#(it only has two characters minimal sets and no monsters

[mrderofcr0ws]

HEADLOCK

JAMES BUCHANAN BARNES

that was the name written on a gravestone in brooklyn with no body below it since the sergeant had been pronounced dead in 1945.

the body that once belonged to that name was now hydra's most prized possession— but the winter soldier was not the only danger locked away down in the remote siberian facility. you were there, too. a monster made from horrors most refused to believe could be real.

two trained killing machines.

one bound to commands and trigger words.

the other bound to instinct and bloodlust.

it had been a long time since either of you had seen the sun. you could get out with his help in the brief, painful moments of clarity he had. when he answered to that long forgotten name, you could escape together.

but bucky was often buried under that brooklyn headstone-and the winter soldier who slept in the bunk below you nearly every night was a danger to even you.

this is a fic that explores bucky's time in hydra. the content warnings are as follows: torture, manipulation, angst, pain, psychological horror, graphic descriptions and language, poetic comparisons to cannibalism, hurt with minimal comfort at times, stockholm syndrome, smut, degrading, power imbalance, canon divergence. 18+ fic.

— DEAD DOVE: DO NOT EAT WARNING —

THIS SPECIFIC CHAPTER OF “HEADLOCK”CONTAINS A NEW SET OF POTENTIALLY TRIGGERING CONTENT ON TOP OF THE ONES LISTED ABOVE THAT PERTAINS TO THE TRUAMA OF THE READERS CHARACTER. THE LIST IS AS FOLLOWS: kidnapping, themes of stalking, implied sexual abuse and assault, drugging, mutilation, and trafficking.

bucky x fem!reader (you have a given name in this fic for the sake of making writing easier, but it will be used sparingly)

word count: idk i write on tumblr... but this one is really, really long, guys, im ngl… (roughly edited)

<- previous part

author note: this chapter is heavily inspired by the song “strangers” by ethel cain. i recommend giving it a listen after you read to deepen the experience. on my masterlist, i shared my bucky playlist that i use to write this fic, too. music is a big source of inspiration for me — the title of this fic and each chapter’s title are a direct reference to the imogen heap song ‘headlock’ (except this one) — and a lot of what i write has songs to go along with the emotions that i try to capture and portray. i hope you enjoy if you decide to listen to the song or take a peek at my playlist.

sorry in advance, everyone.

-crow

PART FIVE —

— WITH MY MEMORY RESTRICTED TO A POLAROID IN EVIDENCE.

a girl had been born to a mother and a father in a small romanian town in 1919.

her mother tended to the house and grew the prettiest flowers in the front garden. she had flowers that bloomed in every season and she had the longest hair anyone had ever seen. her father was a factory worker. he helped manufacture car parts like steering wheels and headlights. he was a strong man. strong like an ox who could lift his two children over his head like they weighed nothing at all, even when they grew to be too big.

this girl had a little brother and her little brother went on to become a scholar as they got older. a scientist. a virologist determined to cure the sick. he moved away to a bigger city when he was old enough and had enough money in his pockets. but he was a good boy. a kind one. he always sent money back home. he sent his sister pictures of the city he lived in and wrote to her every month.

the girl stayed with her parents.

she stayed with her mother— and she and her mother opened a flower shop out of their garage together. it had been her idea. her mother was hesitant. she did not see the value others could find in flowers grown from their garden— but the girl had heard the compliments. their neighbors always had nice things to say as they crossed paths. she saw how people would stop and stare outside their house.

with a bit of persistence and a sweet charming smile, her mother came around to the idea.

for years, she and her mother sold the prettiest flowers for the prettiest shiny pennies. they spent the spring knee deep in dirt, planting seeds and dirtying their nails as they giggled together. in the summer, they would fan themselves off and drink cold iced tea under the shade of their garage head, selling out their flower supply in a matter of days.

she had a good life.

she had been a happy girl.

in 1943 at the age of 24, the girl had met a man deployed to her town during world war ii. an officer.

he took a great liking to her and came to visit her every day. she paid him no mind outside of small conversations and pouring him a glass of iced tea when he asked for one. he paid a dollar every time and she slipped it into her pocket. her mother always beamed when he came by. hospitality was her trade and she welcomed the solider each and every time he popped his head into the garage.

her mother would’ve been cross with her if she knew that her daughter was taking a dollar from him for a cup of iced tea— but it was their little secret.

the girl now grown grew used to his presence.

she grew used to his persistence, too.

he wasn’t so bad to be around when he brought chocolates. he had learned how to swoon the stubborn girl who had caught his eye— and the officer asked on her a date.

a man on deployment shouldn’t date but what else was there to do in that tiny romanian town.

and she agreed.

of course, she had. she’d grown fond of him. a foolish little thing with a crush, she had come to enjoy his visits. when he asked her out, he’d brought her a new dress for the occasion and promised to have her home by 9 o’clock.

how sweet things could sour so terribly…

she never returned from her date on july 9th, 1943.

her mother never saw her again and all the flowers in the garden died. her father lost his strength and he could hardly lift himself out of bed. his brother grew sick with grief and he left the city to return home.

it was all a story.

it was a sad story that filled you with dread knowing there was no way to change the fate of the poor girl who had been stolen away.

but that’s all it was.

just a story.

you had no memories of pretty flowers. no memories of doting parents. no memories of a little brother. there was no house you could close your eyes and picture. there was no town to call home. there were no neighbors. no friends. no officer.

the pictures in the folder made your throat sting. the girl in them had your face. it was the face you could not look at in the mirror— but her story meant nothing.

her story was not yours.

yours had only began where hers ended.

that was the difference between you and the winter soldier— and if nick fury was trying to appeal to a better side of you he believed had to exist by handing you that folder, he was wrong.

whatever hydra had done to you in the very beginning, it was different than what they had done to him. you had no memories— but he had his. they were buried under the rubble of the thousands of pieces they shattered him into over and over again. like shards of a broken mirror, everything reflected off of each other. it was too hard to make sense of— and that is why they tortured him.

they made it too hard for him to sort through the pieces by jumbling them up each and every time he got the courage to try.

your mind was void of everything that came before. it was a blank white space like the room you sat in now.

that is why manipulation and brainwashing could not work on you the way it did for him. there was nothing they could toy with. there was nothing they could take away because they already had— so much so that you could only see the blocks that built your story for yourself when they were placed in front of you within the folder.

pictures of the girl named isla were not the only ones paper clipped to the pages holding any and every bit of information there was about her. a picture of her parents. a picture of her and her brother. a picture of their house in romania. your heart ached as you rubbed the pad of your thumb over the picture of this girl’s mother— but there was no lightbulb.

there was no click.

there was nothing you could recall about this woman— of either women in those pictures.

but you knew one face in that folder better than you even knew your own.

as you flipped the page, his face was clipped to the top of the sheet of paper with the red logo at the top.

hydra.

a hydra document.

a hydra officer.

nikta patrova’s face stared stone-cold back at you.

“stop it,” a far, far away voice cried out. “don’t touch me! please, stop! stop!”

you shut your eyes and all you could see was the blank white void. in every direction you looked in the space behind your eyelids, it was nothing but white. it wasn’t anything at all.

“get off me!”

the ground below your feet began to tremble.

the sound that echoed in the space between your ears was the awful, terrible crackling sound of ice giving way. kukukuku.

the void in your mind was not a void at all.

it was a landscape of unyielding winter— and the ice below your feet shattered, sending you sinking into the freezing depths of a darkness long sealed away.

the smell of blood burned your nose as you crawled through the tall grass under a moonless sky. one hand after the other, you heaved yourself across the dirt. across the grass. across the field.

he tugged you back by your ankles and a sharp, petrified gasp ejected from your lungs. you screamed as you twisted and writhed on the ground like a snake with its head cut off. your nails dug into his arms. blood painted your nails as you tore open skin— but he only snickered.

“shhh,” he hushed as he covered your mouth with his large, calloused hand. “come on, don’t be this way.”

you bit down on his hand and blood stained your teeth. he hissed, pulling his hand back. he put the wound in his mouth, grunting as he suckled on the hurt.

“you little bitch…” he whispered.

the dirt suffocated you and you choked on it each time you tried to draw breath. it stuck to your blood stained mouth as he pressed his palm down into the back of your head and held you in place. on a breezeless summer night, the rustle in the grass was no fault of the winds.

you never saw that field by the river again.

you never took the path back into the town you called home.

and you never returned to the house with the prettiest flowers in the front garden at 9 o’clock.

“get up,”the officer said. he grabbed you by your elbow and hoisted you to your feet. “walk.”

it was hard to walk. you had been cramped in the trunk of that dirty, rusty car for hours. the sun was too bright. you stumbled alongside him as he guided you by the back of your neck towards a warehouse.

you hit the floor hard as he shoved you inside. you scraped your hands on the concrete floor. your knees, too. you looked up with tears in your eyes. in the warehouse, men dressed in dark uniforms stood around a circular table.

“nikta,” one of them turned. a general. he glanced at you with little interest. his next words were in a language you didn’t understand. “what is this?”

nikta grabbed you by the roots of your hair. a cry escaped you and you reached up to grab his wrists. he dragged you over to the table of uniformed men and whispered two words you could not understand.

two words that had damned you.

“she bites.”

you cried ceaselessly in that dusty, dirty trunk when he shoved you back inside it.

you cried ceaselessly when he and the group of uniformed generals forced you onto an airplane.

you cried ceaselessly as you were put in chains and led inside one of hydra’s weapon facilities.

you only stopped crying once they put you in a cell.

you stopped crying because you weren’t alone.

“hey,” a low, soft voice whispered.

you turned at the sound. through the metal bars to your left, you saw the silhouette of him. you wiped your face off on your arms and winced as you made your way across the cold stone floor to the bars separating you both.

“you alright?” the pale, blue-eyed man asked you. he had bruises on his face and bags under his eyes. his short, dark hair was a mess across his forehead. “christ, they roughed you up pretty bad, huh?”

“i…i don’t understand you,” you whispered through trembling lips. you spoke no english. you spoke no russian like the guards did. you had been drowning for days in words you didn’t understand.

his eyes widened, “romanian? you speak romanian? i mean— you’re romanian?”

it felt like god had heard your prayers to hear him speak the only language you understood. you couldn’t help but cry. you placed your hands atop his on the bars and wept like a baby.

“yes.” you cried. your head dropped and you curled into yourself. big, wet tears left streaks on your dirty face. “you— you are, too?”

“yeah. my grandparents moved from there to america.” he said with a smile. he squeezed your hands and rubbed them between his, trying to warm up your fingers. you hadn’t noticed how cold you were.

“how long have you been here?” you asked in a whisper, glancing around at the cold, desolate cells around you. he had been the only one down here before you showed up.

his smile faltered but he tried to keep a brave face. “only a little while.”

he was lying and you knew it, but you didn’t push.

“what’s your name?” he asked as he settled down to sit directly across from you.

“isla,” you told him softly. you sniffled and wiped your face on your sleeves. “my names isla.”

“isla,” he grinned as he said your name. “it’s nice to meet you. i’m james but my friends call me bucky.”

“james,” you said with a small smile.

“bucky,” he corrected. he gave your hands a soft squeeze and whispered like a promise, “we are friends now, isla. call me bucky.”

“friends.” you agreed, squeezing his hand back.

they left you to rot in your cell for more days than you could count.

but they always took him away.

like clockwork, they came each morning to take him and brought him back each night. every day got worse. he lost more and more weight. you tried to share the food they would toss at you but he would politely decline. every time he tried to eat it would all come back up, anyways.

he would apologize to you profusely after he tossed up nothing but bile in the corner of his cell. you would have to cover your ears at the sound of him gagging. the air would smell like sickness. he’d apologize for it over and over again as you sat together with the iron bars separating you.

the time passed slow but he made it all a little easier.

he was a talker.

he would talk about anything and everything even when he didn’t feel well just to keep the quiet away.

he hated the quiet.

he told you about where he had grown up. about his parents. about his sister. he told you about his best friend steve and how they had turned him into a super soldier.

captain america.

you knew that name. you had seen a picture of him in the newspaper not too long ago. he was spotted in europe traveling around to boost the moral of the america troops.

bucky took that news as bravely as he could.

his best friend was on the same continent as him— but no one knew where he was and he doubted very much that they had any resources to spare towards looking for him.

he made his peace with it.

it was you who did not.

“bucky,” you murmured.

“hm?” he asked without opening his eyes. he was holding your hand through the bars like always, exhausted and cold. the two of you were trembling, trying to seek each others body heat despite the bars between you.

“do you think we’ll die down here?”

he opened his eyes and met your gaze. he pulled his hand from yours and slipped it through another bar, placing his hand on your cheek. he wiped the tears off your nose and shook his head.

“nah,” he whispered with a smile. “you and me? we’re going to live until we’re a hundred, darlin’.”

you giggled and placed your hand atop his, pressing your face into his touch. “a hundred?”

“at least that, yeah.” he chuckled.

you slept easy that night.

but the next morning, it wasn’t bucky they took.

“let her go!” he roared, slamming against the bars of the cell. he tried to grab at the officers who dragged you out and into the hallway. “isla!”

you reached for him, the tips of your fingers grazing.

the officer who had stolen you away once before stole you away again once more.

that was the last time you saw bucky.

that was the last memory the girl in the pictures had before you took her place.

you opened yours eyes and stared at the folder in your lap. you brought your hands to your face, touching the tears pouring down. you wiped at them. over and over again until your skin was raw, you wiped your face dry.

the imaginary lightbulb above your head flickered.

nikta.

the hydra officer who had stolen you away and made you what you were— it was all him. every single bit.

he chose you to be weapon-v.

he brought you to hydra and threw you at their feet.

you were his project and they froze him year after year alongside you so that he could keep his eyes on you.

and yet in the end, he turned the gun on bucky and you killed him for it…

why would he have done that after all this time?

you could’ve been sick all over yourself at you saw his stone-cold glare in the picture beside yours. you grabbed the picture out of the folder and let out a bereaved scream. you tore it to shreds as disgust spread across your skin and infected the marrow of your bones.

you fell back against the bed and cried into your pillow. your clawed at the mattress. rage vibrated in every cell of your body. you could’ve torn the room apart— but you were weak. fear made you weak.

the despair you felt knowing there were so many more gaps to fill in froze you still on the bed as you shed tear after tear.

you wanted your mother.

you curled into yourself despite the way your wound protested and clutched the photo of your parents to your chest.

they were long since dead by now.

and you should’ve been reaching the end of your time, too, but you were nearly still that young girl they lost all those years ago.

— ☆ —

“i want everything you have on him.”

nick finished placing down your food but you pushed the small table away. you weren’t hungry.

“the files we have on sergeant barnes are classified.” nick said with a sympathetic frown. “sorry, kid.”

“i’m classified,” you hissed out from between your sharp teeth. “give me the damn files.”

nick stared at you for a long, painful moment.

tears were brimming on your lashes and you tried so hard to fight them— but you couldn’t.

“please,” you begged in a broken voice. you closed your eyes and the tears fell free. “i need to know what happened to him.”

“let me make a call.”

you looked up but nick was already out the door. a soft breath of relief escaped you and you turned your head. the food was steaming beside you. freshly prepared.

you swallowed your pride and ate it.

it wasn’t too bad…

— ☆ —

when you saw nick again, he had a file in his hand. not only that but an agent behind him wheeled in a television. your brows pinched together as you sat up.

“here’s the deal,” nick said, holding up the folder. “i show you everything i have on barnes and you tell me everything i wanna know about the two of you. got it?”

you nodded once.

you’d decide whether or not you’d tell him anything of substance when he asked the questions.

his folder felt as heavy as a headstone in your hands.

you placed it down on your lap and ran the tips of your fingers over his name.

SGT. JAMES BUCHANAN BARNES

HOWLING COMMANDO

[ DECEASED ]

you held your breath as you opened the folder.

a massive stack of papers with every bit of information there was of him greeted you. your heart sank as you skimmed the old, aged ink.

his name. his birthday. his height and weight. his birthplace. his parents names. his enlistment papers. his mission logs.

the medical report from the day he’d been brought back to his company.

you had not been with him the day captain america broke into the hydra base and freed his friend.

doctor zola had sent you away three days earlier to the siberian facility in the mountains. when bucky was freed by steve, they were pulling out all your teeth and reconstructing your jaw.

the answer to the longstanding question between the two of you was now answered.

you had been made first.

you bit the inside of your cheek as you picked up the note smooshed between the next two pages. the crumpled, stained piece of old parchment had his handwriting on it.

you touched the words written in pencil.

——————————————————————————

santa,

her name is isla and i need help to find her.

i have to get her out.

i told her we’d live until we were 100.

- bucky 12/25/1944

——————————————————————————

“oh, god.” you cried, clutching the note to your chest.

guilt burned through every inch of you.

how could you have forgotten him?

the sweet-hearted soldier who held your hands and wiped away your tears. how could you have forgotten that? it was as clear to you now as the moment it had happened— but where had it gone?

where had it all gone?

where had he gone?

you brought the note to your lips and held it against them. it smelled old and worn. when you closed your eyes and tried to picture his face, the only thing you saw was winter and his blank, icy stare.

it was hard to imagine them as one person— just like it was nearly impossible for you to see yourself as the girl in those photos.

bucky hated the quiet. you could recall so vividly now how he hummed a soft, jazzy tune each night you both would grow too tired to talk. he would run his fingers through your hair and hum until he exhausted himself.

winter was quiet. far too quiet.

they weren’t the same.

you and isla weren’t the same.

not anymore.

as you flipped the page, you saw the date at the top of the paper and your heart sank.

1945.

bucky had never found you.

though he tried, a years time had passed and there was no trace of you. you where a ghost in the snow and there were bigger missions for him to see out.

you didn’t blame him.

you couldn’t.

because even if he had found you, you wouldn’t have been able to recall his face.

it was fight in the freight-car that got him killed. he was hanging on to the dangling door for dear life as steve tried to reach him. but it broke. and he fell.

bucky was pronounced dead on january 9th, 1945.

the winter soldier project was resumed on january 9th, 1945 when he was found by hydra soldiers who took him to the facility in the mountains.

you were in your first sleep when they brought him in. underneath the floor frozen in a cryochamber, neither of you had any idea that you were together again.

he didn’t know that you had lived.

and you didn’t know that he had died.

a little less so than before, but you two were soon to become strangers to each other once more.

it broke your heart to read that there were no efforts made in finding him. it was accepted throughout the whole of his platoon that the fall had killed him and it was too dangerous to try and find his impact sight in the mountains.

his friends believed that he was alone and broken in the snow all this time.

and you hadn’t even remembered him.

you covered your mouth with your hand and stifled a sob as you saw the pictures of him. a collage of four. a couple paperclipped to the back of the folder. you wiped away your tears before they could fall and you tried through hardest to see through them as you pulled the piece of paper with all of them glued down out of the folder.

“hello, soldier.” you whispered, touching the picture of him in his uniform.

he was handsome.

you had forgotten how handsome bucky was.

you brushed your thumb across the photo of his face with the cut on it. you knew that cut. you had dabbed your sleeve against it to try and stop it from bleeding. it was one of the last things you had done before you were taken away.

how bittersweet it was to know that photo had been taken of him after he had been brought back safe.

you unclipped the two photos on the back of the folder carefully. a soft smile curled across your lips at the picture of him and his buddy captain america.

his best friend steve.

it was nice to put an unmasked face to steve’s name.

it was strange to see him with short hair— to remember him with it. it made it all the more hard to accept that his man was the same man you had spent every single day with up until your capture.

he was the same man you shared a cell with.

he was the same you are every meal with.

he was the same man you showered with.

he was the same man you punched and kicked and bit and fucked.

but it wasn’t the same man it all.

the man in these pictures was someone you hadn’t seen in a long, long time despite the fact that you had been with him just yesterday.

bucky was a ghost.

sometimes, you heard him whisper and you could see the remnants of him flickering in winter’s cold blue eyes— but bucky had died a long time ago.

and so had isla.

there was only the two of you.

you and winter.

you should’ve given yourself the grace to mourn them — bucky and isla — but it was too late to start.

you placed the picture of bucky and steve down and picked the other one up. you hummed audibly at the sight of his smile. it made you smile. something so automatic. something so sincere.

he was with his squad.

with a charming smile and a cigarette between his teeth, he was surrounded by his brothers-in-arms.

you were careful as you put everything back into his folder— as careful as placing flowers into a casket. you took one last look of the photo of him with the cut on his face.

you kissed the small hurt like you should’ve done back then to comfort him.

you held the folders out for agent fury to take. he was sitting in the chair by your bed. he had stayed quiet and let you…

grieve.

“will you keep them together?” you asked in a whisper. it was such a stupid request but it meant something to you.

those were more than just folders.

they were graves.

“sure,” nick said with a small nod.

you swallowed hard and looked anywhere else. your gaze fell upon the tv. “what is that for?”

“you said that you wanted everything we had on barnes.” nick said as he stood up. he clicked the lights off and flicked on the tv. “this is the rest of it.”

your brows drew together and you watched the screen intently as the camera fumbled. whoever was moving it was doing a piss-poor job of it. you could hear the clunky audio of the tripod bumping into things.

when the camera was finally set up, you saw the bar from the picture. it took a moment to find them but the camera settled on the two of them: bucky barnes and steve rogers.

you sat forward and ignored the pain it brought you. you could hear them laughing together over the music. over the chatter in the bar, you could hear his voice. they had no idea they were being filmed. they spoke like teenage boys as they caught up with each other.

“i really don’t like this whole ‘you’re-now-taller-than-me’ thing.” bucky said as he took a sip of his beer. “it freaks me out. i used to be able to fit you in my pocket, little man.”

steve chuckled and glanced over at him, “i like it.”

“of course, you like it. now you know what it’s like to look down at a woman and see her cleavage from above.” bucky said, wiggling his eyebrows.

steve blew a raspberry and rolled his eyes. “you’re a real dog, buck, y’know that?”

“woof! woof! woof!” bucky barked, throwing his arm around his best friend.

the two of them downed their beers together before the camera turned off.

the tv screen flickered and you watched as nick changed the tape. when the next video started, you sat back in your bed and let the tension in your shoulders drop.

it was an army home-video. the cameraman made his way passed each and every person in the squad. you saw him in the background.

shirtless with two human arms.

it made you smile.

he was shaving in front of a small mirror. as the camera man walked around and he caught wind that he was being filmed, he started flexing in the background. he kissed his muscles and winked.

“look at barnes,” laughed one of the soldiers.

“guys, c’mon, this is supposed to be a serious documentary for roger’s whole big thing. we are living through a historical moment in time. it’s important!” the cameraman complained.

“oh, this is important alright.” bucky said as he walked up to the camera. he leaned in close to it and batted his eyelashes. “hello ladies. like what you see?”

the camera turned away. “you’re going to fog up my lens, jackass!”

“oh, great heavens!” bucky cried out in a god awful posh accent.

the camera turned in time to catch him with his middle fingers up. he hid them behind his back and bowed politely, “good evening.”

“roger’s, how the hell did you put up with this guy?” asked one of the soldiers.

“to be fair, bucky did a lot of putting up with me.” steve said as the camera turned towards him.

“he used to be the size of my pinky picking fights with guys who could toss him over their heads like a sack of potatoes.” bucky said. he stepped into frame beside steve as he pulled on a shirt. he pointed at the camera and said, “america, i want you to know that our nations hero used to be an instigator and feral little street rat that used to not only get his ass royally kicked but mine, too.”

“i will not confirm or deny anything at this time.” steve said with a bow of his head.

“barnes when you’re not getting your ass kicked, what’s it like being captain america’s best friend?” one of the soldiers asked. he held the end of a hairbrush towards the two of them and pretended to interview them.

bucky grabbed ahold of the brush and started screaming into the camera. the whole room erupted into laughter.

steve took the fake mic and said, “for those who don’t know, that means ‘i love you,’ in german. isn’t he just so kind?”

the two of them laughed together, smiling at each other before the tv went black.

music began to play.

your breath got stuck in your throat as the melody floated through the air towards you. it struck you in the heart. the trumpet’s melody was familiar.

this was the song he would hum to himself.

clips began to roll across the screen of him. videos that had him in the background. some more soundless videos of him walking around the bunks and sticking his tongue out at the camera. there were clips of him walking alongside his platoon— walking with steve in his captain america uniform.

the last clip of him ever taken was a video of him right before the howling commandos followed captain america onto the train.

he never returned from that mission.

and you couldn’t help but notice how nervous he looked on the screen in front of you.

you wanted to reach out and save him— but nick shut the tv off.

for a moment, the room was completely dark. it was so dark that you expected to feel the bed rattle as he tossed and turned somewhere below you in his bunk.

but he wasn’t here.

and when nick turned the lights on, you were faced with the horrible emotion now pressing down onto your chest for the first time.

you missed him.

you missed winter.

you couldn’t show it because you could not be weak now of all times— but you were afraid. you had been told so much. shown so much. you remembered so much.

all you wanted was him.

and you missed him.

you missed bucky because isla missed bucky and that part of you — no matter how fleeting she was now— had the privilege to know him for even the smallest amount of time.

and that was a gift.

a gift that you promised yourself you would never forget again.

“now,” agent fury said as he sat down beside you. he pulled a recorder out of his jacket and clicked it on. he placed it on the table beside your bed. “i want answers.”

“you told me that shield knew more about either of us than i could imagine. what questions could you possibly have for me?” you asked before he could.

he grinned at you. “your friend agent nikta patrova defecting from hydra to join shield may have bought him a few brownie points, but we’re only selling lemon tarts right now. you, miss constantinescu, happen to have enough lemon tart points to buy out the whole lemon tart bake sale shield is hosting.”

“i’m not fond of word games.” you said with a roll of your eyes. “and don’t ever call him my friend. he is no friend of mine.”

“yeah, i put that together when you threw a knife into his chest and nearly killed him.” nick said.

nick watched your face go pale and your shoulders tense. he glanced behind him, as if he could see nikta from where he sat right now.

“he’s…alive?” you asked in a whisper.

“he is.” nick said.

“go on and ask him all your questions then. he will know more than i will.” you said with a scowl.

“miss constantinescu, im going to be straight with you. the questions i am going to ask you are not to find out intel about project winter or project vampire. you’re right. we know all that. that’s why you’re here with me now.”

“this,” nick gestured between the two of you. “is an interview.”

you recoiled the smallest bit. “what?”

“an interview, miss constantinescu. shield has known about your existence for some time now thanks to agent nikta’s guilty conscious— and it’s taken a lot to find you. it’s a known fact that you and sergeant barnes are highly trained and lethal expert assassins, but all it takes is one look into either of your project files to show loud and clear that you two are only following orders in order to see another day.”

“that is why shield is offering you a chance.” nick said as he leaned back in his chair.

“a chance…” you repeated the word. it didn’t feel right coming off your tongue. “what kind of chance?”

“a chance to do the right thing.” nick said. he crossed his arms against his chest, maintaining a lax posture as to not put you anymore on edge.

if only he knew how much worse seeing him pretend to be casual made you feel.

“and my options are?” you asked softly.

“you join shield today — right now — and your record is scrubbed clean. fresh start. a new life for you while working for us— helping us bring down hydra at its most weakest spots.”

nick shrugged, “or you go to a maximum security prison in the middle of the ocean where you will never see the sun again.”

you closed your eyes and you couldn’t help but laugh. covering your mouth with the tips of your fingers, you giggled.

“something funny, miss constantinescu?” ageny fury asked, raising his brows.

“yeah. yeah, you know, it’s really funny to me that you think i have a choice in all this. you think that just because you showed me a folder of the woman i once was and i shed a few tears over some dead soldier that what? i’m not the monster you’ve been told i am?”

“i am much worse,” you whispered like a reluctant promise, as if you were trying to spare him from the truth. “i know no other life than the one i was made for. i kill, i eat, i freeze, and i do it all again.”

“there is no choice for me, agent fury, because hydra will come for me. they will come and they will find me. i will not jeopardize what little space i’ve carved out for myself in the rock of my cell for a fresh start that won’t last when they find me. when they know i’ve betrayed them, they will take me from him— and that is not something i can live with.”

“aren’t you alone now?” nick asked. he glanced around. “where is the winter soldier?”

you laughed a again. “men like you think you know everything, don’t you?”

“don’t i?” nick smiled at you and scooted his chair closer to your bedside. “you know, i find the nature of you incredibly fascinating. they did a lot of work on you. you are technically a super soldier— but they gave you special teeth and rewired your olfactory nerve. i know of your dietary habits but they use a strange word in your files that i can’t help but think is a bit out of place.”

“bloodlust. that’s what they call it when you fall into spells of rage. you can wipe out of a whole platoon of men all with your teeth, isn’t that right?” nick asked.

you said nothing.

“but see, here’s the thing i just don’t believe. i don’t believe that you become this insatiable, feral monster at the sight of blood. if you did, then you sure kept a tight grip on yourself on the street yesterday when it was raining blood.” he said.

you tried to lie. “my mask was stuck.”

“bullshit,” nick said, pointing a finger at you. “i call bullshit because i’ve spent a long, long time reading each of your files and i’ve gotten real good at reading between the lines.”

“i believe that you have codewords of your own, don’t you, miss constantinescu? just like the winter soldier, when they are said you have no control over what happens next until someone snaps you out of it.” nick said, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

you leaned towards him and asked in a whisper, “are you expecting a gold star from me?”

nick smiled. “so it is true then.”

“in situations that seem dire, the winter soldier will do what needs to be done.” you said with very little feeling.

“and what is that?” nick asked.

you took a slow, deep breath and met his eyes.

“he will let me off my leash.”

nick sat back in his chair and nodded. “and is this the only instance you know of that there are words used to control you?”

you swallowed hard. “i don’t know. i used to think not but…i don’t know anymore.”

“sometimes,” you bit your lip to try and stop yourself but it all came rushing out. “it’s like there is more missing than just…just the gaps from the black sleep. my memories from before they’ve always been gone, but sometimes….sometimes i’ll wake up and i won’t remember going to sleep. sometimes i don’t know how long i’ve really been out of the ice for.”

“i applaud you for trying but the reason why you can’t appeal to the side me you’re hoping to reach, agent fury, is because she isn’t there.” you said as you looked at him. you shook your head and shrugged your shoulders, “she’s gone and i have a feeling that most of the time, i am too.”

“and the sergeant? it’s the same for him?” nick asked.

you nodded. “worse. they steal things from him. his past. his memory. his ability to feel. they strip him of it all. but with me, i think…i think they have found a way to put me to sleep while im awake.”

“and thats why it frustrates me when people talk about me and him like we’re different. we’re not. as much as i wish we were, we are one big puzzle. if you tried to put all his pieces together, it would be incomplete. it’s the same for me. to see the whole picture, you have to put us together.” you said softly.

nick said nothing for a long, long moment. you watched as he grabbed the recorder off the table and clicked it off. you lost some of the tension in your shoulders and eased back into the bed.

“do you know what the red room is?” nick asked.

“no.” you said. and it was the truth.

“the red room is hydra on meth and they pump out assassins like seahorses. hundreds at a time. they take these young girls and they put them through the worst of the worst— much like hydra has done to you and sergeant barnes.” nick said.

he rubbed his hand over his jaw, “in the red room, they sterilize the girls so that they cannot become mothers. it’s a way to control them. to make sure they never have anything that is more important than their job.”

“what does this have to do with me?” you asked.

“when you were in surgery,” he stopped himself. he cleared his throat and sat up straighter. “we confirmed the reason behind nikta patrova’s fear. you have a uterus and — from what we know about assassins like you and the girls who come from the red room — it is by no means unintentional that you have it.”

your brows drew tight together. “what are you saying?”

“do you get your period, miss constantinescu?” nick asked.

“sometimes,” you nodded. “but why does it matter?”

“the first piece of intel shield got from nikta of you two weren’t your laundry lists of assassinations or records of your personal projects as the winter soldier and weapon-v. shield received a project folder called winter solstice.”

“winter solstice is hydra’s next step to creating its next generation of weapons like you and sergeant barnes.” nick said. he frowned at you and you didn’t know why.

“so what? they’ll be making more soldiers like him? monsters like me?” you asked.

“not exactly.” nick said, his face twitching with unease. “nikta patrova has done a lot of bad things— most of them to you — but even for the worst kinds of men, somethings are just too much.”

“hydra wouldn’t be making the next generation of weapons themselves.” nick said,

“you and sergeant barnes would be.”

your heart stopped— time had stopped.

you closed your eyes and shook your head. over and over again, you shook your head.

instinctively, you placed a hand over your belly.

“that…that wouldn’t be…” you couldn’t find the words. “that’s not…”

“ethical?” nick listed words off for you. “possible? legal? true?”

you looked at him.

he frowned at you, “shield believes that based off the information nikta gave us that projects winter and vampire were merged in the hope that you two would make…little winters and vampires.”

“that is why you have a choice here, isla.” nick said as he stood up. he crouched down beside your bed and folded his hands beside yours. “it took a us a long, long, long time to find you both and it’s a good thing we did, even if we only got one of you away in the end. we won’t let you go back. we can’t. it’s not safe. most of all, it’s not right.”

“how long?”

“what?” nick asked.

you swallowed hard and asked, “how long has shield known about project winter solstice?”

“project winter solstice was put into motion twenty five years ago and nikta patrova sent it to shield almost immediately after it was drafted and accepted.” nick said.

you pressed your lips together in a thin line. tears stung your eyes and you did your best to blink them away. you opened your mouth to speak but you couldn’t say the right words.

“do…do he and i…” you couldn’t finish as your lips began to tremble. you covered you mouth with the tips of your fingers and stifled a sob. “do we have…”

“as of right now,” nick said as gently as he could, “there are three known children to have come from project winter solstice that belong to you and sergeant barnes.”

you closed your eyes and fought to stomach the idea. you couldn’t picture it. you couldn’t imagine it in the slightest. you touched your stomach and winced as the wound reminded you it was there.

it couldn’t be true.

but it was as true as isla constantinescu story was.

“i want to see him.” you whispered. you opened your eyes and looked at nicholas fury as tears slipped down your cheeks. “i want to see nikta patrova and i want the truth from him.”

nick nodded once and stood up with a sigh. “you’re real lucky that you didn’t kill him with that knife, kid.”

hey, guys, i’m sorry. let me get that outta the way. sorry, guys. i told ya this fic was gonna hurt! anyways, hope you enjoyed as always 🖤! also, i hope the pictures added a little something something to the reading experience. i wasn’t too sure how i felt about it at first but it grew on me. lmk your thoughts and pls lmk if you listen to strangers by ethel cain.

expect another update in a day or two unless something pops up for me irl. as always, let me know if you want to join the taglist. thanks so much for reading, guys. you all make me giggle and i look forward to feeding you with each update.

with the most love ever in the world,

crow. next part ->

taglist: @homiesexual-or-homosexual @carbonnite-copy @valckenaux @itsmadamehydra @normanreedus-blog

[darchildre]

In non-fishpeople-related Lovecraft news, I also reread "Cool Air" and "The Music of Erich Zann" today. Here is the moral of both of those stories:

If you are in a group-living situation (like a boarding house or an apartment building) and one of your fellow lodgers is kinda weird but not hurting anybody, maybe that's actually none of your business. Maybe you should simply leave them alone.

[kiame-sama]

what twst yanderes do you think could share? I think there are definitely several that could team up!

Warnings; Yandere Relationships, poly relationships, multi-yandere relationships, I already have way too many OC ideas with different backgrounds that fit with the different yandere groups,

~~~~~~~~

Full House: All Named Heartslabyul characters. Each of the card suits are represented (Ace- Hearts, Deuce- Spades, Trey- Clover/Clubs, Cater- Diamonds) and paired with the Queen card (Riddle- Hearts) you have a full-house in terms of poker.

Poisonous Beauty- Vil and Rook already seem to be in a mutually respectful and beneficial type relationship that pushes both to work on themselves and hold themselves accountable. Throw a darling in the mix and they will share beautifully.

Lion Tamer- Leona and Rook share a darling. The Lion and the Hunter both sharing a sweet little lamb between them. Leona has shown a certain level of respect for Rook and Rook already stalks Leona for the thrill of it.

Dragon's Hoard- All of Diasomnia's named characters. Main yandere is Malleus who insists darling is his mate. He is kind enough to share with his retainers and teacher, but darling is mainly Malleus' prize. Lilia is more of a mentor to the group but does enjoy a quick tryst now and again with darling, the most experienced of the group.

Monster Mash- Leona and Malleus. This only works because of darling, otherwise they will be fighting and wanting the other dead. Truly it is only because darling can tame and diffuse the tempers/prides of the monster men to actually get them to get along. Have a harder time sharing given their dislike for one another.

Sea Monsters- Azul and the Twins sharing a darling between the three of them. The twins already respect and listen to Azul, so Azul is giving them a 'bonus' by allowing this little triangle of sharing when it comes to darling and darling's time. The twins often switch between darling and Azul so both are protected at all times. Floyd likes spending more time with darling than Azul but that is because darling is more fun and squishy. Jade adores his time with darling but understands his skills are better suited for being around Azul. Azul will always set aside time to spend with darling and is happy to include the twins during this time.

Octo-charmer- Azul and Jamil. Both have an underhanded way to manipulate others and have a tendency to be patient enough for the long game. These two working together for a mutual darling would be rather dangerous and impossible to stand against. Both brilliant in their own right, they could share a darling with minimal bickering.

Hyena Charmer- Jamil and Ruggie. The Masquerade special at Nobel Bell College made it clear Jamil and Ruggie have a similar approach to handling situations so I think they could make a good partnership when it comes to sharing a darling.

King of Beasts- Leona and Ruggie. They already have a mutually beneficial relationship in how Ruggie mostly puts up with Leona's behavior and Leona in turn protects Ruggie as his second in command. They could share a darling, but Leona would still get the lion's share of the benefits.

Golden Sands- Jamil and Kalim. I am loathe to put them together given the fact that I feel Jamil deserves his own darling after years of dealing with Kalim, but Jamil and Kalim would make a good yandere pair. Darling would likely prefer Kalim's affections given Kalim is less likely to punish darling, but Jamil could also use Snake Charmer on Darling to make them prefer him instead.

Historic Cruelty- Divus and Mozus. Trein is much more patient and lenient with darling as he is in his 50s and he just wants a settled down beloved that he can spoil. Divus is more of the punishment/reward type for whenever their shared darling acts up or gets rowdy as he is in his late 20's/early 30's and is content to be a brat tamer. Both want to spoil darling and are willing to do their own thing to get the results they desire from their beloved.

Elder Fae- Lilia and Crowley. Both are older fae (I'm just assuming on Crowley's part given his features and age/temperament) and both are more eccentric when it comes to how they interact with the world. They could contentedly share a darling together given their attitudes and tempers. Lilia would actually be the main enforcer of rules despite his more exciteable temper as he still has that paternal experience and put his foot down on certain behavior. Alternatively, Lilia is also the one who spoils darling more due to Crowley being a penny-pincher more stringent on funds. The relationship is more focus on Lilia as far as actual relationships go and the frequent interruption from Crowley wanting attention. It works for the two Fae.

Father Crow's Staff- Platonic yandere team-up of the staff looking after Crowley's offspring. Divus is the father that stepped up when Crowley failed to be a good father. Trein is the adoptive grandfather. Sam is the adoptive older brother. Vargas is the adoptive fun uncle. Even the fire fairies and ghosts try to have a hand in protecting/raising Crowley's young. They will be raised in NRC given Crowley is Headmage and lives there most of the time. Probably more protective of a fem-aligned darling than masc-aligned given NRC is an all male school (minus darling) and that means the child needs to be protected even more from untoward students. Lilia is a constant problem as he frequently tries to adopt this little up-and-coming Fae child given how little Crowley actually parents them.

[nebmia]

Reviewing every rpg book on my shelf: 1, Dungeon Crawl Classics

Everything about this game is absolutely dripping with bonkers maximalist bombast that makes me excited to play. To start with book itself is nearly 2 inches thick. Is that practical? No! does it feel like you've got an ancient tome full of roleplaying possibilities? Absolutely.

In a world tending towards minimalism and 'polished' production its so good to have somthing thats just big and fun and unapologetic about not being what it is.

DCC's dice are a microcosm of everything great about it. Not only do they come in shapes they never taught you about in maths class but they also all come with a fun little bonus. One of my sets comes with a stat block for a monster, while the other has a ridiculous table of reality warping effects on which you roll ALL the dice in the set, and inevitably send your campaign careening off into madness. (and it has a frame story about a stoner wizard in a magic van).

And then there's the actual contents of the book, which is probably about 80% spells and ridiculous tables. And the spells are just so good. Each one takes up a a least a full page on average and gives a range of results according to how well you roll, from 'it missfires and things go horribly wrong' at the bottom, through 'it does about what you would expect' in the middle result ranges, to 'actually, this is almost too much' if you manage to get a roll in the 30s.

Alongside being sick as hell, this also has a satisfying effect of keeping low level spells relevent and interesting as their effects scale with the strength of the caster on a variety of axis.

related to spells is the 'spell duel' procedure. I have no idea how well it runs at the table, but the idea that when two (or more) wizards fight their spells can interact and you can use any appropriate spell to try and counter another spell is so increadibly compelling.

Ok, enough gushing about vibes. what about actually playing? So far what I have run is the 'level-0 funnel', which is probably what you have heard about if you have heard anything about DCC. The premise is simple: randomly generate 2-4 level-0 peasants for each player, send them into a dungeon, and then take whoever survives and level them up to become your characters for a campaign.

Not only does these lead to much hilarity as a mob of townsfolk bungle their way through danger but also really fun problem solving as the players work out how best to navigate problems with a shoehorn, a bundle of wood and a live chicken.

Specifically, what I have run is Sailors on the Starless Sea, which is correctly recognised as THE introductory module to use. Its a nice sequence of somewhat open investigation followed by a excellend sequence of bombastic set pieces, all the while giving the players lots of scope to come at things ininteresting ways. It can get a bit unwiedly trying to manage such large number of characters when they do run into combat but if you plan ahead a bit and use various tricks (it would be useful is more of that advice was in the book rather than coming from forums) it is manageable.

And to return to vibes one last time: the art in these books is just so good. We could not be further from the slightly stiff generic highly rendered fantasy art of wotc era d&d. Its all fantastically old school fantasy, so full of character, and just the right amount of rough around the edges. My only slight complaint is that this does include a little too much of old school fantasy art's treatment of women than I would like...There are still prenty of sensibly dressed women and i'm not about to decree that no sexy fantasy women are allowed but the dial is a little further in a direction of objectification that I would like.

[sepublic]

Finally got around to watching Dune Part 2 and that was a wonderfully haunting ending. Everyone just going along in a way almost oblivious, from Stilgar who pushed for Paul mainly for his people’s sake, only to become a fanatic; Or Gurney, who was so caught up in his own revenge plot against Rabban that in his high of triumph, he doesn't realize what he's doing to the kid he was meant to train and protect.

And Chani, especially! The way the film ends with her, it's almost as if... The entire movie is re-contextualized as being from her perspective. It's a story about someone helplessly watching as she sees the monster she unwittingly created, watches everything she knew and loved become perverted. She's the only sane person essentially, so it makes sense to approach the movie with Chani as the audience surrogate.

She represents the Fremen, who they really are, and the horror at what they've become, the death of who they used to be until the colonizers came in. I'm reminded of that scene from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, where Maul is screeching desperately that they'll all burn and die, and nobody knows what they're doing; Despairing cries falling on deaf ears. The final shot reminds us of who was the first forsaken by the Lisan Al-Gaib; Chani, AKA the Fremen.

I wonder what happens to Chani; I'm not familiar with the books, but I wouldn't be surprised if Chani just disappears from the narrative after Paul deposes the Emperor. I've heard through cultural osmosis that Dune Part 2 changes the original book to have more involvement and perspective from its female characters. So I wonder if the book ended with Chani in mind as well, or if that was an addition made by Denis Villeneuve.

Because as it stands, I think there's a lot of beauty if that's the last we see and hear of Chani; The ambiguity. The name and face lost to history; People will remember Paul and Princess Arulan, but they won't know about Chani. Maybe she lives the rest of her life out in self-imposed exile, because at first she could support this for the sake of her people, but now? What has she done??!!?

Maybe she'll be haunted for the rest of her life, thinking about what could've gone differently. How Chani could've prevented things, if only she'd said this. Maybe she considers it was out of her hands entirely given how easily Jessica controlled her, it could've been anyone else; In the end Chani didn't matter. Is this a relief? Or is this just despair, that the Fremen were destined for doom? It's a final note inserted by the adaptation to re-contextualize the source material itself; I've heard people discuss that the films are essentially more feminist than the book, so it's like the underrepresented perspective has been given a voice, be it women and/or Fremen.

And if Part 2 is Chani's story, then conversely, Part 1 is Paul's; Obviously, Chani had a minimal role in the first film. And I think that makes a lot of sense, because we get the background for Paul, the set up, the destruction of House Atreides that motivates him for revenge, and the rest... The rest is the natural conclusion to all that. The first part is us entering Arrakis as outsiders like Paul, while the second part is from the more experienced perspective of the Fremen Chani, who shows us the other angle; Her people being usurped by a white savior. Both films, one about Paul, the other about Chani, and how they helplessly see their clans 'destroyed' in a sense.

I think I recall hearing that Villeneuve intends for there to be a trilogy? So the first two films are about the first Dune novel, and the third and final will cover the next book, which I believe has Leto II; So essentially, a follow up that skips forward into the future to explore what new world order Paul has made. Because if Part 1 is about the outsider's perspective, and Part 2 is the insider's, then Part 3 is how the future generation looks back and sees the past; It's about how the legacy of Paul Atreides lingers on in their historical narrative.

...Everything I just said could all be completely wrong. But in the end, it's quite simple; Chani good.

[scooby-review]

The Scooby Doo Show S1 E1-4

The Scooby Doo show is the third iteration of the franchise, following The New Scooby Doo Movies. Released in 1976, the series returns to a place stylistically similar to Where are You, returning to twenty minutes and losing the guest star aspect of the previous series. This series also sees a return to the horror aesthetics that were departed from within the New Movies era of the franchise, with these episodes being dark and grungy, using more constantly horror inspired monsters and villains, focusing on a creepy atmosphere to accompany the mysteries. 

With a total of three seasons and forty episodes, this series also lasted far longer than either of its predators. Each season was aired during different blocks and therefore sometimes are referred to under different names, however all three seasons were produced under the Scooby Doo Show title. Season one aired as segments in the Scooby Doo/ Dynomutt Hour, a sixty minute slot where an episode of season one would air, followed by an episode of Dynomutt Dog Wonder. 

Dynomutt Dog Wonder is another Hanna Barbera cartoon, focusing on a Batman like superhero and his dog sidekick. The first two episodes of the show were crossovers with Scooby Doo. Alongside these two episodes, the characters would later appear again in the Scooby universe in Scooby Doo and Guess Who, the direct to DVD movie Scooby Doo! And the Blue Falcon and Scoob! 

1. High Rise Hair Raiser

Another new season and another great intro. Consistently they hit it out of the park with these, the monsters in this have forever cemented themselves into my mind despite only having seen one of their episodes. It’s another super catchy song! 

My experience with this iteration of the series is fairly minimal. I believe I’ve seen almost all of season three, and other than that I’ve watched a handful of episodes when they aired on TV when I was younger - something I love about Scooby Doo is that they still air a whole heap of the shows despite them being over forty years old! 

I love the premise for this episode - the gang is broke. In another interesting and somewhat surprising strand of continuity, we see the gang are now out of school, grown up from the Where are You days! I really like this, and I think the series pretty much stays in one single canon until maybe What’s New Scooby Doo, although I’m not completely sure about that. Regardless, without any money, the gang are forced to get jobs, and it just so happens that a construction site nearby is hiring given the recent haunting. 

To start with general changes to the show between the three years since the previous series aired, we have our second change of voice actors! I haven’t touched too much on any of the voice actors yet, nor the first actor to leave, Indira Stefanianna Christopherson, who voiced Daphne in season one of Where are You. Indira has a fair few acting credits in sitcoms, and went on to voice act in Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, another Hanna Barbera series. 

However, this series sees a new voice for Velma, with Nicole Jaffe leaving as a result of her marriage, but later she would return to voice the character in some of the 2000s direct to DVD movies. Pat Stevens took over the role, her voice similar to the blueprint set by Jaffe, and while I slightly prefer Jaffe’s voice for Velma, both work perfectly in embodying the character for me! This Velma’s voice feels more sardonic, whereas Jaffe’s felt more childish, but both capture her nerdiness perfectly. 

Alongside these changes, there was also new music made for the series, as opposed to the New Movies, which not only reused the score and sound effects from Where are You, but also other Hanna Barbera action cartoons. This score is great, on par with the original for me, it stands out so strongly and perfectly matches the aesthetic of this series. 

Moving onto the episode itself, this is maybe one of the best mysteries we’ve seen in the whole franchise. Good luck guessing who the culprit is at the end, but there’s so many pieces, this is paced so well that it’s a joy to absorb all the clues, attempting to piece them together. This goes for the next three episodes too, the pacing of this series is great! 

The main villain of this episode is The Spectre of Ebenezer Crabbe. The character is a sorcerer, we see that a spellbook is present inside of his house (more on this later), his history with witchcraft gives his character an extra layer, not only is he a ghost, but he’s also involved in dark magic. In this sense, the character is evocative of the ghost of Elias Kingston from episode six of Where are You. However I think the spectre stands out beyond that design; the spectre has powder blue skin with piercing yellow eyes, they denote the characters ghostly form clearly, while the characters ashy hair is evocative of his theme of age, with the characters origins coming from rumours he used witchcraft to prevent himself from ever ageing. His 19th century costume also shows this, while the huge red cape is somewhat reminiscent of Dracula, the scarlet shade in capes often connoting the character. 

Starring alongside him is his supposed great-great-great granddaughter, Netty Crabbe. Her design appears far more human, her flesh is peachy, although her eyes and hair are similar hues to her great-great-great grandfather, with their face shapes also incredibly similar. She similarly practises black magic, or at least feigns doing so. She has a far less interesting design, but works well to keep the creepy atmosphere and tone of the episode, and she works well as an extension to the lore of Crabbe’s. 

This witchcraft theme is great, with the villains taking inspiration from an actual person in their universe, spinning a legend. However, as Shaggy, Scooby and Velma search Netty’s house in a stand out sequence, Scooby and Shaggy open a spellbook, in which they have their appearances literally changed by the book, and in this silly little gag, we see the first confirmation of magic really existing in this world. Probably. 

This entire episode raises so many convoluted questions, which often is the sign of a great early Scooby episode. So many questions are raised in this episode, such as the villains using, the seemingly lived in, house of Netty Crabbe, or how when the aforementioned duo are transformed into monsters, neither bats an eye, and my favourite of all, is how Scooby is simply allowed to work alongside Fred and Shaggy - yes, Scooby is allowed to work this construction job while Daphne and Velma aren’t. Crazy stuff here. 

This big city setting, using the construction sight as a base for the villain is great, it’s something so simple yet so fun, the world here feels so vast and large, it contrasts the small town feeling that sometimes came from the empty streets in Where are You, with the busy Pizzaria taking over from the Malt Shop of that era too. Not to mention that these villains work perfectly in this setting, the height given to the spectre enhances the fear that can be created so drastically. 

There are so many fun sequences in here, with just a few lasting a little too long without much meaning. In particular, the boys atop the facade of the house they are building is great, as is the scene in Netty’s house, and the final sequence is amazing! I love this episode man!

2. The Fiesta Host is an Aztec Ghost

This episode has such a great title! 

Despite the previous episode declaring the gang as broke, here we witness them go on holiday to Mexico where they intend on attending a fiesta, however, they are thrown into a mystery when it’s cancelled after sightings of an ancient Aztec King.

To start, the backgrounds in this series are still gorgeous, and I noticed it heavily in this episode, especially as the gang leaves the village of Cinco, which refers to the holiday the gang are in the village to celebrate, with Cinco De Mayo becoming a more popular celebration in the US, and was popularised by those of Mexican-American heritage. 

Once again, we see two villains, the first of which is The Ghost of King Katazuma. The villain doesn’t directly relate to anyone from Aztec mythology or the era; the design of the villain is evocative of the colourful artwork from the Aztec era, which uses strong reds, yellows and deep greys, hinted with green. The King uses a similar colour palette, although with a heavier use of powder blue within the design, but these bright colours blend together well into the design, which again isn’t necessarily based on anyone in particular, but more so the general artwork of the Aztecs Gods and spirits. 

The villain has a menacing presence, and a classic Scooby villain use of projectors, giving the large and ghostly image of the King. He oozes with an exterior of power, partly because of his ability to change sizes, but the general design gives an air of power, from the snowy greys of the ghosts' large fists and beard to the striking Aztec headdress. I assume that the character's face was made the same powdery blue seen as an accent throughout the design to avoid the issue of the beard and skin being too similar a colour despite it now not matching the colour of the ghosts arms. 

Alongside the King, we also have the Aztec Statue Monster. The design takes inspiration from Aztec statues in general, again rather than a specific singular statue. This design appears humanoid, although most sculptures from the era are of deity’s. This design feels like a blend of design elements from these statues. 

This episode manages again to keep the great pacing the season makes a mark with, every scene feels so valuable and is used to great effect, and I love how we move solidly from location to location here, constantly feeling like an escalation of the last - from a hotel to a river to a temple. The Aztec temple feels like the centre of the episode, it looks beautiful and creates this twisting and expansive feeling as the gang are warned against entering, only to live with the consequences of rejecting this warning. I also especially enjoy the scene on the barge, and watching the gang search around the locations for clues on how the villains could have faked everything. 

Fred is given a clearer sense of purpose in this and the previous episode, a pattern that will go on. He’s always been the leader of course, but in a more formulaic approach that I love, the episodes end with him setting out traps, conceptualising them, and in both this and the previous episode, they fail to work. I love this so much! It gives him a flaw, that sure, he can create these grand and inspired traps, however, they won’t always work, it allows the audience to still feel unsure about whether or not this really is the end for the villain, as well as creating a more flawed and rounded character! Great stuff here. 

3. The Gruesome Game of the Gator Ghoul

As a child, episodes of The Scooby-Doo Show would air infrequently, and everytime I caught an episode I would be captivated by a certain grey dog in the intro. Before starting this series, I had assumed he was a mainstay in the series, similar to how Scrappy-Doo would be, I simply guessed he would join the gang on the majority of, if not all of, their mysteries in this series. Yet, every episode I watched as a child he would evade me, I have a vague memory of catching the tail end of an episode with him and Scooby-Dee, but other than that, nothing. 

This, I have learnt, is because he only appears in four episodes in the entire franchise. Sure, he also appears in the Laff-a-Lympics, but I don’t intend on watching that, and it’s pretty outside the general Scooby canon! Still, for a character I have always assumed had a large presence over this series, it was a shock to learn just how infrequently he appears. 

The episode follows the gang as they head to Hokeyfenokee, a parody of Okefenokee, to visit Scooby Dum and his owners, but quickly learn of an Alligator haunting the swamp and their business. 

Knowing this episode featured Scooby-Dum, I was fairly excited, although entirely unsure if I would care for his character. Simply his name is enough to place doubt in my mind, because ultimately I had a feeling that his character would simply be stupid, a nuisance to his cousin's mystery solving. However, his character manages to keep away from those tropes! 

Learning anything about the history of certain aspects of Scooby-Doo is so difficult, but I can only assume Scooby-Dum, and the rest of the Doo family we will meet later, were introduced for marketing and merchandise. Unfortunately, it’s also incredibly difficult to find any lists or images of merch from the time, but I assume that by now, they had realised that Scooby was the most merchandisable aspect of their series, and so, why not just introduce a heap more dogs? I think Dums design is especially great for this, he stands out just enough from Scooby while also being close enough, his design is inspired by detectives, and this alone is enough to drive up his popularity. 

Getting into his design, he’s ever so slightly larger than Scooby, their silhouettes differ by this and his clothing. Dum is also a great dane, however his fur is silver with similar black spots to his cousin. He trades out Scooby’s blue collar for a red one with a circular tag, alongside his cap. Of course, he also has a pair of buck teeth and his eyes range from crosseyed to half open. Often he carries around a magnifying glass which echoes his job of being a detective, it’s integral to his character and both parallels the basics of Scooby while differing him in the ways they work. 

Dum is sometimes characterised a little inconsistently, fluctuating between brave and scared. For me, he works best when he’s at his bravest, it highlights how different he is from his cousin and it keeps him different enough from Shaggy and Scooby as a unit while still being able to pair the groups up. I also adore the handshake he has with Scooby. Although, sometimes he can be somewhat annoying, his constant use of the word “dumb” within his common phrases grows old quickly. But as an additional side character, I am a fan of him!

So much about this episode works so perfectly for me! Not only do we have a great set of side characters, but also a great villain and setting too. 

The Ghost of Gator Ghoul is simply what he sounds like, an alligator ghost. This anthropomorphic alligator stands out best however not by the admittedly memorable design, especially with his beady yellow eyes, but thanks to the amazing voice work done by Frank Welker, who ultimately brings this snarling creature to life. This is what so many of the villains in The New Scooby Doo Movies were missing, character infused both in their designs but also in their sound. I love this guy, especially during the amazing chase scene where the character really gets to shine, his movements are so fun and I just love watching him run around. 

Not to mention how the villain reveal is pretty great, being Ma and Pa Skillet’s (Dum’s owners) sweet receptionist and bookkeeper. The old pair treat her like a daughter, and it makes the unmasking into such a fun moment! 

The villain was in fact so iconic that he made it into both the Cyber Chase movie and video game, and was planned for Night of 100 Frights, but was ultimately scrapped. In fact, many of the villains in this series were featured elsewhere in the series, such as the live action 2002 movie, when usually the series will simply fall back on Where are You’s monsters when they want a returning villain. 

I love the swamp setting, it’s one we’ve seen a few times before but it’s always a treat. The backgrounds in this episode especially are so gorgeous, they’re a delight to watch, oozing with style - an ode to the original gothic backgrounds. 

Everything from the chase sequences to the character moments to the gag driven down time work for me in this episode! Truly this shows some of the best the series has had to offer! 

4. Watt a Shocking Ghost

Four amazing episodes back to back <3 

This episode follows the gang driving during a snowstorm, and when hit by it, they’re forced to stop off at a nearby town, learning it’s been deserted as a result of the 10,000 volt ghost. 

In my mind, this has always been the Scooby Doo Show episode, the aesthetic here is still just as dark as Where are You, with a clear return to the horror influences, the villain is iconic, appearing both in the intro and in the 2002 live action movie, and the outfits here have always stuck in my mind. Seeing it again, I agree with this sentiment, it embodies how this series is different from what came before it, it’s such a fun episode while leaning into darker themes and ideas. 

Another snow setting is something I welcome, it’s fairly similar to the ski resorts from before, but it’s also different enough, this time simply a snow coated town, and besides, I love any excuse for winter outfits for the gang. 

Although most of the gang’s winter outfits remain the same, Scooby does get one in this episode, wearing a green and yellow pointed hat reminiscent of Shaggy’s winter shirt, and a maroon scarf and pair of earmuffs. I still adore all their winter outfits, they’re so fun to see pop up. 

They use this setting to such a great effect, again, it’s completely different from the previous snowy settings. Here we get to explore the buildings alongside wading in the mass of snow. One scene even sees the gang entering a pet shop, which inexplicably sells monkeys - guys stop this! But alongside the monkeys, there’s some mice, and I cannot stress my joy at seeing these little guys pop up. What a shop. 

Not to mention that yet again, they hit it out of the park with the backgrounds here, they’re lavishly painted and match the shows style perfectly. 

I also found myself in awe of how great the pacing of this one was - there are a few moments here and there that I didn’t care all too much for, but otherwise wow! It moves from beat to beat so seamlessly, drifting around this wonderland until the villain is finally captured. 

Having left the best aspect of this episode until the end, the 10,000 volt ghost is an all timer for best villain of the franchise. His origin comes from Mr Voltner, an electrician who was zapped while climbing inside the power plant, and subsequently, he was killed, his volt-filled ghost living on. Already this is an amazing premise, but his design manages to push past just how great this monster already was. At first glance, this character is simply a humanoid tangerine blob, but watching this character is a delight. His body is jagged, each line carved with almost furry looking edges, emulating the feeling of electricity, but what pushes this further are the soft yellow beams protruding from his form, but yet again, this is pushed further by the way these beams oscillate around his body, giving him even more of an electrifying design. These beams are unpredictable, and it makes this villain feel dangerous, mimetic of the electricity bursting from his body. 

There’s a reason he’s returned so many times, in comics, Scooby Doo and Guess Who, Trick or Treat Scooby Doo and the 2002 live action movie. He’s great, truly perfect. 

I cannot begin to express how much fun I’ve had with these four episodes, to the point I deem three of the four perfect. They are exactly what the franchise needed, they’re a return to form for sure, but more than that, they’re a breath of fresh air, they’re innovative and most importantly, fun to watch. 

I cannot wait to continue the series <3 What a strong start to a show!

Next Review: The Scooby Doo Show S1 E5-8 (Coming Soon!)

Previous Review: The New Scooby Movies Episodes Ranked

(Happy Holidays everyone! :))

[hazelkjt]

The Monster Hunter Wilds Beta was a nice distraction from the shit going on in my life. It was a REALLY fun 3 days, minimal performance issues so I’m happy I don’t need to update my PC. So, here are my thoughts as a decade long fan of the series on what I experienced in Wilds.

The Good-

No clutch claw. Ten out of ten change Capcom, thank you.

Removal of gender restrictions on armor WITHOUT homogenizing the armor designs. Just a win all around here, offers such a greater range of self-expression through what your hunter wears. This will be the second time I’m playing a female hunter just because I won’t have to deal with the armor designs I don’t particularly enjoy. (Only other time was because "why not?" during my revisit to Rise a few months ago)

All the monster designs have knocked it out of the park. Chatacabra is a lovable punching bag, Doshaguma’s a nice step up to have a middle tier Fanged Beast, Balahara is a great challenge with easy to read attacks but tricky timing. And then Rey Dau just taking the cake and instantly in my top 20 favorite monsters.

Weapons all feel relatively balanced, so far? At least of the handful I tried out. I’m a pretty casual MH player, never cared for optimal builds or speedruns so as long as the weapons feel fun to play then I’m all good. Still personally feel LS might be a bit overtuned with all the options and non-committal choices it has but I digress. Switch Axe is making a comeback as my preemptive Wilds main weapon with Bow being my backup.

The map is enormous but doesn’t feel lifeless. There’s always something happening just enough to make it feel like an actual environment and not just a video game level. A massive step up from the areas in Rise that all felt kind of boring with how it was just big, flat areas with connecting alleys that you could run on top of. This feels like actual topography that all flows seamlessly into one another.

Did I mention no clutch claw?

The Bad-

Even though I didn’t have any, the performance issues others are reporting are inexcusable. Other people that I know for a FACT own a high end computer can’t get more than 20FPS on medium settings, it’s ridiculous. This game is not optimized in the slightest for PC right now and for a simultaneous release that’s unacceptable. And while I have joked about wanting to see the low-poly models for myself the fact that people are seeing those for their entire time in the Beta is, again, inexcusable.

Monsters run way too often but this might just be a Beta issue with lower health values so I’ll let it off a bit easy.

I agree with the lack of impact on the really big hits but I am also letting this one off easy because it could have to do with the lack of attack power we have in the Beta. We’re literally in the basic starting gear with the basic beginner’s weapon, there’s room for the hit stop and impact to ramp up dynamically the higher our damage numbers go.

I know this isn’t something they can fix by launch (or if they’d even consider fixing at all) but having only six voices in character creation feels extremely limiting. I understand your hunter is fully voiced throughout the entire game now so getting the usual twenty-ish voices would’ve bloated the budget significantly, but the poorly implemented pitch shifter does nothing to make up for their absence. Even just going one or two notches up or down and you can start to hear the artificial “static” of the pitch filter and it’s distracting.

So many control scheme options and you CAN’T turn off the Radial Menu? Fucking why??? I’ve never enjoyed having control of the camera taken away from me while scrolling through my item bar in previous games and now I can’t even fix that. I’ve begrudgingly been forcing myself to learn how to use it, but removing an option that was in the previous two games for no reason is a baffling decision.

Still looking forward to the game’s launch in a few months and hoping that maybe a few of these issues will be resolved by then.

[darkmist111]

Percy Jackson, Reyna Ramirez-Arellano, Ethan Nakamura, and the Child Super Soldier

So something I wants to talk about is the parallel of Percy and Reyna, and their concept of loyalty.

I think we as a fandom have examined Percy and Jason’s swap, compared their characters, and talked about their influence.

I think we’ve also compared Jason and Annabeth, and how their parallels were understated.

However I do think Reyna’s part in this dynamic is understated and under examined, despite her being intrinsically tied to this dynamic.

I also think this matches another unexplored parallel. While Reyna is often sidelined for Jason, Ethan Nakamura is sidelined for Luke Castellan.

And all compare to Percy Jackson to various degrees, and share a interesting concept of loyalty with him.

To preface this I believe their lives follow a similar line, with the key difference being that Percy had support from his Family and Community, Reyna only had support from her Community, and Ethan received only superficial transactional support from family and community.

But I think the dynamic between the three becomes more interesting when you view it from the lens of them as child soldiers and leaders.

But first let’s talk about Percy journey as a hero through the perspective of a soldier.

Camp half-blood isn’t a army, it trains Heroes not Soldiers, but the crossover between the two isn’t minimal. Percy is drafted into the life of a half-blood, but very often baring maybe the first book Percy voluntarily enters his missions. And while some people say this is a type of control issue, in both cases where he goes out on his own circumstances give him reason to do so. In sea of monsters Hermes outright tells him he is necessary for this mission, and we later find out Clarrise is down 2 required questmates. In the second quest, the hunters are down one questmate that was poisoned and Percy only joins after learning this.

While Percy often goes against authority, he also shows deep respect to those who earned his loyalty.

He also fights for his family and home a trait commonly associated with soldiers.

Narratively his arc is one of the reluctant soldier forced into combat because of circumstances that rises in rank due his actions rather than a desire for glory or belief in the cause.

This culminates in him taking the mantle of leadership in battle, resembling a mythic figure of the hero general or king. The type that lead their armies on the battle field from the front, whose singular presence could turn the tide of battle.

And once victorious he changes things for the better, though not a permanent leader, one that leaves a lasting legacy.

At the end though Percy is a mostly reactionary hero though dynamic in his responses.

His dreams are not of creating or conquering, but of family and homestead, and his victory at the end of the series is him using his glory for his allies.

Percy achieves victory by balancing personal family duty with greater duty to his people, gaining loyalty to and from both.

And he’s able to do this because of the support of his family, and his fellows in arms.

Reyna has only one of these.

It’s telling that Reyna is one of the only Demigods whose godly parent we never meet.

Reyna and Hylla are daughters of the Roman War Goddess Bellona, and the girls have collectively spent their lives bouncing between armies and cults.

Reyna was said to have it easy earlier from their father, but due to PTSD he ended up turning their home into a army, preparing for a battle that would never come.

After leaving the sisters ended up as part of Circe cult, that transformed and killed men to varying degrees of justified. After Percy and Annabeth set pirates free, causing their new home to be destroyed, the sisters separated. Both once again joining organizations of War. New Rome’s Legion, and the Amazons.

When she realizes she need to defy her community to save them. Similar to Percy defying her order to follow a higher duty.

After the War Reyna joins the hunters, and we see a pattern don’t we.

She continually giver her loyalty to groups and communities, but rarely receives it on a personal level. Ultimately she cannot separate her family from war or society.

And that ultimately results in her leadership being prone to be undermined, and unable to leave lasting change upon her community other than handing the reins over to new leadership.

She’s a soldier with no home to return to, and thus she cannot put down her weapon.

She’s similar to Percy if he had only systems to be loyal to. She’s constantly seeking a place that will value her.

Ethan Nakamura had it even worse, we don’t get a lot of him and often people view him as a traitor, but was it right of others to expect loyalty of him, even though he gives to see freely even when not earned? Or are we seeing someone seeking something worth being loyal too.

A child of Nemesis, he was always gonna have a uphill battle of being respected by his community.

We see him search for validation for his family but even in Kronos’s army it’s unfound. Nemesis isn’t a particularly power goddess at first glance.

When Percy spares him he resigns himself to death, making one think of the times Percy fell into despair.

In the end he too defies his orders, though unlike Percy and Reyna, Ethan’s defiance costs him his life.

He never rises to a position of leadership, and the only person he seems truly loyal to is his mother who uses him as a cosmic chess piece.

A soldier with no real choice expected to pick a side when neither truly value him. Searching for something to be loyal to in a world that sees no value in loyalty without usefulness.

I feel like Percy being able to see his loyalty in others and how it can harm them is a very interesting concept.

[wanderingandfound]

Well I woke up at fucking five eighteen am so I might as well make this post while I have time.

I enjoy the feminist, queer-normative settings that fandom (at least by surface level appearances) tries to make, but with Dungeon Meshi I'm seeing people take that shallow fun fandom interpretation and then.... ignore the actual setting?

Like hetero marriage with the intention to produce offspring is a big deal here. My understanding is that Falin and Laios were both engaged as children. Chilchuck and his wife had two of their daughters before they were considered adults. In Laios's party pre-canon there was a female character there only looking for a husband, at least to Chilchuck's understanding and he's pretty decent at figuring out human motivations.

Falin is 23, tall-man maturity is 16 and life expectancy in 60. If she wasn't an adventurer (from what I can tell, it's a more disreputable field than other careers) who cares more about dungeons and her brother than societal norms, she would probably be expected to have a husband already.

People give Toshiro so much grief for proposing to her out of nowhere, and I've only finished volume nine of the manga so I don't know if this gets more detailed later, but like, they had been in the same party for a few years at this point? Like yeah, Toshiro doesn't know her as well as Marcille and Laios do, but it's clear he was trying to get to know her better. One of his frustrations with Laios is that Laios kept crashing his attempted dates with Falin!

Here's the thing, all these characters are beautifully flawed as fuck. But the disproportionate hate I've seen towards Toshiro is bad and probably racist. Toshiro is not just fantasy-Japanese, he's also nobility and racially marked as Other on the island. As such, he has so many rules for etiquette/manners/propriety he's operating under. And we have seen that he is rather quiet and withdrawn (he didn't correct anyone about what his name is, when he told his party thank you they started crying, he regrets that he didn't tell Falin how he felt even though he did propose to her suggesting that his proposal was more formal (as befitting someone of his class!!!) than emotional). You know who else is quiet? Falin. She doesn't give Toshiro an answer to his proposal, doesn't seem to talk about it with others, was ostracized in her hometown and at magic school and when Marcille took an interest in her work she decided to just show Marcille the dungeon with minimal explanation as she went, after her first resurrection Laios makes her promise not to sacrifice herself again but he doesn't say "sacrifice" he says "don't do that again" and doesn't catch her quiet protestations that she doesn't know what she did, and she promises anyways! Heck, one of the ways we know she is just as into all of this as her brother is how animated she gets when she finds out they've been eating monsters.

I'm not familiar with Japanese current and historical cultural norms and fantasy tropes. I am sure there's nuance to Toshiro's characters that I'm unaware of. But I don't think we should take Chilchuck's and Mickbell's commentary of his proposal being out of nowhere as if that's the objective truth, and not also informed by their halfling (and presumably commoner) cultural background. Like, fuck, iconic romantic lead of English literature Mr. Darcy has a lot in common with Toshiro, and at least when the latter first proposed there was no open animosity between him and the object of his affections!

Do I ship Toshiro/Falin? No, not particularly. But for a fandom that is very defensive of the autistic characters (and rightly so) I see not a lot of grace being extended to someone whose communication issues are wrapped up in Following The Rules, Not Improvising, and Staying Quiet About Your Feelings.

Anyways, my second issue with people ignoring the heteronormative aspect of the setting is people outright saying that Marcille is motivated mainly by her romantic interest in Falin. Which. I love subtext and shipping but not at the cost of the actual text! Not that sapphic love is simple, but some of the takes I've seen (and I'm talking about longer, intentional analysis, not memes) ignore the nuances we see play out on the page and how Marcille's feelings are a somewhat complicated tangle that she seems to ignore with a philosophy of "it's fine and if it isn't then I will make it fine!" Like, I ship Marcille/Falin more than any other pairing in this show, but I feel that romantic interpretations should enrich and interweave and support the other feelings that are there (fear of others dying before her, first friend, the way after Falin's first resurrection Marcille was like "oh I don't care how you've grown you're still the same little kid to me" because change is scary and time brings death and also by elven standards Marcille isn't an adult yet either). Not bulldoze and flatten the text to use generic romantic interpretations instead.

Dungeon Meshi has such beautiful and thoughtful worldbuilding. There's both fantasy racism informed by biological distinctions, and real-world racism informed by differences in appearances and culture. There's complex ecosystems both in the plants and animals and in the human (and demihuman) societies. The backgrounds of every character inform their choices. Different cultural groups have different beauty standards, and their ages (and gender presentation? not sure how much of that has been intentional and how much has been a mistranslation) are misinterpreted by people not in their group (Namari (who has presumably been around tall-men her whole life unlike Senshi who didn't know halflings were their own thing) referring to Falin, someone she has known for quite a while now, as being a teenager to forties).

Again I'm only on volume 9, but I've been told that there is a canon lesbian in the manga. And without knowing who she is, I feel like she's the exception that proves the rule? Dungeon Meshi was released 2014–2023. I'm arguing that the heteronormativity in this world is intentional, not incidental. Dungeon Meshi has a lot to say about family, including adoptive family (Kaka and Kiki, Kabru, Senshi, Thistle) and so far all the adoptive parents have either been in hetero relationships or single. I think the absence of queer relationships is intentional, and while I'm all for queering the text I am more interested in what that queerness looks like in a heteronormative setting that values marriage and children, rather than just ignoring the setting so that queerness itself is not a source of conflict.

[crashandswirl]

MUSE INFO

Name: Katarin

She comes from the 2005 film BloodRayne. When interacting with her, there might be violence, injury, blood, gore, and death. Except for violence, all of these things will be tagged as cw: [subject] when applicable.

Also known as: Rin

Eyes: Dark blue

Hair: Dark brown

Face claim: Michelle Rodríguez

Pronouns: She/her

Age: Twenty-six

Height: 5'4"/163 cm

Sexual/Romantic orientation: Bisexual/biromantic (out but doesn't know the labels)

Occupation: Vampire slayer

Personality: Katarin is tenacious, steadfast, and occasionally arrogant. Her stubbornness and rigid opinions/beliefs are impressively difficult to break, often to the point of being infuriating. She'll make sure to plainly lay out what she thinks as well. Her trust isn't easily earned.

She's not afraid to do whatever it takes, no matter how extreme. She's worked hard to harden all her soft parts, which she perceives as weaknesses that could potentially build up to a greater failure. As a result, she can come across as ruthless, cutting down those in her way with minimal hesitation.

In the end, she's convinced that the choices she makes are the right ones, and that regardless of any death or hurting that occurs in the process, she will help achieve a better tomorrow in the end.

Katarin primarily grows up within the walls of the Brimstone Society's fortress. Brimstone is made up of vampire hunters. Not only do they travel out and kill bloodsuckers, but they also work to oppose a terrible vampire king called Kagan.

From a very young age, Katarin is trained to do battle by her father. She's taught to never trust someone after they had turned, regardless of who they used to be. Her father isn't a very parental man and that, combined with Katarin's headstrong nature, often causes them to butt heads. She frequently ends up turning to Brimstone's leader, a man named Vladimir, for emotional support growing up.

When she's sixteen, her father is bitten. It is expected in Brimstone to kill a comrade quickly after this happens as a common courtesy, but Katarin does not have it in her to end him. As a result, he's exiled from the society. He retains much more of his humanity than most vampires, but a greater strain is placed on their already rocky relationship regardless.

By the time she's twenty-three, she has become one of Vladimir's closest confidants and a member he often has accompany him out.

Verses:

This is what it means to serve Brimstone. (BloodRayne) – Takes place in a fictitious version of 18th-century Romania, which can be swapped with or inserted into many other fantasy settings. Vampires plague the land and a vampire king named Kagan rules.

I have never met a beast I cannot slay. (Resident Evil: Village) – Since the village is in Romania and the Dimitrescus are kinda vampires, I figure it could be fun if Katarin's travels led her there. It would also be fun to put her against the monsters in the village.

What form of sorcery is this? (Crossovers) – A generic verse for crossovers.

Thread tag: Muse: Katarin

Visage tag: I will kneel before no one.

HC/Info tag: I was trained in battle by a great warrior.

Relationship tags:

I'll never trust your kind. – w/Rayne, a fellow Brimstone member, enemy, and love interest.

I used to turn to you for guidance. – w/Vladimir, Brimstone's leader and a bit of a father figure.

You are a thorn in my side. – w/Sebastian, a fellow Brimstone member and friend.

Miscellaneous:

In the film, she dies upon having her neck snapped and blood drank by the lead character, Rayne. However, it follows a betrayal that I hate the buildup to, so I'll largely be ignoring it <3 But you might still hear Katarin complain about the dhampir.

While trained to handle a multitude of weapons, Katarin is most skilled with swords, followed closely by a bow and arrow.

She has not seen her father since his exile. However, the two of them do occasionally exchange letters. Being unable to kill him is what Katarin considers her greatest moment of weakness.

She has a fleabitten grey horse named Bela.

[adacatlovelace]

Random unhinged undertale rambling

The design for Sans and Papyrus is very deliberate with the fact they are always smiling, and their expressiveness comes from the movement of their eye(socket)s. This is not only because they are skeletons, but its also important to note that, even at their lowest points, they both still have big goofy smiles on their face, conveying both Papyrus nature of never giving up hope in people and Sans’ continuing to “put on a happy face” even when faced with the monumental existential dread of knowing that anything that happens, good or bad, matters because of the way time works in the world of Undertale. This isn’t to say that they shouldn’t show emotion but ATTENTION NEEDS TO BE PAID TO HOW THEY SHOW THIS EMOTION IF YOU ARE TRYING TO BE TRUE TO THE CHARACTERS.

Secondly, what makes Sans such an interesting character is the fact that he has gone almost fully numb. He knows how helpless he is to actually change anything and has, for the most part, accepted it and instead of ruminating on it, he’s decided to have a bit of fun with it, and because if he acts friendly it might at least minimize the damage the human will do. He doesn’t even really seem to care all that much when Papyrus dies, unless you specifically PROVOKE him by killing ONLY papyrus at which point he will either call you out for being a Hypocrite or “Ah, you’re just an asshole then. At least you’re honest about it.” because once again, anything that happens GOOD OR BAD will be reset and doesn’t really matter.

Yes, he did make a promise with Toriel, and he outright tells you that if he didn’t do so, he would’ve killed you almost immediately. However, he WILL break this promise if the human threatens him directly. This implies one of two things: Either he is so bound to this promise to this person he barely knows that he will stand by as the human murders everyone he cares about, but no so much that he is willing to die because of it OR that the promise is more of a justification to himself to allow the human the freedom to make their own choices.

Now admittedly this is where I go a bit into my headcanon, but bear with me, I do have quite a bit of media analysis to back this up.

MY PERSONAL INTERPRETATION OF THE STORY is that the narrative is... Well the best way I can put this (hopefully) without sounding unhinged is that if you took the story, changed the names and setting while keeping the core themes, characters and events of the story, you could have a passable sort of sequel to Paradise Lost, namely the War in Heaven and christian mythos. STAY WITH ME PLEASE I KNOW THIS SOUNDS INSANE BUT HEAR ME OUT I BEG YOU I MUST SHARE THIS INSANITY WITH OTHERS PLEASE THIS IS JUST ME INTERPRETING THE SYMBOLISM AND DRAWING LITERARY PARALLELS NOT ME CLAIMING THAT UNDERTALE IS ACTUALLY A STORY ABOUT GOD AND THE DEVIL JUST THAT TOBY FOX MAY HAVE BEEN INSPIRED BY THE STORIES

I’m just saying that, in some twisted way, it could be a story of Lucifer returning to Heaven

1. What kicks it off the events of Undertale is a large scale war between the Humans and Monsters, and while the monsters are the ones banished, the end result is practically the same: Separation between monsters(Angel stand in) and humans (Demon stand in) Humans/Demons did BAD THING and now the two worlds have been separated

2. Im just gonna get this over with and say Asriel (Who’s name is based on Azrael, an angel) COULD be looked at as a stand in for Jesus, an envoy of the monsters who left the undergound with a message of peace and was killed because of it. This is admittedly the weakest point I have considering Azrael is the angel of death, and the whole thing with Chara muddying it up, but my brain gave me the idea of comparing the funny goat boy to jesus christ and I had to at least mention it

3. A common interpretation I tend to see is that the underground is “Hell” and in my opinion, this does not line up with the themes and imagery within Undertale. In Undertale, the humans are the aggressors, and while the monsters are willing to fight to defend themselves, they are almost always willing to make peace if given the right opportunity.

4. The Human is referred as to as being “Fallen” and the Prophecy of The Deltarune symbol describes him as an angel. Put these two facts together, the human is a Fallen Angel.

5. Toriel’s name is Toriel because shes acts as Tu-Toriel. This has nothing to do with anything except that when searching for the origin of her name, I found out that this STUPID pun has gone over my head for the last almost 8 years and now here it is for anyone else who’s missed it.

6. Taking what I said about Sans giving the human a chance to make their own decisions and running with it, Sans acts as the sort of “God” character. This sounded insane to me at first but then I realized you literally meet him in LIGHT BATHED CHURCH WHERE HE PASSES JUDGEMENT ON THE HUMAN and the whole game he acts as an almost omnipresent observer.

7. Now for the endings

Neutral: Reuniting Humans/Hell and Monsters/Heaven is deemed untenable at the current moment due to the actions (or lack of action) the human has taken, but both sides might walk away either a little bit wiser or with a renewed sense of division. Either way, the Underground is changed forever

Pacifist: The human has turned away from violence, even in the most difficult of scenarios. Asriel is reminded of the love they once shared with humans and the two sides become one again. The Lucifer-standin has clearly changed and is brought back into the fold

Genocide: “Lucifer” returns and enacts violence against everything, reigniting the War in Heaven but is now unstoppable. After killing both “God” and “Jesus” they are left with nothing except Chara. I disagree that Chara is the devil or satan, but instead is the personification of violence itself, fueled by ambition, to “gain power and defeat the enemy” which is what caused Lucifer to be cast out to begin with. They ask you/Lucifer if you’d like to finish what the two of you have started and if you have the gall to say no, they “gently” remind you that THEY have always been been in control: Lucifer’s ambition to wipe out Heaven and YOU, THE PLAYER’S ambition to “beat” the game to its fullest extent, even if it means going against the themes of the game, leaving Undertale to be cast aside and uninstalled to for the next game you to beat: “Erase this world and move onto the next”

[kathleenkatmary]

Western Wednesdays: Grim Prairie Tales (1990)

Not at all what I expected, but I found myself enjoying this quite a bit. Since this is a horror/western anthology, I was kind of expecting horror more along the lines of something like Tales from the Crypt, just with a western setting, but Grim Prairie Tales is doing something very different. I read that the cast and crew felt that they were making a strong feminist piece, and I can absolutely see that in the final product. This really is a very thoughtful piece of genre filmmaking, and the horror really does feel more like the kind of spooky stories you might hear around a campfire, at least more so than the kind of horror I think a lot of people expect going into this, judging from many of the reviews (and my own experience).

The middle segments are the ones that really have that feel of a somewhat bold feminist take. The second segment is about a man who meets a troubled woman while traveling through the western plains, and digs into ideas about the ways vulnerability in women is often framed in sexual ways by horror stories and really, a lot of men in general. The third story is about a family making their home on the frontier, with the "Little House on the Prairie" sheen slowly being chipped away to show what a monster the father really is. There are no supernatural elements in this story. The horror comes from just how monstrous, and sadly real, especially for that time, the father's actions are, and the sadly honest reality of the excuses the women in his life will make for him, even as he's abusing them. It's so interesting to see a movie from the early 1990s, especially one that's both a horror film and a western, be so frank in addressing these kinds of issues in terms of gender dynamics, and particularly in the way men and women are framed.

The first and second stories aren't about gender dynamics or women's issues, but they're still thoughtful pieces about respecting different cultures and the horror of violence. I don't think they have the same narrative heft that the middle two stories have, but they still work pretty well. The final story in particular has a wild animated segment, and one of the most frightening images of the whole movie. So they're still incredibly effective.

And the framing device here is also interesting and effective. It's Brad Douriff and James Earl Jones, two strangers who end up camping together and swapping stories, and in so doing end up ruminating a lot on the nature of stories. It's the rare case of the framing segments being just as interesting, if not more so, as the stories being told. Both actors are electric and have a really fun chemistry. They both do a really incredibly job of making their characters feel distinct and identifiable, and that makes their interactions really crackle, because you can really understand where each one is coming from.

Of course, it's not by any means perfect. I think it did take a little too long to get going, and that sort of issue with pacing extends for the whole movie. The stories all feel like they have wildly different pacing, making some feel like they're moving way too fast and some feel like they're moving kind of slow. The scares are also minimal, which I don't generally mind, but I do feel like the movie would have benefitted from slightly better building of atmosphere. The beginning has some atmosphere, largely I think thanks to the fact that the darkness of the western setting at night kind of inherently comes with atmosphere.

This movie was actually shot by the great Janusz Kaminski. It was one of his first jobs as a cinematographer. There are some shots where you can see the skill he'd become so well known for, some beautifully framed shots of the western countryside. Unfortunately, Grim Prairie Tales doesn't seem to have ever received a DVD or Blu-Ray release, not do it appear to be available anywhere streaming. So the only way to watch it is on youtube, where it's been ripped from the VHS release. Which means that it's presented in 4:3, cropped and pretty rough quality that makes everything look very dark but also washed out at the same time. So none of the shots are presented in the way they were originally lit and framed. It's hard to really comment on or criticize any of this stuff as a result.

I really do hope this gets a Blu-Ray release at some point. It's not a masterpiece, but it deserves to be seen by more people, and in its originally intended state.

[junow-honours]

The Aggressor

I am very stoked with these images. Like the last two posts, I decided that I wanted to change the existing designs of my characters, because I’m looking for more interesting and macabre designs for my WIP game. I used AI to generate the ‘turntable’ of each character, so you can see what the whole design looks like as a 3D model.

The first image is by far my favourite, and will be used as the primary ‘Aggressor’ image, alongside the other images in my previous post (these were great too).

Made some notes on some associations I had with these images (most likely pulled in by the generator):

Pharaoh mask- Egyptian- Hieroglyphics. Looks like an ancient depiction of a god (or demon)

Demonic or Satanic- the AI generator seemed to lean towards very macabre and disturbing imagery

Reptilian, or insect-like. The teeth has been translated into an almost scaly, armoury shell- like that of a slater insect. And the tooth headdress resembles one of those lizards with the thrilled neck (love these associations, because when I designed the original character, I was looking at the anatomy of predators in the animal kingdom. Also like this idea of armour- war plays a big role in tabletop games, so the knight would be a good archetype to look into- or executioner who wears an intimidating set of armour)

The Xenomorph in Alien. Probably the most well known science-fiction monster. The Aggressor’s large helmet resembles the long head of the Xenomorph

Mad Max- Dystopian steam-punk. The use of masks is so interesting, the Aggressor needs to be the one character with his face completely covered (balaclava), whereas the other characters still have some skin showing (although only minimal)

Cyborg

Punk?

BDSM masks- latex

Roman coins- the side profiles look like the profiles of gods printed onto ancient Roman coins. Good idea for creating tokens or currency within the game

Michelangelo’s drawings of men wearing helmets- very complex (almost art nouveau-like) helmets. Also reminds me of Howl’s Moving Castle? Stretching it, but small associations like this are what I want the viewers of my work to experience. I want them to point out at random things and make conversations from the memories associated with those things

^ Maybe then.. The Aggressor’s territory can look similar to Howl’s Moving Castle, extremely cluttered and overwhelming- This is also usually how ‘hell’ is depicted, it’s cluttered and deserted- like an abandoned town or a dump. Also thinking about the film ‘Labyrinth’ and that lady with that massive backpack in the dump- love her

[vinetabris]

not only have i decided to watch all the movies, i’m going to give little reviews for each movie too, so get ready

Godzilla (1954)

Wow! I had seen a couple of Godzilla movies, but never the first. I’m used to the more campy/silly side of the old Godzilla movies, so I was surprised that the first movie was so different and dark (thematically, not just because it’s a black and white movie that has a lot of scenes that take place at night lol). Despite it’s age I feel it still holds up really well, even with the technological limitations of the special effects. One thing that I was surprised by was the focus on human suffering. In the other movies I’ve seen the suffering is kept minimal, or is offscreen, or the city is evacuated. In this movie you can really feel the fear of the people affected. Between people screaming as their homes are destroyed, or crying as someone else dies, or are shown wounded. They make it really apparent how the people are affected. There’s one scene in particular of a woman holding her three children saying “We’re going to be together with Daddy soon” as the buildings burn around here that felt particularly brutal.

There were two versions of this movie, the original and the Americanized Godzilla: King of the Monsters movie, which was re-edited to include an American main character, and removed some scenes. The one I watched was the original, not sure if I’ll watch King of the Monsters as, from what I understand, it changes the impact a bit, and I quite like the darker tone of it.

And of course this movie really captures the anxieties Japan had when it came to nuclear weapons. The whole reason why Godzilla is awoken and attacks is because of nuclear weapons testing. There’s a scientist character in the movie who develops a weapon that can be deployed underwater and pretty much vaporize everything nearby in the water, but he keeps it a secret because he’s so terrified of the government using it, or it falling into the wrong hands (he says he wants to wait until he finds a greater use for it, though what that could be I’m not really sure). Even though Godzilla is attacking and he has the only weapon that could stop him, he’s still hesitant to use it because he feels that even if he destroys his research, the knowledge could still be taken from him and used for destruction. It’s only after he sees the suffering of people on television that he agrees to use his bomb on Godzilla, but only after destroying all his research. Then, he gets on a boat that takes him near Godzilla, where he gets into a diving suit with the bomb and sets it, however when the people on the boat try to pull him up before the bomb goes off, he cuts his line, and stays in the water to die with Godzilla, meaning there’s no way for he bomb to ever be recreated. I found it really interesting, acknowledging the need for weapons, but also being so afraid of them being abused that he sacrificed himself.

At the end of the movie it does show Godzilla vaporized and turned to bones, so I don’t know if the next movie is supposed to be a different Godzilla, or if he comes back from being bones somehow, but either way this movie is definitely worth the watch if you’ve never seen it. I can understand the hesitation one might have due to the age of the movie, but honestly I enjoyed it and do recommend to fans of monster movies.

8.5/10

just found out there's only 36~ Godzilla movies

which is less than what I was thinking cause I thought there was like 50 of them

so like, what if I just did a big ol Godzilla marathon

[prokopetz]

Hello, person of many recommendations, I come seeking your web of knowledge. I know this isn't TTRPG, but do you and or any of your followers have recommendations for games where you play as a Creature. Just, an absolute thing. Claws. Teeth. No shade to the recent beloved cat game, but I'm talking a monster. If not, no sweat, just discussing trends among friends.

Since you say it "isn't TTRPG", I'm assuming you mean video games, though I'll note that nowhere in your request do you actually specify the medium you have in mind – if I've guessed wrong, that's on you!

That said, a few favourite video games where you play as a Creature:

Realistically, you’ve probably already heard of CARRION, but on the off chance that you haven't, it's a stand-out in the genre. A stealth puzzler with medium-weight metroidvania elements where you basically play as The Thing. This one really leans into playing as a creature with no fixed body plan, so you’ll have to be prepared for occasional physics engine jank as well as omnipresent body horror.

They Bleed Pixels is sort of an edge case, since you’re really just a purple-skinned schoolgirl with claws, but as it’s widely accepted by the Tumblr community that creepy little girls are a kind of Creature, I’m counting it. It’s an ultraviolent precision puzzle-platformer, and if the character design is a bit low on monstrosity, what you do to your enemies more than makes up for it.

Zapling Bygone only came out a couple of days ago, so I haven’t yet had a chance to see everything it has to offer, but I like what I’ve seen to far. Though it might seem redundant to include both this and CARRION on the same list, they’re two very different takes on the idea of a metroidvania starring a tentacled whatsit that goes around killing and assimilating its enemies.

Nohra is another creature-escaping-a-lab game, this one in the form of a Celeste-style precision puzzle-platformer. (I recognise that I’ve thus far plugged nothing but metroidvanias and puzzle-platformers, but well, you knew who you were asking, right?) Quite short, but also free on account of being a student project. The monster’s design suggests that someone on the dev team was definitely a furry.

Maneater probably isn’t quite what you have in mind, being a self-described “open world SharkPG” in which you play as an actual fucking shark, but you can’t deny that a shark is in fact a Creature. Not quite as Grand Theft Auto as the trailers make it look – there’s legit RPG gameplay here, though it leans a bit too hard on the novelty of its premise to really make the most of itself. Still: fucking shark.

Sea Salt has you playing as not one Creature, but many – specifically, a devouring horde of Lovecraftian beasties which you direct as a single unit. The Steam tags notwithstanding, it’s not really an RTS; the logistical play is minimal, and you just have the one mob of critters to direct – it’s more like a bullet hell game where you direct your characters using a laser pointer.

As for forthcoming titles, Necrofugitive is a side-scrolling beat-’em-up where you play as a shape-shifting zombie thing escaping from prison in a shitdark medieval setting. Like They Bleed Pixels, above, whether this one meets your criteria depends on how you feel about essentially humanoid Creatures, though in this case the shapeshifting element pushes the humanoid envelope a little.

[josnhoes]

Halloween.... Spooky scary skeleton 🎶

Okay since halloween is near what if humans do not exsisted in two world but as a myth, like we humans make mythos out of thin air or drugs

And child yuu just appear one day?

I'm assuming you mean twst so I'm going to write it that way. But if you meant a different Fandom feel free to message me again. Also since you didn't pick 3 characters I'm going to do a more general version then focused on characters.

Edit: I ran out of steam and only did the first 3 dorms.

Content warning: Monsters, child reader

In the world of Twisted Wonderland there are a few truths none question; the great seven where revered, the races of monsters where to do their best to keep the peace the great seven created, and humans where nothing more then myths. Though the stories of humans where common, told as tales of fun and whimsy most of the time. There where a few cases of stories where humans where dangerous, abducting monsters to have friends. A set truth about humans aside they didn't exist was if you befriended one, and treasured them in return of their loyalty they would help your magic grow. Young monsters often sought out humans for fun and with hopes of becoming a mage worthy of being seen along side the great seven.

The world of humans was real, a reality mirroring the monster's own. Where humans where viewed by monsters like fairies are to humans; to humans a majority of monsters where to be fear. But just like the monster world their counterpart was viewed as fake.

On rare once a millennium event the realities overlapped allowing for travel between realms. Though usually it was with out incident, but on occasion someone fall through. A monster and a human switched places. But none truly knew of this.

Mc was little even for their age. Though their age was small as well, not even in double digits yet. So waking up in a strange place alone was not ideal. In fact it was the opposite of what any child would want. Alone, lost, and hungry you could do nothing but cry. A cry that caught the attention of a certain Tengu headmaster.

Crowley was in shock to find such a little monster alone in the mirror chamber and approached. Only for the little one to scream. At the fearful wailing he took a closer look and was in shock to find the child was *human*. Oh how fortunate for his school chosen to host such a rare guest! It was a sign and he couldn't wait to see who you chose to bestow power upon, would it be one or many?

Once you're calmed down and reassured no one would hurt you, he asked how you arrived. The answer of you didn't know wasn't ideal but no matter. Soon you found yourself bounced between dorms to find someone for you to bond with.

Heartslabyul was first. The dorm leader refused at first finding no possible way a human could exist, as such he was very hard on you for the first week. The werewolf was strict on everyone but especially himself lest he become a mindless beast. Trey the gentle living doll however was kind and managed to help Riddle realize you where human and not some monsterling shape shifted. Once that gets out the school is vying for your attention. The various monsters in Heartslabyul did their best to keep the havoc to a minimal for your sake.

Savanclaw has a mixed reaction. The sphinx dormleader Leona was the worst at having mixed feelings. He wanted the promised power a human could offer, but you where a child and children where such a pain to deal with..or so he claimed. Most of your care while with them is from Ruggie the resident Knoll and Jack the werewolf wind spirit hybrid.

Octavinelle was the first to have actively tried to bribe your affections. Even with out the bond you brought profits galore. Everyone wanted a deal with Azul the water element Slime, as such his power was growing and growing. The twins a pair of sea serpents where extra busy keeping the lounge in order as many monsters fought to get contracts for a chance to meet the small human.