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fangirlwriting-stories · 4 months ago

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Afterlife Lessons

Masterlist

Art For This Chapter: @junicane-dp link

Chapter Thirteen:

It took a little bit for Sam to decide how she felt about the fight with Phantom. They didn’t see him again that day, and neither of them felt particularly inclined to go looking. Some time to cool off sounded like the best idea. It gave Sam some time to think, and by the end of the day, she’d realized a couple things.

For one, Phantom was clearly not doing so hot. People don’t insist they’re fine and can handle everything themself while bleeding out of a wound in their side unless they’ve got some stuff going on.

But his motives still aligned pretty neatly with what Sam understood about him. He wanted to protect her and Tucker. The intensity was a little confusing, but mostly because Sam wasn’t really confused by it. The three of them had only technically met a little over a week ago, but she didn’t question Phantom’s very firm insistence that he needed to protect them, she just knew it made him an idiot.

Idiot or no however, it did make him a great example to give to Danny in regards to a ghost that clearly wasn’t malicious. So the next morning found her in front of Danny’s locker, waiting for him to show up. Before he did, however, Tucker got there first and headed over to her.

“Hey,” he said. “So I figured something out.”

Sam turned to face him. “Yeah?”

Tucker nodded. “We shouldn’t talk about it here. After school?”

Sam nodded back. “Okay. You sure?”

“Yeah. Before we meet up with Phantom.”

Sam gave him a curious look but didn’t argue.

“Uh, hey, are we all having hangouts by my locker now?”

Sam turned to see Danny approaching and started grinning. She stepped aside and let Danny open his locker, and then started taking.

“Hey Danny,” she said, trying to keep her voice more casual than mischievous or smug. “I have an argument for you.”

Danny sighed, long and exhausted. “First thing in the morning?”

“Phantom saved our lives yesterday.”

Danny set his bag in his locker and slammed it shut. “No he didn’t.”

“Hey, how would you know?” Sam asked, crossing her arms. “You weren’t there.”

She saw Danny clench his jaw, and she knew she was getting to him in at least some way.

But then Danny said, “I know because there’s no way that menace actually did something helpful,” and Sam felt her own jaw clench.

“Don’t talk about him that way.”

“Why not?” Danny said, starting down the hallway. “He’s the worst ghost out there, isn’t he? That’s what everyone says.”

“No, that’s what your parents say,” Sam said. “And if you got your information from literally anyone else in addition to them, you’d know better!”

“I know enough,” Danny snapped. “He’s a worthless excuse for a hero who can’t even save people right, and he’s gonna get someone killed one day.”

“Hey,” Tucker said, sounding just as angry as Sam did. “You really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, and honestly Danny, I think we might know Phantom a little better than you do,” Sam said.

Danny snorted. “Oh, do you,” he said, and then he turned and walked into homeroom before either of them could respond.

Sam huffed and crossed her arms. She was a little surprised by how angry that conversation had made her, but only a little. It wasn’t a conversation about all ghosts in general, it was about Phantom, and he was her friend, and she cared about him. Maybe this “using him as a good example” idea was a double edged sword. And she’d let it go, except now Danny had directly insulted her friend, and she couldn’t just let that slide.

So, she walked into homeroom, slid into the seat across from Danny, and said, “What exactly does he do that makes him not a hero? You think—”

“Well, just for starters, he’s fought my parents before,” Danny said without looking up.

“No, your parents fought him. There’s a difference. They initiated things.”

“He’s a ghost,” Danny said, glaring up at Sam. “If they hadn’t, he would have.”

“You understand how biased that is, right?” Sam snapped.

“Doesn’t change the fact that he fought them while they were trying to protect everyone,” Danny said. “He made it harder for them to do their jobs.”

“Your parents couldn’t hit a ghost if one hovered in front of them and asked them to,” Sam said.

Danny blinked in surprise, then narrowed his eyes. “Hey.”

Okay, maybe that was a bit too far.

“Hey, let’s all calm down,” Tucker said, drawing both of their attention. “People are starting to stare at us.”

Sam glanced around and saw that it was true. And yeah, having a knock-down drag out in homeroom maybe wasn’t the best idea.

“Fine,” she said. She turned a glare back on Danny. “But don’t think this conversation is over.”

Danny rolled his eyes and turned his own glare back to the table. Neither of them spoke again for the rest of homeroom.

…

“So your only problem with Phantom is that he fights your parents sometimes?” Sam asked as soon as Danny walked up to the lunch table. She’d use the loud noise as an excuse when Tucker got there.

Danny groaned as he sat down. “Honestly Sam, just drop it,” he said. “Why do you care so much, anyway?”

“Because you’re being really unfair and insulting to someone I really admire,” Sam said, crossing her arms.

“Why do you admire him?” Danny asked, looking up at the ceiling. “Pick a better option.”

“Well the only reason you’ve given me not to so far is that he’s mean to your parents sometimes,” Sam said, narrowing her eyes.

“That is not the only reason,” Danny snapped. “That’s not even the reason I gave you, but that’s hardly the point. You want reasons? How about the destruction of property following him everywhere he goes, ruining homes and livelihoods?”

“That’s not his fault! It’s not like he goes around destroying buildings! They get smashed up when he’s fighting ghosts!”

“And? He should be better at this by now,” Danny said, and he shoved a chicken nugget in his mouth.

“Oh sure, and of course you’d be much better at protecting property during fast paced dangerous ghost fights,” Sam said.

In response, Danny shoved another chicken nugget in his mouth.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

“You know what, I really don’t have to sit here and take this,” Danny said. And before Sam could ask what that meant, he picked up his lunch and walked off.

“What— Danny! Get back here, you prick!”

Danny didn’t give her any kind of response, and Sam glowered after him. Whatever, she had food to eat, and he wasn’t worth chasing after over that. She’d catch up to him later and keep giving him a piece of her mind. For now, Tucker was walking over to her, looking at Danny leaving the lunchroom as he did, which meant she’d have to explain.

“What’s up with him?” Tucker asked as he sat down.

“He can’t stand the fact that someone’s trying to defend Phantom right to his face,” Sam snapped. “As if it’s impossible for a ghost to be a benefit to society.”

Tucker sighed and sat down. “Do you want to give it a rest? We knew he’s like this.”

“Yeah, but that was with ghosts we didn’t know,” Sam said, stabbing her fork into her salad.

Tucker sighed. “Yeah, I know,” he said. “I’m annoyed too. Just, you’re not gonna change Danny’s mind in one day.”

“No, but I can sure try.”

“Sam.”

“I just want him to admit he’s not the worst ghost out there,” Sam said. “Seriously. I need to hear him say that.”

Because she did. Both because Phantom was her friend, and she didn’t like hearing him talked about that way, and because… she wasn’t sure. But there was something else bugging her.

Tucker seemed to read at least some of that in her face, because he nodded. “Okay,” he said. “Just, make sure you don’t push too hard, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sam sighed. “Okay.” She thought for a minute. “Maybe we talk about it more casually in a hangout. Like we offer going over to one of our houses to play Doomed or something. So we’re not just arguing back and forth.”

Tucker nodded. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s do that.”

So next time Sam saw Danny in class she asked if he was up for Doomed after school. Danny gave her a suspicious look, but ultimately agreed, and offered his own house as the place to go, since he had the console they were most familiar with all playing together. Sam agreed, and Tucker was down with it too, meaning after school found them all there on bean bags in front of Danny’s console. The feeling was casual and lighthearted enough that Sam almost didn’t want to ruin it.

But the something else that was bugging her wouldn’t leave her alone, so eventually, in a pause after she beat a level, she turned to face Danny.

“Okay, genuine question,” she said, hoping to at least try to keep the lighthearted tone. “You really don’t think Phantom is a hero?”

Danny groaned, and put his hands over his face. “God, again, really?” he asked.

“I’m asking! It’s not a stance most people have,” Sam said, crossing her arms. “You know, with all the ways he fights ghosts and protects everyone in Amity Park?”

“Stephanie Bacon,” Danny said, counting off on a finger. “A five year old who got caught in the crossfire of a ghost fight with Technus. Donna Smith, a middle aged woman who got crushed against a building and broke her leg during a battle with Ember. Anthony Walker, an old man Phantom grabbed too roughly to pull to safety, breaking his wrist. Riley Adams, a teenager who got a bad concussion after Phantom failed to catch them in time and they hit the ground—”

“Uh, hold up. What is that?” Sam asked.

“Everyone who’s ever gotten hurt during one of Phantom’s ghost fights,” Danny said, looking down at his controller and fiddling with the buttons instead of meeting her eye.

“Dude,” Tucker said. “Do you have that memorized?”

Danny nodded.

“You—” Sam took a very unsuccessful calming breath and ran her hands through her hair. “Danny, do you understand how completely unfair to him that is?”

“Oh, yeah?” Danny said, glaring up at her with so much fury that it actually caught her off guard for a minute. “If he’s going to claim to be this big hero, he needs to be held accountable for his fuckups.”

Sam shook herself, and went back to glaring at him. “That’s not how you hold someone accountable,” Sam snapped. “That’s how you hold onto an unfair grudge. Ghost fights are fast and dangerous. You can’t expect him to make perfect decisions all the time.”

“If he wants to say he’s actually helping people, he needs to learn how to do better than that,” Danny said. “People could get hurt in ways that don’t heal.”

“That wouldn’t be his fault either,” Sam snapped.

“You’re going way too far to defend him, Sam,” Danny said, glaring back down at his controller, which he was squeezing so tight Sam was a little concerned it might break. “When would you stop? What if someone gets killed on his watch? Is that something that you should just let go?”

I already did, Sam didn’t say.

Instead she said, “Do you honestly think Phantom wouldn’t try absolutely everything to stop that from happening?”

“Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn’t,” Danny said. “That’s not the point. If it’s not enough, that makes him just as much of a monster as every other ghost.”

And honestly, Sam had about had enough of this. Maybe Danny had gotten most of his knowledge from his parents, and Sam had tried to give him a little grace with that. But she’d been consistently pointing out flaws in that kind of thinking, examples of ghosts being different than his parents thought, and he hadn’t changed his mind at all. And if he was going to be this prejudiced towards one of her actual friends, Sam was done putting up with it.

So, she walked over to Danny’s bedroom door, locked it for safekeeping, turned and met Danny’s confused face now gazing back at her, and transformed.

Danny’s mouth fell open.

“I’m a ghost, Danny,” Sam snapped. “Am I a monster?”

Danny looked faint, even as he stood up from his bean bag. “Y-you— you just—”

“Sam!” Tucker called, running over in front of Danny and sticking his arms out as a barrier between him and Sam. “What are you doing, you idiot?”

Sam saw Danny look at Tucker, probably processing that Tucker “knew” or something.

“Wh- I don’t understand,” Danny said, taking a couple of steps back. “Why would you show me that?”

Sam noted with slight confusion that Danny wasn’t asking any questions about “what” or “how” and had instead jumped straight to “why.” But she could wonder about that later.

“Because you’re being a total prick and I’m tired of dealing with it,” Sam snapped. “And because, somehow, I trust that you’ll keep it a secret.”

She felt a little crazy even saying it, but she did. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that Danny wouldn’t tell anyone. Even now.

Apparently there were a couple of doubts in Danny’s mind, though, because he shook his head and took another step back. “How— how do you know?” he asked weakly. “What if I just go and turn you right over to my parents so they can rip you apart molecule by molecule?”

Sam snorted. She turned intangible, flew right through Tucker, dropped the intangibility and leaned right into Danny’s face. “Go on then,” she said. She pointed behind her towards Danny’s bedroom door. “Do it.”

Danny stared back at her with wide eyes, and Sam met his gaze with a firm determined one.

Finally, Danny pulled his gaze down, away from hers just slightly.

Sam leaned back, satisfied. “That’s what I thought.” She turned to Tucker. “Come on, Tuck,” she said. “You want to fly home?”

Tucker looked hesitantly at her for a second, then back at Danny, and then nodded, and transformed just like her. He looked at Danny for a moment, and Sam looked back over to see something strange and broken on Danny’s face.

But she was done cutting him slack.

“Come find us when you stop being a dick,” she said. Then she flew through Danny’s wall and started home, Tucker right behind her.

Sam took off as fast as she could as soon as she was outside Danny’s window, letting the anger and adrenaline fuel her into getting as far away from Danny, as fast as she could.

“Sam!” Tucker called, flying faster to try and catch up with her. “Sam, wait!”

Sam stopped with a huff and turned around, only for Tucker to soar right past her.

“Woah!” he said, spinning around and doubling back. “I uh, thought I’d have to chase you a bit longer.”

“Can you believe him?” Sam snapped, gesturing angrily back towards Danny.

“Uh, yeah,” Tucker said, looking… not angry? Why wasn’t he angry? “Sam, I… I don’t know if he was being a hundred percent honest there.”

Sam blinked. “Honest?” she asked. She’d attributed a lot of things to Danny’s behavior. Prejudice, ignorance, stubbornness. She hadn’t really put ‘dishonesty’ on the list. “What do you mean?”

Tucker looked back over his shoulder, seeming hesitant. “Sam, that thing I was going to tell you? It’s about Vlad Plasmius.”

Sam blinked. “What? What are you talking about?”

“That thing I discovered is about Vlad Plasmius. Phantom said he was a half ghost too, right? Well, I think I figured it out. His human half is Vlad Masters.”

Sam blinked again. “Vlad Masters like Danny’s piece of shit godfather who won’t stop hitting on his mom?”

Tucker nodded. “Yeah.”

“Okay? So?”

“So, don’t you remember what he said? When we were asking panicked questions about what he wanted and who he was? He said we’d get a much better explanation from Danny.”

Sam nodded, vaguely recalling something like that. “Yeah, okay.”

Tucker looked at her like that meant something. “Sam, why would Danny know anything about that?”

“He knows about ghosts?” Sam said. “Or, he thinks he does.”

“Okay, sure, but knowing about ghosts is one thing. Knowing about half ghosts seems to be another thing entirely.”

“What’s your point?” Sam asked.

“And you know,” Tucker said, ignoring her question. “Didn’t Phantom seem awfully sure what Danny’s reaction to us telling him anything about ghosts was going to be? And then Danny reacted exactly like Phantom thought he would?”

“Maybe Phantom was just a good guesser,” Sam said, though she didn’t really believe it.

Tucker shook his head. “Sam, Vlad seemed so sure Danny knew things about half ghosts. And that he’d be talking to us about them. But Danny hasn’t said anything to us about them, ever.”

“Okay,” Sam said, trying to ignore the queasy feeling in her stomach. “So that’s… what does that mean?”

Tucker gave her a look, like he didn’t want to believe it either. “Sam, come on,” he said. “We know what it means. I know I’m not the only one who’s noticed everything.”

Sam opened her mouth, but nothing came out, because Tucker was right. Everything familiar about Phantom, and Danny’s sudden hatred of ghosts that seemed to come out of nowhere. The weird something else that had been bugging her the whole time Danny had been shitting on Phantom. The way he’d asked “why” instead of having any questions about “what the fuck are you.”

Sam squeezed her eyes shut. “Oh, goddammit.”

#danny phantom #sam manson #tucker foley #danny fenton #halfa trio au #no one knows au #invisobang #afterlife lessons #my fic

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violivs · 4 months ago

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NMTDaily: The last two costume party Ben vlogs

These are episodes 24 and 25.

Episode 24: Pedro’s beeeetch?!?!

- “How can she know me and yet not know me at all?”

- I love this line. I love this line a lot. It’s an adaptation of a line from the play, a line later paralleled in the play with “the god of love that sits above and knows me, and knows me”. Within NMTD, it connects back to Beatrice’s eventual “I’m glad that you understand me.”

- She knows and yet doesn’t know Ben because she was only friends with him for a few months before they fell apart, and now makes a bunch of anger- and hurt-based assumptions about him and goes off that. Yet she still knows him, knows exactly what to say to hurt him the most. Layers!

- Ben quickly arrives at “maybe no one is actually making fun of me behind my back and Beatrice is the only one laughing”, which is the truth for the most part. But he doesn’t believe it emotionally, so it doesn’t help. He still feels really insecure and anxious about everyone secretly hating or making fun of him.

- We know Pedro and Claudio often find Ben to be a little much, a little too loud, too stifling, too clingy. But they’re not laughing behind his back about it, they’re complaining to each other and eventually plotting to matchmake him with Bea about it.

- The song in the background is great because it’s essentially Beatrice’s POV about Ben. “Nobody loves you, everybody loves me.” “He is just an arrogant guy, thinks he can catch any girls eye… you’re just lonely inside, you really need to swallow your pride.” To have that in the background while Ben is venting about Bea and showing how insecure he is about how people perceive him- powerful choice. It’s in the background of the next episode too.

- Lots of great comments analyzing Ben’s character under this video, worth a read. Interesting observation by BeedlePencil that the school is in fact laughing at Ben AND Bea about their constant bickering and obsession with each other.

Episode 25: BATH

- Pedro is confused and concerned by Claudio’s disappearance. He also seems kind of drunk, himself.

- “Don’t shoot me!” “What?” “I’m the messenger, don’t shoot me.”

- “The chivalry of broship had been broken.” I love those moments where for a second we’re in 1598 again, like, chivalry? Oh you’re an adaptation of an old, old character, that’s right.

- The bird’s nest story is lifted directly from the play, and it’s incredible that the Candle Wasters made their modern Ben exactly the person who would think of that anecdote, even in a different time.

- Pedro’s FACE when Ben is saying birds are majestic creatures, especially flamingos. Pedro is pinching the bridge of his nose and clearly thinking “oh god, not this again.” Lol

- Pedro, still totally lost: “but… birds nests are for birds?”

- I thought Pedro was going to figure it out at first, but instead he changed the subject to Beatrice and wanting to know how Ben pissed her off so bad. Was he around when Bea was insulting Ben to his face earlier? Or did Bea go complain to him afterward? If she did, does that mean she knew it was Ben behind the Batman mask all along? Or was it just a general continuation of her Ben tirade because the person she was talking to before (Ben, and she didn’t recognize him) left and she needed someone else to rant to?

- “I was just being defensive” Does this mean there was a second half to the conversation where Ben took off the mask and confronted Beatrice? Because in Ursula’s party video, in the scene we saw, Ben never fought back in terms of insulting Bea back. He only defended himself by saying his bird video was insightful and he thought Bea was being harsh.

- Wait! In Ursula’s clip, Beatrice never says the phrase “Pedro’s bitch.” That means the scene HAD to continue beyond what we got in the video, with Ben revealing himself and Bea insulting him more. Wow. I should fic that, that’s a hell of a missing moment.

- That’s really interesting, that Bea starts ranting to a masked stranger about how annoying Ben is (and how she’s annoyed that he isn’t there), and then after the scene cuts off Ben takes off his mask and confronts her, she gets even meaner in return, and hurts his feelings so bad he goes and hides for the rest of the party. Now I’m sad we never got to see the inevitable corresponding later scene where she thinks back on her behavior and apologizes.

- Either Pedro witnessed the end of the fight or he ran into Bea afterwards, and he clearly thinks she’s significantly angrier at Ben than usual. I really want to know if Ben said anything in the second half of the argument to cause that or what.

- Pedro can’t help laughing at the “Pedro’s bitch” moment, which is definitely going to make Ben more anxious that Pedro really is laughing behind his back.

- We do also have some classic ingrained societal homophobia coming out with “Pedro’s bitch” in the idea that the most degrading thing for a man to be is submissive to another man, especially sexually. Pedro’s laughing, but it’s also probably pretty uncomfortable for him on a being-deeply-closeted level that he won’t even understand until later.

- “She said you thought I was really annoying and you only tolerated me” ah yes, the thing that every socially anxious person’s brain tells them 24-7. That no one actually likes you. She really does know exactly how to hurt Ben.

- Pedro is in Beatrice defense mode. “Give her a break.” He has a crush on her right now, comphet or not, so he’s inclined to take her side. The combination of her coming to his, the Prince of Messina’s, party as a princess, and her making it abundantly clear that she still hates Ben via this public fight, is what will push Pedro to ask her out in the next episode.

- The assault weapon sound effects lol, this absolute dork

- Do we think maybe Bea was in a “hit Ben with a constant stream of insults” mood because her Q&A video made her explain and contemplate her past relationship with Ben and re-litigating that made her feel hurt and vulnerable and angry at him all over again? That’s my best guess.

- This is a friend group that all meddles in each other’s affairs. “Maybe we need to stop this thing with [Hero] and Claudio- or is it with you now?” No wonder it all goes down as it does.

- Pedro’s “it’s not just her” refers to Ben, and hilariously goes right over his head.

- There’s some really excellent face-acting by Jake McGregor in this episode. All Ben’s facial expressions are absolutely delightful. I just like to look at him.

- Apparently “catch you later” “no you won’t” is a Sherlock reference, according to the comments. Love Ben taking an interest in one of Bea’s favorite shows enough to reference it!

- Don’t turn the camera on and off with your foot, Ben, ya nasty! Lol

- “baths + sleeping = no don’t do it” in the video description omg. Ben literally fell asleep in Pedro’s bathtub after this.

- Winner of the Comment Section goes to simondarrow with “wow I can’t believe Pedro Donaldson invented being cute and bisexual… legends only”

- also shoutout to the person who said Ben looks like he’s about to cry. I’m glad I’m not the only one tuned into his face journey this episode, poor kid.

- And the other person in the comments who wants to hug Ben. Hard same.

💖🦩🥭

#nmtd #nmtdaily #violivs nmtdaily liveblog #costume party vlogs part 2

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wqintraining · 1 year ago

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NEW X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - SEASON 3, EPISODE 2 (PART 2 OF 2)

We open once again on Okkara, thousands of years ago. This time, we are even further in the past. There are no demons and no battles raging. With a shining sun and a clear blue sky above, Okkara is a flourishing island paradise. Its Mutant population is happy and at peace.

The man known as En Sabah Nur, dressed not in armor, but in loose-fitting robes, sits on a rock, strumming a stringed instrument, a calm smile on his face. A small captivated crowd listens.

Nur's attention is turned away from his music as someone calls for him.

"Father! Father!"

Apocalypse grins as a little girl made of flames runs up to him with excitement. He picks her up and asks what's brought her such joy.

ORIGINAL WAR: "Death and I fought! And I won!"

APOCALYPSE, an amused father: "Ah, I see. No wonder you are proud. Defeating Death is no small feat. Even if he is your baby brother."

War continues to be smug over her victory as Nur holds her tight.

NUR: "Stay strong, my daughter. But remember, to fight is not your future. You are the war which will never come again."

In the present, Apocalypse and War stand in their laboratory. A scientist reports to them that everything finally seems operational. On his mark, they can deploy the X-Virus.

A different scientist speaks up.

SCIENTIST: "Please, Lord Apocalypse! Don't do this! We can weaponize the virus on a smaller scale. If you'd just think of the–"

The scientist is cut off as his throat is sliced open, blood gushing out. He falls over, dead.

Apocalypse puts an arm around War's shoulders.

APOCALYPSE: "Proceed…and end this fight."

At the Jean Grey School, Mercury and Bling! have been sent on a drug trip. Cessily is dazed as she hallucinates her body expanding and twisting in every which way as the world expands and twists around her. Bling! meanwhile gets shinier and shinier. It’d blinding. It gets more pleasant for them as bubbles start forming on Mercury’s skin and she pops them to tickle herself, while Roxy tosses on some sunglasses and revels in how cool she looks.

CESSILY, giggly: “This is so weird. Have you ever done something like this before?”

ROXY: “You asking that because of who my parents are?”

CESSILY: “What? No, I–”

Roxy bursts out in hysteric laughter.

The Cuckoos are also on this trip, laughing as they hallucinate. They’re continuously merging with and unmerging from each other.

CUCKOOS: “They’re so gonna thank us.”

In the mission room, we pick up directly where we left off last time. Cyclops, Kitty, Iceman, and Wolverine desire to go and stop Apocalypse, but Magneto and Emma believe they should allow his plans to play out, and Hellion and Surge think they may be right. In the face of Archangel’s murder, Iceman is enraged and has put Magneto’s neck at icicle point.

ICEMAN: “I don’t care if you won’t help, but you aren’t getting in my way!”

Without moving or flinching, Erik disintegrates Bobby’s stretched-out arm.

MAGNETO: “The loss of Archangel is painful. For myself, the loss of the Morlocks even more so. Children died in those sewers. Do you know where else children died? By the millions? Genosha. This is the only way the pain ends.”

SCOTT: “Emma, please. You’re better than this.”

EMMA, insulted: “Do you really think speaking down to me will change my mind? Humanity’s leaders have brought nothing but suffering to all but the very worst of their entire population. Gently guiding them into the night as we take our rightful steps into the future and preventing decades more of suffering for them is practically a mercy.”

MAGNETO: “Why is this such a difficult pill for you to swallow, Cyclops? You have killed before. You will kill again. All in the name of protecting your people. And in the long term, you will save far more billions than those who die here.”

KITTY: “Can we stop talking like these are numbers on a spreadsheet and not living, breathing people?! Living, breathing people with family and friends!”

NORIKO: “Humans, Ms. Pryde. You’re talking about humans.”

JULIAN: “Humans who wouldn’t hesitate to kill us all if the positions were flipped.”

LAURA, aghast: “What the Hell is the matter with you two?!”

Nori angrily explains why she has no shits left to give about humans. Her family abandoned her, groups like the Purifiers and U-Men keep forming to try and kill them, and even if a new one hasn’t popped up lately, she knows they weren’t the first, even if they were, Stryker and all of his followers, and all the engineers who agreed to work for him were why Nova was able to kill 16 million of them, they do SHIELD’s dirty work fighting their own people for them, but SHIELD never seems to help THEM, Cyclops, for all his hard work, has barely made any dent in improving public opinion of Mutants…

Julian takes over.

JULIAN: “They took my damn hands, my family, hell, half the families of the kids here abandoned us, and the X-Men couldn’t even do the one thing they were supposed to do for us: keeping us safe.” He glares right at Scott. “With how many times you failed Sofia, it’s no wonder she turned on us.”

Bobby shouts at the kids that this is NOT the time for a temper tantrum, but Scott silences him.

SCOTT: “Everything you just said is true. And I’m sorry for where I’ve failed, and the hands you’ve been dealt.” He turns to Emma and Magneto. “But I’m not ready to give up.”

In Apocalypse’s lair, engines pound, and lights flash. Apocalypse’s lead scientist informs him and War of the good news: the X-Virus has been released. Before long, his goals will be fulfilled.

Apocalypse laughs in triumph.

APOCALYPSE: “Thousands of years of pain…will finally come to an end.”

War hooks her arms around one of Apocalypse’s and congratulates her lord. New Okkara will be the greatest civilization the world has ever known. Apocalypse rests a hand on her head. He could not have reached this point without her.

Just then, all of the scientists started coughing, as their bodies undergo a series of rapid, horrific Mutations. By the end, they are nothing but beige splatters on the floor.

Exodus enters, cackling at the irony.

EXODUS: “Shall I summon Death and Pestilence to join us in our hour of glory?”

APOCALYPSE: “No. They are needed in their current positions.”

EXODUS: “And if the X-Men don’t arrive willing to simply enter your open arms?”

WAR: “Has all that hair gel gone to your brain? These are hardly the X-Men who bested you both in the past. The three of us will more than suffice to crush them.” While Exodus bristles, War raises clenches her fist. “One way or another, I will make them see the light.”

Back in Cessily and Roxy’s room, the girlfriends have started making out one on the best, while the Cuckoos are spead across the floor, each in a daze, fiddling with one of Roxy’s instruments.

IRMA, plucking a violin with her fingertips: “Hey…can I ask you all something?”

PHOEBE, banging a drum stick against a bongo: “Since when can you not?”

IRMA: “I know…I know…but, I was thinking…what if I changed my name?”

The other Cuckoos weakly laugh.

SOPHIE, fidgeting with the buttons on a trumpet: “What?”

ESME, ripping the strings off a guitar: “TO what is more like it.”

IRMA: “I don’t know. I was just thinking about it.”

SOPHIE: “I guess it’s okay as long as it starts with an “I”.”

Cessily pulls away from Roxy and falls off the bed, partially liquifying on impact.

CESSILY, as she struggles to put herself back together: “I…hate you all. And I’m going to regret asking. But why do you…”

Cessily trails off as she passes out mid-sentece.

CELESTE: “She’ll be fine.”

ROXY: “Cool, cool…so explain?”

The Cuckoos giggle.

SOPHIE: “We chose our own names. Sophie, Irma, Phoebe, Celeste, Esme.”

CUCKOOS: “SPICE!”

SOPHIE: “As in “Spice Girls”.”

Roxy burts out laughing at that. The Cuckoos’ expressions range from insulted to hurt, until Roxy clarifies why she’s laughing. Their taste in music for their routines may suck, but she can respect that kind of crazy passion.

The Cuckoos’ faces light up at the first positive response they’ve managed to get from Roxy.

Just then, Sooraya knocks on the door. She wants to make sure her friends are okay, as something horrible seems to be going on around the world.

The Cuckoos cackle as they open the door telekinetically, accidentally slamming it, and tell Sooraya to come join them. Sooraya is instantly distracted from her previous concern, as now she’s just wondering what in the name of Allah is going on here.

ROXY: “Gonna be honest…still not entirely sure. You don’t have to do anything, girl. I know drugs are challah or something. Just take a seat and soak in the moment.”

Cessily, as a puddle, woken up and squirmed over to Sooraya’s feet. Her face is in the puddle.

CESSILY: “Hi.”

Sooraya seethes before shutting the door behind her. She’s only staying to make sure these irresponsible heethens don’t die. The other girls all cheer.

In the mission room, the argument has devolved into a shouting fest, Scott and Bobby screaming back and forth incomprehensibly with Emma and Erik, while Laura does the same with Julian and Noriko.

The only one not screaming? The team’s designated mediator, Kitty Pryde, who’s watching everyone else and taking in the situation. As the wheels turn in her brain, she picks up her phone and takes note of the crisis going on around the world, as thousands of people drop dead.

Kitty cringes, eyes shut, before opening them, full of determination. She has a plan.

While everyone else is fighting, Kitty sends a text message. While they don’t go to check their phones, we hear the buzz going off in Wolverine and Iceman’s. Kitty then rushes Surge and Hellion and phases all three of them through the floor.

Julian and Noriko are pissed, and question what Ms. Pryde is doing. And after everything she’s seen, why isn’t she on their side?!

KITTY: “Shush! Oh my god, be quiet.”

JULIAN: “You can’t shush us!”

KITTY: “You must be getting too big for your britches if you’re forgetting you’re still students and I’m still your teacher. Yes, I can shush you. And you’re going to listen to me.”

NORI: “But Ms. Pryde–”

Kitty shoots her down with a stare.

With the kids reluctantly quiet, Kitty takes a breath.

KITTY: “Listen, I…you know, I…”

As Kitty struggles to find the right words, Julian and Noriko glare at her with skepticism and disinterest. A vein bulges in her forehead as her emotions overwhelm her. But she has to keep going.

KITTY: “You’re not wrong.” The kids are visibly surprised by those words. “You’re not wrong at all. About what you’ve been forced to deal with. About how you’ve been forced to live. You two have been dealt more shit than anyone should ever have to face, and you can’t even so much as look at your own hands without remembering that. I get it! Letting someone else do the dirty work of wiping away all the nasty people who’ve hurt you, and then take out whatever evil Mutants are left? Get the happy ending just like that? I get what why you want that. But, in spite of everything, everything I’ve seen, everything I’ve faced, all the people I’ve lost…” KItty trails off as she laughs. “All the bullcrap I’ve had to deal with from my own teachers and teammates. Do you know why I still dream?”

NORI, disregarding her: “Because you’re just naturally that perfectly good?”

Kitty cackles.

KITTY: “Hell no! The stories I could tell you kids. I won’t, because trauma, but I could.” They don’t laugh like she’d hoped. “Anyway...what kept me going were the people I loved. And I don’t just mean Mutants. And I’m not going to say I’m talking about “humans” or “Flatscans” like you two have gotten so fond of calling baselines. It’s one gene of difference! We’re all still human!”

JULIAN, disregarding her: “You think “baselines” are worth keeping around just because a few of them aren’t the worst?”

KITTY: “It’s a lot more than a few. I promise. My parents never had anything but love for me. And I have so, so many friends who I know would do anything to help us if they could. You’re heroes. Superheroes. Do you really want to just let countless innocent people die?” With Julian and Noriko still not being reached, Kitty realizes she has to go deeper - more personal. “My dad is already dead. Killed alongside the Mutants of Genosha he considered his community. But you know who’s still alive? Sooraya’s mom, who Dust has been so, so happy to have back in her life.” Julian and Noriko hang their heads and cringe as they’re hit with this. “How about Roxy’s parents? Or Brian’s? Or all the other parents of kids here who still love them? Do you want to tell you “crew”, Julian, how you decided to let their parents die? You think they’ll understand? What about if people like Storm and Sofia don’t just get their powers back from this? Noriko…” Kitty hates herself for having to go this far. “...do you want Keitaro to die?”

Noriko and Julian scream in rage as they super-speed toward Kitty, but she simply phases through them before grabbing their collars and slamming them on the floor.

The kids start crying. They don’t WANT anyone to die. They don’t want anyone to get hurt. But nothing is getting better. Nothing is getting easier. They just keep losing more and more. They just keep losing people.

Kitty helps the two stand up. Like she said, she gets it. But this is why escalation isn’t the answer. Evil isn’t genetic. There are evil baselines and evil Mutants.

KITTY, to Julian: “Sure, baselines’ hate is what often provokes radical response. But we should be better, right?”

Julian bites his liip as his own philosophy is thrown in his face.

KITTY, to Noriko: “And most people? Most people are good. They all need to be protected. And we’re the only ones who can protect everyone, baseline and human.” Noriko’s eyes widen and light up and a switch clicks in her brain. “We’re all the same.”

There’s a quiet pause.

JULIAN, trying to still be bitter: “I…”

Nori hugs Kitty, apologizing for how she’s been thinking and acting. Kitty hugs her back and assures her she’s got nothing to apologize for. She was just scared and angry. She’s still a good kid. Still a hero.

KITTY: “You wanna get in on this?”

Iceman and Wolverine arrive, with Kitty glad they got her text, and thanking them for their good timing.

Julian brushes her off, but he does thank her for the wakeup call. Honestly.

KITTY: “Mission Room?”

ICEMAN: “Frozen solid.”

KITTY: “Good. Won’t hold Magneto and Emma, but we don’t want it too. Hellion and Surge are back on track. I need the four of you to head to Egypt NOW. Kids, you’re on Horseman detail. You aren’t beating them, but I just need to distract them for as long as you can. Iceman…”

ICEMAN: “I really hope you’re not about to tell me I’m fighting Apocolypse on my own.”

KITTY: “I mean, if anyone could.” Bobby is able to laugh a little. “But no. You can make copies of yourself. Hold Apocalypse back while your dupes disable his machines.”

HELLION: “This sounds like we’re being thrown to the wolves.”

KITTY: “Only if I can’t get our “leaders” to join us. I’ll work my magic on them too, and get them over to Egypt to help as quickly as possible.”

Everyone is aware this isn’t a great plan, but it’s the only one they’ve got. Just one problem: Magik’s not talking or getting out bed, their planes are fast, but can’t move instantaneously, and Nightcrawler can’t do long distance.

Nori laughs at their panic. Kitty and Iceman don’t actually KNOW what Pixie’s Mutation is, do they?

In Apocalypse's throne room, he sits on his chair, with Famine and War at his sides. While Apocalypse and Exodus track the plague's effects telepathically, War watches on her phone.

WAR: "I wonder what sorts of new weapons will be unlocked."

EXODUS: "Perhaps there will be an Omega with your weapon so we can replace you."

WAR: “Fine by me. I’m almost due for a promotion anyway.”

Apocalypse sighs.

WAR: “Is something wrong, my lord?”

APOCALYPSE: “No. Merely what we expected. The X-Men are coming. And they do not appear to be interested in joining us. Deal with them.”

EXODUS, sarcastic: “A shocking turn of events.” He smirks at War. “Are you sure you’re up to this? I can handle the battle myself if you think you might–”

APOCALYPSE, cutting him off: “Famine. Go.”

Exodus, frustrated shakes his head, before bowing and departing.

For the first time, War appears hesitant.

APOCALYPSE: “War…I know you wish to save them. But we can only help those Mutants who wish to be helped. If they fight, you may attempt to show mercy…but nothing can be allowed to stop us. Am I clear?”

War stands in place, frozen, as she looks down at her phone. Noticing her struggle, Apocalypse stands. He gently takes her phone from her and tosses it aside.

APOCALYPSE: “I did not expect this weakness from you.”

WAR, finally speaking up: “I am NOT weak!”

APOCALYPSE: “Of course you aren’t. You are among the strongest horsemen I’ve ever led. My blood runs through you. You did everything in your power to purge yourself of weakness. So why do you hesitate?”

War leans against Apocalypse’s chest.

WAR: “I only froze for a few seconds. You would have pause as well were it your family fighting against us.”

APOCALYPSE: “Oh, my child.” Apocalypse wraps an arm around War. “My family is your family.”

War shivers at those words. She quickly hugs him back before pulling away.

WAR, enthusiastically: “Should it come to it, I will bring you every last X-Man’s head, my lord.”

APOCALYPSE, grinning: “I know you will.”

War bows before flying off. Apocalypse, still smiling, returns to his seat and laughs.

In her dorm room, Pixie is freaking out. People around the world are melting or dying in other horrible ways, and she doesn’t want to melt, and she doesn’t want the school to blow up again, or for anyone else to get hurt, or to have to go back to living with her mom.

ICEMAN: “We don’t have time for this!” Bobby forcefully shows Megan coordinates on his phone. “Send us here with your pixie dust NOW, Megan!”

Megan whimpers, afraid of the situation and of Bobby.

Wolverine shoves Bobby away.

WOLVERINE: “I do not care if you’re angry. You do not scream at my friends. Cool off. And do not dare make a pun.”

Iceman backs off as Nori steps forward. Noriko asks Megan if she noticed they’re roommates this year. Pixie nods.

SURGE: “Well, I know I don’t exactly have the best reputation. Gonna be honest: I’m probably gonna annoy you as much as I do everyone else. Only girl who didn’t find me annoying is long gone.” Julian and Laura cringe. “And if you don’t trust the adults to keep us safe at this point, I can’t blame you one bit. But, feel free to tell everyone else: I’m an X-Man now. And you don’t have to like me or trust the adults as protectors…I’ll keep you all safe. No matter what.”

Pixie is able to start calming down and she weakly smiles.

Hellion steps forward with a smug look on his face.

HELLION: “And, when Surge inevitably screws up, because, let’s be honest with ourselves, she will, I’ll always be there to catch her and show her up.” Pixie giggles. “No one ever touches this school again.”

Laura smiles, happy to see her friends like this after their dark turn, while Bobby is impressed.

PIXIE: “Okay. Okay, let’s do this!”

As Pixie starts making her dust, Wolverine stands next to Hellion and Surge.

WOLVERINE: “Welcome back.”

Pixie wishes the X-Men good luck as she sprinkles the four with her dust, sending them away.

In the Mission Room, Magneto and Emma vaporize Iceman’s ice, freeing themselves and Cyclops. They all struggle to catch their breath.

EMMA, telepathically: “That young man is becoming far too powerful.”

Kitty races back into the room.

KITTY: “Hey, perfect timing. You all have a chance to calm the Hell down?”

Cyclops and Erik glare and huph at each other, while Emma turns her eyes toward KItty.

EMMA: “Where are the children?”

KITTY, smirking: “They left with Iceman. Off to save the world.” Emma is visibly pissed off. “If you’re worried about them, they sure could use you two backing them up.”

CYCLOPS, smiling: “Nice work, Kitty.”

KITTY, smirking back: “Thanks. Nice job not letting Emma use your hair like puppet strings for once.”

EMMA: “Do you find this funny?! You have jeoprized our children’s safety!”

KITTY: “And here I thought you believed in your kids’ potential.”

EMMA: “Potential they are YET to realize!”

MAGNETO: “Enough!”

Erik apologizes to Emma, but they cannot bend now. Not with what is at stake. They must hope that, if Apocalypse was in a mood to speak with them, he won’t just kill Wolverine, Hellion, and Surge, and they’ll be able to save them. They already know from Storm’s loss that he’s sparing Omegas, so Iceman will be definitely be safe.

Erik’s words are able to calm Emma and allow her to recompose herself.

EMMA: “Yes. You’re right. That’s that then. Cyclops, Kitty…your move.”

Back over with the girls, Cessily, Roxy, and the Cuckoos are now all on the floor. Sooraya stands over them, wondering just what they took. She won’t take any herself, but figures it would be less awkward if she relaxed a little. She removes her hood and facemask and lays down next the other girls.

CESSILY, ROXY, and CUCKOOS: “WOOOOH! DUST! DUST! DUST!”

IRMA: “Take it all off!”

PHOEBE: “Eww, don’t be gross, Irma.”

The silence resumes as everyone except Soo’s eyes continue to glaze over.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Cessily burts into tears.

Everyone wonders what’s wrong, but she just keeps crying.

ROXY: “Oh. Babe. I wanna help. But I’m over here. And you’re over there. And…ugggggh.”

Sooraya crawls over to Cessily and takes her hand, filling in for her unavailable gf. Without slurring her words like the others, she asks what’s wrong.

CESSILY: “I just…I just feel like I’m being left behind. School won’t last forever. And when it’s done, I don’t want to be the only one who isn’t an X-Man. Three of us already are, four of us should be, Dust, your time is coming and we all know it, babe, you’re a genius, Brian’s got a gimmick, and you Cuckoos may be the worst, but you’re stronger than all of us.” She sniffles and coughs up some metal coins. “I only got put with you guys because I was able to fight Sofia BEFORE she could even fly straight. You all have something I don’t. That natural IT! And no matter how hard I work, I’ll never catch up. I’ve learned to be proud of being a Mutant, but if I can’t fight with you all, you’ll leave me in the distance. Just like they did.”

There’s a pause.

ROXY, still extremely high: “Oh. That’s rough.”

Cessily cries even harder. Sooraya glares at Roxy before holding Cessily.

Iceman, Wolverine, Hellion, and Surge appear in a flash of pink light in Apocalypse’s lair. While Noriko thinks this place is spooky, Julian makes some light for them. His attention is caught by all the murals of Apocalypse…

JULIAN: “And they say I have an ego.”

…with him also noticing one depicting him alongside a dark-skinned woman, their swords both raised in the air as their followers kneel before them.

NORI: “People really worship this creep?”

ICEMAN: “Baselines, Mutants, and everything in between unfortunately. Sometimes you just give up and want a god to make all your problems go away.”

Bobby coughs up a bunch of clones and sends them to scout this place out. No need for them to waste energy hunting for their targets when they can do it. The dupes will hopefully be able to find a horseman or two, and destroy the doomsday device, before they’re all taken out. Plus, if the four of them stick together, they’ll be more difficult to get the drop on.

LAURA: “Huh.”

BOBBY: “What?”

LAURA: “Nothing. Thought you were a clown.”

BOBBY: “I like to be. But my friend is dead. So today, you kids get someone with as much training as Cyclops.”

Iceman leads the kids further into the base.

ICEMAN: “By the way, that was a nice speech you two gave Pixie. I should have said something like that.”

JULIAN: “Only said what I felt. The X-Men have been letting me and mine down since our first month here. Ashida and I aren’t here at this point because we think you’re just so cool…”

NORIKO: “...we’re here because we’re the only ones we trust to do this job right.”

BOBBY, after a pause: “Sooooo, you’re teenagers.” The two pout as Bobby laughs at them after they thought they were sounding so cool. “No, no, I get it, it’s chill. But maybe you’re onto something. This team isn’t what it used to be. Maybe you two are just what it needs.”

Noriko slams a fist against her palm.

NORI: “No one puts my brother in danger. I know Ms. Pryde wants me distracting horsemen or whatever, but I wanna punch this Apocalypse guy in his big, dumb face. ”

“Oh, honey.”

The X-Men arrive in a golden, octacongal chamber, where Exodus and War await them. There are doors all around them. The building is a maze designed to lead trespassers back to this location.

EXODUS: “You’d break every last nail.”

The X-Men stand off against the two Horsemen, with Iceman’s eyes immediately filling with rage.

As Cessily continues to cry and Sooraya holds her, the Cuckoos visibly feel awful for her.

Sooraya tells her that she understands her fears, but she has nothing to worry about. The two of them have been together constantly, and she’s seen her grow so much. Even if she isn’t always getting real “experience” like the others, she’s always pushing herself and getting stronger.

DUST: “No, you aren’t Wind Dancer, Hellion, or Surge. I’m not either. Everyone else seems to think I’ll become an X-Man soon. But the way you push yourself? I know you will.” Cessily sniffles, and wipes her tears. “And even if you don’t? We will never abandon you. We’re not your parents, Cessily. We’re your family.”

Cessily is able to smile and wipe the last of her tears away as she hugs Sooraya.

CESSILY: “Thank you. I love you.”

SOORAYA, hugging her back: “I love you too.”

ROXY, flatly: “Love is awesome.”

CUCKOOS: “Awwwwww.”

SOPHIE: “This is better than Small Town.”

CELESTE: “Are you guys always this sweet?”

Cessily and Sooraya turn to the sisters.

CESSILY: “It’s just called being friends.”

The simplicity of that statement blows the Cuckoos’ minds.

PHOEBE, telepathically: “That’s it?”

CELESTE: “That’s how you make friends?”

IRMA: “Being honest? Vulnerable?”

ESME: “EWW! EWW! EWW!”

OTHER CUCKOOS: “Sophie?”

Sophie takes a moment to think. The other Cuckoos’ expressions change with hers as she decides what they need to do.

SOPHIE: “Well…that’s all we want.”

The camera cuts away from the Cuckoos.

CESSILY, eyes bulging out of her head: “What the Hell?!”

SOORAYA, equally shocked and covering her mouth: “What is this?”

Roxy launches up to her feet, feeling better, before noticing the Cuckoos and fainting.

Iceman turns his arms into blades, glaring with rage and hate, as Exodus welcomes them to where Eden will be reborn.

EXODUS, sultry, leering back at Bobby: “That’s quite the look you’re giving me, Iceman. Positively penetrating.”

WAR: “Why do you need to make this weird?”

HELLION: “And just who are you supposed to be? Iceman?”

ICEMAN: “Never seen her.”

War steps forward, holding out her arms.

WAR: “I am War. And we do not need to fight. We should not be enemies. Everyone in this chamber is an extraordinarily powerful Mutant. We should be working together.”

Hellion and Surge power up their auras.

SURGE: “Thought about it. Decided I’d rather kick your teeth in.”

ICEMAN: “You’re killing millions. And don’t pull the “just humans” thing on me. You’ve been killing our own. From defenseless children to the “strong” you claim to respect. You aren’t getting away with it!”

BEAT.

WAR: “Oh, are you talking about Death?” Bobby’s eyes widen. “He was hardly THAT strong.”

Bobby howls as he forms and launches a glacier to throw at the two horsemen. Exodus blows it apart and rushes Iceman at super speed, punching him in the chest and smashing him through the wall.

EXODUS: “Believe me, I get wanting to kill War. But I’ve already tasted one Omega today. And I want seconds.”

Iceman narrows his eyes and he jumps back.

Back in the main chamber, Hellion laments the plan already going to Hell, but thinking they may as well take War out together then.

HELLION: “We’re gonna break that tacky armor apart as easily as your bones. You got that?!”

While he, Surge, and Wolverine stand ready to fight, War shrugs. She falls back, catching herself in mid-air, and lays back with her legs crossed and her hands behind her head.

WAR: “I have no desire to fight any of you. Stand still and stay out of the way of Famine’s battle, and you will live to see paradise.”

Surge resents being talked down to like this, and is about to jump her, but Wolverine stops her.

WOLVERINE: “Think. Our job was to be a distraction for Iceman against Apocalypse. Now Iceman is distracted. If she is as strong as Exodus, then she’s right that we can’t beat her. If she does not want to fight…then it doesn’t make sense to fight. Not until Iceman wins.”

HELLION, cringing: “I hate that that makes sense.”

SURGE, also annoyed and spitting on the ground: “Seriously, who are you?”

War giggles at them.

WAR: “Within 24 hours? Your princess.”

Iceman vs Exodus begins. Bobby throws everything he has at Famine, from more enormous glaciers, to snowstorms that make the arctic tundra look like the sun.

BOBBY: “What are you even doing here, Exodus?! Last I checked, you hated Apocolypse as much as any of us!”

EXODUS, shielding himself from and blowing away all of Bobby’s attacks: “I did, yes. But Magneto lost his way, and now chooses to walk the path of sloth. Lord Apocalypse’s vision is a holy one.”

Exodus counterattacks at last and blows Iceman apart. He knows that he hasn’t won, and that Iceman can regrow from any chunk of himself. It’s why he can’t defeat him the same way he did Storm. Another reason to join Apocalypse is that, with his Omega-level molecular manipulation and god-like technology, he can make you stronger than you ever imagined. In his case, he was given the technology needed to steal x-genes, and the additional mutation of moisture absorption.

EXODUS: “But you? You are moisture.” He rolls his shoulders as he looks at some of the water drops which wound up on him. “You’re already making me wet.”

A full grown Iceman emerges from one of those water drops and punches Exodus in the face with a mace-hand, drawing blood.

ICEMAN: “What is WRONG with you?!”

Iceman after Iceman grows from the water, snow, and ice all around the room, and, freezing the floor underneath Exodus’ feet to make him slip for just a second, Bobby’s small army of himself gets in close and whales on him. While they do bust up his face and knock out his hair tie, they can’t put him down before he vaporizes all but one.

EXODUS, panting: “What can I say? I like what I see. And don’t you dare say I’m less appealing to the eye than poor, dead, Death.”

BOBBY: “Don’t you…! Wait, are you saying I–?”

With Bobby frazzled, Exodus finds the opening in his mental defenses and psychically brings him to his knees. As Bobby screams, Exodus sadistically grins and approaches him, readying the same hand he used on Storm.

EXODUS: “Don’t worry, Iceman. In a moment, your pain will come to an end. In a moment, you will be…inside me.”

Exodus slams his hand down on Iceman’s face and begins stealing his x-gene.

Back with the girls, Cessily, Sooraya, and even Roxy have gotten situated on one of those beds, the girlfriends both chugging water. Seated on the other bed, the Cuckoos smirk confidently at them.

There’s an awkward silence. Until…

ROXY: “Okay so what WAS that?”

CESSILY: “You said you got your noses done!”

IRMA: “And more!”

Sooraya doesn’t understand. Their unmasked faces were completely mangled. Did they shatter them?

SOPHIE: “No.”

PHOEBE: “They were made broken.”

ESME: “We just fixed them.”

Once again, there’s an awkward silence. And once again, Roxy breaks it.

ROXY: “No. No way. I don’t buy it.”

CELESTE: “Why? Do you expect us all to act like whiny victims?”

IRMA: “We’re exactly who we were meant to be.”

A look of realization slowly creeps onto Cessily’s face.

CESSILY: “BULLSHIT!”

The Cuckoos giggle.

Sooraya still doesn’t get it. The Cuckoos reason she may not have any context for what’s going on, so they decide to make it easier for her, and just beam the information into her head.

Sooraya’s eyes widen.

SOORAYA: “Oh. I…didn’t realize that was possible. Congratulations?”

Roxy gets a chuckle out of that. Some of the celebrities she introduced her to over the break were also trans, and it just never came up.

The Cuckoos nonetheless thank Sooraya, and all of them for understanding. They aren’t so sure everyone here would be, Mutant or not.

The sisters go on to say that, for as long as they can remember, they’ve known who they wanted to be, and how they wanted to live their lives. From being pop stars, to ruling the school, and being friends with all the coolest people. They thought they were cool and hot and powerful enough to force it, but that just ruined everything.

SOPHIE: “This is all still so new to us…and we didn’t know what else to do. We are sorry.”

With the Cuckoos actually looking like they mean it, the three friends turn to each other, unsure of what to say next.

In the Mission Room, Scott turns and paces away from Emma and Erik.

ERIK: “Do you remember when we spoke on Genosha? In no way did I infer that I had come to think the same way as Charles. What I told you was that I’d realized that attempting to dominate humanity would only ever divide Mutantkind. If there is no humanity, and Apocalypse is defeated later, there will be no division. I was chosen by Phoenix in its infinite wisdom to lead our people. It knows that this is the path forward.”

Scott takes a moment to respond. He doesn’t look back at Erik, but he does tilt his head.

SCOTT: “The same Phoenix that destroyed Genosha?”

Erik is enraged.

ERIK: “How dare you.”

Scott turns back to face him.

SCOTT: “How dare I? Do you really think this is what any of your people would have wanted?”

ERIK: “They are dead!”

SCOTT: “And clearly more dead bodies will stop the problem, right? Just hope that Apocalypse has changed slightly and if he hasn’t, take him out? Great, what happens next? You lead us? No one challenges that? You, of all people, are going to unite the remaining population of millions? Millions who, by and large, actively chose against moving to Genosha? After doing THIS?”

Magneto clenches his teeth and fists and forms magnetic bubbles around his hands.

SCOTT: “Go. Do it. Blow me up as easily as I know you can. Doesn’t change that the reason Apocalypse’s plan will work and yours won’t is the same reason you were never able to wipe out humanity.”

ERIK, stomping forward: “Are you calling me weak?”

SCOTT: “No. I’m calling Apocalypse the devil. And despite the horns on that helmet of yours, you just aren’t. You don’t have the stomach to do what you’d need to to force everyone to follow you. Even if you had his resources, you wouldn’t have the stomach to initiate this plan yourself.”

Magneto grabs Scott by the throat.

MAGNETO, through gritted teeth: “And what makes you so sure?”

“Because I still remember a kind old man who wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he’d killed a single little Jewish, Mutant girl.”

Erik turns to look at Kitty as she finishes speaking. She mocks him with taunting eyes and a head tilt. He cringes and powers down.

Magneto sighs.

MAGNETO: “That is another tally on the board for you, Summers. I concede. And I am sorry.”

Scott puts a hand on his shoulder.

SCOTT: “We all want the pain to stop. One day, it will. But it will be through the dream. Not like this.”

Everyone turns to Emma, unsure if she’s gotten on the same page from all this.

Emma struts over to Scott like nothing is wrong and kisses him.

EMMA: “I have nothing to apologize for.”

The lovers share a smirk, but it’s quickly back to business. They have a big bad to beat.

SCOTT: “And you don’t need to hear me say I forgive you.”

In Apocalypse's base, Iceman attempts to resist having his powers stolen by freezing Exodus's hand, but against his telekinesis and telepathic assault, that can only do so much. Famine taunts Bobby with a slasher smile as he creeps into his mind.

EXODUS: “Of all people, you should relish the potential of our victory. You are Omega. You would live one step below godhood. Your full power will be unleashed, not suppressed.”

Bobby groans as he pictures both his solo victory over one of the super sentinels, as well as a flashback to when he was a teenager, being scolded by Xavier and laughed at by the rest of the 05.

EXODUS: “You will not fear yourself.”

Bobby moans louder as he flashes back to his interactions with Christian and Warren. Special attention is put on their smiles and Warren’s post-shower chest.

EXODUS: “You will have a lord who accepts you.”

Bobby screams as he thinks back to being a kid, slapped across the face by his father, with a cross on a wall visible in the background.

EXODUS: “Your loyalty or your weapon. Whatever your choice, you must submit.”

Bobby groans and struggles as resisting becomes almost impossible. His head is hung and his time is nearly out.

ICEMAN: “I…thank you, Exodus.”

Exodus raises his eyebrows in surprise.

EXODUS: “For showing you the righteous path?”

Bobby laughs.

BOBBY: “Hell no. For proving every telepath I’ve ever known right.” He manically grins up at Exodus. “Intrusive telepathy DOES beat therapy!”

Bobby flash freezes the arm Exodus has on him, and with an uppercut, shatters it. Exodus screams in pain and horror as Iceman powers back up and blasts away at him, hitting him hard enough to send him crashing through multiple walls, and outside into the surrounding desert.

Iceman, talking to Exodus as faces on water drops on his clothes, tells Exodus that he never dreamed he could be who he is now. He didn’t even fully realize who that was until just now. And you know who that is? The hero who will always step up. The hero who CAN always step up, because he can do anything, and because he isn’t smart enough to overthink a problem that has a villain to be punched. And also?”

ICEMAN, as he stands over Exodus on an ice bridge: “I’m gay. But you are so not my type.”

Exodus desperately attempts another telepathic assault, but Bobby counters with the Red Diamond.

Bobby smiles up. “Check what happens next, Warren.”

Iceman blasts again at Exodus, with Famine now the one struggling to shield himself.

Still standing by, Hellion and Surge cheer at the sight of Iceman kicking Exodus’ ass.

HELLION: “Better go running to your lord and master for safety. Once he’s done with him, you’ll have to deal with all of us.”

War turns her head toward where the fight is happening.

WAR, under her breath: “That buffoon.”

War lands on her feet, one arm behind her back and one hand on the hilt of her sword. Surge questions if she’s ready to start now.

WAR: “No. I still don’t wish to fight. I just wanted to ask you something. You’re all students at the Xavier Institute, aren’t you?”

NORIKO: “Jean Grey School. What of it?”

LAURA: “Don’t talk to her. This is obviously a play.”

Julian erects a forcefield around the three kids. He’s putting all his power behind it, and he doesn’t care how strong she is, she isn’t breaking it down. No matter what she says, they’re staying on defense.

WAR: “So suspicious. I only asked because I was curious if any of you ever happened to meet a girl I encountered. I believe her name was…Sofia Mantega?”

The eyes of all three young X-Men, including Wolverine, immediately become intense.

JULIAN: “Why do you know who that is?!”

NORIKO: “What did you do to her?!”

LAURA, not keeping her cool: “Steady heads.”

War shakes her head.

WAR: “It’s such a tragic story. A powerful young Mutant stripped of her weapon, all because she trusted fools who told her her place was to serve the weak. Made weak herself, and becoming as pitiful as any human, attacking her own people.” War paces forward. “Lord Apocalypse took note of her online acts. They spoke and, in the end, all was well.”

JULIAN: “If you so much as hurt one hair on her head, I’ll tear you limb from limb! You hear me?!”

WAR: “Hurt her? Never.” Beat. “I just put her out of her misery.”

Surge and Hellion snap, firing massive blasts at War, but the only thing their attacks successfully destroy is a good chunk of the base, as War somehow forces their tk energy and electricity to crash against the walls, rather than travel in a straight path toward her.

Wolverine, having lost all sense of leadership and composure, rushes War. However, she’s completely outclassed. War is fast and skilled enough to block all of her attacks with seeming efforltessness, she counters every move with a harsh body blow, and by the end of Laura’s attempted assault, she has Wolverine restrained by simply holding onto and crushing her arm.

War tosses the battered Wolverine at the other two X-Men’s feet. Hellion and Surge charge in next, both coated in forcefields, and while that, plus their superspeed, allows them to do better, War can still either physically block or otherwise deflect all of their attacks.

WAR: “If this is the best your school has, you need a better teacher.”

War sends the two flying back, scorching them both with her flames. Wolverine gets back up and tries to fight again, but she doesn’t even get to make War block this time, as War easily steps out of the way of all of her attacks, and just gets to beat on her.

WAR: “I am sorry it’s come to this. But the pain will make you stronger.”

Seemingly spontaneously, Wolverine is slashed all over her body, deep bloody marks covering her from head to toe. Laura screams, and with one more punch tot the face, War puts her down. Screaming like maniacs, Hellion and Surge try one more time to do anything they can against War, but War just puts her hand to her head like a telepath and, a moment later, Noriko and Julian collapse to the floor, with their heads in agony.

WAR, casually stepping past the kids in Iceman and Exodus’ direction: “If you wish to stand for something…if you wish to protect those who cannot protect themselves…the becoming the strongest and dominating is your only option. Otherwise? You’re just asking to be stepped on.”

Julian and Noriko try to get up, but a sharp, invisible pain keeps them down.

WAR: “I’ll see you in the new world.”

Julian and Noriko pass out.

In the girls' room, the eight teens are all sprawled back out on the floor, lying back in a circle. There’s a moment of silence.

CESSILY: “You drugged us. That’s really messed up.”

SOPHIE: “We tried just talking before.”

ROXY: “Yeah, well, next time, maybe stick to that.”

SOPHIE, perking up: “Next time?”

Neither Cessily nor Roxy responds.

SOORAYA: “I learned so much about American culture during the break. Things I never cared to learn while here. In so many ways, it is the free, wonderous place it promises. In others..” Sooraya trails off. “I’m still not sure if the country outside these walls is right for me. Much of it goes against…everything. Ommi is enamored. She loves it here. But even for baselines, it is more than it claims.” Sooraya looks at the sisters. “You threatened my mother. But I believe you have changed. I am not who you harmed the worst. The choice is Roxanne’s.”

All eyes turn to Roxy. She exhales.

ROXY: “You’re not the first girls I’ve met like you. Girls who’ve got everything and think that means they can take anything they want. Even people.” The Cuckoos faces fall. They don’t think this is going to end well. Roxy looks at Sooraya. “But last year, I realized the only difference between me and them was I threw tantrums when I didn’t get my way instead of pushing my pain onto others. I was just as entitled.” She looks back at the Cuckoos. “And another I learned last year? There are parts of us we don’t even know about just waiting to be uncovered. Good or bad, we’ve all got something else going on that we don’t show. I may regret this…but yeah, Sophie. You and your girls get a next time.”

The Cuckoos all squee in delight, and even Cess and Soo seem pleased. Finally! Roxy won’t regret this. They’re going to be the best friends ever and run this school again.

The others glare at them like they can’t be serious.

CELESTE: “We mean by being popular.”

Roxy and Sooraya breathe sighs of relief.

CESSILY: “Well, the Hellions cannot come back for sure…but maybe we don’t need to be *totally* nice.”

Everyone’s a little intrigued by what she’s thinking.

We cut to Quentin’s room, where he and Brian are playing video games. Quentin has a “Magneto Was Right” poster on his wall, alongside various academic awards. The two boys are sitting back playing video games. We hold on this visual for a few seconds, until a giant, creepy monster pops out of the screen. Brian and Quentin scream in terror.

Outside in the hall, the Cuckoos, Cessily, Sooraya, and Roxy laugh at their prank. Quentin is so scared, he loses control of his telekinesis and blasts out the light fixture, making the boys scream more. The girls pause, momentarily worried, and the Cuckoos shut off the illusion.

QUENTIN, scared out of his mind: “Cuckoos! I know that was you!”

The girls still seem concerned…but then they burst out laughing again.

In Egypt, Iceman vs Exodus reaches a climax. Iceman laughs at the one-armed Exodus as he launches one ave of destructive tk energy after another, filling the air with sand. He keeps blowing Bobby apart, but he has no way of actually keeping him down.

ICEMAN: “It doesn’t matter how many times you blow your load. Even the desert can’t make me melt.”

Iceman freezes all of the sand Exodus has kicked up, sharpens it, and pelts Exodus with millions of hail shards. Bobby follows up with one more freezing blast to completely overwhelm Exodus.

As the attacks finish, Exodus is down. For Warren and for the Mocklocks, Bobby is going to take him out.

Exodus pants. Maybe he is about to lose…but he can still fight.

From his one remaining hand, Exodus launches a TK wave, not at Iceman, but at the section of the base they came from, where Julian, Noriko, and Laura are passed out and helpless.

Iceman screams in horror, powerful as he is, he can’t freeze the blast, or at least not as quickly as he needs to.

ICEMAN: “NO!”

The music stops everything stops. Everything stops except for Iceman.

Bobby is weirded out, and confused by what’s going on. But then he realizes it. He did this. He froze time.

ICEMAN: “I…I can do this?” BEAT “BWAHAHAHA! THAT’S SO COOL!”

With time now on his side, but feeling like he can’t do this forever, Bobby takes the time he needs to freeze and shatter Exodus’ attack, although doing so clearly exhausts him, as he’s already used so much energy. For Exodus, time unfreezes as Iceman skewers him with two sharpened arms.

ICEMAN, exhausted: “Congrats. You got me inside you.”

Fear of death overtakes Exodus’ face as Iceman freezes him from the inside out.

EXODUS: “This…this cannot be. I am the lord’s most faithful soldier. I cannot die to a clown.”

ICEMAN: “I may be a clown. But at least I’m no one’s b–”

Iceman’s victory quote is interrupted, and his victory is stopped, as a hellstorm of flames melts him down, the nature of the attack hurting him far more than Exodus’. War has arrived. With all the energy Bobby has already spent, the intensity of War’s heat makes it a struggle to reform his body. She shows no mercy as she continues to hit him again and again, cackling manically and leaving him a series of puddles in the sand.

WAR: “And he said I couldn’t fight an Omega.”

Exodus pants as he stands up and cauterizes his wounds.

EXODUS: “I…had the situation under control.”

WAR, mockingly: “Of course you did. Now shut off his brain. It’s the only way to kill him.”

EXODUS: “Do not presume to order me, you little –”

APOCALYPSE, telepathically, cutting him off: “Famine. War. You must leave at once.”

WAR AND EXODUS: “WHAT?!”

They’re both confused. They’re winning. And they’re about to kill Iceman.

APOCALYPSE: “The X-Men’s leaders are arriving. Famine, you are in no condition to face Magneto as you wish to. War, your psychic defenses cannot withstand a single attack from Emma Frost. You have done well. Now leave the rest to me.”

WAR, worried: “But my lord–!”

APOCALYPSE: “Do you doubt my ability to defeat them? Do you doubt my strength?”

War hates this, bending over and clenching her fists in frustration at this order, but she can’t argue.

WAR: “Show no mercy, my lord.”

War flies off.

EXODUS: “As I heal, I shall find our new people, and shepherd them to their true paths.”

Exodus flies off.

Right outside Apocalypse’s base, Cyclops, Emma, Magneto, and Kitty finally arrive in a flash of pink sparkles.

Emma’s first act is to breathe a sigh of relief. She senses that the kids and Iceman are all still alive. Down and out, but alive. They’re also in luck: it doesn’t seem like any Horsemen are present. Either they went down taking them out, or Apocalypse wants them all alone.

Magneto orders Kitty to retrieve the kids and get them out of the base; the base may not survive the upcoming battle. Once that’s done, it’s her responsibility to disable Apocalypse’s machinery, get out, and see what she can do about Iceman.

MAGNETO, looking to Scott and Emma: “Apocalypse wished to speak with us three. We shall grant that wish.”

Kitty doesn’t question these orders for a second, tells the others to not mess this up, and runs in ahead of them.

The three leaders dramatically follow behind her. Or, not so dramatically.

SCOTT: “Let’s a make bet.”

EMMA, not having time for this: “What?”

SCOTT: “Make it interesting. Losing isn’t an option. We’re going to win. So let’s make a bet for who takes him down.”

MAGNETO: “Are you being serious right now?”

SCOTT, smiling and shrugging: “You shouldn’t be complaining. Odds are in your favor.” He looks at Emma. “If I put Apocalypse down, I get to teach you how to fly the Blackbird, and if you win, I’ll learn to ride a horse?”

EMMA, continuing to glare at him in confusion: “Are you okay?”

Scott laughs.

SCOTT: “Oh god no.”

In Apocalypse’s throneroom, Apocalypse sits, all by himself, his servants no longer present. He wearily leans to his side, resting his head on a fist.

The leaders enter. Apocalypse,although still tried, grins.

APOCALYPSE: “You have arrived. Are you here to witness the apocalypse alongside it?” The three just glare back. Apocalypse laughs. “No. I suppose you aren’t.” Apocalypse takes a breath. “I cannot say I understand. I have observed you. None of you are weak. Not like Charles Xavier. Even you, Child of X. I believed that the overly gentle terms I have set would be…agreeable.”

The three continue to stare him down. Rather than respond to what he said, Magneto notices something else.

MAGNETO: “You are already gravely injured. Sick. That’s why you have shown humanity this “mercy”. Not out of any desire to reach out an olive branch. You don’t even have the energy for a prolonged conflict, do you?”

Emma questions how that’s possible. She and him have never had a chance to get acquainted, thank god, but isn’t he supposed to be immortal? Scott confirms this, and shares in her confusion, as if he did survive his last encounter with the X-Men, he should have needed to spend time in his regenerative chamber; the real reason they’ve never been able to stop him for good.

APOCALYPSE, nodding: “What you say is true. But a sacrifice was necessary. One I do not regret.”

Apocalypse questions if this is really what they want. To perpetuate the conflict among them. To prolong their suffering.

The leaders tell him that question was a difficult one for them to come to a consensus on. But this won’t stop the fighting either. And at the end of the day, there are good humans; there is no good in Apocalypse.

CYCLOPS: “Unless you mean to tell us you’ve changed your view of Mutants you don’t see as “worthy”.”

APOCALYPSE, smiling: “The weak have no place in this world but to be crushed by the strong. That fact will never change. But I have witnessed the weakest, most pathetic of creatures transform themselves into the very strongest, given the right circumstances. All Mutants will have a chance in my world. It is not my fault if they fail.”

Apocalypse knows that Kitty is also here and what she’s no doubt after. But they misunderstand. The plague has already been released. Millions have died, thousands have been born, and destroying the weapons of the old gods will not stop this from continuing. He explains that in granting each of his new Horsemen new Mutations, he set a condition on them: should they ever lose a battle, those abilities would fade away. He has put a similar condition on himself. If he falls, the plague will cease. That is the only way to stop it.

APOCALYPSE: “If I can not still crush any who oppose me…then I have no right to dictate the new world. And the new world is not ready to be born.” He sits up straight. “Do you issue the challenge?”

MAGNETO, stepping forward: “The X-Men do.”

APOCALYPSE, moaning: “Very well.” Apocalypse slowly stands up, cracking his muscles and drawing two swords. “I am the weakest I have been in thousands of years. I stand against two Omegas and an Alpha. I…shall grant you honorable deaths.”

Moving at super speed, Apocalypse rushes Magneto. Erik is able to hold him back with magnetic force, taking hold of Apocalypse’s hands to keep his balance, but this only lasts for a few seconds before Magneto is overpowered and sent flying through a wall.

Cyclops blasts Apocalypse, but his optic beams merely tickle the immortal, who sends Scott flying with a far more powerful concussive blast of his own.

EMMA, transforming into her diamond form: “You shouldn't have done that, Apocalypse. No one gets to beat that man but me.”

Emma attempts to fight Apocalypse head on, but the punches of the form which survived Genosha can do little more than annoy him. She’s backhanded across the face, and sent flying like the others.

Apocalypse is disappointed. He assumed if they were challenging him, without even knowing his condition, they must have gotten stronger. Instead, they are just fools.

Scott looks to Emma, and then up at the hole Magneto made. He whistles.

The ground shakes. All of the heavy machinery and everything else made of metal in the room shakes as well. Apocalypse appears more interested than afraid by what’s happening. Flying back into the throneroom, Magneto launches everything at Apocalypse. A is easily able to smash and slice apart everything thrown at him, but all of this is just a distraction to allow Magneto to nail him in the face with a ground-shaking punch. Apocalypse isn’t sent flying, but he is knocked back and visibly injured.

APOCALYPSE: “There it is.”

Cyclops and Magneto blast at him at the same time, and when Apocalypse blasts back, Emma steps in the way of Scott, blocking for him, while Erik defends himself. Without wasting an instant, Scott leaps off of Emma’s shoulder and targets Apocalypse’s head with a still-wider blast. Apocalypse telekinetically tosses them both away as he grunts, but is left open to be ravaged by a full-power magnetic wave.

The attack not only launches Apocalypse out into the desert, but damages the infrastructure of the base. This is seen as we briefly cut to Kitty, as she drags the three kids out of there. The crumbling starts.

Apocalypse remains standing, even if he is bleeding. Cyclops blasts Emma, launching her as a projectile at Apocalypse. He grabs her throat, ready to slash her head off, but she is merely a distraction, for Magneto to swoop in and tackle the titan. Apocalypse dissolves his swords, knowing they’ll do more harm than good at this stage.

With his whole body charged up, Magneto and Apocalypse engage in hand to hand combat, moving even faster than War and Archangel did in their duel. While Magneto is succeeding in further injuring Apocalypse, each one of Apocalypse’s blows takes far more out of him.

Eventually, Erik’s weariness and injuries catch up with him, and he slows down to the point Apocalypse sees an opening for a killing blow. He doesn’t get to deliver it though, as Emma is once again blasted by Scott, this time being positioned in between A and Erik to tank the hit. Magneto takes advantage of this, slamming his hands together and blasting Apocalypse once again.

At last, A falls.. He narrows his eyes at Cyclops. Scott smirks back.

We briefly flashback to sometime earlier in the year, Scott, Emma, and Erik seated around Emma’s desk. Each has a binder in front of them. Magneto is unamused and puzzled by what Scott has him looking at. Scott explains that it’s the X-Men’s strategy book. It’s a little list of tactics for each specific alignment of X-Men in the face of any given scenario. He updates it every time the rollcall changes.

SCOTT, extremely proud of himself: “Pretty cool, right?”

EMMA, lying and slightly embarrassed as she pats his shoulder: “Yes. Very.”

In any case, since Magneto’s in charge now, and many of these strategies involve him, he needs to study up. Magneto sees little point. There are few threats he cannot crush on his own.

MAGNETO, flipping a page: “Oh. Actually…this one could be of use.”

In the present, Apocalypse takes note of what his enemies have been doing. Cyclops acting as a distraction and Emma acting as a shield, so that Magneto can focus just on hitting him as hard as he can.

APOCALYPSE: “Hardly an honorable way to fight.”

CYCLOPS: “Maybe. But Break the Juggernaut Isn’t about honor.”

MAGNETO: ‘You did NOT name this.”

EMMA: “Oh, let him have his fun.”

Apocalypse gets pissed as he floats up and finally powers up, kicking up a sandstorm and destroying the rest of his base as he shakes the Earth in the process. He fires off a massive energy attack in all directions, forcing Emma to shield Scott, and Magneto to stand on his own and try to cut a path through it. He succeeds, only to be met once again by Apocalypse. Now using the full extent of his current power, Apocalypse grows two additional arms, and with them beats Magneto halfway to death.

APOCALYPSE, continuing to break Magneto: “You all think me evil? “No good” you said? I did not fail to stop a small, feeble human from causing the deaths of 16 million of us.”

He tosses away a barely clinging to life Magneto away like a ragdoll before leaping and chokeslamming Emma.

APOCALYPSE: “I have not failed my student.”

Using his molecular manipulation, he turns off her diamond form. Emma, while being strangled, knows he’s too powerful a telepath himself for her to just shut him down, but she is able to force him to let her go, letting her gasp for air. Scott blasts at him, but Apocalypse’s blasts are once again far more powerful, and a single shot puts Scott in similar condition to Magneto.

Apocalypse floats over Cyclops.

APOCALYPSE: “I have not abdicated my responsibilities.” Apocalypse holds out his arms. “None of you are fit to rule!”

BEAT, focusing on the battered leaders.

SCOTT: “Yeah. That’s the point.”

Cyclops removes his visor and hits Apocalypse with the full brunt of his power, at last able to make him feel it.

CYCLOPS: “You don’t want any tricks? Just power? Well here it is!”

Apocalypse’s shields are overwhelmed, and he’s launched higher into the sky. He’s immediately dragged back down by Emma’s telekinesis, dragging him back into Scott’s line of fire, and hitting him with her own psychic lightning.

Apocalypse’s knees bend, as the Celestial tech parts of his body begin to flicker and fail. He knows none of them can withstand another attack from him. He just needs to…

He doesn’t get to finish whatever he was saying, as from above, Magneto lets loose everything he has left, and applies the pressure needed to knock Apocalypse on his face, and keep him stuck where he is.

MAGNETO: “FINISH IT!”

As their attacks fill the sky along with the sandstorm, Kitty watches from a distance, in awe of what these three fighting together looks like.

Eventually, Scott, Emma, and Magneto are completely tapped out, and fall over, a cloud of smoke hiding the fate of Apocalypse. They all wait tensely to see if they’ve won. If they haven’t, it’s all over.

The smoke clears…

And Apocalypse still stands.

APOCALYPSE, slurring his words, all his tech destroyed or powered off, and bleeding all over: “Weak as I am. Strong as you all are. I cannot be stopped.”

Scott, Emma, and Erik look on in horror. The world is doomed.

Apocalypse takes slow, heavy steps toward them. We cut away to Exodus’ face, the man somewhere far away. He’s smirking maliciously.

EXODUS: “I think not.”

For a split second, Apocalypse’s eyes flash pink. At long last, it’s Exodus’ surprise psychic blast that brings Apocalypse down, knocking him out, as an explosion takes place in the remnants of Apocalypse’s base.

The three leaders look at his unconscious body in stunned silence, unaware of the betrayal that just occurred. One by one, they all laugh. They actually did it.

CYCLOPS: “Okay, you know what…I think we can call the bet a draw.”

Scott passes out, and the others are quick to follow.

Sometime later, back at the school, an assembly is being held. Many of the students are afraid following the recent events. Magneto, in a wheelchair, sits on the stage and speaks to them about the great tragedy that occurred. While the X-Men did succeed in stopping Apocalypse and his plague, the Morlocks are all gone, including their former classmates Artie and Leech, and 10 million baselines died in the process. A few kids are crying.

Magneto goes on to say that they should mourn and they will help them in anyway they can. A loss of life like this is always a tragedy. Baseline or Mutant.

The other day, he spoke to them all. Not in his words, but in those of their previous headmaster. And he is glad he did not speak to them as he would have liked to. While he may stand firm in his philosophies, they are not what should be passed down to the future. They should not need to be passed down to the future, even if he believes they are what will ensure it.

And in truth, when it came to stopping the ultimate evil, he and they worked better together than he could have imagined. Cyclops and Emma walk on stage. It is for this reason that, from now on, the three of them shall be equal partners in running the school and leading the X-Men. Together, they defeated the unstoppable. And while he will not promise there will be no more tragedies because there will be, they will still do all they can to help the children flourish.

There’s a slow, awkward applause.

Out in the hallway, soon after this, the three leaders walk with Kitty. Nice speech, but the kids may call them liars when they find out they weren’t actually able to finish off Apocalypse.

Kitty isn’t sure what happened, but by the time she reached the uncnocious trio, Apocalypse’s body was gone. Emma brings up that there’s also still the matter of the four horsemen as well. Hopefully Iceman (confirmed to slowly be re-forming) will be up for a rematch by then. Magneto laments that, short of the plague, they may have to do this all over again whenever Apocalypse finishes restoring himself. Scot isn’t worried. The X-Men have this covered.

Storm appears in their path, smiling. Kitty is relieved to see she’s doing better, as is Erik, who offers her his condolences; he more than anyone knows what she must be feeling right now. Ororo thanks them both…and reluctantly, thanks Emma for her part in stopping the plague.

EMMA: “Well, someone had to, while others were laying in bed.”

Ororo rolls her eyes. She needs to speak with Scott. Alone. Kitty gives her a hug and Magneto shakes her hand, before the three comply.

Scott asks Ororo what he’s done now, which just makes Storm laugh. Is that how he sees her now? The nagging big sister who’s always finding faults.

SCOTT, cheeky: “A little bit.”

Storm grins. She heard everything from Kitty. And she is so proud of her brother. When the ultimate test came, he stuck to what he knew was right, and did not allow himself to succumb to the darkness he’s surrounded himself in.

STORM: “Perhaps I lost faith in you too quickly.”

Scott tells her not to worry about it. He gave her reason to worry. Does this mean she’ll rejoin the team? They both know she doesn’t need her powers for the job. Ororo thanks him, but she isn’t ready to go that far. Especially not now. The Morlocks didn’t have any loved ones, but Betsy could use her right now. And after that…

STORM: “A young man witnessed my battle online. He called me, claiming to be my nephew. I’m intrigued.”

The two hug it out, and Scott wishes her luck with everything.

Storm begins to walk off, but…

STORM: “Oh, and Cyclops. When you find Exodus…kill him for me.”

Scott sneers and nods.

At the Grindstone, the three young X-Men and their friends, which now includes the Cuckoos and Quentin are all hanging out. Brian is annoyed about the girls bringing the Cuckoos, especially after the prank they all pulled on them, but Roxy counters if he can add “sweater-vest” to the gang, they can add the Cuckoos. The sisters play it cool, teasing that, really, they all have the fortune of now being in “their” group, but really they’re just so happy to finally be here.

NORIKO, slamming her hands on the table: “Is no one gonna bring up the three of us helping to save the world? Cause I think that’s a pretty big deal.”

JULIAN: “Yeah, no need to grovel, but a thank you would be nice. Groveling would be appreciated though.”

Laura rolls her eyes at them, as she reminds them that they all lost. Badly. All they achieved was getting Iceman severely injured, and keeping Exodus alive.

CESSILY: “I also heard something about you two wanting to let Apocalypse win?”

Julian and Noriko shrink, embarrassed. Everyone laughs at them.

Sooraya is just glad they came to their senses. That on its own is a victory. But who is strong enough to beat the three of them so easily?

QUENTIN: “Like it’d be that hard.”

Brian punches his shoulder.

Julian slams his fists together. You know who I think War is?

JULIAN: “Ms. Grey.”

The others think he’s crazy, but he tells them to think about it. She has flames, telekinesis, and is super strong. Who else could it be?

There’s a pause, as everyone considers this.

LAURA: “There’s also Prestige.”

JULIAN: “Tch! I don’t care if she’s Jean, her daughter, or her granddaughter from even further in the future, next time I see her, I’m taking her out.”

Julian, Noriko, and Laura all exchange glances.

We flashback to the three young X-Men in the medical bay, after waking up. They make an agreement. They don’t tell the others what War said about Sofia. Not until they know for sure she isn’t lying. And not until that heartless monster is dead.

In the present, Noriko gets up to go get everyone drinks. Milkshakes on the newbies!

Back in Egypt, we pan down on the wrecked base to reveal that Apocalypse had a second, underground base. Apocalypse appears barely alive as he can only walk with an arm around War’s shoulders, and her holding him up.

WAR: “Just a little further to your chamber, my lord.” She grunts. “Why didn’t you let me fight with you? We could have killed them!” Apocalypse weakly groans. War is clearly afraid. “Just a little further.”

The two arrive where his restorative chamber should be. Apocalypse’s eyes widen in horror.

WAR: “No.”

Someone has destroyed his chamber.

Apocalypse collapses against a wall. War bends down, not understanding how this could happen.

WAR: “I…I shall find someone who can fix it. I will make them fix it!”

War starts to rush off, but Apocalypse takes her hand and asks her to stay. It’s okay. It’s done.

War gets on her knees. He can’t be giving up. He’s Apocalypse!

APOCALYPSE: “I…will never yield. I will never die. But without my chamber, I will not wake up from my slumber for a long, long time.”

WAR, her small hands clasped around one of Apocalypse’s massive ones, audibly crying under her helmet: “No. No!” She bows her head. “This is my fault. You could have destroyed them with ease if I had–”

APOCALYPSE: “Shhh. Regret for the past is a weakness.”

WAR, knowing exactly what to say: “Action in the present is strength.” She sniffles. “What about our mission? We were meant to save the world.”

Apocalypse coughs up blood.

APOCALYPSE: “Our mission…is now your mission. Clan Akabba is yours to lead.” War whispers “no”. “Are you afraid?”

WAR: “Never!”

APOCALYPSE: “Then do…as I trained you to do.”

Apocalypse pulls War into his arms and removes her helmet, although the audience still can’t see who it is. We do see that she has long brown hair, as Apocalypse strokes it.

APOCALYPSE: “You are the strongest. Perhaps not in power, but in spirit. This world…is yours to conquer.” War continues to nod along as she cries into his chest. “Let these be the last tears you shed. Only the wives and children of your slain enemies may weep.”

WAR, still speaking in a distorted voice without her helmet: “ I will burn this world in the flames of war, for I am the war that will never end. I will make you proud.”

APOCALYPSE: “I know…you will.”

Apocalypse runs out of energy and enters a long, long sleep.

WAR: “Goodbye…Father.”

Elsewhere in the base, in Apocalypse’s backup throneroom, Exodus is in a perfectly good mood. Apocalypse may be lost, as are the powers of Famine, but he’s still more than powerful enough to lead the remaining Horseman to glory.

EXODUS, mockingly: “In the name of Lord Apocalypse, of course.”

Sitting across from him, lighting a cigarette, is a muscular Japanese man with a mohawk in a silk shirt, slacks, and a katana strapped to his back.

DEATH: “Forgive me, Famine, but I can’t believe in a loser to aid me in my revenge.”

EXODUS: “I am the ONLY Omega among us.”

“Boys, be nice.”

DEATH: “Such a scary little word you like to toss around. Maybe one day it will mean something.”

The fourth and final Horseman, Pestilence, reveals herself, and it’s a familiar face: Polaris. She sits with the two men.

PESTILLENCE: “Unless you actually want to kill each other. That sounds fun to watch.”

Death laughs as he smokes.

DEATH: “Perhaps I should lead us.”

EXODUS: “I *would* kill you if you tried.”

DEATH, casually reaching for his katana, unafraid: “By all means, go ahead and try it.”

Exodus powers up, ready to start another fight. Polaris grins as it looks like this will happen, her eyes turning purple.

“Quit your bickering!”

War stomps into the throneroom, getting the other three horsemen’s attention.

WAR: ‘Lord Apocalypse is gone. His mission is now our mission. Before he awakens, it is our responsibility to make this world strong. Before he awakens, we must cleanse the world of the weak. Of the human. And, most importantly…”

War sits on Apocalypse’s throne as her face is finally shown.

WAR: “Of the X-Men.”

Her skin is blue, but War’s identity is still clear. She is Sofia Mantega.

While Exodus sneers at her and Polaris chuckles, Death smirks and steps forward to kneel before War. And for War, there is nothing but hate and pain inside her eyes.

#new x-men: the animated series #new x-men #academy x #scott summers #emma frost #Magneto #kitty pryde #roberto da costa #bobby drake #illyana rasputin #laura kinney #julian keller #noriko ashida #sooraya qadir #cessily kincaid #brian cruz #roxanne washington #the stepford cuckoos #quentin quire

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whomst-art-thou-whomst-whomst · 1 year ago

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Whomst’s Predictions for Ep 7 of Only Friends: SandRay Edition (spoilers)

Focusing on the “Rockstar and DisasterKitten” pairing here, because 1.) I’m wary of Boston and Nick’s never ending competition to be the bigger creep, 2.) the lesbians will overcome because they’re lesbians and we are capable of anything, and 3.) I am DYING for Mew’s villain era to take off next episode, so folks…it’s time for me to Overthink about SandRay.

Episode 6…Welp. Ray has hit rock bottom. I’ve been thinking from the start that this might need to happen, that Ray has been going through the motions of life while hurting himself and others for so long, it’s painful and unsustainable and he needs to face the music (IF ONLY HE KNEW A MUSICIAN OR SOMETHING FFS).

And it’s not just him that will benefit! His friend group is already splintered and becoming toxic—as Ray is one of the core members most invested and loyal to it, he is going to need to get his act together if their friend group is gonna survive and evolve to something healthy.

(Side note that while I love, love, LOVE, Mew’s little plot to confront Top about his infidelity alone, which he did in the most unhinged way possible—good for him—I’m also not crazy about Mew deciding to let his least-stable friend be seen as the bad guy by all their friends in the name of this scheme, and I hope he fixes that)

So. While I didn’t want to see Ray hurt, I think it was inevitable (to some degree) that for a big change to happen, he was going to need a wakeup call of sorts. Ray being Ray means this wakeup call would be as a result of his self-destructiveness. But I think this is what is going to turn things around—what I’m seeing in the trailer for the next episode already points to a Ray who is quieter, maybe more thoughtful, passing time with both Sand and his friends.

And as for Sand…sweet baby sunRay’s been barely avoiding havoc for years, and now the worst has happened—friendships ruined (he thinks), love interest pushed away, himself as the perceived cause of it all—so where does Ray go from here? Who sticks around when the chips are down?

AHEM. WE ALREADY KNOW WHO.

The guy who knows Ray’s bullshit and has seen and experienced the worst he can dish out, this is the guy who sees that sopping wet stray kitten in the alley and is like, you know what? I’m feeding him and giving him a bath.

I think we can all agree that Sand is one of the standout characters on this show by virtue of being done with everyone’s shit, but in episode 6, we saw him (along with everyone else) pushed to the limit of good/remotely sane decisions. Sand also needs to recognize that constant mini-dates, meeting his mom, deep emotional conversations and passionate sex have maybe caused them both to grow feelings. Oops.

And that’s why I’m a little worried.

Despite Sand’s maturity, boundaries, and self-care, we can see that he is only human and capable of falling into the same messes as other people. The big difference is that unlike literally everyone else, he holds himself accountable for things and takes responsibility for his impact on other people. And in episode 6, it was his decision to get the clip of Top and Boston, send it to Ray and tell him about his ex and Top, all while trying to maintain an air of distance, that constant refrain of “I don’t care what you do, it’s not like we’re together” in the aftermath of Boyfriend Activities.

The last part I kinda get—what a shitty birthday for Ray, realizing the guy you are falling for, who you maybe thought was developing feelings for you, has nursed feelings for someone else, and you feel too proud and scared and hurt to try to talk through it.

But it’s Sand giving Ray that info about Top that directly precipitates the disaster at Mew’s birthday party—following that, Ray hurls horrible insults at Sand in some desperate attempt to figure out what they are to each other (will Sand stay? will he give up on Ray and leave him? Ray is painfully vulnerable in his anger and confusion here) and drives off, clearly drunk. And yes, it’s Ray’s decision to get drunk and make an absolute mess before storming off into a dangerous situation (which he needs to hold himself accountable for), but Sand isn’t like Ray’s other friends and he feels responsible for Ray, even if he isn’t. So knowing that something bad happens to Ray after all of that mess—I think Sand is going to feel guilty.

For a guy as responsible and mature as Sand, stealing/sending that video and using Ray as the intermediary (regardless of intentions) was a low point for him, and I think he’s going to feel guilt for feeding into Ray’s self-destructive habits. This whole time, he’s managed to keep his hands clean of the Drama, but he decided to engage this time for the sake of revenge and it has collapsed spectacularly, with (he thinks) Mew staying with Top and Ray being the one to get hurt.

My prediction for next episode is that Ray will start getting his shit together—relying on his friends for real talk and support instead of drunken superficial reassurance, hopefully dialing back the substance abuse, taking a look in the mirror and making changes without hating himself. They need to TALK. Without alcohol or pride or insecurity clouding their speech.

So while Ray has hit rock bottom, Sand has to reassess things, too—in the trailer we see him caring for the injured Ray, because kiddo cannot stay away, “oh Ray’s the one addicted to me” uhhuh sweetie keep telling yourself that—and I think it’s time they get on the same page. I think they have the potential to be incredibly good for each other, they just need the chance to be honest and stop hiding.

UGH WHY ISNT IT THE 23RD NOWWW

#whomst #only friends the series

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watcherinwater · 1 year ago

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OP and I have been friends for years, so let me explain some things. We’re both in the mental health industry. We’ve both interacted with a lot of narcissists and their victims. OP especially unfortunately grew up with one, (which is why she probably won’t answer you directly) so if it comes across as an insult that’s probably why. I’ve advised her to change her post a little. As I will explain below, I’m pretty sure that term was meant as an insult in the series too. It’s sometimes hard to keep that tone away when you’ve lived it and seen its negative effects on so many people; so we can both be biased. What you guys are describing is the fragile, vulnerable kind of narcissist. They are actually more rare have a lot in common with BPD, and there’s a huge debate if they should even be included as a type of narcissist, because they’re so different from others. In all my years of being a therapist, I’ve seen 3. Unfortunately, I doubt that’s the kind of narcissist Mobius was talking about. You’re right there’s a lot of misinformation, and if you want to educate people, I’d suggest making your own posts because passionate or not, sometimes it comes across differently than you intended to.

I agree with what the poster right above me said-those were some of mine and my friends’ criticisms of the show. They basically make it look like any thing wrong that was done to Loki was a function of him thinking so because he was mentally ill. Everybody else were just his poor victims, and did nothing wrong; it was all him. Too many people don’t seem to realize it’s possible to be both a villain and a victim, and one can easily lead to the other; especially when other people get advantages they don’t deserve and you get nothing. And what you said about narcissistic traits and the mind stone is spot on. Unfortunately, they’ve made it rather convenient to skip that because Loki supposedly didn’t know he was being influenced, and everybody else either didn’t notice or conveniently forgot.

Mobius was throwing out the term narcissist when he thought Loki was having a relationship with one of his variants. As the revised post says, it’s a pretty safe bet he was not talking about the kind of narcissist that both of you described. He was talking about those considered the worst; the malignant kind with the full-blown symptoms who are totally self absorbed, selfish, and use others. I know you don’t want to see it as an insult, but in this case, it pretty much was. That’s what the majority of people think because that’s what’s the popular conception is (too many people don’t realize it’s a spectrum), popularized by fiction and movies, and some form of that is what many people describe when they interact with people they think are narcissists. So naturally, that’s what a lot people are going to think and I think that’s why so many people I’ve talked to don’t think he is one. Ironically, I was in a Loki chat room the other day, where there was someone who claimed to be a narcissist who was mad that they said that about Loki because he thought he was “too much of a wimp” to be one. 🤨

How people, including those on NPD spectrum see him is a very subjective thing. If you see him as one because he’s your comfort character, great. Random strangers seeing him differently or not liking an ending shouldn’t get in the way of that. But as I said above, I definitely recommend making your own posts about this because yes, there is a lot of misinformation and the more people counter it the better.

Marvel at the beginning of the show: So this show will be about Loki learning to love himself and not being afraid of being lonely anymore.

Also Marvel: completely ignores Loki‘s trauma and tries to make him an evil narcissist** at the beginning, tries to stick him with a Thor light version of himself, and has him end up alone, where once again, very few people will know or care when he did something heroic.

I liked season 2 a lot better than season 1, but that ending was whack.

**Marvel doesn’t seem to understand much at all about mental health. The last guy they tried to call a narcissist (Tony Stark) literally sacrificed himself to save the universe. If they’re trying to say that narcissists can get better if they just find the right friends who are nice to them in their lives, that’s a dangerous message to send. Plus being lonely and self hating is literally the opposite of being a narc; they’re afraid of being alone because they don’t want to lose their supply of being admired, not because they’re lonely. And Loki was set up to fail since the beginning of the timeline. I understand if they didn’t want to use another actual mental health term, but they could’ve just gone with Loki having “severe attachment issues” or something like that, but then they might’ve actually had to talk about how he got them.

#loki #loki show critical #loki series negativity #loki show criticism #anti loki series

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yulin-pop · 2 years ago

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⤷ ✧ Trey Clover having a crush

Gender neutral

- order 40 | Headcanons | Trey

Note: The pain I went through writing this. I am not good at writing Trey but he’s cool

⇥ Cater Diamond • Riddle Rosehearts ⇤

I don’t know how to feel about this man but I’ll write for him anyway.

Trey is kind of a jerk. Not towards you at least. He’s defensive over you and you wouldn’t even know.

If there someone that smack talks you, they’re suddenly on the floor because Trey made an oopsie daisy and stuck his foot out when they were walking in the halls!

He can get away with a lot of things.

I feel like he wouldn’t know how to put his love into words so he’s just nice. He denies liking you though. He’s just being courteous.

You already know Cater sees what he does and asks him about it straight away and gets a simple “Im just trying to be nice”

But then it becomes more obvious that he’s doing it with an ulterior motive. Even riddle asks and gets the same answer as Cater.

He’s mostly helping you out with little tasks like retrieving something from another classroom or walking you to class. He even gives you portions of his lunch. Tutors you and helps you cram.

He never says anything directly but most people can tell.

He makes jokes at the most random times, and it leaves you so confused every time. Ace and Deuce would be complaining about how they accidentally broke a rule and got a punishment and Trey would say

“Wow that sucks for you. Sorry that was a joke, go on.”

(Is it actually a joke?)

He gives you gifts but practical gifts. Like toothbrushes and toothpaste. Don’t take it as an insult, he’s just concerned.

“Ooooh! What did you give ‘em?”

“I gave MC toothbrushes and toothpaste.”

“Oh, okay.”

Cater is looking for evidence of Trey’s feelings but he doesn’t even bat an eye at his attempts and quickly comes up with an excuse.

Probably also just watches you as you devour whatever you’re munching on. He pulls out a napkin out of no where and hands it to you forcefully.

Random but I feel like he uses Doodle Suit to mess with people. He does the usual thing like “imagine your favorite food” and when they’re like “it tastes just like it!”

He goes on about some sort of scientific study about how the brain can make your perceive something different if you think about something else.

Then it’s like:

“Oh my god, really?!”

“No. Are you dumb or something? It’s my unique magic”

We need to see more of mean Trey, it’s funny.

#twisted wonderland x reader #twisted wonderland #twst x reader #personal writings #twst #trey clover #trey clover x reader

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miekasa · 4 years ago

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six thirty

+ pairing: armin arlert x (fem) reader

+ genres and warnings: college au, enemies to lovers… kinda… in a very nerdy academic rivalry kind of way, me being a comedian you’re welcome, fluff, smut/nsfw content

+ word count: 5.6k… pls say sike

+ notes: shout out to ryn for listening to me during our very many rambling sessions and also for extorting me into posting this. consider it a late birthday present for my favorite menace </2

+ side notes: no i am not a part of armin nation and i never want to be, nor do i wish speak of this again.

Armin Arlert is the perfect student. Prompt and well prepared during lecture; smart and insightful during office hours; the apple of any teacher’s eye. Unfortunately for him, so are you.

If you asked Armin, you were a little too clever for your own good, and liked to make it very well known that you believe you’re the smartest person in any room you walk into. That may be true, but it doesn’t mean that he has to sit there and worship your superiority complex.

If someone asked you, you’d say that Armin was a know it all, and a manipulative little piece of shit. Again, not a completely false statement, but perhaps a slightly biased character analysis.

Neither of you are wrong. It’s why you’re both the bane of each other’s existence.

There’s a noticeable grimace on your face, chin in your palm, elbows resting atop your desk, as you turn your head to where, sure enough, Armin is seated where he always is: first row, right side, directly in front of the podium, like perfect little teacher’s pet he wants to be. He doesn’t have any books to unpack like everybody else because a shiny, blue iPad is propped up on his desk in place of all of that. He’s robably looking through his pre-written list of showboaty questions to ask during lecture. Like he’s a cut above everyone else.

Maybe some of the other morons in this course, but not you, that’s for damn sure. You bet that if you broke his thousand dollar tablet he wouldn’t think he’s such hot shit anymore. Maybe that would knock him down a couple of pegs.

“Look at him sitting there with his stupid blue eyes, and his stupid Bieber haircut, and his stupid, shiny blonde hair, and his stupid fucking glasses. I bet they’re not even real and he just wears them to—”

“Did you just call his hair shiny?”

You snap your head to your left, “What—no, of course not. I said shoddy, he’s probably a bottle blonde. Maybe all the chemicals from the hair dye seeps into his head and warps his sense of reality.”

“I’m pretty sure you said shiny.”

“Shut up, Annie.”

She raises an eyebrow at you, “You got something against blondes? Because your track record would beg to differ.”

“Once. We kissed once, and it was truth or dare, and we were both sloshed.”

“You still chose me,” she reminds you, pulling her notebook out of her backpack.

You huff, ignoring her words and turning your head back to Armin, this time finding him twirling his stupid fucking expensive Apple Pencil between his fingers like it’s nothing. You can feel your eye begin to twitch.

Perhaps he can, too—or maybe he can just feel your eyes boring holes into him—because he turns in your direction and ceases his pen twirling the moment you make eye-contact. More students filter in, walking past your line of vision, but each time they move, you and Armin meet gazes again; neither one of you daring to look away, a palpable tension between you.

His eyes might be icy blue, but you can see the rose pink tint underneath his skin, even from the distance; a familiar blush that spreads across his nose and cheeks. You exhale with a silent laugh, breaking your eye contact before he grows completely red, just in time for Dr. Zöe to start the lecture.

Everybody thinks that Armin’s so brilliant, so smart, so untouchable. You know that his only genius is that he’s fooling everyone into thinking that he’s the kind, humble, little nerd boy who wouldn’t harm a fly, when that’s far from the truth.

Armin is mean. He’s competitive and possessive and snarky and sly. He’s the definition of a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but you’re pretty sure the only person in the world who might believe that is Eren. Though, you’ve heard some of the insults Armin throws Eren’s way, and they’re not exactly soft. Granted, that’s a factor in any friendship, and most of his jabs are coated with a layer of intellect the brunette likely doesn’t understand, but that doesn’t make Armin any less sarcastic. It just means Eren’s too dumb to know what’s going on.

Poor kid. Maybe it’s for the best.

That’s all to say that Armin is nothing but a big talker—not even; a smooth-talker, is more like it. He comes across as perfect, all good and sweet and soft, because that’s what he lets people see. Nobody else looks through to the sharp tongue and ragged edges, because they’re too busy cooing over innocent blue-eyed baby in front of them.

But you know that Armin, the one he doesn’t want other people to see: the one that’s so good, he’s bad; so sweet that he’s sick; so nice that it’s cruel. And you know just how much pressure to apply to make his façade crack.

And you intend on doing so.

“I don’t know which formula to use—hey, are you two eye fucking again? Cut it out, I’m trying not to fail over here,” Eren exclaims, poking Armin’s shoulder with his pen.

The jab averts the blonde’s attention back to his friend, eyes wide as he blinks himself back to reality. He curses under his breath when he feels a familiar warmth creeping across his cheeks. Few things piss Armin off like the way he gets red in the face after thinking about you, or even just looking at you, for too long. Whether it’s red out of pure annoyance, or another feeling he tries to push down, it’s irritating, and above all, embarrassing.

He spares one more glance over his shoulder, to where you and Annie are sat a few tables away in the library. You’ve looked away by now, focusing back on your notes, but Armin swears he can still see that irritating smirk on your face from this angle.

He rolls his tongue along the inside of his cheek. He should be able to keep it together around you by now, but he can’t, and it bothers him. You bother him.

“We weren’t eye fucking,” he refutes, turning his back to you completely, “She’s such a little know it all sometimes, s’annoying.”

Eren raises an eyebrow. He knows that you and Armin don’t get along, but he doesn’t understand why. Armin knows almost all your friends, and you definitely know all of his—Eren would even go as far as to say that you and him are pretty close friends—so it’s not a matter of not spending time together. You’re also the two smartest people Eren knows. In theory you should have more than enough to talk about together, but every time you’re in the same room, you hardly acknowledge each other outside of surface level commentary, or glances that border on staring.

Thankfully, the bickering remains in the classroom for the most part. Eren’s seen you and Armin go at, and he’ll be the first to admit that it’s beyond intimidating. Though, a little part of him finds it oddly entertaining, and he can’t help but to be impressed. All the more reason for you two to start playing on the same team.

Eren thinks the two of you should get to the root of the issue already. Which, if you asked him, has very little to do with your rivaled academic genius, and a lot to do with your lack of it concerning your feelings for each other.

“She’s not that bad,” Eren vouches for you, “I think you two might get along if you ever spoke outside of trying to one-up each other in class.”

“I’m not trying to one-up anybody,” Armin rolls his eyes, a nasty habit he’s picked up as of late, “And if you stopped and used your brain for a moment, then maybe you could solve the problem.”

“I did use my brain!” Eren’s lips fall into an offended pout, “But none of this makes any sense to me! I fucking hate math, you know that.”

Armin sighs, feeling sympathetic for Eren as he slumps into himself defeatedly. He knows that Eren isn’t dumb, but math in any capacity is certainly not his strong suit. He also knows that he shouldn’t give Eren all the answers, but sometimes he needs a little push to get him there. A little bit of added guidance and motivation to keep him going. It’s either that, or he has to trick Eren into doing the work himself, but clearly that method wasn’t working out today.

“You already solved for the activation energy, now you’re supposed to use the Arrhenius equation in the expanded form.”

Eren’s lips fall into a small o-shape, as his eyes scramble across his paper again. “But—how do you—”

“There’s two measurements given for temperature.”

“Oh. Oh, yeah! Okay, right, but then—”

“You have to convert it to Kelvin first or it won’t work. It’s given to you in Celsius.”

Eren furrows his eyebrows together, and then it finally clicks for him. He mutters to himself as he puts his pencil to paper to begin to work through the problem, “How do I convert—”

“Add 273.15 to it. Make sure you put the bigger one first in the equation, or else you’ll get a negative error.”

“You didn’t even do it,” Eren huffs, angrily punching numbers into his calculator, “How do you know it’s right?”

“Because I took this class already,” Armin reminds him, sparing a brief glance over his shoulder, “Isn’t that why I’m tutoring you?”

Eren coughs over his embarrassed blush, “Oh, yeah, right.”

It’s quiet between them as Eren makes a final attempt at solving the equation, carefully and proudly circling his answer when he’s finished. He looks to Armin with bright eyes, and is content when the blonde gives him a reassuring nod, confirming that his answer is correct.

“Well that was a bitch to work through,” Eren sighs, stretching his arms behind his head with a slight yawn, “Chemistry is nothing but glorified math. It’s barely a science.”

Armin shrugs, but he doesn’t disagree. He isn’t the biggest fan of chemistry, unlike somebody else he knows. “Why’d you take chem if you knew it would have so much math?”

It’s Eren’s turn to shrug, slumping back in his chair and running a hand through his hair, “I gotta take all the pre-med requirements… just in case.”

“You wanna go to med school? Since when?”

Eren averts his eyes from his friend, a telltale sign of his bashfulness coming over him. It doesn’t happen often, but Armin knows it’s sincere when it does.

“Dunno. I’m not sure of it, just wanna keep my options open, you know?” Eren replies casually, “Doctors help make a difference and all that, and surgery looks kind of cool. Besides, if my bastard father could do it, how hard could it really be?”

A gentle smile grows on Armin’s lips, “You can do it. If you really want to, I know you can.”

Eren’s head snaps up, eyes wide and filled with affirmation and adoration. He relaxes his expression quickly after, but the pink hues are still present, “Thanks, Min.”

From his position he catches eye of another head of familiar blonde hair over Armin’s shoulder, and beside it, your own hair. There’s a flash of a moment when your eyes meet Eren’s, and you offer him a small wave before turning back to Annie to resume doing your homework. Eren barely gets the chance to wave back, but a dopey smile sits on his features at your kind gesture. It fades when he looks back to Armin, once again pondering the animosity between you two.

You and Armin aren’t all that different, you just need to get to know each other better. Actually, Eren thinks that you might make a good couple if you both stopped overthinking it.

“So, what’s the deal with you and (_____)?” Eren asks, bending his right knee to wrap his arm around his leg and rest his chin on top of it, “You act like she kicked your cat.”

“What?” Armin questions, flustered, “What—no, she wouldn’t touch Soup.”

Eren quirks an eyebrow at that. “I still can’t believe you named your cat Soup.”

“It’s technically a nickname.”

“A nickname for what?”

“…For Miso Soup.”

Eren blinks. “Okay, if she didn’t mess with Soup, then what’s the issue? You scared of her or something?”

“Why would I be scared of her?” Armin asks, tone incredulous; then softer, more subdued, like a kid who doesn’t want to admit they’re wrong, “’M not scared of her.”

“You stare at her like you are—well, you look kind of angry, but also scared. Like, when you see those balloon things outside of car washes. You hate them, but you can’t look away from them—”

“I am not scared of those!”

“You are, and it’s okay,” Eren waves away his friend’s denial, “Oh, I get it—is this one of those things where she makes you nervous, so you respond with anger and sarcasm instead of thinking through your feelings?”

“You’ve been going to therapy for one month, relax.”

“Maybe you two should go to friend therapy and work this out,” Eren bites back, “It probably doesn’t help that she’s always with Annie. They both look like they would murder someone with no remorse. I admit, it is kind of scary… but it’s kind of hot, too.”

Armin spares him an unamused glare. Eren crosses his arms in defense, “What? I’m not wrong. It’s sexy in a scary kind of way, maybe that’s why you’re always eye fucking. I don’t blame you, she’s hot. I would let her and Annie axe-murder me without regret.”

“Eren?”

“Yeah?”

“Shut up and do problem six, I don’t have all day.”

Eren huffs, but flips the page to the next problem, grumbling under his breath as he attempts the, “It’s not as sexy when you’re mean, you know.”

Armin hits him silent.

Tuesdays are Armin’s favorite days because he only has one class. Sure, it’s three hours long, but it’s much more bearable than his usual eight-hour day.

It’s also the one class he shares with you. Which is why he’s always mentally exhausted by the end of it, but physically, he feels like he could punch a wall; all his pent up anger and frustration is channeled into his body and he’s desperate for an outlet for it. It’s a feeling he hates to love.

Annie seems to have cut class today seeing as she’s not next to you; and it’s almost as if it’s emboldened you to mess with him even more than usual.

He bites his tongue as Dr. Zöe enthusiastically uses your latest point as a segue into the final topic of the evening. He made that same point ten minutes ago. You just worded it differently—admittedly, more concisely, but somehow with a little more nuance, than when he had hesitantly proposed it—and, yeah, maybe you made it sound more convincing, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t come up with it first. If his stupid, fancy stylus didn’t cost upwards of $200 he might have snapped it in half.

You’re definitely the better conversationalist, that much he can admit. Words have never been his forte and he hates the way you can talk circles around him, and that there’s so little he can say to make you stop.

He wishes you would just shut up. In fact, he’d like to shut you up himself.

Thankfully, class ends sooner rather than later. Armin finds himself briefly talking with Dr. Zöe afterwards, most other students having taken the opportunity to leave early for the night. To nobody’s surprise, you’re not one of them, having stuck around to talk to the professor, too.

“The two of you should consider lab research this summer,” Dr. Zöe suggests ardently, walking between the two of you as you exit the lecture hall, “I could really use two students like you!”

Armin chuckles at his boisterous professor. He’s known about the research opportunities at their lab for quite some time now, and he knows that you have, too. “I don’t know that lab work is really my strong suit.”

The three of you come to stop at the hallway intersection, the professor now standing across from you and him. You give them a polite smile, “And I’m not sure that collaboration is mine.”

Armin spares a glance just in time to see you flash one of your own in his direction. Dr. Zöe’s eyes flicker between the two students rapidly, a slight squint to their eyelids.

They aren’t quite sure why their two brightest students seem to despise each other. They wish you two would just get along already, so that they don’t have to spend the summer training half-witted chemical engineering majors how to use basic lab equipment; and instead, conduct some actual research.

“Well, I hope the both of you reconsider,” they smile, “I’ll see you during office hours, I presume?”

You two nod in sync, sending the doctor off with happy smile, just long enough until you see that they’ve turned the corner further down the hall

“Had fun stealing my point earlier?” Armin questions, looking your way as you still wave mindlessly, eye-twitching at your polite façade.

“I would call it improvement,” you tell him, not bothering to turn in his direction; still and smiling waving like the professor can see or hear you, “You should stick to showing, rather than saying. You never were good with your words.”

Armin kisses his teeth together. He’ll give you what you want, if that’s how you want it.

In a fit of irritation, he grabs your moving hand by the wrist, and pulls you down the opposite hallway, not caring for your dramatic wailing behind him.

“Hey, Einstein, the exit is the other way, do you have any idea where we’re going?”

“Ever heard of observational learning? Maybe if you shut up for a second, you would figure it out,” he snaps, pulling you further.

There’s a door on the left that Armin knows is unlocked, and he’s quick to open it and pull you inside. Before you have the chance to glance around, he has you pushed up against the wall, jaw forced up and forward.

He could scoff at the small hitch in your breath at his actions, clearly a little too satisfied with being manhandled; but instead, he takes the opportunity to press your lips together. Armin quite likes the feeling of your lips on his; warm and soft and far too welcoming; a rare moment of silence.

“Someone could hear us.”

Or not so silent.

“Then be quiet,” he snarls.

Armin feels your fingers weave themselves into his hair, scraping along his undercut in sync with his lips trailing down your jaw. A groan falls from his when he feels you tug at the ends of the strands, just hard enough to force his face back to eye level with yours.

“You’re the one with the big mouth.”

“You’re so smart, huh. Always got something to say,” Armin lets out a low chuckle, deft fingers running down your sides to squeeze at your waist, “You can be really fuckin’ annoying, you know that.”

You mirror half of his ministrations, letting your right hand trail down his chest barely brushing over the very visible bulge in his jeans, before hooking your index finger under the belt loop, effectively pulling him closer to you.

The smile on your face is dirty, but you’re not laughing like he was, “Do something about it then.”

His blue eyes grow cloudy as he takes a good look at you; slowly rakes over your features, from that stupid, snarky look in your eyes, to your kiss-bruised lips, down to your chest, and back up again. Armin finds himself copying your smirk for all the wrong reasons. But it’s your own fault; you always did like to push him one step over the edge.

“Fine.”

Despite your twisted grin there’s a look in your eyes that’s eager; willing; ready for the taking. That same look you have when you talk over him in class; when you pretend to ignore him around your mutual friends; when you want him to fuck you stupid.

Armin uses his right hand to cup your jaw again, closing the distance between your mouths with a less than gentle kiss. He feels your groans reverberating through his body, waves of heat accompanying them and going straight to his erection. Your arch your back into the kiss, but he forces you backwards, left hand flat against your tummy.

Following suit, he pushes himself against your body, pressing his knee between your legs; the thin fabric of your stockings doing little to prevent your thighs from rubbing against him.

He swipes his tongue over the seam of your lips, earning a frenzied whine when glides his tongue across yours, and teasingly licks at the roof of your mouth. Your tongue is lithe against his, but somehow just as deceptive and sly as always, and Armin would be a fool to deny that he loved it.

There’s a spark flickering in his stomach when you push your center harshly against his; and it’s only ignited further when he feels you bite his bottom lip. A guttural growl escapes him, his right hand moving to your throat with practiced ease, pushing the back of your head into the wall.

He pauses for a moment, drinks in your wide eyes and desperate visage, “You are the single most frustrating person I’ve ever met in my entire life.”

And he couldn’t get enough of it if he tried. He couldn’t get enough of you.

You must see through his words, into the grainy expression of adoration in his eyes, because he can see it filtering into yours, pupils dilating with both want and care.

“Aw, baby, I love you, too,” you pout, leaning forward as best to can to peck him on the lips, “Now, shut me up and fuck me. It’s exhausting being this pretty and smart-mouthed, you know.”

Armin dips his head into your neck, squeezes against the column of your throat with warning until he hears a gasp escape from your lips. He presses gentle kisses into your skin, in stark contrast to the increasing pressure from his fingers, waiting for one last request, and then, finally—“Please.”

He smiles, loosens his grip for a moment, just long enough to hear your pretty panting, before slotting his lips against yours again. Your moans are lewd and sloppy and breathless between kisses, and it makes his dick twitch in his pants. You really are so fucking loud. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

He uses his free hand to push your skirt up, and subsequently dip past the weak barrier of your tights and underwear. The slightest flicker of his fingers against your center has you choking out a moan, and Armin is forced to press his right thumb harder against your neck.

“Quiet,” he reminds you, “You asked nicely, so I’ll give you what you want. No need to be loud about it.”

He watches you nod with short and restricted movements, a sadistic kind of power washing over him at your eager compliance. He uses his middle finger to rub slow, careful circles around your clit; the feeling of your wet cunt against his fingers, coupled with your wanton moaning only spurs on the throbbing in his pants.

“Armin,” you whine, impatiently; but he expected that of you, “Don’t tease.”

His eyes flash to yours briefly, pressing his lips to yours again to swallow your shuddered moans. He dips his tongue into your mouth at the same time he does his middle finger into your cunt. An obscene moan echoing through the classroom, as Armin feels your body arching into his again; feels your fingers frantically flying to his hair, searching for purchase to anchor yourself on.

He pulls away in time to add another digit and watch you groan underneath him. He pushes both his fingers in to the knuckle, carefully curling them upwards to elicit the prettiest sound out of you. He has to admit, it’s probably his favorite thing to hear come out of your mouth.

He keeps a steady pace, pumping his fingers in and out of your pussy with perfect friction, teetering between letting you moan his name and choking you silent. Your hands are frantic in his hair, grasping and pulling and so, so, desperate, Armin can’t help but to finger fuck you harder.

“You want one more?” he questions, but his voice is taunting, words ghosted over your lips just out of reach for you to kiss.

He can feel your leg trembling against his, see you pupils shaking along with your shaking head. Armin stops to smile; he thought you might do that. He could probably make you cry right now if he wanted to. Maybe later.

“Want you to fuck me,” your words short and ragged, eyebrows raised when he uses his thumb to press lightly against your clit, “Armin, please.”

The blonde shakes his head, “You’re dumber than you look if you think I’m gonna fuck you in a classroom, baby, so if you want to cum now, you better tell me.”

You have the audacity to pout of all things, “You’re mean.”

Armin lets out a breathless laugh. “You like it,” he leans forward to peck you sweetly, “So, what’ll it be?”

“Fine, but I want head later, too,” you tell him, words becoming less firm when Armin teases his ring finger against your slit, “Please.”

Armin hums in compliance, leaning forward to kiss you again, this time with more tact, and he chases your whines when he finally pushes a third finger inside of you.

“Look at you,” he croons breaking your kiss and forcing your head back again, “You take it so well.”

“Ah—fuck, there, Armin—there,” you cry, wet heat squeezing around his fingers in intermittent spasms.

Armin watches your chest heave with desperate breaths, air stuttering to pass from your lips to your lungs with his hand around your neck. He can feel your walls constricting around his fingers, feel your body shaking underneath him when he increases his pace. He curls his fingers again, just right, just until he hears you sing a strained call of his name. And when he feels your nails scraping down the nape of his neck, and the slight weight of your body convulsing, Armin knows you’re done for.

He’s nice enough to fuck you through your orgasm, shallow thrusts of his fingers bringing you to and down from your high as he watches you pant for him. He presses small kisses against your throat, up, up, up, until he’s kissing you, and carefully pulling his fingers out.

He removes his hand from your neck, and slides it down your waist to offer you support. He’s not prepared for your sudden pull on his neck, forcing him into a kiss that conveys your content; he’s quick to raise his left hand, palm meeting the wall to hold himself up against your sporadic actions, chuckling lightly into your kiss. You were always so reckless and happy after an orgasm.

You kiss him like you have him wrapped your finger despite being the one pleading moments ago. You do, so he supposes it’s not unwarranted; and he welcomes your flirtatious kisses despite the annoying blush they always bring forth.

And sure enough, he can feel his face on fire when you pull away. Armin scoffs internally at himself; he really should be able to keep it together around you by now. But when you kiss him like that, you kind of make it hard to think straight.

“You’re so good when you’re not… pretending to be good,” you hum, a blissful, hazy look on your features as you wrap your arms around his neck.

Armin shakes his head with a chortle of disbelief; leans forward to kiss you again, “’M not pretending. I am good.”

“Yeah, you’re such a good little saint that arguing with your girlfriend turns you on,” you taunt him, “It’s okay, Armin, you can admit it.”

He groans, out of shallow annoyance this time, and it makes you giggle. “Why are you acting like you’re not complicit in this?”

“Oh, no, no, no,” you refute with an exaggerated roll of your eyes, “You get turned on by hearing me talk about biochemistry. I like it when you tell me to shut up about it. We are not the same.”

“Yeah, because you look hot doing it,” he tells you, “Speaking of which, Eren called you hot today, so I kind of need you to slip a neurotoxin in his Gatorade.”

“Aw, Eren thinks I’m hot? Tell him I think he’s hot, too,” you bat your eyelashes at him, but Armin only offers you an unimpressed glare in return.

“I think he might be onto us, actually,” Armin notes, affectionately bumping his nose against yours.

“If he’s onto us, then it’s because you’re the one giving it away, not me.”

“Oh, because you could never do anything wrong, right?”

“Right,” you flash him an overconfident smile before reaching up to kiss to the tip of his nose, “See you’re so smart, baby.”

Armin shakes his head again in disbelief. You’re a handful, he can see that much.

“Come on,” he prompts, “We should go, I still have to finish my lab write up, and I know you haven’t started your paper.”

Armin tries to motion you forward, but is stopped when he feels your hand combing through his hair, and sees the genuine spark of concern in your eyes. “The one for your elective? I thought you said you were going to finish it on Monday.”

“I was,” Armin admits, “But then I didn’t.”

“You want me to help you with it?” you offer kindly, pushing his bangs back and letting your hands fall down the sides of his face, palms resting against his ears.

He nods gently, turning his head to press a kiss into your left palm, before wrapping his hand around your wrist, “I can help you outline your paper.”

You nod in return, and Armin spares one more kiss, before pulling your hand away to lace your fingers together.

Thankfully, nobody’s around to catch you exiting the classroom, or see you holding hands as you make your way out of the building and towards the bus stop. This was Armin’s favorite part of any Tuesday; the one time he could hold your hand on campus without the fear of getting caught by your friends.

He reasons that you guys should probably tell them soon, though, especially if Eren might have an idea of what’s going on. You were bound to get caught sooner rather than later. That, or Eren and Sasha would start meddling.

“If you think Eren knows, then Mikasa definitely knows,” you note, swinging your intertwined hands as you walk through the parking lot as a shortcut.

“Maybe if you actually remembered to hide Soup’s toys, there would be less evidence for her to piece together.”

“Yeah, well, maybe if you didn’t forget when your midterms are, I wouldn’t have to emergency cat sit the hour before Mikasa comes around, and there wouldn’t be any toys to hide in the first place.”

“I’m bad with dates, you know that!” Armin pouts, “I don’t say anything when you forget about ten page papers until four hours before they’re due.”

“You’re saying something right now, actually.”

“That’s not what I—you know, you’re so—”

Armin’s quiet when he feels your lips pressed against his cheekily, “Annoying. I know. You like it. You’re not very good at staying mad for very long.”

Armin’s tempted to roll his eyes yet again—he really needs to quit it, or at the very least, get your own temper under control before it’s irreversible and completely rubbed off on him—but takes the opportunity to kiss your forehead, instead.

“You’re lucky you’re cute.”

Your eyes twinkle under his affections. “And that you love me?”

He nods, “And that I love you.”

“And that you’re gonna fuck me before you make me write my paper when we get home, right?”

Armin chuckles and presses another kiss to your forehead, “We’ll see about that one.”

Hange huffs as they make their way through the parking. They always forget their keys in their office, and always, inconveniently park half-way across the campus. In their defense, this parking lot is free, and the one closest to the Medical Sciences building is not. So, really, capitalism is the one to blame for their frequent late night car lot strolls.

They hear two familiar voices bickering just as they’re about to step into their car, and are more than surprised to see their two favorite students walking together. Walking together and holding hands. Wait—you and Armin are walking together and holding hands?

Hange blinks for a moment, drowning out the sounds of the conversation after they see you two kiss. Their jaw practically falls to the asphalt and they might not blink for a full two minutes as they process what they just saw.

Their trance is broken when it finally, finally clicks together, and Hange has to try their hardest to contain their squeals before sitting in the driver’s seat, an overly forceful slam to the car door following. They waste no time fumbling with the pockets of their lab coat to fish out their phone, and make a call to their favorite math professor.

“Levi, I told you Arlert and (_____) had to know each other outside of class! I think they might be dating! You know what this means, right? I can have them both in the same lab without worrying they might start a chemical fire, and I won’t have to hire two brick heads this summer!”

Levi has never hung up a call more quickly in his life.

#aot x reader #snk x reader #armin x reader #aot imagines #snk imagines #armin smut #armin fluff #eren x reader

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gallusrostromegalus · 4 years ago

Note

If you ever want to do a "Top 10 home gardening tomato cultivars" segment, I'm here for it. (My folks mostly plant Early Girls, but they have a ridiculously short growing season up there. I grow Sweet 100s, because they taste good enough and I gave up on growing anything other than cherries due to bastard squirrels who like to take exactly one bite out of larger tomatoes.)

IT IS NOW TIME TO INFO DUMP

CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED

Ok so the actual thing with tomatoes is there are- checks google- about 10,000 tomato cultivars out there and every single one of them is different, so you should tailor your tomato breeds to what you actually want to do with them. 10K is a lot a breeds to break down, but fortunately, there are ways to Do That:

1. Determinate vs. Indeterminate

Determinate tomatoes grow to a genetically predetermined size and start fruiting. Pros: Tends to have a short time between planting and fruiting, don’t get bigger than a certain size if you only have so much space. Cons: Once they’re done fruiting, that’s it. you really only get the one crop out of them. Also tend to have sad, watered-down flavor.

Indeterminate tomatoes grow as big as the space will let them, and start fruting when they get around to it. Pros: Maximum Plant for minimum investment, which can be like 10x as big as a determinate plant. Will KEEP fruiting until it gets too cold, so if you can get it in a pot you can move inside you could potentially still be harvesting tomatoes after thanksgiving like my MIL was this year. If you live somewhere warm like SoCal or AZ, you could keep it alive all year. Cons: MUCH longer time between planting and fruiting. Indeterminate tomates Get there when they get there. Also may be more prone to disease and pests than the more-modified determinate plants.

There are determinate and indeterminate tomatoes in all 5 of the Greater Tomato Archetypes. Speaking of:

2. The 5 Tomato Archetypes

I’m so good at segues!

So tomatoes come in 5 basic types, each which is generally better for something culinary than the others. You CAN substitute different types of tomato but your food generally doesn’t come out as good.

1. Cherry: Cherry tomatoes produce fruits that are about the size of cherries. Some people put Grape and Saladette tomatoes in here but they are WRONG, both of those belong in the “Round/All-Purpose” group because Cherry tomatoes specifically have thinner skins, more soluable pectin, and more dissolved glutemates, which means they cook VERY differently. Cherry tomatoes also produce a shitload of fruits at a time and might be some of the heaviest producers. Tend to be more heat-tolerant. Good For: Fresh tomato sauces (i.e. takes less than 20 minutes to make), salads, snacking on directly off the vine like you are a small tarsier discovering a hidden bounty of fruit.

Top reccomendations are: -Indigo Cherry or Dwarf Black Krim if you can find it. I always reccomend dark-pigmented tomatoes as I find they have better flavor, pest resistence and UV tolerance. Taste fruity but not over-sweet and Very Tomato-y. -Sweet 100/Super-Sweet 100/Sweet Millions: All varietals of the same mass-producing Cherry Tomato. Makes absolute buckets of Tomatoes, sweeter and more fruity than the Indigo cherry, good disease resistence and long growing season.

2. Paste: Paste tomatoes are thin-skinned, meaty and soft tomatoes that... well, they make good tomato paste, the basis for all long-cooking tomato sauces and recipies. They tend to be kind of Oblong and sometimes grow in fun extras like lil tomato “dicks” or weird cthulian shapes, but this doesn’t effect the flavor or nutrition There’s a shitload of great varietals in this category, I’ve yet to hear of a Bad Paste Tomato, just Less Excellent ones. Good For: Long-cooking Tomato-based dishes like: Bolognese, chili, ketchup, BBQ etc. Also can and freeze well.

Top Reccomendations are: -Amish Paste: MEATY, and well-suited for growing in a variety of conditions. Paste is smooth and velvety. Good for Chili, BBQ and Bolognese. -Opalka tomato: Russian Tomato, little more on the acidic side, grows well in places prone to surprise late frosts. Paste isn’t as smooth but very thick. makes great ketchup. -San Marzano: THE tomato for making Marinara Sauce (also does good bolognese). Sweeter and lighter, with a slightly runnier paste that clings well to pasta. cans and freezes excellently, does well in places with HOT summers.

3. Beef: Beef tomatoes are BIG motherfuckers that kind of take a long time to grow but are very rewarding. Beef tomatoes are firm, have a very solid meat and are best eaten raw, typically sliced onto a sandwich or seared under a broiler for a NZ Mousetrap. Not only are the fruits big but so are the Plants, so they take a long time to reach maturity and the fruit takes FOREVER to ripen but if you like a sandwich, they can’t be beat. Also they look hella impressive on instagram. They also tend to be more prone to Blossom End Rot (which is just a calcium deficiency- just make sure to fertilize with some eggshells and don’t over-water them), and despite the size, don’t tolerate cold well. Good for: Slicing on sandwiches, eating raw like you’re biting into the still-beating heart of your nemesis and enjoying that sweet, sweet revenge, searing quickly under a broiler or putting on a Kabob.

Top Reccomendations Are: -Brandywine: Hefty, great fresh tomato flavor, and PINK. -Big Zac: Goddamn Massive Tomato. A Real Heckin’ Chonker. meatier flavor and lots of firm flesh with few seeds. -Beefmaster: One problem with Beef tomatoes is that a lot of them are heirloom varietals that aren’t as widely available. Of the ones that are easy to get your hands on, Beefmaster is the best, but it lacks the flavor punch of Brandywine or Big Zac, but it’s not a BAD tomato.

4. Round/Early/All-Purpose: The Workhorse of Tomatoes, the Round Tomato does it all- sauces, salsa, sandwiches, salads, and snacks. But it doesn’t do them quite as well as the other, more specialized tomatoes. Also, some of these tomatoes have been Over-Worked and bred to fruit early and transport well, at the expense of it’s Flavor. I’M TALKING ABOUT YOU, EARLY GIRL AND BETTER BOY, YOU FLAVORLESS TENNIS BALLS, YOU INSULTS TO THE MIGHTY HOUSE OF NIGHTSHADES. Love yourself, don’t get Early Girl or Better Boy. If your season is too short for anything but the earliest of tomatoes, it may be better to grow Something Else than put all that effort in for Disappointment. That said, there are many types of Round/All-Purpose tomatoes that haven’t been overbred into corporate blandness, and I can reccomend them in good concisence if you’re not totally sure what you want to do with your tomatoes: Good For: Indecisive people, people just learning how to grow plants, using one plant for a variety of purposes, people who are not yet prepared to enter the world of Tomato Opinions. Top reccomendations are: -If you really must have an early-fruiting tomato, the Wayahead is an heirloom that people swear comes in early with good size, flavor and firm structure. I have not personally tied this varietal but people I trust like it. -Black Krim: GOD-TIER TOMATO. It’s got it all- flavor, high yields, firm structure, pest and disease resistence, fucking purple stripes. Cans Well, Freezes well, seeds well and breeds true. Fuck yes. Other tomatoes fucking WISH they had what this Hot Bitch has. -Invincible is a damn-hard-to-kill tomato that isn’t very large but fruits reliably and preforms well all around. it also ripens 3 fruits at a time so you’re not constantly overburdened with Tomato. Probably my top pick for beginners that need an Emotional Support Crop.

5. Fun: This is not, strictly speaking, a traditional type of tomato, but I feel like it’s an important category for people who want to do something different or really enjoy all Tomatoes have to offer. Good For: Trying new things, taunting the garden gods with my hubris, showing off at the garden FB group, discovering new flavors of plant.

Top Reccomendations: -Mr. Stripey: it has a goofy name, it’s yellow-and-pink striped, and it smells and tastes almost exactly like pineapple, but it doesn’t try to digest you back. I love it. -Japanese Truffle: Dark Brown tomato that looks like someone tried to make ferro rochers at home and bungled it, and has a LONG maturation time, BUT it’s got a chocolately flavor and even at maturity has green insides which give it this. Lightness? it’s hard to describe but it’s a fascinating flavor. The plant also is more branched and elegant than most tomatoes. Very different, very cool. -I have not personally tried Cherokee Purple but I have heard good things about it. We’ll see how it does in the garden this year. -Tomatillos and Ground Cherries: Not actually tomatoes, but closely related. Neat herbaceous sort of flavor, like thyme but to the left. Also comes in a fun Organic wrapping paper. -Ketchup ‘n’ Fries: a Sweet 100 tomato top grafted onto Kennebec Potato rootstock, so it grows both tomato AND potato! Grafting was invented prbably about a week after the concept of agriculture was, and consists of taking two or more closely related plants and taping a cutting of oone into a hole in the other until the plants heal together. Like that one gorilla-dude from Umbrella academy, but without the angst. You can get them pre-made or attempt to make them at home if you’re feeling adventurous and are OK with potentially killing a bunch of starts while you learn.

Good Luck and Happy Gardening!

#Long post #tomatoes #the garden of earthly HOA violations #njelruch

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five-rivers · 3 years ago

Text

Thread: PHANTOM: MUTANT OR CRYPTID?

Content warnings: some bad grammar and spelling (on purpose), implied swearing, cyber bullying (sorta)

AMITY OF AMITY PARK: A Friendly Helping Hand

Ghost Activity Map, Forums, Local Business Directory, Advice Blog

Forums -> Ghosts -> Phantom -> Speculation

Thread: PHANTOM: MUTANT OR CRYPTID?

Original Poster: Roswell’s Child

Roswell’s Child (OP): (Video clips for reference and evidence) ok so according to the ghosts phantom isnt one. question is what is he? you all know my initial thought is alien but phantoms referenced growing up here a few times and hes way too chil with memes to be completely out of nowhere. that leaves mutant or cryptid and its our duty as amigos to decide

Cynosure: This is a really impressive video compilation, OP, but I always got the impression that it was because he was fighting them? Like, how, idk, someone from an enemy country or an enemy gang might be called ‘not one of us’ or ‘different.’ Or maybe he’s just a different species of ghost?

Valorous1: His name is Phantom, he’s pretty solidly a ghost

passthemike: I VOTE MUTANT. That would be so cool. Do you think he got it from ectoplasm exposure?

passthemike: Do you think other people could get it? I have been slimed a few times by the Fentons. I want powers.

passthemike: Maybe he drank it?

ashtree: could get some from ghost fights it isn’t like it’s hard

Pharaoh (MOD): @passthemike @ashtreeWe highly recommend that you DO NOT consume ectoplasm left from ghost fights. While purified, denatured ectoplasm has little effect on humans when consumed, that is not the case when dealing with ectoplasm sourced directly from ghosts. Please see the Advice Blog article on ectoplasm for more information.

Photosynthesis (MOD): Even ignoring the blatant phasmovory, don’t eat stuff from the ground. That’s gross. @ashtree this is your second strike. Review the AAP forum rules and FOLLOW THEM this time, or you’ll be hit with a ban.

FootballPoet: I thought Phantom was already a cryptid??????

Valorous1: He’s a ghost he’s a ghost he’s an ******* ghost. He does the same things as all the other ******* ghosts he calls himself a ghost what more proof do you want it isn’t exactly a mystery

Roswell’s Child (OP): the topic guys mutant or cryptid

West of West: JFC [EDITED BY MOD] you call ME crazy and THIS is what your posting?

West of West: Also, stop trying to make amigos happen just call us Amity Parkers like everyone else.

Roswell’s Child (OP): **** off [EDITED BY MOD]

Phantom (MOD): @Roswell’s Child @West of West No real human names, guys. We’re still hiding out from the GIW here.

passthemike: NAME THIEF

ashtree: it’s the name thief

Phantom (MOD): Come on don’t do this again.

FootballPoet: Name thief!

tubahater: name thief!

Cynosure: Name thief!

Point25back: name thief!

Thecooltwin: anime their

The Smart Twin: Name theif!

The Smart Twin: @Thecooltwin anime their?

Thecooltwin: shut up

Point25back: then change your name you ******* nerd

Point25back: [COMMENT DELETED BY MOD]

[@Point25back has been banned for seven (7) days.]

Phantom (MOD): Why.

Valorous1: THey think you’re insulting their “hero” by “stealing” his “name”

Cynosure: @Valorous1 Why did you put quotes around ‘name’?

Valorous1: Because……….. it’s obviously fake???????? Why else???????

Phantom (MOD): I’ve stolen nothing.

The Smart Twin: @Phantom (MOD) Your username is literally Phantom.

Phantom (MOD): Yeah, I get that. But the rule is no real human names.

FootballPoet: ????????????????????? Explain?

Cynosure: What.

West of West: Oh come on the mods are clearly [EDITED BY MOD]

[@West of West has been banned for three (3) days.]

passthemike: @Phantom (MOD) ARE YOU PHANTOM IS THAT WHAT YOURE SAYING????

passthemike: @Phantom (MOD)

[@passthemike has been banned for one (1) day.]

Phantom (MOD): Does no one read the forum rules?

The Smart Twin: Wait, are you serious? You’re Phantom? As in the ghost Phantom?

Valorous1: Don’t be stupid, he’s just doing a bit to get you back for the name thief thing ghosts don’t use computers

Thecooltwin: @Valorous1 do you not remember technus? And the robot guy?

Phantom (MOD): Why would I joke about this? I thought the name thief thing was a joke. I mean, I share this account with a human and they're the one that's usually on, because I’m a ghost, but like.

Phantom (MOD): I'm actively giving them permission to use my name so they aren't a thief. And I'm not apple I don't try to copyright random words.

Valorous1: Are you telling me you aren’t [EDITED BY MOD]

Phantom (MOD): NO REAL HUMAN NAMES.

Tubalover: Oh my god is this real

tubahater: You’re really phantom?

Cynosure: Oh, god, no one let CasperQueen know about this.

merknlurk: the name thief… is not a name thief…

Lovetheshow: @Phantom (MOD) dude, you’ve got to tell us how yu do those effects.

nobineryginger: lol you guys are all so wild with your Phantom obsession I vote mutant guys gotta be with all those fast changes no other way lol also good job kicking my bro off guy needed some fresh air

CasperQueen: My <3 is on this site? @Phantom (MOD) DM me <3 <3 <3

Cynosure: I think he left...

Roswell’s Child: at least ive got my answer i guess

Roswell’s Child: definitely a cryptid

[THREAD LOCKED BY MOD.]

Mod Chat

Photosynthesis (MOD): Why did you do this?

Pharaoh (MOD): Not a great move for keeping your ID secret.

Phantom (MOD): I was tired of the name thief stuff OK?

Photosynthesis (MOD): Should have picked a different username then.

Phantom (MOD): Phantom is my name. I wanted to use my name.

Photosynthesis (MOD): Yeah, just maybe our secret Amity Park website shouldn't be the place you do it. At least not as yourself.

Phantom (MOD): But it's my name.

Photosynthesis (MOD): Why are you so hung up on this

Phrontist (MOD): It's a ghost psych thing, don't sweat it.

Photosynthesis (MOD): stop stealing your sister's phone.

Phantom (MOD): No <3

Pharaoh (MOD): your funeral

AMITY OF AMITY PARK: A Friendly Helping Hand

Ghost Activity Map, Forums, Local Business Directory, Advice Blog

Forums -> Human Affairs -> Locals

Thread: IS FENTON A CRYPTID?

Original Poster: Roswell’s Child

#danny phantom #ectoberhaunt treat #ectoberhaunt trick #ectoberhaunt 2021 #ectober 2021 #ectober #fic #phanfic

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c-is-for-circinate · 4 years ago

Text

As promised: let's talk Hades, and how acts of abuse can create toxic environments for everyone around them, and also how people react to those environments--and to them being disrupted.

(For reference, I have just kicked Theseus's ass for the first time, it was exactly as satisfying as it was intended to be, and then I got predictably slaughtered a couple of chambers into Styx. Spoilers for everything through that point, but please no spoilers in reblogs/comments for anything after that!) Also, TW for a whole lot of discussion of abuse, particularly verbal and emotional abuse, and abusive familyworkplace dynamics.

Okay, so. To start out with, Hades is an abusive parent. He engages in innumerable acts of verbal and emotional abuse towards his son, because yep, that's what you call it when a parent constantly berates and belittles their kid for every perceived failure, including the ones the parent themselves could have prevented. Sometimes especially the ones the parent could have prevented. Zagreus failed at his office clerk job because Hades refused to teach him how to do it and then blamed him for not already knowing how. Cerberus tore up the lounge because Hades, who was actually there, chose not to stop him. Hades created, possibly deliberately, and then took full advantage of every opportunity he saw to insult and demean his kid, and the clerk job flashback shows us that he was doing so even before the escape attempts started. I'm pretty sure we're all on the same page here, but: yep, that all constitutes abuse, even if they're gods. Even if Hades has reasons for Being Like That. Even if you think Zagreus seems okay and unharmed by it (which: repeatedly throwing yourself into a gauntlet of violence that inevitably ends in your own pain and death because you're so desperate to escape home, not actually an indicator of someone who's okay). We all good on that?

Cool. Because I'm not really here to talk about how Hades' abuse directly impacts Zagreus right now (although there's for sure an essay in that too). I'm thinking about how it impacts everybody else.

Hades isn't as obviously unreasonable with anybody else in his kingdom the way he is with his kid. When we see him lecture somebody else, it's usually for an actual failure to do their job: Hypnos for literally falling asleep on the job and not doing anything that was assigned to him, Megaera for letting us past her so many time, Orpheus for being a court bard who refuses to sing. His attitude is super confrontational and unpleasant, but on the surface it doesn't necessarily look as fucked-up. Thing is, though, whether any individual act of aggression towards an employee/family member is justified or not (I would generally argue 'not', because aggression towards employees/family members is, y'know, not justifiable)--it's not about the individual acts. It's about the entire cultivated atmosphere of toxicity and abuse.

One of the very first things Meg ever says to us is, "I'd rather be on your bad side than his." Up until that point, we've got no reason to believe Meg has any history whatsoever of fucking up at her job. In fact, we've got plenty of reason to believe she's good at it. She's fiercely proud of it, she's frequently Employee Of The [Time Period], and we've apparently never even met her sisters because she handles her shit herself. But she's still scared of Hades. Dusa, who is an anxious wreck at all times because oh god what if she gets fired what if she gets fired what if she gets fired, in spite of apparently being absolutely exemplary at her job, is scared of Hades. Every single shade in the Hall is clearly terrified of Hades, and it's not because of what he's done to each of them. It's what they've seen him do to other people.

Which is how toxic environments work, whether they're work environments or families. The Court of Hades is of course both, always, with the bonus hell layer of you can't quit even if you DIE. An abuser in authority doesn't have to target you in order to make you feel scared, cowed, and desperate to please them. Humans (and gods who are basically extra-powerful humans) are good at learning by example. The residents of the Court get the picture.

So this Court is a minefield--and everyone except Zagreus is very good at tiptoeing around mines. We see it in Meg, so desperate to do her job well. We see that Hypnos very clearly does not give a shit about anything, but he still makes sure to have a list of excuses ready if/when Hades ever confronts him about failure to do his job, just in case. We see it when Achilles tells us that my ability to help you is constrained by the authority your father gives me, or whatever the line was sixty runs ago when he couldn't let me into locked chambers. The system, such as it is, works, and if Nyx talks to Hades as little as possible, if Thanatos avoids the Court entirely, if Achilles treads very carefully and knows how to keep his head down--well that's just the system, right? That's just how things are.

Even Zagreus seems to have had a role in that system as the court fuckup. He's the kid who didn't have a real job or purpose. He could take the focus of Hades' generalized, day-to-day ire off of everyone else, without triggering some of the more direct and violent ire because the work he was doing didn't really matter (a LOT of Hades' rage-triggers seem to be related to job performance, which means that the people with real jobs are of course the most at risk). And he could do so "safely" (big emphasis on the quotation marks there) because he alone of the court is Hades' actual kid, who's Prince of the Underworld no matter how much he fucks up. If one of Nyx's other kids gets something really really wrong, she might be able to protect them from some consequences, but Hades doesn't have any layer of supposed parental affection holding him back from getting violently furious about it. Zagreus gets a nice bedroom and the abuse is limited to words rather than divine power, and Hades is a dick to everyone but he only occasionally condemns people to eternities of torture, and only for good reasons like refusing to sing when your job is to be court bard, so it's fine, everybody's fine, everything's totally fine, right?

Except it's not fine when everybody is so clearly worried about anything going wrong. And it's especially not fine for Zagreus, who's the person to finally say no. He's leaving, for his own sake, because he deserves better and he's finally convinced he can have it. And that turns the whole system into disarray.

I am endlessly fascinated by the ways this game portrays different characters reacting to this upheaval in their carefully-mapped minefield. It's different for authority figures and peers and servants, different based on how people are positioned in the house under Hades' rule, and it's so spot-on and I love it.

Nyx, for instance, is absolutely calm about the whole thing, because Nyx has power. Hades can't hurt her. Hades can't even really do much against her children, not when Hypnos and Thanatos are gods in their own right. Yes, Hades rules the kingdom, but Nyx owns the land, and she gives no shits about his rages. And it's interesting, too, to see the lines she doesn't draw. The deal seems to be that Hades doesn't fuck with her, and doesn't outright threaten her kids (because Hypnos is bad at his job, demonstrably so, and Hades hasn't ruined him yet), and she doesn't interfere with the way he treats the people around him. She gives Zagreus advice and support and the mirror, but she also doesn't take a direct stand against Hades. He can't hurt her, but he could make life...difficult. She's protected, her position in the minefield is more of a safe viewing platform than slogging through the middle of it, but the mines are still there.

And then we have Achilles, who is one of my favorite characters in the whole game because of how he reacts to this whole situation. Achilles, like Nyx, is so supportive. Every single time you see him he has something encouraging to say. He gives us his Codex, secretly finds us weapons, trained us for years, clearly wants us to succeed. And still he's limited, not necessarily out of fear for himself (though he has to be scared for himself, he knows what Hades does to people who anger him), but out of concern that if he gives Zagreus too much help in one way, he won't be able to provide help at all later. He's still so careful.

Achilles and Nyx are so fucking important to this story because they're the only authority figures Zagreus really has in his life except for his father, and they are so supportive. They're what keep this story from being a nightmare of psychological horror and depression. They can't stop the pressure from Hades and this life in his house being miserable for Zag, but they can give us hope, remind us that Zagreus is still loved. And they have such an incredibly important role when it comes to guilt, which is one of the biggest ways toxic systems maintain themselves.

If Zagreus leaves, what happens to everybody else? Who takes Hades' wrath then? Who becomes court scapegoat if he's not there, and also, who gets punished for his escape? These questions matter, and we see him worry about it! He asks Nyx and Achilles both, is it going to be okay that you're helping me, are you going to be alright, will my father hurt you for this? And they are both so firm about telling him no. No, I will be fine. See, here's the list of reasons about why I'm going to be fine, why my position in this minefield is secure. They make a point of telling us that it's fine, that we do not need to hold ourself back from getting out of this abusive situation for their sake. That is instrumental in Zagreus's ability to keep making these escape attempts without feeling too guilty and worried and selfish to go on. (Another thing that's actually really important in setting up that dynamic--we see that Hades cares about Cerberus, even if he's using him as a pawn against us, and Cerberus seems to be the one figure in court who Hades doesn't get mad at. The dog isn't at risk, and that is really essential in keeping the story from getting too grim.) These people who we care about refuse to let themselves be held hostage to secure our good behavior.

It's also really useful for raising the stakes later in the story--we see Hades arguing with Nyx once or twice, and we see Zagreus feeling guilty about it, but it's also a sign that we're making enough progress to piss him off. After I finally made it out of Elysium on my last run, I came home to find him furious with Achilles in a way that actually makes me nervous, because Achilles does not have nearly as much security in his position as he says he does. (Achilles is such a good teacher/authority figure, because he knows goddamn well what Hades could do to him, and still refuses to let fear for his own situation stop him from helping the abused kid under his care escape his. And no, not everybody has the capacity to do that, but it matters so much coming from the guy who helped raise us. It matters so much. I do not even have the words for how much.)

It's also no mistake that many of the people we find supporting us along our journey are either the people with the most power in their immediate environment, or the least. Sisyphus helps us because what more could they do to me than this? Orpheus is a little wild around the eyes and somewhat disconnected from reality, and he wishes us the best because someone should get what they want and also he no longer gives a single fuck what happens to him. Eurydice has her own cozy little corner of Asphodel, as safe from Hades' rage as anybody anywhere in his realm because she's tucked in such an out-of-the-way middle place she's outside his notice. Dusa is so scared of everything anyway that, crush aside, she isn't any more threatened by us escaping than she is just by her everyday life here. Charon is unfathomable and unstoppable; Skelly literally exists to be a punching bag, and yet he also seems basically immune to pain, no matter what we do to him. There's no threat from Hades there.

So the people most at risk when I flip the world on its ear are the ones who have so much standing that they have something to lose, but not enough to protect them from losing it. Which of course brings us to Than and Meg--who are, of course, the two people who also seem by far the most upset by my attempts to leave.

As authority figures, Nyx and Achilles are constantly reinforcing the message that it's Hades' fault, not ours, if they or anybody else get caught in the crossfire of his wrath. I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, and it's not my guilt to bear. From Megaera and Thanatos, we get the opposite message--I am fucking with things, I am hurting people, and I need to stop. Zagreus isn't just abandoning them, as a friend or brother or lover or all of the above they're Greek gods who even knows. He's betraying them. They were in this together, as friends or lovers or whatever, but now Zagreus is sending earthquakes through the minefield they both still have to stand in. He is about to capsize this boat in the middle of a thunderstorm, he is fucking with the system, and they're the ones who are going to get most hurt.

I'm so curious how this is going to work for Than, who out of everyone we meet holds the closest role to Nyx's in terms of being sheltered from Hades' wrath. He's the guy who gets to leave, after all, even though he always has to come back. I've seen the least of him out of anybody so far because it took forever for me to get to Elysium, but two things really stand out and I'm so interested to see where they go. One, he really genuinely does care about Zagreus. He wants us safe, he wants us unhurt, the accessory he gives us only grants its bonus if we clear a room without taking injury, he keeps showing up to help. And two, he wants us to give up and go back and recognize how good we had it. Which is SO fucking interesting, considering how miserable Zagreus so clearly was, and how legitimate his reasons for being miserable were.

It makes me wonder so much about Than's standards for comparison. Does he know something we don't about what's waiting for us on the surface, something that might theoretically hurt Zagreus even more than staying down below? Has his life, which apparently allows him more freedom than anybody else in the Court, sucked horribly in ways we haven't seen, and that's why he spends so little time there in the first place? Either of those things is plausible, both of those things are plausible, and yet either one leads to this sense of patronizing, because he refuses to simply tell us. If something terrible is awaiting us, don't give us vague warnings, tell us what it is and let us decide for ourself! If you're fucking jealous because we might get out entirely and you're still stuck coming back here, say so. If you're worried about your mom--and he does bring her up, how could Zagreus turn his back on her like that, does seem to worry for her--then let's have an actual conversation about how many times she has insisted I do this and also how much I love her.

And, right, it's clear that a lot of Thanatos being upset is simply, you were going to leave me without even saying goodbye, you want to leave ME, which is understandable! But, like, he is demonstrably the one god who gets to visit the surface. He's the one person we actually COULD expect to see again. And he is absolutely also upset because there's an Order To Things, and we're fucking it up. We used to be his careless callow reckless friend who could talk back to Hades and get away with it, and now we're not, and everything is changing and we might leave him altogether, and we might leave him alone in that court without us, and he hates it.

Is it a short-sighted, selfish fear on his part? Yes, absolutely. Even if he's not scared of Hades on his own behalf, he is still frightened by what happens if we upset this system--and maybe it's the sanctity of a much bigger system than the Underworld that he's worried about! Maybe it's the whole divine and cosmic order. Whatever system he wants so badly to protect is enabling the abuse Zagreus has been dealing with for however-long he's been alive. Whatever system he wants so badly to protect OUGHT to be overturned, or at least shaken up. But this is what toxic systems DO. They convince the people within them that they have to be maintained, that a broken system that hurts the people within it is far better than no system at all, that changing the world is too scary and too dangerous. And Thanatos wants his whatever-Zagreus-is-to-him to be there, because he loves him and also because that's how the world works, and those things are all tangled up in one another, and that is how relationships are in a messed-up family like this so therefore I love it.

And Meg. Meg, the best for last, my dear, beautiful, furious, bitter, scared angry tired girl. I adore her. I am absolutely never going to date her, because the thing Zagreus needs most in his life hurts her, more directly than anybody else in the story, and that sucks, and it's not Zag's fault but they still shouldn't be together. Meg has taken more injury from this situation than anyone, quite literally as well as metaphorically, and it's not her fault any more than it's ours, but oh boy it has made her lash out and it's awful and it's perfect.

Meg's place in the Court of Hades is unique because she's not dead, not a mortal, not anything other than a god--but she's also not family. Nyx is not her mother. She's very much part of this system, she and her two sisters belong to Hades-the-realm and therefore also Hades-the-king, she can't leave, but she also doesn't have that protection of Nyx watching out for her in the same way. She's not royalty. She and her sisters (if you ask Hesiod instead of Virgil, which seems to be the interpretation the game's going with here) sprang from the blood of maimed Uranus at the same time as Aphrodite, but fuck knows Aphrodite isn't claiming them as siblings. And she can't be fired, exactly, but she sure can be demoted, and she sure can be made miserable in her job. Meg is vulnerable in a way very few people in Hades' employ are. She's a lot harder to do away with than any one random shade, but she's also a lot harder to miss blending in with a crowd.

What's more, she's the one person in this whole mess who is specifically tasked with stopping us from leaving. Hypnos isn't ordered to put us to sleep and keep us in our room. Thanatos can't be compelled or punished if he doesn't hunt us down. Achilles isn't told to lock us up and keep the keys. Meg is the one stationed at the doorway to Tartarus to keep us in. Meg is the one who gets in trouble when we leave. Meg (who Hades knows goddamn well Zagreus cares for, or cared for, who he absolutely knows we used to date) is the one who has to fight us again and again and again. And she's the one who keeps dying.

Again, it's this incredibly fucked-up guilt/hostage situation deliberately designed to keep people from fleeing abusive situations. Meg's insistence on fighting us now puts Zagreus in the position of having to hurt her himself again and again. Now suddenly we're the ones sticking a sword in our ex-girlfriend. Now suddenly someone can point to our desire to leave, to flee, to escape, and say, how selfish. How cruel. How terrible of us to want to go, when we're even willing to hurt the people we love to do it.

Except, right: Hades is the one who demands Meg stand there and stop us. Hades is the one who puts both of us in that position. Meg is also in an abusive situation, and she's willing to hurt us to protect herself. "I'd rather be on your bad side than your father's." It's easy to blame her at the start for being complicit, for being a tool of our father's abuse, for being on his side. It gets harder as the game goes on. I've killed her so many times. There's no way for her to beat me. She knows at this point that she can't beat me. She still fights, every single time, still throws herself upon that spike, not because she thinks she has any chance of stopping me but because she is so damn scared of what will happen if she doesn't try.

In fact, Meg's the one person we have actually seen face consequences for our actions so far, instead of just facing the threat of them. Her sisters are here. Her sisters, who she clearly does not want here, who are wild and violent and who she does not want in her life or anywhere near her, let alone near the job she takes so much pride in. She gets to deal with them now. (Hades doesn't have to deal with them. They're still not allowed in his court. But Meg does.) She gets stabbed, and bludgeoned, and shot, and lightning-struck, and poisoned, and every other thing we do to her. Thanatos doesn't. Nyx and Achilles and Hypnos don't. Bug Meg? Oh yes. Meg pays.

And yes, ok, she is complicit in this system. Everybody is complicit in this system. Zagreus who's trying to escape on his own behalf instead of overthrowing his father for the sake of everyone he'd otherwise be leaving behind is complicit in this system. Pointing fingers and pulling strings of who's more at fault? and who do we blame for this? is exactly how this sort of system perpetuates itself. Your sister always talked back at the dinner table and put everyone in an even worse and more violent mood. Your coworker refuses to work more than forty hours a week so now you have to take overtime to pick up their slack. You're enabling your dad by asking your sister to shut up, you're enabling your employer by working as hard as you do so you don't get fired, everyone's at fault, everyone's to blame, everyone is--

It's not everyone. It's Hades. It's Hades at the root of everything, and probably something big and institutional and fucked-up even beyond him. But even if everyone down in this Underworld does have to be trapped here forever, even if he's trapped here forever, Hades is neither challenging the system that put them here nor trying to make that fate better for anyone else stuck with him. He's just created an entire kingdom of backbiting and misery and people who can either go along with his whims or suffer the consequences.

At this point in the game, Meg is so fucking tired. Every time we run into her in the lounge, hunched over a table, the venom in her voice when she tells us "Do I look like I have anything to say to you?" is so bitter and so exhausted. There was a system, and she knew her place in the system, and it was a system divinely ordered by the gods themselves, and sure it was cruel but that's the literal will of the universe as far as she knows it. She had a role, and her role was vengeance and punishment and violence against those who'd committed the most egregious of sins in life, and there was a point to it, she was the divine deterrent to convince people not to do those things, and that was just, and that was right. The GODS THEMSELVES said so. How do you argue with that? You can't possibly argue with that!

And Zagreus is arguing with that. In trying to leave, he's questioning the unbreakable rule that nothing in the Underworld ever gets to leave it. In disobeying his father to do so, he's questioning the unbreakable rule that what the gods say is LAW. He's breaking everything.

And of course he's not trying to do any of that. He's not trying to destabilize the system at all. He's just trying to get himself out of it, to a place where he feels like he belongs and maybe a parent who's slightly nicer to him than this one. But toxic systems like this one break when the people within them have access to another option. When the kids find a way to actually leave, and not answer the phone, and not come home for holidays, and not deal with it any more. When the employees have the economic freedom to quit. When opportunities granted by education, money, social support, etc etc etc, show up and give people a choice. Even if the option is only ever for Zagreus--he's demonstrating that an option exists. Which is, of course, the one thing the system cannot ever allow.

I really like this game.

#hades game #hades spoilers #C plays stuff #driveby meta attack

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