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sbcdh · 2 days ago

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"You saw it?"

"For a second. Yeah. I saw one."

"Start at the beginning."

"Hoo. Okay. Uhhh... It was 77. I think. I was air force. Or, hypnoengineering support staff contracted to help out around St. Louis."

"That's how you came into your supply of JVH-1"

"It was JVH-11 actually, and yeah, the fuckin, uh- the requisitions officer at Scott was an old buddy of mine. We used to fuck around in college before I, you know-"

"Yes I understand."

"I worked records for Sears-Roebuck, I had all the accounting expertise, as well as a ready supply of LSD."

"How did you start?"

"Oh it was easy at first. Really just selling off phials of the new experimental stuff to finance guys. They'd go nuts for the stuff, pay top dollar for it too. Hell, I could get 100$ for a milliliter. Made it easy to keep my contacts bought in and re-invested. Honestly I don't think the req office would even know that we were skimming if they weren't in on it.

But, you know how it is with hypnoregulation. Transchronological market data is worth it's weight in diamond. It started with the odd photo of a 2q-week readout, then biometric data, then, uh- then. Well, we decided to try it ourselves."

"You attempted full sub-finantial emmanation?"

"No no god no, what're you nuts? No, see. We figured if one person can meld their brain with the market, we just had to get as close as we could to that guy, and mark the twain, hypnologically speaking."

"Mark the twain?"

"Yeah, see, okay. A plutophant in full emmanation isn't like us. We exist at a single point in time, an R1 rational market actor. But they exist in multiple points in time, back in 77, I think the government could hit R6 with that analogue tech. Most people can hit R2 with a single hit of JVH-1, with practice you can hit R3, but anything higher than R3 takes a pretty serious support team. But here's the thing, I had a whole cadre of co-implicated members of a military grade hypnoengineering support team. All we needed was the space."

"The warehouse. Schaeffer Marble and Tile was it?"

"Bingo. See here's the thing. You know why the government had to start building those special regulation temples? It's not just for security. Once you crack the R6 barrier, Plutophants start leaving what's called a wake. You know, like a fuckin, uh, like a boat. They're imperceptible to normal people, but if you have sensitive enough instruments or, say, a person in the edge of sub-market emmanation.

See the government didn't know at the time, but if you balanced the drugs just right, and kept someone right on the edge of R4, you could actually read the plutophant's interpretations by their wake rather than their direct neurofeedback. It's not nearly as precise, but if you have a good team and you know what to look for, you can get some really, really valuable market data that way."

"And your co-worker?"

"You mean Mills? Fuck. Yeah...Mills. Right."

"Take your time."

"No, no I'm good. It's... It's uh, It's dangerous. Brains aren't meant to take that much JVH-11 all at once. We could stay on R4, but what we didn't have was a recovery team, or a medical team, or recon team. It was me, Mills, Israel, Connaught, and Marsh. The five of us were the only ones in the soup. Bruso was running the machines and Lasker was monitoring the readout."

"Can you tell us what happened?"

"Yeah. Yeah. It was a normal intrusion. Hypnogrid emmanation is pretty simple with our tech and support. Sedation was all green, hypnoinduction was green. Smooth as silk. Landed about 40 minutes from our work location. We had the codes from the IRSAW people that morning, all we had to do was maintain hypnoinduction for 40 minutes while traversing the colon and we'd be able to-"

"I'm sorry, colon?"

"Oh come on. Colon. Collective Unconscious. Col-Un. Colon."

"I- of course. Continue."

"Hey, have you ever been on a dive before?"

"Can we focus on your statement?"

"It's important. I need to know if this next bit is gonna make sense to you or not."

"I've undergone basic anti-intrusion training standard for IRS investigation task force officers."

"So you've done safe dives. White room? Castle training? Putting up the wall? All that jazz?"

"That's correct."

"Did they ever tell you why it's dangerous to perform off-site hypnoincursion in meta-unstsble hypnospace?"

"They did."

"Well they're lying...don't look at me like that. I'm not bullshitting you. They're lying...there's...there's shit out there okay? There's things out there."

"Mills?"

"Yeah. Mills. Uh..."

"Take your time."

"Yeah yeah. Quit interruptin me. Mills... Uh, yeah so we were T-Plus 30 into the dive. Bruso gives us a heads up that some hypnoflora is headed our way, but can't get a read on mass. Says we should steer clear, but we are so close. Israel had handled some hypnoflora before, so we weren't worried. But it was... I dunno. I can't explain."

"Do your best."

"Like. Okay. Meta-unstsble dives are fucked. They're acid trips. The St. Louis hypnoscape already doesn't look normal, but Scott Base looked like some kinda bastard lovechild of a medieval castle and a seashell, all twisting up into itself. The streets were a chessboard, and all the streetlights we're these tall kinda mannequin lookin' things holding a tiny sun in their hand. Everything is fucked, it's all topsy turvy. But it's okay, because it's meta-unstable hypnospace, its not SUPPOSED to be normal. And then there was a Red Sock."

"Like for the feet?"

"No. Like. In the middle of this fucked up dreamscape, there's suddenly a batter for the Boston Red Sox. He's standing there, maybe 50 feet away. He's got a bat in one hand and a mitt in the other, and he's just kinda walking towards us. Nobody really knew what to do. It didn't look dangerous, but something wasn't right. It didn't fit. We just kinda stood there, looking at the thing. Israel starts talking to Bruso, asking him what to do. Suddenly, Bruso is screaming at us, telling us to book it. He's screaming into the com, telling us to prepare for de-emmanation. Nobody knows what's happening. Israel is suddenly standing between Mills and the Red Sock, and..."

"Any information you can recall could be of use."

"It's...it's mostly feeling at this point. You ever been having a normal dream? Like, a good, normal dream? And suddenly you realize that something is really, really wrong? There's signs. For me? It's that the lights go out. Suddenly day turns to night, and something about this batter just makes me want to curl up and hide. Suddenly, moving through the world is like trying to swim through molasses. I try to run, but nothing moves, and everything is dark. The world is shifting. There's shadows under the bathroom door that can't be happening. A man who looks like Jesus. An old and terrible house and an old man with no name whose face I can't remember. The batter swings at Mills and she just...vanishes. Shes gone. Bruso pulls us out a second later."

"So this, batter killed Ms. Mills?"

"No."

"No?"

"No. We get out, she's comatose. Whatever that thing did to her, she was still in hypnospace. I gave her a hot shot of barbiturates. Her brain activity slowed to R0 after about 90 seconds."

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themareverine · 2 months ago

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Mare & the Wolverine | good poison | Logan Howlett

summary: Laughlin City, an Eden of promise. Or destiny.

warnings: AU, age gap, strangers to friends, friends to lovers, eventual romance, violence, angst, trauma, religion, self-insert, self-esteem issues, chance meetings, alcohol, grief/morning, mutual pining, falling in love, slow-ish burn, fluff and angst, canon-typical violence, virginity, reposted from my old account.

MASTERLIST| NAVIGATION | NEXT | PREVIOUS

“I’ve never met a more obsessive, religiously fanatical, irresponsible press professional in my entire career, McAffery—and I’ve been doing this thirty fucking years!”

“Told you to drop that mutant BS, McAffery—”

Blue light from her phone lights up the shadowed seat beside her, interrupting the cruel sting of thoughts lapping her brain like a pace car. Redlined and leading, her attention briefly drifts from the yellow lines of highway to the bright screen that lingers—to the text bubble with the little avatar face of who else but her mother, checking in on her for only the fiftieth time tonight.

“I’m fine, ma,” she sighs to empty space around her. A glance upward through the windshield to the night sky canvases unfamiliar constellations, stars she’s never seen this far north. Living north all her life had prepared her for a lot of, well, Canada— but not the stars. There seemed to be more of them, dancing in troops that quickened the soul. They’d been hanging in the sky for hours, now, and every time her gaze flicked up—never saw the same cluster.

Diiiing. The sound avalanches in the cab, almost. “Jeez, I’m fine, ” it’s more of a growl than anything as she reaches for the phone. Silences it. Practically tossing it to the cup holder, she shifts a little further against her seat, her ass into the three decade-old cushion just like she’d been doing for two days. Shoulders pressing back into the material of her seatback, a slight shiver races up her spine where frigid air snakes into the cab of the Jeep between gaps in soft-top canvas—irritates the hunger that’s been low simmering in her stomach since before the sun had disappeared.

A quick GPS consult and civilization is less than ten miles on her course. It promises a bar, a Motel 6, some gas. Nothing fancy. Reading in-between trying to stay between yellow highway lines reveals that Laughlin City is a logging community, one of those let’s-film-a-cheesy-Hallmark-romance little sports that show up in romantic novels and on travel blogs. It’s quiet with a limited population, mountainside and traditional. Perfect.

Starting directions to Laughlin City, you’re on the fastest route—-

“Considering I don’t see any freeways, I guess that tracks,” Frick, I’m turning into my mother talking to myself— and she had been, for two days. But that’s probably fine, better to keep herself company in the off-hours of radio. She couldn’t bear any more talk radio, didn’t have the caffeine or the patience to relive the same Shania Twain cassette tape for a twentieth time.

Sighing, her head kicks back a little against the hard headrest behind her. Brightness from the GPS route is white-hot and blinding, has Mare McAffery turning her phone screen down to the fading 90s-print material of the passenger seat. She can see the little cloud from the hard breath she lets escape from between her lips, which subliminally raises the air on her arms. Sends a stab of cold through the bones in her hands. Even with air bursting from the defrost, it’s cold. Colder here, farther north, than her family’s quiet little farmland Minnesota home for this time of year—a t-shirt had felt like a good idea this morning at the truck stop. Splashing water on her face and smiling into sunshine.

Her eyes drift to the dash clock as a hand reaches behind her to grope for the hoodie she’d abandoned. A little after 11—her time. Back home. Mare has no idea what time it is in Canada, under foreign stars and among unknown mountains. Though, really it doesn’t matter—time is a construct when you’re on the road. When you don’t really have anywhere to be in all that much of a hurry, when you’re getting out of Dodge and rethinking every strategic decision of your life.

God, what am I doing? Where are You in this? And the thought is random. Had been, for days. Quitting her job on the spot three weeks ago had felt like the move of the century, like a Neil Armstrong one-giant-leap-for-mankind on the moon type of deal. Once in a lifetime, defining. Must’ve been what the fathers of her nation felt, rising up to slay the Goliath oppressing them into submission—she’d bucked the power of corporate America, felt the sting of her whip for a final count.

There’d never been more peace, more purpose about her life than in that moment, smiling down her nose at her boss. Knowing she’d left him in the lurch, had upset his canoe. Upstream without a paddle, take that you scumsucking piece of trash. Her guts had nearly risen up to her throat with the flood of pure adrenaline. Bolstered, like a shooting star— all hot and undiscerning strength. Every disgruntled employee in the history of the working class before her, caged within her bones. Finding justice in this one act, this flight. High flying and empowered, she’d crashed through the glass ceiling—unscathed, unravished. Free.

Or so she prayed.

Reality rose up to strike her like plague, chastened and vengeful. Leaving behind ghosts and midnight phantoms to haunt her even in sleep, her fears. Disease eating away at the flesh of her life, an insatiable predator unrelenting until satisfied. Picking its teeth with the bones of her future, the unknown. Grinning at her like a subtle, close-to-the-chest demon of her own making. Tapestry of her life began to unravel, unfurled by her own bravada, her own shield of faith in the unknown. Days bled eternally into weeks. Networking spiderwebbed away in the wind, disheveled and thin. Nothing aside from Oh-honey-I’m sorry’s and though-your-qualifications-are-impressive-we-regret’ s.

Word traveled fast in rocks and cows country, not-the-Twin-Cities Minnesota. Whoever didn’t look on her with sympathy dug her grave, or threw dirt on open wounds festering with her own shame. Nobody was eager to onboard the bloodhound trailblazing young lady with starry eyes and Superman hope.

Singlehandedly she’d brought coverage of the community’s less-than-human population to hometown families and cropfarmers, faces nobody in her world desired. They’d kept the mutants at arm’s length, in the city and away from the grass that dances on the prairie; innocence of country living. Nobody wanted them in their ZIP code, their school districts—accidents raised taxes. No mayor wanted to address the subject at press conferences or on small city councils, no school board wanted funding for safe rooms or SPED. Better to lock them away in the concrete jungle of downtown, anonymous faces in a sea crying out for representation.

Disarming a population’s ignorance had been a savage fight—soul crushing and abusive. Her head had been piked in every town-gossip-over-coffee table in the entire township, her family’s name raked over the coals in the editorials. Recklessly brave, but the greater good had come at a high, not-so-good price. Expensive for an under-thirty young little thing with bright aspirations, with a family standing behind her as pillars in a crumbling, paralyzed community.

Better to turn a blind eye to the unfortunates than lend a hand likely to be bit, was the argument. Lambs to slaughter, all of her anonymous mutant sources had eviscerated from contact seemingly overnight—lost to anonymity, to the underworld of obscurity and fear.

Foolish, simpleminded. White washed tombs, dens of vipers. Disheartened —didn’t they see—?

A glance into the rearview and she’s able to make out the almost-cavernous upset digging trenches in the skin of her brow, the veil that’s overtaken once-bright eyes. All noted, even in the glare of blue light and shadows. She exhales deep and feels it, between her ribs. In, out—one, two, three; let it go, let it go let it go. That burning knot of lava that’s parked in between her shoulder blades shakes just a little, breaks apart. And for a brief moment, there’s cool relief that comes with another bite of May wind. Chases all the way down her spine, nips at her collarbones.

Her grip tightens on the wheel, highway stretched unforgiving. Mocks her, reminding her how far away she’s attempting to fly, to hide . Inky midnight fans out before her— a lover, shadowing the world beyond the headlights of the Jeep Wrangler. Promising to hide her away, in a new world. The Wrangler seems to roar, engine loud in the empty night air, humming and thunking like old horsepower does. Whether in protest or jubilation, she’s not sure. Doesn’t even know if she wants to be.

A wing and prayer. She’s left on a wing, with a prayer—it’ll carry her. To Laughlin, at least.

Tires eat pavement like a beast, thrum thrum, thrumming away underneatht the rig almost in perfect step with the rabbit heartbeat kicking in her chest. Hears every rotation of rubber against asphalt through the canvas top. Tastes the cold bite of May night seeping through gaps and vinyl windows, cooling that still-there heat between her shoulders, that ache in the back of her eyes.

Fiddling with the radio for the local news distracts her from GPS directions for a heartbeat. Almost missing the turnoff, she more forgoes the stop sign than actually misses it, engaging the clutch and brake to downshift. Skirting by the blaring scarlet of the sign, there’s no sign of headlights any direction at the four way. Except, in the distance, maybe five or so miles.

Between trees that canopy and dart in the breeze, trying to keep civilization a secret from the unsuspecting. Warring against the moon for rights to illuminate, to pierce through the veil of night—mountain peaks like dark sentinels, threatening and breathtaking in the faraway. Sits like a lion, stirring at the presence of the intruding Daniel.

Laughlin City.

“Bingo.”

Mopping droplets of sweat pearling up from between his facial hair hasn’t ever felt more like a chore than it does right now, in the flickering light of a too-late pub crawling with county lowlives and province nobodies. Every muscle burns with adrenaline that pistons through his veins like a hot steamroller, flattening any thought other than sucking air into his chest. Logan Howlett swears to God he can feel his very bronchial tubes with every pull of thick, curling air—wouldn’t be surprised if he couldn’t label every cell, working in unison to stitch him back together.

It’s a delicate dance, healing after a fight. Body goes to work even before new wounds hit home—recovering from old ones, almost anticipating where new ones will land. Takes a significant amount of energy, a high unlike any amphetamine can deliver. Hot, heavy, painful bliss. That feel-good, fuck-this-is-perfect way he’s only ever experience in one other way—and that’s cock deep, in the right woman, red lines flaming down the length of his back. It’s taken a lifetime to ignore the adrenaline, the feel good burn of flesh stitching itself piece by piece. Wounds numbing over as the body corrects. Blood cut off from oxygen, sealed behind skin and screaming behind new scars. Bones correcting from fracture, pulled together with God-perfect precision no ER could ever match. Marrow stretching, cartilage welding back together. Feeling coming back with just as much prejudice as it had when it went.

And it’s no different tonight, after a fight. Adamantium in his hands trembles, quakes with every beat of his pulse. Cold, itching with a sensation that only means one thing— air. Oxygen. Oxygen that fuels rage, that feeds the fire of release that’s a blazing furnace almost carved into the length of his spine. Bones, their marrow, they want air — crave it like demons. Flogging his soul like Christ at the crucifixion, crucifying him to the never-ending torment of holding it all together. Of balancing the line of monster and man, mortal and mutant. Ravages his will, rapes him of innocence, even in his youth. Even as a boy, even as James— he’d never had innocence. What even was purity to a man born to die but forced to live?

He’d always been this, this h eld-together-with-threadbare-stitches-of-his-own-resolve carcass aching to die. Searching to live.

And it takes will, to live. Will of the ages, hills. Steadfastness of mountains to maintain the barrier between resolution and absolution. To not let go —to deny the impulses that scream through his blood like phantoms. Even the very stones beneath his feet cry out for his blood, for justice. Justice that had been lost through time, as others pass away. As he lives. His sins fade with those in graveclothes, but they haunt him like shadows. Peaceless life, ravaged. An ever-present war that carousels about his psyche.

Don’t let go, Logan—don’t let them see you. Light a cigar. Suck in some brandy. Drown out the memories, the tombstones of everything he’s ever felt in his life rising up from buried graves and nameless mantras. It’s not for you, it’s for them. Never for you, always for them—

“—hey, you. Yeah, you— Mutton Chops. Yeah. It’s Wolverine, right?”

He would chuckle if it wasn’t so ridiculous. Mutton Chops?

Fingers scratch through the longer hairs, the corner of his mouth teases up with an amused smirk. Figures, they are a little dated. But, he enjoys them—he likes the way looks, always had. Cut a fine figure, and if he didn’t let himself know it, the women did. Been mooning over him since God knew . If he didn’t hate the attention, if he didn’t hate being seen; mingling with the echelon of the common man—-he could have any tit and skirt he wanted, most places. A few years of fucking anything that walked had lost its charm swiftly, and with gusto.

Logan had learned early that he needed very few things in life to live, to survive. Living demanded the basic essentials, and a man isn’t truly a man unless he makes his own way. Women, well—girls were a luxury . Rubies and emeralds among the silver and golds of the everyday. High prices. Precious things in the eyes of God and the male sex, to be worshiped. Certainly so, can’t argue with the Twains and Shakespeares, the Psalmists of the ages—but they weren’t necessary. Not to survive. Little delicacies to make the journey tolerable, but not necessary. Privileges never were.

“Wolverine—I’m talkin ’ to you!”

But the alias is familiar, but the voice isn’t. Logan tosses back the bite of brandy that burns all the way down, snaps his attention from the bottom of the shot glass to the guy coming up behind him. Feet heavy, he’s at least six-two, two-fifty at a glance guess. Beer gut and a bald dome, some redheaded tart from across the bar reaching to pull him back. May as well be Vegas neon. Trouble—double order, by the looks of it.

Shoulda been my middle name, “In some circles,” warmth skates into his blood, pulling at the attitude simmering at the edges of his resolve, “who’s askin’?” Fixing the edge of his shirt around the waist of his jeans, Logan ignores the instinctual twinge of pain that ricochets between his knuckles. One slip of his self control and there’s hell to pay—bloody, tastes-like-cold-steel hell.

Instead, his arms find the smooth bartop, glass hitting the bar with a crack. Logan pushes it away knuckles first, fingers tapping for another round. The bartender, he knows her as Sue—an aging sixties belle, witchy hair that’s perpetually pinned up in a clip—breezes by and snatches it away, promising him another with a hoarse, been-smoking-for-four-decades rasp. In seconds and the dark liquid spills into the shot glass, crystalline and pretty.

Logan waves her come with two fingers, easing a little deeper into his usual barstool—the barstool he’s been parked in for eight months. Rolls a shoulder. A delicious little burn of healing muscle, dissipating bruises. Common place after a fight in the cage—there’s not enough curiosity in the eyes that are watching him. And he’s counting the paces of Big Boy coming up behind him, can feel the man’s anger from here. Tangible and inbred, like he’s been sucking the tit of pissed off since toddlerhood.

The man’s huge hand is on his shoulder, jerking him back enough that it makes the barstool swivel. Logan’s spine snaps with alarm, with the initial gut punch of response. And he’s surprised with himself for a few heartbeats, that he’s chosen to shrug off the man’s arm instead of separate it from his body. A low, rumbling thunder of a growl simmering in his chest is almost animal, and he narrows a glare at the stranger.

Sweating like a stuck pig, the man’s face is red as a beet. He’s a blush from either absolutely going batshit or having a coronary—Logan isn’t sure which he’d prefer. “I lost four hundred bucks because of you, Wolverine,” the name leaves his mouth with hacking spit, on the crescendo of a trail of spit that hits the floor at Logan’s feet in a wet plop .

And for a second Logan expected Shit-For-Brain’s to continue, but he just stands there, sucking air.

“Tough luck,” Logan’s brows pop tall before furrowing into a hard line, irritation snapping his tone like a fractured bone. Palming the pocket of his leather jacket taking up space on the barstool next to him, he manages a cigar from the pocket, with the God-knew-how-old Zippo. His favorite, he’d had it since—well. He didn’t keep track of trinkets. “Long odds, I guess.”

“The fuck you say?”

He sighs. Deeply. Almost from the depths of his patience God has bestowed. “Anythin’ I can say that’ll make you vanish, bub?” Beer Belly doesn’t even flinch, except the hinge of his jaw snaps open. It could almost sway in the wind. Another sigh, “Take my word for it. Cut your losses and get Little Miss Strawberry Tart outta here—maybe she’ll cut you a deal on the way out.”

In a matter of seconds the guy’s face drops into a gape only a choking fish could probably manage, and he really isn’t that far removed with all his sticky sweat making him look like a drowned, overfat bass. He stops sucking air like an emphysemic, maybe too stupefied to remember how. Logan’s fingers flick the flint of the lighter, cigar between his teeth as it bobs into the flame. Almost immediately, the thick curl of smoke stings his nose—chases the brandy in his throat, something magnificent . Fucking delicious.

Small mercies, God bless them. Breathing in a wave of the thick, hot tobacco, it settles in the mesh of his lungs in a way that would probably kill lesser men—men who couldn’t die, anyway. He could fucking orgasm with how good this smoke burns, bleeding into his blood like good poison, and the exhale he gives may as well whip fifty pounds off the back of his shoulder. His head kicks back, brow furrowing as it cants to the side, taking in the craft of the ceiling. Brass tile— pricy . Riz didn’t strike him as a man with taste, but, stranger things. Interesting.

In a flesh of fat and hairless dome, the man’s fist is curled around the collar of Logan’s shirt—he plucks him off the stool as if he weren’t anything more than a sack of meat. Surprise drops his cigar to the floor at his feet, the toes of his boots scuffing boards—and one glance to the man’s flexed arm reveals it’s absolutely straining for Beer Belly to suspend his bodyweight in the open. The vein in his temple throbs, cheeks almost purple as he splutters for air. Spit flies. Mingles in Logan’s beard.

Revolting, but, give it a few seconds and—-

His boots find the floor heartbeats later, unphased. Logan’s turn, and it gives him great pleasure backhanding the man with his knuckles. Turning his head, saliva flying in trails of thick spit that hit somewhere he couldn’t care less about. Drive him half a step back, bring him back with his fist in tubby’s shirt—and mutant strength makes him weigh next to nothing. A little weight there, but nothing much—Logan could separate his spine from the rest of him without hesitation, thinking. Would be as easy as fileting a fat trout.

The burn in his muscles feels magical. And in three, two, one—he releases. Blood springs from between his knuckles, dribbling to the floor in fat drops. Scarlet stains adamantium, pearling along blades that all but sparkle in the perfect-low of pub lights. The burst of adrenaline immediately ravages the burn of pain, his bones all but ringing, chanting jubilation. And it feels so good, sometimes—so good to not have to hold back, to embrace the pain of living .

Milkwhite, the man’s eyes haven’t unwelded from the blades dripping with Logan’s blood as they hover a breath from the fat flesh of his double-chin. Logan can see his life flashing through his eyes, like a film reel—every man’s always does in the face of death, his face. He’s shaking, Logan’s muscle absorbs every earthquake that pulses through the man’s frame. Shakes more than most—and that says more than it would, to many. Coward’s heart. Shriveled and died before they even got a chance to respond, he’d seen it before. Always took the easy way out. Talked big, acted small. His date would have better luck with an idiot savant than a coward, if Beer Belly here wasn’t a two-for-one.

King Solomon had it right. Nothing new under the sun.

“Told you to cut your losses,” it’s a snarl. Gravelled and aged, like every time before. Less human than monster, but he likes the fear—the respect —floating up to the man’s eyes from his soul. Logan releases him roughly, sending him foot over foot towards his date, across the floor. “Take her home before you regret somethin’ else.”

Strawberry redhead is at his side, looking him over before she turns to consider Logan. She couldn’t have been more than twenty-something, too young to be running with a greaseball nobody with male pattern baldness and a Viagra problem. But tears run freely down her face all the same, as if she cares— and she probably does, because that’s the way of things. People care. It’s a human trait.

All Logan can see is her enchantment with him. She isn’t afraid. While her date may have a coward’s heart, she certainly doesn’t—no common sense, a dense head, sure. But no fear. Funny how that works.

He’d smile if he wasn’t so pissed off, tired. And she doesn’t look him in the eye—her gaze is rooted on his hand, now at his side. His blood hanging out on the floor. She blinks, only looks up at his face when the adamantium on display disappears between his fingers, sliding home in a way that echoes throughout his entire frame. Evidence of them begins to disappear as his flesh works to hide away familiar wounds, correct old sins.

Her mouth, too, gapes like a fish. Nothing new. “You’re….you’re— wow, you’re a—”

“—nobody you should care about, kid.” And that’s the long and short truth of it.

Logan watches her help—he’s discovered his name is Harold—stand to his full height. Helps him sulk into a corner chair like a whipped puppy, and even from here, the purple on his jaw is already dark. Probably broken, but there’s little to do about it.

Brushing off his arm, Logan lifted his other hand to examine it—pearls of blood. Still fresh on his skin. Evidence of their birth long since healed, he stretched his fingers before his thumb rubs between each knuckle, feeling. As if he’s never felt them before—because every time, the pain feels like it’s genesis. The beginning, new. A thrill unlike any other, in a sadistic kind of way that gives him life. Hope—that he’s still feeling.

Turning to retrieve his cigar smoldering on the floor, Logan replaces it in the corner of his mouth. Takes another full breath, sinks low onto the barstool. The sting in his hands has almost entirely dissipated into tingling numbness, and that’s good—Sue knocks his drink to a stop in front of him. Shakes her head as her eyes landscape him up and down, like they’re digging his grave. She isn’t mad, he knows that—Sue has seen him rough up more than one Tom, Dick, Harry in this place. It’s like the revolving sun—they come in. Fight the cage. They lose, get pissed, and he knocks them on their ass. Simple science, really.

Less dangerous and more dangerous all at the same damn time.

“Feel better?” Thin, vein-tracked arms fold in front of her gravity-inspired chest. Heavy laden with turquoise and other painted stones, she’s the picturesque woman of her age—all gypsy, little else. If they’d be deep south in States, Sue could be confused for a bayou witch. And, thinking about her stirring a little pot of potions and cackling on to swamp creatures would be something else entirely.

He chuckles, the mental picture amusing. Leaning forward a little on his arms, his brow peaks up a little. “Now there’s a question if I ever heard one,” his lips purse into a slow smile before he sits back, scratches his fingers through his sideburns— mutton chops, poor Harold had called them. “What do you think?”

A lesser man wouldn’t hear it, but that bottom hinge on the front door howls something terrible in the rain. Signaling another interloper in their midst, Sue’s eyes flick past him to consider the body. It lasts a heartbeat, maybe the flow of blood, before her gaze is back to him—obviously no threat. Except, her arthritic hands reaching for a towel moves her a little closer, and she nods towards the door.

“I think you’d better behave yourself,” she gestures with her chin towards the door, “new blood walkin’ in, Logan honey.” Nodding his understanding, he drags again at his cigar, then turns his head over his shoulder to eyeball the new body—- “Never seen her before. States girl, if I ever saw one,” Sue’s tongue clicks in the pocket of her cheek, “Poor thing’s wet as a drowned lizard. What she do, park half a mile away?”

Drowned lizard? “Anyone ever told you you’re somethin’ else, Sue?”

“Plenty—but don’t ask, Logan. Some things stay dead when you bury ‘em.” Her wink makes him snort, as if it’s something to joke about—and it is, really. To a man who flirts with death and defies it at every turn, nothing really surprises him anymore. The grave is little more than a calling card, and Sue knows that. Riz knows that. Everyone here knows this, but, chooses instead to look the other way—see him for what he is.

Sue’s crooking a come finger at new blood before she’s even fully parted ways with him. “Hiya, honey. C’mere, sit down—we don’t bite.” Logan raises a Really? brow at her before Sue waves him off with a flapping hand. It takes everything he has not to smile at the old woman, but instead, he swivels a little. Back to the newcomer, who’s dropping into the corner barstool, well away from him and into the shadows.

“Speak for yourself,”

Sue whirls on him and tosses the towel she’s been keeping bar with at his face. Batting it away, he downs the brandy. “Oh, hush up!” Her chin gestures across the bar, to the cage—veiled in shadows, it’s little more than a knick knack without its lights, screaming crowds and humming jukebox that gathers every night at ten. Money changing, saliva flying—it sleeps like a tired beast until he rings the dinner bell. “Well, most of us don’t bite—what’ll you have, darlin’?.”

If that wasn’t truth, well—Logan wasn’t sure what was.

tags: @permanentlyexhaustedpigeon88 @fandomxo00

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kunikiiida-kuuun · 20 days ago

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BSD Locations- Yokohama Visit 2024 - Part 3

Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.

11. Water Guardian Square (S2EP17)

This square is very close to the ship Hikawa Maru. It was hard to get a good picture because the sun was so bright lol. This is where Kouyou attacks Atsushi and takes Kyouka with back with her. Then Kunikida comes up with Kenji and delivers the most insane English Dub voice line™ I guess lmao.

After that the guild members landed from the sky and somehow managed to get all of them. I still find it funny that they were just airdropped directly onto this harbor lmao. It seemed like a popular spot for gatherings tho!!

12. Zou no Hana Park (BSD Ending 1 & 2)

A short walk from Yamashita Park. There were many of those little elephants guys around the area, but only one of our little penguin fella. It was right outside what seemed to be a clothing store though, which I ran into first, even before I got to the main bridge area so I had to go back around to get a picture lol.

13. Yokohama Customs Building (S1EP9)

Right across the street from Zou no Hana Park! It is also known as "Queen's Tower" one of Yokohama's famous Three Towers.

14. Shinkou Bridge

Fitzgerald attacks Atsushi and Kyouka and tries to capture Atsushi. This bridge shows up on the way from Zou no Hana Park and when I recognized the bridge it was kinda funny.

15. Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse (S1EP9)

It gave me the feel of a museum but it's actually a shopping mall. There were many restaurants and stores inside and it was packed during lunchtime!

16. Shinkou Circle Walk (BSD Movie: Dead Apple, BSD Opening S3)

I was expecting it to be red. I'm gonna assume Kenji's battle with his ability during Dead Apple ruined it so bad, they had to rebuild the entire thing again and they changed it to silver.

17. Cosmo Clock 21 (S1EP9)

It's kinda sorta close to the Shinkou Circle walk. The entire area is like a mini amusement park!! There were so many games and other rides too which seemed so much fun!! I went on the ferris wheel only, and the ticket was 1,000 yen for a 15 minute ride. It is apparently the world's largest ferris wheel with a clock function!

18. Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Arts (S1EP9)

I walked around the museum trying to look for the entrance to match the picture and it turned out I just went around in a circle lol

19. Nihon-Odori Station (S2EP20)

Atsushi jumps off Moby Dick and Dazai rescues him from Mark Twain and they temporarily hide here. Honestly I kinda forgot how I got here...I think I boarded the train from Minato Mirai station to get to this station...

That's the end of Part 3! Stay tuned for the next part ✨

#bungou stray dogs #bsd yokohama #bsd anime #I'm surprised i already made it 19 places in 3 posts...#there are still quite a few left hahaha #how did i manage to do this in a day...

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queer-ragnelle · 4 months ago

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What are some of the weirdest stories/books/movies etc you've encountered in your Arthuriana journey? Whatever weird might mean to you (good/bad/unsettling/unexpected/surreal/goofy)

Hi anon!

This is honestly a tough thing to answer because what even constitutes a weird Arthurian retelling? They're all pretty weird haha! But I definitely have a few that come to mind

The French film Perceval (1978) is super weird in a great way! It's shot on a stage with painted backgrounds and metallic trees and structures for the set. Real horses are brought on. A troupe of bards provide diegetic music, playing instruments and singing a narration of events on screen while also acting as characters in their own right (such as the jester Kay throws into the fire). Perceval and Gauvain narrate their own stories in third person at times too. It's surreal! It's as if Perceval's world is "fake," since his mother has kept him isolated for so long, it's a distorted view of reality. This is the closest adaptation of Chrétien de Troyes's Story of the Grail I can think of, it's nearly word-for-word, BUT! They removed the racism and antisemitism. Two thumbs up! The ending is bananas. There's no describing it, you just have to watch. You can download this movie from my MEGA drive or it can be watched for free on Tubi! (Content warning for nudity and some gore.)

The film Unidentified Flying Oddball (1979) is my favorite adaptation of Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The main character Tom works for NASA developing an android named Hermes. Through a comedy of errors, both Tom and Hermes end up launched into space at the speed of light, traveling through time, and crash land in Camelot, 508AD. Mordred mistakes Tom for a monster (due to his space suit and orb-shaped helmet) but Tom quickly wins Arthur's trust and allowed to hang out. He meets Sandy, a girl who thinks her dad has been transformed into a goose, and together with her and a page named Clarance, works to return home. It's exceedingly silly. I much prefer the character Tom (and Hermes, who is identical in appearance to Tom and jousts for him) to Sir Boss in the Connecticut Yankee film from 1949 with Bing Crosby. Tom's gun is funnier than the original as it's more like a science-fiction laser that blows things up. He also has a magnet ray he uses to draw armored knights where he wants. Not a good film, but goofy and fun. You can download this movie from my MEGA drive! (No content warnings, it's a family movie!)

The film Excalibur (1981) obviously has to make this list. Coincidentally, it's mostly for Percival again. The Grail Quest segment accounts for just 20 minutes of the entire film, but it feels like eons. And it's So Weird. It's safe to call it horror. Percival meets struggle after struggle, encountering many dead comrades along the way, raving mad townspeople struggling to survive, Morgan and Mordred attempting to steer him wrong. He's eventually hung from a tree and has a vision of God's voice. (Hallucination or real?) The dead knight dangling above him sways and his spurs cut Percival free. From there he runs into Uriens and holds him as he dies, struck down by miscreant knights. Percival eventually achieves the grail, obviously, but it's not until he's pushed the absolute limits. It's probably one of my favorite sequences in film ever. 11/10. You can download this from my MEGA drive! (Content warning for nudity, rape, gore, and incest.)

As for books, I recommend The Modern Arthur Trilogy by Peter David. The first one is Arthur running for mayor of NYC, the second one is President of the United States, and the third one he sort of becomes a god. It's wild. Other characters include Guinevere, Lancelot, Morgan le Fay, Mordred, Percival, Merlin, and of course the Lake of the Lake. The sequels randomly add Gilgamesh and Enkidu (and later Noah, like the guy with an ark in the Bible??) and it's all very strange indeed. The first book is definitely the best but Gilgamesh/Enkidu were pretty freaky (affectionate) so I did enjoy that, although the whole premise of book two is...meh. I listened to the graphic audio books which were awesome, the sound effect of Arthur falling down the subway stairs in full armor is worth every penny. (Content warning for incest, murder, cannibalism, racism, and terrorism)

#arthuriana #arthurian legend #arthurian mythology #arthurian literature #sir perceval #sir percival #king arthur #arthur pendragon #perceval 1978 #unidentified flying oddball 1979 #excalibur 1981 #peter david #ask #anonymous

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eloqiu · 7 months ago

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top 11 hardest bsd abilities to discover (not listed in order)

(might contain some spoilers)

Dazai (No Longer Human). To begin with, my man had to find someone with a ability. (Probably like, 1/1,000,000 people) And then touch them, if Dazai was a normal guy, and not the demon prodigy, he 100% wouldn't have known he had this ability

Yosano (Thou Shalt Not Die). How'd she even discover this? There's very few scenarios where someone would be half dead, and I doubt that any normal person would be able to discover that they had a ability like this. There's still a chance, but it's very small.

Fitzgerald (The Great Fitzgerald). Imagine, you're a middle class man, normal life, normal income, nothing crazy about your life. How the hell do you find out you become stronger when you spend money. We've seen Fitzgerald not activate his ability when he causally spends, how the hell did you activate it then???

Muishitaro (The Perfect Crime). I- How does a normal person, commit enough crimes to find out that, no they're not getting away with these crimes because they're lucky, they're actually using a ability that erases their crime.

Ace (Madness of the Jewel Kings). Could just be a me thing but, I don't think I've ever met someone with debt slaves. Much less anyone who can convert their debt slaves lifespan into jewels. You either gotta be insane, or have plot armor to find out about this ability

Mark Twain (Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer). You have to be fucking enlisted to find out you have this ability, because there's no way a normal person's gonna have a sniper with them (unless you're in the United States.... Wait-)

Fukuzawa (All Men are Created Equal). This is the same logic as Dazai, there's probably not that many ability users, as you'd have to collect enough ability users to realize "oh, my subordinates get full control over their abilities", also what qualifies as the agencies entrance exam? Is it even necessary?

Pushkin (A Feast in Time of Plague). How the hell do you manage to "coincidentally" find out that you have an ability that affects 2 people with a virus, and that if one of those 2 people don't die, both the people will die from having their organs eaten. You have to be insane or a serial killer to find that ability.

Yukito (Another). I'm genuinely curious on how many mysteries this guy had to solve to be able to find out that the killer in the mysteries always, 100%, without fail, dies after the mysterys been solved. That is extremely and annoyingly specific.

Kajii (Lemon). The whole ass reason I made this post, who the fuck is "conveniently" creating lemon shaped bombs, there's no way he found out this ability through normal means. Was one of his friends a terrorist with a lemon kink? Because that's the only reasonable explanation that he's finding out this ability. Either that or, he's got a big food kink and makes bombs shaped as food during his spare time. There's no fucking way, a normal guy with an office job is finding out they have an ability like that. Atsushi's the main character? Nah, this man has way more plot armor. Because the stars, universe, solar system, and plantes had to align for him to find out about his ability

Ranpo (✨Ultra Deduction✨) please help im being threatened . I mean, he could always be a genius or whatever but... Sure.

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riverkingmarley · 1 year ago

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Kinda can’t believe I did it.

Years ago I discovered a website called royal road where I would read power fantasy’s to kill time. While there I read a story called Super Minion that I liked because I have always liked that type of power set. The summer of last year I found another story on royal road that mentioned it was inspired by Super Minion, which was inspired by worm.

A few days after that I was working as an extra for the first time. It was for a Shania Twain music video and due to an organizing mishap they had us wait for ten hours before they could film our part. While waiting there I googled around to find out what worm was and started reading it. I got four arcs in before I couldn’t take it anymore and ended up looking up some spoilers (sorry wormblr). I loved it and haven’t gone a single day without thinking about it since.

This book has been really special to me. It inspired me to do the first bit of creative writing I’ve done outside of school. I feel like I’ve learned so much about writing and what makes a book good.

I’m learning disabled and I’ve always struggled a lot with reading. I hated it when I was a kid. When I was around 11-13 I discovered the Percy Jackson books and fell in love with them. Worm is the second time a series has captivated me to that extent. I think I’ll be reading a lot more in the future and it’s thanks to this book.

#this is basically just me rambling a little so feel free to ignore #I don’t know how to end it either lol #anyway I’ll get around to pact eventually #parahumans #wormblr #worm spoilers

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hazelbaja · 11 months ago

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Five days of intense intramurals culminated in a rewarding day. Grateful to secure second place in the singing contest, I poured my heart into the performance. Proud of my efforts and celebrating alongside the formidable VICIOUS VIPERS, who also won the 2ND RUNNER UP🏆Congratulations to the VICIOUS VIPERS, fellow second placers, and a big shoutout to all the champions in different games. 🏆❤

#11-twain #emtech #6thblog

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justforbooks · 7 months ago

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Jeannette Charles

The Queen’s most famous lookalike, who enjoyed a long career in film and television thanks to their uncanny resemblance

In 1972, Jeannette Charles was in her mid-40s and settling down to life in an Essex village, having returned, with her husband, Ken, from Libya. They had been living there for some years, but left following the army coup led by Muammar Gaddafi.

On reading about the artist Jane Thornhill in a local newspaper, Charles decided to commission a painting of herself for her husband’s birthday. Thornhill asked whether she could submit it for the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition in London, but when she did, the venerable institution returned the picture, believing it to be a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and having been told by Buckingham Palace that the monarch had not sat for it.

The resulting publicity began a new chapter in the life of Charles, who would spend the next 40 years as the Queen’s most famous lookalike, and who has died aged 96. She appeared on British television and in Hollywood films, alongside stars such as Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley and Mike Myers, and also modelled for Spitting Image when the satirical TV show was making the Queen’s puppet.

Charles said of her uncanny resemblance to the monarch, whom she never met: “We both have the same bone structure, so the same style of makeup and hairdressing suits us best. But I’m 2 inches shorter than her, so my clothes wouldn’t always look well on her and vice versa.”

She also made personal appearances – opening shops, handing out gifts with the flamboyant piano virtuoso Liberace and presenting a silver disc to the rock group Queen – and Muhammad Ali put in a special request to have a photograph taken with her. Commercials kept her busy, too, but Charles insisted: “I am not an actress. I only do the one role.”

Her first job as the Queen was posing for a London Weekly Advertiser poster that featured her reading a paper, with a stuffed corgi at her feet. However, London Transport, which was due to display it on buses and Tube trains, objected and never used it. Charles said it was a lesson: “too real … a little vulgar”. She insisted she was a staunch royalist, and told the Guardian in 2022: “I would never do anything that reflected badly on the monarch or myself. Over the years, I’ve turned down large sums to pose for Page 3-type pictures and insisted I should never be introduced as the Queen when making appearances.”

Jeannette was born in London, 18 months after Princess Elizabeth, to Yetta (nee Wonsoff), who was Dutch, of Polish descent, and Alfred Clark, a chef, later restaurateur, and was brought up in Perivale, Middlesex. Her resemblance to the future monarch was spotted when she was still a child. She recalled: “On a trip to Greenwich when I was 11 or 12, a photographer asked if he could use me in some shots, saying, ‘She looks like Princess Elizabeth.’ Later, I’d draw crowds, especially abroad, and sometimes had to run away.”

After leaving Wembley high school, she took a job as a secretary and spent evenings acting with an amateur group in Acton. She dreamed of acting professionally, and passed an audition to train at Rada, but could not afford the fees. Instead, she emigrated to the US at the age of 24 and settled in Midland, Texas.

While working there as an au pair, she met Ken Charles, a British oil drilling engineer with BP. His work took him to Canada – where they married in Alberta in 1957 – and then to South America and Libya.

They returned to Britain in 1969 and, when regal fame came to Charles, she found herself travelling the world again. At home, her early screen appearances were in the sketch shows Rutland Weekend Television (1975), with Eric Idle and Neil Innes, Spike Milligan’s Q series (from 1976 to 1980), and Not the Nine O’Clock News (1980). She was also in sitcoms such as Mind Your Language (1978) and Never the Twain (1990), and jetted to the US for a 1977 appearance on Saturday Night Live.

When Hollywood came calling, she put on the royal tiara to appear in National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985). In The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988), she was seen flat on her back with Nielsen on top of her as they slide down a royal banqueting table – when his inept detective believes the Queen is about to be assassinated and jumps to her rescue. For Charles, another highlight of filming that wacky movie was being invited to Presley’s trailer for lunch. “We became good friends,” she said.

She was back in Hollywood for The Parent Trap (1998), with Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson, and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), when she mistook its star, Myers, for a crew electrician on first meeting him.

Alongside chat shows, corporate events, fete openings and other appearances, she appeared in Motörhead’s music video promoting their version of the Sex Pistols song God Save the Queen in 2000.

Charles’s autobiography, The Queen & I, was published in 1986.

Her husband died in 1997. She is survived by their three children, David, Peter and Carol, and her sister, Delinda.

🔔 Jeannette Dorothea Louise Charles, lookalike, born 15 October 1927; died 2 June 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

#just for books #Jeannette Charles #in memoriam

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silverwings22 · 7 months ago

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Caught in the Crosshairs: Chapter Master List

1: Time of Dying: Three Days Grace 2: Monsters: Katie Sky 3: Mama Said Knock You Out: Five Finger Death Punch 4: Talk Dirty To Me: Jason Derulo 5: You're Mine: Disturbed 6: In My Head: Jason Derulo 7: Never Enough: Loren Allred 8: Bruises and Bitemarks: Good with Grenades 9: Feels Like This: Maisie Peters 10: Hey Jealousy: Gin Blossoms 11: How To Save A Life: The Fray 12: Shivers: Ed Sheeran 13: Feel Invincible: Skillet 14: Leave Out All The Rest: Linkin Park 15: Falling Inside the Black: Skillet 16: Enemy: Imagine Dragons 17: Flesh: Simon Curtis 18: Warrior: Beth Crowley 19: Heathens: 21 Pilots 20: Marry Me: Train 21: I'm Jealous: Shania Twain 22: Bad Blood: Taylor Swift 23: Impossible: Shontelle 24: When I Was Me: Imagine Dragons 25: This is Gospel: Panic at the Disco 26: Taking Over Me: Evanescence 27: You're Going Down: Sick Puppies 28: Sound of Surviving: Nichole Nordeman 29: Let the Bad Times Roll: The Offspring 30: Kryptonite: 3 Doors Down 31: Love the Way You Lie Part 2: Eminem ft Rhianna 32: Follow You Down: Shinedown 33: Everything Burns: Anastacia ft Ben Moody 34: Die From a Broken Heart: Maddie and Tae 35: Whispers in the Dark: Skillet 36: Lights: Ellie Goulding 37: Die For You: Starset 38: Anthem of the Angels: Breaking Benjamin 39: Without You: Breaking Benjamin 40: Dark on Me: Starset 41: Hands: Jewel 42: Shatter Me: Lindsey Sterling 43: Dead Man Walking: Jelly Roll 44: Control: Halsey 45: In My Daughter's Eyes: Martina McBride 46: Planet Zero: Shinedown 47: All Around Me: Flyleaf 48: What You Want: Evanescence

I've Hit the Text Limit: Part 2!

#original character #clone force 99 #the bad batch #fanfic #crosshair #caught in the crosshairs

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zombubble · 6 months ago

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From In Memory; In Truth Chapter 11:

Mild violence cw:

The Wrath is already hurtling downward, their disguised blade ready to cleave him in half but he dodges to the side, back on his feet in an instant. With a wave, Wei Wuxian pulls his armor on, dulling its shine to hide its radiance. Just in time; the Wrath swings their sword and glances off his bracer as he deflects it. They swing again and he sidesteps with a spin, leaps back up into a tree. Wei Wuxian flings a bolt of energy at them as they leap towards him but they twist in the air, pushing off a tree to change their trajectory. Following closely, they get a hit in against his side but he kicks the sword away—not out of their hands, but away—shortly after. Leaping backwards again, he dodges a few more attacks, lets one glance off his pauldron as he comes in with a kick and sends the Wrath flying some distance away. They’re already on their feet when he gets there, ready to strike a blow on his head. Both arms crossed above him, he catches the blade and kicks their chest to force them off of him. “What sort of fight is this?” he asks. “Sword against fists? Where’s your sense of honor?” The Wrath looks at him, red eyes in shrouded black smoke behind what Wei Wuxian sees, now, is a ghost mask. He chuckles. “Do like the mask, though,” he says. “Very fitting. I must commend y—” The sword flies at him now and he catches it—and it screams in his head, oh, it screams so loudly for blood for vengeance for something to carve, kill, rend to nothingness, slake the thirst the thirst the thirst— Wrenching itself out of his grip, it flies back to its owner. “You’re clearly pissed about something,” Wei Wuxian says, “and I get it. I don’t blame you; if I’d become a ghost, I’d probably be just as resentful. If I know what you want, maybe I can—” “I need no help from the gods,” the Wrath says, its voice distorted, slithering in three tones at once. “So much work to disguise yourself!” Wei Wuxian says, jumping back to a treetop. The Wrath follows. “It’s almost like you don’t want to be recognized.” Oh, that pisses them off. With a roar, they attack Wei Wuxian again, kicking him into a clearing before trying, again, to cleave him in twain. He rolls one way, then the other—kicks them to get back on his feet and deflects the next strike easily. Their foot hits the side of his head, sending him careening into a boulder. Fuck. Ow. They approach. He kicks them—they fly, but use their sword to slow their momentum just enough to swing around, sending themselves back at him. Lightning-fast, they run at him, sword raised and he braces himself, the ground breaking under his feet as he digs them in. Reaching up, he grabs their arms, stops them, leaves grooves in the ground a meter and a half long from where he’d been when they met. In the near distance, a tree cracks. Falls. The forest settles around them and there’s a flash of white to the west. Wei Wuxian looks and sees them—the Twin Jades, both staring in shock—and then— Whoa, fuck, the ghost yanks his head down, knees him in the face to break his nose and then kicks the side of his knees to make Wei Wuxian stumble. When he does, they grab an arm and the corresponding leg and yank, spinning twice before he’s sent careening straight at Lan Wangji and his elder brother. Shit. Shit shit shit. Twisting, Wei Wuxian forces a downward trajectory, bounces once, but it’s not enough to stop him and he ends up slamming into them, all three of them landing in a heap on the forest floor. Ow. A firm chest moves under his cheek and when he looks up at the owner, Lan Zhan is looking at him with wide, worried eyes. “Hey, thought I’d meet you guys out here,” Wei Wuxian says, grinning. He can feel blood running down his face.

alskjdfl A funnier scene than some of the other, more painful ones I had in mind. This was so fun to write, though!! I haven't gotten to write many real fight scenes before I started up with this story, so it was a fun exercise that I look forward to editing.

As I work on the epilogue, going back and re-reading earlier parts of the story makes me have at least three (3) emotions, possibly twenty-nine (29). Can't wait to actually edit and get it published.

Cannot. Wait.

#c'est ma vie #my fic #fic: imit #ascension au #wip wednesday #mdzs #mdzs fic #modao zushi #modao zushi fanfiction #wei wuxian #lan wangji #lan xichen #mystery wrath uwuwuwuwuuuwuuwu #violence

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animatronic-archive · 1 year ago

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youtube

To break away from CPI shows this is Daniel and the Dixie Diggers made by sally corp, this show has two variations known the quintet which is the photo on top with Scratchmo, Daniel T bones, Percy, Beau and Huck the bottom is a trio show with only Beau,Daniel,Scratchmo. quintets locations (Mark Twain’s Riverboat Playhouse - South Florida, Arizona Pizza Pizazz - Columbus, Ohio Pinocchio’s - Bountiful, Utah Station Alpha - Pikeville KY Dixie Dog Show Time - Phenix City, Alabama Paddlewheel - Lancaster MA Pizza/Roll on America - Groton, CT (ROA and paddlewheel are the same) Merlin’s Skateland (Merlins Magical Kingdom) - Salisbury, Maryland Paddlewheel Casino - Las Vegas Adventureland - Des Moines Iowa Hersheypark - Hershey PA Riverside Park - Agawam, MA Rusutsu Resort - Hokkaido JAPAN Sang Bang Wool - South Korea FunHouse - Delphos, Ohio Squirty Worms - Lima OH Food Pavilion - state fair TX Choo Choo Charlie’s - St. Catherines ON The unknown trailer show - MA) trio locations+ones below (Roller Kingdom / Kidz Zone ,Wild World)

11 of these trio shows (Oklahoma City OK, Greensboro NC, Charlotte NC, Austin TX, Mesquite TX, Clearwater FL, Tulsa OK, Memphis TN, Metairie/New Orleans LA, South Houston TX, North Houston TX)were put into Celebration stations instead of the Pantone/Woof show aswell as having Jethro P. hogg occupying them besides one show in Knoxville TN that had The rockin rascals which was basically the trio+Jethro retrofitted into Major moose, Calvin cat, Purcilla purr, and Hurricane hound. one of the bots from the Austin TX show is now owned by a fandom member known as wizbangs/Wizzy whos got him in working order. before he got him the show was sent to Clearwater FL which sat and was used for parts.

youtube

Then there is enchanted castles show it has its own history which will have a post dedicated to it but to make it brief enchanted castle had before down sizing its show a retrofitted quintet minus Percy

Prince,Lance and Godfrey

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#animatronic #animatronics #chuck e cheese #pizza time theatre #rock afire explosion #rockafire #Youtube

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foxes-that-run · 11 months ago

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Haylor dates by month

Timelines: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

January

1- 2013 - Arrive in Virgin Islands

1- 2014 - Say don't go written

1- 2016 - Yacghtgate, OOTW Video

1- 2021 - Treat people with kindness Music Video

1- 2024 - 17 HS leaks, Guess I'm Alright, One and Only

3 - 2013 - Taylors hair pinned up in a Virgin Islands Restaurant

4 - 2013 - Blue dress on a boat

5 - 2017 - Lately Leak recorded

6 - 2015 - Taylor Clear Blue water post, possible break up

6 - 2016 - Harry Rain on window post

6 - 2024 - HS Lately Leaked

9 - 2021 - Treat People with Kindness single released

11 - 2018 - End Game Released

11 - 2021 - No Body No Crime released

13 - 2017 - DWOHT written

13 - 2018 - Fine Line written these 2 weeks

15 - 2013 - 1D trip to Ghana

15 - 2015 - Seen together at Lily Aldridge's birthday, Serendipity

15 - 2024 - Too Much Sauce leaks

17 - 2015 - Taylor posts Temper Trap Lyrics on stove

18 - 2016 - Out of the Woods released as single

18 - 2021 - Coney Island released as Single

19- 2014 - Harry Silver Spoon and Bible tattoo, Things I can't covered.

20 - 2015 - Taylor Hawaii with Haim Sisters

21 - 2012 - Taylor 'Holidays' in London, 1D UK dates

21 - 2014 - I know places written.

22 - 2013 - Harry's Butterfly and Handshake Tattoos

23 - 2016 - New Romantics released as Single

25 - 2011 - One Directions first trip to Los Angeles

26 - 2013 - both at NRG awards, Cannes Sunset situation.

26 - 2023 - Little Freak added to LOT Tour set

27 -2012 - 1D and Taylor fly from London to LA separately

27 - 2020 - The Man

27 - 2023 - Satellite MV concert filmed, Lavender Haze MV

29 - 2023 - Medicine played LOT first time since 2018

31 - 2020 - Miss Americana Released

February

1 - 2012 - One direction and Taylor seen in LA, neither seen for a week after.

1 - 2013 - Harry messy £5k tab party, Taylor in London not there.

1 - 2015 - Harry's 21st Birthday, Taylor in Nashville

1 - 2016 - Harry's feeling 22 tweet

1- 2017 - Taylor posted IDWLF lipsync and Rose ring maybe seen

9 - 2014 - Clean written

9 - 2015 - Style released

13 - 2015 - Style Music Video

14 - 2014 - Taylor posted "there's nothing like real love"

14 - 2015 - Two Ghosts written this week

14- 2020 - Harry - Radio 2 Two Ghosts, first since 2018

14 - 2023 - Lover Live in Paris Vinyl re-release

15- 2015 - Shake it off written

19 - 2015 - Style written

20 - 2016 - Harry in Studio, maybe Sweet Creature recorded

23 - 2016 - New Romantics released

24 - 2015 - Harry's anatomical heart tattoo first seen

27 - 2015 - Overgrown winding wheel

27 - 2020 - The Man Released

28 - 2016 - Taylor at Vanity Fair Oscar party, Harry tweets shake apple off tree and posted colour photo of Scrabble board to IG.

28 - 2020 - Falling Music Video

March

2- 2020 - Harry's last pre pandemic show at Bowery Ballroom

7 - 2020 - Falling Single

12 - 2012- 22

12 - 2018 - Delicate

17 - 2011 - Taylor Speak Now in Paris played Soul Sister Mashup HS MIA break

17 - 2012 - TS Eyes Open surprise song

17 - 2023 - TS Eyes Open, safe n sound, if this was a movie re-record and To all the girls you loved before

27 - 2010 Harry auditions for xfactor

31 - 2012 - First Seen together at Kids Choice Awards

31 - 2023 - Taylor replaced Invisible String with The One Eras

April

1- 2022 - As it Was

7 - 2017 - Sign of the Times

12 - 2023 - Taylor wears Gucci Lion Ring Electric Lady

13 - 2017 - Taylor releases September cover with 28th lyric change and Delicate vertical video

13 - 2023 - Treacherous surprise Song

17 - 2022 - Harry debuts Boyfriends Coachella and has Shiana Twain on stage

19 - 2022 - Joe pound coins quote, drake post

19 - 2023 - great unfollowing

19 - 2024 - TTPD

20 - 2018 - babe released as single

20 - 2022 - Trouble, hunger, Already home leak

21 - 2012 - H kisses girl in NZ

21 - 2017 - H on Graham Norton, wrote Spanish girl backstage.

22- 2016 - Not the ribbons in your hair' tweet

22 - 2021 - H Gucci Beloved campaign

22 - 2022 - H Cochella To BFs everywhere FU

22 - 2023 - Long Pond Limited Edition Vinyl

23- 2012 - Taylor Screaming Infidelities post (Re:H kiss in NZ)

23 - 2013 - Harry arrives in LA, MIA

23- 2018 - Taylor has Robbie Williams on Rep and plays Angel

23- 2019 - Taylor Time 100 - setlist Style, Delicate, NYD.

23- 2022 - Taylor The Lakes 7-inch ltd Ed.

23 - 2023 - Begin Again surprise Song

23 - 2023 - Harry invites Lizzo on stage at Coachella

24 - 2013 - Peace Ring first seen

25 - 2014 Fern Tattoos first seen covering 'might as well'

26 - 2019 - Me!

29 - 2016 - Date mentioned in High Infidelity, H & T in LA

29 - 2017 - Harry wears the St Laurent shirt CH copied in Ole

29 -2023 - High Infidelity and Gorgeous Surprise Songs

May

2- 2017 - Sweet Creature

3- 2023 - Satellite

12- 2017 - Harry Styles Debut Album

13 - 2017 - Harry's first solo live show

15 - 2019 - Harry in studio, Adore you written

18 - 2020 - Watermelon Sugar

18 - 2022 - Taylor NYC Doctorate

19 - 2019 - Taylor releases City of Lover Heart Vinyl

20 - 2012 - Everything Has Changed Anniversary

20 - 2013 - Taylor posts Roses with Gatsby quote

20 - 2015 - Taylor clean speech about where should have been

20 - 2017 - Debut one night only concert

20 - 2022 - Harry's House

20 - 2023 - Taylor said her life finally makes sense

21 - 2019 - H Gucci Swan Campaign

21 - 2022 - Harrys House One night only concert

22 - 2015 - Taylor played Wonderland

25 - 2020 - Too much sauce recorded

27 - 2023 - Karma MV

June

5- 2018 - Gucci Tailoring campaign

6- 2013 - Everything has changed MV

6 - 2015 - Taylor plays Wonderland

7 - 2017 - Another Man Cover

13 - 2012 - Harry never gonna dance tattoo

14 - 2019 - You need to calm down

15 - 2011 - Taylor has Temper Trap arm lyrics

15 - 2012 - Harry gets Temper Trap lyric tattoo

17 - 2011 - Lover journal, blissfully happy

17 - 2023 - Harry played Sweet Creature first since 2018

17 - 2023 - Taylor played Seven, Aaron hug, emotional speeches

18 - 2013 - Olivia adopted

20 - 2015 - Last time Wonderland played

21 - 2015 - Taylor letter to apple

22- 2015 -both in europe with days off - H posts colour scrabble board and "I have missed you" to Sweden

22 - 2018 - T has Niall on stage in Wembley, H emotional in NYC and plays Still the One.

24 - 2013 - Red Single

27 - 2015 - Taylor has models out in London show.

30 - 2015 - Holy Ground Surprise Song, Clean speech haunting.

30 - 2019 - Taylors masters sold

July

1 - 2013 - Harry Cross Tattoo seen

2 - 2021 - Renegade released

7 - 2023 - Speak Now TV

13 - 2012 - Taylor plays random London show with 7 songs (13+7)

13 - 2022 - Late Night Talking MV

14 - 2013 - Everything has Changed Single

15 - 2011 - One direction film WMTB in LAy

19 - 2023 - Daylight MV

21 - 2022 - Late Night Talking Single

23 - 2010 - one direction formed on xfactor

24 - 2020 - Folklore and Cardigan MV

27 - 2013 - I can't change and birdcage tattoos

27 - 2020 - Cardigan Single

31 - 2018 - Harry and Camille Breakup

August

1 - 2019 - Gucci Campaign Film HS

3 - 2020 Exile

7 - 2017 - Two Ghosts Single

13 - 2012 We are never getting back together

16 - 2019 Lover single

17 - 2020 Betty

19 - 2014 Shake it Off

20 - 2022 - HS MSG Residency started

23 - 2019 Lover Album & MV

24 - 2017 Look at what you made me do & MV

30 -2012 WANGBT MV

31 - 2015 Wildest Dreams

September

4 - First Love on Tour (part 1) show (2021)

6 - 2013 - VMAs

7 - Getaway Car (2018)

9 - 2013 - Birdcage, Drama mask, SMCL Tattoo

9 - 2019 - City of Lover recorded

17 - ...Ready for it? (2017)

18 - Gucci Cruise Campaign (2018)

19 - Live on Tour first show (2017)

21 - MSG Residency end (2022)

24 - Harry heart tattoo (2012)

25 - Begin again Itunes (2012)

27 - Spotify Singles -Two Ghosts and Girl Crush (2017)

28 - 2011 - Gotta be you filmed in NY

28 - 2012 - Taylor filmed Begin Again Paris, Harry MIA

28 - 2013 - Harry tweet no piece of paper

28 - 2017 - HS Spotify EP Two Ghosts and Girl Crush, in April TS changed September lyric to 28

28 - 2021 - HS Nashville Satin outfit and TBSL

29 - 2016 - HS Another Man Mixtape

29 - 2017 - TS Spotify "Taylor Loves" playlist of 70 songs

29 - 2018 - TS wonderland surprise song

October

1 - Begin again (2012)

3 - Music for a Sushi Restaurant (2022)

10 - Lights up MV (2019)

11 - Lights up (2019)

12- 2013 - Harry Heart Tattoo instagram and Things I can/can't tattos

21 - Midnights and Anti-Hero (2022)

22 - Red (2012)

25 - Bejeweled and MV (2022)

23 - Golden (2020)

26 - Golden MV (2020)

26 - ….Ready for it? MV (2017)

27 - 1989 (2014), 1989 TV (2023), Slut! (2023)

27 - Music for a Sushi Restaurant MV (2022)

31 - 2015 - last 1D concert

31 - Kiwi (2017)

31 - Is it over now? (2023)

November

4 - Gucci Ha ha ha campaign (2022)

4 - The last time (2013)

8 - Kiwi MV (2017)

10 - Blank Space & MV (2014), Reputation (2017)

12 - Red TV (2021), All Too Well Short Film (2021)

13 - 2014 - Mermaid Tattoo

13 - Love on Tour announced (2019)

14 - End Game (2017)

15 - 2014 - Band Aid, Harry may have raised break

15 - Launch of pleasing (2021) (annual photo)

15 - I bet you think about me (2021)

16 - Message in a Bottle (2021)

21 - 2018 - Last Reputation show in Tokyo

22 - 2018 - first day Taylor is with republic

25 - Long Pond Sessions on Disney+ and recordings

27 - I knew you were trouble (2012), New Years Day (2017)

29 - Lavender Haze (2022)

December

3 - 2013 - Dancing with no shows after MSG show

6 - Adore You & Adore you MV (2019)

10 - 2017 - I don't wanna live forever

12 - Fine Line One Night Only at the Forum

12 - 2013 - Lakes district

13 - Fine Line (2019)

14 - End Game (2017)

18 - 2013 - Ship Tattoo

21 - 2013 - Snow mobile accident

30 - 2015 - Harry covers Things I can with Eagle Tattoo

31 - 2013 NYE Kiss

#haylor #haylor anniversaries #harry styles #taylor swift

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