#*ﾟ ❈. verse. —— some people are just born with tragedy in their blood. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

a-muscle-the-size-of-your-fist · 16 days

Text

TAGS LIST

MAIN BLOG TAGS

Mr. Meek Speaks (OOC)

Yeah Okay Well Here's The Twist (Answered Asks)

Let Me See You Stripped Down To The Bone (Submissions)

Sometimes The Only Way Out Is As A Carcass (Memes)

Perfectin’ My Passion Thanks For Askin’ (Headcanon Memes)

Live In Dog Years And I Feel Twenty-Six Yeah I’m Old Bitch But I Learn New Tricks (Munday Meme)

I’m Key Look At Me! (Self Promo.)

What Do We Have Here? (Promo.)

NSFW Tag - (NSFScreamQueens)

I'll Meet Queue Underneath The Moon; Haunt Me Tonight

---

ABOUT ➽➽➽

AESTHETIC ➽➽➽

CLOSET ➽➽➽

HEADCANONS ➽➽➽

IC POST ➽➽➽

INTERESTS ➽➽➽

MUSINGS ➽➽➽

PLAYLIST ➽➽➽

SHIPPIING ➽➽➽

VERSE ➽➽➽

VISAGE ➽➽➽

BLOG INFO ➽➽➽

BLOG MAINTENANCE ➽➽➽

DASH COMMENTARY ➽➽➽

DASH GAMES ➽➽➽

FEATURED MUSE ➽➽➽

INBOX CALL ➽➽➽

MAGIC ANON ➽➽➽

MUSE LIST ➽➽➽

MY ART ➽➽➽

MY WRITING ➽➽➽

OPEN STARTER ➽➽➽

POLLS ➽➽➽

PSA ➽➽➽

SHIPPING CALL ➽➽➽

STARTER CALL ➽➽➽

TAGS LIST ➽➽➽

TO DO LIST ➽➽➽

TYPE BINGO ➽➽➽

CHARACTER TAGS - ALL MUSES

Your Heart Is A Muscle The Size Of Your Fist; So Keep On Lovin'; Keep On Fightin' (𝔸𝕝𝕝 𝕄𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕤)

I Heard A Scream In The Woods Somewhere (𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕚𝕣 𝕎𝕚𝕥𝕔𝕙 𝕄𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕤)

Some People Are Just Born With Tragedy In Their Blood (𝔽𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝔻𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕄𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕤)

There Are Devils To Slay And Dragons To Ride; If They See You Coming; Hell They Better Hide (𝕀ℕ𝕊𝕀𝔻𝕀𝕆𝕌𝕊 𝕄𝕌𝕊𝔼𝕊)

I Never Thought I'd Live To See The Dead Walk (ℝ𝕖𝕤𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝔼𝕧𝕚𝕝 𝕄𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕤)

So How Did You Learn To Be Sick; So Cunning? It's Easy To Sing But You Just Keep On Humming Along (𝕊𝕒𝕨 𝕄𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕤)

Serial Killers Know How To Party (𝕊ℍℝ𝕆𝕆𝕄𝕊 𝕄𝕌𝕊𝔼𝕊)

Don't Make A Sound; They're Not Dead; Just Sleeping (𝕊𝕚𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕥 ℍ𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕄𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕤)

Mirror My Melody; Transfer My Tragedy; Got A Curse I Cannot Lift (𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℚ𝕦𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕪 𝕄𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕤)

I Can Be the Monster; I Can Be The Teeth Sunk In Your Skin (𝕌𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕝 𝔻𝕒𝕨𝕟 𝕄𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕤)

CHARACTER TAGS - SINGLES

I'm Not A Good Person Ask Anyone Who Knows Me; I'm Mean And Bitter And A Failure (𝔸𝕕𝕒𝕞)

And When She Walks All The Wind Blows And The Angels Sing (𝔸𝕤𝕙𝕝𝕖𝕪)

I Want To Ride My Bicycle I Want To Ride My Bike (𝔹𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕪)

I Will Battle For The Sun And I Won’t Stop Until I’m Done (𝔹𝕠𝕓𝕓𝕪)

Kill Me I’m A Monster I Beg You Now ‘Cause I’m Not A Killer (ℂℍ𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕖𝕥𝕥)

Hey There; I Know It's Hard To Feel Like I Don't Care At All (ℂ𝕙𝕖𝕝𝕝)

My Life Is Like A Video Game Trying Hard To Beat The Stage (ℂ𝕙𝕣𝕚𝕤)

Fingers Blistered From The Nightly Scratching At The Window Which Won't Open Far Enough To Let Air In (ℂ𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕪)

I'm Beginning To Lull Myself Into A False Security 'Cause It's Easier To Lie To Yourself Than To Face Reality (𝔻𝕒𝕧𝕚𝕕)

Do You Feel Okay? You Look Pretty Low; Very Handsome Awkward (𝔻𝕪𝕝𝕒𝕟)

And Everyone Tells You You’re Better; They Beg And Plead And Scream That You’re Better; But You Could Never Be Better Than You (𝔼𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕤)

I Can Hold The Weight Of Worlds If That's What You Need; Be Your Everything (𝔼𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕟)

Why Are People Always Hating On Me? Hmm Must Be ‘Cause I’m Really Good Looking (𝔽𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕜𝕚𝕖)

They Won’t Like What I Say I Force It Out Too Corrupt They Hate Me Anyway (𝕀𝕒𝕟)

Don’t Let Me In With No Intention To Keep Me; Jesus Christ; Don't Be Kind To Me; Honey Don't Feed Me; I Will Come Back (𝕁𝕒𝕔𝕠𝕓)

I'm Bigger Than My Body; I'm Colder Than This Home; I'm Meaner Than My Demons; I'm Bigger Than These Bones (𝕁𝕖𝕤𝕤)

And Then My Eyes Got Used To The Darkness And Everyone That I Knew Was Lost And So Long Forgotten (𝕃𝕒𝕟𝕖)

The Rhythm Of Rebellion From The Rattle In Your Bones; A Sonic Liberation; Salvation In Your Headphones (𝕃𝕒𝕣𝕜)

You Look At Me But You Don't See; Understand I'm A Sinner; Don't Corner Me; Don't Lecture Me (𝕃𝕠𝕘𝕒𝕟)

You're Looking Good But You're Feeling The Pressure (𝕃𝕦𝕚𝕤)

The Tide Is Rising High; It's Sink Or Swim; It's Hit Or Miss; What Will You Pick? (𝕃𝕪𝕟𝕟)

I Cut My Tongue On The Rust Of A Silver Spoon (𝕄𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕔𝕜)

When My Time Comes Around Lay Me Gently In The Cold Dark Earth; No Grave Can Hold My Body Down (𝕄𝕒𝕥𝕥)

I Never Knew You Could Hold Moonlight In Your Hands Until The Night I Held You (𝕄𝕒𝕩)

He Was In The Habit Of Taking Things For Granted; Granted There Wasn't Much For Him To Take (𝕄𝕚𝕜𝕖)

I've Had To Work Much Harder Than This For Something I Want; Don't Try To Resist Me (𝕄𝕠𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕦)

Staying Up Until The Morning I Wish I Was More Discerning (𝕆𝕝𝕚𝕧𝕚𝕒)

What Doesn't Kill You Will Make You A Killer (ℙ𝕖𝕥𝕖)

Of Course I Get Manic When I Cause A Panic (ℙ𝕖𝕥𝕖𝕣)

Oh My Yeah I Get So High I Can’t Think Sometimes I Try And Drown In My Drink (ℝ𝕠𝕣𝕪)

If I Wasn't A Narcissist I Wouldn't Like Me Either (𝕊𝕔𝕠𝕥𝕥)

I Hope I Become A Ghost And Make Sure The Future Turns Out Fine (𝕊𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕤)

You'll Learn Right Now I Don't Play Nice And If You Hurt Me Once I'll Kill You Twice (𝕋𝕒𝕣𝕒)

Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby; Nothing’s Gonna Take You From My Side (𝕋𝕣𝕒𝕧𝕚��)

I Feel So Bad I Got A Worried Mind; I'm So Lonesome All The Time (ℤ𝕠𝕖)

PET TAGS

If You Want Me To Wait I Will Wait For You; If You Tell Me To Stay I Would Stay Right Through (𝔹𝕦𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕥)

I Guess I'm Waiting For Nightfall Or A Solar Eclipse (𝔻𝕦𝕜𝕖)

Here Come The Wolves; They're Coming To Get You (𝕎𝕠𝕝𝕗𝕚𝕖)

VERSE TAGS

V: Don't Scream Your Story's Marred With Bad Intentions - Main Verse - Canon events have happened unless previously discussed. Dead muses can be interacted with as ghosts/zombies or in flashbacks. Note: Adam is dead for this AU.

V: Just Let The Sun In; It's Love! - Everything Is Fine And Nothing Hurts Verse - No canon events have happened. Typically a modern AU unless there's a specified time period in the media.

V: Everything Is Alright; Yeah Tell Me That You're Alright - Post-Canon Fix-It Verse - All canon events happened but Something happened to rewind things. All dead characters are alive again and are okay. They have scars from their deaths, however.

V: Smile For The Camera But Don't Flash Your Teeth - Werepire Verse 1 - Please see muse list for Werepire species of each muse - A verse in which supernatural creatures are real and people know about them. They are integrated into society like normal people for the most part.

V: I Could Be Honest; I Could Be Human; I Could Become The Silver Bullet In Your Head - Werepire Verse 2 - Please see muse list for Werepire species of each muse - A verse in which supernatural creatures are real and they are not widely known by the general public. They must hide themselves and present human as much as they can, and many do by means of magic.

V: The Smell Of Flowers Was So Thick And Sickly Sweet I Felt Like I Might Choke To Death - Hanahaki Verse - Please see muse list for the flowers that they cough up in the verse. UNDER CONSTRUCTION - A verse in which unrequited love leads to the coughing up of flower petals. It can be fatal if the infected person does not get the surgery to remove them or confess and have those feelings returned.

Blair Witch Verses

V: And Everybody Says They Know Better; And Maybe They’re Right - Non-Blair Witch AU - Ellis didn’t go to the forest to look for Peter because Bullet got sick after stealing a piece of pizza with onion on it. He made it because Ellis took him to the vet immediately, but he missed going to the search party. Lane and Talia never went with the group to the woods because of Lane's father interfering and making them late.

V: I Still Felt Real Depressed But I've Got Plenty Of Other Things To Spend My Time - Fix-It AU - Ellis reasons with the witch and manages to undo a lot of the damage to those he cared about. As long as they remain in Black Hills Forest, he is allowed to have Emmett and Carver around. He spends a lot of time with them and calls Jess whenever he has a signal. Lane does not become possessed due to Ellis' relationship to the Witch. She takes pity on him, but cannot let him go, so he remains with Ellis and the others.

V: Sometimes The Short End Of The Stick Is The Sharpest - Becoming Carver AU - Ellis destroyed all of the witch's sigils and eventually became Carver. He is a gentler Carver and is still depressed and guilty. He hates what he's done and craves death much of the time. All he wants is his freedom.

Hey Would It Be So Bad If I Stayed? I'm Just A Ghost Out Of His Grave

Ghost!Ellis AU - As a ghost, Ellis haunts the woods and the surrounding area. He is joined by the other dead in the forest and is often subjected to the witch's desires and whims. He spends a lot of time with her and the other ghosts in the forest.

Final Destination Verses

Insidious Verses

Resident Evil Verses

V: I Wanna Start From The Top Maybe Like A Do-Over - Patch Notes AU - Post-canon Fix-It AU. Nobody stayed dead, nothing hurts, and everything is fine.

Saw Verses

Silent Hill Verses

The Quarry Verses

Until Dawn Verses

EVENT TAGS

None At This Time

ON-BLOG & TAGS

I'll Build A New House In Every Town I Pass Maybe Then I Won't Always Feel Lost And Trapped (Adam & Peter)

I Am Aware That You Are All Assholes; Who The Hell Cares About All Of That Though? (Lark & Scott)

And He Tells Me He's Sick And He's All Alone (Logan & David)

Me Without You Ain't Right (Mike & Jess)

ON-BLOG SHIP TAGS

We Creep About The Floor To Indulge Like Rats (Adam ♡ Lark)

A Mí Ne Gusta Que Me Digan Poesía; Al Oído Por La Noche Cuando Hacemos Groserías (Ashley ♡ Luis)

Eres Una Obra De Arte; Con Solo Mirarte; Algo Que Da Paz (Luis ♡ Ashley)

He Doesn't Know What He Deserves But He Still Falls So Hard It Hurts (David ♡ Logan)

You're A Lesson That I Wish I'd Never Learned So Well (Lark ♡ Scott)

I Shouldn't Have Fallen In Love; Look What It Made Me Become (Logan ♡ David)

I Just Wanna Feel Alive And I Do When I’m With You (Mike ♡ Jess)

Combat Baby; Come Back Baby; Fight Off The Lethargy; Don't Go Quietly (Scott ♡ Adam)

I'm Too Sweet To Be Salty About It; Too Sour To Be Happy Without It (Scott ♡ Lark)

& TAGS (SPECIFIC)

& Tags With @lovely-cadavers

Frown Gets Her Way Like Every Step To The Daylight Keeps You Stumbling On (Ashley & Leon - lovely-cadavers)

Have You Ever Been Close To Tragedy Or Been Close To Folks Who Have? (Clancy & Jack - lovely-cadavers)

I've Never Had To Knock On Wood; But I Know Someone Who Has; Which Makes Me Wonder If I Could (Clancy & Lucas - lovely-cadavers)

I Got These Terrible Dreams Where I Do Terrible Things; I Don't Want To Believe It's You I Am Doing Them To (Ethan & Jack - lovely-cadavers)

Oh; Now You Are A Handful; I Forgot About Handfuls (Ethan & Karl - lovely-cadavers)

I Got The Devil In The Details And He's Gonna Teach Me Wrong From Right (Ethan & Lucas - lovely-cadavers)

I Just Wanted To Protect You; But Now I'll Never Get To (Ethan & Rose - lovely-cadavers)

Come Back To Me A While; Change Your Taste In Men (Luis & Leon - lovely-cadavers)

Say What You Want And What You Cant Is Behind Your Teeth (Moreau & Alcina - lovely-cadavers)

They Tell Me That You're Lonely; It's No Surprise When You Walk Around All Day Wearing Those Lonely Eyes (Moreau & Donna - lovely-cadavers)

I'll Be Just Fine Pretending I'm Not; I'm Far From Lonely And It's All That I've Got (Moreau & Karl - lovely-cadavers)

Stronger Folks You Could Not Find; They Ain't Afraid To Speak Their Minds (Zoe & Jack)

'Cause At Night; The Sun In Retreat; Made The Skyline Look Like Crooked Teeth (Zoe & Lucas - lovely-cadavers)

& Tags With @inthepines-inthepines

Can't You See Me? You And I We Are The Same (Ellis & Carver - inthepines-inthepines)

But On The One Day They Close Early; That's The One You Want To Stay (Ellis & Emmett - inthepines-inthepines)

But Please Don't Give Up Dear Walls; Don't Let The Ceiling Fall (Ellis & Jess - inthepines-inthepines)

& Tags With @but-ive-been-called-worse

It Feels Like We're Dying But Baby We're Doing Just Fine (Adam & Amanda - but-ive-been-called-worse)

You'll Never Hear This Song; You'll Never See The Movie In My Head (Adam & Lawrence - but-ive-been-called-worse)

Pretty Boy Don't Speak; You Pretty Boys Are Only Good For One Thing (Mallick & Brit - but-ive-been-called-worse)

Float Like A Butterfly Sting Like A Killer (Peter & Amanda - but-ive-been-called-worse)

The Saint Charade Is Over Plastic Royalty Exposed (Peter & Lawrence - but-ive-been-called-worse)

People Like You Are Why People Like Me Exist (Peter & Mark - but-ive-been-called-worse)

You're Something To Die For But Don't Hold Your Breath Now; You're Just Killing Time (Peter & Lindsey - but-ive-been-called-worse)

& Tags With @21xpickup

I Died So I Could Have You; I Died So I Could Haunt You (Clancy & Lucas - 21xpickup)

I've Got Friends In All The Right Places; I Know What They Want And I Know They Don't Want Me To Stay (Ethan & Lucas - 21xpickup)

They're Hiding Their Faces; Their Smiles Can Break The Heart In Two (Zoe & Lucas - 21xpickup)

& Tags With @emilesmuseassembly

Don't You Want To Get Matching Necklaces? Each Of Us Can Wear One Half Of The Heart (Jess & Matt - emilesmuseassembly)

The Only Thing Constant Was The Constant Reminder He'd Never Change (Mike & Matt - emilesmuseassembly)

SHIPPING TAGS (SPECIFIC)

Ship Tags With @lovely-cadavers

'Cause I'm In Too Deep And I'm Trying To Keep Up Above In My Head Instead Of Going Under (Clancy ♡ Lucas - lovely-cadavers)

If You Rise Again Take A Form I Know (Ethan ♡ Jack - lovely-cadavers)

Baby; No One's Honest Anymore But We Could Be Different (Ethan ♡ Karl - lovely-cadavers)

No Te Vayas Quédate (Luis ♡ Leon - lovely-cadavers)

Ship Tags With @inthepines-inthepines

Somebody Somewhere Will Clean Out Your Wounds With Dirty Fingers (Ellis ♡ Carver - inthepines-inthepines)

If You Need A Little Sunshine You Can Borrow Some Of Mine (Ellis ♡ Emmett - inthepines-inthepines)

Seems Like We've Waited Long Enough For Someone Else To Make Us Feel Complete (Ellis ♡ Jess - inthepines-inthepines)

Ship Tags With @but-ive-been-called-worse

I Need Love So Someone Bring Me A Photographer (Adam ♡ Lawrence - but-ive-been-called-worse)

'Cause When I Mess Up You Never Give Up Your Love; Yeah I'm A Fuck-Up But You Swear I'm Enough (Mallick ♡ Brit - but-ive-been-called-worse)

I'll Fill The Graveyards Until I Have You (Peter ♡ Mark - but-ive-been-called-worse)

#BLOG INFO ➽➽➽#TAGS LIST ➽➽➽#Long Post #cw long post

0 notes

kissofthemuses · 1 year

Text

Freya's Verses

In her Father's Footsteps

After the death of her husband, Freya returns to her family home. While recovering and putting her life back together, Freya began to show an interest in the family business. Though her father tries to keep her from joining in, she's determined and ends up working for him. After some digging, she realized that the fire wasn't an accident. Fully believing that her husband was killed by someone outside her family, Freya is intent on using her position within the family to get revenge.

Star Wars

Freya's father is the leader of a smaller, but growing, crime syndicate. Born in the Underworld of Coruscant, Freya was brought up learning how to survive in a world and galaxy that largely didn't care about people.

As a child, she would stare up at the world of skyscrapers above and wish she could be up there. By the time she was a young woman, her family had moved up (literally) in the world and she began exploring more and more of it.

It was there that she met and fell in love with a young droid mechanic. They had a whirlwind romance and they eloped. But trying to keep ties with her family, he was eventually roped into the business. One day, things went wrong and he was killed during scuffle with some off-worlders who thought they could take them.

Freya was left torn between duty to her family and fleeing the violence she'd known all her life. In the end, it was decided that she would go off world to help "expand their reach", but she's really looking to avenge her late husband.

His Dark Materials

Freya is from a crime family in Muscovy. Her father was especially adept at smoothing things over when things pointed in his direction. She understood from a fairly young age that her father did things that other father's didn't, but, she was sheltered from the violence and truth of it for as long as possible.

Despite being kept in the dark, she learned things most young girls didn't learn: she learned how to fight and use firearms, the older men told her the best ways to break someone down. And it was her mother who taught her how to make a house look spotless, how to cook and bake, and how to clean blood out of any kind of fabric.

Eventually she did learn what her father and the people she grew up around did. Perhaps she'd always known, but had been willingly blind to it. But, when her eyes were finally opened to the realities of it all, it brought her whole world crashing down.

She had fallen head over heals in love with a scholar in the area. He was smart, funny, and the complete opposite of her family. He was a breath of fresh air. However, Freya’s parents were not impressed, as they saw Lucas as taking her away from them more and more. But, when Lucas proposed, she said yes and the two eloped.

They lived happily together for years until one day, tragedy struck. Someone showed up at their door that knew Lucas. But they didn't just know him, they knew who she was too. And who her father was. And they knew that the best way to get to both was to take Freya hostage. She would soon learn that Lucas was the son of one of her father's old rivals, but that he had run from his family and gotten out. She was not a very compliant hostage, though, and mouthed off a little too much, and got herself tortured for it.

When Lucas showed up, he gave himself up to try and save her. For his betrayal, he was killed. But, he served as a distraction for her father to get her out. She stayed with her family long enough to recover and then, one day, she ran as far as she could. But, just because she ran doesn't mean she didn't have a plan. She needed to bide her time, to get revenge.

Her daemon is a wolf with a tawny and black coat named Vedovok.

#i think i remixed her life up enough to not be an EXACT repeat in every verse lol #long post #{ muse: freya }#{ freya verses }

1 note · View note

hisfailuremoved · 4 years

Text

@ofkryze , setting starter call

“ you’re going to do great things. ” he’s dragging his feet in the mulch beneath the swings , studying the ground intently. though they’ve both worked toward this moment for years now , it still feels strange , and he occasionally has to swallow against the lump that wants to form in his throat. he doesn’t say it , but he will miss her. instead , he turns his head to look at her , corner of his mouth tugging upward. “ you coming to the airport to see me off? ”

#i couldnt find your modern verse but in mine they have an on again off again thing while she's doing her thing and he is at west point #they can just be friends if u want it's flexible #anyway i set this on his last night in town before his first deployment!!#*･῾✧ remember all the sadness and frustration and let it go. » starter.#*･῾✧ some people are just born with tragedy in their blood. » modern.#ofkryze

2 notes · View notes

bloodusedarchive · 6 years

Text

‘’ i didn’t know this place was off-limits for vampires.. i’m so sorry, i’ll leave. ‘’

@bayoureign liked the sc.

#*ﾟ ❈. verse. —— some people are just born with tragedy in their blood.#bayoureign #*ﾟ ❈. queue. —— believe me it is worth the wait.

5 notes · View notes

wits-writing · 4 years

Text

What’s so Funny About Vengeance, the Night, and Batman? – Two Superhero Parodies in Conversation

Back in 2016, the first trailers for Director Chris McKay’s The Lego Batman Movie hit. A spinoff of the take on the iconic hero, voiced by Will Arnett, from 2014’s The Lego Movie. Those trailers spelled out a plot covering how Batman’s life of crimefighting is turned upside down when Robin unexpectedly enters the picture. It was a funny trailer, promising another insightful comedy from the crew behind The Lego Movie. A promise it handily delivered on when it came out in February 2017 with an animated feature steeped wall-to-wall jokes for the sake of mocking Bruce Wayne’s angst filled crusade that can only come from understanding what’s made the character withstand the test of time.

But there was a thought I and others had from seeing that trailer up to watching the actual movie:

“This seems… familiar.”

Holy Musical B@man! is a 2012 fan-made stage production parody of DC Comics’ biggest cash cow. It was produced as the fifth musical from YouTube-based cult phenomenon Starkid Productions, from a book by Matt and Nick Lang, music by Nick Gage and Scott Lamp with lyrics by Gage. The story of the musical details how Robin’s unexpected entrance ends up turning Batman’s (Joe Walker) life of crimefighting upside down. Among Starkids’ fandom derived projects in their early existence, as they’ve mainly moved on to well-received original material in recent years, Holy Musical B@man! is my personal favorite. I go back to it frequently, appreciating it as a fan of both superheroes and musicals. (Especially since good material that touches on both of those isn’t exactly easy to come by. Right, Spider-Man?)

While I glibly summarized the similarities between them by oversimplifying their plots, there’s a lot in the details, both major and minor, that separates how they explore themes like solitude, friendship, love, and what superhero stories mean. It’s something I’ve wanted to dig into for a while and I found a lot in both of them I hadn’t considered before by putting them in conversation. I definitely recommend watching both of them, because of how in-depth this piece goes including discussing their endings. However, nothing I can say will replace the experience of watching them and if I had included everything I could’ve commented on in both of them, this already massive piece would easily be twice as long minimum.

Up front, I want to say this isn’t about comparing The Lego Batman Movie and Holy Musical B@man in terms of quality. Not only are they shaped for vastly different mediums with different needs/expectations, animation versus stagecraft, but they also had different resources at their disposal. Even if both are in some ways riffing on the aesthetic of the 1990s Batman movies and the Adam West TV show, Lego Batman does it with the ability to make gorgeously animated frames packed to the brim with detail while Holy Musical often leans into its low-fi aesthetic of characters miming props and sets to add extra humor. They’re also for different audiences, Lego Batman clearly for all-ages while Holy Musical has the characters cursing for emphasis on a regular basis. On top of those factors, after picking through each of these for everything worth commenting on that I could find, I can’t say which I wholly prefer thanks in part to these fundamental differences.

This piece is more about digging through the details to explore the commonalities, differences, and what makes them effective mocking love letters to one of the biggest superheroes in existence.

(Also, since I’m going to be using the word “Batman” a lot, I’ll be calling Lego Batman just “Batman” and referring to the version from Holy Musical as “B@man”, with the exception of quoted dialogue.)

[Full Piece Under the Cut]

Setting the Tone

The beginning is, in fact, a very good place to start when discussing how these parodies frame their versions of the caped crusader. Each one uses a song about lavishing their respective Batmen with praise about how they are the best superheroes ever and play over sequences of the title hero kicking wholesale ass. A key distinction comes in who’s singing each song. Holy Musical B@man’s self-titled opening number is sung from the perspective of an omniscient narrator recounting B@man’s origin and later a chorus made up of the Gotham citizenry. Meanwhile, “Who’s the (Bat) Man” from Lego Batman is a brag-tacular song written by Batman about himself, even playing diegetically for all his villains to hear as he beats them up.

youtube

Holy Musical opens on a quick recap of Batman’s origin:

“One shot, Two shots in the night and they’re gone And he’s all left alone He’s just one boy Two dead at his feet and their blood stains the street And there’s nothing, no there’s nothing he can do!”

We then get a Bat-dance break as the music goes from slow and moody to energetic to reflect Batman turning that tragedy into the driving force behind his one-man war on crime. Assured by the narrator that he’s “the baddest man that there’s ever been!” and “Now there’s nothing, no there’s nothing he can’t do!” flipping the last lyric of the first verse. For the rest of the opening scene the lyrics matter less than what’s happening to establish both this fan-parody’s version of Batman and how the people of Gotham (“he’ll never refuse ‘em”) view him.

Lego Batman skips the origin recap, and in general talks around the death of the Waynes to keep the light tone going since it’s still a kids movie about a popular toy even if there are deeper themes at play. Instead, it continues a trend The Lego Movie began for this version of the character writing music about how he’s an edgy, dark, awesome, cool guy. While that movie kept it to Batman angry-whiteboy-rapping about “Darkness! NO PARENTS!”, this one expands to more elaborate boasts in the song “Who’s the (Bat) Man” by Patrick Stump:

youtube

“In the darkest night I make the bad guys fall There’s a million heroes But I’m the best of them all!”

Batman singing this song about himself, as opposed to having it sung by others aims the crosshairs of parody squarely on the hero’s ego. His abilities make fighting his villains effortless, like this opening battle is more an opportunity to perform the song than a life-or-death struggle. Even Joker’s aware of that as he shouts, “Stop him before he starts singing!” This Batman doesn’t see himself as missing out on anything in life, even if he still feels that deep down. Being Batman is the coolest thing in the world that anyone would envy. He’s Batman, therefore everyone should envy him.

The songs aren’t only part of the equation for how these two works’ opening scenes establish their leading hero. While both songs are about Batman being cool, they’re separated by the accompanying scenes. Lego Batman keep the opening within the Joker’s perspective until Batman shows up and the action kicks in. Once it does, we’re shown a Batman at the top of his solo-hero game. Meanwhile, Holy Musical’s opening is about B@man building his reputation and by the end of the song he has all the citizens of Gotham singing his praises with the titular lyrics. Both are about being in awe of the title hero, one framed by Joker’s frustration at Batman’s ease in foiling his schemes yet again and the other about the people of Gotham growing to love their city’s hero (probably against their better judgement.)

That’s woven into the fabric of what kind of schemes Batman is foiling in each of these. Joker’s plan to bomb Gotham with the help of every supervillain in Batman’s Rogues Gallery is hilariously high stakes and the type of plan most Batman stories, even parodies, would save for the climax. Neatly exemplified by how that’s almost the exact structure of Holy Musical’s final showdown. Starting with these stakes works as an extension of this Batman’s nature as a living children’s toy and therefore the embodiment of a child’s idea of what makes Batman cool, his ability to wipe the floor with anyone that gets in his way “because he’s Batman.” It also emphasizes Joker as the only member of the Rogues Gallery that matters to Lego Batman’s story, every other Bat-villain is either a purely visual cameo or only gets a couple lines maximum.

The crime’s being stopped by B@man are more in the “Year One” gangster/organized crime category rather than anything spectacle heavy. Though said crimes are comically exaggerated:

Gangster 1: Take these here drugs, put ‘em into them there guns, and then hand ‘em out to those gamblin’ prostitutes! Gangster 2: Should we really be doing these illegal activities? In a children’s hospital for orphans?

These fit into that model of crime the Dark Knight fights in his early days and add tiny humanizing moments between the crooks (“Oh, Matches! You make me laugh like nobody else!”) in turn making the arrival of B@man and the violence he deals out a stronger punchline. Further emphasized by the hero calling out the exact physical damage he does with each hit before warning them to never do crime again saying, “Support your families like the rest of us! Be born billionaires!” Later in the song his techniques get more extreme and violence more indiscriminate, as he uses his Bat-plane to patrol and gun down whoever he sees as a criminal, including a storeowner accidentally taking a single dollar from his own register. (“God’s not up here! Only Batman!”)

A commonality between these two openings is how Commissioner Jim Gordon gets portrayed. Both are hapless goofs at their core, playing more on the portrayal of the character in the 60s TV show and 90s Burton/Schumacher movies than the serious-minded character present in comics, Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, and other adaptations. Lauren Lopez’s portrayal in Holy Musical gets overwhelmed by everything thrown at him, eventually giving up and getting out of B@man’s way (“I’m not gonna tell Batman what to do! He’s Batman!”) Hector Elizondo’s Gordon in Lego Batman clearly reached the “stay out of Batman’s way” point a long time ago, happy to have “the guy who flips on the Bat-signal” be his sole defining trait. While the characterizations are close, their roles do end up differing. Lopez’s Gordon sticks around to have a few more comedic scenes as the play goes on, where Elizondo’s exist to set up a contrast with his daughter Barbara and her way of approaching Batman when she becomes Police Commissioner.

These opening sequences both end in similar manners as well; the citizens of Gotham lavishing praise on their respective Batmen and a confrontation between Batman and the Joker. Praise from the citizenry in Holy Musical comes on the heels of a letter from B@man read out on the news about how much they and the city of Gotham suck. They praise B@man for his angsty nature as a “dark hero” and how they “wouldn’t want him any other way!”, establishing the motif of Gotham’s citizens in Holy Musical as stand-ins for the Batman fandom. Lego Batman uses the praise of the Gotham citizens after Batman’s victory in the opening scene as a lead in to contrast their certainty that Batman must have an exciting private life with the reality we’re shown. Which makes sense since Lego-Batman’s relationship to the people of Gotham is never presented as something at stake.

Greater contrast comes in how the confrontations with the Joker are handled, Lego Batman has an argument between the hero and villain that’s intentionally coded as relationship drama, Batman saying “There is no ‘us’” when Joker declares himself Batman’s greatest enemy. The confrontation in Holy Musical gets purposefully underplayed as an offstage encounter narrated to the audience as a Vicki Vale news report. This takes Joker off the board for the rest of the play in contrast to the Batman/Joker relationship drama that forms one of Lego Batman’s key pillars. While they take different forms, the respective citizenry praise and villain confrontation parts of these openings lead directly into the number one common thematic element between these Bat-parodies: Batman’s loneliness.

One is the Darkest, Saddest, Loneliest Number

Batman as an isolated hero forms one of the core tenants of the most popular understanding of the character. Each of these parodies picks at that beyond the broody posturing. There’s no dedicated segment in this piece about how these works’ versions of the title character function bleeds into every other aspect of them, but each starts from the idea of Batman as a man-child with trouble communicating his emotions. Time’s taken to give the audience a view of where their attitudes have left them early in the story.

Both heroes show their loneliness through interactions with their respective Alfreds. Holy Musical has the stalwart butler, played by Chris Allen, try to comfort B@man by asking if he has any friends he enjoys being around. When B@man cites Lucius Fox as a friend he calls him right away, only to discover Lucius Fox is Alfred’s true identity and Alfred Pennyworth was an elaborate ruse he came up with to protect Bruce on his father’s wishes. Ironically, finding out his closest friend was living a double life causes Bruce to push Alfred away (the play keeps referring to him as Alfred after this, so that’s what I’m going to do as well.) After he’s fired he immediately comes back in a new disguise as “O’Malley the Irish Butler” (same outfit he wore before but with a Party City Leprechaun hat.) That’s unfortunately the start of a running gag in Holy Musical that ends up at the worst joke in the play, when Alfred disguises himself as “Quon Li the Chinese Butler” doing an incredibly cringeworthy “substituting L’s for R’s” bit with his voice. It’s been my least favorite bit in the play since I first saw it in 2012 and legitimately makes me hesitate at times to recommend it. Even if it’s relatively small bit and the rest holds ups.

That disclaimer out of the way, that conversation between B@man and Alfred leads into the title hero reflecting on his sadness through the musical’s I Want Song, “Dark, Sad, Lonely Knight.” The song’s split into two halves, the first Alfred reflecting on whether he played a part in Bruce’s current condition and the second B@man longing for a connection. The song does a good job balancing between the sincerity over the hero’s sadness and getting good laughs out of it:

“Think of the children Next time you gun down the mama and papa Their only mama and papa Because they probably don’t have another mama and papa!”

The “I Want” portion of the song coming in the end with the repetition of the lryics “I want to be somebody’s buddy.”

Rather than another song number, Lego Batman covers Batman’s sadness through a pair of montages and visual humor. The first comes after the opening battle, where we see Batman taking off all his costume except for the mask hanging out alone in Wayne Manor, showing how little separation he puts between identities. Compared to Holy Musical where the equivalent scene is the first we see of Bruce without the mask on, which may come down to practicality since anyone who’s worn a mask like that knows they get hot and sweaty fast. Batman is constantly made to appear small among the giant empty rooms of his estate as he eats dinner, jams on his guitar, and watches romantic movies alone.

Ralph Fienne’s Alfred coming in at the end of this sequence witnessing Batman looking at a photo of himself as a boy with his parents for the last time. Alfred outlines Batman’s fear of being part of a family again only to be met with Batman denying he has any feelings ever. Pennyworth’s role as a surrogate father gets put into greater focus here than in Holy Musical, as we get glimpses of Alfred reading a book titled “How to Deal with Your Out-of-Control Child.” Also shown in smaller scenes of Alfred dealing with Batman’s insistent terminology for his crime fighting equipment, like calling his cowl an “armored face disguise.”

Batman’s denial of his pain contrasts how B@man wallows in it. Though he’s forced to confront it a little as the Joker’s plan ends up leaving him with no crimefighting to fall back on to ignore his issues. This montage gets set to the song “One” by Harry Nilsson and details Batman, unable to express his true feelings, eventually letting them out in the form of tempter tantrums. There’s also some humor through juxtaposition as Batman walks solemnly through the streets of Gotham City, rendered black and white, as the citizens chant “No more crime!” in celebration, while flipping over cars and firing guns into the air.

A disruption to their loneliness eventually comes in the form of a sensational character find.

Robin – The Son/BFF Wonder

Between both Bat-parodies, the two Robins’ characterizations are as close as anyone’s between them. Each is nominally Dick Grayson but are ultimately more representative of the idea of Robin as the original superhero sidekick and his influence on Batman’s life. The play and movie also both make the obvious jokes about Dick’s name and the classic Robin costume’s lack of pants at different points. Dick’s origin also gets sidestepped in each version to skip ahead to the part where he starts being an influence in Batman’s life.

Robin’s introduction to the comics in Detective Comics #38 in 1940, marking the start of Batman’s literal “Year Two” as a character, predating the introduction of Joker, Catwoman, and Alfred, among others. Making him Batman’s longest lasting ally in the character’s history. His presence and acrobatics shift the tone by adding a dash of swashbuckling to Batman’s adventures, inspired by the character’s namesake Robin Hood, though both parodies take a page out of Batman Forever and associate the name with the bird for the sake of a joke. Robin is as core to Batman as his origin, but more self-serious adaptations (i.e., the mainstream cinematic ones that were happening around the times both Holy Musical and Lego Batman came out) tend to avoid the character’s inclusion. These two works being parody, therefore anything but self-serious, give themselves permission to examine why Robin matters and how different characters react to his presence. Rejection of Robin as a character and concept comes out in some form in each of these works, from Batman himself in Lego Batman and the Gotham citizens in Holy Musical.

The chain of events that lead to Dick becoming Robin in Lego Batman are a string of consequences for Batman’s self-absorption. A scene of Bruce barely listening as Dick asks for advice on getting adopted escalating to absentmindedly signing the adoption paperwork. Batman doesn’t realize he has a son until after his sadness montage. Alfred forces Batman to start interacting with Dick against his will. The broody loner wanting nothing to do with the cheery kid, played to “golly gee gosh” perfection by Michael Cera, until he sees the utility of him. Batman doesn’t even have the idea to give Robin a costume or codename because he clearly views the sidekick’s presence as a temporary measure for breaking into Superman’s fortress, made clear by how he lists “expendable” as a quality Dick needs if he wants to go on a mission.

This makes Robin the catalyst for Batman’s shifting perspective throughout Lego Batman. When Robin succeeds in his first mission, the Dark Knight is hesitant to truly compliment him and chalks up his ward’s feats to “unbelievable obeying.” Other moments have Robin’s presence poke holes in Batman’s tough guy demeanor, like the first time Batman and Robin ride in the Bat-mobile together, Robin asks where the seatbelts are and Batman growls “Life doesn’t give you seatbelts!”, only for Batman to make a sudden stop causing Robin to hit his head on the windshield and Batman genuinely apologizes. They share more genuine moments together as the film goes, like Batman suggesting they beatbox together to keeps their spirits up after they’ve been imprisoned for breaking into Arkham Asylum. Robin’s representative of Batman gradually letting people in throughout these moments.

On the exact opposite end of the spectrum, B@man needs zero extra prompting to let Robin into his life. Nick Lang’s Robin (henceforth called “Rob!n” to keep with this arbitrary naming scheme I’ve concocted) does get brought into his life by Alfred thanks to a personal ad (“‘Dog for sale’? No… ‘Orphan for sale’! Even better!”) but it’s a short path to B@man deciding to let Dick fight alongside him. The briefest hesitance on the hero’s part, “To be Batman… is to be alone”, is quelled by Rob!n saying “We could be alone… together.” Their first scene together quickly establishing the absurd sincerity exemplified by this incarnation of the Dynamic Duo. An energy carried directly into the Act 1 closing number, “The Dynamic Duet”, a joyful ode between the heroes about how they’re “Long lost brothers who found each other” sung as they beat up supervillains (and the occasional random civilian.)

That song also ties into the contrast between the Batman/Robin dynamic and the B@man/Rob!n one. While Holy Musical is portraying a brotherly/BFF bond between the two heroes, Lego Batman leans into the surrogate son angle. While both are mainly about their stories’ Batman being able to connect with others, the son angle of Lego Batman adds an additional layer of “Batman needs to take responsibility for himself and others” and a parallel to Alfred as Batman’s own surrogate father. It also adds to the queer-coding of Batman in Lego Batman as Batman’s excuse to Robin for why he can go on missions is that Bruce and he are sharing custody, Robin even calling Batman’s dual identities “dads” before he knows the truth.

In the absence of the accepting personal responsibility through fatherhood element, the conflict Rob!n brings out in Holy Musical forms between B@man and the citizens of Gotham. “Citizens as stand-ins for fandom” is at it’s clearest here as the Act 2 opener is called “Robin Sucks!” featuring the citizens singing about how… well, you read the title. Their objections to Rob!n’s existence has nothing to do with what the young hero has done or failed to do, but come from arguments purely about the aesthetic of Rob!n fighting alongside B@man. Most blatantly shown by one of the citizens wearing a Heath Ledger Joker t-shirt saying Rob!n’s presence “ruins the gritty realism of a man who fights crime dressed as a bat.” It works as the Act 2 opener by establishing that B@man and the citizens conflicting opinions on his sidekick end up driving that half of the story, exemplified in B@man’s complete confusion about why people hate Rob!n (“Robin ruined Batman? But that’s not true… Robin make Batman happy.”)

Both Robins play into the internal conflict their respective mentors are going through, but what would a superhero story, even a parody, be without some colorful characters to provide that sweet external conflict.

Going Rogue

Both works have the threat comes from an army of villains assembled under a ringleader, Zach Galifianakis’s Joker in Lego Batman and Jeff Blim as Sweet Tooth in Holy Musical. Both lead the full ensemble of Batman’s classic (and not so classic) Rogues at different points. As mentioned before Joker starts Lego Batman with “assemble the Rogues, blow up Gotham” as his plan, while Sweet Tooth with his candy prop comedy becoming the ringleader of Gotham’s villains is a key turning point in Act 1 of the play. Part of this comes down to how their connections to their respective heroes and environments are framed, Sweet Tooth as a new player on the scene and Joker as Batman’s romantic foil.

Lego Batman demonstrates Batman and Joker are on “finishing each other’s sentences” levels of intimate that Batman refuses to acknowledge. Shown best in how Joker’s plan only works because he can predict exactly how Batman will act once he starts playing hard to get. When he surrenders the entire Rogues Gallery (without telling them) and himself to police custody, he describes it as him being “off the market.” He knows Batman won’t settle for things ending on these terms and tricks the hero into stealing Superman’s Phantom Zone projector so he can recruit a new, better team of villains for a take two of his masterplan from the start. Going through all this trouble to get Batman to say those three magic words; “I love hate you.” Joker as the significant other wanting his partner to finally reciprocate his feelings and commit works both as a play on how the Batman/Joker relationship often gets approached and an extension of the central theme. Batman is so closed off to interpersonal connections he can’t even properly hate his villains.

Sweet Tooth, while clearly being a riff Heath Ledger and Caesar Romero’s Jokers fused with a dash of Willy Wonka, doesn’t have that kind of connection with B@man. Though there are hints that B@man and his recently deceased Joker may have had one on that level. He laments “[Joker]’s in heaven with mom and dad. Making them laugh, I know it!” when recalling how the Clown Prince of Crime was the one person he enjoyed being around. This makes Joker’s death one of the key triggers to B@man reflecting on his solitude at the start of the play.

What Sweet Tooth provides the story is a threat to B@man’s new bond with Rob!n. Disrupting that connection forms the delicious center of the Candy King of Crime’s plan in Act 2. He holds Rob!n and Gotham’s people hostage and asks the citizens to decide via Facebook poll if the sidekick lives or dies (in reference to the infamous phone hotline vote from the comic book story A Death in the Family where readers could decide the Jason Todd Robin’s fate.)

With the rest of the villains under the leadership of the respective works’ main antagonists, there’s commentary on their perceived quality as threats. When Holy Musical has Superman talking to Green Lantern about how much B@man’s popularity frustrates him, he comes down especially hard on the Caped Crusader’s villains. Talking about how they all coast by on simple gimmicks with especially harsh attention given to Two Face’s being “the number two.” Saying they’re only famous because B@man screws up and they get to do more damage. Which he compares to his own relationship with his villains:

Superman: You ever heard of Mr. Mxyzptlk? Green Lantern: No. Superman: No, that’s right! That’s because I do my job!

Lego Batman has commentary on the other villains come from Joker, recognizing that even all together they can never beat Batman, because that’s how a Batman story goes. The other villains get portrayed as generally buffoonish, struggling to even build a couch together and described by Joker as “losers dressed in cosplay.” Tricking Batman into sending him to the Phantom Zone provides him the opportunity to gather villains from outside Batman’s mythos and outside DC Comics in general. Recruiting the likes of Sauron, King Kong, Daleks, Agent Smith from The Matrix, and the Wicked Witch of the West, among others. When I first saw and reviewed The Lego Batman Movie, this bugged me because it felt like a missed opportunity to feature lesser-known villains from other DC heroes’ Rogues Galleries. Now, considering the whole movie as meta-commentary on the status of this Batman as a children’s toy, it makes perfect sense that Joker would need to go outside of comics to break the rules of a typical Batman story and have a shot at winning.

The Rogues of Holy Musical get slightly more of a chance to shine, if only because their song “Rogues are We” is one of the catchier tracks from the play. They’re all still more cameo than character when all’s said and done, but Sweet Tooth entering the picture is about him recognizing their potential to operate as a unit, takeover Gotham, and kill B@man. The candy-pun flinging villain wants all of them together, no matter their perceived quality.

Sweet Tooth: “We need every villain in Gotham. Cool themes, lame themes, themes that don’t match their powers, even the villains that take their names from public domain stories.” (Two Face’s “broke ass” still being the exception.)

Both Joker and Sweet Tooth provide extensions of the shared theme of Batman dealing with the new connections in his life, especially with regards to Robin. However, Robin isn’t the only other ally (or potential ally) these Dark Knights have on their side.

Super Friends(?)

The internal crisis of these Caped Crusaders come as much from how they react to other heroic figures as it does from supervillainous machinations. In both cases how Batman views and is viewed by fellow heroes gets centered on a specific figure, Superman in Holy Musical and Commissioner Barbara Gordon (later Batgirl) in Lego Batman. Each serves a vastly different purpose in the larger picture of their stories and relationship to their respective Batmen. Superman reflecting B@man’s loneliness and Barbara symbolizing a new path forward for Batman’s hero work.

Superman’s role in Holy Musical runs more parallel to Lego Batman’s Joker than Barbara. Brian Holden’s performance as the Man of Tomorrow plays into a projected confidence covering anxiety that nobody likes him. Besting the Bat-plane in a race during B@man’s Key to the City ceremony establishes a one upmanship between the two heroes, like Joker’s description of his relationship with Batman at the end of Lego Batman’s opening battle. Though instead of that romantically coded relationship from Lego Batman, this relationship is more connected to childish jealousy. (But if you do want to read the former into Holy Musical B@man, neither hero has an onstage relationship with any woman and part of their eventual fight consist of spanking each other.)

B@man and Superman’s first real interaction is arguing over who’s the cooler hero until it degrades into yelling “Fuck you!” at each other. B@man storming off in the aftermath of that gets topped off by Superman suggesting he should get the Key to the City instead, citing his strength and longer tenure as a hero (“The first hero, by the way”) as justifications. This only results in the Gotham citizens turning on him for suggesting their city’s hero is anything less than the best, which serves both as a Sam Raimi Spider-Man reference (“You mess with one of us! You mess with all of us!”) and another example of the citizens as stand-ins for fandom. Superman’s veil of cocksureness comes off quickly after that and stays off for the rest of the play. Starting with his conversation with Green Lantern where a civilian comes across them, but barely acts like Superman’s there.

One of the play’s running gags is Superman calling B@man’s number and leaving messages, showing a desperation to reach out and connect with his fellow hero despite initial smugness. Even before the first phone call scene, we see Superman joining B@man to sing “I want to be somebody’s buddy” during “Dark, Sad, Lonely Knight” hinting at what’s to come. The note it consistently comes back to is that Superman’s jealousy stems from Batman’s popularity over him. This is a complete flip of what Lego Batman does with the glimpse at a Batman/Superman dynamic we see when Batman goes to the Superman’s fortress to steal the Phantom Zone projector. The rivalry dynamic there exists solely in Batman’s head, Lego-Superman quickly saying “I would crush you” when Batman suggests the idea of them fighting. Superman’s status among the other DC heroes is also night and day between these works. Where Lego-Superman’s only scene in the movie shows him hosting the Justice League Anniversary Party and explaining he “forgot” to invite Batman, Superman in Holy Musical consistently lies about having friends over (“All night long I’m busy partying with my friends at the Fortress… of Solitude.”)

Superman’s relationship to B@man in Holy Musical develops into larger antagonism thanks to lack of communication with B@man brushing off Supes’ invitations to hang out and fight bad guys (“Where were you for the Solomon Grundy thing? Ended up smaller than I thought, just a couple of cool guys. Me and… Solomon Grundy.”) His own loneliness gets put into stronger focus when he sees the news of Rob!n’s debut as a crimefighter, which makes him reflect on how he misses having Krypto the Super-Dog around. (The explanation for why he doesn’t have his dog anymore is one of my favorite jokes in the play and I won’t ruin it here.)

Where Superman’s a reflection of B@man’s loneliness, Rosario Dawson as Barbara in Lego Batman is a confrontation of Batman’s go it alone attitude. Her job in the story is to be the one poking holes in the foundation of Batman as an idea, starting with her speech at Jim Gordon’s retirement banquet and her instatement as commissioner. She has a by-the-book outlook on crimefighting with the omnicompetence to back it up, thanks to her training at “Harvard for Police.” Babs sees Batman’s current way of operating as ineffectual and wants him to be an official agent of the law. An idea that dumps a bucket of cold water on Batman’s crush he developed immediately upon seeing her, though that never fully goes away.

Her main point is that Batman “karate chopping poor people” hasn’t made Gotham better in his 80 years of operating. A contrast to Holy Musical’s Jim Gordon announcing that B@man has brought Gotham’s crime rates to an all-time low (“Still the highest in the world, but we’re working on it.”) She wants to see a Batman willing to work with other people. A hope dashed constantly dealing with his childish stubbornness as he tries to foil Joker’s schemes on his own, culminating in her arresting Batman and Robin for breaking into Arkham to send Joker to the Phantom Zone.

Barbara’s role as the one bringing grown-up attitudes and reality into Batman’s world does leave her in the role of comedic straight woman. Humor in her scenes comes from how she reacts to everyone else’s absurdity rather than anything she does to be funny. This works for the role she plays in Lego Batman, since she’s not there to have an arc the way Superman does in Holy Musical. She’s another catalyst for Batman’s to start letting people in as another character he grows to care about. Which starts after she lets the Dynamic Duo out of prison to fight Joker’s new army of Phantom Zone villains on the condition that he plays it by her rules. Leading to a stronger bond between Batman, Robin, Alfred, and her as they start working together.

The two Batmen’s relationships to other heroes, their villains, Robin, and their own solitude each culminate in their own way as their stories reach their conclusions.

Dark Knights & Dawning Realizations

As everything comes down to the final showdowns in these Bat-parodies, the two Caped Crusaders each confront their failures to be there for others and allow themselves to be vulnerable to someone they’ve been antagonizing throughout the story. Each climax has all of Gotham threatened by a bomb and the main villains’ plans coming to fruition only to come undone.

Holy Musical has Sweet Tooth’s kidnapping of Rob!n and forcing Gotham to choose themselves or the sidekick they hate sends B@man into his most exaggerated state in the entire play. It’s the classic superhero movie climax conundrum, duty as a hero versus personal attachment. Alfred, having revealed himself as the “other butlers”, even lampshades how these stories usually go only for that possibility to get shot down by Bruce:

Alfred: A true hero, Master Wayne, finds a way to choose both. B@man: You’re right, Alfred. I know what I have to do… Fuck Gotham, I’m saving Robin!

B@man’s selfishness effectively makes him the real villain of Holy Musical’s second act. Lego Batman has shades of that aspect as well, where Batman gets sent to the Phantom Zone by Joker for his repeated refusal to acknowledge their relationship. Where the AI running the interdimensional prison, Phyllis voiced by Ellie Kemper, confronts him with the way he’s treated Robin, Alfred, Barbara, and even Joker:

Phyllis: You’re not a traditional bad guy, but you’re not exactly a good guy either. You even abandoned your friends. Batman: No! I was trying to protect them! Phyllis: By pushing them away? Batman: Well… yeah. Phyllis: Are they really the ones you’re protecting?

Batman watches what’s happening back in Gotham and sees Robin emulate his grim and gritty tendencies to save the day in his absence makes him desperately scream, “Don’t do what I would do!” It’s the universe rubbing what a jerk he’s been in his face. He’s forced to take a look at himself and make a change. B@man’s not made to do that kind of self-reflection until after he’s defeated Sweet Tooth but failed to stop the villain’s bomb. He’s ready to give up on Gotham forever and leave with Rob!n, until his sidekick pulls up Sweet Tooth’s poll and it shows the unanimous result in favor of saving the Boy Wonder. Despite everything they said at the start of Act 2, the people want to help their hero in return for all the times he helped them. All of them calling back to the Raimi Spider-Man reference from Act 1, “You mess with one of us. You mess with all of us.”

Both heroes’ chance at redemption and self-improvement comes from opening themselves up to the people they pushed out and dismissed earlier in their stories. Batman takes on the role he reduced the Commissioner down to at the beginning of the movie and flips on signals for Barbara, Alfred, and Robin to show how he’s truly prepared to work as a team, not just with his friends and family but with the villains of Gotham the Joker pushed aside as well. Teamwork makes the dream work and they’re all able to work together to get Joker’s army back into the Phantom Zone but like in Holy Musical they fail to stop the bomb threatening Gotham. Which he can only prevent from destroying the city by confessing his true feeling to Joker

Batman: If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have learned how connected I am with all of these people and you. So, if you help me save Gotham, you’ll help me save us. Joker: You just said “us?” Batman: Yeah, Batman and the Joker. So, what do you say? Joker: You had me at “shut up!”

The equivalent moment from Holy Musical comes from B@man needing to put aside his pride and encourage a disheartened Superman to save Gotham for him. This happens in the aftermath of a fight the two heroes had where Superman tried to stop B@man before he faced Sweet Tooth, B@man winning out through use of kryptonite. That fight doesn’t fit into any direct parallel with Lego Batman, but it is important context for how Superman’s feeling about B@man before Superman finally gets his long-awaited phone call from the Dark Knight. Also, the song accompanying the fight, “To Be a Man”, is one of the funniest scenes in the play. What this speech from B@man does is bring the idea of Holy Musical B@man as a commentary on fandom full circle:

B@man: I forgot what it means to be a superhero. But we’re really not that different, you and me, at our heart. I mean really all superheroes are pretty much the same… Something bad happened to us once when we were young, so we dedicated our whole lives to doing a little bit of good. That’s why we got into this crazy superhero business. Not to be the most popular, or even the most powerful. Because if that were the case, hell, you’d have the rest of us put out of a job!

This speech extends into an exchange between the heroes about how superheroes are cool, not despite anything superficially silly but because of it. Bringing it back to the “Robin Sucks!” theme that started Act 2, saying “Some people think Robin is stupid. But those people are pretentious douchebags. Because, literally, the only difference between Robin and me is our costumes.” The speech culminates in what I genuinely think is one of the best Batman lines ever written, as B@man’s final plea to Superman is “Where’s that man who’s faster than a gun?” calling back to the trauma that created Batman across all versions and what he can see in someone like Superman. So, B@man sacrificing his pride and fully trusting in another hero saves Gotham, the way Batman letting Joker know what their relationship means to him did in Lego Batman.

Each of these parodies ends by delivering a Batman willing to open himself up to a new team of heroes fighting at his side, the newly minted Bat-Family in Lego Batman and the league for justice known as the Super Friends in Holy Musical. Putting them side by side like this shows how creators don’t need the resources of a Hollywood studio to make something exactly as meaningful and how the best parodies come from love of the material no matter who’s behind them.

If you like what you’ve read here, please like/reblog or share elsewhere online, follow me on Twitter (@WC_WIT), and consider throwing some support my way at either Ko-Fi.com or Patreon.com at the extension “/witswriting”

108 notes · View notes

venusmelody · 4 years

Text

personal reasons: seishirou/subaru as erotic horror soulmates

I've written in the past about why I don't like soulmates—in brief, external factors like fate pushing two people together always feel weaker than those who choose—but there are certain tropes or subversions that do work for me. All of them are, in fact, encapsulated by Seishirou/Subaru: my favourite ship that both leans into and deconstructs soulmates. And thus: a mini-manifesto why I love them. CW: dark fictional relationships.

Seishirou and Subaru are high-key Soulmates, in the way CLAMP does soul-mates. Their storylines merge, they always meet, one chases eternally after another in a way that consumes their entire lives, artwork features literal red threads, but fate doesn't dictate how they're together. In one universe (TB/X), Seishirou has ruined Subaru's life in every way you can imagine, and they're fated to be enemies on every battlefield they face: onmyoji with opposing morals, family feuds rising from this, and opposite stars across the battlefield during the X/1999 apocalypse. In another universe (TRC), Seishirou is a hunter/priest trying to hunt down vampire!Subaru for unclear reasons, trading away one eye just for the chance to follow Subaru across worlds. Subaru pretty clearly misses him in both. But they are fated enemies; the trick is that being together would be a defiance of fate, rather than being in its throes, and it is always about choice.

Despite the throes of fate, their relationship is because of who they are as people, rather than their positions or what fate dictates. Subaru is a kind, compassionate, selfless person who wants to give to the world; this is true with or without spirit powers. Seishirou is a psychopath who doesn't understand compassion, or feel love. When they meet in Tokyo Babylon, they are shaped by powers, yes. But Subaru followed the voices of ghosts in pain because he wanted to help them, and only because of that side of him—him, not the Sumeragi heir—did he meet Seishirou. And Seishirou is just stunned that anyone can be that kind and innocent, and amused, and curious about whether that kindness can touch him. He's fascinated by Subaru's kindness first, rather than abilities of powers, before anything else.

Despite being on opposite sides, despite the pain, tragedy, and violence, the draw between them is there. They fit. They complement each others' loneliness, despite the vastly different sources: Subaru loves everyone and therefore no one (except Hokuto) is special to him. Seishirou cares about no one, and therefore no one is special to him. Except the other person worms their way in, despite Subaru's distance from the world, and Seishirou's apathy. Someone new matters.

It feels perverse and wrong to say that they provided something fundamental the other needed, given how abusive the relationship is, and yet. Subaru was innocent, but he wasn't whole in TB. He was a person without self-esteem and was selfless to the point of self-destructiveness. Subaru needed someone who could actually make him selfish, before he burned himself out and died, and as sad as it was, he finally found someone he couldn't just give up even for the greater good. Seishirou needed someone to... kill him, because good god that guy, but it needed to be someone he loved. Subaru and Seishirou both needed to have one person they considered special, and they found it.

Even the ultimate tropes of soulmate marks and mysterious blood connections link Subaru and Seishirou, but nothing either was born with. Subaru has marks signalling he's Seishirou's because Seishirou put them on himself, after already becoming fascinated. And they're not meant to be marks of love, however Subaru later regards them, but the sign of prey. In TRC, there is some sort of connection between a vampire that Turns a human, and again: Subaru made the choice to give Seishirou his blood, though we never find out why. Soulmate marks, soulmate connections, but created by choice, not fate.

What external factors do to Subaru and Seishirou can be further seen by Hokuto's fate. Hokuto—who I love dearly—does her best to push them together, mimicking the idea of fate, friends, relatives, circumstance. But the ultimate legacy of her involvement becomes another reason to push the two of them apart—Hokuto's death.

They are both terrible at communication and self-realization and it shows; we're left with so many what-ifs. If Subaru realized earlier that he loved Seishirou, or recognized Seishirou's moments of composure breaking—all but outright telling Subaru he wasn't to be trusted, with his talk to seventeen-year-old Subaru about corpses buried beneath Sakura trees!—or was affectionate back. If Seishirou realized that, maybe this person he couldn't keep his hands off, found adorable, drove him to shatter mirrors with his fist, cuddled closer even when no one was watching, who he sacrificed his right eye to keep safe (for dramatic effect, I assume), might mean something, even if that something wasn't whatever he thought love was. If Subaru realized it. They don't. There were plenty of opportunities, which neither Subaru nor Seishirou took, to be honest.

It's ultimately their undoing. At the very end, they meet on Rainbow Bridge, but lets be real: it's personal. The apocalypse-battle and its deaths is a backdrop to the private tragedy that plays out. Seishirou thinks Subaru wants to kill him for revenge. Subaru doesn't know what Seishirou wants, but thinks it's definitely nothing to do with him. Seishirou's last act fulfills what he thought Subaru's wish was—his death—but he was completely misguided about what Subaru wanted, as Subaru was in turn. They already have what both of them wanted but didn't say until the end: Subaru wanted to die at Seishirou's hand so that he could matter to Seishirou, not knowing he's perhaps already the person that matters most to Seishirou (as a toy or anything else). While Seishirou wants to possess Subaru in every way possible, not realizing that he already does. I'm already trapped in cherry blossoms, as Subaru says in their last fight.

Of course, in the end, did it matter if Subaru realized it all? What better way in CLAMP-verse to mean the most to someone, to be someone they never move on from, than dying at their hands? Seishirou makes Subaru kill him and then leaves his remaining eye to Subaru. Which, for ClampKink reasons, Subaru takes, letting Seishirou erase the lasting mark that someone else left on Subaru, marking Subaru forever as hiiiiis, and doing his best to stop Subaru from ever moving on. Subaru has to live on after killing the person he loves most in the world; in the aftermath, he can no longer raise a seal's kekkai, because whatever he wanted to protect on Earth, it died with Seishirou. As much as Seishirou died, so has the last part of Subaru that existed at the beginning of Tokyo Babylon—Subaru, not the Sumeragi heir.

But there was no other way, and no other path, than this. Because what dooms them isn't being on opposite sides, but themselves—that obsession, that lack of communication.

The fault isn't in the stars. It's in themselves. Especially the murderous psychopath, but I digress.

Which is, in the end, the most intriguing and affecting version of soulmates.

#seisub #tokyo babylon #x/1999 #sumeragi subaru #sakurazuka seishirou #clamp #my meta #seishirou x subaru #i'm not back but i have feelings okay

105 notes · View notes

helenaofdevon · 3 years

Text

HELENA GREY : COUNTESS OF DEVON

BULLETPOINTS:

NAME: Helena Courtenay nee Grey

AGE / D.O.B.: 25 || August 22nd, 1534

STATUS / RANK: Countess of Devon

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England

PLACE OF BIRTH: Bradgate House, Bradgate Park, Leicestershire - England

BIRTH ORDER: Second

MOTHER & FATHER: Frances Brandon & Henry Grey

SIBLINGS: Two, an elder and younger sister

SEXUALITY: bisexual biromantic

HOROSCOPE: Leo. ( leo virgo cusp )

VIRTUES: dynamic, perspicacious, authentic

VICES: strong-willed, opinionated calculative

MARITAL STATUS: married to nicholas courtenay, earl of devon

ISSUE: n/a

RELIGION: roman catholic / protestant. raised in a religiously divided house. is well versed in both

ALLIES: to be announced...

ADVERSARIES: to be announced...

TIMELINE:

approx. 1492 – mary tudor, is born ten months after her brother, henry viii

early 1533 – wedding of frances brandon and henry grey, the marquess of dorset with permission from their parents as both are young and in love.

22 August 1534 – helena grey is born, she is the second child of couple

approx. 1540 – frances brandon with the approval of her husband begins to educate her daughters at Bradgate House. several clergy knowledgeable in all subjects and both protestant and catholic are commission in the private education of the girls. the youngest is still to small to start lessons.

approx 1551 / 52 – Helena's elder sister is likely married off. Helena is officially presented at court ( despite having grown up within it to an extent )

early 1554 – Helena Grey is precontracted to Nicholas Courtenay but Henry Grey dies of natural causes ( sickness ). Formal marriage arrangements thusly drag on for sometime for various reasons

late 1556 – Helena Grey formally marries Nicholas Courtenay

November 1558 – Helena's fahter in law and husband are arrested & tried ( the courtenay conspiracy ); cousin william pardons Col but exectued Hugh Courtenay thus making Col the new earl or devon; Helena is made countess of Devon

IN CHARACTER INFORMATION.

NAME & TITLE/ROLE: helena grey, countess of devon

MONIKER: the empyreal

AGE: 25

FACECLAIM: alicia vikander

THREE POSITIVE TRAITS: dynamic, perspicacious, authentic

THREE NEGATIVE TRAITS: strong-willed, opinionated calculative

BIOGRAPHY:

A single decision changes the world from what it might have been. With a twist of fate or a turn of time in a direction that alters its ineffable course and what we know is no longer the truth hidden within the pages of a new history. So a family line is both royal adjacent and equally as royal as the one that rules. The grandson of the stepson of Edward IV would marry the Wotton girl and Henry Grey, Marquess of Dorset would be brought forth into the world. Frances Brandon would also be born of Mary Tudor, the youngest surviving child of Henry VII and sister to Henry VIII. The two would marry and they would have three daughters and no sons and that would be an absolute facet of time - a fixed point that would remain unchanged in this or any other reality. Rather one should state that events before the birth of these two individuals had changed setting an entirely new course when ten months after the birth of a future king his sister Mary Tudor was then born. Altered forever was the flow of time and so became a possibility for a different set of Grey sisters to be born. It would not change though the fact their blood would mark them as dangerous and would call into question those would they attach themselves to as royal lines no matter how distant were quite troublesome.

Helena Grey would be born the second daughter and middle child of her parents and born perhaps as one of the most miraculous women. Each Grey sister was something to behold and wonder just the same but a girl would stand out. Helena had many passions and a zest for life and yet was capable of being a rather rooted person who was loyal, kind, and quite perspicacious. She was not her elder sister who was by default their example nor the younger sister who was beloved as the youngest and final child. A girl however in any situation even from the smallest age took charge and was the leader of the small band of girls. In the days of early youth, there were a gaggle of giggles and many games to be played in the various halls causing little ones to be a source of mild trouble and much entertainment which she was generally at the heart of. She would have an interesting youth and her mother would see that each of her girls was incredibly well educated in a religiously divided household. Helena excelled in her studies as tutors ( many of them various clergy from both the catholic and protestant faith ) taught her various languages and to read and write many of them and more. She danced and swirled through everyone’s lives and one could rightfully argue even as a young girl you were forever changed by her presence and the life and light she brought to any situation.

All was not so wondrous but time and age cover massive events that would come into play years later. Helena was more than well aware of family history and the lines that twisted and crossed and broke out into branches that had started civil wars and uprisings. Lady Helena knew many people's real faces behind the masks they wore at court, having been a favorite as her mother once was of the king. After all one learns to play the game or to become the one being played. There were so many rules, so many unwritten codes and all the world swirled with intrigue and Helena navigated the water thusly earning to her name several handfuls of friends but suffered no fools as her companions - especially as many a person with loftier ambitions would seek out noble blood with royal ties with no sort of good intention. Helena, not that she wasn't already strong-willed and having a smart tongue, learned she had a sharp one and an eye for false intention despite her Christian ways being told a woman was to be meek and forgiving of her fellow man.

There were suitors indeed interested in the girl even before she became available to marry, even before her elder sister was wed. Who could deny she had a draw and one enjoyed being around her never short on a conversation or any pleasantly stimulating amount of time spent but in truth, Helena would've rather not married at all. She was of an independent mind, not keen on being tied to a man whom she barely knew and her parents chose. Truly even court despite her deep love for people and being a point of focus would've rather spent her time in the country reading books. living fully and caring for horses and dogs and the idea of a small gaggle of children she could return to either sister not enjoying the idea of settling. Life was to be lived and well and perhaps Helena had ideas of what she wanted. It certainly wasn't the men that presented themselves especially after the elder sister wed with Helena being even more pushed to the forefront than she had naturally been with her personality. When Helena set eyes on Nicholas Courtenay a young woman knew what she wanted or rather who she would desire to marry if one must marry. She saw in him an equal partner, one who would respect and cherish her, one she would be willing to call husband and he did indeed make her laugh. It never fully occurred to her either that her interest and yes eventual marriage to the man would have quietly been considered a potentially problematic union. Two descendants of separate plantagenet lines could've been construed as a suspicious and powerful marriage politically. Was it what both of their parents had intended when a match was brokered? Could there have been a moment while walking past her father's study and the door was slightly ajar that two men may have quietly conspired something more in marrying the two? What could've been considered suspicious about two men with some ambition whispering amongst themselves? Helena would never know what was truly discussed in that room as her father died in 1554, narrowly avoiding the fate his friend would suffer later dying of a sickness that would take him off his head suffering the effects of fevers and other health issues. That was not the actual tragedy a young woman would suffer for it would come later once she was married to Col.

Helena, like all the world, mourned her great uncle's passing. The death of a king was nothing easy to stomach especially after the death of her father though years apart. She did not expect however when her father-in-law mourned the death of a friend and distant cousin that it would break open a well building up inside him for years. Hugh Courtenay had become a father to Helena since joining their house, he was indeed a dear companion of hers and she cared for her father and mother in law but saw nothing of what was to come. A series of letters poured out from her father in law's hands with many damning words and the attention it thus shined on Col and herself. Ugly words and pointed accusations were made during an investigation into the letters that her marriage in connection with the things Hugh Courtenay was writing was the beginning of some great conspiracy to seat someone else on the throne and other such aspirations tied with Catholic strings. Helena watched the trial drag on and saw a Queen push for the death of both the young lady's father in law and her husband as well. For a brief moment, Helena could nearly feel the axe on her own neck had both a husband and father-in-law been executed - she imagined and expected the worst. Thankfully, truly as Helena would see it, cousin William would intervene but only on behalf of Nicholas. Her husband's charges were dismissed but Helena watched like many others did the execution of her father-in-law to again serve as a warning not to attempt anything similar or remotely considered treasonous.

As war knocks at the doorsteps of England now and spreads across europe Helena finds herself in a precarious position. She is a well connected woman among the court and is popular among the people and abroad through her correspondence with many individuals who have strong opinions with the ears of leaders and influential beings. Helena is of royal blood as is her husband and both were well educated and dynamic.. One would be foolish not to be suspicious of the two especially after her husband's father, the late Earl of Devon's beheading. If so motivated and aligned they could pose a serious threat - a credible one. The woman is well within her rights to be angry, to seek revenge as her husband may desire but Helena is loyal and more concerned about the whole of England rather than vengeance. She worries over her husband though not fully knowing where his mind is at with the state of his depleted family and if she should be suspicious of his thoughts. If they were to err on the side of the whispers and suspicions of those who would see them as adversaries Helena would be divided between love and loyalty to country. It is a strange world, another time entirely in which to be alive but if anyone can play the game and come out on the other side it may be this woman..

WANTED CONNECTIONS:

at the moment none that I can think of but I would adore any and all plotting to create something truly wonderful.

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION.

NAME / ALIAS: eden

AGE: 26

TIMEZONE: est

DISCORD USERNAME: edenzini

#biography : helena #abouthel

4 notes · View notes

goldeneyedgirl · 4 years

Text

TwiFicMas20 Day 4: Daemons

Greetings! I hope everyone is having a less profoundly irritating day than I am. Also, migraine :(

Today I bring you a Daemon-verse fic, ala His Dark Materials. Whilst I love the idea of animal souls, and I love Daemon fic, I have never read or see His Dark Materials, so if I’ve messed up on the laws of daemons, I apologise.

It was intended to follow Alice from awakening through to around her discovery of her past, but I’m honestly on the fence about how the final version will shape up.

The list of daemons is below the cut, which might be spoilery but I think it’s easier to envisage what’s happening when you know what each daemon looks like.

Onwards! (And thank you for reading!)

Cast

Alice – Milo - ??

Jasper – Lula – grey wolf

Rosalie – Beauregarde – white mink

Emmett – Allegra - Sun bear

Esme – Pax – Tree pangolin

Carlisle – Winnie – Giant Anteater

Edward - Khalida - Owl

Bella – Egil - Crane

One.

She wakes up in the mud, curled into a ball. Beetles are crawling through her hair, and there is mud – and blood? – dried all down one side of her.

He was curled against the small of her back, and clung to the ragged gown she was wearing as she sat up, blinking confused ruby-coloured eyes.

She does not recognise him at all, does not even know her own name, and he is terrified of her blood-coloured eyes, and what she has become. She has been born anew, and what she doesn’t remember cannot hurt her. She is bright and cheerful and giddy in a way that she has never been before.

“What are you?” she asks eagerly, kneeling before him, smiling.

“I’m you. You’re me. I’m… your soul,” he explains, and her lips into a surprised ‘o’.

“What is your name?” is her next question, one that breaks his heart.

“Milo,” he says. “Me-lo.”

“And I’m …Alice?” she says, suddenly uncertain.

“Yes. You’re my Alice.”

She scoops him up and kisses his nose, and for the first time, he thinks they might be okay.

Two.

They are wrong, and she doesn’t even know it.

He tries to talk about it, weeks after she awakens as a red-eyed monster.

“I used to be a mouse,” he says suddenly, as they make their way through the forest.

“Really?” she looks intrigued.

“Yes.”

He hasn’t settled. He can feel his skin alight with energy and possibility, and he worries. She was sent away before he ever settled, and then everything happened to them.

Are they broken?

When she asks, he denies remembering ‘much’ from before she woke, remembering their names and the fact that he was a small white mouse with grey ears, which she accepts without question.

He is lying.

He remembers most of everything that happened to them. And whilst he hates her red eyes, and watching her feast on the stray humans that cross their path, he adores this cheerful, joyous self.

She steals a dress in the next town they cross through, a yellow gingham with ties at the back and a pocket big enough for him to ride in, that seems to swallow her up. She keeps the filthy, ratty hospital gown she was found in, wearing it like a cape, until she steals a bag. She carries it in there, along with a little notebook and a pencil, a second dress (dark blue wool, just as stolen.)

She finds a piece of blue ribbon one night, and ties it loosely around his neck, stroking his soft fur, and cradles him, her face so happy.

If this is broken, they’ll be okay.

Maybe.

Three.

They have a peaceful existence for twenty-eight years. They stay in the forests, only sneaking into small towns to steal after she learns that she can hunt wild animals instead of humans. That makes him feel better about what she’s become.

Everything is wonderful to her - the flowers, the weather, whatever her latest outfit is. She would sit for hours, watching a spider spin a web, or sit in the branches of a tree, watching birds build nests, utterly transfixed.

The dreams that made her family turn away from her have become fulling fledged visions of the future, ones that seize her without rhythm or warning. Those visions are for her mind only, though she shares every detail with him - including that of the vampire she calls Jasper.

He’s worried about how she speaks about Jasper, about the look on her face when she’s thinking of him. But Alice promises him that Jasper will only mean good things - like the Cullens.

“We’ll have a family, Milo!” she beams, lying in the soft grass next to a river, stroking him. “A mother and a father and brothers and a sister!”

She had a mother and a father and a sister, and they turned her into this, he wants to say, but he doesn’t. He tucks their lost history in the back of his heart and tries not to worry.

He’s sorrier than he can say when their solitude ends, and they slide into Philadelphia. They break into a hotel room to wash, and Alice seems giddy with excitement; then to a shop where Alice tries on a dozen dresses, and stuffs the toes of a pair of shoes so that they fit properly. She twirls in the mirror, and she’s beautiful. She even steals a bag, little brush and some new ribbon for him, so that he can be fancy too.

“We have to make a good impression,” she informs him, as she pockets a gold tube of lipstick and then some gold hairpins. “It’s our fate."

Their date with destiny goes to plan, though Milo wishes that he had been able to see the visions, to be prepared. This ‘Jasper’ is not just anyone; he’s over six feet tall, with dozens of overlapping scars, black eyes and lank blonde hair. He’s not particularly bulky, but every movement reveals his strength and skill; he practically emits violence - as does the mangy grey wolf at his side.

But Alice doesn’t flinch, doesn’t falter. She gets up and goes to him, her eyes full of him before he ever knows her name. Milo just huddles in her stolen handbag, his ribbon drooping, and waits.

Somehow the impossible happens and Jasper takes Alice’s hand. The wolf - Lula, Jasper calls her - huffs, and Alice scoops up her bag and they walk out into the drizzly night together.

Four.

She doesn’t tell Jasper about them, about how wrong they are. He’s told her before, gently, but she really doesn’t understand, and so it isn’t important. It’s up to him to worry and plan and watch.

Lula keeps her distance, and her eyes see everything. Every odd statement, every little mistake that reveals how broken they truly are. But Lula is not cruel or unkind - she is simply wary, and as more pieces of Jasper’s story comes out, Milo understands why.

The worst day is the one Alice spies a fawn drinking at a stream and stuffs him into Jasper’s hands before taking off.

Jasper audibly gasps, and he flinches but Alice doesn’t even look back.

Milo flickers in and out, and the sugar-glider form vanishes, leaving behind the grey and white mouse form.

“She doesn’t understand,” he manages to tell Lula, trying not to shake at the feeling of Jasper’s hands cradling him, at the faint pulling as Alice strains their link.

Lula whines, and Jasper looks at him carefully, and follows Alice. Her hunt is successful, blood on her mouth, and she beams up at them all without seeing the pity, the new understanding in their eyes. Instead, she splashes some water on her face, and reaches out for him, letting him run up her arm and tuck himself under the collar of her dress. Then she tucks her arm through Jasper’s and smiles up at him.

He wonders, later, if she truly doesn’t understand how broken then are.

Or she just doesn’t care.

Five.

The Cullens seem nice, and Esme is enchanted by Milo, currently a meerkat, who likes high places.

But he worries. So does Jasper. And the Cullens are surprised by the way Lula trails after Alice – the separation is a strain on both Jasper and Lula, but one they bear without flinching to make sure Alice is safe. But Alice and Jasper are connected in a special way, and Alice always jerks slightly when she realises that Lula has stretched as far from Jasper as they can tolerate, always apologetic at her ignorance. She knows that the pull other people experience when separated from their daemons is much more painful than when she and Milo seperate.

She doesn’t ask why, she just accepts it. Sometimes he wonders if she knows, in her heart of hearts, how much they suffered. How there’s no pain now because they ran through all of it - and then some - in the Before.

And then two things go terribly wrong. They are there only a week or so before there is a family hunting trip. He rides in the pocket of Alice’s new coat, and he wants to pretend everything is fine but he can feel the energy under his skin, twitchy and static.

He climbs out and scrambles up her shoulder, around her neck and back again – trying to burn off the manic energy.

He hears her voice – for his ears only. “It’s okay, Milo. Don’t force it.”

He knows. They aren’t settled, it’s going to happen eventually, and they’re going to know.

She still doesn’t understand that they will be ostracised for such a thing. Not Jasper’s warlike history, not his slip-ups, not her gift, but because they are deformed freaks.

It happens with a crack as he hits the ground – from meerkat to pika. He hears Rosalie’s hiss of horror, of gasps and growls at the unexpected shift and he scrambles back to Alice’s ankles, where she scoops him up tenderly.

“Better?” she asks out-loud, gently scratching his neck. He just nuzzles in.

The Cullens are horrified. A splayed-out corpse would be less obscene, less of a tragedy than a vampire with an unsettled daemon.

Jasper is glowering at them, Lula’s glare dark as well. The message is clear - do not draw attention to this. Do not upset them.

Esme’s Pax and Carlisle’s Winnie are both upset, curling together, fear in their eyes. Beau tucks himself deeper into Rosalie’s hair.

Alice looks back up, still happy, still ignorant and no one breathes a word.

The second time, it is an accident, it is instinct and it is terrifying. Jasper and Emmett are wrestling, and Alice is perched on a rock, jeering at Emmett’s attempts to pin Jasper. The rest of the family is nearby – enjoying the peace of the forest.

Emmett and Allegra are nice, and he trusts them. He does.

But Emmett looks at them with a glint and lunges, grabbing Alice around the arms and flinging her over his shoulder with a victorious roar.

A prankster, a gentle giant, a consummate big brother – all things Milo knows about Emmett. But there is a flash of unease in Alice’s mind that he’s not sure she is even aware of, and the way he grabs her is so reminiscent of how they would drag her away back at the asylum… the way she would cry…

Jasper and Lula are pissed, too, but they are a blur as he lunges – a two-pound meerkat that shifts into an almost-seven hundred pound Siberian Tiger that roars at Emmett, whose eyes are as wide as saucers.

Rosalie is shrieking, Esme is clutching Carlisle and Alice is bewildered, but holding her hands out in an attempt to placate him, still upside down on Emmett’s shoulder.

Lula is suddenly at his side, looking tiny and delicate against his new form (and it is entirely new. He’s never been a predator before, never been too big to carry). He growls at her but it is not a threat, but an expression of fear at the way Emmett grabbed at Alice, at that tiny flash in the back of her mind that remembered their suffering.

“Put Alice down, Emmett.” Edward is there, calm and collected. “You startled them. Jasper, can you calm them?”

As soon as Alice’s feet hit the ground, Jasper is by his side, stroking his head and pushing peace and security onto him. Alice is there, too, her arms around his neck and her face buried in his fur. Rosalie and Allegra are clinging to Emmett, who looks shell-shocked.

Esme and Carlisle are having a quick conversation, too low for anyone else to hear.

“I’m sorry, Alice, Milo. I didn’t mean to scare you,” Emmett’s apology is unexpected in the tense silence, and is genuine. His voice is steady and he is sympathetic; Rosalie is giving them murderous looks.

He looks at Emmett for awhile before resting his giant head against Alice’s, his eyes closing and a loud huff leaving his body.

“Don’t be afraid,” she whispers to him. “We’re safe here. I promise.”

He wishes he could believe her.

#TwiFicMas20 #FicMas20 #alice cullen #jasper whitlock #alice and jasper #daemons #jalice #my fic #my fic: daemons #Cullen Family #his dark materials #crossover fic #twilight fic #twilight renaissance #validate me #wip

25 notes · View notes

medicus-mortem · 4 years

Text

Prodigy Heart Surgeon // Modern Verse

Dr Trafalgar Law. At 26 some would say he’s young for a surgeon but even more would call him an artist with a scalpel and a genius when it comes to manipulating human anatomy. His name has cropped up a few times in the news, referring to his talent and the apparent miracles he performs. Law himself doesn’t exactly enjoy this level of publicity, especially not when it slips into speculations on his history and personal life. He appears to have come from unstable beginnings and yet always says this is a career that runs in his blood.

A German boy born into a family of prominent doctors, along with his little sister Lamy, he was set up to have a successful career as a doctor early on. Then tragedy struck. The sister he adored fell severely ill and though both his parents were skilled in their field their efforts to heal her were doomed. Both dying before they had the chance in what was deemed a tragic accident but even a boy of ten knows better, can see the signs of a malicious murder. With no other family to care for them both children get placed into orphanages and government care. Law is separated from his sister, the boy never knowing whether his sister survives her illness or was just left to die.

Law himself is shunted from one abusive foster family to another, progressively growing more and more disheartened with the world and its apparent lack of care. It is during this time he finds himself living with a particularly negligent family and Law just leaves, effectively dropping off the radar for a while and moving into the darkest period of his life. Law gets involved in a crime family with far reaching connections, starting out as little more than an errand boy before they notice his sharp mind and medical skills to earn a greater position. Eventually he breaks free of that family and somehow finds the funds to enter medical school. He breezes through it to earn his medical license and career.

An uplifting story, perhaps. One of trials and tribulations that eventually lead to success for the young doctor, but who’s to say he’s truly stepped out of the darkness? Some people enjoy the benefits of seedier connections, the thrill that comes with being involved with businesses that aren’t entirely above board. The opportunities it affords to experiment with a power he’s not supposed to have. Might even call it a general disregard for human life. The unfortunate patients no one knows about would certainly claim Law has just that.

#Prodigy Heart Surgeon // Modern Verse #Dark History // Headcanons #verses #[is this my excuse to give him glasses?#yes yes it is #and also German boy because yes!]

8 notes · View notes

seesgood · 4 years

Photo

misc. verse aesthetics + write ups : harry potter.

legend has it, that around the same time as war with he who must not be named was brewing, when students at hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry were being recruited to engage in unspeakable acts against those with ‘unpure’ bloodlines, and during the time when the name ‘potter’ was only to be equated with the annoying habits of one kid and his friends --- there was a girl. common. mudblood. nothing too special, apart from her penchant for potions and charms. always desperate to prove herself, during her seventh year she took a dare to go into the forbidden forest. not too far, just far enough where the lights of the castle could no longer be seen. just far enough to be swallowed by darkness and never spat out. she doesn’t remember what happened next, but she does remember waking up. blood crusted on her neck, every sound, every sensation heightened. but most of all she remembered the thirst.

amidst the grand scheme of things, she wasn’t really missed. --- presumed dead, or kidnapped, or maybe she was seduced by darker magic: caroline forbes died, months before completing her seventh year at hogwarts. not long before war broke out within the wizarding world, before any potential news of her tragedy could make the papers. from that point on, she was just missing. presumed dead. only a few people knew what really happened to her. that a once-bright, promising seventeen year old witch was turned into one of the few vampires known to the wizarding world.

additional notes,

↬ dumbledore is one of the few people who knows what happened to her, mostly because she made the mistake of stumbling back onto hogwarts grounds after being bitten and --- upon her “condition” being discovered in the hospital wing --- she was taken right to him. ↬ on the condition that she doesn’t hurt anyone, she’s permitted to be on hogwarts grounds, though she tends to spend most of her time in hogsmeade and / or diagon alley ↬ she stays away from most students, mostly because exposure leads to danger and she doesn’t want that, but people know OF her. the same way they know about the ghosts. through legend and lore and gossip and whatnot. it annoys her. greatly. ↬ she actually really does like the ghosts though, she kind’ve considers them kindred spirits, considering they’re the few people who probably won’t judge her ↬ since she was last “alive” during the marauders era, she knew ( or knew of ) james / lily / snape / sirus / lupin / etc. and by the time harry comes to hogwarts, she’s still kind’ve around. ↬ she doesn’t know the vampire that turned her, and she doesn’t know why she was turned either, though it’s a strong possibility that she was turned as some kind of plot to recruit for voldemort’s army but that whoever turned her ran away before she could complete the transition, probably spooked by the other students coming to look for her. ↬ during her time at hogwarts, she excelled at potions and charms ↬ is a muggle-born, and was born american. she moved to london to live with her father after the death of her mother in america when she was 8.

vampire mythology,

so since harry potter gives #Nothing in terms of vampire mythology, i’m stealing some stuff from the vampire diaries, and taking liberties with it to make it fit better:

↬ obviously, she needs blood to survive. most of what she needs is provided through the hospital wing / dumbledore, but she also feeds from various animals found in the forest. her favorite snack is death eaters. ↬ she has a strong aversion to sunlight, while it won’t immediately kill her, prolonged exposure will lead to serious injury or death, hence why she spends most of her time inside during the day ↬ while not entirely stopped, her aging process is extremely slow. in the nearly two decades since she was turned, she’s physically aged maybe a year. ↬ vampires are turned as a result of a singular bite, which is incurable, and is not something she would subject to anyone ever. aka: she won’t feed directly from humans unless they’re already going to die or there’s a really good reason to ( i.e.: death eater. ) ↬ magical abilities are severely diminished, partially because her wand was snapped by the ministry when she was turned as a means of control, but she can still practice simple magic ↬ a stake to the chest, prolonged exposure to sunlight, the killing curse, and dismemberment will kill her, but other than that she will heal from most physical injuries ( albeit slowly ).

DISCLAIMER: this shouldn’t need to be said, but unfortunately it does: though i respect the world that j.k. rowling has built, and the characters that exist within it, i do not support jkr or her comments regarding the trans community. and i stand with daniel radcliffe’s response regarding separating the creator from the art ( direct quote pasted below )

“ If these books taught you that love is the strongest force in the universe, capable of overcoming anything; if they taught you that strength is found in diversity, and that dogmatic ideas of pureness lead to the oppression of vulnerable groups; if you believe that a particular character is trans, nonbinary, or gender fluid, or that they are gay or bisexual; if you found anything in these stories that resonated with you and helped you at any time in your life — then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred. And in my opinion nobody can touch that. ” ( x )

#/ verse aes.#this was a Monster to type up wow #ꜱᴡɪꜱʜ ﹠ ғʟɪᴄᴋ ⸺ harry potter.#/ long post cw.

12 notes · View notes

ironforgedrp · 4 years

Photo

♛ ELAENYS TARGARYEN

↳ details; cisfemale, twenty-three. ↳ date of birth; 1st of the second month, 483AC.

↳ status; heterosexual, unmarried, no children. ↳ faceclaim; kathryn newton. ↳ hails from; dragonstone. ↳ loyalty; house targaryen and the iron throne.

↳ position/title; lady of house targaryen, lady of dragonstone. ↳ religion; the faith of the seven. ↳ magical ability; dragon dreams. ↳ spoken languages; the common tongue & high valyrian. ↳ reason for being in sunspear; travelling alongside her family and the iron throne.

♛ PERSONALITY

↳ type; the campaigner ( enfp-a ). ↳ alignment; chaotic good. ↳ star sign; aquarius. ↳ positives; scholarly, charitable, enthralling, sagacious. ↳ negatives; inquiring, headstrong, unruly, overemotional.

♛ BIOGRAPHY

↳ family lineage.

cursed. it is what elaenys will answer if asked what she is.

born as the youngest daughter of the dragonstone’s targaryen branch, nothing special was expected of elaenys. of course, she was descendent of an old valyrian house, descendent of the glorius targaryen kings and queens — but she wasn’t a princess. they’ll look upon her, of course they will, but the secondary branch wasn’t so glorious as the one who held the power. but elaenys was a targaryen, born with silver-blonde hair e violet-blue eyes, as fair as a cotton flower. being the youngest of three, she was quite pampered by her parents and the other adults — but she wasn’t expected to be the last.

lonely for almost her childhood — her siblings and cousins were too old to play her childish games — elaenys found comfort in the books. for the early months, she would ask for the maester or a septa to read for her — or even her mother or father, if she found them to be willing to spend some more minutes with her — until she learned how to write and read in the common tongue. when that time arrived, elaenys was unstoppable. she read all the books in dragonstone’s library at least twice, and started to preffer the company of the maesters than of the septas. but she had to attend her lady’s duties — and while she did, her mind would be wandering in the stories she read, hoping to have an adventure of her own, like her ancestors had.

always very applied, elaenys stood out in languages and westerosi history. after all, these were her favourites subjects and the ones that the young dragon, since a young age, was interested in. however, because of that, elaenys became a difficult person to deal with changes and unexpected things. history and languages always had been the way they were — and elaenys thought that her life would be like that, too. younger, she would throw a loud tantrum if things didn’t go as she planned, now, however, her tantrums aren’t so loud — but she shows small signs of irritation like harsh responses and disapproving gazes.

however, growing up, elaenys noticed that her dreams were too childish. she wasn’t born in a great condition — being a woman and a lady of a great house, meant that she would be married off to some lord and secure an beneficial alliance to her family. only if she had been born a boy — she would be like aegon v, traveling all over the kingdom. but elaenys accepted her fate within dragonstone’s gray walls and, sometimes, the red ones of the red keep.

it wasn’t until her seventeenth birthday that elaenys’ curse came. until there, her life had been easy. she could be found in the company of her older sister and mother all day or reading and discussing with the maesters. elaenys loved her father with all of her heart and had a good relationship with her older brother, even if sometimes she found his goals to be too much for his position. however, on the first day of the second month of 500AC, elaenys woke up screaming. the targaryen lady had a strange dream, one that she couldn’t put into properly words. four dragons — two reds, one purple and other green — were flying over her, their eyes too familiar, looking deep into her soul. a desperate roar was heard by elaenys as the purple dragon fell to the ground towards her direction in the open field. in the same year, her aunt, queen victaria, died.

elaenys was desperate when she interpreted her dream as an omen of death. however, she didn’t told a soul about it. she didn’t want to scare anyone — after all, the other three dragons couldn’t mean anything. the targaryen daughter tried to continue her daily activities with normality, but her reading were directed for dragon dreams’ books and targaryens who suffered from it as well. for some years, elaenys felt at peace. the dream didn’t come again, and for a while, she even forgot about it. but, at her nineteenth birthday, she dreamed of the two red dragons had fallen alongside the purple one, remaining only the green flying in the sky. the death of her uncle, the king, and her cousin, the crown prince, were not a surprise for elaenys.

the green dragon haunted her for a year. it appeared in her dreams every single day, and elaenys started to wander who it could be. her father or brother for sure, and that scared her. but the dragon dream came before her birthday, and her father’s death a few weeks before it too. again, she wasn’t surprised. elaenys knew tragedy would came one last time, and she prepared herself for it. yet, she still cried and mourned her father for days. but her nightmares became known by everyone, but she disguised them just as vivid dreams, created by her creative head. it worked for awhile, but soon her maids and mother realized that it was worse than simple nightmares.

the transition of the rule of dragonstone made her uneased. blood is thickier than water, but she knows that with her brother ruling the first targaryen seat and a lannister in the iron throne she’ll be used as a coin of exchange to secure alliances, and now with the split of the kingdoms, used as a way to keep an eye in the new monarchies. the young targaryen wasn’t happy with rhaena’s marriage — she didn’t hate the lannisters, but the iron throne belonged to the targaryens, and only her fmaily was worthy to sit on it. after all, everytime the seven kingdoms had a non-targaryen ruler, it was doomed to to failure. but elaenys would be happy to leave dragonstone — its walls remind her of her dreams, and she’s thankful that they stopped to haunt her. however, in the travel for sunspear, elaenys had a strange feeling — they weren’t the same when she had her dragon dreams, but she’s afraid that tragedy will fall again in the last generation of targaryens.

↳ personality.

with an inquiring nature, elaenys is, sometimes, a difficult person to meddle with. she doesn’t like to take orders from anyone — as a targaryen, she feels superior to the other great houses — and from time to time, disobeys the high lords. she’s a free spirit and dreams of having her own adventures — taking inspirations from aegon v, her greatest role model. as someone that read too much in her free time, elaenys observes things from different points of view and is difficult to deceive. however, she’s an idealistic and is always ready to advocate in favor of the small folk or help them. with people that she trusts, the young dragon is a sweet and lively, speaking too much about her interests.

however, with the dragon dreams, elaenys is quieter. quieter and paranoiac. she’s afraid to have another dream and this fear is showing up in her actions, even if it’s an irrational fear. she wanders from time to time and wonders about the possibilities of what can happen, but when she realizes it, elaenys promptly tries to return to her normal self — the same impatient and cheerful elaenys that her family knew. the targaryen daughter is someone super emotional, and she holds words and grudges easily. her impulsiveness and inquiring nature always bring to elaenys situations that she doesn’t know how to handle — despite being such a smart person, she isn’t well versed in diplomacy and doesn’t know the time to stop talking, sometimes hurting the people that the loves without noticing. the young dragons is also someone that doesn’t apologize easily — she is always sure that she is right, and if the other person is offended, she cannot do anything to help them.

↳ the splitting of the kingdoms.

for someone that only traveled to the capitol, elaenys is excited to be in somewhere new and attend to a summit that will be in the maester’s history books. she wants to experience the dornish lands with everything they have to offer, without worrying for her family safety. however, with a mind as sharp as an assassin’s knife, elaenys is more interested in the political meetings. she isn’t a supporter of king arryk — doing it publicly because of her cousin — and think that either rhaena of one of her older siblings should the ruler of westeros, but she understand why the schism happened. elaenys doesn’t think that the treaties will work — men are too prideful when losing, and losing a great part of your kingdom isn’t something good. she’s afraid that a war will happen just like the last time the seven kingdoms were split, and she knows that her family will be in the middle of it — being in dorne will give elaenys a way to prepare herself when that time comes. however, with her inquiring nature, she may find herself in difficult situations after asking questions she shouldn’t.

♛ STATUS: TAKEN

#House Targaryen.#taken.#taken female.#crownlands.#dru.#kathryn newton fc #female.

8 notes · View notes

samwchster · 4 years

Text

( jared padalecki, 30, cismale, he/him ) Well if it isn’t SAM WINCHESTER. Rumor is that they’re a HUMAN from SUPERNATURAL and they found their way to Devil Hills, KS 15 DAYS AGO. They can be a bit SELF-DESTRUCTIVE& REBELLIOUS, but some of that is made up by their tendency to be SELFLESS & COMPASSIONATE. One of their top played songs is NOW AND THEN by ELIZA RICKMAN. Some sights and sounds that embody them are THE SMELL OF OLD BOOKS, A TATTOO ON HIS CHEST, A DEMON-KILLING KNIFE IN HIS POCKET, FINGERS PRESSING ON A SHAPELESS SCAR ON HIS LEFT HAND. Hopefully they pick the right side of things or stay out of the way.

__________________________

Samuel (William) Winchester was born on May 2nd 1983, to Mary Winchester and John Winchester. Being the younger of two (at the time), his brother Dean was only four years old, but had to take on the role of protective older brother sooner than anyone would have expected. On November 2nd, when Sam turned six months, tragedy struck after a demon killed Mary and set the baby’s nursery on fire. Baby Sam escaped thanks to Dean, who carried him outside and John. From that day on, everything changed. Their father, took upon him to avenge the death of his wife and became a hunter (and one of the very best at that). His obsession took a toll on the brothers and while Dean, obediently followed dad’s orders, Sam was always rebellious of his plans, often clashing with him, unable to follow blindly. He was 9 when dad gave him his first gun; only twelve when he started hunting and once he reached the age of 18, he wanted to be normal and live a regular life. After a huge falling out with John, Sam left for college. With an incredible score on the LSAT and a full-ride to Stanford, he didn’t look back. Until a couple years later, when Dean came knocking on his door after their father’s disappearance.

Everything has been a blur ever since and he stopped counting the years once he realised there was no going back. Death followed him everywhere he went and when demons killed his girlfriend just to ‘keep him on the right track’, he knew there was no going back. He fell through the rabbit hole, followed his desire for revenge like his father did, but even after dad sacrificed himself and even after Dean killed Azazel, the yellow-eyed demon, evil never stopped.

THE BOY WITH THE DEMON BLOOD;

As if destiny decided to pull a prank on him, he realised there was a much bigger picture and a much more devious plan behind everything. Azazel’s plans for Sam unfolded when he found out the demon had given him his blood as a baby. In time, the demon blood in him started changing him; giving him psychic abilities and darker thoughts. With every action he stepped closer to the edge of a cliff and when he took the final step, he unknowingly freed Lucifer from its cage. With the devil walking the earth, the apocalypse started and angels and demons fought for power over each other. His guilt ate him up and nearly broke the bond he had with his brother, but he managed to atone for his wrongdoings when he became Lucifer’s vessel and held him inside long enough to open his cage. Jumping in with Lucifer inside of him and the idea of being trapped with the devil in its cage for eternity seemed like a small price to pay.

Nonetheless, fate had him saved - yet again - after the angel Castiel pulled him out of the cage and later on Death, the black horseman itself, gave him his broken and tortured soul back. The mental and psychological damage was permanent though and those mental scars will remain with him forever, no matter how many times his body is put back together. He has died, countless times, he lost his soul, he was tortured for hundreds of years in hell by the devil itself and yet, here he is, still.

This time, he really thought they were onto something. Finding a way to shut the gates of hell forever seemed too good to be true but thanks to Kevin and his translation of the trials, there was hope. Ever since the first trial, when he killed that hellhound and felt himself change day after day, Sam never thought about quitting. Even after the second trial weakened him beyond belief; even during the third trial, when he could have actually died. He was ready for it and fully at peace with his choice if it meant that everyone could be saved and the world would be at peace. And yet, in true Winchester fashion, things went awry. With Crowley escaping and opening a gate to hell, freeing every demon and every monster in purgatory along with Metatron and his megalomaniac ideas, casting every single angel out of heaven, he feels like he broke the world again. It doesn’t matter how many times people tell him he was doing the right thing, he still knows he failed and now, another apocalypse is upon them.

Currently, Sam is severely weakened after completing two trials and half of the third. Rest alone seems to be a slow solution that is not agreeing with him, especially because he insists in going out to hunt nonetheless now that every monster seems to be roaming around. He hasn’t seen Castiel in two weeks, but he has heard word of the falling angels and has been trying to reach him -- with no luck so far. Dean has been trying to keep Sam in the Man of Letters bunker and get him to heal, but he’s not been successful so far, so both of them have been taking cases and hunting as much as they can.

PERSONALITY:

More than anything, Sam takes things to heart. He’s the more sensitive out of the two brothers and definitely the one who expresses himself more. When it comes to talking feelings, Sam has no problem admitting his short-comings and blatantly say how he feels. As for asking for help when it comes to solve those problems, now that’s a different story. In his head, he needs to figure things himself, heal himself when he’s hurting and tend to his psychological wounds. It’s mostly because he doesn’t want to burden anyone nor worry them more than necessary, so he’ll deal. Sam is selfless despite having had moments of weakness. As he is now, he is the first to admit that he screwed up pretty bad more than once, but he’s trying his best. He is loyal, caring and loving; so much so that he has trouble letting go of people who have yet to leave his heart despite not being physically in this world anymore. He has a tendency to blame himself if he doesn’t let people know what he feels, for fear that he might lose them before they know they are important to him. Sometimes hidden, the little Sam that idealised something better and the Sam that still hopes and believes is still much alive in him. All and all, he just wants to protect those he loves and save as many people as he can.

CONNECTIONS:

family-wise, his brother Dean; (maybe even John and Mary now that souls are rampant) and I would die if anyone brings me a Henry Winchester (the real OG let’s be real) and Adam. Give me Bobby, give me Abaddon!!, Crowley and Lucifer (how much torture is enough torture here, poor Sammy); bring Castiel and Gabriel, Donna, Jody, Charlie! and Sully!!! (sam’s imaginary friend from childhood), anyone from the Roadhouse ... bring everyone honestly, Sam has connections to every-single-person in the spn verse but he’s super open to anyone outside of it and all the OC’s; this boy is an easy one to establish things with. gimme all the plots tbh.

#dh;intro #❝ i'm a whole new level of freak「 about 」#i tried to summarise this as much as possible but... THAT still happened #i'll add a page with bulletpoints or a chrolological timeline to his blog later for faster reading but yeah shortening sam's life events #is near-impossible

2 notes · View notes

ao3feed-hawaiifive0 · 4 years

Text

Some Kind of Curse

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/2ZTlGmz

by temperancejones

Born four minutes before her twin brother Steve, Kris McGarrett was given the duty to take care of him, and make sure that he didn't get lost in his own mind. After the death of their mother, Kris went on to become the USA's first female Navy SEAL, graduating second in her class, right under her twin, Steve. When tragedy strikes on a high stakes mission, Kris and Steve find themselves back home on O'ahu, hunting down global terrorist Victor Hesse, who murdered their father in cold blood. while hunting Hesse down, the McGarrett twins are offered to run a special Taskforce under the authority of the Governor of Hawaii to serve and protect the island and make sure that criminals like Hesse stay away from the place they once called home. Recruiting a rough-around-the-edges detective fresh from New Jersey, a disgraced Honolulu P.D. Detective and a rookie two weeks away from her Honolulu P.D. Academy graduation, The McGarrett twins switch gears and take charge of the Governor's Taskforce, serving the people of Hawaii, just as their father once did.

*I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any of the characters, that belongs to Mr. Lenkov, Mr. Freeman and CBS... I just want a happier life for Steve McGarrett and Five-0.*

Words: 3349, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of SKOC verse

Fandoms: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: F/M, Gen

Characters: Steve McGarrett, Steve McGarrett's Family, Danny "Danno" Williams, Grace Williams, Pat Jameson, Kono Kalakaua, Chin Ho Kelly, Duke Lukela

Relationships: Steve McGarrett & Danny "Danno" Williams, Steve McGarrett/Catherine Rollins, Steve McGarrett & Danny "Danno" Williams & Grace Williams, Kono Kalakaua & Steve McGarrett, Chin Ho Kelly & Steve McGarrett, Danny "Danno" Williams/Original Female Character(s), Kristine McGarrett/ Danny "Danno" Williams

Additional Tags: What if?, Original Character - Freeform, What if Steve mcgarrett had a twin sister who helped him stay human during his navy/military days?, this has been my baby for the last seven years, and now I actually have time to write, and the brain capacity for it, kris is basically the more human version of Steve and can communicate, Steve McGarrett Needs a Hug, kris mcgarrett gives Steve those hugs, Steve and Danno are still OTP though, nothing can break them up, Kris just laughs with chin and kono and Steve and Danny being dumb, basically I'm just sad that h50 ended and I wrote an alternate ending, and then I rewrote this story for the thirtieth time, this has literally been rewritten since 2013, Plothole Fill, Steve gets actual character development, Steve mcgarrett learns to love being a human again, Episode: s01e01 Pilot, kris mcgarrett handles all of the governor's BS for steve

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/2ZTlGmz

#ao3feed #fanfic #h50 #hawaii five-0

4 notes · View notes

antiquecompass · 5 years

Text

If you’re new here (or been here for a bit longer) you’ll have seen me talk about Journeys ‘Verse. If you’re reading @pawsnread‘s new SongXiao fic set in that world, you may, possibly, wonder what Journeys ‘verse is.

I’ve never really sat down and properly written about how and why it came to be, but since it’s growing again, I thought it was time. Below contains both why I started writing the initial story: CW for discussing death of a close relative and how the ‘verse evolved from there:

Back in 2011 my year started off with a tragedy. At the end of January my beloved grandmother died on my birthday. It was a shock. She’d just had surgery the day before and came out of it fine and well. But a blood clot formed and while I was downstairs with Carrie, my twin sister, I heard my mother upstairs answer the call with an ‘oh no.’ I’ve heard that ‘oh no’ before, when I was six and my father died. When I was nine and my other grandma passed away. I knew those words and that tone and I knew what had happened before my mother had even come downstairs. That started a hell of a year that nearly saw Carrie also die (seriously my life went like this that year: birthday/death Jan 30th--funeral that weekend--home for a few days--Feb 12th/13th started Carrie’s months long battle and hospital stay that didn’t end until April) and just, the entire first half of the year was the worst sort of hell I’d been through in a very long time.

The back-half of the year saw me start to deal with the fall out of all that stress.

And like someone who has been in fandoms for years uncounted, I started writing a fic.

My favorite genre of stories to read outside of fanfic is Fantasy. High Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Southern Gothic Fantasy, Young Adult Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, you name it. I love it. I love it when magic is just an accepted part of life, or when it’s a hidden part of life. When magic exists in the mundane only for people to stumble across it and into something fantastical. Magic in the everyday is a theme that runs through a good portion of my fics (not so much in MDZS/The Untamed, but I’m still new here). It’s a genre I’ve loved since I was a child and the one I will forever be the most drawn to when it comes to the need for escapist pursuits.

So, taking my love for that, and me trying to work through shit, and being a fanfic writer, I started writing a fic where someone from our everyday world dropped through a magical portal and ended up in Faery. It combined an original story idea I’d had bouncing around my head for years with a fandom that I was in the thick of and let me work through some things.

I was active in the HBO War Fandom at the time and through James Badge Dale’s portrayal of Bob Leckie I found a character just enough of a bitter asshole to work with and to deal with grief, of a life lost--not actual death, but the potential of what could have been, or what was. The burden of trying to be who you think you SHOULD be and what you SHOULD want versus who you actually are and what you actually need. The year was hell so the fic stalled out, but that’s when one of my dearest friends, Nat, decided we’d basically do our own Fic Finishing Fest. If it wasn’t for her support, and the support of so many fandom friends I’m still so close to (hello my darling Kailey and the ever-amazing Ray), the fic and the ‘verse would have never seen the light of day.

So the first story of Journeys ‘verse, So Spoke the Wanderer, went up in February of 2012. And as I went into other fandoms, other stories followed. As it stands now stories in Journeys ‘verse go from HBO War to Spartacus to MCU to In the Flesh to the Umbrella Academy and now to The Untamed/CQL/MDZS. On Ao3 you’ll only find the HBO War and Spartacus ones, but if you do a little digging on my tumblr, you’ll find the others.

As for what it’s about?

If you can dream it, be it. Essentially.

Our world, the mortal world, exists as is, but because of the Veils dropping between the worlds four times a year (on each solstice and equinox) there is a long cross-veil travel and trade. People from our world who end up on the Other Side/Faery are called Wanderers. People from that side who end up on ours are called Wayfarers. In each world both of these groups have their own little establishments and communities. Since magic is still ‘hidden’ in our world the Wayfarer establishments serve as sanctuaries, homes, and schools for the Wayfarers who decide to settle down in our world, or have to for political/safety reasons.

Both sides had long-influenced each other: the magical side has a meeting of magic and technology, our side has a few magical things it shouldn’t, and yet does.

There are special people, called Realm Jumpers, who can basically punch a hole through space and time at will, crossing the Veils as needed. They’re rare and it takes a lot of training, but for the right price (or the right friendship), they’ll do it for you.

As for the type of magical creatures?

Sidhe, Dragons (often in human form, but watch out, they’ll still singe you), and Sirens hold the most power. Wizards and Weres are in the second tier.

Oracles are of their own class, largely unconcerned with the politics of either world. They’ve got more important, immaterial things to handle.

Ghosts are real and their own form of Undead. They can either stay resting and wait for a rebirth, or they can linger on as ghosts, becoming corporeal during those Veil Drop days. Ghosts can be made alive again, but there is always a price to pay, and that price varies in each case.

Healers and Reapers and Necromancers. Readers of the Last Thoughts, Sprites, and Goodfellows. Pucks (an entire other class of Goodfellow), Bards, and Minotaurs and so much more. They’re all here and they all mostly co-exist.

And so many Changelings. Children born of human and magical parents or with some seriously magical recessive traits. Changelings are all over both sides of the Divide and a reason why some of those Wayfarer and Wanderer establishments exist.

Most of the Other World we see is concerned with Ville, a major city where the Sidhe Queen lives, or with Merrymec, a village where a Sidhe Prince and his Siren husband live and where a university and library that are a very safe and welcoming place for Wanderers is connected to their manor.

For the MDZS/Untamed fics coming, an entire new aspect of the verse is introduced. The Winter Court is the home of the Winter Sidhe. They exist outside of the political realm and intrigue of the Sidhe Queen, long-ago deciding they’d rather stick to their mountains and focus on their magic and their part of the world than get into all the pointless b.s. of Ville. Our favorite Lans and a few other familiar faces are members of the Winter Court.

In Lotus Pier are the Jiang Wizards, though their family line is a bit more interesting.

The Jins and the Nies are wolves, shapeshifters, and well, their story is for another time.

And the Wens? Either Fire Demons or Healers depending on the branch. So either the problem makers or the ones who have to fix it.

This verse is truly a labor of love and everything I’ve written, probably contains some of the most personal writing I’ve done. I was adrift in 2011, I was 2 years out of grad school with an MA in history and working in a grocery store (where I still am, because, holy shit does life throw some curveballs). I had to move back home, leaving my beloved Boston behind, because I couldn’t afford rent and student loan payments. I felt both stuck and lost at the same time, and a lot of that went into So Spoke the Wanderer, because at the end of the day, some things are about choices, but some things do happen for a reason.

If I hadn’t left Boston and returned home, my sister would’ve died in September of 2010. I was the one who found her after she had a seizure, barely breathing in her bed. If I hadn’t been home, if I hadn’t woken up and gone downstairs---well, choices. And intuition. Sometimes you can’t dwell on the What-Ifs because it’ll drive you mad.

The verse is named Journeys for a reason, from a Frank Turner lyric:

But in the end the journey's brought joys that outweigh the pain.

And as I learned to accept a new lot in life, the stories themselves changed. Not that any of them are dark or tragic, but the subsequent stories are far more light-hearted, and more about hope than the first one.

But the one universal thing in every last one of them: found families.

So, if you’re just coming into Journeys or if you’ve been here for a long time, I hope you enjoy what’s to come. You don’t need to read the previous stories/fandoms to understand the ones that will be posted this year, just treat the unfamiliar names as original characters and you should be fine. (For people who HAVE read the other stories, know that Reaper Roe is going to be showing up, as he always does, in everything.)

Any questions? My askbox is always open.

#long post #personal post #verse: journeys

17 notes · View notes