanted to..." "I just- I can just..." "As long as I can keep an eye on..." He groans. "I shouldn't be talking to you." "You're not in the School." Looseleaf: "Okay, just- hhhjkkkkkrkxxxxxtk." Vayen:"Are... you okay?" He's never asked a question like that before. Looseleaf: (I'm fine, that's just how we express frustration, our throats don't naturally conform to making sounds like 'hrrrrrgh', whenever I do that it's a performative thing that I do to adhere to human expectations- look, the big reason why I'm trying to, pound my way through your portcullis of secrecy with a twenty-foot battering ram of blunt communication,) (is because right now Saelhen is like, probably 80% convinced you're trying to poison her in your sleep.) (Seriously, this amount of in-party distrust is, like, way too Ccorde-damned much.) Vayen: "I wouldn't do that," he says. "If I were going to do that, I'd have done it already. Looseleaf: (If you'd express, in a credible way, that you're actually just trying to get Saelhen to do whatever it is she'd do anyways, she'd feel a lot better about it!) (And then she might even work with you to further your goals directly!) Vayen: He doesn't say anything for a little while. "...This is stupid." "This isn't even- it's wrong, even." "Maybe that's why." Man, that bottle he's holding is emptier than you thought it'd be. He's only been here less than half an hour. "Don't try to- guh, friends. He'll never- stupid. What's the point." He sort of collapses on the bar.
Vayen, it seems, can't hold his liquor. Looseleaf... carries him back up to his room.
Next time: the party finally leaves Barley, for good this time! And also a minor medical emergency happens, and also they kidnap a twelve-year-old, but like, it's fine. It'll be fine. Don't worry about it.
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A few tired thoughts on impeachment and Trump
So, impeachment. Or, to back up a bit, Georgia solidifying its new identity as blue-leaning background state, immediately juxtaposed with a violent insurrection, a public falling-out between the president and vice president (for the first time I think since 1832, and now extreme MAGA people want the VPâs head on a stick, final proof that they are truly part of a cult rather than just passionate about policy), calls to invoke the 25th amendment, and an impeachment, in barely more than a week.
I already wanted to write a post like a week ago putting some scattered thoughts into words, but more and more kept happening, and I got sort of burned out thinking about it all, and Iâm actually quite tired now so I think this will come out fairly short (edit: as usual, it didnât really).
Iâve had a lot of mixed feelings on impeachment and what the impeachment process is really about. Managed to express some of them on Facebook and have a helpful and enlightening dialog, amazingly enough. Iâm still sticking with my resolution to mostly quit social media and certain YouTube channels once immediate political situations died down (which I had thought would be after the run-off elections but clearly the day-by-day developments are continuing until Inauguration Day), but at least that kind of exchange has been a decent enough note to go out on.
I think one of the main potential traps in this whole thing is assuming that what happened last Wednesday was a direct result of the speech Trump had immediately just made (although this Twitter thread I just saw makes some very good arguments that it was, so the epistemic status of this point is not very high-confidence). The case for impeachment was largely being framed as âspeech on January 6th was a direct incitement of breaking into the Capitol building and threatening the lives of congresspersons and the VP -- look, he even used words like âfightâ!â, and the NYT for instance put phrases like âTrump speech incites riotâ in its headlines and news articles. This seems like a fairly easy argument for the other side to knock down. Trump never told anyone to be violent; he even used the phrase âpeacefully and patrioticallyâ at one point (though not the part everyone quotes); and phrases like âwe fight like hellâ are used with a non-physical meaning by politicians all the time (and particularly often by The Young Turks, who highlighted the phrase as âproofâ of incitement!).
And at the same time, Trump was absolutely, devastatingly responsible for the travesty that happened, just not through the particular speech immediately preceding the event, but through weeks and months and years of meticulously (inasmuch as he does anything âmeticulouslyâ) grooming a cult following and weaving an alternate-reality narrative with an anti-democratic twist to it regarding the election, fanning flames and riling up the hardest inner core of his supporters to such an extent that now in retrospect it seems like something like Wednesdayâs event was bound to happen. The post-election tantrum has actually disgusted me to my core in a rawer way than almost anything else heâs ever done (I know things like kids ripped from their parents and kept in detention camps is worse on a direct level, and this all speaks to my privilege, but I have a Thing about the meta-level sin of trying to mess with our self-correction and bring the presidency closer to a dictatorship), and as far as Iâm concerned, a second impeachment is well deserved.
But to actually argue this requires invoking psychology and âsocial senseâ or social intuition, and that catch with Trump -- one of the most fundamental themes of his behavior as a campaigner and president, in fact -- is that to effectively argue that anything he says is reprehensible requires analyzing these more subtle psychological effects and connections, while both sides tend to stick to interpreting his literal words which almost always can be interpreted on their face as meaning something much more innocuous. In these case thereâs often a nudge-nudge-wink-wink or dog-whistling layer to what he says which both sides often refuse to actually investigate in arguments: anti-Trump people just insist that itâs sitting out there so starkly that no justification of its existence is needed, while Trump defenders entirely refuse to engage by saying to just look at the words he said in the most literal way possible. This has played out again and again and again for over five years; the incitement issue even just feels like the climactic final culmination of it. Iâd like to see just for once a national debate over Trumpâs recklessness where the two sides werenât just talking past each other in this way.
But maybe I shouldnât be thinking at all about what a substantive debate would look like, or seeing Trump punished on a basis of rhetoric that fully exposes how exquisitely and subtly profound his negligence as a leader and human being has been rather than arguing back and forth about a particular speech: as my friends have reminded me, impeachment proceedings are a purely political endeavor. For whatever reasons (tradition and propriety?) the congresspersons stand at podiums and give arguments but they arenât particularly meant or expected to persuade. (Okay a lot of it is about the people watching and each of their political futures, I guess.) Maybe it doesnât matter if none of the arguments are particularly strong ones. Iâm biased against the idea of the proceedings being entirely political because it disgusts me and seems to betray the ideal vision of how Congress is supposed to work, but I imagine itâs reality (and certainly not the most disgusting or distressing aspect of reality right now).
I didnât get a chance to catch much of the House debate this time around but I did listen to a lot of it during Impeachment Take 1 in December 2019. At the time I wanted to write a lengthy post detailing how pointless it all ways but it coincided with a sudden rush to grade my studentsâ exams in time for the holidays and so the post never happened. But it was really striking how almost interchangeable the Democratsâ speeches and the Republicansâ speeches were (it was almost perfectly divided along party lines as I recall), how often the same particular handfuls of phrases came out of almost every single congressperson in each sidesâ arguments (I canât remember the phrases now). It was almost as if each politician had cobbled together their speech by copying off the same model and rearranging a few paragraphs and orders of phrases. The little I saw of the speeches for Impeachment Take 2 in the House suggests that they were a little less uniform, but I doubt they were much more substantive.
Anyway, at this point all that really matters to me is for the Senate to vote to convict. Iâm not too optimistic that this will happen and hope that the House politicians put enough emphasis on analyzing the likelihood of this when deciding to impeach, because the first impeachment didnât actually seem to do much good and a second one might do more harm than good without actual concrete punishments coming Trumpâs way as a result. But if they do, it will be as satisfying as possible a postscript to the whole humiliating debacle of the past four years as I can really ask for, outside of non-government actions like arrest and imprisonment.
#Our Current president#(hopefully my last time using that euphemistic tag)#maga cult#kids in cages#american government#impeachment 2019#impeachment 2021#young turks
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Arcadia or Bust (16) Corner of Main and State
"Yeah, so momâŠwe made it to New Jersey, and we're all safe...but the Heartstone isn't really...impressive. So, we're bringing what we found home. See you soon!" In Which Arcadia welcomes back it's underground citizens, Jim gets used to mundane life as a Troll, and drama seeks them all out like a magnet.
Ao3 | FF.net
Iâm rewatching Trollhunters, because itâs been like a year since I watched it, and the more I listen, the less the plot of Wizards makes sense to me. Donât get me wrong, I loved it, but thereâs some lore and continuity issues. That being said, Iâll continue to write this story using Trollhunterâs lore primarily, with a sprinkle of Wizards and 3Below lore as I see fit. :)
â
Jim had been through a lot of trauma in his life. At least since becoming the Trollhunter. But nothing was as jarring as looking down to his chest and seeing his ribcage, muscles, and heart beating.Â
They had taken the amulet from where it was nestled, and in return, left the gaping hole wide open, oozing with blood, and exposed. Could trolls get infections? Because humans certainly could, and this was just asking for infection.Â
He had been lying here alone for a few hours now. It was hard to tell exactly how long in the vast passage of time while drenched in pain.Â
When Colonel Kubritz appeared at his side, he wasnât even surprised. Had he fallen asleep?
âHow do you get this to work?â She bit. In her hand, she held the cleaned amulet, and it glowed, aching to be back with him.Â
âYou canât. You have to be chosen by it. Even if I die, it will pick someone else. And it might not be you.âÂ
She slapped him for that, but it looked like it hurt her more than him, by the wince on her face. âDonât give me that crap. Tell me how to work it!âÂ
âJust speak the incantation inscribed.â
âWe already tried that.â
He shrugged. âThatâs all it is.â
She narrowed her eyes. âTeach me to use it, and Iâll let you go home.âÂ
Jim sighed. It was pointless, but he may as well try.Â
â
Claire rang the doorbell at the designated house.Â
A surly man opened the door. âYeah? What do you want? No solicitors! Unless youâre a girl scoutâŠno, youâre too old. Are you with the tamale lady?âÂ
âHello sir, Iâm not here to sell anything, I actually came to ask about the car you had totaled a few days ago.â
âAre you here to hunt down that devil that flipped my baby?!â He gestured to the smashed in car in the driveway. It looked drivable, but one bump away from death.Â
âNot quite...Iâm actually here to fix it.âÂ
âFix it? You want to fix that? My mechanic couldnât even fix it! And you want to! What are you, 15?âÂ
â17, actually.âÂ
âI doubt you have the experience for this, little lady.âÂ
âOh, Iâm not a mechanic, Iâm a sorceress.âÂ
âA what now?âÂ
âSorceress, a witch! Do I have permission to fix your truck?âÂ
âGirlie, if you can fix my truck, Iâll owe you a huge favor.âÂ
âI was hoping youâd say that!â With a little skip, Claire went over to the truck and rested her hands on the hood. âAd initium redire...â Her hands glowed purple, and pulsed against the metal, making it groan. Then it began to twist and crunch, popping out dents and welding pieces back together.Â
The old man stood in shock as his beloved truck knit back together, and when she was done, it was in perfect condition.Â
âHow didâwhere did youâ?!â He rounded the car, circling it like a vulture. âItâs perfect! You even took out that bump from years ago! Youâre a miracle worker, girlie!âÂ
Claire fell on her butt on the driveway, dizzy and winded. âGlad to help.âÂ
âYou alright?âÂ
âJust a little winded. Iâm still getting used to using magic, especially without a staff. Itâs exhausting.âÂ
âWell why donât you take a seat up on the porch instead of the road? Iâll get you a beer.âÂ
âIâm seventeen.âÂ
âYouâve earned it!âÂ
Claire chuckled to herself and climbed to her feet. She followed the man up his steps and took a seat on the porch swing while he went inside.Â
Only a minute later, he returned with beers in hand. âHere you are darlinâ. Summertime ale. Iâm partial to dark ale myself, but my neighbor got me this pale ale. Itâs pretty good! You have a favorite?âÂ
Claire took a sip and tried to hide the grimace. âI donât really get to drink very often, unless itâs a special occasion.âÂ
âRight right, weâll keep it our little secret. Now then, I owe you a favor. You just saved me a whole chunk of change and a basket of anxiety. You must have something in mind since you offered?â He suddenly sat up straight. âOh god, you donât want my soul do you?âÂ
Claire snorted. âNo no, you can keep your soul! Donât know what I would do with it anyways...You know the boy that damaged your truck in the first place?âÂ
âI only saw a glimpse of him, that blue devil? What about him?âÂ
âHeâs actually my boyfriend, and heâs really very sweet and usually not like this. But he was...fed something he shouldnât have had and it made him go berserk.âÂ
âCrying shame.âÂ
âIâll say! So the army came in and took him away! They wouldnât listen to us at all!âÂ
âSo what do you want me to do about it?âÂ
âWe are going to run a campaign to get him out. Hopefully, if we get enough attention on the issue, theyâll let him go.âÂ
âOh, I gotcha.âÂ
âSo if you could just...spread the truth around town? Heâs actually the one that stopped that troll invasion back at the beginning of summer.âÂ
The man looked surprised at that. âNo kidding, that was him? Well, heâs a local hero! Heâs been talked about a lot since then! Sure Iâll set the record straight! Whatâs this kidâs name?â
âJim Lake Jr.âÂ
âGot it! Donât worry, Iâll bring it up at the lodge, and the rotary, and the chess club...â
â
The phone was ringing, he had been successfully patched through. Strickler sat in his office after hours, wanting to make the call as private as possible.Â
âStricklander, I havenât heard from you since the fall of the Janus order. What reason have you called on me?âÂ
âCanât I just call an old friend to catch up?â
âYou? No.â
Walt cracked a smile. âFine. I need a favor.âÂ
âChangeling to changeling, or school principal to army general?âÂ
âThe latter, actually.âÂ
The man on the other line laughed. âColor me intrigued.âÂ
âYou know of the human Trollhunter, correct?â
âJust what you wrote in your dossier, a human male, 16 years old, lives in Arcadia Oaks, California, turned half-troll by the wizard Merlin. Responsible for the death of Bular and Gunmar. Quite a remarkable young soul. Is there anything else to know?â
âHeâs been captured by the United States Army.â
The man let out half a chuckle. âCaptured? What dumb trouble did he get into?â
âHis deadbeat father left out some cocaine for the boy to find, he thought it was trash, and ate it.â
Distantly on the other line, there was laughter, a strong bark of laughter that lasted far too long. When he came back, he was calm. âHow unfortunate.âÂ
âHeâs a good kid. Why would there be a kilogram of cocaine in the trash anyways? I fail to see the humor in the situation.âÂ
âOf course. So, I assume, he went on a rampage following his meal, and then attracted the attention of some of us?âÂ
âSo you havenât heard about it?âÂ
âNot where Iâm stationed. But give me a moment.â The line went silent, only a very distant and quiet tapping of keys on a keyboard being tapped. Then the man returned. âIâm glad you told me about this. This incident hasnât been reported to our database. That shows evidence of misconduct. Did you get the name of the commanding officer responsible, by chance?âÂ
âColonel Kubritz, I believe.âÂ
More typing. âArea 49-B.â
âThat name was also passed around.âÂ
âTechnically not my jurisdiction, and since she didnât report it, Iâm not supposed to know about it.â
âIâm afraid you will officially know about it soon.âÂ
âOh?â
âHis friends and family, myself included, are going to put on a protest for his freedom. Drawing attention to the situation.âÂ
That echoing laughter was back again.Â
âIt wasnât my idea, in case you were wondering.âÂ
âI know, you wouldnât come up with something so bold. Regardless, go ahead in through with it. Iâll make sure whatever protest happens gets brought to my superiorâs attention, and then I will take it from there.âÂ
âThanks. I will owe you one.âÂ
âOh come now, Walter, we Changelings that survived the Fall of the Janus order have to stick together. Besides, I heard rumors that youâre caring for my familiar?â
âHeâs still in the cradle stone, and the moment. One baby at a time, for now.âÂ
âThen weâre even. Besides, this is the most interesting thing thatâs happened in a while. I wouldnât miss it for the world.âÂ
âYour kindness is refreshing. Iâm glad Gunmar didnât eat you.âÂ
âGee, thanks.âÂ
âWeâll be in touch then, Samuel.âÂ
âOf course, Walter.âÂ
â
âHow goes the car repair?â Asked Merlin, as he met up with Toby and Claire in the park.Â
âUgh, exhausting. First I stopped at the mechanics, and theyâre still backed up with fixing other cars. Apparently, Gunmarâs army did a number and backed them up for months. But they gave me the names of all the clients who got totaled from Jim. I had to hit the scrap yard for four of them, and I just finished another two in driveways.âÂ
âHow many does that leave you with?â
âSeven more,â she sighed. âHow goes the road work?â
âIt goes. Now come along, thereâs someone Iâd like you to meet.â He didnât wait for them to follow as he turned and started walking away.Â
Sharing a dubious look, Toby and Claire quickly caught up with him. He led them to a bookstore, where a young man was sweeping outside.Â
âHisirdoux, my faithful and loyal apprenticeââ
âYou're damn straight Iâm loyal!â He shouted. âWhere have you been? Iâve been cleaning tables for the last 900 years!âÂ
âCalm yourself boy, Iâm here now, arenât I? And I need your help.âÂ
âFinally! What is it? Just say the word!â
âI need you to go with Miss Claire Nuñez and help her restore recently smashed vehicles.â
âWhat?â
âOr, you can repair street damage.âÂ
Douxie crossed his arms. âWhat is this? I saw what happened! There were trolls, and evidence of Morgana! And now you need my help? To clean up, several months later?â
âThat is correct.âÂ
âWhy didnât you call for me back then?!â
âI forgot.âÂ
âYou forgot? About me?â
âOh come now, donât take it personally. I was busy trying to prepare the Trollhunter to fight Gunmar. And get my magic back from Morgana.âÂ
Douxie seemed to become more sympathetic at that. âMorgana stole your magic?âÂ
âYes, but itâs all in the past now. Everything is fine. Well, not really. Seems that the US Army has declared the Trollhunter as a menace to society. We must get the trust of the city on our side if we are to get them to trust us, and agree that his capture is unjust.âÂ
âPlease,â said Claire. âWe need all the help we can get.âÂ
Douxie sighed. âAlright. Afterwards, youâre training me again.â He gave Merlin a hard look. âAnd no amateur magic either. Iâve been doing the same drills for 900 years. I think Iâm ready for more advanced work.â
âOh, you will be. Starting with helping Miss Nuñez field her shadow magic.â
Douxie looked at her, in awe. âYouâre practicing shadow magic? Truly?â
âItâs a recent developmentâŠâ
âShe took Morganaâs Skathe-HrĂŒn, and wielded it without any training. Because of that she has a tether to Morgana in the Shadow realm, who has been teaching her ever so slightly. Iâm not allowed to train her, but she could use the guidance of a Wizard in the physical realm. Do you understand Hisirdoux?âÂ
âI do, and Iâll be happy to teach herâŠIâm justâŠIâll need a moment or two to digest the sentence you just said.âÂ
âWell, donât take too long, we have a Trollhunter to rescue!âÂ
â
There was a heavy knock on the door, which was never a good thing. Especially nowadays.Â
Still, Barbara went to the door.Â
Standing there was Detective Scott and James Lake Sr.Â
âDoes this belong to you?â Asked the detective.Â
âI donât claim him, no.âÂ
Her almost ex-husband smiled at her, pleadingly, âPlease Babs?âÂ
âWhat is he even doing out? You arrested him!â
âAbout thatâŠâ Detective Scott winced. âWe donât have enough to keep him on.âÂ
âWhat!â She shouted. âHe confessed in front of a bunch of people!â
âWhich would be helpful if we had a case for a trial. But as it stands, he doesnât actually have any drugs on him. And we donât have a confession on tape. SoâŠweâre shit out of luck.âÂ
âOh come on Louis, you know the cocaine came from him! Where else would Jim have gotten it from?âÂ
âLook, the chiefâs not thrilled that we didnât arrest the guy responsible for trashing the town, but weâre supposed to arrest someone else without evidence?âÂ
Barbara threw her hands up in the air. âWith probable cause!âÂ
âThat doesnât work with drug dealers. Heâs clean, Barbara. All the blood tests came back clean too.âÂ
âUgh.â
The house shook slightly, and Barbara felt the floor bow behind her. âIs there a problem, officer?â Asked Draal.Â
âNothing you can help with, Draal. Thank you.â Barbara sighed. âJames is not being charged.âÂ
âBut he is a criminal, this degenerate flesh bag poisoned the Trollhunter! He should face banishment for his crimes!âÂ
James withered a little with the glare Draal gave him.Â
âWell,â said Officer Scott. âMaybe you can keep an eye on him from now on. If you have evidence that he is dealing, like physical traces of cocaine on the premises, call us. But for now, thereâs not much else we can do.âÂ
âThis is ludicrous.â
âI know, Iâm sorry Barbara. How is Jim?â
She frowned. âYou havenât heard? The army came and collected him from the hospital!â
Louis sputtered. âThe army came?!â
âYes!â
âWhere were they when Gunmar was terrorizing us?â He scoffed. âAgain, sorry Barbara, I canât help you here.âÂ
âItâs alright. Weâve got a plan.âÂ
âLove to hear it, but Iâve got to get back to the office. Iâm sure Toby will tell Darci, and sheâll tell me. Good luck!â And he left James on the porch.Â
âBabs, Iâm sorryâŠâÂ
âSave it.â Barbara scoffed, but allowed him in the house.Â
Draal never took his eyes off the man.Â
âWell, youâll be happy to know I have no more supply. And after Rudy found out what happened to my last Kilo, sheâs not getting anymore for me. SoâŠâ
âIâll have to thank Jim for keeping a kilogram of Cocaine off the streets of Arcadia. We have a fairly low rate of drug use around here, and we donât need you to ruin peopleâs lives.âÂ
James sighed, knowing he had dodged a huge bullet by being let off the hook. Heâd rather deal with his wife than with his ex-associates in jail any day. âI think Iâve still ruined peopleâs lives anyway.â He walked into the living room, only to halt at the signs on the table.Â
Release Jim Lake Jr.Â
Justice for Jim
Let Lake Go!
âBabs, what is all this?â
âThatâs part of our plan to free Jim! Iâm friends with the councilwoman, and she suggested that we campaign for his release. Bringing a lot of unwanted attention onto his capture will stir the government to let him go!â
James jutted out his jaw, a sign of barely concealed rage. An expression Barbara had grown very used to in the last few months. âSo, youâre going to put his nameâmy name in the news? Youâre going to broadcast what city we live in?âÂ
âYes.âÂ
He whirled on her, grabbing her arm. âBabs, people are looking for me! Horrible, mean, and ruthless people! If you put his name out there, theyâll know where to look!âÂ
âAll the better! Then they can come take you off my hands!âÂ
âYou donât understand! I owe them a lot of money, and theyâll take it anyway they can! That includes extorting you, Jim, and whoever else they connect with me!âÂ
Draal stepped in, removing his hand from Barbaraâs arm. âThis house is under my protection. If anyone dare tries to enter, they will be dealt with swiftly.â
âYou donât know what these men are capable of.âÂ
âI assure you, Iâve decimated armies of flesh bags in my day. These men are no different.â Â
Barbara smiled. âIf youâre really that scared, I hear Vermont is lovely this time of year.âÂ
James just narrowed his eyes, before storming out of the room.
â
The first rally took place from 3pm to dusk, starting from after school, and leading up to when Trolls would be able to participate. Granted, it was only a handful of people, but standing in the middle of downtown did garner a lot of attention. More than a dozen people walking past had stopped to ask about the cause. They were then given a short synopsis of the situation, as it pertained to them:
âJim is a 16 year old student who was chosen by the trolls to be our protector. He willingly gave up his humanity to defeat Gunmar the Black, the monstrous troll that attacked the city at the beginning of the summer. Now, he looks like a troll, and was sabotaged to go into a rage and damage the city. The US army took him away without a trial! Heâs a hero to the city, and deserves fair treatment!â
Reactions ranged from:Â
âOh, he stopped that thing?â
To:
âOh my god! Heâs just a child!âÂ
Overwhelmingly, there was no negative feedback, at least in person. But it was only day one.Â
â
âThis daylight...is it significant?â The colonel asked, as she circled his table.Â
âItâs just a name.â Jim lied. âA sword with a name is stronger than one without.âÂ
âInteresting. Interesting indeed. According to my notes, trolls turn to stone in daylight. Any correlation there?âÂ
So she already knew? Then what was the point? Was she just playing with him?
âIâm the Trollhunter, and I fight bad trolls. It would make sense to name my sword after something theyâre afraid of.âÂ
She hummed. âAnd what about you?âÂ
âWhat about me?âÂ
âAre you afraid of daylight?âÂ
âWhy would I be?âÂ
The colonel laughed. âOh Jim Lake Jr. Youâre the worst liar Iâve ever met. You are honest and forthcoming with truths that work in your favor. You freely told me of your transformation, and of your victory against a Troll tyrant. But now that Iâm edging on the topic of your weakness, you clam up and give me vague answers. I can do this all day, beast. What does daylight do to you?â
âNothing. It doesnât do anything to me.âÂ
âReally? Even as a troll? Thatâs interesting.âÂ
âItâs fortunate.âÂ
âI would say so. Though, now youâve got me curious. These burns on your skinâŠwhere did they come from?â She dragged her fingernail over one of the dark marks.
Jim winced. âI donât know. I wasnât aware in my rage state.â
âThen you wonât mind if I find out for myself?â She crooked a finger towards the shadows. Jim could hear the creak of wheels before a lamp with several fixtures was wheeled forward.Â
âOh noâŠâ
âUV lights, all different wattages. Letâs see what works the best, hmm?â
â
ARCADIA TRIBUNE
Justice for Jim
By Nadja ChamackÂ
Who is Jim Lake Jr. anyway? This is a question I asked myself as I drove downtown three days ago. No doubt, youâve seen the crowd of students and teachers holding signs on the corner of Main and State Street. Itâs pretty hard to miss, quite honestly. Among the students, thereâs also Councilwoman Nuñez, and resident Troll Mascot, ARRRGH! Signs range from âJustice for Jimâ to âFree our Lakeâ.Â
But who is Jim Lake Jr.? And what happened? A precursory search on my end showed only a scant few facts. Jim is a student at Arcadia Highschool, in his Junior year. He was nominated as Spring Fling King last year, and played the part of Romeo in the school play. His criminal record seemed pretty clean too. A misdemeanor for scratching a rental scooter was all that showed up. But hey, who hasnât done that?
So I went to the source, his family and friends campaigning for him. On Saturday, the group was downtown, campaigning all day long, so I had the chance to interview each and every person about why they were there.
Turns out, Jim Lake Jr. might be the most amazing person in Arcadia.Â
From his mother, Dr. Barbara Lake, I learned that Jim is an Arcadia native, born and raised here. He enjoys cooking gourmet food, working on his vespa, and acting.Â
Oh, and heâs the first human Trollhunter.Â
What? Youâve never heard of a Trollhunter? Me neither. But Barbara and Blinky, another resident Troll, gave me the scoop.Â
You all remember that night at the beginning of the summer that we all promised not to talk about? Well, Iâm going to talk about it. In fact, Iâm here to give you all the answers youâve been craving.Â
Many months before that fateful night, a new Trollhunter was chosen, after the previous one had perished. âThe Trollhunter is chosen according to his mettle, by the amulet of the Trollhunter, as created by Merlin, the wizard of Arthurian legend. Jim was chosen after the fall of Kanjigar, his predecessor. Jim is the first human to be chosen, also the smallest and weakest. But, he was the first to defeat Bular, son of Gunmar!â Said his mentor, Blinky. None of this made any sense to me at first, though it was said with great enthusiasm.Â
It turns out, the trolls that weâve gotten used to seeing around town, mostly ARRRGH, are âgoodâ trolls. The bad trolls, âGum-gumsâ are what invaded our town and destroyed my car. The Trollhunterâs whole job is to fight off these bad trolls, and gnomes, and goblins, and everything else that goes bump in the night. And so he did. The Gum-Gums invaded from the âDarklandsâ, being led by a fearsome troll named Gunmar the Black, the Skullcrasher, the Dark LordâŠhe had a lot of names, and it was obviously a bad dude. Gunmar had plans to invade the whole world by blotting out the sun, a.k.a the eclipse we saw. And he would have gotten away for it too, if it werenât for those meddling kids!Â
Mainly Jim Lake Jr. and his friends.Â
And how does a sixteen year old defeat a couple millennia old, bloodthirsty, all powerful tyrant? With a fancy sword? Close. With some magical armor? Closer. By giving up a part of his humanity and becoming a half-human, half-troll hybrid? Now youâre getting it! Yes, to protect Arcadia, to protect us, Jim Lake Jr. allowed himself to be changed. You may have seen him around town. Blue skin, big horns...okay, I just described most of the trolls that are around here.Â
âJim works the night shift at my store,â said Stu Harding, owner of Thrifty Furnishings. âHeâs a very hard worker, and always willing to do the heavy lifting that is hard for the other employees to do.âÂ
âDespite his appearance, Jim ultimately decided to attend school,â said Principal Walter Strickler. âAfter the school found out about why he had missed so many days of school, they were willing to move him onto the next grade to be with his peers. He was a good student before all this, and he fought really hard to keep his grades up regardless. We felt he should still have the opportunity to graduate. We were looking forward to having him on our football team, and in our spring production of Beauty and the Beast.âÂ
So what happened to Jim? And why is there such a big campaign for his freedom?
Well, the truth is that Jim is a victim of unfortunate circumstances. In more ways than one, obviously. Trolls eat our trash. Thatâs why Arcadia has such a small carbon footprint! (Be sure to thank ARRRGH next time you see him!) And this trait was adopted by Jim too, when he was transformed.Â
âHe just picked a bunch of items out of the trash. Cans, an old sock, and what looked like a VHS wrapped in duct tape,â said Jimâs best friend, Toby Dolmzalski. âIt was a normal lunch for him. But right in the middle of gym class, he turned crazy town banana pants and took off! I had never seen Jim act like that! Ever!âÂ
After an 8 hour rage through town, Jim collapsed and was taken to the hospital for evaluation. It turns out what Jim had ingested turned out to be a kilogram of pure cocaine!Â
At this time, it is unknown where the cocaine came from, or if it was planted purposefully. (Seriously, who throws away a kilogram of cocaine?)
But the damage that Jim caused was extensive enough to catch the attention of the US army, who has taken Jim into captivity from the hospital. No trial, no rights, they even took him while he was unconscious. His friends and family have not heard from him since.Â
âIâm so worried,â said girlfriend, Claire Nuñez. âHe was injured from the battle with Gunmar, and didnât completely heal. In the hospital, he was covered in burns from the sun. I have no idea if theyâre caring for him properly, or dissecting him like some creature. But he deserves so much better than this. He saved our town, he saved my life, and the life of my baby brother. Thatâs why we wonât rest until heâs home!âÂ
âNot bad,â said ARRRGH, long time friend of Jim. âGood troll have bad days, best trolls have worse days. Jim need some good days.â
Couldnât have said it better myself, ARRRGH.Â
Friends and family of Jim are asking everyone share #JusticeforJim on social media, hoping to get the attention of someone in charge. All the damage caused by Jim has been repaired, and there were no casualties from his attack. Â
Of course, the whole âtrollâ aspect of this story has to be a local legend. So when sharing it to social media, kindly leave that part out.  Â
â
âC-Bomb!â Mary shouted from the other end of the hall. She came running and almost crashed into Claire and Toby, holding her phone up in the air. âMy twitter feed is blowing up, girl! Look at all of this!â She held the screen up so they could see.Â
âCitizen abducted by the government, is this China or North Korea? Neither! Itâs the US! #JusticeforJimâÂ
âImagine if this was your son. So sad, and so scary! #JusticeforJimâ
âThis is real life, not science fiction #JusticeforJimâÂ
âWhoa, where did these all come from?â Asked Claire. âWhat did you post?âÂ
âDid you know Snapper Karr did a report on it!?â
âSnapper Karr? From KTTV in LA?âÂ
âYes! Thankfully, he left out the whole troll thing. Iâll send you a link. In his story, Jim is just a kid that has a rare genetic disorder that makes him look different, and so the government took him away!âÂ
Claire winced. âThis isâŠkind of spiraling out of control.â
âI donât know why youâre worrying, Claire,â said Darci. âWe want people talking about Jim getting abducted. It doesnât matter if the world outside Arcadia doesnât have all the facts. They still know heâs been taken away without a trial, and thatâs all thatâs important. Besides, Jim doesnât want the whole world knowing about Trolls, right?â
She nodded. âAs long as this works, Iâll be happy.âÂ
âAnd sensationalist stories like this blow up for like a week, and then they die out and are forgotten. This wonât last.â Mary waved her hand. âIt should work long enough to get Jimmy Jam out though.â Then she squealed. âOMG you know what we should do?! We should totally have a welcome home party! Or-or a parade! Like they have for veterans!âÂ
âMary, I donât thinkââÂ
âDonât worry, Iâll take care of it! Youâre not the only one with ties to the city!â And she hurried off, texting frantically.Â
âWhatâs up Claire? I would have thought youâd be ecstatic the hashtag went viral.â Asked Toby.Â
âDonât get me wrong, I am happy. And Iâm happy that Snapper Karr chalked the troll thing up to local legend or superstitionâŠbut I canât help but worry that something bad is going to come out of this.âÂ
âLike what?â
âI donât know. Itâs just a gut feeling.â She scoffed and went to her locker. âItâs dumb, donât worry about it.âÂ
No sooner had she said that, did Strickler appear. âClaire, Toby, come with me.âÂ
âWhat?âÂ
âIâve already spoken with your teachers, now come along.âÂ
Claire and Toby shared a look, but followed regardless.
â
They were led to the parking lot, where a black van with tinted windows waited, a huge red flag, if there ever was one.Â
âUmmâŠâ said Toby.Â
âDonât worry.â Strickler assured.Â
A man in an army uniform stepped out of the driver seat. âWalter, good to see you again.â
âGlad to see you as well, Samuel. And thank you for following through with your promise.âÂ
âAs I said, this is the most interesting thing to happen in a while.â He glanced at the two teenagers in attendance. âWeâre just waiting for his mother, correct?âÂ
âShe should be here soon.â
Toby muttered to Claire, âWhoâs Jorgen Von Strangle over here?â
âNo idea.â
And just like that, Barbara pulled into the parking lot, haphazardly parked, and ran over to them, still in her scrubs. âI came as soon as I could! Weâre going to get Jim?!âÂ
âWhat?!â Screamed Toby. âWeâre rescuing him?!âÂ
âThat is the goal,â the man answered. âIâm General Samuel Attila. Iâve been given authorization to intervene in this situation, given that this project, whatever it is, hasnât been officially recorded. But, bear in mind, you may not like what you see. We may be bringing home Jim, or just his body. I donât know. So if anyone is uncomfortable with that idea, I suggest you stay behind.âÂ
âIâm going,â Said Toby. âNo matter what.âÂ
âMe too,â said Claire. âItâll hurt, but I want to know what happened to him.âÂ
âAlright, then letâs hurry. The facility is about an hour away.â He ushered everyone into the van, which had two front seats, two benches along the walls, and a gurney in the middle. As soon as everyone was buckled, they headed out.
âHey, if you know Mr. Strickler, does that mean youâre aâŠ?âÂ
âA what, Toby?â Asked Walt, with a hint of amusement in his tone.Â
âAâŠman of culture?â
âYes, I am a changeling.âÂ
Toby exhaled. âOkay, itâs like super hard to ask that question when you donât know who knows, you know?âÂ
âI owe the Trollhunter a debt of gratitude for stopping Gunmar. After he ate the entirety of the Janus order, we the few that werenât present for his return stayed in hiding. Had Gunmar taken over the world, my death as a traitor would have been slow and painful. We were thinking about sending him a thoughtful gift basket, but I think this is more fun. I love to bully those in lower ranks. The fleshbags get a few pretty badges and think theyâre invincible. I love watching them cower!âÂ
Toby leaned closer to Claire. âHe was so nice and helpful, I was beginning to wonder if he was actually a changeling.âÂ
âSame! But I actually feel better knowing heâs got ulterior motives, and that they have nothing to do with us.âÂ
âHave you heard from Nomura lately?â Samuel asked Walter.Â
âShe was in Arcadia for a while. She helped with the fight with Gunmar. Right now, I believe sheâs on her way back from New Jersey.âÂ
âNew Jersey? What was she doing out there?â
âAfter Morgana and Gunmar destroyed the Heartstone, Jim and Blinky went in search of a new one.â
âOh, yes. I forgot there were rumors of a source in New Jersey. Did they find it?âÂ
âYep,â said Claire. âBut it wasnât very big, so we brought it back to Arcadia in a truck. The rest of the tribe is making their way back on foot.â
âAh, that explains it.â Samuel nodded. âYouâre both very lucky. Not many Changelingâs are allowed in Trollmarket.âÂ
âNow that Gunmarâs out of the picture, Iâm sure you could visit too!â Toby exclaimed, before getting elbowed in the gut by Claire.Â
âItâd be nice to see it once. Iâm sad I didnât get to see the Heartstone in its glory, but such is life.â
The rest of the ride continued in relative silence. Strickler and Samuel spoke to each other, mostly catching up. But Toby, Claire, and Barbara were far too anxious to keep up with the conversation.Â
There were no windows in the back of the vehicle, so there was no way of knowing where they were. From the front, they looked to be in a weaving forest trail.Â
Then there were huge cement walls in front of them.Â
Samuel pulled in the front gate.Â
The man at the gate didnât look up from his computer. âYouâre not authorized to be here.âÂ
âExcuse me?â
âI donât recognize your vehicle, so I know you donât have clearance.âÂ
Samuel sat up a little straighter, glaring at the soldier at the gate. âHow about you scan my badge first, and then tell me if I have clearance, Lieutenant.âÂ
The soldier gave a little shrug and reached out for the badge, his eyes widening as he caught a glance at the four stars on the manâs shoulder. âOh.âÂ
âProblem?â
âNo, sir. I justâŠI donât need to scan your badge, you can go in.âÂ
âThank you. At ease soldier.âÂ
Toby held back a snicker.
âAnd, let Colonel Kubritz know she has company.âÂ
âYes sir.âÂ
âAs you were.âÂ
The gate rolled open, and they pulled through.Â
It seemed like Samuelâs message was received pretty quickly, because the woman that had taken Jim was waiting for them, flanked by soldiers with strange weapons.Â
âStay in the car.â He told everyone, before getting out.Â
âI was not aware of any sort of inspection. You are not my commanding general, and therefore not welcome here. This facility holds highly dangerous equipment and confidential projects.â
âStand down, Colonel. I am here on behalf of general Adele. Iâm here to recover Jim Lake Jr. General Adele will be speaking to you about your discharge.âÂ
âWhat are you talking about?â She demanded.Â
âYou kidnapped a teenage boy from a hospital. Surely you didnât think that wouldnât go unnoticed? I have video evidence of you leaving the hospital with him.âÂ
âHeâs not a normal boyââÂ
âIâd say so! His whole town is hailing him as a hero for saving them from an invasion! I thought this facility was for research on protecting Earth from invaders. And youâre punishing a boy for saving a town?âÂ
âHe also destroyed it. Donât give into their little campaign. Jim Lake Jr. may have done something good once, but that doesnât stop him from being a monster.âÂ
âI was just in Arcadia, Colonel. There is no damage. Thereâs no lawsuits against Jim Lake Jr. Thereâs not even any pending arrests.âÂ
âI have video evidence of his destruction!â She barked.Â
âThen let the local police handle it.âÂ
She growled, then commanded her men to stand down. âFine. But if he does this again, no one will stop me from taking him.âÂ
âActually,â he clarified with a smirk. âYouâre being discharged. So you wonât have any means to take him again.âÂ
Her mouth opened in shock, as she fought to find an argument.Â
But he was a general, he was above her.Â
âNow, Jim Lake Jr.?âÂ
She grumbled something and started off towards a big central building.
Samuel was quick to beckon the others out of the car to follow him, and headed towards the same building as Kubritz.Â
When Barbara reached them, she spoke, âyou didnât hurt my son, did you?âÂ
Kubritz didnât even look at her. âI donât have to share information with civilians.âÂ
Claire clenched her fists in anger, a black haze coming over her hands.Â
But Toby simply patted her on the back to ground her.Â
Colonel Kubritz led them through the research facility, ignoring their questions.Â
They reached the room Jim was being held in, and she entered her code to open the door.Â
Of course, Jim wasnât the only thing in the room, being surrounded by specimens of all sorts of living creatures, but he was right in the center, with a spot light right on him.Â
âJim!â Claire shouted first as she ran to him.Â
The poor boy was naked, lying on his back and strapped to the table with thick iron bonds. His wound from Morgana wasnât the worst on him anymore, as he was covered in blackened burned spots. The spot that had the amulet was now just a hole in his chest, that went right down to the ribs. Claire could see his heart beating, and his lungs moving, thank god.Â
âJim...â she cried, seeing the carnage.Â
âWhat did you do to him?!â Toby shouted at the Colonel, but she didnât respond.Â
âHoney? Jim? Can you hear me?â Barbara asked, as she assessed the damage.Â
His eyes opened ever so slightly. âMom? Is that you? Are you...really here?âÂ
âYeah kiddo,â she wiped some tears from her eyes. âItâs me, Iâm here. Toby, Claire, and Walt are here too. Weâre going to take you home.âÂ
His smile was just a hint, and he stated, âIâm tired.âÂ
âIâm sure you are. Weâre going to get you fixed up!â She turned to the Colonel. âGet me a gurney or a wheelchair!âÂ
She scoffed. âI donât take orders from civilians.âÂ
Samuel interceded. âThen get me a soldier who isnât completely incompetent! If youâre going to continue to endanger the life of this young man, then I suggest you get out of my sight before I endanger yours.âÂ
The Colonel didnât waver, though a tremor went down her spine. âLieutenant!â She called.Â
A man hurried into the room, standing at attention.
Kubritz just gave a roll of the eyes. âFollow whatever order the general gives you.âÂ
âButââÂ
âNo, Iâm done.â With one last glare to Samuel, she added, âI'll be sending my evidence to General Adele, then weâll see whoâs the one putting the nation in danger.âÂ
âGo ahead, Iâve already given my report.â
She growled at him, turned and left without another word.Â
The lieutenant just stood at attention in front of Samuel instead. âOrders sir?â
âGet someone to fetch the gurney from the back of our van, and send for the medic! And get someone to get these shackles off this kid!âÂ
âSir yes sir!âÂ
Meanwhile, Claire stood right by Jimâs side, holding his hand, brushing the bangs away from his face and combing his hair with her fingers. He had a pretty strong fever.Â
âYouâre going to be alright Jim. Weâre going to take good care of you.âÂ
âIâmâŠcoldâŠâ He breathed.Â
Barbara found some vinyl gloves nearby and got to work examining her boy. âI donât know about the Troll half, but this tissue looks alright. I donât see any infection yet, or any tissue death. Of course, we need to get this covered immediately.âÂ
âWhereâs the amulet?â Asked Walt. âThatâs whatâs missing.âÂ
âThe amulet!â Barbara addressed Samuel. âHis amulet, we have to find it!âÂ
He nodded, âwe canât let these psychos have it. They have no idea what magic it possesses, even without being the chosen wielder.âÂ
Only a beat passed before the army medic came with the gurney, and another soldier came with a crowbar to undo the shackles.Â
âLieutenant, weâre looking for an amulet that came with Jim. Itâs whatâs missing from his chest.âÂ
The Lieutenant blanched. âI donât know anything about itâŠI can ask the Colonel?â
âShe wonât tell.âÂ
The shackles fell free from Jimâs limbs, but he didnât seem to register it.Â
âAlright,â said Barbara, âLetâs move him onto the gurney. We can worry about the amulet later.â It took everyone to lift him and carefully slide him over. Then, he was covered up to his stomach with a blanket.Â
âYouâre going home, Jim. Mi amor, youâre safe now.â Claire whispered, kissing his forehead.Â
âHmmâŠâ Jim weakly groaned. ââŠfor theâŠgloryâŠâ But before he could finish, he fell back into sleep.
#arcadia or bust#tales of arcadia#Trollhunters#troll jim#jim lake junior#claire nunez#toby domzalski#fanfiction
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