#Hunter's Blood (1986) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

justbelievinginmagic · 4 months ago

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ariadne's thread ⎯ pt. 8: a green-eyed monster.

pairing(s): hyunjin x fem!reader, jisung x fem!reader, jisung & fem!reader, chan & fem!reader series summary: when tempted by an intoxicating offer by hyunjin the goblin king of the underground, you fight against him to find your own sense of self once more while in his labyrinth. glimpse: pulled from the depths of the direwoods, you are reunited with han & chris! outside the labyrinth walls together, you continue onwards on your quest until a green-eyed monster disrupts your journey. warnings/tags: inspired by the 1986' movie Labyrinth, follows majority of the movie's plot points with lore divergence, 3rd person POV, use of Y/N, faerie lore, world-building, pain, blood, explicit language, magic, Jisung is emotional constipated, J E A L O U S Y, hunger, mentions of food, heights, falling, betrayal, hyunjin’s going through it, lowkey obsession? lemme know if i need to tag anything else :) word count: 7.2k previous chapter <- -> next chapter series masterlist

“You’ve befriended the Beast-Hunter?” Jisung scolded, tugging her to the side with a harsh hand.

Chris stood steady at her side, stepping with her as he glared at Jisung solidly. There was a tension she could feel bubbling in the air like carbonation in a soda pop. Like a firecracker’s rope-like tail sizzling with flames but not yet sent into the sky. There was an itching under Chris’ skin to protect – to do what he hadn’t been able to do earlier.

“Chris was in trouble, and I helped him,” Y/N defended easily.

The Beast-Hunter nodded firmly; his brows furrowed in a way that looked defensive. Jisung forced a fanged-smile at the man as he scooted himself and the Runner away from the other again, a mimicry of privacy on this open cobble-stoned road.

Chris shifted his feet side to side, watching after them carefully but not moving any closer this time. She offered Chris a genuine reassuring smile, as if to say one moment, before turning fully to look at the poutful fae man in front of her.

“How could a Troll like him be in danger?” Jisung muttered under his breath. His brows were upturn, the image of despair and worry. “You could’ve been crushed by him. Or he could’ve clawed your throat out.” He hadn’t let go of her arm, holding her close as he muttered.

Strange, the flare of protectiveness in him. It burned like coals on the back of his neck. He imagined Chris’ claws, his troll-like side coming out. Rocks tumbling on the Runner and trembled. The fae man wasn’t used to this. He had been so alone for so long, thinking only of himself but now… He saw the smear of blood and dirt on her face, the brushed away rune of ‘mine’ on her cheek taunting him.

The Runner didn’t push herself out of his grasp despite the distrust bubbling up in her stomach. Frustration written out in her face with the purse of her brow, the firm of her lips.

“He won’t hurt me, or you,” she reassured, shaking her head confidently. Out of everyone, she trusted Chris the most so far. He hadn’t abandoned her, a bittered voice reminded in the depths of her mind.

“Chan is a literal hunter, Y/N. I’m not just making accusations. It’s in his soul.” he whispered. “He could be lying to you!”

“And what about you, Lord Han?” she bit back, her words just as whispered.

Chris looked away from them awkwardly; the entire scenario a bit too much like a couple fighting or mom-and-dad arguing in front of their child. His gaze instead was enraptured by the creatures floating from the nearby darkness of the Direwoods. Odd butterfly yet jelly-fish like creatures swam through the air like it was water; tendrils of bio-luminescence trailed behind them as they danced around the Beast-Hunter. Swirls of azure, magenta, and emerald dust hung in the air like stars left behind by the creatures.

His grey eyes followed after each one with amusement until one jelly-fly swooped down into a dive to rest on his broad-scarred nose. He giggled softly, letting the creature rest for a moment.

“Lord Han has nothing to do with this,” Jisung whispered back in the meanwhile. His hand dropped from her arm.

“Really?” The Runner scoffed. “It sounds like a big thing! A thing you kept from me.”

“You never asked how I knew the King,” he retorted like a brat.

“Han,” she scolded, loudly now.

Did she have to ask everything to get an answer? She wouldn’t assume they knew one another to that extent. A man stuck on the outskirts of the desert was a lord? It didn’t even cross her mind.

He winced with the jump in volume. “Well, you didn’t,” he insisted.

“Friendship is supposed to be a two-way street,” she replied. “I shouldn’t have to ask if you are something to be feared when we are working together. With the same goal. Are we friends? I thought we were – you aren’t working for the King, are you?” Her words sounded less confident. “You said—” she trailed off.

Lord implies royalty. Royalty down here implies the King. A Goblin court sounded important, exclusive, and most importantly, his. Hyunjin and Jisung’s interaction flashed through her mind in a whirl of cellophane memories – was he truly cruel to Jisung? Was it all a façade like many things in this place? Her eyes flashed to meet Jisung’s, pleading with him to tell the truth of his own. On his own.

Jisung’s face was purple-tinted as he blushed. Sweat clung to the back of his hair; his scaled skin there itched. He swallowed; his tongue was heavy like lead.

“It’s not like that,” he argued, shaking his head. His head whirled as he felt the lead feeling grow, a metallic taste clinging to his teeth and making his jaw ache.

She raised a brow.

“I’m--- it’s not like that,” he insisted again. “I haven’t been called a lord in a long, long time. I-I wasn’t even really a lord. It’s just a title.”

“Han. . . “ she huffed out.

“I’m not a lord anymore I promise. I am not a Lord under the King’s court anymore.”

“You got to admit, its sus–”

He covered his face, frustratedly, as he let out a whiney sigh. The way his face ached only made his panic surge like fire-fed kindling. His breathing escalated as he shut his eyes for a moment. He wasn’t lying; he wasn’t answering her question; he wasn’t. Those thoughts circled in his head like a carousel as he took a breath, fast and hurried. The way ancient magic twisted through the fae DNA was a wicked thing – the way its rules clung to his blood and bone was frightening to him.

I’m not lying. Not lying. So why did it feel like it?

“I know—I know it looks bad.” He soothed her through quick words. “I’m your friend, just – trust me?”

There was a beat as she stepped closer and reached for his hands that covered his face, a face that was a purple-blushed color. Of embarrassment. His eyes wide as he met her gaze.

This was coming from the man who had left her behind twice. The same man who said he’d lead her to the beginning to Hyunjin. But, also the man who helped her multiple times in the Labyrinth. The same man she declared to be a friend. The same man who had just saved her from the Direwoods, who had sat and hugged her like she would disappear, who tended to her wounds with a gentleness.

That was no little thing.

Her hands were warm against his skin; his blush-lavender skin was cool to the touch, almost like the chill of metal. He breathed out shakily at the gentle touch.

“Be honest with me. Please?” She asked softly. The tone different than when they were speaking hushedly before. It was quiet and gentle. Vulnerable.

His eyes widened even more and his lips shifted a few times as if phrasing words he couldn’t say. He looked at her despairingly weak. His head in her hands. Humans weren’t supposed to be powerful, yet here she was.

“Please.” The Runner whispered. “Be honest with me.”

Her eyes looked so… bewitching. Both vulnerable, pleading, yet in control. Gentle yet serious. A begging for him, not her. Not in a way where she needed to be saved or reassured though. It was odd how he felt like he needed to be saved, reassured, something. He felt bad. He felt it deep in his stomach. Like he was doing something wrong if he didn’t tell her.

The lie-sticky tongue, the lead-heavied mouth. He swallowed it down, and it settled in the pit of his stomach, only making him feel worse. But he could speak. Honesty. He breathed as he tried to think of what was honest and what wasn’t. What could he tell the Runner and what could he not.

“It’s—okay,” he tilted his head up, rubbing his eyes. His hands pushed hers aside gently, freeing himself from her grasp.

“The King and I used to be friends. I used to be his Gentleman-in-Waiting.”

Her eyes widened.

“What?” she squawked.

“It was like over fifty years ago now,” he muttered out, hand going to scratch at the scales on the back of his neck. “It’s not that important I promise!”

“Han!” she hit at his arm.

“Its really not.” He defended. “We aren’t friends anymore. I’m no longer his Gentleman-in-Waiting after I—well, I may have ridiculed him.” He admitted.

She hit his arm again.

“Owww!” he whined, hand going to bicep. He rubbed it up and down. “Stop that.”

“What do you mean ridicule him?” she gasped.

Jisung’s eyes looked away. “I just--- I did something. We were playing a game and we disagreed.” Well, Hyunjin disagreed. He remembered the ancient playing cards being thrown aside. Hyunjin’s hair bleeding into a raven-black in his rage. He was dancing about the truth; his metaphorical cards shuffled about in his fingers. He fiddled with her bracelet on his wrist.

“You and him had a fight?” she inferred. “No wonder he seemed so cruel to you. And no wonder he hated that I was paired up with you. What else happened?”

Jisung’s face was consumed by a pout now; brow upturn like a kicked puppy. “I don’t want to talk about it – it doesn’t matter! It doesn’t affect you.”

“What if it does? Please – “, he placed a hand over her mouth.

“It won’t; we are separate things to him,” he reassured. “I am nothing to the King now. You… are everything.”

The way his tongue didn’t taste of iron made his heart ache. He believed it. He believed that the Runner was important – not only that, that Hyunjin had taken an interest. Hyunjin had never been so invested in a Runner. Not when he was of court at least. The Prince would often ignore the Runner’s Challenge. But now, the heavy fruit in his satchel was a reminder of this new truth.

The Runner sighed out, her hot breath against his clammy skin felt like fire. She reached up to pry his hand away from her mouth with ease. Her eyes looked away from his for once; it felt like an ill-won reward to his guilt.

Okay, so she had the King’s Beast-Hunter and the King’s once-upon-a-time best friend as her companions. . . great. Not complicated at all. She sighed out again, hands going through her own locks to tug at her scalp.

“Listen, I know you’re angry.” Jisung started.

“I’m not angry,” Y/N interrupted. “I just—it’d been helpful to know. Because, despite what you think, Han, friendships are important.”

Her friendship was important. She valued him. Valued his words. Valued his thoughts. Him.

His friendship therefore was important. He had valued him. He did value him. His words. His thoughts. As his.

He frowned, deflating a bit as he watched her tighten a bandage he placed around her arm before turning to look towards Chris.

The Beast-Hunter looked back at her as if he was called to her by simply her gaze. The butterfly-esque creature fluttered on his nose and left in a bio-luminscent whirl. A smile came to her lips at that, bittersweet to Jisung’s eyes.

“Chris, let’s go.”

The dark-haired Beast-Hunter smiled a grin. “Coming, Y/N!”

Jisung felt the fear creeping, a feeling he had felt far too often in his long life. Memories of Hyunjin’s cruel gaze turning his way as he banished him away – he feared that when she turned that the Runner’s eyes would carry that gleam.

When she gazed at him, he held his breath.

“Are you joining me?” she asked Jisung.

The air sucked out of his lungs as he watched her. Drenched in rubied iron-blood, her face tired and yet somehow glowing from the candlelight above them. Her eyes held no cruelty – exhaustion, carefulness, but they were still kind. She was still kind to him. He didn’t know how to handle it except that it lit a flame beneath his skin like a roar of a Dragon’s flame.

She was a force of nature. She was changing from the Labyrinth, but unlike a Changeling, she was evolving with her humanity rather than abandoning it. And Jisung liked it.

“Y-Yeah.” He bumbled. “We can go this way.” He encouraged; hand outstretched towards the path he remembered would lead them towards the Castle.

She smiled at him, and it was holy.

The fruit in his satchel was heavier.

Jisung led the way, flickering eyes checking that they were following every few moments. He didn’t trust the Beast Hunter. Even with his gentle way of handling the Runner, he felt the acrid burn in his throat.

It didn’t make sense. The troll-fae with sawed-off horns, torn skin from brutal attacks, and chipped fangs from battles. . . yet he seemed innocent. There was wonder in his eyes; he didn’t slash the creatures down in front of him. He spoke to Y/N with a softness. A warmth Jisung envied. It would’ve made the lesser-goblin laugh in other situations. Hells, Chris still wore the iron-shackles of the King’s knights around his neck. Like a trophy. Jisung knew how the iron burned a lowly fae; he knew if he reached out to grasp the chains he’d feel the sear of pain.

How could he bear it? No.

No, if anything, Jisung knew that Chris was not an innocent.

He was not an innocent.

No way.

The curl in his gut had to be right. (The taste of jealousy was sour and drawing.)

“Stupid troll,” Jisung muttered as he pushed branches aside.

“Don’t be mean,” the Runner chided, ducking beneath the branches he had moved aside.

Jisung let the branches flick back into Chris’ face with a thwack. The Beast-Hunter grunted out, a strong arm raising to block the hit.

“Jisung,” she scolded, his true name coming to her lips in a sharp thwack of her own.

Jisung simmered in his emotions; lava-hot in the pit of his stomach as he walked ahead of them. A hand rubbed at her bracelet on his wrist once more, rolling the beads and charms in between anxious fingertips.

The path ahead was lined with curling weeping willows, trapping them in by makeshift branch-walls. Skeleton-esque finger-like branches reached out blocking their way. A wind would rustle them every now and then making the trees feel alive. She was glad to remain on the given path for now. She didn’t really want to climb or run through muck and mud again. Her body hadn’t ached so much in ages. She wanted to fall into a bed and sleep for ages.

On top of that, she was growing hungry. Her stomach grumbled loudly as they walked along. She wondered how many hours had gone by. It felt like more than 13 hours had passed. And it wouldn’t surprise her if it wasn’t fair. Nothing down here was what it seems. Hours could be minutes, moments, or ages.

“So, you are a troll fae?” the Runner queried to the ever-on-her-heels Beast-Hunter. “I met a few; they didn’t look like you.”

Chris hadn’t left her side, hulking through the branches without flinching. When she could she tried to leave the path clear, pushing sharpened foliage with an arm, but Chris was larger than her. He’d bend down and pass through her openings but, at some point, he began to just barrel through.

He was hypervigilant, just as Jisung was (with a hand on his dagger’s hilt.) Looking this way and that with careful stony eyes. He looked at her, eyes widening as she spoke. He looked at her with a careful awe, smiling at her words.

“Yeah,” he crowed out, his Australian-esque accent curling around the word. “I’d look a bit different. I’m a troll-fae from your realm.”

“My realm?” she paused in her step.

Chris kept walking onwards, but slowed his steps and faced her as he continued on.

“Yeah, all original trolls hail from the human realm. Cursed to wander only in the dark of night or else we’re turned to stone,” he recited. He snorted shaking his head. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen the human realm or had to worry about that rule.”

The Runner blinked, surprised to find out that not all fae were original to the Labyrinth. How did he end up here? Was everyone a transplant?

“How did you end up here in the Labyrinth?” she asked. “The only trolls I’ve seen… er, met, were in the oubliette. And, uh, stone.” She added awkwardly.

Chris’s grey eyes turned stormy-dark. Not like Hyunjin’s storm blue eyes. It felt like they grew heavy in his head, dull.

“It’s not a fun story, Y/N.” he admitted quietly. “I—I don’t like talking about it.” A hand rose to rub the hair at the nape of his neck.

There was a rock in the middle of the road, as if thrown there from the nearby wall of the Labyrinth. It was chunky, made of cemented different rocks of all shades and sizes. There was the ever-present sparkle of magic-remnant in its core. The group walked around it easily.

“Oh,” she muttered. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he hummed out, accent warming as he kicked a pebble and watched it roll with a gleam in his eye. “I was really little when I was in the human realm. All trolls now live on the outskirts of the Shadow of the Castle, beyond the Goblin City – there is a mire there. That’s where I lived with my mother until I had to train.”

She could imagine a damp-wetlands beyond the desert sea, beyond tangled criss crossing pathways, beyond the rot of the Labyrinth. She could smell salt-water of a murky bog, taste it on her lips.

“How did you become the Beast-Hunter?” she asked instead.

“Its less of a title and more of a being, Y/N,” Jisung called behind his shoulder. “His father was the Beast-Hunter; Chan is the Beast-Hunter; his offspring will be the Beast-Hunter.”

She remembered Chris saying that – she simply thought it was pride. He was the best she had thought. She squinted her brows wondering how that worked. Was it, like, a bloodline? Like royalty?

Chris nodded solemnly. “He’s right,” he confirmed. “Woven by ancient magic; it’s my duty to the Goblin King. My family’s duty forevermore to be their Hunter.”

Interesting was all she could think as she dodged a scratchy piece of foliage with sharpened red thorns. More bushes began to decorate the sides of the path. Most were dry, dead things in shades of umber, tan, and rotting green. Other had the flicker of life, magic-remnant sparkling in the candlelight of the nearby maze. Small flowers of red burst forth on their branches.

“If you’re a troll, what is Han?” she asked then glancing over at Jisung. His hand tossed a pretty dagger up into the air, catching it easily and swiftly as he glanced around them, cautiously. Nervous. Always so goddamn nervous.

“Him. . . “ Chris glanced back at the other with a tilt to his head. His pouty lips quirked. “He looks common-blooded? A lesser-goblin?” he offered, eyes squinting a bit.

“Rude to talk about blood lines,” Jisung reminded over his shoulder, tutting.

“Is a troll common-blooded?” she grunted, ignoring the other’s scold as she climbed over a root in the middle of the road.

Chris’s laughter was bubbling like a water’s brook meeting a swamp as he shook his head. “No way!” he giggled as if she had said a very funny joke.

“What is a troll-fae then?” she countered, smiling a bit despite being wrong.

“We are strong for one. We are valued for our magic’s strength, our strong will, and our strong fighting abilities. We are seen as loyal,” He explained.

“Guard dogs – brutes – hunters with no remorse,” Jisung mumbled under his breath as he began to scale a large boulder-esque chunk of cobblestoned wall in the way of the road. It made a divot in the path, scattered brink littered everywhere.

Looking to the side, Y/N saw the Labyrinth wall closest to her look full and well. So how did this end up here? With small grunts, he managed to uproot himself to the top of the thing before he turned and offered his hand to Y/N.

“C’mon.”

Grabbing his hand, she was hoisted up as well. It hurt a bit as she was tugged against rough rock but Chris soon swept under her to push her the rest of the way up. Jisung gave her a brief once-over, dark jewel-toned eyes careful over her form. The unfamiliar feeling bubbled up like lava in his heart.

She huffed out a breath as she got her footing, standing with Jisung. But, of course, Jisung turned his back to Chris.

“Jisung,” she couldn’t help but scold, his true name slipping out in her frustration. He paused in his step, glancing down at her like a kicked puppy. But he didn’t say a word, only pouted with those raspberry-bitten lips. Petulant.

The Runner turned and offered her hand to the lone troll-fae below.

“Here,” she encouraged.

She doubted she could pull him up by herself (he was all muscle and broadness), but she could try. She refused to leave him behind. Han watched from the sidelines, eyeing as she squatted and waited. (Too kind, too kind, too kind.)

The bulky man smiled at her, waving her off with blushed lavender cheeks.

“I can handle this; you and Lor- Han jump down to the other side.” Chris insisted.

Brows crinkled.

“You’re sure?” she queried, doubt in her voice.

Chris nodded solidly.

“C’mon, the Beast-Hunter says he’ll be fine; he’ll be fine,” Jisung tugged her arm, firm fingers pulling her attention away. “You’ve got a time limit, remember?” There was an urgency in his tone despite his almost bratty look on his face.

Nodding slowly, the Runner rose ‘til she was standing.

“Okay,” she murmured.

The pair scaled the cracks and curves of the large boulder until they finally saw the road on the other side. Jisung jumped first, landing with a thud before he turned and looked up to the Runner. Encouraging with a hand out.

She leapt, stumbling on the uneven brick. The shock absorbed into her body unpleasantly, springing up her shins with an ache.

“Good?” Jisung murmured under his breath. His hands wrapped around her arms steadingly– he must’ve tried to catch the Runner in her stumble. Looking up at him with a slight grimace, she nodded. Her eyes burned with a pain but she blinked through it and nodded again. Jisung squeezed her arms reassuringly before taking a step back.

He hated seeing her hurt he realized. His ribs ached as he took a shaky breath in. Despair and worry crawled in his veins like maggots. He couldn’t imagine her going through the change – the look of independence in her eyes dulling until they’re fogged by the Change. Jisung had seen it happen over and over again. Would she be a cognizant Changeling…? He couldn’t see her falling to the darker Threads of the Change. Fur and tooth and nail wouldn’t become her – and surely the King didn’t want a goblette. The deal wasn’t something like that. Would she be forgetful? Would she be obedient? Would she be lost in a dreamscape?

She turned her back to the common-fae to look at the rock. Looking for Chris over the crown of the rock remains in front of them.

“Just wait,” Jisung muttered, rolling his eyes out of her sight.

There was a rumble. Low and humming. It grew slowly, louder and louder until she could see the boulder in front of them begin to tremble with the frequency. Her eyes widened in surprise, taking a tentative step backwards in preparation. Jisung’s hand slid down her arm, slow, soothing, until he grasped her hand in his. The Runner tore her gaze from the rock for a moment to look at her companion.

Jisung didn’t look stressed. In fact, he looked almost bored. His chin gestured to the rock once more when he caught her gaze. The rock’s trembling was almost palpable until with a loud BOOM. The rock cracked. In half, cleanly. Revealing, a bashful Chris who smiled amongst the dust and magic-remnant particles floating through the air.

Y/N’s mouth parted into a little ‘o’; her eyes wide in surprise.

“Hey!” he crowed, easily climbing through the rock they had scaled.

“You had to show off rather than just doing that in the first place?” Jisung scolded lightly, turning away from the fae man. He didn’t let go of the Runner’s hand, forcing her to turn her body slightly.

Chris huffed, the dust clinging to his curls pillowing up into a cloud as he shook his head, almost dog-like. “I wasn’t showing off,” he argued. His eyes shifted back onto the Runner. “Much.” He admitted with a laugh in his voice.

It made the Runner laugh, his tone so light hearted and comfortable, it encouraged her to do the same. Jisung’s fingers clung to her tighter.

“So, you can break things?” she confirmed.

“No, no,” Jisung interrupted her.

“Rock – anything made of earth, I can manipulate.” Chris interrupted Jisung’s interruption. “Trolls and stone come from the same Thread.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah, you thought they became stone just ‘cause?” Chris continued, teasingly.

She shook her head lightly, not exactly scolding and not exactly answering his question. “We’ve got to keep going… cool trick.” She admitted as they turned their backs on the broken slab of rock.

The Runner didn’t look to see how Chris preened, rubbing the back of neck and fluffing the hair there. Jisung glared at him.

The trio walked along once more. Rather than a Labyrinth of walls, she swore they were on an endless cobblestone path. It reminded her of the Wizard of Oz, another favorite of her childhood. The bricks beneath her feet made her muscles ache; the pattern becoming sloppier and sloppier as they twisted this way and that through a forest.

It was a while later when her stomach growled and grumbled again. The low pain of her hunger was hard to ignore when there was nothing around them

“Keep an eye out for anything that could be food,” she commented casually.

Around them the bushes were fairly bare, dry and desolate pushed against the wall of the Labyrinth and the cliffside of the Direwoods’ darkness.

“You’re hungry?” Chris queried from behind her.

They had taken up a line sort of arrangement – Jisung led, the Runner followed, and Chris kept watch from the rear. She looked back at him with a gentle smile.

She nodded. “It feels like I’ve been here for days rather than hours. I think its magic.”

“Or the fact you’ve been beaten up so badly,” Chris said, frowning at her wounds.

“Or that,” she chuckled, stretching her limbs until they cracked a bit. Her entire body still ached. What she wouldn’t do for a moment to rest.

Jisung was quiet; the fruit in his satchel heavy as it swayed on his belt. He could give her the fruit Hyunjin gave him. But. . . he didn’t know what would happen. Probably nothing good.

“There’s got to be some berries around here,” Chris reassured, looking to the brush off the path. He took on a sort of prowl as he looked through the bushes with careful eyes.

It was odd how suddenly there were more and more fruit on the bushes as they continued to trek onwards – as if the Labyrinth heard her request. Berries of different colors, shapes, and sizes decorated some of the prickly looking bushes. To her human mind, the thorns warned of danger. But Chris reached out and plucked one from the bushel, humming low.

“How about—” Chris couldn’t even finish his sentence before the once Gentleman-In-Waiting piped up, head snapping to look at the fruit in the other’s fingers.

“No, no, humans eat different things,” Jisung argued, stopping in his tracks, and turning to the Beast-Hunter. “Those berries might poison her.”

“I was going to give her berries we could eat,” Chris retorted, squishing the berry in between his fingertips with a splurt. Deep magenta stained his fingers like blood. Jisung took a few steps off the road to examine the berry the other had plucked with careful eyes. The flesh of the berry was tossed to the barren ground as Chris rose his fingers to his nose, sniffing deeply before wrinkling his nose and rubbing the thick juice on his trousers.

“Humans and fae aren’t the same. She’s all iron-blood and squish.” Jisung continued, prodding at the Beast-Hunter’s tough arm childishly as if to make a point.

“Hey, its alright. We can look later. I just wanted to mention it,” the Runner soothed, stepping off the path to join the two. The two men paused in their mutterings and bickerings.

“This is probably another one of his tests,” she said, looking over the bushes she didn’t remember having berries moments ago. If they had been there, wouldn’t she had noticed? There were sparkling in the candlelight of the nearby Labyrinth walls.

Jisung hummed in agreement; the Beast-Hunter following his lead after a moment.

“Maybe,” Chris murmured. “Is he that cruel?”

“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “But its strange to be around all of these berries suddenly.”

Jisung glanced about. The fruit were dusted in magic; not like the fruit he carried in his satchel. It felt heavier by the moment. He licked his lips.

“Yeah,” the Beast Hunter murmured.

“Let’s just get back on track – Jisung, you know the entrance to the Labyrinth, right?” she asked. “Its close?”

She hoped it was. She hoped she was growing closer. As she turned to look back where they were headed, the world around them had shifted. The walls of the Labyrinth were closer than before (she could reach out and touch it) – the path they had been on gone and replaced by a dirt road.

An entrance stared at them – literally. A stoney face of granite glared down from above the doorway. Cursed troll, forced to bear the weight of the archway. Forevermore.

“Yeah,” Jisung muttered. Pointing at the nearby entrance obviously.

It wasn’t like the original entrance with its grand gate. No, this was an open archway with the statuesque face staring at them with old deep eyes. Strange how a rock could bear such humanistic eyes.

“Beware.” The troll-stone murmured, the cracking of stone thundering and grating. “Nothing is as it seems.”

The Runner couldn’t stop the scoff that left her throat as she walked forwards, approaching the entry. It was the dumbest advice to give. She knew that. The Labyrinth was always full of surprises.

“Thanks,” she mumbled nonetheless as she, and the duo behind her, re-entered the Labyrinth walls. Stairwells on either side of her trapped them in. Turning around the entry was gone, and they were stuck in the brick-walls once more.

“Which way?” she wondered briefly.

“Right or left?” Jisung countered, boba-big eyes looking one way and then the other.

“Right’s always right,” she teased before arbitrarily moving towards the right stairwell and climbing the stairs.

It wasn’t endless stairs luckily (Y/N would rather die than attempt that.) In no time they were high above the Labyrinth walls, on a catwalk of sorts with turrets and well-walked cobblestone floors. Looking down upon the maze, the view was beautiful. She could look down into the gardens, the courtyards, the twisting paths of the Labyrinth, all casted in a golden hue of candlelight. The castle was in front of her, far as ever. But Y/N knew it was not to be believed. One couldn’t truly trust their eyes here.

Continuing onwards, the elevated walk way, a guard rampart she noted, bore things she didn’t think she’d walk past. Abandoned weapons of wood and copper. Things rusted from the cold wet air of the cave. Cannons and cannon balls made of what looked like plant matter rather than cement. This was clearly a wall walk – a part of the Labyrinth guards would utilize in battle surely. It had turret openings covered in soot and dust; portions of the rock blown to bits from what looked like gun fire.

It was odd she was allowed her she noted. Looking far below, she saw guards patrol the maze below. The trio kept close to the exterior wall.

“Are there other kingdoms beyond the Goblin Castle and the Labyrinth?” Y/N queried, tone low, glancing over to Jisung first and then Chris. Both would know… with their familiarity with the King.

This didn’t look like age or rot; this looked like a battle.

Jisung was rounding around a large chunk of the destroyed rampart wall as her question reached his ears. His eyes widened as he swallowed.

“There are,” Chris answered quietly. “The Underground is vast.”

“The Goblin Kingdom is by far the most protected.” Jisung added almost as if defending Hyunjin.

The Runner snorted. “Yeah, with all of this,” she gestured around them. “It’s hard to get to the Castle in the first place with its tricks.”

“That and there is power in numbers,” Jisung commented. “The Goblin King had a large military from guards to knights to generals of war.

How many of those numbers were wish-stolen? Were they Changeling Goblins? Would she be one of the numbers soon? It made a shiver go down her spine.

They finally had braved the more destroyed parts of the watch-tower walls. The walk along the wall was simple, unlike the twisting and turning of the maze below.

“Where are the guards up here?” she wondered aloud as they walked along. “They are all down below.”

Chris’ brows rose in surprise, glancing at the nearby watchtower. It was empty despite its golden glow of the torch flame atop its roof.

“No need to guard anything near the Direwoods,” he said.

“The Sluagh would take care of them,” Jisung agreed, speeding up to walk beside the Runner.

The unending prodding in his skull was irritating. Give her the fruit, give her the fruit, give it to her. It was beyond himself, a voice that sounded too much like Hyunjin for him to be confident the King wasn’t in his head. The peach in his satchel hit against his thigh with every step. Taunting.

“You alright, Y/N?” Chris’ voice tore Jisung from his thoughts, looking over at Y/N. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, her gaze unfocused for a moment. His hand shot out instinctively, grasping her arm.

The Runner wasn’t certain what came over her. Dizziness, her stomach cramping, her head pulsing. Maybe it was the stress, the injuries that ached around her body, catching up to her. But wasn’t the Labyrinth supposed to ensure she wouldn’t die?

Not ensure she wouldn’t suffer she supposed.

Jisung’s hand on her arm made a ghost of a smile come to her lips. Chris followed up behind her, coming to her side with concerned grey eyes and a firm lip.

“I’m okay,” she told them. “I think it’s just, well, everything.” Both hands reached for her companion’s hands giving them a gentle squeeze.

“The first edible thing I see, you’re eating – and drinking! The moment we see good water,” Chris promised. He took protecting her seriously – even if he had failed with the fall into the Direwoods.

She smiled fondly. “Sounds like a plan.” She agreed. “Any food will do.”

Jisung felt like the world was mocking him at this point. Swallowing, he looked over her face. The ashen sweat that lingered on her brow made him concerned. Him! Concerned! What were these feelings? What if the peach was really alright? What if it was to help the Runner? A present of honest and truth?

No, Hyunjin wasn’t ever so kind.

But look at her. . .

She needed something.

Jisung’s free hand shifted to the satchel at his waist, tugging at its drawstrings. Fingertips brushed across the fruit’s firm skin. It was still unblemished, perfectly ripe with its lush orange-red hues watercolor-painted across its surface. The most perfect peach if there ever was one. His fingers curled around it tighter as he pulled it from the purse.

He rolled it between his palm for a moment. A heat danced over his neck, making him sweat as he lifted it up and towards the Runner.

With shut eyes, Jisung whispered. “Here, try this.” Revealing it with a heavy heart.

“Is that a peach?” the Runner inquired, glancing over. Wide eyes in surprise. Her mouth watered at its sight. “It looks perfect. You’ve had this the entire time?”

He forced a smile, a fanged grimace. “Y-Yeah.” The taste of iron ached to bite at his tongue as he tried to say that he forgot. He hadn’t. It had been on his mind since they had reunited. He had to give this peach. He had to.

“Why didn’t you mention it before?” Chris argued from her side. Face scrunching in disappointment and anger.

“I-I,” Jisung spluttered, unable to force a lie through his lips without the blood-iron taste filling his mouth. There was no way to answer him.

But the Runner, kind soul she was, squeezed Chris’ large hand and smiled.

“Its okay; I’m sure he forgot and got scared to mention it,” it was a tease but it was still her excusing him. Even with her ill-state. Her eyes were gentle as they settled back on Jisung. He felt a wave of guilt at the sight of her kindness.

She wasn’t a fae that was sure. Too kind, too sweet.

He offered a strained smile her way. He was too soft.

“You’re a life-safer, Han,” she hummed gratefully as she leaned forward to press a kiss to his cheek, friendly and grateful. “Thank y-“ A crash of lightning interrupted her words.

Their necks snapped to the sound; there was a rumble unlike the rumble of Chris’ powers. It felt stronger as the earth began to tremble in a sort of earthquake. Turbulent and rough as she gripped onto Jisung’s arm. He squeezed the fruit; it didn’t dimple under his brute strength.

His eyes were panicked, breath caught as the literal brickwork around them began to crumble into nothing. Like they had never been there to begin with. It was like reality was unraveling.

“W-Wait,” Jisung mumbled as he pushed at her, trying to move them from their spots. Push her away if anything. But he was unable to; his limbs cement heavy. The birds stopped chirping; the world chilled to a freezing temperature. His eyes bulged out as he stared at the Castle in his locked vision. Hyunjin. Hyunjin!

“I warned you,” Hyunjin’s voice was heard like a whisper on the wind. Angered, petulant, venomous.

He was falling, falling, falling. The abyss below was dark and uncertain like a gaping maw of a monster. He felt her skin graze his, nails and finger tips digging into his arms as she tried to grasp onto him as Jisung fell through the once-there floor.

“Jisung!” The Runner screeched as she reached out for him into oblivion.

Deep in his Castle, there laid a true throne made of something ancient and magic. Far from his subjects’ chatter, it was locked behind iron lock and key. Inside was dark stone, cool as ice. The lone throne sat defying gravity as it hovered. Shimmering tendrils of the night sky made solid, like a slab of carved obsidian was carved into a high-backed throne. Stars reflected from its surface and magic hummed from deep within occasionally making blooms of red, blues, and greens dancing underneath the polished throne. It felt like a living thing, contained magic only for the King to revel in.

The coolness of the jewel-type surface typically soothed Hyunjin, but in the moment it burned like the icy depths of space. His form curled under himself, barren feet pressed firm on the seat of the throne as he hunched, monstrously, over his magic orbs.

His face was one of brutality, deep-ocean black eyes locked onto his magical bauble. The image of kiss was burned into his mind as reality bent to his will within the bubble, far off in his Labyrinth. He felt each stone fall away from reality, disappearing into shards of being, so Jisung couldn’t even grasp onto anything. Constraining the fae so he couldn’t move. His subjects were his to command and, in this moment, he used it to his full cosmic power.

Soft lips pressed against soft cheeks. Jisung’s wide eyes of surprise. The blush of rush. Her genuine gratefulness. Her gentleness. Her.

Her. Her. Her. Kissing him. Him. Him. Not Hyunjin. Him. She kissed him.

Jealousy wasn’t Hyunjin’s friend – even when it came to a simple kiss upon a cheek.

No, jealousy for a spoilt King showed itself in its ugliness. It carved down his cheeks in golden streaks of tears. His hair plastered against his honeyed sweat-slicked skin. Blood-shot eyes as he snarled wordlessly at the bauble. The room buzzed with electricity and a taste of bitter ozone as he felt the bite of envy.

She hadn’t looked at him like that. When he’d fought the world for her; manipulated time, manipulated his domain, everything for her. She wanted a hero. He was that for her – why couldn’t she see it?

Her eyes had gleamed. Her lips were sweet petal roses, curling so gentle into a smile she hadn’t given him before. His chest ached. Fingers curled, sharpened iron-tipped nails with rings and jewels dug into his palm.

Hyunjin let out a laugh as he felt the pain prick through him. His gaze finally leaving the bubble to see ichor of purple dripping to the Castle’s floor, painting it a royal blood. When was the last time he bled? Here was bleeding for a mere mortal – a soul he was going to steal and change and meld into a goblin of his own.

His breathing was wild as his gaze shifted to look between the darkening strands of hair. His blonde waves darkening into the black of a raven. The color leeched out slowly until it was as dark as his thick cloak that made his form too sweatied in his emotional rampage.

His stormy eyes settled back on the bubble to see the Runner fall in after his banished Gentleman-In-Waiting. In his jealous rage, the Goblin King forgot she was no subject of his – even as the Runner.

He had no power over her.

His concentration fell, the world settling back into reality with the cobblestone floor of the rampant wall bubbling into existence, but it was too late.

She was falling after Jisung – there was a blur of a figure following her – but Hyunjin didn’t care. No, he was whiplashed with rage. He threw the magic orb to the wall; the image shattering on impact as he let out a howl.

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haveyouseenthishorrormovie · 4 months ago

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Stats from Movies 1201-1300

Top 10 Movies - Highest Number of Votes

Splice (2009) had the most votes with 854 votes. Dark Cloud (2022) had the least votes with 290 votes.

The 10 Most Watched Films by Percentage

Ghostbusters (1984) was the most watched film with 83.3% of voters out of 756 saying they had seen it. T Blockers (2023) had the least "Yes" votes with 0,3% of voters out of 732.

The 10 Least Watched Films by Percentage

Salem's Lot (1979) was the least watched film with 64.4% of voters out of 449 saying they hadn’t seen it. A Snake of June (2002) had the least "No" votes with 6,9% of voters out of 391.

The 10 Most Known Films by Percentage

Ghostbusters (1984) was the best known film, 0,5% of voters out of 756 saying they’d never heard of it.

The 10 Least Known Films by Percentage

A Snake of June (2002) was the least known film, 90.8% of voters out of 391 saying they’d never heard of it.

The movies part of the statistic count and their polls below the cut.

Bingo Hell (2021) The Descent: Part 2 (2009) The Reckoning (2020) The Lair (2022) Dream House (2011) The Other Lamb (2019) Unsane (2018) Children of the Night (1991) Manichithrathazhu (1993) They Live (1988)

Chasing Sleep (2000) The Special (2020) Grabbers (2012) Blood and Roses (1960) Eating Miss. Campbell (2022) Violated Angels (1967) A Snake of June (2002) The Alligator People (1959) eXistenZ (1999) Blood Widow (2014)

Blood Widow (2020) Honeymoon (2014) Uninvited (1987) Scarecrows (2017) Talon Falls (2017) They Reach (2020) Devil's Gate (2017) Killer Sofa (2019) The Ghost Within (2023) Hidden 3D (2011) Grave of the Vampire (1972) Lamb (2021) See No Evil (2006) Planet Terror (2007) Lights Out (2016) Gerald's Game (2017) Webcast (2018) The Love Witch (2016) No One Gets Out Alive (2021) Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)

Wounds (2019) Paintball Massacre (2020) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) Charlie's Farm (2014) Child Eater (2016) Monster Brawl (2011) 247°F (2011) Dark Cloud (2022) The Hole (2001) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994)

Hazard Jack (2014) Pumpkinhead (1988) The Resurrected (1991) Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010) The Curse (1987) The Dunwich Horror (1970) Earth vs. the Spider (2001) The Fan (1982) Mute Witness (1995) The Call of Cthulhu (2005)

The Suckling (1990) It Conquered the World (1956) Bug (2006) The Signal (2007) Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013) Gehenna: Where Death Lives (2016) Monsters (2010) YellowBrickRoad (2010) The Blood Spattered Bride (1972) T Blockers (2023) The Facts in the Case of Mister Hollow (2008) The Mothman Prophecies (2002) Baba Yaga (1973) Kill List (2011) Splice (2009) The Crazies (2010) Fire in the Sky (1993) Banshee Chapter (2013) Angel Dust (1994) Blood and Black Lace (1964)

It Came from Outer Space (1953) TerrorVision (1986) Lurker in the Lobby (1998) A Night to Dismember (1983) Altered States (1980) Cube²: Hypercube (2002) The Dark Half (1993) Darkness (2002) Ghostbusters (1984) The Keep (1983)

Cobweb (2023) The Empty Man (2020) Bloody Hell (2020) The Green Inferno (2013) Turistas (2006) Salem's Lot (1979) Stir of Echoes (1999) Christine (1983) Found (2012) The Hole (2009)

#recap #not a poll

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do-you-have-a-flag · 1 year ago

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okay fine, great big horror-ish movie recommendation time

DISCLAIMER: this is not a list of only good or only scary movies this is a list of movies i think are either fun or interesting with the intention of not just listing the top 50 of all time (there will be some standards on here but if you want only good movies it's a very different list and you've seen most of them) this is more like you walk into a video store i somehow have and this is what i have put on silent on the tv. As with most horror check for content warnings before viewing

Barbarian 2022

Skinamarink 2022

Malignant 2021

Spree 2020

Mandy 2018

Creep 2014 - Creep 2 2017

WNUF Halloween Special 2013

[REC] 2007

Silent Hill 2006

The Descent 2005

Saw 2004

The Others 2001

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust 2000

Ravenous 1999

Event Horizon 1997

From Dusk Till Dawn 1996

In the Mouth of Madness 1994

Ghostwatch 1992

Candyman 1992

Tremors 1990

Re-Animator 1985 - Bride of Re-Animator 1990

The Lair of the White Worm 1988

Slumber Party Massacre II 1987

The Evil Dead 1981 - Evil Dead II 1987

A Nightmare on Elm Street 1984 - A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors 1987

Hellraiser 1987

TerrorVision 1986

The Company of Wolves 1984

Something Wicked This Way Comes 1983

The Monster Club 1981

My Bloody Valentine 1981

Possession 1981

Nightmare City 1980

Tourist Trap 1979

Phantasm 1979

Eyes of Laura Mars 1978

Suspiria 1977

Hausu 1977

Death Bed: The Bed That Eats 1977

The Rocky Horror Picture Show 1975 - Shock Treatment 1981

Deep Red 1975

The Stepford Wives 1975

Black Christmas 1974

Madhouse 1974

The Wicker Man 1973

Don't Look Now 1973

Flesh for Frankenstein 1973 - Blood for Dracula 1974

The Blob 1958 - Beware! The Blob 1972

The Abominable Dr. Phibes 1971

The House That Dripped Blood 1971

Viy 1967

The Haunting 1963

Carnival of Souls 1962

The Innocents 1961

House on Haunted Hill 1959

Plan 9 from Outer Space 1957

The Night of the Hunter 1955

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 2 months ago

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* * * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

September 13, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Sep 14, 2024

After bomb threats today, officials had to evacuate two elementary schools in Springfield, Ohio, and move the students to a different location. They had to close a middle school altogether. This is the second day bomb threats have closed schools and public buildings after MAGA Republicans have spread the lie that Haitian immigrants there have been eating white people's pets. Haitian immigrants, who were welcomed to Springfield by officials eager to revitalize the city and who are there legally, say they are afraid.

Hunter Walker and Josh Kovensky of Talking Points Memo today explained where the lie had come from and how it had spread. More than two months ago, they wrote, Ohio senator J.D. Vance, who is Trump’s vice presidential running mate, began to speak about Springfield at a Senate Banking Committee hearing, trying to tie rising housing prices to immigrants. The next day, at the National Conservatism conference, Vance accused “illegals” of overwhelming the city.

On August 10, about a dozen neo-Nazis of the “Blood Tribe” organization showed up in Springfield, where one of their leaders said the city had been taken over by “degenerate third worlders” and blamed the Jews for the influx of migrants. The neo-Nazis stayed and, on August 27, showed up at a meeting of the city council, where their leader threatened council members. On September 1, another white supremacist group, Patriot Front, held its own “protest to the mass influx of unassimilable Haitian migrants” in the city. Right-wing social media posters pushed the story, usually with “witnesses” to events in the city coming from elsewhere.

In late August, posting in a private Facebook group, a resident said they had heard that Haitian immigrants had butchered a neighbor’s cat for food. Vance reposted that rumor to attack Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, on whom he is trying to hang undocumented immigration although it was Trump who convinced Republicans to kill a strong bipartisan border bill this spring. Springfield police and the city manager told news outlets there was no truth to the rumors.

Nonetheless, on September 10, Vance told his people to “keep the cat memes flowing,” even though—or perhaps because—the rumors were putting people in his own state in danger.

Trump repeated the lie at the presidential debate that night, claiming, “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.” Today, President Joe Biden demanded Trump stop his attacks on Haitian-Americans, but Trump doubled down, promising to deport the Haitian immigrants in Springfield if he is elected, although they are here legally.

The widespread ridicule of Trump’s statement has obscured that this attack on Ohio’s immigrants is part of an attempt to regain control of the Senate. Convincing Ohio voters that the immigrants in their midst are subhuman could help Republicans defeat popular Democratic incumbent senator Sherrod Brown, who has held his seat since 2007. Brown and Montana’s Jon Tester, both Democrats in states that supported Trump in 2020, are key to controlling the Senate.

Two Republican super PACs, one of which is linked to Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), have booked more than $82 million of ad space in Ohio between Labor Day and the election and are focusing on immigration.

Taking control of the Senate would enable Republicans not only to block all popular Democratic legislation, as they did with gun reform after the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, but to continue to establish control of America’s judicial system. So long as their judges are in place to make law from the bench, what the majority of Americans want doesn’t matter.

In 1986, when it was clear that most Americans did not support the policies put in place by the Reagan Republicans, the Reagan appointees at the Justice Department broke tradition to ensure that candidates for judgeships shared their partisanship. Their goal, said the president’s attorney general, Ed Meese, was to “institutionalize the Reagan revolution so it can’t be set aside no matter what happens in future presidential elections.”

That principle held going forward. Federal judgeships depend on Senate confirmation, and when McConnell became Senate minority leader in 2007, he worked to make sure Democrats could not put their own appointees onto the bench. He held up so many of President Barack Obama’s nominees for federal judgeships that in 2013 Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) prohibited filibusters on certain judicial nominees.

McConnell also made it clear that he would do everything he could to make sure that Democrats could not pass laws, weaponizing the filibuster so that nothing could become law without 60 votes in the Senate.

McConnell became Senate majority leader in 2015 when voters gave Republicans control of the Senate, and when Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, McConnell refused even to hold hearings for President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland. McConnell’s justification for this unprecedented obstruction was that Obama’s March nomination was too close to an election, but the underlying reason for the 2016 delay was at least in part his recognition that hopes of pushing the Supreme Court to the right, especially on the issue of abortion, were likely to get evangelical voters to the polls.

Trump won in 2016, and Republicans got control of the Senate. In 2017, when Democrats tried to filibuster Trump’s nomination of Neil Gorsuch to fill Scalia’s long-empty seat, then–majority leader McConnell killed the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees. The end of the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees meant that McConnell could push through Trump’s nominees Brett Kavanaugh, with just 50 votes, and Amy Coney Barrett, with just 52 (in late October 2020, with voting for the next president already underway).

Throughout his tenure as Senate majority leader, McConnell made judicial confirmations a top priority, churning through nominations even when the coronavirus pandemic shut everything else down. Right-wing plaintiffs are now seeking out those judges, like Matthew Kacsmaryk of Texas, to decide in their favor. Kacsmaryk challenged the FDA’s approval of the drug mifepristone, which can be used in abortions, thus threatening to ban it nationwide.

Meanwhile, at the Supreme Court, Trump appointees are joining with right-wing justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito to overturn precedents established long ago, including the right to abortion.

Controlling the country through the courts was the plan behind stacking the courts with Republican nominees and weaponizing the filibuster to stop Democrats from passing legislation. In March 2024, in Slate, legal analyst Mark Joseph Stern noted that McConnell “realized you don’t need to win elections to enact Republican policy. You don’t need to change hearts and minds. You don’t need to push ballot initiatives or win over the views of the people. All you have to do is stack the courts. You only need 51 votes in the Senate to stack the courts with far-right partisan activists…[a]nd they will enact Republican policies under the guise of judicial review, policies that could never pass through the democratic process. And those policies will be bulletproof, because they will be called ‘law.’”

When he took office, President Joe Biden went to work putting his own mark on the federal judiciary. Almost two thirds of his appointees are women, and 62% are people of color. He appointed the first Black female justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, to the Supreme Court. But now, Republicans are hoping to retake the Senate to make sure that those appointments will stop, along with any more legislation. Their right-wing appointees to the courts will take the business of lawmaking out of the hands of American majorities.

Republican leaders are throwing everything they’ve got at the Senate races in Montana and Ohio, where they hope they can pick up the seat they need to take control of the Senate.

Attacks on immigrants in Ohio might move that needle.

In 1890, Republicans faced a similar problem. They had lost the popular vote in 1888, although they installed Republican president Benjamin Harrison in office through the Electoral College, and knew the Democrats would soon far outnumber their own voters. So they set out to guarantee that they could never lose the Senate, which should enable them to kill popular Democratic legislation.

But they misjudged the electorate, and in the 1890 midterm election, voters gave control of the House to the Democrats by a margin of two to one, and control of the Senate came down to a single seat, that of a senator from South Dakota. In those days, state legislatures chose their state’s senators, and shortly after it became clear that control of the Senate was going to depend on that South Dakota seat, U.S. Army troops went to South Dakota to rally voters by putting down an “Indian uprising” in which no people had died and no property had been damaged.

Fueled on false stories of “savages” who were attacking white settlers, the inexperienced soldiers were the ones who pulled the triggers to kill more than 250 Lakotas on December 29, but the Wounded Knee Massacre started in Washington, D.C.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#political #Springfield Ohio #immigration #Ohio #election 2024 #misinformation #Heather Cox Richardson #Letters From An American #history #American History #SCOTUS #judges #right wing shenanigans

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legallybrunettedotcom · 1 year ago

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long shot but I'm gonna ask bc u have such immaculate taste in movies: do u have any recs for goth girl movies? it can be movies with goth girl characters like elvira or just general vibes like dracula. anyway love your edits mwah ❣

ah thank you, appreciate it ☺️🫶🏻

for goth girl characters or just like general goth girl vibe: the craft, the crow, stoker, ginger snaps, may, urban legend, final destination III, book of shadows: blair witch 2, the hole 2001, the faculty, the return of the living dead, the return of the living dead III, night of the demons 1988, strangeland 1998, queen of the damned, a girl walks home alone at night. along the lines of elvira there's the addams family, beetlejuice, the rocky horror picture show, even something like batman returns might fit. maybe not the first thought at the mention of a goth girl movie, but fight club and the girl with the dragon tattoo do have goth-y girlies.

for more classic gothic literature-ish vibe: like you mentioned dracula and every iteration of it, i would single out the 1992 one, bela lugosi one, christopher lee hammer horror ones are good, specifically dracula has risen from the grave and dracula ad 1972. blood for dracula with udo kier is an underrated one. then tomb of ligeia, the innocents, the haunting, gothic 1986, interview with the vampire, nosferatu the vampyre, jean rollin movies like fascination and the living dead girl, crimson peak, the others, candyman, the strange case of dr jekyll and miss osbourne, rebecca, wuthering heights (any version really), jane eyre 2011, the woman in black, the phantom of the opera, the bride of frankenstein, the cabinet of dr caligari. if you want something more fairytale-like, the company of wolves and pan's labyrinth. oh and vampire hunter d bloodlust !

other movies that might be up your alley: the hunger, the lost boys, near dark, blade and blade II, dracula 2000, irma vep, underworld, the matrix, hellraiser, lost highway, suspiria, constantine, tetsuo the iron man, the vvitch, only lovers left alive, thirst, the handmaiden, the devils 1971.

i'm making 2 horror edits for halloween season, one is folk horror and the other gothic horror and i'm in the process of research so they'll be more expansive and maybe you'll find something more for yourself there as well :)

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emotionallychargedtowel · 2 years ago

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Takeda Kouhei on Kamen Rider, a Primer

I’m not the only person on tumblr who’s a fan of both tokusatsu and BL shows, but there aren’t a ton of us. Which isn’t too surprising. They don’t have a lot in common aside from being genres that originated in and are still produced (in the case of tokusatsu, almost exclusively) in Japan. But, for reasons that are hard to pinpoint for those of us in the U.S., there’s quite a bit of actor overlap between these genres. From what I’ve seen the biggest contributor to the BL casting pool is Kamen Rider. My impetus for writing this post was a post by @waitmyturtles that mentioned being interested in seeing other work by Takeda Kouhei after seeing him in Old Fashion Cupcake. And really, who wouldn’t be? His performance was really lovely. Subtle, moving, funny, endearing, everything you would want in that role.

So I thought I’d post about Takeda’s Kamen Rider work in case other fans are curious. I don’t know how likely BL folks are to get into Kamen Rider but at the very least, I thought Takeda appreciators might enjoy a glimpse of him doing something really different from Cupcake.

Takeda has been in two Kamen Rider series, mostly playing two characters. The first, Kamen Rider Kiva, I’ve seen in its entirety and the other, Kamen Rider Build, I’m currently watching with my family.

Kiva is a pretty unique series within the Kamen Rider franchise. The aesthetic is bonkers. The opening credits give you a decent idea of what that’s like–basically, we’re talking about violins, rose petals, and chains everywhere with a nu-metal soundtrack. It came out in 2008 and definitely feels of that time. Opening credits for these shows are usually pretty easy to find but for some reason this one is only on Tiktok. You might have to squint to make it out but it’s still worth a look.

The basic plot of the series is that there are creatures called Fangires that are kinda-sorta similar to vampires except that they suck out your life force instead of your blood, and there are humans who hunt them and protect humanity. The Fangires can look like humans and then transform into their Fangire forms, and the Fangire hunters have the technology to turn into armored superhero-type people as well. Except there’s also this kid who is half Fangire, half human, the protagonist, Kurenai Wataru. He also transforms, in a way that is like a combination of a Fangire transforming and a human using the hunter technology. The show follows his story in 2008 and at the same time, the story of his dad’s experiences 22 years earlier in 1986. His dad, Kurenai Otoya, is Takeda’s character and at a lot of points in the series is almost a co-protagonist.

They did a pretty good job casting a realistic father-and-son pairing, I’d say.

I’m not usually a big fan of this particular type of shag hairdo that was big in Japan in the 2000s but I’d say they’re both pulling it off quite well here.

According to an interview I read, Takeda was pretty inexperienced when he played Otoya and as a result he started out overacting a bit, but the showrunners really liked how it worked–basically, Otoya is an over-the-top dude anyway. Otoya is an interesting character. He’s this overconfident, sometimes irritating wannabe womanizer who wears some seriously loud blazers (it’s the 80s, after all), but he’s also a highly skilled violinist and violin-maker who ends up making some huge sacrifices for the people he loves. In a lot of ways he’s the polar opposite of Takeda’s character Nozue in Old Fashion Cupcake.

(In case you’re wondering about the gif above, father and son are in the same timeline briefly because of some magical shenanigans here.)

Toward the end of Kiva, Takeda also (briefly) plays Wataru’s son/Otoya’s grandson, Kurenai Masao, who has traveled back in time to help his dad. Apparently in the future we’ll all be wearing a whole lot of bobby pins.

I didn’t realize until after I had started watching Old Fashion Cupcake that Takeda was also in Kamen Rider Build. I’m about a fifth of the way into that series but Takeda’s character has only been around for a short time. I’m really enjoying him, though, and I think the difference in Takeda’s skill level between the two shows is really palpable.

The basic premise of Build is that after an expedition to Mars, a mysterious cube (the “Pandora Box”) is brought back to Earth, a weird light comes out of the cube that changes people, and a wall springs out of the ground that divides Japan into three subregions that end up at war. The mechanism for the characters to transform into Kamen Rider forms involves human beings that are subjected to experiments using stuff from Mars that alters them and allows them to use these objects to transform. Sawatari Kazumi, Takeda’s character, owns a large farm before the Mars cube disaster, but environmental effects of the disaster make his land tainted and infertile. He spends all of his remaining money trying to support the workers from his farm that are now out of work, then basically goes into the villain business to try to pay the bills. It’s pretty clear he’s not going to be a villain forever. I’m on episode 20 (of 49–these shows are long) and it seems like he could join the good guys any time now. (Recognize the other two dudes below? I’ll talk more about that in a bit.)

Sawatari is super different from both Otoya and Nozue, so viewing the three together really can’t help but make you appreciate Takeda’s versatility. Sawatari puts up a very tough front most of the time, except when it comes to Misora, who is part of the main character’s core group but also has another identity as an online “idol” (kind of like an influencer, I guess) called Mii-tan. Sawatari is a Mii-tan fan with a huge crush on her. He seems oddly naïve for someone who is basically a mercenary, and she brings that side of him out in a big (and extremely goofy) way.

Sawatari is also the butchest character I’ve seen Takeda play, which is fun in some ways but not in others. On the latter end, his wardrobe on Build is his most boring I’ve seen as he wears slight variations on the same parka-and-mottled-pants combo nonstop. But on the plus side, he gets to do a lot of fighting, trash talking, and sneering and since it’s Takeda it’s all pretty cute.

My favorite thing about Sawatari so far is his “henshin” sequence so I’ll talk about that for a moment. Transforming characters are a big theme in tokusatsu, and often when we talk about that genre folks are referring more to the suit transformation type shows as opposed to straight kaiju movies like Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah, etc. that are also considered tokusatsu. Having an actor disappear and then someone in a masked suit appear in their place requires some kind of neat transition in order to make it work, and these transition sequences usually have a lot of visual interest and meaning built into them.

Characters usually have something they say when they transform, like a word or catchphrase. In Ultraman shows, they usually yell out their Ultraman name. In the Kamen Rider franchise, the tradition (usually upheld) is for characters to simply say “henshin,” meaning “transform.” They usually have some kind of transformation item (in Kamen Rider it’s usually in the form of a belt) and they have a set of actions or gestures they do just before they change. Then different kinds of effects, often CGI, are used to show the normal human being turning into their masked fighter form. Below is a nice example of a henshin move by someone BL fans might recognize, Naito Shuichiro from Kamen Rider Saber and Senpai, This Can’t Be Love.

Apparently, from some things I’ve watched and read, the actors on these shows seem to come up with their own pre-henshin moves. Takeda apparently put quite a bit of thought into his, according to one interview snippet I read. It makes sense because when he transformed in Kiva (only rarely), his henshin routine was kind of dull (sorry!).

I can just imagine him thinking in the intervening years about how he’d do it a second time if he had the chance.

Well, it paid off because Sawatari’s henshin sequence is right up there with the best I’ve seen in my Kamen Rider viewing. The whole thing has an insolent quality and he tops it off with a beckoning finger that looks like he’s flipping his opponent off (which I take it he sort of is, because supposedly beckoning to someone in the American style is considered extremely rude and demeaning in Japan). Basically, it’s like the “fuck you” version of henshin and it makes him look like a badass. It’s also, frankly, pretty hot.

The gif above is just a snippet so I recommend the longer clip below if you want to see the whole thing.

youtube

While I’m at it, here’s his first scene, when all the audience knows is that he’s a mysterious surly cutie.

youtube

If anyone reading this decides to try watching one of Takeda’s Kamen Rider series without being familiar with the franchise, I have one thing I’d suggest keeping in mind. This is just my take so others may not agree. I’ll refrain from theorizing about why this is in this post but I’ll just say I have some thoughts. The first 10-15 episodes of most tokusatsu shows tend to get bogged down in worldbuilding, introductions, team formations, and other things that can get tiresome quickly. But this is only a relatively small portion of an entire series since they tend to go for 50ish episodes, like I mentioned above. My advice is that if you check out one of these shows and aren’t feeling it at first, you should give it a chance to get to that 15 episode mark and then see how it seems to you. You can always skip around if you have to in order to get to the point where things get juicier.

One last note–in addition to Takeda being on Kamen Rider Build, it also features two other actors that BL fans might know. The first is Inukai Atsuhiro from The Man Who Defies the World of BL and Kei x Yaku: Dangerous Buddy (which I’m not really familiar with but I think I remember hearing it was sort of an almost-BL where the Bs never end up in L?). He plays the protagonist Kiryu Sento, whose Rider form is Kamen Rider Build. Kiryu definitely has a certain level of sassiness in common with Mob from TMWDtWoBL, but he has a lot more agency in his life and the stakes are higher than whether or not he’s going to fall in L with a B.

Also, Akaso Eiji from Cherry Magic plays Banjo Ryuga, another main character who eventually becomes a Rider. His character in Build is extremely different from Adachi Kiyoshi—he’s a boxer and an impulsive meathead type, albeit one with a heart of gold and all that. A far cry from his shy cutie persona in Cherry Magic. His character also usually has some sort of tiny French braid situation going on with his hair but I’ve spared y’all from having to look at that for the moment.

If you’re curious about any other actors who are in the middle of the BL/tokusatsu Venn diagram, or just found this interesting, let me know. I might do a few more posts of this type.

#takeda kouhei #kouhei takeda #kamen rider kiva #kamen rider build #henshin #old fashion cupcake #akaso eiji #inukai atsuhiro #naito shuichiro

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goryhorroor · 11 months ago

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Whats on your watchlist

right now I’m watching where the devil roams (2023), but these are the next 10 I’m planning on watching in maybe the next two weeks

1. the animal kingdom (2023)

2. black mold (2023)

3. monster (2023)

4. death screams (1982)

5. ox-head village (2022)

6. immersion (2023)

7. hunter’s blood (1986)

8. the head hunter (2018)

9. mask girl (2023)

10. polite society (2023)

#I’ll probably switch it up depending on my mood but this is my set list for the next 2 weeks maybe #movies #some non horror movies in there as wel #horror

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dweemeister · 8 months ago

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The complete list of films featured on this blog’s 2024 “31 Days of Oscar” marathon

Hello everyone,

Thank you once more for allowing me to present this annual marathon of Oscar-nominated films to your dashboards. This year, the films were grouped by category (for the most part, one day featured only films nominated in a particular category). This is the most exclusive period on this blog, as the selection of films that I can post and queue about is at its most limited. But at the same time, the blog is at its most accessible as this yearly marathon’s selection skews to more popular fare than what I usually queue. I hope you enjoyed this year’s presentation of 31 Days of Oscar once more!

What follows is the exhaustive list of all 381 short- and feature-length films featured on this blog over the last thirty-one days for the 31 Days of Oscar marathon. This is down from 2022’s record of 420. But that count remains only a fraction of the 5,145 films that have been nominated for Academy Awards since 1927 (excluding Honorary Oscar winners that weren't nominated in a competitive category).

Of those 382, 28 were short films (53 short films is the record, which was set in 2022). 354 were feature films.

BREAKDOWN BY DECADE 1927-1929: 10 1930s: 51 1940s: 54 1950s: 44 1960s: 42 1970s: 26 1980s: 26 1990s: 23 2000s: 26 2010s: 26 2020s: 54

TOTAL: 382 (380 last year)

Year with most representation (2023 excluded): 1938 and 1942 (9 films each) Median year: 1966

Time for the list. 59 Best Picture winners and the one (and only) winner for Unique and Artistic Production that I featured this year are in bold. Asterisked (*) films are films I haven’t seen in their entirety as of the publishing of this post. Films primarily not in the English language are accompanied with their nation(s) of origin.

The ten Best Picture nominees for the 96th Academy Awards, including the winner, Oppenheimer (2023)

The fifteen nominees in the short film categories for the 96th Academy Awards

À nous la liberté (1931, France)

The Adventures of Don Juan (1938)*

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

Albert Schweitzer (1957)*

Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938)

Alice Adams (1935)*

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)*

Aliens (1986)

All About Eve (1950)

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

All That Jazz (1979)*

Amadeus (1984)

Amarcord (1973, Italy)

An American in Paris (1951)

An American Werewolf in London (1981)*

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)*

The Apartment (1960)

Aquamania (1961 short)

Autumn Sonata (1978, Sweden)

Avatar (2009)

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

The Awful Truth (1937)

The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)

The Band Wagon (1953)

The Barefoot Contessa (1954)

Batman (1989)

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Becket (1964)*

Before the Rain (1993, Macedonia)*

Ben-Hur (1959)

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Bicycle Thieves (1948, Italy)

The Big Country (1958)

The Big House (1930)

Black Narcissus (1947)

The Black Swan (1942)

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Blazing Saddles (1974)

Blue Valentine (2010)*

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Born Yesterday (1950)*

The Boy and the Heron (2023, Japan)

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)*

Braveheart (1995)

Brief Encounter (1945)

Brigadoon (1954)

Bullitt (1968)

Butterflies Are Free (1972)*

Cabaret (1972)

Caged (1950)

The Caine Mutiny (1954)

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)

Captain Blood (1935)

Casablanca (1942)

Cavalcade (1933)

Chico and Rita (2010, Spain)

Children of a Lesser God (1986)

The Children of Theatre Street (1977)*

Cimarron (1931)

The Circus (1928)

Citizen Kane (1941)

Cleopatra (1963)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

CODA (2021)

The Color Purple (1985)

Come and Get It (1936)*

Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989)*

El Conde (2023, Chile)*

Cool Hand Luke (1967)

The Country Girl (1954)*

Cries and Whispers (1972, Sweden)*

Crossfire (1947)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Taiwan)

The Crowd (1928)

Dances with Wolves (1990)

Dangerous (1935)*

Days of Waiting (1991 short)*

The Deer Hunter (1978)

The Departed (2006)

Desert Victory (1942)*

Disraeli (1929)*

The Divine Lady (1929)*

Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Dodsworth (1936)

Double Indemnity (1944)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse (1947 short)

Drive My Car (2021, Japan)

Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Dune (2021)

8½ (1963, Italy)

Elemental (2023)

The Elephant Whisperers (2022 short, India)

Elmer Gantry (1960)

Emma (1932)*

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Encanto (2021)

The English Patient (1996)

Ernest & Celestine (2012, Belgium/France/Luxembourg)

The Eternal Memory (2023, Chile)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)*

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

Fantastic Voyage (1966)

Far From Heaven (2002)*

A Farewell to Arms (1932)

Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

The Firemen’s Ball (1967, Czechoslovakia)*

Five Star Final (1931)*

Flee (2021, Denmark)

Flower Drum Song (1961)

For All Mankind (1989)

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Foreign Correspondent (1940)

Forrest Gump (1994)

42nd Street (1933)

Four Daughters (1938)*

Four Daughters (2023, France/Germany/Tunisia/Saudi Arabia)*

Freedom on My Mind (1994)

Frida (2002)*

The Front Page (1931)*

Funny Girl (1968)

Gandhi (1982)

Gaslight (1944)

Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)

Giant (1956)

Gladiator (2000)

The Godfather (1972)

The Godfather Part II (1974)

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

Goldfinger (1964)

Gone with the Wind (1939)

The Goodbye Girl (1977)

Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)

Gosford Park (2001)

Grand Prix (1966)

The Grandmaster (2013, Hong Kong/China)*

The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

The Great Dictator (1940)

Great Expectations (1946)*

The Great Race (1965)

Green Dolphin Street (1947)*

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)

Gypsy (1962)*

Hamlet (1948)

The Heiress (1949)

Henry V (1944)

Henry V (1989)

Hercules (1997)

Here Come the Waves (1945)*

High Noon (1952)

How Green Was My Valley (1941)

How the West Was Won (1962)

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the WIndow and Disappeared (2013, Sweden/France Germany)

The Hurt Locker (2008)

If Anything Happens I Love You (2020 short)

In America (2003)*

In the Heat of the Night (1967)

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

The Informer (1935)

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970, Italy)*

Io Capitano (2023, Italy)*

It Happened One Night (1934)

JFK (1991)*

Juno (2007)

Kung Fu Panda (2008)

Lady for a Day (1933)

The Last Command (1927)

The Last Emperor (1987)

The Last Picture Show (1971)

Laura (1944)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

A Letter to Three Wives (1949)

Life Is Beautiful (1997, Italy)

Lilies of the Field (1963)

Lincoln (2012)

The Little Foxes (1941)*

Lolita (1962)

The Longest Day (1962)

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

The Lost Weekend (1945)

Love Affair (1939)*

The Love Parade (1929)

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)

Loving Vincent (2017)

Lust for Life (1956)

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

Malcolm X (1992)

A Man for All Seasons (1966)

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

The Man Who Skied Down Everest (1975)

March of the Penguins (2005, France)

Marie Antoinette (1938)*

Marty (1955)

Mary Poppins (1964)

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Merrily We Live (1938)*

The Merry Widow (1934)

Mickey’s Orphans (1931 short)

Midnight in Paris (2011)

Milk (2008)*

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Minari (2020)

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

The Miracle Worker (1962)*

Mogambo (1953)*

Moneyball (2011)*

Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953, France)

Monsieur Lazhar (2011, Canada)

Moonstruck (1987)*

The More the Merrier (1943)

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Mrs. Miniver (1942)

Munich (2005)*

The Music Man (1962)

My Fair Lady (1964)

My Man Godfrey (1936)*

Napoleon (2023)*

National Velvet (1944)

Naughty Marietta (1935)*

Network (1976)

Never on Sunday (1960, Greece)*

Nimona (2023)

No Country for Old Men (2007)

None But the Lonely Heart (1944)*

North by Northwest (1959)

Now, Voyager (1942)

The Nun’s Story (1959)

Odd Man Out (1947)*

On Golden Pond (1981)

On the Waterfront (1954)

Out of Africa (1985)

Papillon (1973)

Parasite (2019, South Korea)

A Passage to India (1984)*

Patton (1970)

Penny Serenade (1941)

Perfect Days (2023, Japan)*

Persepolis (2007, France)

Phantom Thread (2017)

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Pillow Talk (1959)

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Platoon (1986)

Pollock (2000)*

Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936 short)

The Pride of the Yankees (1942)

The Prince of Egypt (1998)

The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)*

The Public Enemy (1931)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Pygmalion (1938)

Quo Vadis (1951)

The Quiet Man (1952)

Raging Bull (1980)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Rain Man (1988)

Raintree County (1957)*

Random Harvest (1942)

Rashômon (1950, Japan)

The Razor's Edge (1946)

Rebecca (1940)

Rejected (2000 short)

Return of the Jedi (1983)

Rhapsody in Rivets (1941 short)*

The Robe (1953)*

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)*

Robot Dreams (2023, Spain)

Rocky (1976)

Roma (2018, Mexico)

Roman Holiday (1953)

Room (2015)

Rustin (2023)*

Sadie Thompson (1928)*

Schindler's List (1993)

Searching for Sugar Man (2012)

Seconds (1966)*

Sergeant York (1941)

7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)

7th Heaven (1927)*

Shall We Dance (1937)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

The Shop on Main Street (1965, Czechoslovakia)

Silence (2016)*

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

The Silent Child (2017 short)

The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931)

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

The Sixth Sense (1999)*

Society of the Snow (2023, Spain)*

The Sound of Music (1965)

Spellbound (1945)

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Spotlight (2015)

Stagecoach (1939)

A Star Is Born (1937)

A Star Is Born (1954)

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1994)

Star Wars (1977)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)

The Sting (1973)

La Strada (1954, Italy)

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Strike Up the Band (1940)

Sun Valley Serenade (1941)

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Superman (1978)

Superman Returns (2006)

Suspicion (1941)

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013, Japan)

A Tale of Two Cities (1935)*

The Teachers’ Lounge (2023, Germany)

Terms of Endearment (1983)

Test Pilot (1938)*

The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

The Thin Man (1934)

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Tom Jones (1963)*

The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

The Triplets of Belleville (2003, France)

12 Angry Men (1957)

20 Days in Mariupol (2023, Ukraine)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

The Two Mouseketeers (1952 short)

Up (2009)

The Valley of Decision (1945)*

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)*

War Horse (2011)

West Side Story (1961)

Whiplash (2014)

The White Helmets (2016 short)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

The Window (1949)*

Wings (1927)

Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974 short)

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

The Woman in Red (1984)*

Woman in the Dunes (1964, Japan)*

Written on the Wind (1956)*

Wuthering Heights (1939)

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

You Can’t Take It with You (1938)

#31 Days of Oscar

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mogwai-movie-house · 2 years ago

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A Film A Year

Going through an old hard drive today I found this almost-completed list from 2015 in which I'd set myself the task of choosing a single film for each year of the preceding hundred. It was interesting to see in what ways my tastes had changed and just how many more films I'd discovered and fallen in love with in the meantime.

Anyways, I thought I'd finish it off and update it to the present: I very much tried to keep it to just one film per year, but the competition some years was just too high so they've had to share joint first places:

1915 A Night In The Show 1916 The Vagabond 1917 Easy Street 1918 A Dog's Life 1919 Sunnyside 1920 One Week 1921 The Kid 1922 Dr Mabuse, The Gambler 1923 Safety Last / Why Worry? 1924 Sherlock Jr / The Last Laugh 1925 The Gold Rush 1926 The General 1927 Sunrise / Seventh Heaven 1928 The Last Command / Steamboat Jr. / The Man Who Laughs / The Passion of Joan of Arc 1929 The Love Parade / Un Chien Andalou / Lucky Star 1930 All Quiet On The Western Front 1931 City Lights/ The Smiling Lieutenant 1932 Horse Feathers / Love Me Tonight 1933 Duck Soup / The Invisible Man 1934 It Happened One Night 1935 The 39 Steps 1936 My Man Godfrey 1937 Nothing Sacred 1938 Adventures Of Robin Hood / Pygmalion 1939 The Cat And The Canary / The Wizard of Oz / The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1940 His Girl Friday / Pinocchio 1941 Citizen Kane / The Maltese Falcon / Dumbo / Sullivan's Travels 1942 Casablanca 1943 Le Corbeau 1944 Arsenic & Old Lace 1945 Les Enfants du Paradis / And Then There Were None 1946 A Matter of Life and Death 1947 Black Narcissus 1948 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1949 The Third Man / Kind Hearts & Coronets 1950 Sunset Blvd. / La Ronde 1951 A Streetcar Named Desire 1952 Singin' In The Rain / Le Plaisir 1953 Calamity Jane 1954 Hobson's Choice 1955 The Night Of The Hunter /The Ladykillers 1956 The Searchers 1957 The Seventh Seal 1958 Vertigo 1959 North By Northwest / Ballad of A Soldier 1960 Psycho / The Virgin Spring / Two Women 1961 Breakfast At Tiffanys 1962 Le Doulos 1963 The Great Escape / The Birds 1964 Onibaba 1965 For A Few Dollars More 1966 Blow Up 1967 Le Samourai / Cool Hand Luke 1968 2001: A Space Odyssey 1969 Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid 1970 Le Cercle Rouge 1971 Get Carter / Harold & Maude 1972 The Godfather 1973 Don't Look Now 1974 The Godfather Part II / Chinatown 1975 Jaws / The Rocky Horror Picture Show 1976 Network 1977 Star Wars / Annie Hall 1978 Halloween / Superman 1979 Apocalypse Now / Alien / Life Of Brian / Manhattan 1980 Stardust Memories / Raging Bull 1981 Raiders Of The Lost Ark 1982 Blade Runner / The Thing 1983 The Dead Zone / Zelig 1984 Ghostbusters / The Terminator / Blood Simple 1985 Back To The Future 1986 Hannah & Her Sisters / The Fly 1987 Withnail & I / Wings of Desire 1988 Dangerous Liaisons 1989 Crimes & Misdemeanors / Dead Poets Society 1990 Goodfellas 1991 The Silence of The Lambs / Terminator 2 1992 Reservoir Dogs / The Player 1993 Schindler's List / Groundhog Day 1994 Pulp Fiction 1995 Se7en / Casino / The Usual Suspects 1996 Fargo 1997 LA Confidential / Grosse Point Blank / Boogie Nights 1998 The Truman Show / Happiness / Buffalo '66 1999 American Beauty / Magnolia / Being John Malkovich / Fight Club 2000 Memento 2001 Mulholland Drive / The Royal Tennenbaums / The Piano Teacher 2002 Adaptation / The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 2003 Lost In Translation 2004 Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind / The Life Aquatic 2005 Me & You & Everyone We Know 2006 The Prestige / Perfume 2007 No Country For Old Men / There Will Be Blood 2008 The Dark Knight / Let The Right One In / Tropic Thunder 2009 Cold Souls / Up / Zombieland 2010 I Saw The Devil / The Ghost Writer 2011 The Hidden Face 2012 The Avengers 2013 Her 2014 The Grand Budapest Hotel / The Winter Soldier 2015 The Survivalist / The Lobster 2016 Like Crazy 2017 Coco 2018 Deadpool 2 2019 The Irishman 2020 Kajillionaire 2021 The French Dispatch 2022 The Banshees of Inisherin

#the real oscars #a century of film

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justbelievinginmagic · 6 months ago

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ariadne's thread ⎯ pt. 6: the hunter and the hunted.

pairing(s): hyunjin x fem!reader, bang chan & fem!reader, jisung & fem!reader series summary: when tempted by an intoxicating offer by hyunjin the goblin king of the underground, you fight against him to find your own sense of self once more while in his labyrinth. glimpse: the gardens hold the beauty of the labyrinth . . . as well as its horrors. creeping forward without jisung's companionship, you face the roars and growls ahead, alone. warnings/tags: inspired by the 1986' movie Labyrinth, follows majority of the movie's plot points with lore divergence, 3rd person POV, use of Y/N, bang chan is referred to as chris, mild violence, cruel punishment, injuries, blood, fear, fights, strong language, faerie lore!!, world building, hyunsung tension, let me know if there needs to be more tags! word count: 7.8k previous chapter <- -> next chapter series masterlist

Roars echoed through the Labyrinth, shaking the greenery around her. Some rogue flowers curled into themselves, hiding away like sea creatures returning to their shells. Startled bird-like creatures croaked and crowed as they flew off with leathery-sounding wings. There was a rustling within the hedges like the leaves themselves were crawling away from the frightful sounds. Yet here she crept forward, holding her breath as she finally reached the entry-way, a grand hedge archway shadowing her as it opened into a courtyard.

This courtyard was different from the others. Instead of being encompassed by the hedges, the immediate space in front of her were evenly spaced porcelain columns holding up the large rotunda above them. It was only then she realized she was closer to the edge of the Gardens than she had thought – the false sunlight was still bright overhead, making sweat drip down her neck but, she could also see the rest of the Labyrinth in front of her, maze after maze crawling over large undulating hills. It looked like it was made for an ant, how far away and never-ending the maze felt from this perspective. Looming over it all was the Castle, ever present and ever far away. She swore she saw a light twinkle from the highest tower, like a winking eye. The Runner looked away and peered towards the cacophony filling the air.

There was a maze of columns now, scattered in no exact pattern she could distinguish, but providing cover as she crept forward. The floor was between cobblestone and dirt, uneven and changing in its consistency. Yes, this wasn’t the well-maintained Gardens of before – it felt like she was off the chosen path once more. Creeping forward, each pillar seemed to hide what was happening purposely, shifting to prevent her from moving forward fast enough– growls and roars only increasing but also screeches of giggles from squeaky-goblin voices. The same tones she had hear in her bedroom chanting and snickering from underneath her bed. That felt like ages ago…

In the shadow of one of the columns holding the grand rotunda up, she could see a man hung by his wrists, high above small furry goblin creatures wielding weaponry of all sorts. He was well-built, shirtless, his white linen shirt torn to shreds below him where it soaked in a puddle of his own purple blood and sweat. Injuries and bruises painted his skin like a mosaic of muddy emerald, inflamed vermillion, and bloody purple-violet. His head was thrown back in pain as he bellowed out an animalistic noise, too deep and monstrous to truly be human. It almost didn’t process that it was coming from his chest, yet she could see his human-pecs vibrate faintly with the sound. That was when Y/N noticed the ram-like horns curling out of his temple, framed by messy, sweat-plastered brown curls.

Yes, he was certainly not human. (But what here was?)

The fine muscles in his neck and shoulders strained and bulged as he swung by the iron chains looped around his hands. All his weight on just his wrists must’ve been torture. The fae-man took a deep breath, his stomach concaving and expanding, before he heaved himself upwards as he tried to adjust the weight on his wrists. He only had a moment to breath out a hiss before he slumped down, groaning from the pain of holding his weight. Shoulder bones popped and creaked inhumanely.

Even worse were the goblins surrounding him that took joy in his agony, giggling and cackling with sharpened fangs. Each one held a different sort of weapon – a spear with a sharpened tip dripping in violet, a javelin with some sort of creature tied atop with millions of fangs and blood-stained claws at the ready, a flower-esque whip with red-thorns lining the long strip of vine, the list went on. One by one, the goblin creatures dressed in miniature knight-wear would approach with giggles and chatterings, egging one another on. They poked and prodded the man, who grunt and struggled.

A particular strong bite to his ribs by the javelined-creature made him roar out in pain. Inhuman noises broke free from his gnashing teeth, bearing chipped fangs at the guards who tormented him.

It wasn’t right.

The horned man was dripping in purple blood, the violaceous rivulets staining his bared skin. His eyes squeezed shut as he groaned out a growl. The clash of a whip went against his bared back, and Y/N flinched back at the sound.

She had to help; she just wasn’t sure how. Glancing about she tried to find something to defend herself with. The goblins were small but there were five of them and only one of her. Five armed, one unarmed.

“Take this,” she heard a voice squeak out as a spear prodded the fae man’s chest and he let out a wail, head thrown forward now. As if he could somehow protect his chest. Breathing heavily, he glared at the little creatures, struggling against his bonds once more as he twisted and swung in a slow circle. Eyes wild as he spun and spun. She thought for a moment, their eyes locked. But he soon was groaning out in agony.

The Runner glanced at the jewels on her waist. Would one of these be large enough to throw or cause damage? No, not truly. Perhaps—

She felt a nudge against her shoe. Holding in a yelp, a hand over her own mouth, she looked down to see… a rock. Nothing magical about it. Not a bauble of light, a bubble she had seen the King tempt her with time and time again. Just a sandy-looking rock, large enough to be a softball size. It nudged her again slowly and intentionally. It kept a snails’ pace but it nudged and nudged and nudged. Insistently. As if called to her. It took her a moment of awe before she heard another cry of anguish, and her eyes flashed back to look at the captured fae-man.

Her heart squeezed to see tears drip down his cheeks as his teeth gritted into a scowl. This wasn’t right; she had to try something. Squatting, she grabbed the rock that inched forward slower and slower, and brushed her thumb over the rough edges; it didn’t look magical, or living, but this place had made her question things before. The Runner glanced back up to see all five of the ‘knights’ count down, preparing to rush forward the weapons ready to strike the poor trapped fae. It was now or never!

It was then she aimed and threw the rock, aiming for one of their heads. With a clank, she hit her target. The rock bounced off of one of the guard’s helmets, swinging it around almost comically until it covered their eyes. With loud squeaking words in a language she couldn’t decipher, the creature spun about with their weapon tilted before it pierced through another guard’s chainmail. Shrieks of chaos, bickering and moans of pain came from their pile of fur and claws.

“You hit me!”

“No, you did!”

“I’m reporting this to our commander!”

“No, you won’t!”

They spoke over one another in a hurried mess.

Most goblins weren’t clever; they followed their instincts and forgot things. Like their prisoner and the rock that had hit their comrade in the first place. Off they marched, babbling over one another still, until the prisoner and the Runner were alone.

Y/N let out a breath.

That was surprisingly easy. What wasn’t easy was finding out how to get the injured man down now! Rushing forward, she heard a low growl shake the ground.

She slowed, hands rising as she took in his appearance. He was huffing and puffing, his ribs expanding and decompressing rapidly. He had finally stopped swaying in the wind, but it only seemed to trap him more. His body huffed and puffed, eyes wild as they eyed her and snarled.

He looked uncanny in this moment – less human than he had been a minute ago. His mouth too large for his face as he let out a menacing growl, rows of fangs as if he were a shark were visible as he glared at her. There were far too many sharpened fangs for her to feel comfortable and yet she still tried to soothe him.

Those goblin guards had been torturing him for fun.

She wouldn’t.

(She surely hoped that would mean he wouldn’t hurt her in return.)

He growled again and she paused – doubting herself for a moment. She met his eyes and saw how they were shaking. The irises were trembling, jumping from her form to the environment around them. Maybe he was just… scared, overwhelmed.

She offered a gentle smile, hands held up in defense.

“I won’t hurt you!” she called out softly. “I promise.”

Before she continued forwards carefully. He jolted backwards and growled. His movement made him spin from his wrists once more.

He was afraid – that was the only explanation. But she could feel his pain as he spun once, twice, three times. He squirmed and tried to readjust again only to swing wildly. His chest heaved and there was a whine of pain escaping his throat.

“Oh no,” the Runner rushed forward quick, hoping he’d be facing away and not startle too badly as her hands rose to stop him from spinning. Two small hands resting on his broad back with care, sliding to settle on his ribs to avoid any of his wounds. His body was cold as stone and sturdy as rock. She felt his muscles jump as she minded his injuries the best she could. He stopped swaying and she took in his restraints from up close for the first time. Far too many chains of iron curled around his form. There was a shackle around his neck, a chain looped around his lean waist, wrapped chains around each of his biceps and finally a myriad of overlapping chains around his wrists from which he hung from. She gently turned him around, trying to keep it slow and gentle.

She met his eyes, grey and stone-cold. They were piercingly heavy and she couldn’t help but stare. His face was all masculine angles, sharp jaw, rectangular face. His nose was broad and bore a large scar, like an animal scratch starting from his right cheekbone traveling across its bridge to the other cheekbone. His teeth were snarling at her, perpetually stuck in this growl. His bottom canines were sharpened and chipped in places as if he had used them to fight before. Her eyes flickered back to his eyes that seemed to speak for him now. It was commanding but not in a way that was magical – it was a brute strength, cold-stone glare.

“Down,” he finally spoke to her, more like growled out to her; his tone still edging towards animalistic still.

She nodded agreeing. “I’m trying.” She reassured, her hands leaving his form after a moment. “Trust me.”

“Before they get back,” he rumbled.

“I know. I’m trying to find how they strung you up,” she relayed as she followed the chains high above them. Like his own bonded wrists, the chains linked and overlaid one another in a patterned mess. They stretched up across the columns, criss-crossing like a spider’s web. She could even see some bird nests in between the chains, making their home there and weighing down sections. Her gaze went one way and then another. This way and that, that way and this. Twisting around columns, decorating it in intricate weave work. Until they came to the end. Which was thankfully not too far. The last end of the chair curled around a column like ivy before hitching over a hook in the rockwork.

Rushing over to the end of the lead, she quickly released it, unwinding it and letting go as it tugged ferociously. The man crashed to the ground with a heavy thud. He hissed out but remained still on the ground for a moment. Huffing and puffing.

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” she cried out, rushing over to him and falling to her knees beside the fae-man.

She watched, cautiously, as his body heaved and huffed. His muscles finally had a break, his joints cracking loudly as he shifted this way and that. He pressed his forehead to the ground beneath him, his horns digging into the soil. Skin to raw earth, he seemed to relax. His shuddering stopped as he took in deep slow breaths.

“Are—are you okay?” The Labyrinth-Runner queried. She didn’t touch his bare back nor move from her spot beside him.

He breathed in before nodding.

“Yes,” he replied, sounding different. More whole now. His voice was no longer a rumbling growl but instead it was shifting into something far softer. He cleared it gently.

“Thank you for helping me.”

Rising up onto his knees, his hair fell over his forehead in mussy natural curls with leaves and twigs from the ground tangled in his locks and dirt clinging to his forehead, but what caught her off guard was his eyes. They were no longer stone-cold but instead a gentle grey. Sparkling and gentle as he took her in. He leaned back onto his legs, matching her kneeling position as he blinked owlishly at her.

“I’m… I’m Chris,” his voice was careful, soft. Tinged with an accent Y/N couldn’t place but felt far different from the others’ she had met so far. But what had shocked her so far was his sincerity.

Despite everything - the mussed curls plastered to his sweatied forehead, the overwhelming chains wrapping around his form, the claw marks, goblin bites, and cuts oozing violet-purple blood across his torso, the layered scars up and down his arms and shoulders, the prominent slice across the bridge of his broad nose, the dirt across his brow – his grey eyes felt soft and real. Honest. His lips twitched into a careful smile, far from the uncanny rows of fangs she had sworn she saw while he was trapped.

She would take this in stride she thought. Not everything is as it seems but… if she was honest, he seemed to be different from what meets the eye.

“It’s nice to meet you, Chris,” she greeted, a hand slowly going to pick the leaves and sticks from his chocolate hair carefully. He flinched away at her movements at first, his overcast eyes dilating before focusing back in on her like a big cat as he froze and allowed her to pick a pine needle from his hair carefully.

“I’m Y/N.”

He repeated the name with a softness. “I’ve never heard of a Y/N in the Labyrinth before.” Chris murmured.

“Is there only one person for each name here?” she queried as she continued her picking and fluffing of his curly hair. He blushed an otherworldly purple, the color high on his cheekbones.

“Names are special here. No one is ever named the same,” he informed her.

If he had been even more honest, he’d mention that names held power. (There was a reason Jisung never gave her his, nor did Hyunjin. Learning names from other sources gave them less power than someone giving it to them but it was still power. Naming a fae was entering a pact with them.)

She hummed in acknowledgement before taking the final loose leaf from his hair with a satisfied smile.

“I’m trying to beat the Labyrinth,” she told him, hands going to her knees. “I’m trying to get home. Do you know the way to the Castle?”

There’s a glance towards to the looming image of Hyunjin’s castle – it somehow was able to look so close yet so far away in one blink, as if it were an optical illusion. Chris pressed his lips together and swallowed, looking away from the centerpiece of the maze.

Despite his strength, in that moment, he looked small. Hand going to scratch at a wound on his arm as he shook his head softly. Eyes downcast, almost child-like. Frightened, she realized.

Maybe it was due to the King’s cruel guards, or maybe the King had declared this sort of punishment.

It made her blood boil – the King was frightening. A tyrant king. She had yet to meet one person with a positive view of him. It was guards long forgotten at posts deep in uncared for mazes, remains of Runners scattered in the Labyrinth like forgotten toys, trolls left to rot in oubliettes, power-lusting goblin guards torturing a man. All away from the castle and yet shadowed in Hyunjin’s power.

She glared up at the Castle she was trying to get to. What would become of her if she fails? If this is how he keeps his Labyrinth’s order? She knew he wanted her to be his – but if this was his Kingdom, was she to become nothing but another ghost in the many twisted paths of his Labyrinth?

“Okay,” she buzzed. Too much energy in the word to sound calm. But she didn’t push him, not when he winced after grazing over a wound too closely. Her gaze settled back on Chris, taking in the way the iron chains wrapped around his body. They cut into his skin harshly, his wrists dripping with deep-violet blood, and even his biceps had rivulets of blood running down his arms with every movement. That had to hurt.

“Let’s try to get these off, okay?” she changed the subject, hands moving from her lap to brush tenderly over a chained bicep before fingering the ones around his wrists. The chains were heavy and criss-crossing like snakes around his wrists. She couldn’t see where one chain started and ended.

Chris couldn’t help but let the awe in his eyes gleam as she touched his shackles with ease. (Iron is cursed to fae – remember this. Iron-metal burns with a thousand suns to weak faeries; why do you think the human realm is made up of it?) Chris had grown used to the ache and sizzle where the metal laid but every push and pull made his eyes water in agony. But she touched them easily.

“It’ll hurt.” Chris rumbled - eyes wide as he pulled back from her grasp. His hands going towards his chest protectively.

“But, doesn’t it hurt now?” Y/N asked, eying the cuts carefully.

Chris visibly gulped as he tried to shrug.

“It’ll be over in a second,” she promised. “We’ll tug them over your hands and figure out what to do next.”

The horned man shook his head, eyes wide like a pup’s. “No, no way; it’ll hurt!” he pleaded.

“Trust me?” she asked. “Like before? I helped you then and I want to help you now.”

He swallowed. “I do trust you. . .”

“Good, here let me see,” she soothed as she took his hands once more in hers.

The chains wrapped over and over around his wrists, weaving in and out. They were made slippery with his magenta-hued blood. It took time and each time she unwound it further, each time she found a new give in the chain, she’d apologize quietly. The push and pull of metal had to hurt against his irritated skin.

“I’m sorry, I know it hurts; it’ll be better once its off,” she apologized once more as she tugged and tore at the shackles from his wrists. He whimpered, the sounds escaping from his clenched fanged mouth.

As they continued to unravel, the iron digging into his skin became more and more rusted and sharpened. There were odd-crystal structures of rust piercing into his skin, like thorns, and it made her only gasp in horror as she continued to pull at the irons.

“Oh, my God,” she murmured softly as she saw how torn up his wrists were. It only made her want them off quicker. He sniveled, eyes shutting tightly. She quickly continued onwards, flinching as these crystallizations scratched her own hands up. But they were almost unraveled, more and more bare skin visible. Puffy and inflamed, deep-violet and navy spiderweb bruises bloomed where the chains had rested.

“I’ve got it I promise.” she quickly slipped the cuffs away.

His violet and her ruby blood mixed together on their skin as she dropped the cuffs to the ground.

“There,” she smiled proudly before looking over his hands. “Oh Chris, are you alright?”

Only, he was staring down at her own hands, covered in red and purple.

“I’m okay.” his voice was strained. “You’re bleeding, Y/N.”

His nostrils were flared. His chest rose and fell harshly as he smelt the blood billow into the air.

Her hands stung but she simply shook her them as if its rid them of the pain. Chris’ large hands went to grasp hers, his touch harsh at first as if he wasn’t used to his own strength. Her furrowed brow, soft gasp, and clenched teeth were cues enough and he held them gentler, tenderly. His eyes were sad, almost like a kicked puppy dog.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured.

“I’m okay,” she reassured. “Just some cuts and scrapes.”

His fingers brushed over some of her wounds with the carefulness of a parent, not wanting to cause her any more pain. She squeezed a finger gently, trying to let him know it was fine.

“Let’s get these off too,” she nodded to his arms. They looked easier to wiggle off, less wrapped and more like a singular chain that dug into his skin. With some effort and Chris flexing and twisting his arm, they too fell away to the cobblestone floor.

His biceps were ringed in irritated-inflamed violet while remnants of magic-infused blood, sparkling and shimmering like amethysts in the Gardens’ light, dripped down his tanned skin.

“Do you want us to try to remove the neck and waist chains?” she queried, wiping her hands on her pants (luckily, they were dark and wouldn’t show the blood that now painted her fingers a pinky-purple color.) Each brush of fabric made her flinch.

Chris looked down at his bound waist, long chains of iron wrapping around him and draping to the floor, tumbling around his legs.

“No, let me try; I can move my arms,” he tested the strength of the chain, gripping it by his sides. Gritting his teeth, he held the shackle’s chain in his hand and pulled. Pulled, pulled, pulled until the link shattered. The shackles fell from his waist like it was a paper chain.

Y/N’s eyes widened at the display of strength.

“Wow.” She murmured. “You’re really strong.”

Chris smiled, his eyes squinting into half-moons as his cheeks flushed.

“You're strong too," he complimented, because in his eyes, she was.

"I was a Hunter before this,” he admitted to her.

“What happened to get you caught up in this?” her chin nodded to the shattered remains of the chains and his shredded shirt on the ground beside them.

He frowned. “I failed a mission set by the King,” he replied. “He cursed me to a hundred years of imprisonment.”

“That’s horrible,” she replied. “What was the mission? Nothing is worth a hundred years of imprisonment if it was just a task he gave you.”

“I was sent off to destroy a beast – a monster in the desert sea, but when I found it—him—I realized it was just living peacefully,” he commented. “He hadn’t caused any destruction or deaths. So, I spared him.”

Her brows crinkled. “So, the King punished you for mercy?” she queried.

Her blood boiled. Hyunjin was becoming more and more unsavory to her. How dare he! How dare he punish someone for mercy!

“He wasn’t himself after—I thought maybe a courtier had planned it, made the plot to blame the destruction onto someone else – he didn’t believe me.” He murmured, fingers brushing over his no-longer aching wrists. “The Prince had tried to help me.” Chris admitted after a moment, head tilting in acknowledgement.

Prince… King… wait. Y/N’s eyes widened.

“How long have you been captured, Chris?” she asked.

“I can’t remember—maybe a few years.” He admitted. “Minutes can feel like days.”

She feared it had been much longer if there was a Prince when Chris was put into chains and now there were none. Unless Hyunjin had a son running around in the looming Castle but there were never any tales of that in her storybooks.

“I’m sorry that you’ve been stuck for so long – especially with those goblins looking over you,” she nodded in the direction the ‘guards’ had scurried off to. Her eyes flashed over his bared skin, the cuts and bites and bruises looking gnarly on him.

“I’ll heal,” he promised, smiling at her kindly. “The pain will leave soon; thanks to you.”

She smiled gently. At least she helped him in her quest. He seemed kind. There was a warmth to him and bigness that felt like he was sturdy and true in himself. Confident but quietly so. Comforting like the way mountains were comforting in their ever-presence.

“I need to keep going now,” she admitted. “I need to make it to the Castle – will you be alright?”

His grey eyes widened, soft pouty lips pursing into a frown.

“Without me?” he murmured. “Can’t I go with you?”

It didn’t feel like a ploy. It felt like he was genuinely sad you were parting.

“I mean, we will be going against the King,” she told him. “I don’t want you to get into any more trouble, Chris.”

He shook his head firmly. His lips now falling into a disapproving line rather than a pout.

“Nah, nah, nah,” he said. “I can help you – like you helped me.”

Her own eyes were soft and gentle as she looked at the hulking man before her and yet his words were gentle and kind.

“Are you sure?” she clarified.

“I can’t let you leave without me,” he insisted. “We—I’m here for you now.”

It was insistent and genuine. Not insistent and obsessive. It felt like for once… she had someone truly on her side. Not won over by prettied jewelry or by loneliness in the middle of a maze with only their lover. But for her and her actions.

Her smile made her cheeks ache with how large it was.

“Okay. We’re friends now,” she told him sincerely.

“Friends,” Chris beamed back as he took her hand in his giant one.

His hand encompassed hers easily, but he held it with care of a gentleman.

“So where to?” he asked.

The path onwards felt counterintuitive. They were led away from the Castle, their backs to it as they settled on the now-dirt path. Light from the rotunda above them still glared down but now felt more like a sunset’s rays rather than a noontime sun. Perhaps it was due to them being so close to the edge of the false sky-light.

They had walked only for a short time before Chris queried.

“Why do you want to get to the Castle?”

“I’m a Runner,” she said. “I’m in the middle of a deal with the King.”

He shivered faintly from the corner of her eye. “I’m surprised he took upon a Runner.”

Her brows crinkled. “Why?”

“His Champion-Queen fled to the human-realm a few years ago.” He hummed. “He hasn’t been the same since.”

“That’s interesting,” she mumbled, glancing around and winding around a column.

There was now just a large bank to her right and the Gardens and their large columns to her left. The gorge was dark. Misty and shadowed as the light of the garden’s rotunda failed to reach it. There were no fantastical floating lamps and no fire pits in this part of the Labyrinth. Just darkness. Trees seem to sprout into existences as they continued onwards, large piney trees that crept higher and higher, growing denser and denser. This shadowy darkness spilled over onto the path like an oil slick leak.

“Can you tell me more about the royals?” she asked after a moment.

Chris offered a bashful look. “I don’t know them that well,” he admitted scratching his neck. “I grew up in the Shadow of the Castle; I know the Royals by face not name; I doubt anyone really does. There’s the Goblin King, the Heir Prince, the Queen-Consort. We all know of the Champion-Queen but I’ve never seen her.” He shrugged a bit.

“I don’t know what else to say – they are the rulers of the Underground? The Prince loves celebrations; the King loved the Labyrinth once.” He tried to find anything else to say but it seemed to be difficult. Was it the topic or was it something more?

“Tell me about you then,” she conceded, hoping maybe she’d grasp some more information about this world.

Her eyes stayed locked on their surroundings, watching as the dark shadow-like trees of the forest beside them shifted and bent in the wind.

“I was the King’s Hunter – my father was their Hunter before me. My brood will be their Hunter after me,” he said easily, shrugging. “I’m tasked with maintaining the peace in the Kingdom when it comes to unrulier creatures.”

She nodded slowly. So, there was supposedly order here and Chris was once their enforcer, which felt like he was higher than the guards that were poking and prodding him.

“What will you do now?” she asked.

He nudged her playfully with his shoulder, having to dip to nudge her with his muscular shoulder. It made her smile.

“I’m with you now!” he chimed. “You got me, Runner, in your graces. I’ll travel with you and make sure you are safe like you have for me.”

(Blood for blood. Life for life. He was here until his debt was paid.)

“But… after I leave. . . “, she wondered. “What then?”

Chris pursed his lips, looking off into the distance. There were faint hazy orange-light over the horizon – from what she could only assume was the entrance of the Labyrinth, the way she came. It looked so far away now. She couldn’t help but feel optimistic that they were making progress even as they approached where she came while following this path.

“I could go back –”

There was a scuffle in the brush. Chris’ hand reached out to grasp her shoulder. She wished he had a weapon but his bared teeth reminded her that he always had a weapon with him.

“Y/N,” he began before there was a hissing sound and flash of color in the dim light.

He shifted her to the side, pressing her behind him as his large arm blocked an attack. There was a loud thud as the creature was tossed aside. It thudded to the ground, a pile of red. Another flash of light was to its right.

It didn’t look humanistic. The way it shivered and shuddered with technicolor light, too bright and too flashy to really grasp onto its features. It was more of a shifting, shimmering light leak.

Chris grunted as he stood fully in front of her as a screech escaped the creature on the ground. In a blink, all she could see was red dripping down the creature- with its long talons and dripping crimson rivulets down his forehead. Large antlers pierced through its skull and his eyes gleamed a burning red.

Meanwhile, the entity of light danced this way and that, around the crimson creature, around Chris, and around her. Like it was dancing in a waltz amongst a battle. Chris hissed.

She shifted this way and that as she batted off the tendril of light and color. It didn’t harm her, didn’t even touch her, but it was almost observing her as she backed into the hedges of the Gardens. It hovered beside her and she tried to maintain a distance while keeping her eyes on the fight.

A low growl rumbled from Chris and the creature shifted low on the ground. Her back pressed against the leaves of the Gardens, ivy scratching at her ears and neck as Chris’ posture shifted.

(Faeries all had glamour. Some wielded it; some didn’t. Some wielded it quite well.)

Chris seemed to have great control over his glamour as the same uncanny features appeared. Larger mouth, his form felt larger even if was the same height as before and there was a fearful aura around him as he dug a hand into the ground.

The crimson creature jumped and jittered about, long limbs cracking inhumanly as it crept forwards. Its gaze was locked on Chris before they rose to linger on her. There was a deep chuckle, humming through the threads of existence.

Chris rumbled again, a warning hiss. There was a jolt and movements too fast for her human eyes to follow. In a blink of an eye, the creature was gone from her vision. Chris turned and swiped towards her; the crimson creature far too close to her now. The entity of dancing-lights seemed to swerve in front of her, an inhuman type noise pushing out of its existence. She stumbled back as the two grappled one another. Antlers against horns, their feet slid in the dirt and mulch of the path. She shrieked as her feet fell deep into loosen soil by the bank and she yelped, trying to escape the cave-in of their path along the gorge. Nails dug into the remaining solid rock, her head only above their path now.

“Chris!”

Chris’ muscles strained, wounds dripping purple, before he grabbed both creatures and tossing them aside like they were nothing but a leaf. He turned to find her amongst the concaving dirt.

Mud and mulch kicked up into the air and a blur of color rushed towards her. Chris quickly leapt into action, pushing the creature away as the Runner was shoved to the side, out of breath. There was only a moment of calm before she was slipping off the path. The bank crumbling from her weight and becoming nothing but mulch and loose dirt beneath her shoes. She scrambled, trying to grasp onto something as the crimson creature roared from overhead. The entity of dancing technicolor light swirled and whirled as it danced in and out of existence until it was gone.

“Chris!” she screeched out. “Han!” the name left her throat in fear. “Help – please! Jisung!”

A barking noise, like a creature whining and running off, pierced the air before there was a huffing puffing Chris in her vision.

“Y/N, I’m here!” he cried out, reaching a hand out.

There was no time for relief as her shoes sunk into the dirt and she slid further down the gorge. Hands scrambling against tree roots and dead brush as she tried to climb towards her friend. But the dirt was too loose, too damp. She kept sliding down and falling. The wind was knocked out of her as a log buried in the dirt nudged her stomach painfully. It dislodged her from her clawing, making her tumble onto her back.

“Chris!” she screeched out as she fell, her feet gripping nothing as she slid fully now.

She tried to grasp onto something, a root, the dirt, but everything was so fast and the fall was so steep she was soon tumbling down faster and faster until she was far below the Gardens in the darkness of a forest.

“She’s so dumb – I can’t believe she’d- just,”

Jisung was wandering around the last of the Gardens’ hedges – huffing and puffing about the Runner and her stupidity. His clothes were clearly ruffled from maybe, possibly, probably forcibly-pushing his way through the hedges to get back onto the main path. His curls were messed with twigs and flower petals. He stomped a bit as he passed into a new part of the Labyrinth.

The cobblestone had faded back into a dirt path. There were destroyed arches of stone, large sculptures that were tumbled over, and cobwebs casting a haze of fuzz across near everything. Old trees and barren hedges of rot framed this place. A dried fountain ached for water in the nearby courtyard of an abandoned castle. The Old Castle. This was a place for ghosts and dust. Dust sprites huddled together by a barely lit fire. In the corners, abandoned shadows clung to concrete columns and broken hunks of fire-eaten wood.

There was a large sculpture of a familiar face – strong jawbone, pout familiar, and a glowering brow – half destroyed as if by a blast of magic. Jisung passed by it without a second glance.

“Running towards roars – she isn’t going to last long; why would she do that?” he grumbled and muttered, fussing with the bracelet on his wrist. “Why would she do that?”

He didn’t understand it; he didnt understand her. But he wanted to, itched to. He couldn't help but feel so so...

“Han!” he heard her cry in the distance and he froze, jeweled eyes widening. “Help, please!”

It felt like liquid ice was injected in his veins. She needed him. She was hurt or in pain or about to be in pain and he left her. Left her. He left her alone in a place that was just built to prey upon her. His only friend. . .

“I’m coming, Y/N!” he breathed, turning to race back to the Runner only to run into a sturdy chest. The smell of fire-smoke and honeyed-mead flooded his nose.

“Where are you off to, Jisung?” the King hissed.

“Hyunjin,” the goblin-fae breathed out, startled by his appearance.

Dressed in a white silken shirt that was lazily open to reveal his chest, leathered pants, and a dragon-scaled purple cloak. He wore a fine halo-like crown of kingly-gold, intricate and delicately embellished with rubies. His face was one of annoyance, his lips drawn into a line and his brows furrowed.

It was a surprise to see the King in a place like this. Even the solidarity shadows hid away from their corners and pillars of stone, far away from the King of the Underground. Hyunjin glanced aside, looking over the ruins with a curled lip.

“Jisung, what did we agree upon last time we spoke privately?” he queried, remaining ever close to Jisung even as the goblin-fae continued to back away until his back hit the statue’s remaining face.

Hyunjin’s gaze flickered over the half-desecrated face of the King of old, his eyes squinting in disdain before settling back onto Han’s pout.

“Lead the Labyrinth Runner away to the beginning – which-which I was going to go do, like you told me to. She simply, uh, escaped me. Got too eager.” Jisung replied. “I’ll go lead her back right now!” He wiggled against the press of the King’s body. Hyunjin held Jisung’s shoulder down harshly, digging him into the sharp cheekbone of the Old King’s statue.

“I see; I thought you were running off to help her,” he mocked.

Jisung snorted out, the sound forced as he let out a strained smile. His shoulder-blade ached with the way Hyunjin pinned him to the stone.

“No, no,” he smiled, pleadingly. “Not me, Hyune.”

There was almost a look of fondness in Hyunjin’s eyes at the nickname. His hand rose from the other’s shoulder to squeeze Han’s cheeks. The metal claws that Hyunjin wore pricked his skin and Han grimaced. There was a beat before Hyunjin pulled away, a glaring smile on his lips.

“Of course,” Hyunjin hummed before letting go of the goblin-fae with a rough hand. “Not after my warnings, no.”

Jisung stumbled away as he rubbed at his cheeks. His gaze flickered upwards, looking at the other through his messed curls.

“Poor, poor Jisungie,” the King condescended, sighing out. “I noticed your jewels are missing,” Hyunjin noted.

Jisung’s hand instinctively went to wear they usually weighed on his waist. They were absent; his bracelet thudding against his belt with a plastic scrape.

“Oh, oh.” He stuttered.

“Jisung!” there was a distant cry from the Runner, so far off in the distance it was barely audible. She needed him. Hyunjin was quick to speak over her and her following yells.

“How’d that happen? After all you went through to obtain them, you’d think you’d be more… careful with your treasures,” Hyunjin commented.

The goblin-fae’s hand rose to itch at the back of his neck, fiddling over the raised scales that resided there. “I—You’re right—something must’ve—I’ll have to look for them,” Jisung stumbled over his words. “But, first, I’ll go and whisk the Runner back to the beginning!”

Jisung bowed slightly as he began to back away, step after step, heading towards Y/N. Y/N needed him. He had to find her. His fingers fiddled with the charms of his bracelet, rubbing one charm back and forth as he tried to sneak away only to feel the world stop. Birds shushed; the brush ceased to shift in the air; sounds and squeaks of the world tumbling along quieted. The air chilled to a freezing temperature and he froze.

“Wait, Jisung.”

It was an odd thing – a power only the High Fae had with their pure-connection to magic, blessed by the Underground to be able to control time and reality at whim. Hyunjin didn’t do so often, and only when it benefitted him.

It had been a while since Jisung had felt the effects of his power. Time stopping was useful when you wanted to avoid something or prolong another thing. He has memories of forever parties where time refused to tick forward, air frozen cold from magic being warmed by his body pressed to Hyunjin’s and other courtiers, and paused moments around the Castle, just him and Hyunjin, locked in embraces and pleasantries beyond Time’s eye.

Jisung’s eyes shut before he turned and falsified a smile to his King.

“I have a better plan.” The King mused. “Give her this.”

Hyunjin commanded with a flare of his fingers. Suddenly, a fruit was daintily perched in between his clawed fingers before he tossed it to Jisung quickly. The goblin-fae reacted and caught it easily.

“What is it?” He hummed, holding the thing carefully.

“It’s a present,” Hyunjin’s voice was sharp as he paced a few steps forward.

He didn’t like that he had to stoop to such levels, but she was progressing far too quickly. He couldn’t help the rise of defensiveness. He had expected her to be cowering in his shadow by now – he had expected her to be at his knees, sweet and pliant.

“It won’t harm her… will it?” Jisung queried, quietly.

The peach was abnormally heavy for such a small thing. It reeked of magic like honey-suckle with a sour-undertone, like something was fermenting within it.

“Now, why would you care?” Hyunjin paused, glancing over his shoulder at the goblin-man.

Jisung’s lips pressed into a fine line. Silence struck him. He was truly a coward after all that has happened. He couldn’t say what he truly thought even now. If he did, what if it hurt him – what if it hurt Y/N, too? It was odd feeling care for someone else after all these years. It made him swallow roughly.

Hyunjin’s smile was sharpened fangs and rolled eyes.

“Don’t tell me – you like the girl?” the King mocked.

It was foolish but expected of Jisung. He always wanted what wasn’t his. And the Labyrinth-Runner was his. Not Jisung’s. His.

Jisung’s voice was a stutter as he glanced towards a nearby shimmering tree and avoiding the King’s gaze. His throat felt dry as he swallowed. His hands fiddled with the bracelet – her bracelet he was reminded cruelly by a voice in his head. Her bracelet she gave him after he promised to help her. But here he was… discussing her with the King. Betrayer, betrayer, betrayer. Coward, coward, coward. His thumb brushed over the charm he favored the most – the smoothness easing his rising anxiety as he felt a roil of bile climb in his throat. He felt like he was back to the dunes outside the Labyrinth, banished and alone, with only the sands of time as his company and the taste of dust on his lips. He licked his lips – it didn’t taste of grit or death. He wasn’t there.

The King made him anxious and ever-cowardly. A long while ago, he was believed to be the King’s favorite – but it is true that Hyunjin’s blood was cruel, and no one knew that more than Jisung.

“Do you love her?” Hyunjin pressed on, turning fully to look at Jisung.

Head tilting like a predator sizing up his prey, he took slow steps with his long legs. His deep purple coat didn’t dare touch the dusty ground – it was as if small dust sprites lifted it just enough so it wouldn’t tarnish the fabric. It made him look more unearthly, more slowly unhinging at the thought that Jisung wanted her. His Runner.

“Do you think she loves you?” he commented, voice deep and low like a tiger’s growl.

It held an air of warning but also ridicule. As if the idea was fictious – unbelievable. Hyunjin’s eyes stormed as Jisung’s gaze rose at the other’s words. At the sight of the hurricane building, Jisung glanced aside once more as he found his voice.

“She’s my friend,” Jisung finally murmured, glancing down at his feet. “I don’t want to harm her.”

His eyes focused in on the bracelet that jingled lightly. The metal didn’t burn him – despite its iron and silver appearance. He liked that. It made him feel powerful. His other hand’s thumb brushed over a different charm.

“Oh Jisung,” his true name was like a dog’s lead around his throat. His head snapped up to meet the King’s gaze. He was oh so very close now; his smell of fire-smoke and honeyed rosemary burning Jisung’s nose.

“We were friends once, too,” Hyunjin reminded the shorter man.

And he had hurt the King was unspoken but loud and clear. Betrayal bit at the lesser-goblin’s spine. There was a hum in the King’s throat, a soft tut before, with the polished specter, he tilted Jisung’s chin up.

“Jisungie, if she ever kisses you,” Hyunjin was close, the king invading the space of his once-Gentleman-In-Waiting, his estranged best friend, “I’ll make you a Prince.”

Jisung couldn’t help the glow of wonder from sparkling in his eyes. Confusion and awe. He was a greedy soul through and through. Perhaps his blood was of dragon-fae long passed considering how he exceled in green envy and the need for a hoard of pretty things.

If he was a Prince of the Underground, he’d have all the jewels and finery and wondrousness that a fae like himself deserved. Even more than when he was a Gentleman-In-Waiting. All because of a human kiss? No, no, not just a human’s kiss – it was Y/N. Brave, stupid, charming Y/N. She’d probably like him more and--

“The Prince of the Land of Eternal Stench,” Hyunjin finished with a cruel smirk. He loved to watch the awe fade from his subject’s eyes – how Jisung’s Adam’s apple stuttered with a swallow. Hyunjin’s fingers rose to pinch the fair goblin’s chin. “Don’t make me do such a thing, my pet.”

Jisung trembled as he nodded. “Yes--yes, your Majesty.”

“Good boy,” the Goblin King hummed before letting go of Jisung’s chin and stepping away with a scowl.

“Give my gift to the Runner; she’s making too much progress.”

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camaro-and-smokes · 1 year ago

Text

Eve

Chapter 1: LV-444

Summary of the fic: Billy Hargrove and Steve Harrington were well known xeno hunters. Well, in their respective circles, of course. That weren't military or huge galaxy-sized tech businesses. Or even closely legal entities. Okay, they were doing what they did when the money was right, no questions asked. And they were good in what they did. They got even better when Eddie Munson, a crazy scientist, joined them. They had the gear, the knowledge, everything. All was going smooth, smoother than it had for a long while. So, they docked on Space Station U.D. on the orbit of planet LV-444. It was supposed to be a short, a few days long maintenance stop on their way to do some client work. Unfortunately, the client work seemed to have found them a bit sooner than expected...

MIND THE TAGS - S E R I O U S L Y. This is a horror/scifi/creature movie crossover and loyal to the film. If the image below makes you queezy, this is not for you. Unless you like that queezy feeling, then, happy reading :)

Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Categories: M/M/M Relationship: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson Tags: MetalSandwich Movie Mania, Movie: Aliens (1986), Aliens AU, Horror, Body Horror, Blood, Blood and Gore, Gore, Xenomorphs, Aliens, Metalsandwich, Mungrove, Harringrove, Science Fiction, Military Science Fiction, Crossover

Chapters: [CH01] [CH02] [CH03] / ?

Read on AO3 >>

Notes: This fic hits more than one of the @now-showing-at-the-hawk-events Metalsandwich Movie Mania 2023 categories: Scifi film, Action film, Horror/creature feature film and iconic movie - since Aliens is THE scifi film of the 80s and still one of the best horror/military scifi films ever made. I tried to fit in some romance too, but if you know the film, space for romance is, uh, limited. I'm a huge fan of space opera because of this film, so it's been an absolute joy to write this.

::::::::::

Billy held the long, pointy head in front of Eddie’s face and nudged him until he awoke. “Argh!” Eddie screamed in horror, scrambling away when the first thing he saw was an eyeless stare and the row of pin sharp teeth of the deadliest creature he’d ever come across. When he realised it was Adam’s head, he hit it hard enough it fell off of Billy’s hand. “Jesus H. Christ, Hargrove! Get that fucking thing off my face!” he shouted.

The long, pointy skull flew on the floor with a hollow clank and continued its way skidding over the cabin floor and lodged itself under a bunk on the other side of the room, its deadly grimace shining under the bunk like a...well, like a monster under the bed.

Billy flopped on his bunk, cackling. “You should’ve seen your face! We’ve been hunting these bastards for years and you still get scared when you see one. And besides, it was Adam. You should’ve recognised it.” “I wouldn’t have wanted to have Adam an inch away from my face even when it was alive, you asshole! I almost shat my pants,” Eddie exasperated. Billy grinned. “Nah, you weren’t even close. And if you would’ve, we still would’ve remained as your family.” Eddie couldn’t hide a small smile. “Fuck you,” he muttered as he got up, throwing his t-shirt on Billy and going to the head.

Steve walked into the cabin. “Okay, I see that you both my darlings are awake, so allow me to finally get some shuteye, will you?” he said and flopped next to Billy, rubbing his eyes with his fingers. “Mother can take care of the flying for now, since all she needs to do is to follow the beacon of the space station. But as I already told you, she’s not working as she should. Somebody needs to take a look at her.” Billy wrapped his arm around Steve’s shoulders and placed a kiss on his temple. “I’ll make sure she’s taken care of when we get to LV-444.” “The ship needs to be docked manually,” Steve said with a wide yawn. “I’ll take care of that, too. You just have your beauty sleep, princess,” Billy said and stood up. Steve grabbed his hand and pulled him back down. “I didn’t get my goodnight kiss,” he said. Billy smirked and leaned down to kiss him. “Sleep. Me and Eddie take care of the docking.”

A few hours later Billy sat down on the pilot’s seat of their ship, commercial assault vessel Petrini, and put his headset on when the space station on the orbit of LV-444 hailed them. “This is Space Station U.D. LV-444 actual. Please confirm your status and state your business.” “U.D. actual, this is Executive Officer Hargrove of the Commercial Attack Vessel Petrini. Our Mother has been misbehaving and someone needs to inspect her. We’ve understood that your station has someone who knows how to do that on an ex-military vessel. Sending you our initials now.” After a moment of silence, the U.D. LV-444 actual replied, “Petrini, your initials have expired. Please send us updated ones.” “Shit,” Billy muttered. He searched a file on his screen and looked at the first ones on the list. He quickly typed the initial codes on the field where he could send them to the space station. “Sorry for the confusion. Here are the updated ones.” After a moment of silence, the space station returned on the line. “Your initials check out. Please, for the future, keep the initials updated for a smooth transition to station space.” “Yes, ma’am,” he acknowledged the request. No way was he telling that they didn’t actually have initials of their own but a list stolen from a vessel that probably would never set foot in space this far out and that he had to type the initials by hand to the required field. A proper hailing system would naturally give up-to-date initials automatically. But some things they had weren't actually legally acquired, so... “Our station maintenance crew can do the work for you. However, the next available time slot for commercial vessels is in two days from now.” Billy muted the mic to groan. Then he unmuted it. “Acknowledged. That works for us.” “Docking permission granted. You may proceed to dock O-7. Please note that U.D. is a military station with limited civilian access.” “Acknowledged. Proceeding to dock O-7. Petrini out.”

Eddie slumped to the second pilot’s seat next to Billy. “Do I have to stay on the ship the whole time again?” he asked. “They said the civilian access is limited, not forbidden. Besides, none of us could really access any military stations unless we were 'subcontractors'. But it doesn’t hurt that I’m ex-marines with Harrington.” “Yeah, I’m just the monster geek,” Eddie scoffed, and readied systems into docking position on his side of the dashboard. Billy looked at him and interrupted his own preparations to reach his hand out to Eddie. “Hey, I didn’t mean it like that. You’re the reason we’re out here. You’re precious cargo. For a lot of reasons.” Eddie glanced at him, not convinced. “Right. And it’s not even really me. It’s just what I can do.” “Come on, Eddie. Don’t make me get up and cuddle with you to assure you’re important while we’re in the middle of docking. You’re the sole reason we are on this mission. You’re actually important.” “Well, you shouldn’t have woken me up with Adam in my face. It made me grumpy,” Eddie said. Then he pointed a finger at Billy. “And by the way, if it broke when it hit the floor, it’s on you and you’re going to catch a new one for me.” Billy’s eyes grew wide, and he turned slowly to look at Eddie. “You’re kidding? Right?” “Messing with the one who handles the monsters has dire consequences.” Billy swallowed and returned to his task in guiding the Petrini into the correct docking ring. Not that he wasn't experienced with the xenos. Eddie just had ways to make him do what he told him to do. After a while, Billy reached his hand out again, this time squeezing Eddie’s arm gently. “Hey, I’m sorry. I really am.” When Eddie didn’t reply, Billy let go and returned to doing his own check-ups. He’d have to come up with a way to do something nice for Eddie.

The space station grew larger on the screens that displayed the view from outside sensors. It was a ring that had several other rings around it, each a dock. They were assigned to dock on O-7, which meant that they were going to dock on the other side of the station.

Billy activated the docking systems. “Unable to engage the automatic docking sequence,” Mother, the ship's AI, said. “Yes, Mother, I know,” Billy replied to the AI. “Manually overriding the docking sequence." “Affirmative. Manual docking sequence activated," Mother confirmed. “Okay, let’s go,” Billy said and guided the ship towards the correct docking ring.

While they flew over the station towards their dock, they had the time to admire the view of the planet LV-444. It was magnificent. The station was a mere speck in the orbit of the gas giant and it filled all of their screens almost in full. The surface of the planet was in a never-ending turmoil, dark clouds swirling on its surface, forever changing their patterns. The planet was called a planetary gas station: it had high levels of helium, neon, and other gasses in its atmosphere that were needed either in production of fuel for ships - or weapons. Which was why the military station was located here.

Once the ship was docked, Eddie went to wake up Steve. He sat next to Steve on the bunk and brushed his hair gently with his hand. “Hey, Steve, pumpkin, wake up. We’re here.” Steve let out a deep sigh and turned on his side, wrapping an arm around Eddie’s waist. “Come to bed,” he whispered. Eddie smirked. “Would love to. Can’t. We just docked. I need to find those new batteries for my hunting suit.” Steve rolled on his back on the bunk and let out a breath. “I had already forgotten the whole battery thing. I’ll come with you.” Eddie grinned. “Does Billy know you just assigned him to be in charge of Eve?” Steve chuckled. “He’s going to be so pissed when he hears about it.”

Billy walked into the cabin. “I’m going to be pissed about what?” His jaw went slack when he saw both Steve and Eddie grinning at him. “No. Fuck no. I’m not going to...Shit. You’re both going?” Billy’s voice went from groan to whine, “Eddie, you can’t leave me alone with her!” He looked at Eddie deadly serious. Eddie chuckled. “You’re supposed to be the ex-marine who fears nothing, yet...” “Hey, any marine, active or not, who has even a sliver of self-preservation skills left, agrees with me. Eve is fucking huge, all teeth, and she hates me with vengeance. I can't handle her.” Billy glared at Eddie and wrapped his arms around himself. Eddie got up and walked to Billy, hugging him. Billy wouldn’t look at him. “There’s no need for you to go down there," Eddie assured Billy, "and she doesn’t want to leave her habitat. Neither of you want to interact with each other. You’ll be fine.” “You better come be quick about it," Billy mumbled.

-oOo-

Eddie and Steve exited their ship and started to walk towards the commercial section of the space station. “Why did you need the new batteries for the hunter suits again?” Steve asked. “Weren't they supposed to be self-charging?” Eddie looked to his feet for a moment. “Uh...that might have not been the whole truth.” Steve stopped. “What do you mean?” When Eddie noticed that Steve wasn't by his side any more, he turned around. “I gathered parts from wherever I found them. Yes, some of them are self-charging. One in your and one in Billy's suit. The ones in my suit are not.” Steve tilted his head and smiled a sad smile at Eddie. “Why didn't you say so?” “Well, I did now, didn't I?” “I mean,” Steve said and walked to Eddie, wrapping an arm around his shoulders, “that if you'd told me that sooner, we could've snatched some of them on the last gig. There were plenty of them in that warehouse and we didn't take them with us since I and Billy thought we wouldn't have needed them. You need to talk to us.” “I know,” Eddie groaned. “But it's not easy. I've been doing this stuff alone for so long and...” Steve interrupted him. “I know. But you have to start trusting us more. Especially since we have Eve. We need to work as a team with her. It means trust. Right?” Eddie nodded as they started to walk again.

They arrived at the commercial section and started to look for a electrical part dealer. They knew there was one on all space stations, but they were the legal ones. Now, finding one that wasn't so strict about registering the sale to the legal systems was another thing. And as sure as there was a legal dealer, there was always one of the later too—especially on a space station this big. Luckily Eddie knew all the tricks to find one. He'd been doing the crazy scientist stuff by himself for a decade and it had taught him more than any schooling ever. And ever since giving birth to Eve he'd ascended to a whole new level. Except that while he was the one who could control her, he himself sucked at shootings and booby trappings and making safe spaces on an enemy ground – stuff he should've known how to handle. But he was a scientist, not a marine. That's why he had Billy and Steve. They had gotten a bit over halfway of the commercial section when an alert started sounding from all the speakers around the area with the pleasant voice of Mother: “This is not a drill. Containment breached. Please proceed to the closest escape pod.” Steve and Eddie looked at each other. Eddie frowned. “A breach that's severe enough for us to escape the station? This station has parted structure, right?” he asked Steve. “Yeah. That doesn't sound right. They should be able to seal just the breached part.” The alert sounded again. “This is not a drill. Containment breached. Please proceed to the closest escape pod.” Steve's brows knitted together. Then he glanced at Eddie, worried. “This is also a research station. New fuel solutions.” He paused. “And weapons.” Eddie bit his lip. “Could they have...” “Fuck. Anything is possible.” Eddie looked at Steve for a while before speaking, “You've seen this before, haven't you?” Steve sighed. “I hope not. On the last station like this—part military, part research, part commercial—the bastards were all over. The shit had already hit the fan.” “This is not a drill. Containment breached. Please proceed to the closest escape pod.” “Should we get going then?” Eddie asked and started to run back towards the dock where they'd docked Petrini.

-oOo-

After Eddie and Steve left to find the parts Eddie needed, Billy spent the first hour dozing off on the pilot's seat and listening to the radio chatter of the space station - illegally, of course. When the chatter suddenly became irregular, accompanied by calls for help that stopped in the middle of the call, Billy perked up. Icy coldness spread into his stomach and he hailed his companions through their scrambled team radios. "Eddie, Steve, please come in." No reply, only radio static that crackled a little from time to time. "Eddie? Steve? Please come in. It's Billy." Still nothing. Shit, Billy thought, this is bad. He turned the space station radio frequency back on. It was still all screams and irregular calls for help. He squeezed his eyes closed. "This isn't happening", he groaned. "This ain't fucking happening". He once more tried to hail Eddie and Steve on their private radio. He listened to the radio static for a while, when he recognized a familiar set of clicks. Three short ones, three long ones, three short ones. His stomach dropped. Eddie and Steve were in trouble. And since they used morse code, they most likely were hiding and couldn't speak. He'd seen this before. Only, he'd been the first one to come to the scene when the shit had already hit the fan and the results were running rampant. Though this probably wasn't far from that situation. They were here probably just a few days earlier than back then on that other station. He took a deep breath. He would have to find them.

Then a realization dawned on Billy. He buried his face in his hands and cursed. “Ffffffffffuck.” The only way he’d have any chance of finding Eddie and Steve quickly was to take Eve out for a walk.

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