#AND LIKE? It's unclear if she's telling you to jump in the boat (OR IF SHE KNOWS THERE'S SOMEONE WITH A BOAT) or is she's literally telling

[forgettable-au]

FORGETTABLE-AU (page 82-85)

THAT LAZYBONES!!

[BEGINNING] [PREVIOUS] [CONTINUE]

[elysium-the-true-faceofsalvation]

As your eyes start to open, your vision slowly adapts to the scenery in front of you. What do you see? There’s water, are you in a river? But it’s not quite water, is it? You’re in a boat, but it’s hard to tell if it’s really here. Where are you? You can’t tell, there’s fog everywhere. No matter where you look, the way is unclear. There’s a man in front of you. He’s paddling the boat you’re in. You two are going deep into the fog. You don’t know where he’s taking you, but don’t worry, he does. There’s blood coming out of the man’s mouth. Such a familiar sight, isn’t it? Look around you, look closely at the river you’re in. The water is stopping to look like water. It’s red. Is this blood? Who knows. You can’t see what’s ahead, but you can feel it in your bones, can’t you? It’s death. Death awaits you at your destination. You can’t pretend to not know. It was inevitable that this day would come so soon. The man never stops, he continues paddling the boat. Do you want to escape? Jump in the water. See how far you can swim before drowning. What will you do? Will you arrive at your destination? Or will you try to jump in the water? It doesn’t matter what you do, today is when you let out your last breath. … So that’s it. You finally have the courage to do it. This is it, the only time you actually lived in your life. You jumped in the water. Your breath is fading. Go on, swim. Everything that was in this river is pushing you down to its depths. A million grips on your body. The tide has already called your name. Drown. But you see something, something bright. Something beautiful. A hand is reaching to you. Go on. Try to grab it. Swim, swim, swim and swim. You have to reach that hand. It’s the thing you always wanted the most. Your fingers are right there. You know who this hand belongs to. Just a little bit more. She is here for you. I love you. You’re finally there. But you can’t touch it. Your hand phases through it. Blink. And now it’s gone. It wasn’t ever there, was it? That’s what you wanted to see. But you can’t see it anymore. You will never be able to see it. It’s gone. You drowned.

"It's been a while since you saw one of these, huh? Well, here's another nightmare that I found. It belongs to Soul N.08- Saki Satou. You're free to try to understand what this one means. My job here's done, so, so long!"

[anonanimal]

the night house was ok i guess. spoilers if u care. i love rebecca but besides her. the premise was more fun than the execution. she had a near-death experience years ago and it wants her back final-destination-style so her husband starts serial killing doppelgangers of her to placate it in a copy of their house he built on the opposite side of the lake to confuse it. and he's doing this based on info from occult books he got at a bookshop. that's an incredible premise. a lot of the haunting stuff was kind of lame. and i'm not sure makes sense. the ending was kind of lame. she basically gets no time to think about and further explore the "my husband was a serial killer. to help me, sure. but still." the unraveling of the mystery was the best stuff. some scenes of beth interacting with other people were great character moments. the indents on her skin as Not Owen touches her were cool. the movie wasn't brave enough to have her fuck a ghost but whatever. not like everyone's favorite orgasm euphemism "la petite mort" wasn't right there the whole time for this movie to play with. i mean it tried a little when she touches the air where Not Owen might be and she swoons into the boat. there's scenes like these where the movie tries out a love continuing after death thing but has to throw it out because it's not actually her dead husband, and that's another thing she barely gets to think about before the end. think it suffered from a lack of details of the occult shit he got up to, details of why the house was built the way it was. suffers from the interior design of the house being kind of boring. if death is Nothing then how come it does things and talks to her and has like. a will. fun movie with some problems and a kernel of stupidity at its heart. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

wait i just realized what "death" meant when it was telling her villain-monologue-style that it never left her and then jumped to her husband + why she mentions she had a history of depression. r u telling me death trying to get her to kill herself manifested as said history of depression and it started trying to get her husband to kill her instead when she was too strong-willed or whatever. god that's kind of stupid i'm revising my star rating. ⭐⭐⭐ i need to watch something that's stupid on PURPOSE immediately

also owen was the dumbest character ever written how the hell did he think killing himself would get death to back off when he'd already made multuple sacrifices in exchange for her life that didn't work. guess you could argue it's unclear owen knew what exactly was compelling him to kill her and he thought killing himself would be the end of the danger she was in. BUT his note says "you were right, there is nothing." which either means Death gave him the villain speech too oorrrr... actually that's all i can think it means.

see if death's personification here and death wanting beth is a metaphor for her depression and grief...there's no analogue for making literal human sacrifices here. owen literally killed people. death as a character in this movie is like half a metaphor. if the death entity is analogous to her depression then owen keeping it at bay by being her loving husband should be analogous to him doing....something nice??

TLDR:

death: "i need u bad baby plz take me back 🤗"

rebecca hall: "i liked u better when i thought u were my dead husband 😒"

me: "can we talk more about serial murder and mazes for trapping and confusing entities"

[judyhopps934-mt-zd]

Thoughts on Lies

Warning: Spoilers! And possibly having your heart torn into pieces. Other than that, have fun!

We open up with Marinette figuring out the recipes for the power ups as the new guardian.

I am disappointed that she still has not stopped oogooling over Adrien when he appeared on the news. Especially since she was allegedly with Luka by then. (I'll explain what I mean in just a minute)

Adrien was tired after the day he had as Adrien, which is a contrast of what Marinette believes his life is like. But being Chat Noir is the highlight of his day...

...only to not see Ladybug show up for patrols. And we see that it was all due to her figuring out the powerups.

Also, the patrols are a thing in cannon and I am still not over it after "Truth".

Chat Noir hoping for an akumatization so he can escape his civilian life radiated the same energy as Alya asking for akumatizations to interview the temporary heroes on her IG post. I get it, but still! We do not have people in danger for our needs.

Plagg being the one who announces any voice messages for Chat and asking for cheese through the feature on the Chat Phone brings me a whole other level of life.

Also, the whole milk thing at Le Grand Paris bar counter. It was hilarious, but also very sad. He really missed his m'lady

He ends the patrol after he saw Kagami training with her mom. And the smiles on his face! *Cries in Marichat and Ladynoir*

Plagg is the one that encourages Adrien to move on from Adrien, just like he applauded him from doing so in Loveater.

Kagami apparently said that fencing lessons are scheduled an hour in advance and Adrien (with that goofy grin on his face) knew what was up!

Both Ms. Tsurugi and Gabriel are very pissed at one another for the schedule change. That's hilarious, although everything comes at a price.

The parallels! Kagami is apparently learning Russian at her mother's request. Truly is a reflection of Adrien, civilian life wise.

Kagami? Lying???? The hell???? Who are you and what have you done to Kagami????? (Why am I surprised, y'all did this in Desperada)

She lies to their parents and the teacher to be in the art room with Adrien. I get it, teenage rebellion after being under an uninvolved parent, but still!

I like how the writers gave Kagami another dimension by saying she loves art, but her mom does not like her passion for drawing.

To Kagami's mom: WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR DAUGHTER IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH???!!! HER DRAWINGS BELONG IN A MUSEUM!

Also, art reflecting the truth? Hmmm.....

Since people like mentioning that Marinette has a thing for people with absent parents after "Truth", I will now say that Adrien has a thing for people who are great at drawing. I do not take criticism.

Kagami is hinting that Adrien's civilian life is not his true self (thank you for understanding him!)...

...but also says that being a "clown" (it was the Chat pose) is also not who he really is. The fandom would disagree with you. Although that brings up the question of whether both personalities merge to form who he really is and cannot be seen completely by anyone in any part of his life. But he is more like Chat Noir regardless.

Also, I want to see Adrien and Kagami spend more time together prior to this episode to see why she was not pleased with him being a clown if that's who he truly is, because her repositioning him against the wall made me feel like she is trying to place Adrien into a mold that reflects the image she might have created in her mind. (I don't know, this was just the first thought that came in my mind.)

They almost kiss, with Adrien being taken into shock (not terrified as we thought) until the alarm saying they have fencing lessons starting interrupts them and Adrien runs out, not before BLUSHING LIKE HELLO?!?!?

This is what I referred to in my second point and confirms what everyone was saying about this episode: this is "Truth", but through Adrien's perspective. Finally, an Adrien-centered episode!!!

To continue, every time Adrien and Kagami are together or were about to kiss, a sentimonster appears, with Ladybug trying to do something about it. Just like Lukanette, just like Adrigami: being a superhero affects your love life as a civilian.

Chat being thrown off the roof by accident and being rescued will never get old or less funny lol.

Montages continues up until the boat scene, where Adrien missed the intro to the performance, but I will never get over the fact as to how Adrien made it there before Marinette. It is beyond me.

Kagami not letting Adrien stay for 5 more minutes. Hmm...

Their cute moment together was what will lead to the demise of Adrigami as Kagami noticed he dropped the infamous lucky charm bracelet. *le gasp!

Why *le gasp*? Because 1) I fear it symbolizes that something will happen to Adrienette or that Adrien has forgotten about her, and 2) Wait until later.

Kagami revealed she lied so she can spend more time with Adrien alone, lying about leaving rehearsal earlier, lying about the fencing lessons rescheduling, and who else knows what else so she can be with him.

She tells him she loves him. But Adrien notices Ladybug and an Akuma. Oh boy, he wasn't able to give her any attention.

Because he left towards the direction of the boat (and said he left something there), Kagami used that to conclude it had something to do with Marinette. Oh boy.

Either I missed an entire scene about Ladybug knowing ShadowMoth's name, or we were not supposed to know how they know until this episode. It feels out of place to me, but oh well.

"I..am...AN INCREDIBLE SWIMMER!" still cracks me up even when I know how important it was in protecting her secret identity.

Happy Birthday Prince Ali!

Apparently, Kagami lied that her mom was in charge of watching over Adrien (or maybe not? I can't tell at this point.)

Yep, Kagami believes that Adrien is going after Marinette and probably resents them both if her facial expression says anything

We get to see that Ladynoir moment from "Truth"!! I love these two and their banter.

Adrienette stans, not much has changed. Adrien was concerned that he lost the Lucky Charm bracelet, for real. But said again because he though he would be clear of the lie since he thought he had it on him.

Kagami confronts him with it. AND THIS IS HIS SHOCKED FACE SCENE FROM THE TRAILER!!!

Thinking that she lies to get out of being with her, she leaves. With the bracelet. The leaving part is understandable, especially because she does not know about him being Chat Noir or what entails him to do. But why take the bracelet???

Adrien is also saddened by what happened. He also liked her.

We've never seen that part of city hall. Well designed in my opinion.

She was the akuma in City Hall with the glowing sphere! We were right!!!

Adrien feels guilty, though it is not really his fault. He has a duty to Paris!

Why is the music sounding different in French.

Jagged Stone. How do I feel about you after learning you purposefully abandoned Luka and apparently Juleka? Also, what's with the song??? (Rhetorical question. Do not answer)

We were wrong about Kagami's power: it paralyzes people who lie, not kill everything in its path.

Jagged, you abandoned your children. And you apparently lied about your age?!?!?! Both episodes show something about Jagged Stone that make him seem like an awful person on the inside.

Ladybug, how do you know about Lies's powers?!?!? There is a hole in the plot here! Unless there were other paralyzed civilians that gave her power a dead giveaway.

Chat Noir, if you lie as a civilian for whatever reason, of course Ladybug will too, since as a civilian, you need to lie to keep your secret identity a secret. Same rules apply to Ladybug, especially as the guardian.

The Lucky Charm is a drone, not a camera like I thought. How the hell did I get into an ivy if I can't tell the difference?!?!

Chat Noir pretending to lie is funny. It might also be his peppy attitude to lying. Also, his funnier version of ShadowMoth's name.

Ladybug finds the akumatized object and gasps. I wonder if its only a eureka moment or also the fact that she recognizes the bracelet, especially if its custom made.

Brutally honest people does not exist (we have all lied at some point, even Kagami who is usually brutally honest with people), but animals can't lie.

Fang being involved in destroying the akuma is cool.

This is the moment that we dreaded so much, yet knew was coming: CHAT NOIR DIES!

JK! He actually is paralyzed by truth because he jumped into the glowing orb. We were right that this is an anguishing scene to watch, but we're wrong about the part that he's killed. Yet, he still unnecessarily sacrificed himself and caused Ladybug to be angst about it.

WHAT IS UP WITH CHAT NOIR BEING HAPPY ABOUT SACRIFICING HIMSELF?!?!? AND DO NOT SAY ITS BECAUSE HE TRUSTS LADYBUG!

Yes Ladybug. Chat is crazy. And also crazy for you. And you are right about the crazy unconscious part. My Ladynoir heart!

ShadowMoth almost won until Fang bit off the charm bracelet. Thanks Fang!

Chat backing away from Fang licking him is a mood.

My favorite Ladynoir moment of the evening: Ladybug telling Chat to stop sacrificing himself and Chat saying she likes her adorable angry face. Her smirk afterwards.. And then their pound it.

But no seriously Chat. You need to stop doing that to Ladybug. She cannot take it anymore

Plagg said that even if Adrien loves someone else, he is likely to go back to Ladybug. Just like he goes back to Camembert. Seriously, despite his cheese analogies, he gives great wisdom.

Not Kagami almost beating up Adrien during his fencing lessons. And Mr. D'Angercourt notices this too as he stopped Kagami's final blow.

Also, isn't it illegal in fencing to push people? Oh boy.

And there's the Adrigami breakup scene: Adrien telling Kagami that he enjoys their time together and Kagami knowing their is sincerity in him. It is sort of unclear who actually ended things when Adrien asks if they could still be friends, but Kagami ends it all by saying that she will let him know once she can face him again. Ouch.

Adrien is hurt and stares at the lucky charm bracelet with what looks like sadness. Once again ouch.

Like Lukanette, I want to see Adrien and Kagami be happy together at least until halfway through this season. The issue is that it will hurt them more in the end.

Also, I noticed the difference between Luka and Kagami when ending their respective relationships. It hurt them both, but Kagami was more forward about it and Luka was somewhat passive. It could be based on what they know about their now exes (Luka knew that Marinette had feelings for Adrien and was not secretive about it even when they were together if the truths her friends said and the opening scene to this episode reflect this, whereas Kagami only has a suspicion and Adrien does not say anything regarding to it.

Also, I really did not like how the breakup on this end resulted in. While more realistic for a lot of people, it did not help that it involved Kagami as there are people who will go after Kagami after watching this episode, and I believe that the writers know this. Kagami is a good person who has a different response to the trust issues and lack of communication, as well as lies in their relationship. Not saying its a perfect one, but an understandable one. In conclusion, don't trash Kagami, especially if you saw this coming.

I take back what I said before; this is my favorite Ladynoir scene. I want to hug them both because they have to lie and keep secrets from everyone, even have some secrets between themselves! But at least they can trust each other! Excuse me while I cry over how much we are being fed. Also, the fact that they broke up with their respective partners makes this both heartwarming and heart breaking.

Overall, this episode is just as good as Lies! It is the first fully Adrien-centered episode, which makes this a first and already exciting. While I did not like how their breakup was handled, it was realistic and showed that honesty and communication are important. Also, can my children be happy together for longer than an episode??? I swear, their pain hurts me.

But at least Ladybug and Chat Noir have each other's company to get them through. May us Ladynoir stans continue to be fed!

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

How dangerous is the black lake supposed to be? I’d say it was pretty dangerous seeing how many creatures are underwater and how Beatrice almost drowned after she jumped in but apparently Tulip swims in it? I mean I’m not surprised she’d do something so risky but yeah. Maybe she’s just tough and a really good swimmer lol

You know, this is a very good question. Because Tulip is not the first person to have done this. Between her and Viktor Krum swimming in the Lake, not to mention how it was treated as an acceptable location for a Triwizard Task, and every year they have students riding boats across the water...I have to assume that it's not so dangerous that students are in immediate danger if they go into the Black Lake. After all, it's a landmark of the school that can be accessed at any time. The Forbidden Forest is as well, but it's also...y'know, Forbidden. They specifically have rules about never going in there without permission and supervision. As far as I can tell, the students aren't forbidden from going into The Black Lake. Though there was also that mysterious flier who rode a broomstick over the Lake. Apparently Hooch stopped renting out broomsticks after that incident, but that may have been more about taking the brooms out of the pitch than anything to do with the lake. I'd imagine students are allowed to go in, but on the other hand, this so rarely happens that I'm not sure. You'd think students would go swimming all the time, but for the most part, I've only seen this happen in fanfiction.

Beatrice's case seems be a little different. Namely, I don't think she can swim. At least, that's what I got from the scene. If she could, I don't know how that happened. I mean, I still don't really understand what happened there, and while it's kind of funny, my old "Bludger Scene" instincts are kicking in, and my brain is hyper-analyzing the fact that we never saw this happen. So there may be more to this particular case, there may not. The Black Lake may be more dangerous at night, but MC and the others were able spend a fair bit of time on the bottom. As far as I can tell, the most dangerous things you can usually run into are Grindylows, (which can be fought off if you're an accomplished duelist) Merfolk (Who, like the Centaurs, are not inherently hostile and can be reasoned with) and the Giant Squid. (It's exact nature is unclear, but there have been incidents in the past that implied the creature is friendly, or at least docile.) All of this to say that The Black Lake has dangers, but is probably considered safe enough to venture into on a surface level during the day, when the water is still and there are probably people nearby who'll overhear if you get into trouble. The Grindylows don't normally come so close to the surface, that was only because of the Statue Curse in Year 6.

[happymeishappylife]

Prep for the 60th: 2nd Season of Doctor Who

“One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs, and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine.”

The second season of Doctor Who begins to introduce us to the fundamental concept of Doctor Who and that is change. This season we begin to see why change makes the show work and makes the show last. But of course there are tears, smiles, and memories that established with every departure and yet excitement over the possibilities that can now come with fresh faces and voices. So beginning with the TARDIS team, this is how the season started:

(From left: The Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Susan Foreman, and Barbara Wright)

And this is the TARDIS team jumping into season three:

(From left: Vicki, The Doctor, and Steven Taylor)

With the departures of Susan, Ian, and Barbara, we get a fresh new start to what it means to be a TARDIS team and travel with the Doctor. And one of things Classic Who does really well in my opinion is the blending of teams as people leave and join the team, plus there aren’t catastrophic moments when a companion departs even if you might not like it (like I did with Susan). Still with a fresh TARDIS team, let’s introduce the new companions.

Vicki Pallister is a sixteen year old girl from Earth from the 25th century. She is rescued by the Doctor, Ian, and Barbara after her spacecraft crash lands on the planet Dido and she is lied to by a convict who has killed the rest of the crew, including Vicki’s father, to avoid being locked up again. Thankfully, she gets picked up by the Doctor who fresh off the emotions of leaving his real granddaughter behind, takes Vicki lovingly into his world.

Steven Taylor, is also from the future though its unclear which era exactly he comes from. He is found on the planet Mechanus where after crash landing, he has been held prisoner by the Mechanoids for over two years on his own. Once he meets the Doctor, Barbara, Ian, and Vicki, he gets energized to escape, but its chaotic when the Daleks start battling the Mechanoids. So at first you don’t think he makes it into the TARDIS, but after one serial, I’m glad he stole away because he’s a fun guy to get to know.

The serials:

1. Planet of Giants

This serial introduces the first instance where something wrong can happen to the TARDIS and the team has to deal with it in whatever situation they find themselves in. In this case, something affects the TARDIS’ materialization that causes the TARDIS to not fully materialize at its full size, but instead at a miniature level. So while the Doctor and Susan are climbing sink drains and Ian and Barbara are dealing with giant insects and insecticide, what the team doesn’t realize is they inadvertently help prevent this extremely toxic chemical from going to the market by being present while full size humans are murdering each other over money. Overall Rating: 7/10

2. The Dalek Invasion of Earth

The Daleks have conquered Earth in the year 2164 and are in the process of extracting the core of the planet and replacing it with a machine to allow them to pilot the planet. It’s a crazy plan, but even though they’ve conquered Earth and enslaved humans to force slavery onto other humans, there entire plan falls apart when the TARDIS lands and the team finds ways to stop them and embolden the humans of Earth. But this is the first episode of goodbyes because the Doctor makes the decision to leave Susan behind so that she can explore her wish to belong somewhere and follow her dreams without him. Overall Rating: 8/10

3. The Rescue

The Doctor is surprised when they land on the planet Dido, a place he’s been before, that the inhabitants are gone and in there place is a few monsters and a crashed spaceship. He then helps discover the true reason for this, that Koquillion isn’t a true resident of Dido, but Bennet who has not only killed his crew and some of the Dido people in order to be rescued by Earth and not still be convicted of his previous crimes. Foiling his plan, the Doctor also takes Vicki Pallister into the TARDIS once she tells them she’s been orphaned due to Bennet’s actions. Plus missing his granddaughter, the Doctor immediately latches onto Vicki who is need of care. Overall Rating: 8/10

4. The Romans

After leaving Dido, the team takes a break in ancient Italy enjoying a month’s vacation in an empty house and living life of Romans. But eager for adventure the Doctor and Vicki set off for Rome and quickly get caught up in the affairs of Cesar Nero’s court when the Doctor is mistaken for a famed musician. But instead of continued life in luxury, Ian and Barbara get kidnapped for a slave trader, Ian going to hard labor in a boat and Barbara to the court of Cesar Nero as the Empress’ pretty handmaid. Ian of course breaks few and chases after her and there’s a great sequence of all four being in close proximity and never seeing each other. Plus we learn the Doctor is the reason behind Cesar Nero’s idea for burning down all of Rome. Overall Rating: 10/10

5. The Web Planet

I know this is one of the beloved serial from Classic Who, but I’m sorry, I can’t. Between the constant beeping of the Zarbi, the weird speaking and hand motions of the Menoptra, and the bizarre enemy of the Animus who makes webs but is some ethereal being, I just can’t get on board with it. Plus while the scattering of the companions in other episodes is okay, this one just feels unnecessary and ridiculous when the final scene is all four coming together in the Animus chamber to then defeat it. Plus, how do any of these creatures actually live and breathe on this planet? Overall Rating: 3/10

6. The Crusade

Having just recently read the book novelization of this serial, I was happy to rewatch it again, though it is disappointing that two of the episodes are missing. The show itself tells a good story of how the TARDIS team lands in the middle of the crusades, explores the two factions between Richard the Lionheart and Saladdin, but also was just a good watch this snippet of history and don’t get too involved with the major events. Sure Barbara is captured and the story revolves around Ian rescuing her, but for the most part the TARDIS team takes a backseat as we explore Richard’s weariness to go home and his trials to try and end these long wars. Overall Rating: 8/10

7. The Space Museum

This is the second serial that explores the problem of something weird happening to the TARDIS, when it materializes a few moments ahead of it actually physically materializing and gives the team a glance at a possible future in which the four are turned into exhibits for the space museum they stumble upon. Fearful of accidentally ending up this way, they instead find themselves running from the keepers of the museum and in Vicki’s case, starting a revolution against them to try and prevent the outcome. It’s one of the more suspenseful early stories, mainly because the Doctor almost does get turned into nothing but a model, but also when he does sneak inside an empty Dalek shell to escape his captors, we see that silly side of him come out. Overall Rating: 9/10

8. The Chase

In probably the most confusing Dalek story ever, we go on quite the journey to avoid the Dalek’s chase of the TARDIS team. It starts on the planet Aridius, ends on the planet Mechanus, and somehow manages to go to New York for the first time, the Mary Celeste ship, and a haunted horror house where Frankenstein destroys a Dalek. We do learn some interesting things about the Daleks and the TARDIS in this episode, but its also notable for two reasons. The first is we meet Steven Taylor and though its unclear, we learn in the next episode he steals away on the TARDIS to avoid being stuck on Mechanus. The second is it’s the serial where Barbara and Ian leave the TARDIS once they realize the Daleks’ time machine can get them back to London in their own time. Overall Rating: 6/10

9. The Time Meddler

We meet another Gallifreyan and the first besides the Doctor and Susan when the Doctor lands just before the Battle of Hastings. We also learn more about the Doctor’s people (though not their species or planet yet) and that there are principles to Time Travel which the Monk has no issue exploiting for his own amusement, but the Doctor is strict about. This leads to the Doctor finding ways to prevent the Monk’s plan of destroying the invading Viking fleet while also removing a key component in the Monk’s TARDIS so he can’t meddle through time anymore. Overall Rating: 9/10

Adding to our previous lists, items in bold are things we learned in Season 2:

Historical Figures:

Marco Polo

Kublai Khan

Maximillen Robespierre

Napoleon Bonaparte

Ceasar Nero

King Richard the Lionheart

Things we learn about the Doctor:

Pioneer among gallifreyans

Ian only refers to one heart being okay “his heart is okay”

Knows three dimensional graph geometry

Things I’ve learned about the TARDIS:

It has a computer that reads and feed data to compute information about where to go next

It has a food generator where you pick flavors to be added to a nutrient bar

The lock comes away from the door and has 27 different mechanisms, getting one wrong might melt the lock

Field dimensions can be damaged by breaking down doors

The TARDIS is made of material that is impervious to Dalek shots

The Doctor does not have a Mark 4

Things we learn about Gallifrey:

It’s quite like Earth, but at night the sky burns orange and the leaves on the trees are a bright silver

Timelords we meet:

The Monk

People the Doctor has supposedly met before:

Pyrrho

Henry VIII

James Watt

[aion-rsa]

Things Heard and Seen Ending Explained

https://ift.tt/3eNexLZ

Netflix horror film Things Heard and Seen is an unusual mix of crime thriller, supernatural horror, and philosophical musings based primarily around the theories of Emanuel Swedenborg and the paintings of George Innes, which were in turn inspired by Swedenborg. 

What starts as a saga about an unhappily married couple who move into a haunted house grows into an existential horror with a bonkers ending. Fear not though, we are here to break it down for you.

George (James Norton) and Catherine (Amanda Seyfried) move with their young daughter Franny to a small town when George gets a job lecturing at the local college. Almost as soon as they move in, strange things begin to happen in the house and a pervasive smell of petrol fills their room at night.

It is revealed that a murder-suicide occurred with the house’s previous owners – Calvin Vayle killed his wife Ella Vayle and himself (using car fumes), orphaning their two sons Eddie and Cole.

As well as the house being haunted, it becomes apparent fairly quickly that George is not a good man. He begins cheating on his wife with Willis (Natalia Dyer) and shows casually threatening behavior to Catherine’s new friend Justine (Rhea Seehorn). We also learn that he fraudulently claimed that he painted pictures done by his late cousin and also forged a recommendation letter from his university to secure his current job. 

Read more

Movies

Synchronic Ending Makes Sci-Fi Movie a Modern Classic

By Don Kaye

Intolerance about his wife’s eating disorder, and an off-hand remark he makes about Justine eating a lot of lasagne (!) might also indicate that George has something to do with Catherine’s condition (though it’s a bit of a stretch). 

Backed into a corner when his boss Floyd, (F. Murray Abraham) discovers his recommendation letter was fake, George decides to murder him by pushing him off his boat, which he also manages to make look like a heart attack. We understand that by this point George is being egged on by the male malevolent spirit in the house – that of the murderous Mr. Vayle.

On the way back from drowning his boss, George runs into Justine. He’s still soaking wet from presumably jumping overboard and swimming back to shore to disguise his part in Floyd’s murder. By now Justine has also clocked the scarf she made around the neck of George’s young mistress Willis and confronts him about this. George knows Justine witnessed his conversation with his former college professor pointing to the recommendation letter forgery. Knowing she’s another loose end, he runs her car off the road, leaving her in a coma.

Meanwhile Catherine has learned that the spirit of the dead woman who inhabits her house is benevolent. She also strongly suspects that it was George who killed Floyd and ran Justine off the road. While George is out she packs her bags and dresses her daughter presumably planning to leave when he’s asleep. 

When he comes home, the two fight. George discovers Franny is dressed and the car is packed and he becomes aggressive with Catherine. He also pushes her to drink one of the protein drinks she has as a food supplement. But, eek!, he seems to have drugged it. Before Catherine can take Franny and run she passes out. Encouraged by the evil spirits in the house, George hacks Catherine to death with an axe.

When Cole comes over to babysit Franny he finds a note telling him Catherine is asleep and is not to be disturbed, and that he should give Franny her pre-prepared drink (also drugged? It’s unclear) and leave once she is asleep – all of which he does.

This is George’s alibi. Which is a bit ridiculous since he basically kills Catherine then goes to work, and the fact that he’s told Cole, in writing, specifically NOT to disturb Catherine while he is out looks pretty damn suspicious… But still, the police let George go and he immediately takes Franny to stay with his parents. Is he really going to get away with murder? Turns out no, but only (it seems) because Justine has finally woken from her coma and remembers everything.

But George isn’t about to go to prison. Instead probably inspired by the dead cousin he was obsessed with (and whose artwork he claimed credit for), he takes the boat The Lost Horizon and basically sails out into a storm and through the gates of hell, becoming the subject of his own George Inness-inspired painting. It’s a riff on the actual Inness painting “The Valley of the Shadow of Death,” with the cross in the sky inverted and the colors more infernal. As George sails into hell, the voices of Ella and Catherine whisper creepy epithets in the background.

George Inness’ painting “The Valley of the Shadow of Death”.

That’s essentially what happens, but what does it all mean?

The title of the film comes from the name of Swedenborg’s book Heaven and its Wonders and Hell From Things Heard and Seen.

Essentially the philosophy of Swedenborg suggests that everything in the natural world has an equivalent in the spiritual world, and death is not the end but a new beginning. The philosophy, as explained by Floyd in the movie, also says that evil spirits are only attracted to evil people and good spirits to good people.

In the house Catherine has moved to, two women before her have been murdered by their husbands. The first was Mrs. Smit – she died in suspicious circumstances and her strict Calvinist husband marks her in his Bible as ‘Damned.’ The second, Ella Vayle, is the spirit that is drawn to Catherine and unites with her ghost after Catherine is killed. Ghost Ella expresses that ghost Mrs Smit was there for her in the same way as she is now there for Catherine.

Conversely, evil George attracts the spirit of evil ghost Calvin Vayle, who taunts and encourages George in his evil acts. 

When George sails off into Hell, he is beginning a the next step on his (damned) spiritual journey. Indeed, the Inness painting the ending riffs on was inspired by Swedenborg, with Inness imagining a hopeful moment of transition between life and death for someone who’s achieved salvation. Meanwhile, as George goes down, the murdered women are united in some sort of liminal space.

Is it a triumph for them? Not really since they were all murdered by their abusive husbands, but if we are to believe in Swedenborg’s theory and the afterlife is just a new start, they at least have that. The closing images and ghostly whisperings suggest that the three are united and grow more powerful, and we see that Mrs. Smit wears the same ring that Ella and later Catherine wore.

Things Heard & Seen is available to stream now on Netflix

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The post Things Heard and Seen Ending Explained appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3u9w9bp

[jjobxx]

-- I Will Be There;

Pairing: Topper Thornton x Reader

Words count: 2,484

Request: "Why are you so nice to me” and “I’m not drunk I’ve only had 1..2..7 drinks” with reader taking care of drunk and sad Topper after he found out about Sarah cheating on him?

Warnings: Slight allusion to child neglect (emotional, really) but doesn’t go into details. A couple curse words, drinking. Fight scenes (yes the one at the Boneyard), a couple injuries but nothing more than scrapes or cuts. Mentions of cheating, obviously.

A/N: This was a little difficult to center around Topper because I assumed the reader was friends with the Pogues so of course she is never around him or never talks to him. Anywho, if this isn’t to your liking please let me know and I’d be happy to try again. As usual, not proofed so any mistakes are my fault.  ^_^

--

Taking care of people was always something you were good at. Everyone always figured you were that way because no one really seemed to ever take care of you, which was true. Sure, you had a mother and father just like everyone else, but they were never really there for you in the ways you wished they were. You lived on the less fortunate side of town which made it harder for you to be taken care of, not that you wanted material things, you just wished your parents cared a little more in regards of being parents and raising you right. By the age of thirteen, you were basically the one keeping your family afloat and since that day, it was in your bones to take care of others and you never asked for anything in return.

When you had met the Pogues, they initially nicknamed you ‘Mama Bear’ but later settled for ‘Mama Cub’ since you were more fuzzy than grizzly. One of them had been pushed off their bike by some of Kooks, ones you didn’t know the names of yet, and landed a mean cut on his forehead. Immediately you had dropped the bag of groceries you were carrying and scurried over to him to check his wound. You could tell he was flustered by the slight stutter in his words but let you help nonetheless, not that there was much you could do at that moment. However, you were able to talk him into letting you follow him to his friend’s house, John B’s, once he helped you gather your groceries and put them in the basket on his bike.

He stubbornly fought you as you insisted on walking his bike back instead of him but eventually gave in when he realized you wouldn’t take no for an answer. The walk to John B’s wasn’t too far but the quiet between you two made it feel like it was taking longer. “I’m Y/N, by the way…” you spoke up with a smile. “Pope,” he had responded as you two rounded a corner and finally made it to his friend’s house. “This is John B’s house, or The Chateau as we like to call it. And that’s John B,” he pointed at a boy with longer, darker locks. “That’s Kie and that’s JJ,” he spoke quickly as he stepped faster through the yard, hoping the others wouldn’t notice the injury on his forehead, or at least not until you were gone.

As you two made it inside, you could hear the speculations of the others but you stayed quiet as he led you to the bathroom where you would find a first aid kit under the sink. You gently padded his cut with a warm wash cloth to clean the dried blood then placed some Neosporin on the cut and finally two band-aides to cover it completely. Once the two of you were done, it was like a dam had burst as soon as you walked back into the company of the others. Many “What the hell happened’s?” were said though it was hard for you to catch who it came from. When they call became quiet, Pope explained what happened and each of them thanked you for helping their friend. “It’s like our own little Mama Bear,” Kie had jokingly stated later in the conversation as you all sat outside chatting away. They made you felt at home, like you had known them for years.

Later that week though John B decided to change your nickname to ‘Mama Cub’, stating you were too soft to be a grown bear. You playfully rolled your eyes, a light shade of pink adorning your cheeks, something Kie later teased you about. She could instantly tell you had developed a crush on JB within one week of knowing him, though it wasn’t hard to not fall for him. Regardless, everyone in the group agreed with the change of name and that’s the one that finally stuck.

Overtime you spent more time with the group, and less time at home. They made you feel more love and likeness in the few months you knew them than your parents did your whole life. With the Pogues though came the Kooks and somehow all four of them were more protective over you when the Kooks came around than you were of them; you were their cub and no one was going to mess with you. So anytime the Kooks came around, later learning their names to be Topper, Rafe, and Kelce, they always made Kie take you wherever they weren’t. You knew why they did it but sometimes you wished they’d let you stay so you could look after them instead.

The night of the boneyard incident happened so fast though, they weren't able to keep you from being away from the scenario that happened. One little quip was all it took for JJ and Topper to go at it then John B stepped in and that's when it escalated rather quickly. You could hear Sarah Cameron yelling after Topper and Kie yelling after John B as they wrestled in the water. You couldn't bring yourself to say anything as Topper began to drown your friend. You tried your best but nothing would come out, it was as if you were in some sort of trance that wouldn't allow you to have control over your own body. You were supposed to be the mama cub of the group, why couldn't you be that for them now? In truth, you were scared. Scared for John b, scared for Topper, and scared to know if JJ was actually going to use the gun.

To you it was quiet for a moment but then you heard the gun shot ring out and it brought you back to. While everyone was scurrying away from the boneyard, you watched as John B passed out on the surface. Your legs were like jello as you ran to him but the others quickly followed and helped to get him back to the Chateau.

That was the first night you had been around and witnessed the Pogue versus Kook rivalry that was so infamous around the island and your friends. That was the reason your friends always made sure you were never around when the drama started because they always knew there was potential of going from one to one hundred real quick. It was also the reason you were slightly more afraid of Topper and his friends, except you weren't about to let that cat out of the bag.

 Many other scenarios had brought you to the moment where you were now. There was the one where Topper and Rafe had jumped Pope while delivering groceries at the gulf club. You hadn't known about what happened until after the fact but that didn't stop you from wanting to give the two Kooks a piece of your mind. You were going to, and you almost did had it not of been for the rather terrifying look Rafe had been giving you when you walked up to him the next day, followed by the intense glares coming from Topper and Kelce next to him. All you could do was huff - though it came out more as a squeak - and walk away before anything else could be done.

Then there was the night of the Midsummer's party. Granted, you were on John B's hammock enjoying the setting sun so you weren't there to bare witness to anything that did or did not happen. But the next morning you woke to news that John B was in the hospital and Topper is the one that put him there. It was unclear to you what occurred but you were confused by Sarah's presence in the room and why she was so close to your friend. You were confused why Topper would push John B off the lookout - though maybe not meaning for it to have gone that far - but then it hit you... it hit you like a ton of bricks when you put two and two together.

You made an excuse to leave the room and sought out Topper. Yes, you were scared of him, and yes he made some questionable choices but you had been on the receiving end of cheating before and you knew how it felt. Your first serious boyfriend of one year had cheated on you for three months before you found out. Of all people, John B was the one to comfort you and now you couldn't help but be disappointed in the fact that he took part in Sarah's cheating.

 You weren't exactly sure where to go to find him, you didn't know Topper as well as you knew your friends. Additionally, he was a Kook and being you were a Pogue, you probably had different places in mind when you needed to be upset or isolate yourself.

You remembered he had a boat, though unsure if it was repaired yet due to Pope and JJ's revenge, but you had seen him a few times in passing on his boat and figured it was as good a place as any to check, at least, your gut told you so.

 It took you a bit to find his boat, not entirely knowing where he lived on Figure Eight. But once you made it there, you couldn't help but feel a little bad for him. Currently he was stumbling to get to the boat, his left hand on a post on the deck to keep him from falling and his right clutching onto a red solo cup of what you assumed as alcohol. Before you could think about it, you rushed to him and gently placed your hands on his shoulders to help steady him. "Woah there, Top. How about we get you away from the boat and water?" He could only grunt and mutter a 'No', the smell of alcohol stinging your nose. "Okay but you are in no state to be out on a dock by yourself, let alone to drive a boat," you softly exchanged. "You are drunk, Topper." He scoffed at your words, "I'm not drunk. I've only had 1... 2... 7 drinks," he counted with his fingers, stumbling into you as he lost his balance. It took everything in you not to fall. He was clearly much bigger than you but somehow you managed not to fall back. "Please, let me take you inside. You'll be much better off inside than out here,” you countered, trying not to sway with him as his grip was stronger than yours. “Let me just get you inside,” you whispered, gently pushing him in the direction of his house.

It took you almost thirty minutes of persuasion, and about twenty minutes to get him in the house after he had fallen more than once. You’re not sure how you did it without causing injuries to you or himself but finally you made it to his bedroom where you had tried to place him softly on the bed but it ended up being less than graceful as he plopped down onto it. His mumblings were incoherent as you tucked a blanket over him, the only words you were able to make out were Sarah’s and John B’s name which made your heart tighten each time he repeated them. You ran your hand through your hair, letting out a breath before speaking up. “I’m going to go find some aspirin and get some water, you stay here.”

With the medicine and water in hand, you returned to his room. From just the few minutes you were gone, Topper had passed out. You placed the water on the stand beside his bed, the aspirin next to the glass. You didn’t want to leave him so instead you made yourself at home, or as at home as you could. You sat in front of his closet, your back resting against the door. It wasn’t the most comfortable position but you didn’t figure you would be sleeping anyways, or at least not very much.

You woke up instantly when you heard the shatter of glass followed by an “Oh shit” from Topper. You scrambled to get up but were able to place your hand on his shoulder and lightly push him back on the bed. “You stay there, I’ll clean it up and get you some more water. Can’t have you getting hurt…” you mumbled, already out of his room to grab the supplies you needed.

As you were cleaning up the mess, careful not to cut yourself on the glass, you could feel Topper’s gaze on you. You weren’t sure why he was staring but it made your skin flush as you worked on the task at hand. You bit your lip, a nervous habit you had picked up long ago. “Why are you so nice to me?” he had suddenly asked you. “I’ve been nothing but cruel to you and your friends, I don’t get it.” There was hesitance in answering his question. You put the broom and dustpan down and slowly made your way to him. “I guess I know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of cheating,” your shoulders shrugged. “I don’t know what happened between you and Sarah, and why she did it but it doesn’t make it right for her to do that to you. If she wasn’t feeling you two, she should’ve broke it off… not find comfort in another while you two were still a thing.”

You hadn’t realized you were sitting on his bed until you felt his hand on yours. “Thank you.” The enunciation of his words and the sincere look in his eyes was enough to tell you that he really was thankful. “You said you’ve been on the receiving end before… you should know you of all people don’t deserve that,” Topper’s words were genuine. You smiled at him and replied with a thank you of your own. “Now, let’s get you out of yesterday’s clothes and start the day fresh, shall we? I’ll even let you take your boat out for a spin,” you offered with a chuckle, getting up from the bed to finish cleaning up the mess as he found clothes to change into and headed for the shower.

You were probably the last person anyone expected to see with Topper Thornton yet here you were. The two of you had spent the entire day together out on his boat. After getting to know him, you weren’t as terrified of him as before and you began to understand where some of his problems came from. You knew you would have some explaining to do of your own when it came to the Pogues but right now your focus was to look after your new-found friend.  

[lon3lynation]

Promise To Never Let Go (Day 6: Titanic Clexa AU)

Can also be read on AO3.

“Where to, Miss?”

“To the stars.”

Dull blue eyes gazed helplessly above at the bright and magnificent night sky that was accompanied by twinkling stars. They could be seen reflecting off the water. It was beautiful, but it only felt like a cruel tease the more she stared and tuned out her surroundings. More than anything, Clarke yearned for Lexa to take them to the stars. Instead, her body was frozen stiff on top of a door while floating in the Atlantic ocean. Tears begged to be wept, but her tear ducts have long since frozen any that attempted to fall.

“When this ship docks, I’m getting off with you.”

“This is crazy.”

“I know. It doesn’t make any sense. That’s why I trust it.”

Clarke squeezed her eyes shut before opening them again in fear that they would freeze in position. Slowly, she rolled her cold and numb body to the side, shuddering at the feel of her icy skin peeling from the wood. It was unnerving how gradually the calm and silent overtook the night. Panicked screams, uncontrollable prayers, and desperate calling of names had filled the air while the Titanic continued to sink deeper into the ocean. She had also found herself screaming, shouting with all her might, and love for Lexa earlier.

People all around her were splashing frantically, knowing that death would soon claim them all, but one had tried to introduce her to end sooner by nearly drowning her when she first surfaced. A stranger tried to use her body outfitted with a lifejacket to stay afloat, but she struggled and fought desperately to break his hold. She hit him with a swift jab that knocked him loose and quickly took the chance to escape. Lexa would have been proud to have seen it. It was then she realized that Lexa wasn’t anywhere to be found. She yelled and swam searching for Lexa while shoving past passengers until eventually noticing the bodies going silent and still. Her body and mind screamed at her that she would perish too if she continued searching.

“I love you. Lexa.”

“No, don’t say your good-byes, Clarke. Don’t you give up. Don’t do it.”

“We’re going down!”

“Clarke, listen to me. Listen. Winning that ticket was the best thing that ever happened to me. It brought me to you. And I’m thankful, Clarke. I’m thankful. You must do me this honor... promise me you will survive... that you will never give up... no matter what happens... no matter how hopeless... promise me now, and never let go of that promise.”

“I promise.”

“Never let go.”

“I promise. I will never let go, Lexa. I’ll never let go.”

“Okay, good. Now take a deep breath and hold it right before we go into the water. The ship will suck us down. Kick for the surface and keep kicking. Don’t let go of my hand. We’re gonna make it, Clarke. Trust me.”

“I trust you. I jump, you jump, remember?”

Clarke wanted to hold onto her promise to Lexa, but she was supposed to be able to hold onto Lexa too. She had her, she was hers with a future together on the horizon, and they were going to make it. Unfortunately, that hope dwindled as soon as they hit the water, she had held tightly onto Lexa’s hand until something had yanked her beloved from her grip and forced her to the surface alone. All she could do was scream and search for her until even that was taken from her. Her voice turned hoarse and weak, her body slowed and grew numb from the 28 degrees ocean. Reluctantly her search changed to searching for something to keep her out of the open water. Luckily, she had found the door that was presently keeping her afloat.

However, Clarke couldn’t find it in herself to feel lucky. She had somehow lost Lexa in the depths of the ocean, not knowing if she was clinging to life like Clarke was or if her body was among the floating corpses somewhere around her unseen. She wanted to hold out hope, but the quiet was eating away at her, and her body was so, so, so cold. The longer she was left on top of the door without rescue, her aching heart would surely come to an unending halt. It was a struggle to keep her eyes open and hold out, but Clarke was no longer even sure if she had reason to keep trying. She felt so weak, so close to embracing her icy death, and hopeful she’ll somehow see Lexa again.

Clarke was so grateful that she had taken her chance to tell Lexa that she loves her. At least Lexa had known her love, that her heart would forever be cherished in life, and even in death. It was simply unfair they didn't have more time together. What they had was so new and so beautiful. She would have never believed that she could genuinely fall in love with someone, another woman at that, in just a few days. Lexa turned what seemed like an impossibility into a possibility and swept Clarke off her feet.

“Lexa,” she weakly whispered to the stars above, her frozen lips cracking when they parted.

All hope, will, and spirit were leaving her stranded, just like how the lifeboats in the distance had neglected to come to their rescue when they called out to them. She doesn’t know how long it has been since she and Lexa entered the water but it felt like an eternity when it was perhaps closer to 40 minutes. It appeared that no one was coming to their rescue, and if they were, it would be too late by then to find any survivors. With the dead silence surrounding her, it left her wondering if she was the only one left clinging to life. It was foolish of her to still be hanging on when everyone’s spirits have already departed them. Embracing death, no matter if she wanted it or not, felt like her last and only option.

She just needed to let go.

Taking one last look at the night sky, Clarke let her eyes flutter closed.

A moment later, a light flared across the water, silhouetting the bobbing corpses in between the boat and Clarke. It traveled past her motionless form before moving on. The boat is 50 feet away, and moving past her to continue their search.

Clarke’s eyes snapped open.

Voices.

She heard distorted and hollow voices. Blearily vision sought the sound out and tracked a lifeboat that was stretching the distance between them. At first, she couldn't believe her eyes and simply watched the boat move further away. Clarke had accepted that she wasn’t going to get rescued in time, and the boat passed her by. She wanted to close her eyes again and wait for death to claim her. The will to let go was right there, and all she had to do was let it happen.

But...

Lexa made her promise to never let go.

If she let go now, wouldn’t that be breaking her promise to her?

She couldn’t let herself break it. She couldn’t disappoint Lexa.

Lexa would want her to keep fighting. Seeing that she was still breathing and there was a real chance of a rescue, she couldn’t just turn away from it. Clarke promised that no matter what happens or how hopeless that she would live on.

She needed to live. For Lexa.

“Hel--” her voice faltered. “Help!” Clarke struggled to move because her voice was failing her. The boat had rowed dreadfully out of her view. “Over here!” Knowing there was no other choice, Clarke plunged herself into the icy water, her hair tugging painfully from where it had frozen to the door. She swam to where a Chief Officer with a whistle was nearby and clutch onto his body. Taking the whistle from his frozen mouth, she gathered all the strength that was left in her body and blew the whistle. The sound struck across the still water.

Clarke keeps blowing and doesn’t stop until the whistle is taken from her stiff lips when her rescuers reached down and hauled her into the boat. Finally rescued and safe, Clarke fell unconscious with dreams of Lexa and that the unsinkable Titanic never actually sunk.

_________________________

When Clarke woke up, she found herself and about 700 other survivors aboard the RMS Carpathia. The crew gave her dry clothes and had her evaluated by 1 of their 3 doctors. She was told that she had reached Stage 3 of Hypothermia and that she likely would have died if the rescue had arrived any later than they had. It didn’t surprise her and knew she should consider it a miracle that she was alive. They swaddled her in a blanket, fed her, and offered her hot tea.

She slowly roamed around the steamliner, her eyes taking in the pale faces of survivors around her, hoping to see familiar, knowledgeable green eyes.

She didn’t.  

Eventually, Clarke settled on the deck with her hot beverage to watch the rising morning sun and the last of the rescued lifeboats being hoisted up. They all just survived something horrible together, and yet Clarke felt utterly alone. Falling into a trance with an emotionless face, Clarke silently mourned.

“Is that you, Clarke?” a different familiar voice shook her out of it.

Finn.

Clarke clenched her jaw at the sight of Finn looking her over. She looked like a refuge with matted hair hanging over her eyes.

“Yes, I lived. How awkward, huh?”

“Clarke, your mother and I have been looking for you.”

Holding a hand up, Clarke put a stop to whatever Finn had in mind to say next. She didn’t want to hear it. He was the reason why Lexa was prevented from getting on a lifeboat with her. They could have been both saved if he had just put aside his hurt ego and let Lexa join her.

“Please don’t. Shut up and just listen. From this moment, you do not exist for me, nor I for you. You shall not see me again. And you will not attempt to find me. Is this in any way unclear to you?”

Clarke ignored the way Finn looked at her with big sad eyes. He received a lethal glare in return.

“What do I tell your mother?”

Clarke hesitated before replying with a weary sigh.

“Tell her I died with the Titanic.”

Turning around to face the rail again, Clarke dismissed Finn.

“Goodbye, Finn.”

Finn reluctantly left, leaving her to replay her the past few days in her head again.

“Sorry to bother you, ma’am. I need your name.”

Clarke looked back to see an Officer holding a list of all the names of the survivors.

“Um, Clarke Griffin. Actually, make that Woods. Clarke Woods.”

The man looked her over curiously before nodding and writing the name down.

“I think I just noted down your sister’s name a bit ago. Have you seen to her?”

“Sister? I don’t have a sister.”

“I know you said Woods, but Griffin? Lexa Griffin? Figured there was a relation there, my apologies, Miss.”

Clarke froze on the spot. It was wishful thinking. It had to be. Lexa had been lost to the sea. Right? But what were the chances that there was a survivor named Lexa Griffin?

“Lexa Griffin? Where did you leave her? Tell me!”

“Oh, I last saw her resting in one of the Officer’s cabins that were converted.”

Clarke dropped her nearly empty cup of tea to rush to where the cabins were situated below deck. It takes a few long, tense minutes to push past the crowd filled with crew and survivors to get to the correct level. Her heart was beating like crazy, and her body was protesting her rapid movements. She was still weak and needed to take it easy while she recovered. There was a possibility that Lexa had survived though, and she desperately needed to see if her sudden hope was senseless or not. She slammed into an Officer’s room, scanning the bleak faces of a few passengers and not finding the features she wanted to see. Quietly apologizing, she backed out the room and rushed into the next converted room.

Not her.

Not her.

Not… wait.

Clarke’s eyes settled on a slim figure sitting on the edge of a bed, hunched over with blankets wrapped around their whole body. Clarke shook as she slowly inched forward, both hopeful and scared to look upon the hooded person’s face. Swallowing deeply, Clarke stood before the clearly defeated form of a woman and let herself say her beloved’s name out loud.

“Lexa?”

The huddled form flinched at her voice before slowly raising a trembling hand to push back the blanket and finally revealing those beautiful familiar eyes Clarke has wished to witness again.

“Oh my god, Lexa!”

Lexa’s face slackened in shock at the sight of Clarke.

“Clarke?” she rasped, her devastation quickly turned into euphoria as she jumped up to embrace Clarke tightly.

“It's you! It’s really you.” Clarke cried heartily before tucking her face into the curve of Lexa’s neck. “I thought I lost you.”

“Clarke, Clarke, Clarke,” Lexa repeated, nearly crushing Clarke as she attempted to pull her deeper into her. “You’re here.”

“I’m here, Lexa. We’re both here. We made it.”

“I-I believed you were gone, Clarke. I was so lost without you.”

“Me too. God, I thought I wasn’t going to make it and hoped I’d get to see you again in the afterlife.” Clarke sighed, pecking the cool skin beneath her lips before leaning back to gaze at Lexa’s face. “I remembered my promise to you, though. I didn’t let go.”

Clarke’s eyes fluttered shut when Lexa moved her hands to hold her face, her fingers slightly trembling against her cheeks. She couldn’t believe that she was feeling Lexa’s touch again. It was real. She didn’t have to go on without Lexa.

“Thank you for keeping your promise. I’m so proud of you for surviving. I didn’t know if you were alive or not but I didn’t think it was fair of me if I didn’t silently promise the same to you. I didn’t want to be without you, but I fought to live for you, Clarke.” Lexa gulped as tears filled her eyes, threatening to fall. “I love you. Oh, do I love you so.”

Clarke felt something crack within her and found herself weeping into Lexa’s chest.

“I love you, I love you,” she cried softly before feeling Lexa maneuver them to sit on the mattress.

Lexa adjusted the blankets around them until they were sharing them and their body heat as she pressed firmly against Clarke. She leaned down and press soothing kisses to Clarke’s head, rubbing her hand along the slant of her back. Lexa let her own tears fall as they both processed and expressed every feeling that overtook their tired bodies. It was hard to accept how close they came to losing each other and that for hours, they truly believed that death had separated them. It was taxing to instantly go from feeling such loss, grief to relief, and elation. It would take a little time to fully process everything to let the pain that they were still feeling fade.

Minutes later, when the tears slowly came to a stop, Clarke tilted her head and lovingly captured Lexa’s lips into a kiss. Simply forgetting and uncaring that there were others in the room, Lexa melted into Clarke and exchanged soft kisses to refamiliarize themselves with each other again. Clarke moved to thread her fingers into Lexa’s unruly curls that still felt a bit damp and was careful to not accidentally tug on any knots. They breathed each other in, letting their newfound love be felt with each press of their lips. Lexa eventually swiped her tongue along Clarke’s upper lip, shifting to deepen the kiss. Clarke eagerly parted her lips for Lexa’s tongue, passionately letting their tongues reunite. Lexa panted while Clarke moaned quietly, their hands tightening their hold on each other.

Someone obnoxiously cleared their throat.

They're reluctant to break apart, but they do to take each other in again with their eyes. Clarke licked her lips, twirling a strand of dark hair between her fingers before choosing to ask what has been on her mind.

“Lexa, what had happened? When we were underwater, I held on, but then it felt like some force just yanked you away.”

Lexa turned her head away, a small blush appearing on her cheeks. Clarke lifted a hand to tilt her face back toward her. She didn’t want those green eyes hidden away from her.

“Those suspenders you adore so much, they nearly killed me.”

Clarke paused her twirling.

“What do you mean?”

“Somehow they got caught on the stern or the railing. I was being dragged down with the Titanic. That’s what pulled me from you. I panicked for a moment thinking that was really how I was going to go out before remembering I could unclip them from my pants. I didn’t think I was going to get to the surface in time. It was close. By the time I regained my breath, you were nowhere in sight.” Lexa sighed, feeling a bit guilty. “I yelled for you, Clarke. I tried to find you. I’m sorry I failed you.”

“Lexa, no, don’t think that.” Clarke moved to clasped Lexa’s face between her hands, her eyes staring intensely into Lexa’s. “You didn’t fail me. You fought to stay alive and you did. If you hadn’t --” her voice cracked with emotion. “You didn’t fail, and it wasn’t your fault. I’m glad that you’re so stubborn and that you basically told death to go fuck themselves.”

Lexa gasped, pretending to be scandalized, but her amusement shined through.

“What a dirty mouth for a first class lady,” Lexa teasingly smirked. “I think I'm fond of it.”

“You better be. It’s your bad influence that did it, after all.” Clarke joked, leaning in to peck Lexa on the lips. “So, what happened afterward? I had to punch a guy in the face for trying to use me as his personal lifejacket. I ended up finding a door to lay on after I had to quit searching for you.”

“You socked a guy, and I missed it? Damn.” Lexa shook her head, silently fuming that someone tried to drown Clarke. “I had to tell a few people to piss off, especially after I found a broken piece of a staircase to climb onto.” Her eyes turned distant, remembering the people she denied and how she noticed their corpses drifting a small distance away from her location. “They didn’t survive.”

Clarke frowned, her hands moving to grip onto Lexa’s tightly. She knew the horror they had gone through. It would take both of them time to cope with the trauma and the consequences of the sinking.

“You did what you had to do to survive. There is no shame in that.” Clarke soothingly rubbed Lexa’s knuckles. “You’re here with me because of that survival instinct. I know that doesn’t make it feel any better, but you’re not alone. We’re together and we’re going to deal with this together too.”

Lexa inhaled deeply and let it out slowly before giving a short nod.

“I’ll hold you to that.”

“I want you to.” Clarke smiled. “There’s a future waiting for us. I want it. I want it all with you.”

“They’d said that it may take us 3 days to reach New York.” Lexa moved to stroke Clarke’s chin. “You’re really coming with me.” She murmured to herself, not knowing how she had gotten so lucky to have a girl wanting to share a life filled with adventures with her. “We’ll travel and go to that pier we talked about. Drink cheap beer, go on the rollercoasters, ride horses on the beach, right into the surf.”

“Ride like a man!”

“Yes, do it like men.” Lexa chuckled. “Every morning, we’ll wake up wrapped up in each other, never knowing what the day will offer us, but we’ll find out together.”

“Together. It sounds like a dream.”

“It is until it’s not. We’re going to make it our truth and live to the fullest.” Lexa grinned, alight with enthusiasm for their new lives together. She couldn’t wait to show Clarke everything the world had to offer and more. “I’ll take you the stars and back, Clarke. Everything in between, I’ll give you the entirety of all that I am and offer you all that I can give to you. I love you.”

“You’ve already given me the most precious jewel in the world, your heart. That and your presence is all I’ll ever truly need from you, Lexa. “Clarke gave a tearful smile. “I jump, you jump, right? I love you too.”

They embraced once more, excitement igniting as they eagerly awaited to start their new life together. There were so many things to do and many sights to see. They were also looking forward to learning what their relationship would end up teaching them about each other. It had been only a short number of days since they met, and they wanted to learn everything about each other. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

They would go on to get to know each other completely. They would go on to explore all in between New York and California. They would visit the pier, go on rollercoasters till they got sick, and ride on horses as men do along the beach. It was everything they had promised to each other, and they lived joyously. All the old and new promises they had made were never broken.

They held on forever.

And they never let go.

[santalsaburablog]

Adventures of Santal. Chapter 1: The girl who survived.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

Heroes create the times.

The story begins! On the beautiful Twi'lek planet Ryloth, a young Twi'lek lethana, Elina, is raising the daughter of her friend, who, along with her husband, was killed on a starship in an attack by mercenaries. Baby Santal lives carefree and happy. But no one suspects that it has a great destiny in store for it. Only time will tell.

— Santal! There is no answer.

— Santa-a-al! there is no answer.

Elina was walking up and down near the house and shouting:

The woman went through all the rooms once more , then suddenly it dawned on her, and Elina quickly went in the direction that her brain suggested, hoping that her instincts were not deceiving her.

"Of course I forgot about the backyard. What were you doing there? In

front of Elina sat a little girl with dark hair tied in two ponytails. Judging by the condition of her clothes, the little girl had time to Tinker in the ground.

"I'm sorry, aunt. I watched the flowers and didn't hear them. After all, what beauty surrounds us!

Elina was touched and calmed down. Why be angry with a child for such nonsense? Thank you for thinking about flowers and nature, and not about something indecent. And so, let him think about the world around him. In General, her ward loved life in all its manifestations.

"Santal, let's go." I need to get you cleaned up. We'll be having lunch soon.

An hour later, the two women, the big one and the little one, were sitting at the table. Letanka this day rasstaralas and prepared a favorite meal of the pupil.

"So go with her, — thought Elina. "She's not doing this out of spite. Just likes to touch and explore everything. But Santal is only three years old, in six months — four. I try my best to raise her, because she is, poor thing, the daughter of my late friend. I still remember that story. Her family was attacked by hunters. And Santal managed to survive. I just don't know how. Later, when the case was resolved, the mercenaries were not caught, and they wanted to send the girl to an orphanage. But my husband and I didn't allow it. Especially since I'm infertile myself. And I want children. Nobi's husband is a farmer, and I'm a homemaker. We live modestly, but everyone is happy."

Three and a half years ago.

The New hope starship, commissioned by the Shang couple, had just come out of hyperspace. Thirty-year-old Adira Shan lay exhausted after giving birth. Her husband, Bastian, was holding a newborn, long-awaited first child.

"It's a girl.

— Santal, — Adira said.

"Why Santal?" my husband was surprised.

"Your ancestor's name was SATEL. Looks like it, doesn't it?

— Exactly. Perfect. Bastian happily circled the room with his daughter, and then gave his wife to feed.

"She will be the most beautiful and intelligent Jedi in the world, — the woman said with love and tenderness as she watched the baby drink breast milk.

"That's right. You'll see. As the child grows up, we will give it to the temple. In three years somewhere.

"I want her to stay longer." You can ask. And we would have taught her everything.

"You know the rules. Must not.

Adira sighed, thinking how unfair this was.

"Do you remember how we met?"

— Yes. We were younglings then. I was coming from training, and you were coming from the library. Our heads collided. The conversation started in just a minute. They became friends, and then, when they grew up, they got married.

— Many memories. You can't remember everything. Oh, well. We're about to land on Ryloth. Soon we will hug with friends, show the baby and…

Bastian's thoughts were interrupted by an unexpected explosion. The man quickly ran to the sensors.

"What is it?"

— The enemy spaceship! We are shooting back urgently! They seem to be mercenaries!

And the starship seemed to be lying in wait. Waiting for the right boat to come out. On it a girl with a red tail on her head commanded:

— Aim for the engines! Don't let them land!

The shelling started. The enemy ship had good weapons: it included a laser turret mounted on top for space combat and crushing asteroids that got in the way, a pair of heavy laser cannons that could cause deadly damage to the enemy even faster, and an ion cannon that was used to immobilize cargo ships. As for the "New hope", there were improved armor, hyperdrive and power volleys of two guns.

Unfortunately, on this day, the victory was won by an enemy ship, which took the loser on Board. The leader of the bounty hunter gang quickly drew his Blaster.

— Begin.

Meanwhile, Bastian and Adira drew their swords.

— Adira, protect Santal! I'll try to deal with the mercenaries. There must be three of them.

The Jedi, using the Force, realized that the hunters were divided. Question: who will he run into? As Bastian passed through the corridors, he heard voices. One is female, the other is male. As the man approached the door, a short, fish-faced man jumped out and scurried back when he saw the Jedi.

— What's the big idea! Open it quickly, I won't hit you!

Suddenly, a second wickway man came up behind him and started shooting.

"Well,well. What do we have here? "no," he said.

Bastian was a master at deflecting shots, even when the bullet hit him squarely in the arm. The hunter fell, and the Jedi saw that a red-tailed girl was standing behind him, who also started firing at him. And then fishface jumped in from behind. As a result, the girl shot the unfortunate man. Advertising: Hide

— Great, " she grinned. "Bane, we did it.

The gang leader, who had been watching from afar, approached the trio.

— Well. Look for the second one. The customer gave clear instructions: destroy the dynasty, every last one of them!

Meanwhile, Adira was bundling up her daughter, preparing to escape in a secret escape pod. Of course, the mercenaries all blew up, but one was overlooked because it was disguised.

"Santal, all my gift to you, I'm sorry. Only hope to save your life. I hope Bastian doesn't let you down.

A shot rang out.

"Hello, honey." Duros pointed the Blaster at the woman.

The Jedi activated the sword and held it out in front of the hunter.

— Stay back! What did you do to my husband?!

— The same thing I'm going to do to you now!

Adira ran further and further, deflecting the shots, which was difficult, especially since one arm was occupied, and she herself was weakened after giving birth. So it was quickly backed into a corner. All four of them.

— Well, that's it.

— No. Not all. The Jedi gathered herself and pushed the hunters aside as she ran forward to the capsule.

But then there was a roar of four Blaster shots. Adira had just rounded the corner when a burst of energy from one of the weapons hit her in the stomach.

"Hooray! Hey, who got hit? — shouted the fishheads.

Red-tailed Aurra laughed.

— No matter. We must return to the starship immediately. It remains only to destroy the ship, ' ordered the duro, well knowing that this did petroliana.

Or so he thought. In General, it was unclear who was hit. Bane decided to cover up the discussion, because who cares? It's like setting off an explosion.

Adira waited until the footsteps had subsided, then rose quietly, holding her hand tightly to her abdomen, hoping to stop the hemorrhage a little. Finally, with great difficulty, she managed to put the baby in a compact capsule. Adira was mentally prepared for death. She's seriously injured anyway, and soon the ship will explode.

How cruel and unfair the world is sometimes! Just as you're making serious plans, the next moment something terrible happens and everything changes. Or you realize that you are dying and that the dream is already out of reach.

"Hush, daughter. Don't cry, don't be shy. Grief will leave you. I lullaby my last I will always be with you.

Adira kissed her daughter one last time, laid her on the pillow, closed the door, and pressed the button. And just in time, because fifteen seconds later the ship was engulfed in an explosion. The last thing Santal's mother hoped for was that Her little girl would be saved and taken care of.

***

"They are the chosen ones of the force. And it is our duty to remember that we will also leave in due time. We are creatures of Light, but our bodies are not eternal vessels. And we'll all be here in time. Please be silent for a minute to remember and move on. We must live for the sake of the living Jedi. They will live in us forever, " Grand master Yoda concluded.

Since there were no bodies, the Jedi order and their companions were standing in the open air, with two fires burning. Some even cried.

"Bastian was my best friend, — qui-gon said.

"And mine, too," Windu said.

"How pathetic. So young, — it was heard from all sides of the phrase in this way.

"It looks like the legendary Jedi dynasty has ended forever," Ki-ADI-Mundi said.

"Are you sure?" Yoda asked. "I can smell the excitement of The force. Maybe there is hope, and someone survived. It is impossible to foresee our future. Bastian and Adira are dead, but the dynasty is alive. Bye.

"Do you think someone survived?" But there was no one there.

— Maybe — Yes. Or maybe not. And this gives me hope.

As the Jedi reasoned, in the distance, one of the senators, Palpatine, thought: «Perfectly. So the Shang dynasty is gone. No one can stop me."

Present time

And Santal lived quietly in a foster home. She knew the history of her real parents very well. She was repeatedly told about them. The girl sometimes missed her family, even though she didn't tell anyone. The only thing left of my mother is her Padawan scythe, which she managed to pass on as a souvenir.

Santal desperately wanted to know the truth about the tragedy that happened over Ryloth. How it really was. What if they weren't mercenaries? What if the parents managed to escape? Etc., etc. And so nothing.

In General, the girl began to notice strange things lately. Santal always felt that something was going to happen. Or no, it's not. She always felt the presence of someone or something. It was as if someone was telling her, guiding her, keeping her on her way. Santal found a logical explanation for this: it is the parents who help. They're right next to her.

And so the carefree and fun life of Santal Shan went on. But there was no sign that she would soon be the one to change the order of things in the galaxy.

A new life was about to begin.

[rivet-ing-titanic]

April 30th, 1912 - American Inquiry Day 11

Pictured: Philip A.S. Franklin (left) and J. Bruce Ismay (right) during the US inquiry into the disaster.

Day 11: A first big thing that is notable about today is the fact that the first woman witness is called to testify, a first class passenger named Mrs. Helen W. Bishop. But the morning starts with a seemingly unrelated individual to the disaster, but it comes that he had insider knowledge regarding a telegram addressed to “Islefrank” or “Franklin” on Monday morning. It is later asked that the testimony be sent to the officers of Western Union Telegraph, to advise them that one of their employees is leaking information. Another seemingly unrelated character is Deputy Morgan of the United States Marshall services who was in charge of the elusive Luis Klein. Colonel Archibald Gracie was among the first class passengers who testified today. His story is one that he later captures in books that are still read to this day. His story is definitely worth reading. 

Witnesses:

Edward J. Dunn, Salesman;

Charles H. Morgan, Deputy United States Marshall;

J. Bruce Ismay, managing director of I.M.M and Managing Director of the White Star Line (recalled later in the day);

C.E. Henry Stengel, First Class Passenger, RMS Titanic;

S.C. Neale, Counsel for I.M.M;

Colonel Archibald Gracie, First Class Passenger, RMS Titanic (recalled later in the day);

Mrs. Helen W. Bishop, First Class Passenger, RMS Titanic;

Dickinson H. Bishop, First Class Passenger, RMS Titanic;

Notable Quotes/Lines of Questioning or Summarized Testimony:

Edward Dunn, was a salesman who was speaking with an acquaintance about the Titanic disaster, at which “the question arose that there were rumors that there was a telegram delivered at the Western Union office to be delivered, or a message had been received by wireless addressed to Islefrank; and the wireless people, not knowing who Islefrank was, in turn turned that telegram over to the Western Union people to deliver to Islefrank. It appears that the telegram was delivered at the White Star office between half-past 7 and 8 o'clock that Monday morning.”  Dunn is continuously asked to give the name of his informant, but he remains steadfast and will not tell the subcommittee that man’s name.

The topic of Luis Klein comes back today as Deputy Morgan is interviewed. He presents a signed paper in which Klein waives the need for official subpoena, and agrees to come from Cleveland to D.C. in order to testify. Klein made it to D.C. with the Marshall, however he snuck out of his hotel at 7a.m. one morning and has not been seen since.

Ismay takes the stand again before the senators.  He starts by explaining all the lines held and controlled under the I.M.M. Then they discuss the relationship with Harland & Wolff, Thomas Andrews and the work they have done for White Star Line.

On their contract with the British Government: “No, sir. We are supposed to use the fastest ships we have in our fleet for the conveyance of the mails, but there is absolutely no penalty attached to our not making any special speed… I think there is a minimum; or we are not allowed to put the mails into ships that will go less than 16 knots, or something like that.” – Ismay

“No, sir. We have never built a ship with Messrs. Harland & Wolff by contract at all. They have carte blanche to build the ship and put everything of the very best into that ship, and after they have spent all the money they can on her they add on their commission to the gross cost of the ship, which we pay them. We have never built a ship by contract.” – Ismay

“She might not have sunk. I think it would have taken a very brave man to have kept his ship going straight on an iceberg. I think he should have endeavored to avoid it.” – Ismay

Ismay provides copies of all messages he sent aboard the Carpathia. 

“We have given instructions that no ship belonging to the I.M.M. Co. is to leave any port unless she has sufficient boats on board for the accommodation of all the passengers and the whole of the crew.” – Instructions given by Ismay the day following his reaching New York.

“Because there was room in the boat. She was being lowered away. I felt the ship was going down, and I got into the boat.” – Ismay, on why he boarded a lifeboat.

“Mr. Chairman, I understand that my behavior on board the Titanic, and subsequently on board the Carpathia, has been very severely criticized. I want to court the fullest inquiry, and I place myself unreservedly in the hands of yourself and any of your colleagues, to ask me any questions in regard to my conduct; so please do not hesitate to do so, and I will answer them to the best of my ability…” – Ismay (for full statement: LINK)

“I have no fault to find. Naturally, I was disappointed in not being allowed to go home; but I feel quite satisfied you have some very good reason in your own mind for keeping me here.” – Ismay. Smith has asked a number of men, mainly those of higher status, to say for the record, their opinions and confirm he was acting in a correct manner. I think you can look at this one of two ways: being extremely thorough and meticulous in this investigation, or you could see it as a CYA (cover your ass) attempt because some other people he didn’t consider their feelings or desires in the slightest.

Put into record was a letter from Ismay to Senator Smith, and Smith’s subsequent reply regarding Ismay’s departure for home. (link)

“I am working night and day to achieve this result, and you should continue to help me instead of annoying me and delaying my work by your personal importunities.” Smith in his reply to Ismay

“There was no one else around, not a person I could see except the people working at the boats, and he said, ‘Jump in.’ The railing was rather high - it was an emergency boat and was always swung over toward the water - I jumped onto the railing and rolled into it. The officer then said, ‘That is the funniest sight I have seen tonight,’ and he laughed quite heartily. That rather gave me some encouragement. I thought perhaps it was not so dangerous as I imagined” – Stengel

“There was a lady had a cane, I believe, with an electric light, and she was flashing this light, and they were going to that boat, and we were going toward that boat, and there were two other boats around, so the two or three of us kept together; that is, all the boats besides our own kept together.” Stengel (see this post about the electric cane)

A letter that I.M.M Counsel Neale sent (or directed his associate to send) to the Commissioner of General Immigration that stated the passengers would arrive in Halifax, and provided incorrect number of survivors, was put on the record. This was directed by Neale based upon a message that his office received from Franklin in New York.

Colonel Archibald Gracie  – A name many are familiar with, when it comes to the sinking of Titanic. He wrote two books about his experience, one co-authored by another survivor named John B. (Jack) Thayer (Titanic: A Survivor’s Story and The Sinking of the S.S. Titanic); as well as one he wrote himself called The Truth About the Titanic. His answers and testimony are quite long so I have provided a link to his testimony here, as I think he has a fantastic story to tell. You should read it. There are many quotes I wanted to include but for space, I have not.

“That is the boat that I came to when I came up from below. I was taken down with the ship, and hanging on to that railing, but I soon let go. I felt myself whirled around, swam under water, fearful that the hot water that came up from the boilers might boil me up - and the second officer told me that he had the same feeling - swam it seemed to me with unusual strength, and succeeded finally in reaching the surface and in getting a good distance away from the ship.” – Gracie

“There was a splendid Frenchwoman, who was very kind to us, who loaned us one of her blankets to put over our heads - that is, four of us. One poor Englishman, who was the only other passenger besides Mr. Thayer and myself who was saved on this raft - he was bald, and for that reason he needed this protection, which was very grateful to him. It was very grateful to me, too. The people on the Carpathia received us with open arms, and provided us with hot comforts, and acted as ministering angels.” – Gracie

“We thought of nothing at all except the luxury of the ship; how wonderful it was.” – Mrs. Bishop

“The conduct of the crew, as far as I could see, was absolutely beyond criticism. It was perfect. The men in our boat were wonderful. One man [a lookout, though she was not sure which] lost his brother. When the Titanic was going down I remember he just put his hand over his face; and immediately after she sank he did the best he could to keep the women feeling cheerful all the rest of the time. We all thought a great deal of that man.” – Mrs. Bishop

Mr. Bishop did not have much more to say than his wife, except to pass on some hearsay about a watertight door on E deck and that the women and children order had not yet been given when they got in boat no. 7 (the first to leave the starboard side). It is somewhat unclear to me the way in which they selected passengers to testify.  Gracie makes sense but I am unsure whether the Bishops added much. However, it is of note, that the Bishops are of Michigan, and that is Senator Smith’s state.

“I only mention that fact, because they [Butt, Millet & Moore] were perfectly imperturbable, showing their confidence in the ship, that no disaster was going to take place. In fact a great deal of my testimony is given for that purpose, to show how unconcerned everybody was about this serious disaster until the very last.” – Gracie

SEE American Inquiry Day 10 post here.

[pricechecktranslations]

TTDS: The Ring of Evil; Chapter 4

Torture Tower Doesn’t Sleep: The Ring of Evil infomine under the cut

Scene 1

Gibbet is having her usual dream of things she doesn’t remember (the one in the previous two novels with the bracelet and such). These dreams make her doubt who she is, so she reaffirms she is Gibbet, and she was made by the torture device creator “Kilka/Kiruca (kiruka) Lassen (rassen)”, etc etc. It also makes her wonder on why she’s different from the others, being the only one who needs to sleep, eat, etc.

The dream doesn’t end when the boy gives the girl the bracelet, as it normally does. It continues. A large owl is flying towards the two. It attacks the girl, leaving the boy crying. There’s a flash, and the bird is gone.

Gibbet remembers the name of the owl as Stolasphia, and the girl as Christabel (kurisutaberu). She remembers that she is both of them.

Scene 2

When Gibbet awakes, she finds she is not in bed but standing in the tower foyer. She can’t remember her dream at all. Someone is knocking on the door, and she realizes that tonight is the meeting with Magion and the others (though they’re knocking pretty hard). She doesn’t respond. Eventually, the other person gets tired of knocking and breaks the door open.

It’s Garnes. There’s other people with him (thirty, I think she says—a fighting force), including Raymond and Tsukumo. She’s attacked by Isaac, but is able to stop him with heavy iron shackles with thorns on the inside. She runs upstairs. The other soldiers are about to follow when someone yells that it’s a trap (which it is—she has an iron gibbet ready to grab them).

After waiting at the top for a bit, she sees a light (Raymond’s lightning) shoot up the stairs and hit the gibbet hanging above, knocking it down. Gibbet speculates that Raymond’s lightning is being enhanced by Tsukumo.

She runs deeper into the second floor to get a new tactic around.

Scene 3

She waits at the staircase to the third floor for the intruders to catch up. She can see more lights, this time the lights of the intruders’ lamps. These are Romalius’ men, judging by the snake insignia on their armor. Along with Isaac, Raymond, Tsukumo, and Garnes, there are other assassins (wearing the same black uniform as Isaac). And, finally, there’s also Magion.

She greets the intruders, giving them a bit of a motive spiel about how awful they are and how the girls are doing a service by killing them to revive their father, blah blah blah (causing them to approach more cautiously and slowly). Raymond is watching the hole in the ceiling to make sure there’s not another trap, meanwhile.

Right as they’re upon her, Raymond finally notices the real trap. The ceiling itself is the trap—the whole ceiling around the hole is not the usual wooden one, but rock instead (presumably set up below the normal wooden one). Assuming I’m reading this right, anyway—it falls and crushes them. Gibbet escapes to the third floor, where she “passes the baton”, so to speak, to Rack.

Scene 4

So, the narrative refers to what Gibbet used as the “suspended ceiling”. They don’t use it much (for obvious reasons). Apparently as a torture device it’s used to crush people more slowly, so as to not outright kill them.

Due to the massive number of people, they’ve actually managed to survive the falling ceiling (all collectively holding it up). Rack goes up to the guy in the front and takes off his helmet, putting on one that’s superheated (a “fire crown”, it’s called—very rough translation, 火頂). What you’d expect to happen happens (and he burns his hands trying to take it off to boot), and she goes to the next soldier (they can’t stop her—they’re all holding up the ceiling). Garnes recognizes it, of course. It’s specifically designed not to kill the person right away, so they can suffer longer.

Garnes tells Isaac to run for a switch that’s behind Rack while he keeps her distracted. He calls her over and they talk for a bit (like how he did repairs on Maiden only to come back to try and destroy them all). She prepares to use the superheated helmet on him, when Isaac throws the switch and the ceiling lifts.

She tries to attack, but Raymond counters her. All the soldiers leap on her at once. She manages to evade them though, dashing downstairs. Raymond and Tsukumo pursue her, as well as several of the soldiers.

Garnes and Magion discuss that it’s better the crew has split up in case they run into any more group traps.

They also discuss the people with them (who are exhausted), Garnes pointing out that one of Romalius’ men (the man Rack put the helmet on first) has fangs and scales. The other soldiers get a bit miffed and Garnes drops the subject. They all decide to head upstairs. Magion looks outside the window and sees the lake, noting that it’s changed slightly from how it was before.

Scene 5

NOTE: You will have to pardon me—this next part is written after I decided to push through and finish infomining the novel, meaning there’s been enough of a time difference between the stuff previous and now that I may have forgotten what I have and have not shared in earlier chapters. So, if I repeat information, I hope you’ll forgive me.

Benji is there on the coast of the lake, the water level much lower than it was before (I believe it says one fourth of its normal height). Luna and Romalius are in a wooden boat on the water, and she bids Benji climb down to join them.

I’m having some trouble visualizing but basically, the portion of the lake that was previously submerged leads into a subbasement for the tower (one they’re traversing via the boat).

This is—slightly confusing for me, but as they approach the tower they see that another tower is there underneath it, designed like its reflection when the lake was full. Luna calls it the “Reverse Tower” (I guess I’m just not sure logistically how that works). As they approach the reverse tower they see another boat ahead of them with two men from Luna’s team. They’ve blown a hole in the wall so that they can enter the reverse tower, but warn that as it’s been submerged for so long it might be unstable.

Luna, Romalius, and Benji all jump from the boat into the tower. They end up in the middle—three floors belowground. The reverse tower doesn’t appear decorated much, and the walls aren’t made from anything Benji’s seen before (not rock or iron). Romalius speculates that, rather than this being built under Torcia tower, Torcia was built to conceal this tower. What he’s trying to obtain in this venture is in this reverse tower.

Luna draws them to another room, where she’s found a small red altar. It’s made up of three parts—the lowest level has (toys?) made to resemble food on plates. The one above it as a variety of wine bottles. And the one on the top level has a wineglass the same color as the altar. It’s labeled “Blood Grave”. It smells horrible, like it’s already been oxidized.

They leave the room, Romalius leading them further down the tower.

Scene 6

Magion is regretting their strategy of splitting up. He’s on the third floor, and the soldiers with him were captured by countless talons (the witch spider things) coming from the ceiling. The unit got scattered trying to escape them. Magion was able to escape along with some others, but then they lost their way and are unable to find the stairs going up. Garnes and Isaac are missing too.

The soldiers with Magion are suddenly felled by Rabiah (who comments that they are familiars like him—I assume this means that what qualifies one for being a familiar is being a wraith that serves another wraith, in this case the soldiers serving Romalius).

Magion has a fear of birds from a trauma in his childhood.

Rabiah explains that most familiars are actually quite strong, and a master wraith usually only has two or three at most—Romalius is able to employ/enslave (the word here is unclear) so many only because he’s stolen that power from Stolasphia (Rabiah’s sister).

Before Rabiah can kill Magion, he is stopped by Gibbet. They quarrel a little (gist of it is Rabiah is bad at making a victim suffer properly to serve as food for Beritoad). Before Gibbet can do anything though, Magion reveals that he came to the tower to talk to her.

Garnes meanwhile is on the fourth floor, alone. Garnes considers going back down to watch the soldiers get tortured, but stays his course of going to see Maiden.

Note that in Hank’s time, the prison for holding victims used to be full of people, but is empty now. Garnes reflects on Hank a little, heavily implying that he was an HER (it doesn’t say it outright), and was only lauded as a hero because he killed the right people (foreign enemies). Garnes himself was praised for his torture work during wartime, but that went a total 180 once peace was achieved (not that he resents this).

Garnes is, to his delight, attacked/approached by Maiden.

Raymond chases Rack downstairs (as she’s the most dangerous from a strategic standpoint), a few soldiers in tow who split up to search the first floor. Confirms that Raymond can use the gold bracelet (the one he hid from Romalius) to strengthen his lightning attack using Tsukumo.

Raymond and Tsukumo find Rack in the dining room, torturing one of the soldiers with “Lissa-chan” (the iron coffin of Lissa). As Rack is distracted, Raymond and Tsukumo take the opportunity to strike.

Scene 7

Opens on Beritoad watching what’s going on. He is accumulating power from the suffering of the intruders. He is positive that today will be the day of his resurrection.

Scene 8

In the fourth floor down of the reverse tower, it doesn’t look too different from the ones above it. The only difference is that there is dense writing on the floor, and old relics and ancient texts lying about (all of them using the same type of writing). Luna says it looks like “Monsolo” writing (monsoro), an ancient type of lettering (though she can’t read it). Hargain was the only researcher to crack its meaning. Romalius has already gone down to the next floor, so they can’t ask him about it. They quickly follow after him.

On the fifth floor down, there’s a large open space. I thiiiink it says that it’s a circular, three-sided stairway for people to sit in (sort of like an amphitheater I guess?). The fourth edge, the part the seats are all facing, is an oblong altar. Amo (still incorporeal) is standing there, and he’s already talking with Romalius. Benji and Luna watch.

He calls Romalius the weakest of the 72 original wraiths (suggesting all others are descended from these 72), and thus is surprised he’s lasted this long. Beritoad is also apparently among their number, as well as Rabiah and Amo himself (note—Luna calls him Amostia—amosutia—so I’m going to go by that now).

Romalius attacks Amostia with a snake (the one from his tattoo), and it bites his arm despite him appearing to be incorporeal. Amostia remains calm, however.

Luna reveals her knowledge of Amostia, saying they must seal him. Explaining this to Benji (who had no idea), she points to the center of the floor, which has a grey bronze (?) statue wearing armor. She says the armored body itself is Amostia’s shell, and what Romalius is fighting is Amostia’s spirit. Their ancestors made the reverse tower to seal him away, and then built Torcia over top of it.

According to Luna, Amostia is one of the seven most powerful wraiths from the old days when there were more wraiths, and they clashed with humans. They need to reseal him because both Reverse Tower and Torcia are aging, and so too is the seal decaying. Note though—this is knowledge she got from Romalius, and she doesn’t fully trust it. She did though find a sheet of parchment in the tower that reads “72nd Experiment” on one of its lines (I think she’s roughly translating).

They’re not sure what to do about it though, so they continue to watch the fight.

Amostia chides him, saying Romalius can’t kill him by attacking his spirit alone. Romalius retracts his snake back into a tattoo. Amostia tells him to leave if he’s just going to mess around—he wants to tell Rack the continuation of the story he’s been telling her.

Finally, Romalius notices Luna and Benji there. He calls them over, and (Benji holding back, feeling in his gut that they are making a big mistake) sends Luna over to the statue. He points at the statue’s feet, telling her to look there. She does. He then brings his arm down on her neck and cuts her head off.

Benji bolts, charging straight at Romalius, furious. Romalius brings his arm down on Benji, and his vision goes black.

[lovecraftian-druid]

Pactborn - Part IV

Log #1 - Muu 3rd, 425

I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M A SAILOR NOW. It’s just after nightfall of my first evening at sea, and it still doesn’t feel real.  I’m proud of myself to be able to say that I didn’t get seasick like Papa talked about feeling when he first sailed on a ship. I like the feeling of the waves rocking the boat, and I love the smell of the salty air and the sounds of the sails as they flutter in the ever-changing breeze. Darja said that today was mostly for me to “find my sea legs” and get settled.  

I got to see some really cool sea creatures already: a few dolphins followed alongside the ship a ways, jumping out of the water as they flanked us on either side.  It was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen. We saw a whale too, but we weren’t very close to it.  Still, they’re so big that when it sprayed water from its blowhole, it looked like those giant geysers from geography books.

I have my own cot!  It smelled a little, but something weird but exciting happened...I don’t quite no how to explain it, but as I was standing there, thinking of home, thinking of the little things that I knew I was going to miss, it was like my hands were suddenly not my own, moving in strange, somatic swipes and turns, til suddenly, I watched the soiled marks on the cot fabric fade away.  I was really surprised because...to be honest, neither Mama nor Papa have magic, so I didn’t think I did either.  Maybe it’s all this fresh air!  I got excited and decided to try again as practice, and sure enough - I was able to make the cot smell like my sheets at home after Mama freshly washed them in jasmine water. I might have cried a little...I don’t know what made me more happy: the smell of home being right at my fingertips, or the fact that I could make it happen at all. I decided to try one more time, this time concentrating on making a warm bed.  Sure enough, I touched the fabric on the cot and noticed the temperature change, warm to the touch. I’m lying in my warm, clean, sweet-smelling cot right now, and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.  I can’t wait to tell Mama and Papa all about this when I come home.  Now Papa and I can both share stories at sea.

Log #2 - Muu 4th, 425

Today was pretty rough.  I’m so tired, I can hardly grip the quill to write this. Darja told me that today I was to learn the ropes so that I could start earning my place on the ship and make some coin.  I worked with Bardi - he’s the head midshipman on the Golden Afternoon. I’m not gonna lie, he’s a bit of a hardass. At first I was doing pretty well keeping up - he taught me how to hoist sails, check the rigging, and a few other things that I don’t really remember what their names were (I’ll get it though).  I kind of tried to show off at the beginning and used up a lot of my energy in the first couple hours, not realizing I’d be working that hard all day…

My hands are all chewed up from the rough ropes: they’re blistered and bleeding, and I don’t know what to do because Bardi said I’m gonna be doing it all over again tomorrow, too. There’s another younger kid on the ship - his name is Mica, he’s a genasi from the mountains in Sokoku. He told me that the same thing happened to him on his first day at sea and that he found that wrapping his hands helped a lot.  I’m going to try that, I guess.  I tried using that little bit of magic I found out that I could do yesterday, but it didn’t seem to help.  I wish I could do healing magic like the people at the Sanctuary can… Maybe this little spell is all I can muster though.  I’m still hopeful for more though. 

Log #3 - Muu 5th, 425

I had another dream last night...about the kind man with wings. It feels bizarre saying this, and even reading this as I write, I know I sound crazy, but it had to be real. I had a hard time falling asleep because of how much pain my hands were giving me; but once I drifted off, he visited me.  I couldn’t make out his face since there was no light at all, but I knew it was him...I could make out faint outlines of grey in the darkness, and I could see his wings curled around his sides and his massive shield strapped to his back. He didn’t speak, but just him being there made me sense that he felt...bad for me? Worried, maybe? He gave off a feeling of sadness.  He took me by the hands, and I distinctly remember feeling the pain as it did so at first. But then, I saw our hands begin to glow faintly, and a soothing sensation took over my palms - it felt like the time I burnt my hand on the brick oven and Mama had to rub aloe on them. After that, I must have woken up, because I don’t remember anything else; the dream just sort of ended. But when I sat up in my cot, my hands were completely healed. COMPLETELY. I don’t understand how it’s possible, but I’m so grateful.  

Whoever you are, if you’re here with me now or can read this, who are you? Why do you care about me of all people? Just...don’t ever leave though, okay? And thank you so so much…

Time to get up, eat, and go to work now - I’m not dreading it as much as I was last night.  I’m going to find some cloth to wrap my hands, just to take precautions. Hopefully today won’t be as bad.

Log #4 - Muu 7th, 425

Sorry that I missed a day: yesterday and the day before were pretty wild. On top of doing my regular duties, I was assigned my first night watch (not something I want to do on the regular). I was so tired from all the hard work that day, and then I had to stay up all night… Thankfully, there wasn’t anything to report. One of the other sailors relieved me just as the sun started to rise, and I was able to sleep away most of the day. 

When I woke up yesterday afternoon, we had just dropped anchor offshore from Felgra, the region to the east of Ghaan.  Papa says that his fleet is based out of that region, but Darja said we’re still a ways away from Port Cladach.  Instead, we were taking small rowboats to a coastal town called Fenwilde. It was nice to get a break from working with rigging - I finally got to do something I was good at: loading and unloading cargo.  I learned how to row a boat as we went ashore, and then we delivered some crates to a little shop called “Blink Bottles” and a few sacks of spices to a tavern called “the Boar’s Head.” 

Papa was right when he said that everywhere is a little different from home: there really wasn’t all that much sand as we got closer to the shore; and even then, the mainland was really boggy. And even though we’re still along the southern coast, it was surprising to me that it wasn’t hot - it was actually quite cool...just damp. There were trees everywhere, some of them growing right out of the shallow tributary channels, and everything was SO GREEN. I couldn’t believe how much moss there was in any direction that I looked. While in Fenwilde, we had a little bit of downtime while invoice papers were being reviewed and signed, so I took a quick look around town in an area they told me was called “High End” - they had all sorts of shops there, and one was a clothier. I didn’t realize how lucky I am to have Mama...she always made my clothes for me.  Clothes are expensive.  I was starting to feel chilly at night on the ship, and if other places were like this one, it was likely going to continue to be that way (or colder). I looked around until I found a cheap fleece blanket of emerald green. I bought it and returned to the crew.

When we finished the delivery, we rowed back out to the coastline, then continued out into the oceanic waters. When I got back, the sun was just starting to set - Darja told me to go rest up because I’d be taking the late watch again. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to keep doing this… But I guess it’s only for another week or so.  I’m going to go try to sleep now...hopefully I can get a few hours of rest before they wake me up to take the night shift…

Log #5 - Muu 8th, 425

Last night’s watch was a little scary...as I was up in the crow’s nest (with my new blanket, thank the gods), I saw something off in the distance...it was another ship. I’ve heard rumors of sea bandits, or “pirates,” that sometimes prey on merchant ships in the cover of darkness, and I was terrified that what I saw was just that. The ship looked altogether foreign to me: what I now know to be a red-sailed jong, common among genasi merchants may as well have been the ship of the sea’s most dreadful buccaneer. Fearful and panicked, I nervously played with a piece of copper wire in my pocket from a repair I made earlier and felt a strange tingle in the back of my mind as I whispered over and over again, “Someone’s coming, shitshitshit, something is sailing this way, what the hell do I do…” Before I knew what I had just done, I heard the confused voice of Darja echoing in my head: “Ka’l? Is that you? Who is coming?” I had once again done magic, and I’m still a little unclear what I did to make it happen. I’ve heard about material components sometimes being involved - maybe the wire? Regardless, I flung myself from the crow’s nest, scaling down the rigging as fast as I could, to meet Darja on deck.  He grumpily informed me of my mistake in identifying the ship as ill-willed, assuring me of its safety by pointing out the markings on its sails, before he returned to his quarters to sleep.  I’m sitting in my cot, writing this, unable to fall asleep: I’m still jittery with shock from both finding a new spell and realizing just how easy it can be for a pirate ship to slip into proximity with us if one wanted.

Log #6 - Muu 10th, 425

Today has been a rough day. Darja called me to his cabin after supper.  I figured it was about my two weeks almost being up; maybe he was going to offer me an extension, or something… It turns out he’s just a creep though - he tried to...I don’t know, I think he thought I was interested in him or something. I made it very clear though that I was not. He told me that since I was so disagreeable, I would be on night watches for the rest of my journey back to Khaadeehava but would still be expected to perform my daily duties as well.  

I’m so homesick. I really love it out here on the Turquoise Waves, but I wish it were a different ship with a better captain. I rushed to get all of my chores done right after my watch ended this morning, then came back here to my cot to write a little before trying to get an hour of sleep before I’m needed to mop down the quarterdeck later. My one little twinkle of happiness is that - in my loneliness for home - I found another little bit of magic that I can make: I’m sitting here with my journal in my lap, and sitting on the cot in front of me is Mama...well, not really, but some sort of illusion of her.  She’s sitting at the end of the cot just like she used to do at the bottom of my bed at home when she would come into my room to say goodnight...and she has that warm, soft smile that I miss so much. I wish she were here right now.  I wish I had someone I could hug.  For now, I’ll just hold tightly to my fleece and pretend, I guess...

=============================================================

Thank you, as always, for following me through this journey of fleshing out one of my PCs’ backstory! If you’re interested in being included on the taglist, just send me a message.

Ye Olde Taglist: @serenewrites, @mayvinwrites​

[jaynutter69]

Caught part two

"You know, we agreed to tell everyone like a week ago right?" Peter said. Currently both Tony and him were sitting on the couch. Star wars empire strikes back playing on the tv.

Peters back was pressed against Tonys chest. His head titled and laying on his shoulder. The older man arms wrapped around Peters stomach.

Peter traced small patterns into Tonys thigh, shapes and letters.

"Mh." Which was Peters green light to continue.

"I want to tell aunt May," the shapes and letters stopped. Peter waited for Tonys response. When none came Peter grew tense.

Finally after a minute Tony sighed. He raised one arm from it position wrapped around the young male, and tangled his fingers in Peters hair.

"Alright," he replied. "Just." He cut himself off. When he didn't continue Peter sat up. Turning around to be faceing towards the billionaire. Placing a palm on his cheek. Tony wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Hey look at me. What is it?"

Tony closed his eyes, breathed deeply and looked at him. Peter saw anguish on Tonys face. Reaching up the man placed his hand on Peters. Rubbing his thumb across smooth skin.

"Just please no matter what anyone says. Please stay."

Peter gave a small smile. "Of course I'll stay. I love you. I don't care what anyone says."

"People are gonna say some cruel things. To me, to you about us. I just can't lose you." Tony pulled Peters arm, causing him to tumble forward into Tonys chest. His cheek pressed against the arc reactor. Arms holding him tightly.

"I can't. I refuse to lose you." Tony said, his chin resting against Peters head. Peters heart clenched at the words. Knowing Tony meant them.

"Your not gonna lose me." Peter whispered. Not knowing what else to say. For the rest of the night both of them laid together. Wrapped around each other.

******

Right now the only thing on Peters mind was "oh god why did I think this was a good idea."

He currently sat in the apartment he shared with his aunt. Both of his friends Ned and MJ both sat on the floor. His aunt sitting beside him on the old couch.

Peter thought telling them about his sexuality was hard. Telling them he's dating a man 5 times his age is gonna be tourtue.

For some reason he decided telling them all at once would be easier. Now that they were all here he's having second thoughts.

"Peter, what did you want to tell us? It sounded important." His aunt finally cut the silence. Reminding him that they've been sitting there, not saying a thing for five minutes.

Clearing his throat Peter began.

"So, I um...well I'm seeing someone." All of their faces lit up. Congratulations on the tip of their tongues. Until he continued. "But. He's older."

Aunt May narrowed her eyes, "how much older?"

"Um a lot older."

"How old is he?" Ned asked.

"Better question what's his name?" Mj asked.

Peter bit his lip and wiped his sweaty hands on his pants. For the 7th time that afternoon. Here goes nothing.

"I'm dating Tony Stark." He looked at the floor. Not wanting to see everyone reactions. His leg started jumping up and down without him even noticing.

The first person to respond was Ned.

"That's so cool! Is that how you got all that new stuff? Like your phone. Wait can you get me a new phone?"

Peter looked up at Ned bewildered. "What? No. I mean yes. That is how I got it. But no I'm not gonna get you a new phone. He's not my sugar daddy. He's my boyfriend."

"I don't know. Sounds kinda like a sugar daddy to me." Mj said. Smirking at Peter.

Peter rolled his eyes. "He's not my sugar daddy. Yes he's given me a few things."

Ned cut him off, "a phone, numerous new Spider-Man suits and Spider-Man equipment. A new laptop, name brand shirts and pants.."

"Okay I get it." Mj and Ned laugh. At the moment Peters anxiety was almost forgotten. Almost.

"Peter you," May spoke, " I....peter..hes...I don't know what to say."

Peter finally looked over to his Aunt. He smiled at her. " I found someone. And I don't expect you to understand why but I love him. And the only reason I'm telling you is because it's gonna come out. He's being watched by many people with cameras. I'd rather it come from me. Not from a YouTuber."

May sighed. "I don't understand. But I will try, for you." She lifted her arms. "Come here." Peter didn't hesitate to throw himself into her arms. He knew she had her doubts. But he also knew it was only because she loved him. And she didn't want to see him get hurt.

The rest of the day was spent with his two best friends and his Aunt. Along with a few sugar daddy comments and a request for an island. All things considered it went well. It's gonna take awhile to convince aunt may that the relationship was real. But they'll get there.

*******

Tony was in the avenger compound. Everyone was there. Even Thor showed up. He believed Steve had something to do with it. Cause when Tony told everyone he wanted to talk, Steve was the first one he told about it.

" Alright tones. Why did you bring us all here?" Rhodey asked.

"I'm dating Peter Parker. Steve thought I should tell you all." Tony stood up. "Alright I told you. Bye."

"Hey! No. You don't just hit us with that and walk away." Rhodey said. Blocking his way out.

Tony sighed. He hoped he could make a quick escape. Guess that's out of the question.

"Wait, you mean Peter Parker 18 year old kid? Peter Parker as in spiderman?" Sam Wilson asked. With an raised eyebrow.

"Yes that Peter Parker."

"How old are you agian?" Sam asked.

"His age is not a problem. Mr, Parker is of legal age." Vision answered.

"Then I congratulate the man of iron! On his courtship with the spiderman!" Thor said patting Tony on the shoulder. After he's moved away Tony thanked him and rubbed his shoulder. Hoping it didn't bruise.

"Thats not the point. Tonys in his 40s. The kids 18." Rhodey said.

"Which by law is legal. For once I'm not breaking any laws. You should be giving me a metal." Tony said.

Rhodey looked at him unimpressed.

"Seriously none of you knew?" Natalia asked. Everyone turned to look at her.

"Yeah. It was obvious." Barton said.

Now everyone looked at him.

"Wait you two knew?" Steve finally said.

"Of course. Peter follows him around like a lost puppy. Truly I'm surprised Tony hasn't kissed the ground Peter walks on. And not to mention all the moping either of them do when the other isn't around. " Natalia concluded.

"I had my suspetions but i knew for sure because Natalia told me." Barton said.

"Well then. I told you and you all seem pretty chill about it. For the most part. I have a reservation a 5 and a boyfriend to pick up. So I'm gonna leave." Tony said backing up towards the door.

"Hey hey hey, tones this conversation isn't over. And I might not agree with the age difference but..im happy for you. You deserve something good in your life." Rhodey said.

Tony thanked him and turned back to the door. Stopping when he heard Bruce's voice.

"Hey Tony, now that your out and all. I'd rather not have another incident like in the lab a week ago. So can you keep the PDA to a down low?"

Tony looked over his shoulder and smirked. He didn't say anything he just left.

"Ya that was a no." Steve said patting Bruce on the shoulder apologetically.

****

As soon as Peter entered the car he started firing question after question.

"Did you do it? Did you tell them? How did they take it? What did they say? Was anyone grossed out by it?"

Tony smiled at his rambling and put an arm around his waist. Pulling him into Tonys side.

"Hush. One question at a time."

"How did they take it?"

"Well Natalia and Barton already knew. They figured it out cause apparently we aren't to subtle. Rhodey and Sam aren't to happy about the age difference. But they'll come around. Thor is....Thor. And vision....was unclear. He just said facts. He knows your legal and that's all he cares about. What about on your end?" Tony finished.

Peter smiled. "Ned is thrilled. Mj is convinced your my sugar daddy. She wants an island by the way and aunt May is kinda in the same boat as Rhodey. But as you said she'll come around." Peter said smiling widely. Turning in the small space of the back of Tonys car.

Tony laughed. " She wants an island? If your my sugar baby, why would I get her an island?"

"Cause she's my friend and you know if I asked you to, you would."

Tony hummed and placed his hand on the back of Peters neck. Caressing the skin there with his thumb. Peter leaned into the touch. As he always does and closed his eyes.

"Don't," Peter said. "you know where that thought will lead and we'll never make it to restaurant."

"I wasn't think anything."

Peter opened his eyes and playfully glared. Making Tony smile. "Okay, I was definitely thinking something."

Peter laughed and pressed his lips to Tonys. What was only suppose to be a peck ended up becoming a heated make out when Peter tryed pulling away and Tony pulled him back.

"I love you." Tony whisperes when they pulled away for air. His hand on Peters cheek and their foreheads together. Both of them out of breath.

Peter smiled. "I love you too."

Long story short they never made it to the restaurant.

[jq37]

When you have time, can we get breakdowns for epusodes 3 and 4 of Bloodkeep? I'm going to be honest: I thought for sure that having a fight thousands of feet in the air was going to go about as well for Brennan as having a fight in an active volcano, but I was surprised

**spoilers for airship ambush**

I am not completely caught up on CR and I likely never will be because that backlog is truly stunning but I do know that Matt had a ship battle this season that one player (Taliesin I think) derailed completely. Now idk if that was before or after this was filmed but I have to imagine whichever one happened second had Matt flashing back to whichever one happened first. 

I really appreciate all the work Brennan puts into all the unique mechanics for all of his fight, specifically the ship stuff in this ep.

Sohkbar putting the potion in a cone of beef like he has a dog and not a horrifying monster abomination.

Efink being like, "Why did we let Galfast live?" and everyone being like, "Your??? Dumbass???? Husband???????"

Are there ever gonna be siblings on D20 who don't want each other dead? Marcus can join Adaine in the, "My sibling can go straight to hell," corner. (Kristen’s brothers don’t count, they had like zero screen time). 

"Ye shall pay for it."/"Aw come on." I love Mike.

Efink's spirit guardians are freaking Elven paparazzi.

Maggie being BFF's with John is my fave.  

Sidenote, I really love how all of these guys reskinned their attacks to make them fit their aesthetic and the campaign more.

Everyone applauding the Lord of Shadows.

A Brennan soundboard: Hell Yeah! Incredible. Bud.

MONSTER BANK.

"Who wore it better? Tom Cruise or this Mystery Bird?"

Marcus being like, "Yeah, I come from a pirate city. We're basically all bad guys."

Lilith takes a cue from Marcus and works on recruiting a SECOND eagle. And she rolls a 26!

John throwing a pocket square at the other-other eagle.

"Don't do it Leiland! You have so much to live for."

I love it when a player rolls, nods approvingly, and then is like, "Right, that's a [terribly low roll]."

Leiland being the personification of that John Mulaney gif as he falls off the ship: You know those days when you're like, this might as well happen?

Did the card for Hellish Rebuke actually say, "Set someone on fire if they hurt you"? Because if I got a card that vague as a newbie PC I'd be like, "Well he emotionally hurt me. Does that count?"

Matt using his reaction just to yell, "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"

"Because you have spent a good couple of sessions establishing yourself as extremely materialistic, this object is a close personal friend of yours."

That is is one of my favorite DnD sentences ever.  

"I WILL DIE BY YOUR HAND."

Efink rolled two, twos and I had Naddpod flashbacks. Shout out to the two crew!

The annoying thing about DnD is that you can just roll total garbage for an entire session. True randomness means that, sometimes, you just can't hit anything for a full 2 hours.

"Tokyo drifting your airship."

I've said this before but it's really a shame Matt doesn't get to play more. He's a great DM obviously, but he's such a stellar player too.

Wild Nat 20 from Leiland and then he tells LIlith to CUT THE CHAIN THAT’S KEEPING HIM FROM FALLING.

The Vingury showing up is one of my favorite things. Players being forced to face the direct consequences of their own RP actions is the best. 

I think the lesson on D20 is Spirit Guardians are Good.

One-liner king Trapp purposely whiffs the easy one liner.

"There is a slim chance that all goblins in the Bloodkeep have a bomb in them. Just a slim chance."/"WHAT?"

"Did we put them there? Is that on us?"

What was Brennan on when he came up with that mechanic?

One of my other fave DnD things is having a lengthy, pointless conversation as a giant battle is happening.

lol, Efink is a cleric. I also forgot.

Poor Leiland being in the radius of her Turn Undead. Buddy.

"You're making doors! You're doing that which you hate."

Boss use of druidcraft by Lilith. I like it when people use mainly flavor spells for combat.

"You could dramatically go above decks and jump OR you can just walk through the giant hole belowdeck."

"WOT IS HAPPENING? DID SOMEONE CLOSE A DOOR ON THE SUN?"/"I thought you liked that. I'm so unclear."

Leiland is getting straight Roadrunner'd by Hamhead and it's wild. (I forgot that the players also made a Loony Tunes ref and they did it right as I was writing this line).

“Puddles of fire.”

Just waves upon waves of enemies this fight, huh? I think that’s a good DM move because it means you can gauge how it’s going and send out more or less depending on if you’re players are getting murdered or if they’re totally breezing through it.

And while we’re talking about the fight, I guess sometimes you womp the terrain and sometimes it womps you and this was a scenario 2. I also think Brennan might have been more prepared this time with like the rooting Ents and the sturdy dwarf and the waves of enemies. 

The indignity of not only getting slayed by J'er'em'ih (or however you spell that) but specifically by his butt hands. Wild. You’d think Marcus would care more about not getting the killing blow but, actually, this is almost better because it’s not even a cool, noble, aesthetic pirate death. 

Trapp: Lol. Wouldn't it be cute if it was like J'er'em'ih was flying the boat?

Brennan: No, he needs to do that. Roll.

HE ROLLS AN 18.

Everything Brennan says about J'er'em'ih is equal parts fascinating and horrifying.

"DON'T BACKSEAT DRIVE EFINK!"

Parachute J'er'em'ih is just so wild.

"Just barely better than J'er'em'ih at driving."

"Oh, you're negging me, I see."

I always forget that Leiland is floating everywhere like he's on a freaking hoverboard.

The running thing of Leiland being useful but no one being able to see it is so so good.

LOTR needed more parachuting. I mean, I assume. I've never seen LOTR.

"It seemed super metal at the time."/"As a religious choice, it makes sense but saying it's for cleanliness doesn't make any sense." These guys are so good at improv. So consistently dropping gold.

"How does physics work?" Mike Trapp asks, as if that's something that has a hard and fast answer in DnD.

"I will actively go prone to sit where I am and pout." What a whole-ass drama queen.

lol Amy finally found Brennan's limit.

Even though they didn't do it, I love how down Rekha was for the insane airship plan.

Lilith treating Leiland like her adult disaster child is my fave.

"Please push harder."

Leiland drops darkness and the Goblin rolls a nat 20 to blow up the ship. Is there a moment more encompassing of this dude's existence?

"I understand that everyone here wants to rob me of my joy." DM mood. (Matt: I genuinely feel you there [and I’m reminded of that CR ship battle.])

The last shot of everyone falling out of the sky is so nice.

"WHAT THE HECK BRENNAN!?"

Anyway, as I was finishing this up, I got an ask about the next ep which is a doozy and prob my fave of the season so far. I’ll answer it as soon as I have another block of free time!

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

Three Sunnies AU part 3

You can find previous parts by searching ”Three Sunnies AU” on Tumblr. The Baudelaires are triplets named Sunny, Suzy and Sally and are all in toddler age.

- The Wide Window -

Mr Poe drops the triplets off at Damocles Dock

But then he immidiately lefts them there, saying that their Aunt Josephine ”probably will pick them up”

So they wait with their little luggage on the dock

Then a taxi man shows up and asks them why someone so small as them are left alone

Fortunately he understands baby talk and is like ”Oh Josephine! I know her! I’ll take you to her!”

Josephine slowly opens the door when they arrive, startled by the taxi driving away

She is extremly overprotective over the triplets. Like, really.

Suzy touches lightly on the table in the kitchen, and Josephine basicly screams and lifts her up, saying that the table could tip over and crush her

Suzy: ”I don’t think a table will just flip over if I touch it, but okay, crazy lady”

Josephine: ”I do not understand what you are saying, dear. Perhaps I need to teach you some grammar.”

She even considers buying a baby leash to keep the toddlers from roaming around her house and hurting themselves

All three of them get rattles as gifts because that was the only thing Josephine thought was safe

Also she has no clue about childrens toys and just assume all babies love rattles

The girls hate rattles

When Aunt Josephine goes to the market, she puts the girls in a tight stroller where they have to squeeze themselves to fit all three

But it also makes them more or less stuck in the stroller

So when Olaf shows up dressed as Captain Sham, they can do nothing but hiss at him (which makes Josephine gasp and apologise for their behaviours)

The day after meeting Sham, Josephine wants to invite him over

Sham wanted to meet her outside the house, but Josephine didn’t want to leave the triplets alone

But she does put them to bed, telling them they need a nap

And Olaf sneaks up and locks the door because he knows what these little gremlins can do

The girls actually do fall asleep, but they wake up as they hear a glass breaking

So they escape from their cribs and bit the lock open, and actually brings their rattles to protect them

Slowly they crawl down the stairs and sees a figure who had jumped out the window

Sally: ”Did Josephine crush the glass just like that? No wonder she said everything was dangerous!”

Then Olaf comes in

”I am sorry dears, but your Aunt Josephine is dead. She jumped out from the window.”

He then starts to read loudly to them her suicide letter

But the girls do not pay attention, as they notice something in the back

When Olaf is done he tells them he is going to call Mr Poe and just drops the letter on the ground

The girls look on the back of the letter, where there seems to be a drawing of some sort

The drawing shows a stick figure jumping out the window, then taking a jetski to a cave

Sunny looks out at the window and sees in the distance a motor steering to a cave

So they plan to follow her there, but before they can figure it out, the hurricane arrives and basicly breaks the house apart

The triplets are so small that they almost immidiately fall out of the window through the broken hole

But they hold themselves on the cliff thanks to their teeth, and so they carefully climb down

On the bottom of the cliff, there is an old sailing boat that just lied there because I say so, the plot has to go on so it’s a random sailboat there ok good

Olaf kind of sees this, but he isn’t sure because of the fog

The girls manage to sail out the boat just in time for the house to fall down into pisces into the lake

Which gives the sailboat a boost

It’s unclear how they manage to sail but they are smart fictional babies in Rugrats class so they can take care of themselves pretty good

And they end up at the cave, where Aunt Josephine is very glad to see them

Josephine: ”Oh my godness! You came! But without an adult? Don’t tell me Olaf saw my drawing on the back!”

Sunny: ”No, he is far too stupid to look at the back of the paper. We came alone.”

Josephine: ”Wait, did you three crack it alone?”

Suzy: ”Yeah. Sunny just said that.”

Anyway they sail back as soon as the storm lays off because Josephine was hungry

But they encounter the leeches like, right away and Josephine screams

Which attracts a boat that happens to be a boat where Olaf is on

Olaf: ”I found this paper. Nice drawing. Only took me like an hour to crack.”

Sally: ”We cracked it in only a few minutes, you fool.”

Since Josephine doesn’t want the children to die, she basicly thrown them over to Olaf’s boat

As she climbs on herself, she tells him how she is going to tell everyone that Captain Sham is just a disguise

Which makes Olaf throw her overboard without hesitation

As they reach the dock, Poe greets them and is delighted the triplets are saved and well by their new father Captain Sham

The triplets are like ”father?!”

And together they bite Olaf’s pegleg to reveal his tatoo

Poe gasps. ”Count Olaf!”

And while Poe is gasping and Olaf is shocked by having his foot exposed, the girls sneak away on a truck

Yes I know I did that for my Quagmire-Baudelaire switch AU as well but I actually like the children sneaking on a truck more than taking a train to the mill with Poe

And so, the three toddlers Sunny, Suzy and Sally sit on the back of a truck full of wooden boxes, driving away from everything