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hasaniwalker · 2 years ago

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A word about Alice

“Have you seen that evil Alice in Wonderland game at best buy?”

That was how I was introduced to it. A game that would stay with me for years after. I had no idea what the person was talking about at my high school in the A.V. room. I was there frequently, editing my first stop motion film (An adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s the Raven). They told me she had a knife and there was a thin cat next to her. I was intrigued and the next time I was at best buy I wandered to the Computer Game department and found the box.

That’s when I was introduced to American McGee's Alice.

I feel like I should mention, I was not and still am not really a PC gamer. I do console games mostly and reserve my computer for animation and editing. This game however, I needed to play it. I was gripped by the image. The stark red background. The haunting stare of the character. the hand on the knife. It was unapologetically dark and I was obsessed.

I went online wanting to learn more. It was early 2000 and my home internet was still dial up. I still recall going online to the Alice website and finding a countdown page. It was a music box, a child singing in the background, a terribly broken tune looping as the box threatened to open. It was haunting and perfect. I’d come home from school and for the short moment while I was the only one there, I’d go to the site and let that strange tune play though the house. At the end of the countdown, the box opened to reveal a decaying baby doll head (All of this is from memory and may be distorted by time. I unfortunately can’t find any images of the countdown page.) It stirred something in me to see that page come to life. It was the early days of internet. The time of MySpace. So the site was crude by today’s standards, but it was the most amazing thing to me at the time.

I’d leave it open on one of the computers while I was in A.V. at school. friends would come and we’d watch Alice move (sitting up from her seat, marveling at her blade, dusting off her dress.)

And of course, take time to show anyone the trailer.

I remember this time of being a teenager entering adulthood, feeling misunderstood, anxious, scared, and losing myself in the music of Garbage, Poe and Crystal Method. Alice fit right in to the aesthetic of everything I saw at the time. If Wednesday was the goth friend saying and liking macabre things, Alice was the older teen sister angry with the world and ready to scream at it with you. She was grunge, she was dark, she was frightening and wonderful.

I couldn’t afford the game, but I could afford the soundtrack. I ordered it from Amazon. A site that was also in it’s early days at the time. I hadn’t ordered much from the site, but I needed this.

I’ll always remember when the email alert came. My package had been delivered. There was a storm that day. I lived in Phoenix Arizona, and when we have storms it looks like the world is ending. The sky was dark, the thunder was loud. You had to get inside. I came home and went to the mailbox. The CD shape of the package nearly made my heart stop. I knew what it was, but holding it felt like an achievement. I listened to that music daily.

Now, so you know, I didn’t just admire this game from afar. I did get the game for my birthday one year. I had talked about it so much that it was almost certain my mom would remember. It was the first computer game I owned. I was terrible at using a keyboard for games and couldn’t get through the first few levels without a huge amount of struggle. It was a lot of getting used to and I loved it.

From the opening cinematic, the menu screen, the sound of the bell when you start the game. It was exactly what I wanted.

At the time I couldn’t think of another game like Alice. It felt tailored made from people with my mindset. A frightful game with a deep story and a character I immediately identified with. At a time where games had very action oriented goals, Alice gave a backstory of an asylum even coming with a patient log for Alice. All of it detailing the terrible fire, her mental state, and the struggle she was going through.

The best part of this was that I wasn’t alone in my admiration for this story. You could walk into Hot Topic and Tower Records and be greeted by large Alice statues modeled from the box art that captured my imagination from the start.

I wanted to see more of this character. I dreamed of seeing a movie someday.

And it almost seemed like I would get my wish.

There was news that a film was being developed of Alice with Wes Craven directing and possibly Natalie Portman or Sarah Michelle Gellar playing Alice. part of me hoped for an animated film with the original voices, but I was still gripped by this news.

At the time, I didn’t consider myself a horror person (feels weird to write that now since I think I’ve always really been one). I didn’t really seek out horror films and avoided gore. But I wanted Alice to by a disturbing and imaginative experience. I wanted to be scared watching this while feeling for the main protagonist and wanting her to reclaim her mind.

In a world where this film went the way I hoped, people would have movie nights today of Midsommar, Pearl and Alice. It would be a film that would take you somewhere you were afraid to go, but couldn’t look away from.

But then...I heard the movie wasn’t happening...and news of Alice stopped.

I never stopped thinking about that macabre girl and her journey through a tattered land of her mind. I listened to the music, revisited the game and also drew her now and then. lines from the game even made it into my typical dialogue (”Promise only what you can deliver” wise words).

I also still dreamed of seeing a film someday and would imagine who would play Alice (for a while I kept seeing Emma Watson as the character, but also still like the idea of an animated Alice.)

Then, one day, watching Attack of the Show on G4. I saw the most unexpected image.

Alice was coming back, and this time she would be on consoles.

The thrill was back, and as soon as a trailer came out, I immediately shared it with everyone.

I was quick to buy the game when it came out, and it was wilder than I could have hoped. A gripping story with tragedy, beautiful animations and moments that sent a chill through me. The kind of chills that made me pause the game and take in what I was seeing. The sight of a monstrous train rampaging through wonderland was a gift. The way Alice’s mind would unravel things was mesmerizing. Seeing life in London through her eyes and getting more of the history of the character (and the twist of the Red Queen’s identity) it was perhaps the only game that really pulled me in fully. I love games like the Arkham series, Bioshock, Horizon, Silent Hill, and so on. Alice to me felt like something more. I wasn’t trying to save a city or save someone, I was playing to help retain someone’s sanity.

The fascination with this character and world was just as alive as when I first saw all of it. I bought the art of book and still go through it and use it as a bit of inspiration if I have a creativity block.

I carried my love for the character all the way to my work in animation and even built a stop motion puppet while I was working on Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio film. A character who I was so taken by in high school now stood on my desk.

All this is to say that this take on Alice Liddell and her fantasy world has had a great influence on me. I was prepared to continue following this story and I hoped to someday see her find her way to the big screen and have a final story where she would come to peace with what happened to her.

The news that the tale of Alice is not going to continue is devastating. It’s troubling to see so many stories be brought to an abrupt end. for finales to never be given and answers to questions to be lost forever.

There are a lot of stories that I believe deserve to be told, but we’re constantly given entertainment that’s simple, easily digestible, with nothing to say except to reference nostalgia and trend online. It’s hard to find something that you can connect with. Something that you need a moment to think about after you’ve seen it. Something that gets you emotionally. These things are found mostly in the passion projects of creatives. The projects they pour so much into and want to present to the world. The projects that are not just made with earnings in mind, but also how you’ll connect to the audience. I think these projects are important. They push us to look further in and to question how we connect and interact with a story.

Too easily these types of ideas are thrown aside now and it’s harder for anyone to finish the tale they wanted to present to the world if it doesn’t fit with what a studio algorithm says. It may be a dark time to be a creative right now, but I’ll remember the stories that I connected with. The ones that hit an emotional part of me and made me stop and think about a new perspective on life, fear, depression, joy and how I connect to these things.

Thank you American Mcgee and the Alice team for taking me and many others through a Wonderland that reached into our very soul.

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mikiemcsmitty · 4 months ago

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Fictober Day 2

prompt: "It's been a long time"

Fandom: Supernatural

Character: Dean Winchester, Castiel

Rating: Teen and Up

Summary:

Dean's POV: Having to take care of Cas while he recovers from taking on Sam's trauma ("Dude, on my car... he showed up naked... covered in bees." -Dean S7 E23)

After what felt like forever listening to the phone ring, Sam finally decided to break the silence between him and Dean. “He’s not gonna answer,” he said flatly.

“He’s gonna answer,” Dean retorted.

“Dude, we haven’t heard from Cas in like two days. Not to mention, with the state he’s in now… even if he answered you'd be lucky to get anything of substance out of him.”

“Yeah, but it's Cas… He always bounces back.”

“Well, maybe he really is in over his head this time.” Sam stood up to leave. “I’m gonna go check on the other ingredients.”

Dean gives Sam a conflicted look as he leaves before closing his phone and rubbing his hand over his face.

When Cas did finally show up again it was because Dean hadn’t given up. He tried praying to him again asking for help with the Leviathan problem and this time He actually did make his appearance. Lucky for Dean he was outside when this happened because Cas came with the company of an entire swarm of bees.

“Cas?” He said confused as he turned around to face the angel and swat away the Bees trying to sting him. “What the hell is all this? Where were you?”

“I was observing the pollination patterns of honey bees in Europe where they originate from,” Cas explained in his typical monotone voice.

“Europe?”

“Honey Bees are not native to North America as many people think,” He said as if was the most interesting fact in the world. “They were imported from Europe in the 17th century.”

“Ok Buddy,” Dean said dismissively before taking another look at Cas as the bees began dispersing. He turns his head up and pointedly looks at the sky. “Cas… where the hell are your clothes.”

“Cloth obstructs my ability to experience the pollination firsthand.”

Dean looks down again to see Cas’s skin covered in welts and sighs. “Damnit Cas, you’re covered in bee stings… come inside.” Dean led Cas inside and directed him to put a towel around his waist while he grabbed the first aid kit.

When he returned he pulled out the tweezers and inspected the dozens of red bumps on Cas’s skin. “This might hurt a little.”

“Dean, I can’t feel pain like that.”

“Right… well brace yourself anyway,” Dean said as he started to pull out the stingers one by one. “Your lucky Jimmy wasn’t allergic to bees otherwise you'd be fucked.”

Dean continued to carefully tent to Cas’s wounds making sure to clean off each one with a rag as he went. “It's been a long time since I had to take care of someone like this,” He said softly.

Cas tilted his head to the side. “Are you referring to Sam?”

“Yeah… I am. Before Dad sold the house we used to play in the backyard all the time.” Dean let out a chuckle as he recalls the memories. “Once when he was 4 he hit the tree in our front yard with a wooden sword and it made a bee hive fall to the ground. Poor guy was screaming and crying and I had to take out every stinger just like this.”

Cas listened to his story with intrigue. “Sam is lucky to have you as a brother. I often wonder how brothers are meant to treat each other. Certainly not betraying their trust for the sake of power.”

Cas normally spoke in code these days but Dean could tell he was referring to himself and the other members of the Garrison but he couldn’t help but be reminded of all of the times he and Sam had lied and kept secrets from each other. “You’d be surprised. Come on let's get you in the bathtub so we can stop the swelling.”

#fictober24 #fictober #supernatural #spn #fanfic #ao3 #writers on tumblr #dean winchester #castiel #destiel

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heartcereql · 2 years ago

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blue velvet

☆ lo’ak sully x fem!na’vi!reader

𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒- looking back to when he was a teen, lo’ak remembers a certain girl and a certain night

𝐂𝐖- written from aged up!lo’ak’s perspective, english is not my first language

𝐀/𝐍- short, melancholic, typical lucy content

even though years had passed from the days you two spent together, lo’ak found himself thinking about you more often than he’d want.

you were so enhacing to think about; his mind drifted so easily towards your memories.

he recalled one of your last nights.

your blue skin was soft as velvet, as was the texture of the sky.

stars dimly defined your figure.

you broke the kiss to rest your forehead against his. with another quick peck, you put some distance between the two of you.

“i’m going” you blatantly said, a smile on your lips.

lo’ak thought you were joking. he didn’t even comprehend what you were saying. but once again, it was you , so anything could be expected.

“what?” he chuckled in a whisper.

“i’m going” you repeated, as if nothing was wrong, nothing going on.

he began to understand you were being serious.

“y/n what do you mean by that?” a frown was visible between his brows now.

“i’m going as in i’m leaving” your voice had acquired a new tone of consistency, but you still looked playful.

“now?” he asked.

your smile widened.

“no, stupid. most likely tomorrow” you said, voice low.

he watched you as you laid on the grass, reclined on your elbows. an unsettling feeling was starting to take over him.

“what for?”

the question was pointless, really, and he knew that. but he couldn’t distinguish anymore if you were playing around or if you were being serious. and that sacred him.

he laid next to you, but his face was staring at you completely , trying to figure you out.

you were a mystery from the beginning. you seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, but he didn’t question it. he just noticed you. and you had noticed him too. though you were very talkative (you had made almost every step to build your friendship), he hadn’t managed to learn anything about you. you were like a labyrinth. and he was okay with that. well, if he was sure he could solve the mysteries of your persona. yet he couldn’t.

when you spoke was mostly to reflect on some of the deepest stuff he had ever heard, or to suggest a reckless adventure.

you usually showed him places and creatures he would have never seen before.

and in one of your trips, you had kissed him. softly, but without hesitation. your lips fit together in an astonishingly perfect way. and he found he couldn’t stop kissing you.

what for, he had asked. you stared into the starry ceiling.

“i want to get away” you said, after some seconds. “i can’t stay here”

“what?” he was definitely lost now.

“i have to go” was your only answer.

“i don’t understand, y/n, what is going on?” his confusion was bordering desperation now.

“i must leave. and i love you, but, if you don’t let me go, you can’t understand me”

and the next day you had disappeared completely. lo’ak was devastated, looking for the glow of your velvet skin, yet he found nothing.

everything reminded him of you, therefore everything hurt. but mostly the nights, when the dark sky returned his stare, and the stars would wink at him.

and, eventually, he picked up the pieces in which you had left him and started to enjoy again. as much as he could. but in his heart he would always keep your precious and warm memory, that he hoped would perdure throughout the years.

it did. it was in nights like these, with kiri’s children surrounding him, that he would find himself lost in his memories, telling the stories about a certain girl his nephews and nieces loved so much. their eyes were clouded with tiredness, but they would all beg for another story before bed.

yet when he looked up at the blue sky, his eyes would sting, brimming with tears. he could’ve sworn he could see velvet through the tears.

#avatar the way of water #avatar x reader #heartcereql #atwow x reader #atwow #lo'ak x reader #avatar #lo’ak sully #lo’ak x fem!reader #lo’ak x you #lo’ak te suli tsyeyk’itan

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harleythealter · 1 year ago

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I agree with both @snarkythewoecrow (I’ll nickname you crow for this) and @c-is-for-circinate (I’ll nickname you C for this).

I believe C is mostly right that a deeper story can be found in explaining what is there. ::Going into great detail about the nightmares instead of just mentioning the fear of sleep in passing. Or show in length the ways this character directly avoids sleep-late night movies or reading. Writing, fantasizing, daydreaming, abusing substances, staying up late, caffine and snacks, brain stimulation—you get the gist. Great depth can be found in writing about what is there. It’s also beneficial to show how characters fill the absences that they do feel. I can appreciate that you( @c-is-for-circinate) for voicing a more accurate way to represent abuse situations and victims. We don’t want people who digest the media to believe a false representation of this situation. I also acknowledge that I appreciate reading works that have an in-depth description of what is there-the nightmares, fears, lingering pain, etc.

But I can agree with Crow because who are we to say 1) what is real/accurate -by this I mean that we don’t know everybody’s experiences. Nor 2) that it is the writers job to make sure the readers know. That’s unfair to the writers/producers-it makes it a task to write. Yay for those who like writing as a task, but it’s unfair for those who don’t don’t like making writing a task.

I hold an appreciation for the exaggeration of how I feel/trauma in my writing because it’s how I express my emotions and what I experienced. Part of why I do it is to prove to myself that my emotions are valid, because I love my characters and it’s valid for them to feel that way. Writing is also my way to identify those emotions, they can be tricky to find unless I exaggerate them through the writing. I also identified a lot of my problems(that were caused by my experienced)through the exaggerated problems my characters went through… my characters often had fathers who abused substances… much like myself. Another example is noting that many of my characters displaying wild actions that were very ambivalent led me on the journey of learning I have an ambivalent attachment style. There are other examples too private to share.

I also recall Crow mentioning that they appreciated works where a character was able to speak out against the wrongs being done to them. This often is ‘unrealistic’ but it is a goal for some people. It was for me-still is actually. I consistently have to remind myself to advocate for my boundaries and needs. I did speak out once in the heat of a moment, and it backlashed, but it was a great stepping stone for the future. I gathered the courage to do so from reading ‘unrealistic’ works where the character broke free. It gave me something to long for and even informed me that my situation wasn’t how it should be. I was rather unaware well into my teens that my life wasn’t how it should be.

I say all this because I agree with crow that we shouldn’t gatekeep-I don’t believe we should be allowed to dictate how others write. It’s not our right to limit others, even when we don’t think they’re being accurate. I recognize that exaggeration can cause beliefs in false representations. But I question if exaggerating is always misrepresentation-in my case exaggeration isn’t representing what happened to me, but it is representing how I feel. Even the extreme pain and angst in my writings is true to me. I give space for it to mean just as much to other people who read my works as it does to me while I write them.

I like to consider what C said as a really passionate suggestion for how to write trauma/recovery/abuse situations, it’s really helpful for people who aren’t writing from experience-even for me and I do write from experience to have advice on how to write deeply. But I believe that we can write deeply other ways too.

Oh, I can’t forget to mention I agree with crow when they said that people cope with trauma in different ways and will write that way, which might work for them and not for everybody else. It’s really accurate and is displayed between Crow’s preferences and C’s preferences-which are different ways of writing about the trauma/recovery experience.

Overall point: writing more about what is there, rather than what isn’t, is a great way to write, but don’t discredit exaggeration or unrealistic representations because they can still hold layers of accuracy within. And remember, what works for you isn’t always what works for others.

There are a lot of abuse and recovery stories out there in fandom. A lot of them are written by people who’ve never been in an abusive relationship. That’s fine, that certainly doesn’t mean you can't write it, especially when it’s present in canon. Unfortunately, it does mean that a lot of people get it wrong.

The usual abuse narrative you see in fandom is a story about absence. The lack of safety. The lack of freedom. The lack of love, or of hope, or of trust. They try to characterize the life of an abused kid, or an abused partner, based on what’s missing. They characterize recovery based on getting things back: finding safety, discovering freedom, and slowly regaining the ability to trust–other people, the security of the world, themselves.

That doesn’t work. That is not how it works.

Lives cannot be characterized by negative space. This is a statement about writing. It’s also a statement about life.

You can’t write about somebody by describing what isn’t there. Or you can, but you’ll get a strange, inverted, abstracted picture of a life, with none of the right detail. A silhouette. The gaps are real but they're not the point.

If you’re writing a story, you need to make it about the things that are there. Don’t try to tell me about the absence of safety. Safety is relative. There are moments of more or less safety all throughout your character’s day. Absolute safety doesn’t exist in anyone’s life, abusive situation or not.

If you are trying to tell me a story about not feeling safe, then the question you need to be thinking about is, when safety is gone, what grows in the space it left behind?

Don’t try to tell me a story about a life characterized by the lack of safety. Tell me a story about a life defined by the presence of fear.

What's there in somebody’s life when their safety, their freedom, their hope and trust are all gone? It’s not just gaps waiting to be filled when everything comes out right in the end. It’s not just a void.

The absence of safety is the presence of fear. The absence of freedom is the presence of rules, the constant litany of must do this and don’t do that and a very very complicated kind of math beneath every single decision. The lack of love feels like self-loathing. The lack of trust translates as learning skills and strategies and skepticism, how to get what you need because you can’t be sure it’ll be there otherwise.

You don’t draw the lack of hope by telling me how your character rarely dares to dream about having better. You draw it by telling me all the ways your character is up to their neck in what it takes to survive this life, this now, by telling me all the plans they do have and never once in any of them mentioning the idea of getting out.

This is of major importance when it comes to aftermath stories, too. Your character isn’t a hollow shell to be filled with trust and affection and security. Your character is full. They are brimming over with coping mechanisms and certainties about the world. They are packed with strategies and quickfire risk-reward assessments, and depending on the person it may look more calculated or more instinctual, but it’s there. It’s always there. You’re not filling holes or teaching your teenage/adult character basic facts of life like they’re a child. You’re taking a human being out of one culture and trying to immerse them in another. People who are abused make choices. In a world where the ‘wrong’ choice means pain and injury, they make a damn career out of figuring out and trying to make the right choice, again and again and again. People who are abused have a framework for the world, they are not utterly baffled by everyone else, they make assumptions and fit observations together in a way that corresponds with the world they know.

They’re not little lost children. They’re not empty. They’re human beings trying to live in a way that’s as natural for them as life is for anybody, and if you’re going to write abuse/recovery, you need to know that in your bones.

Don’t tell me about gaps. Tell me about what’s there instead.

#I’ve been working on this for three hours #I think I forgot a few things but… what can you do #i’m probably overthinking it #I’m probably going to change my mind tomorrow #:P #did i miss anything?#who even am i #I think I watched myself write this?#my OC Harley is nodding along in my head… ig he agrees. do you?#writing to cope #harleythealter

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serafiel-jacobs · 10 months ago

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The Lives We Left Behind (Fanfic)

New chapter from my main series 🩷

Eugéne was staring at him in silence.

“I know it’s a lot to process at once, take your time” Haneul knew this was difficult and that he shouldn’t rush her for an answer.

Well, that’s a complete understatement.

She is having a complete rollercoaster of emotions, she can barely remember her family, and she tries and tries but can’t remember him. She wanted to carry out their legacy, wanted to show their capabilities, HER capabilities how she learned that craft and perfected it. So many stalkers come to her store, sure she isn’t famous or anything like that but she finally became successful, she had come to terms with her past and future.

Now this throws everything apart.

Again she keeps trying to remember him, she remembers her parents, she remembers them giving her the book that shows their technique, then they passed away… then she is 12 years old, studying at school, then returning to the orphanage where she lived in, it wasn’t Monad (It’s not as if it was the only orphanage in Krat) she had very few friends, then none when she started to study to become a technician, not many girls choose that profession and the few that were in her class did not like her because of her… roots.

Actually, those two weren’t the only ones, throughout her childhood she heard similar comments from others from time to time, more so when she was a child, because when she was young she couldn’t pronounce certain words properly.

Most of her concrete memories are as a teen and onwards, why can’t she remember well? Was it her parent's death? The bullying? Both? Another traumatic event she can’t recall?

Mainly why can’t she remember a single thing about him?

Someone had to take her to Krat, that was obvious, why didn't she ever think about that? She can’t remember the language she was first taught, only certain words.

Eugéne is learning that she was never abandoned, that there was someone always watching over her. Yet is not as if she adored Alidoro when she was younger, as all of Krat knew about the hound, she saw him as a nice stalker who helped others, it was only when he rescued her that she admired him, was grateful, she owed him her life. Then that admiration stopped when she interacted with him at Hotel Krat, his rudeness, his selfishness.

Then guess what? That wasn’t him that was someone else. She thought the real Alidoro was dead like everyone, so she mourned the man she saw as a hero, not only her hero but the hero of countless of others.

Now he is back again and drops this bomb on her?!

“I need to sit down” Eugéne’s head is starting to hurt, this feels like one of those strange fever dreams.

“It’s okay” Haneul almost helped her sit before she put her hand up to stop him, she needed to think more about him.

She doesn’t know what to say. On one hand, she is extremely happy she has family, that she can learn where she came from. He saved her in that tower but how many other times did he save her and she didn’t know? Like how he helped her recently with that man who tried to steal from her.

He told her that he wanted to make Krat a better place for her, that was the reason he had to leave.

At the same time, she feels… nothing. Is it shock? How is anyone supposed to react to this type of news?

Eugéne takes off her glasses and starts to cry, putting her face on her hands, this was too much.

“Look I don’t expect you to magically love me or pretend we have an unbreakable bond” Haneul took a deep breath; “Only that you know I’m here for you, always”

Haneul is tired of hiding in the shadows, she is his sister, and he needs to act like a brother, not a vigilante.

“Also…” Haneul took another deep breath, as this was something harder, “I think for your sake, that you should leave Krat”

That was a mistake, he was being overprotective when that was the last thing she needed to hear.

“And leave all my family and friends behind?!” Eugéne snapped, “Maybe that was easy for you to do but not for me”

Haneul stayed composed, “I’m only saying because those alchemists are planning something again, you must know because of Pinocchio”

They continued, “The safest choice is to leave before something like the petrification disease happens again”

No, it will happen again, only that this time, they learned from their mistakes, this time they won’t carelessly let those monsters run around to reveal their intentions, his investigation shows that.

“If you want to stay, I won’t stop you,” Haneul was reassuring her this was only a suggestion, “I will only take you out of this place if you want to”

Eugéne began to compose herself, he was trying to protect her, plus he was right about the alchemists.

“I won’t leave” This is her home, as much as she would love to see where she is from, she can’t leave this life behind.

Not after all her effort to succeed, no one is going to take that away from her, not those alchemists or The King of Riddles. They won’t make her run in fear.

“I understand” Haneul replied, no nagging about it, he respected her wishes.

There was a tense uncomfortable silence that lasted for five entire minutes.

“So” Eugéne spoke up, “What happens now?”

“What do you mean?” Haneul was confused.

“You know…” She sighed, “Do we talk about the past? Do we hang out somewhere? Or…”

Oh fuck he didn’t think about that.

“Uh um well” Why didn’t he plan about what happened once he told her the truth?

“Do you want to do anything? Go to a coffee shop?”

“Seriously?” Eugéne laughed, “It almost sounds as if you are asking me on a date.

Haneul laughed, “Yeah that was pretty dumb”

“Also my store is still open, customers will probably arrive sooner or later, you picked a bad time to tell me about my long lost past” Eugéne started to do her routine of taking the dust of weapons, “You could have come by lunchtime or when I closed”

“Am I really that clueless?” Hanuel was looking so forward to revealing the truth to her that he left his common sense behind.

“Don’t worry I’m used to it” Eugéne had finally relaxed, “Pinocchio also tends to lack common sense, although in different ways”

“Common sense is the least common sense” Haneul then started talking about the countless times he had to save someone from danger they caused themselves.

“Sometimes I feel people use stalkers as firefighters” Eugéne has heard plenty of stories, not just from him, about stalkers saving dumb people from their mistakes.

“Oh you have no idea” Haneul rolls his eyes, “Firefighters are also cheaper so I don’t get”

“Yeah but what’s cooler, getting saved by a firefighter or by a stalker?”

They were talking normally, a conversation as if they had been friends for a long time, perhaps it was the unconscious sibling chemistry, or perhaps it was that they both shared many common interests. Whatever it was the conversation went on so smoothly, Eugéne beaming with joy when she finally asked about the weapon, him explaining all about it. Then she showed him his previous katana, the one Pinocchio had gotten from Parrot and given to her.

It’s a long way to go before she truly sees him as a sibling. But so far, it doesn’t seem that it would take as long as it seems.

——

“Gemini, Cecile is weird” Pinocchio left the cathedral, he now is on Rosa Isabelle Street just passing the time in a coffee shop, “She is so kind and somehow so scary”

“There are so many types of people out there pal” Gemini was sitting on his shoulder, “You are going to eventually meet more types, probably even stranger than her”

“I think all the people we know are strange if you think about it,” Pinocchio said.

Venigni is obvious why.

Antonia sometimes has a dark sense of humor, Pinocchio certainly got scared the first time he met her and she joked about having to build a coffin for his father.

Eugéne knows more about weapons than any historian.

Red Fox is so bold yet so elegant, she almost seems to act like a queen at times, Black Cat might be rude but he does have a secret heart of gold, as well as secret street smarts he tells Pinocchio from time to time that leaves him impressed.

His father is also weird, Pinocchio sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night to find his father writing down things for projects he suddenly came up with, but it doesn't bother him as he tends to fall back asleep rather quickly and if it makes his father happy he doesn't mind, still, even if he doesn’t prioritize his work like he used to with Carlo, he still has a weird obsession with it.

“Carlo…” Pinocchio mumbled out loud without thinking.

“Mmm, what about Carlo?” Gemini asked.

“Oh um,” Pinocchio wanted to brush it off.

Gemini on the other hand insisted.

“Do you think he would have built me if Carlo hadn’t died?”

Gemini was silent, he didn’t know what to say, he didn’t expect that question. After a few seconds, he knew what to say.

“What if doesn’t exist Pinocchio, we could be here all day wondering what if of certain things, we are never going to know the true answer”

Pinocchio was silent, looking at the floor, “You know I can’t stand that painting”

Gemini jumped out of Pinocchio’s shoulder and was now touching his hand, he wanted to reassure him that he was there to listen.

“I thought that it was because of what Dorian Gray did, that it was reminding me of how he almost killed me”

Pinocchio started looking uncomfortable, “The more I think about it, the more I realize I hated it from the start”

“I…I don’t know why! I hate talking about my feelings!” Pinocchio shouted, a few people turned to look at him, and he silently apologized for shouting before turning to see Gemini.

“Have you written this down?” Gemini's color had changed to a blue one to indicate his sadness.

“No”

“Then you should, you know that’s how you express your feelings better”

Pinocchio sighed, is this because he feels on edge due to Arlecchino? Whatever the case is, he needs to go to see his mother for another lesson and spend time with her. Then he has to go to the union to protect his father and his uncle.

“I’m sure that if you tell Lady Antonia you are feeling down she will spoil you more than usual” Gemini returned to his cage, “In fact make her spoil you in public so that more people talk about it.

Pinocchio laughed, it was because recently they overheard someone call him “Lady Antonia’s spoiled brat” while spending time with her at an event she hosted.

“Interesting” Sabertooth was spying on Pinocchio with Tiger, they were too close to him but thankfully for them Pinocchio had no reason to suspect them, stalkers are everywhere in Krat.

“I don’t get it, what’s interesting?” Tiger looked at her confused.

“Nothing” Sabertooth smiled, “Just that I know a way to mess with the doll”

——-

“Miss. Cassandra, I must speak to you,” Frederick told her to come in after finishing with a patient, “Unfortunately I must relieve you from your duties”

YES YES YES he is letting me go!

“For some time, I’ll call you once this break of yours is over”

NO NO NO ugh! Fire me already!

“Have I done something wrong, sir?” Blue politely asked, “If that is the case there is no shame in firing-”

“Do not worry, it’s a simple family matter, I will take time off work due to this reason” Frederick looked annoyed despite how he tried hiding it, “My father is unfortunately on his dead bed”

“Oh, I’m so-” The doctor interrupted Blue again.

“Do not apologize, it’s not as if it is your fault, although I appreciate the politeness” Frederick doesn’t want to hear condolences. It was about damn time he died, he is only going to be by his side out of societal expectations, not being by his side would be a scandal, not after all his father had done for others.

All that good mattered none to Frederick, his father deserves to be in agonizing pain, not after he treated her like that.

Blue opened her mouth, the doctor not wanting to hear it.

“I would appreciate it if you could come to clean my office the days I will be absent, I will pay you”

“Doesn’t the hospital have-”

“The hospital cleaners are incompetent, in fact, you seem to be the only other person in Krat with common sense when it comes to cleaning”

“My apologies sir but if I will be off duty then I must tend to other stalker matters, it’s obligatory” It’s not, that’s only if you truly don’t have a client as you are allowed time off during prolonged work periods but she was finally being assertive “As such I cannot do as you asked”

At this point, Blue thinks he sees her as his maid rather than his bodyguard.

Frederick sighed in frustration, “I understand, you have been informed so return to the rest of your duties for today”

Blue waits impatiently outside, she knows the doctor’s schedule it's only a matter of time before he is done, a few nurses pass by from time to time, all the nurses seem to have a high opinion of the doctor although not the usual reasons one would assume, they say how he is “just like them” and after seeing him examining patients from time to time in a strange way they are right, he does tend to act more like a nurse than a doctor in his methods although his behavior is purely professional medical talk. A lot of patients say they always come back to see him not only due to the results but they feel he actually puts an effort into examining them and making them feel better. The man has said before he has experience taking care of those who are bedbound and in critical condition, for Blue, it is hard to imagine the doctor being by someone's side as they are dying but he did say he was going to take care of his father so…

When his last patient leaves she is thrilled until a woman suddenly enters his office, she is so fast that Blue doesn’t even get a glance at how she looks.

“I think I’m pregnant”

Blue was eavesdropping on the conversation, she was half expecting her to say “And it’s yours”, more so because a full minute passed without a word being said. But after that she could hear the doctor asking her normal questions about her symptoms while they talked, it’s odd, Frederick is always so formal when he speaks yet he is speaking so casually to this woman.

“I don’t believe you are, however, it’s been only 5 weeks so I can give you pills to cause an abortion” He then proceeded to explain to her what she needed to do.

Isn’t that illegal? Although Blue shouldn’t complain, not to mention how she feels women should have a choice in the matter.

“No you can’t have sex while you are going through this you filthy degenerate” Frederick huffed at the woman’s question taking a sarcastic tone, “You will be fine in a few days, hopefully, you won't die while waiting that long”

Blue heard the woman laughing, she spoke up again, but Blue couldn’t make out what she said, after that, she left as fast as she came. She only got a glimpse of her long black hair.

Blue entered the room again waiting to be dismissed, as always he asked her to help him clean before leaving. How odd, it almost looks as if he got flustered by whatever she said to him or maybe she imagining things as she wants to finally be free from him.

“Were you spying on our conversation?” Frederick doesn’t look at her as he keeps on cleaning.

“No sir, I-” Blue tries to lie her away out of this, but he is aware that the conversation was loud enough for her to hear it.

“She is a childhood friend, that’s all, I’m only doing her a favor” Frederick rolled his eyes, annoyed that he had to deal with that, “Also, please tell your father on my behalf that I will see how his health is doing after this break”

Right, they are friends, sometimes Blue forgets about that, her father did tell her that Frederick used to be shy, which seems hard to imagine, maybe one of these days she should ask more about when they were younger.

Once Blue finished, she rushed to the offices to report the issue and search for something else to do.

It seems the pride is having an influence on the other stalkers as before they didn’t doubt her capabilities but now they see her as a joke.

“Surely you can help the lovely people that are in the waiting room” Lion had a smirk on her face, as other stalkers watched, “In fact, you are the girl exactly for the job”

“What do they need?” Blue knows something is up.

“They lost their beloved pet, a pigeon I believe”

“Excuse me,” A child who was next to their parents spoke up, “It’s actually a dove”

“I see” Blue smiled at the child, “Can you describe to me your dove? Do you have a picture?”

The other stalkers looked amused as the child described what their beloved pet looked like. Blue will have to tell them that they aren’t animal control, that being a stalker is a serious job and-

“Excuse me for a moment” Blue then opened a window of the offices, put her fingers in her mouth, and whistled loudly.

A falcon suddenly jumped towards the window, it was so fast that it startled several people inside. Blue then gave the falcon a treat she had in her bag, also showing her the picture; in two minutes the falcon was back with the dove in its claws, although it wasn’t hurting the animal.

“My Dovey!” The child beamed with joy, grabbing the dove in her hands who looked happy to see her owner, “Thank you so much, miss stalker!”

It was the same one, first because it was identical to the one in the picture, and second because doves on Krat tend to be rare domestic pets, it is uncommon for them to be in the wild. Blue is glad she got the dove, if left around to roam free and reproduce, it could cause an imbalance in the ecosystem.

The parents thanked her profusely too, they offered her money that she refused.

“It was such a simple task, do not worry about it” Blue smiled, “May I suggest you get her a bigger cage? It’s likely she wanted to fly more often”

With that said the parents left, all those present stunted at the feat.

“Good girl” Blue gave her falcon another treat before sending her back home, “Anything else I can do?”

“Holy shit Blue that was awesome!” One of the stalkers shouted.

A small crowd began to form around her, all asking questions about how she did it, can she call different birds? How can they hear her from so far away?

“Rusty don’t go and ask questions!” Lion grabbed her hand to stop her.

“But I want to know about the cool falcon!” Rusty cried out.

“You have an eagle too?!” Someone else shouted.

“And the cool eagle!” Rusty was now pouting it wasn’t fair.

“Ugh, where is Sabertooth and Tiger anyway?” Lion went back to her office with Rusty in her hand.

“I dunno” Rusty casually said, “Tiger was here a while back, he looked angry at Sabertooth, said something about her being a bitch and that he wasn’t going to do that”

“He is right about the bitch part” Lion then realized what she said, “You better not tell your parents we swear in front of you”

“I won’t” Rusty got out of Lion’s grasp, “I’m not a tattle tale”

“I guess Blue is going to join us tomorrow in the search for Adeline” Lion began to file some paperwork while she was there, “That’s good, the more people looking for her, the less time we will spend”

“You think someone actually hurt her or something?” Rusty was cleaning her weapon, it had gotten dirty on a mission.

“I still think she ran away with some man” Lion wasn’t taking this seriously, “I mean who is going to want to hurt her?”

“Evil people,” Rusty said innocently, “My parents say-”

“What your parents say it’s not real life, rich people don’t get hurt by others, we are different, if you mess with people like us it ends up badly”

“Woah Lion” Rusty was shocked, “You are right but why are you so mean today?”

“Because with those two gone I’m the one stuck with the paperwork” Lion was furious, “Something you can’t help with”

“Excuse me?” Rusty poked Lion to annoy her more, “I had to save you from our mission today, you weren’t fighting seriously”

A petty argument ensued, before Blue left she overheard a little of it, satisfied that they got put in their place.

Getting home she was greeted by her sisters, then her parents. It was good to spend time as a family. Things were looking up for her, she had made up her mind, that when she returned to see Frederick, she would give her notice so that she could quit. Her father might not like it but he has always respected her, this is something that will pass.

With her newfound confidence, nothing can go wrong.

——

Something was wrong when Geppetto and Pinocchio arrived at home.

The front door was wide open.

They were at first worried about it being Arlecchino but Pinocchio scanned the area before entering, whoever it was didn’t realize they left a muddy footprint near the window a rather big boot, meaning that they entered from there, then left the door opened on purpose.

Did someone break in to steal money?

Worse, no one had stolen any money or valuables, in fact, everything was left intact at home, everything except…

“Why would anyone do this?!” Geppetto sobbed as he stared at the now-ruined painting of Carlo.

Someone had grabbed a paint brush and with black paint crossed out Carlo’s eyes and neck.

Geppetto was devastated, Pinocchio couldn’t stand to see his father like that, they did call the police to report the crime, yet they said that since nothing was stolen and it was only petty vandalism other issues take priority.

Meaning: Don’t expect us to actually investigate this, it’s only a painting.

That night was uncomfortable, Geppetto went to bed early, a part of Pinocchio wanted to sleep with his father yet he knew that he probably wanted to be left alone.

“Gemini am I a bad boy?” Pinocchio was in bed hugging a pillow.

“What? No!” Gemini shouted, “What makes you say that?!”

“Because I said I hated that painting and now it’s ruined”

“Pal it’s not your fault”

That didn’t seem to work, Pinocchio put his head on the pillow and gave out faint sobs. He hated that painting, he would look at it and get reminded that he was made to “save” Carlo, that his father loved him more than him.

“I can see memories, your pitiful lies don’t work on me puppet of Geppetto” Simon was saying his last words.

Pinocchio had lied about what happened to Sophia, the man-turned-god didn’t like that.

“And I can see… even now, he isn’t waiting for you, he is waiting for Carlo to come back”

“Why am I so selfish?” Pinocchio mumbled under the pillow.

That was then, his father has changed so much, he is such a loving and caring father, he is always there for him, he gets him anything he wants, and sees him for who he is, and he repays him by being jealous of Carlo.

It’s stupid right? He is jealous of someone he has never met. If anything, if Carlo was alive he would be jealous of him. This is the father Carlo always wanted.

“For a moment you looked just like…” Antonia’s words resonate in his mind.

The message Romeo left behind for Carlo resonates in his mind.

The countless times people have called him his replacement resonate in the back of Pinocchio’s head. The countless times he had overheard others comparing him to Carlo, specially recently with his encounter with those stalkers.

Well, you got what you wanted right? Now you don’t have to look at that painting, now you don’t get a constant reminder about him.

Pinocchio got up, carefully getting the painting, and silently went back to his room to not wake up his father, yet Pinocchio had a feeling his father was still awake, not being able to sleep as him.

He put the canvas in a stand and took out his painting kit, he can fix this painting, the awful man who taught him how to paint made it, and he knows how to replicate the style.

It took him hours but he did it, the painting was back to normal, Pinocchio only needed to wait for the paint to dry.

Pinocchio could feel his heart racing, his gears running faster, he had done it so fast, he was desperately trying to fix it that he didn’t realize he was overheating. He tries calming down by drinking water, then by pouring the glass of water over his head to stop the burning sensation.

He stares at the painting, it’s beautiful, this time it’s something he did, as he added some touch-ups to other places, it truly felt like it was his creation and not one made by Dorian Gray.

“I hate you” Pinocchio began to cry again.

Gemini is next to him, hearing him vent his feelings.

“I hate that I hate you” Pinocchio feels like a bad boy, for being so unjustly mean to his brother.

Pinocchio touched his chest, his heart was pounding… was his heart pounding? Something felt off.

As he looked at the painting, he saw that something was coming out of it, a tear coming out of Carlo’s eye. Not the first time something has come out of that painting, what does it mean this time?

Is his brother upset? He still has a little of his Ergo, did he make Carlo cry? He truly is a terrible boy.

“I’m sorry” Pinocchio whispers to the painting as he wipes away Carlo’s tear.

It’s 5 am, he hasn’t slept at all, he is so tired. Pinocchio now lies in bed again, Gemini being next to him instead of in his tiny home.

“I wish that made you happy” Pinocchio hopes that Carlo liked that he fixed him up.

Pinocchio wakes up until 1 pm, it’s Saturday so he doesn’t need to wake up early. Gemini is still by his side, Pinocchio then looks around the room, the painting isn’t there, did he dream about fixing it?

When he comes out of the room, his father is in the living room, the painting is there, as normal. Geppetto hugged his son thanking him.

“I know it must have been so hard” Geppetto was playing with Pinocchio’s hair. “Specially to change it like that, I’m so grateful”

Change it like what? It’s back to normal, the eyes are fine, the neck is fine, and Carlo is smiling.

Carlo is smiling. He doesn’t smile in the painting, he didn’t like sitting still for the painting, Pinocchio remembers his father told him so, that is why Carlo was making that serious expression.

Geppetto lets go of Pinocchio, telling him that it’s late and that he should eat and drink something so that he doesn’t become more exhausted.

Pinocchio obeys his father before going back to his room. Shortly after Geppetto enters and sits on Pinocchio’s bed next to him.

“Pinocchio how are you feeling?” His father gave him a warm smile.

“I’m fine,” Pinocchio said that he was only tired.

“Son” Geppetto gets a little closer to him, “I know you are lying because you don’t want to worry me”

Pinocchio breaks down in tears, clinging to his father. Geppetto holds his son as he cries.

“Do you still love him more?!” Pinocchio cried in frustration.

Pinocchio feels so stupid, he feels like he is throwing a tantrum, Carlo is gone, and he is competing to be the favorite child with someone who is dead.

Geppetto knows that Pinocchio doesn’t want him to answer, that he wants to vent his frustrations.

“Why do I have to live in his shadow?! Every time someone meets me their first thought is him, how I look like him, or how I don’t act like him!”

“I hate him and I hate you for making me like him!”

Pinocchio keeps crying, it takes him some time to finally calm down until his sobs begin to die down.

“I’m sorry” Pinocchio’s voice sounds weak from all the crying, “I don’t… I don’t really hate him or you, I just…”

Pinocchio lets out a few more sobs.

“Maybe I should go back” Pinocchio is referring to how he took that one therapy session when his father first started seeing one.

“I’ll arrange that” Geppetto plays with his son’s hair, confronting him.

The room is silent for a few minutes, Pinocchio looking away before turning to see his father.

“Can we do something fun today?” Pinocchio is tired of fighting, of constantly being on edge about danger, he knows that won’t stop any time soon.

He wants to help others but now feels selfish for wanting a break. Specially when his uncle Venigni is suffering so much. A part of him is expecting his father to say no, to scold him for even asking. Pinocchio isn’t thinking rationally, being too emotional.

“Of course we can,” Geppetto said, “We can do whatever you want”

“Can we…” This feels so stupid but that makes him feel better, “Can we go get some ice cream?”

Geppetto smiles, “Yes we can, do you want to see Antonia after that?”

Pinocchio nods, he would love to see his mother.

Gemini gets on top of Pinocchio’s head, giving him gentle headpats to cheer up his best friend.

“I’m not a dog Gemini” Pinocchio pouts.

“Oh so when your father does it you love it but when I do it you don’t?” Gemini teases him.

“Father does it better than you” Pinocchio’s mood was improving, “Wait what if someone breaks in again?”

“Don’t worry son, I made sure it won’t happen again” Geppetto ended up booby-trapping the windows and reinforcing the door lock, telling Pinocchio how to properly open them from now on.

“Father, isn’t that illegal?”

“We can worry about that later, let’s hope that never happens again”

Pinocchio laughed, his father really is kind of weird.

“Tomorrow something awful is probably going to happen right?” Pinocchio had a feeling Arlecchino was taking too long in tormenting them.

“Whatever happens from now on, remember I’m always by your side son”

By now they were buying the ice cream. Geppetto takes the opportunity to tease his son.

“What flavor does my little boy what?”

“Father!” Why does he always embarrass him like this? It doesn’t stop him that they are in public.

“I’m your father, is my job to embarrass you”

“Yeah Pinocchio and you are his son so it’s your job to act like a brat” Gemini chirped.

“I’m NOT a brat!” Pinocchio was now red with embarrassment.

Tiger was watching them from afar, thankfully Sabertooth wasn’t with him today, he is starting to think she is a miserable bitch and that’s why she acts that way.

She was always the mean girl, but it was never to the extent of what she did yesterday, Lion has also been more insufferable. All of them used to be great friends, okay fair enough that they were the popular kids and got more attention, and maybe the group was a little entitled towards others, yet this has been an eye-opening experience.

His friends kinda suck.

He feels bad for bringing Rusty along to this mess, his family is friends with her family. They had trained her from a young age to be a stalker, so he is in charge of protecting her, not during the fighting, she is better than him in that department, more so in protecting her from the adults who might have bad intentions, look at that, he already failed in that task.

Rusty has always been a huge brat, now it’s worse, he made her have bad influences.

“Hi Tiger!”

He is snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of Blue’s voice.

“Are you taking a break?” Blue is also taking a break, the sun seems to be shining extra hard today, she got so thirsty and needed to sit down, so she sat next to him.

“Yeah, I’m taking a break too” It’s true, it just so happened that he ran into the two of them, although by now they already left to do something else.

“I take it that the heat is affecting you more since you took off your mask” Blue sat in the chair next to him.

“It’s not that, I took it off to eat the ice cream” Tiger had relaxed, despite the fact he didn’t know why she was talking to him, he thought she hated him.

“I didn’t take you for a guy that liked sweets”

“I mean we are sitting at an ice cream shop”

They were making small talk, to be honest, Blue had only approached him due to being bored, yet she was enjoying the conversation, Tiger wasn’t as rude as she thought.

“Where is the rest of your gang?” Blue got a little curious.

“Sabertooth and Lion are together, Rusty is with her parents”

“Mmm, how come? Does she study on Saturdays?”

“No I mean, her parents might be retired but they are helping with the search”

Adeline Corday has been missing for 2 weeks, not only is her family frantic but also the Opera House, they can’t seem to find a replacement for her. No one has a voice like her, no one has the talent of singing as excellent as the Corday’s.

There is a widespread hunt for her, not only stalkers but the general public, they are offering rewards to anyone that has any useful information. So far, everyone knows she must still be in Krat, as the train station has no reports of her leaving, she is easily recognizable so they would have noticed.

“Then do you want to come with me?” Blue was tired of being alone, the doctor keeps her pretty isolated in that office, “We could investigate together”

Tiger liked that idea, so he decided to tag along, who knows? Maybe they can actually find her.

——

“If something happens to her while I’m not here supervising I will personally kill everyone involved” Frederick had murderous intent, they had their asset, and the possibility of losing her is nonexistent, he won’t allow that to happen.

Everyone understood the message loud and clear, everyone inside that room is filled with dread, knowing that if they screw up a fate worse than death would await them.

Via his orders, they left him alone to keep working on his project, one last adjustment before leaving.

The girl could no longer make a sound, her beautiful voice was damaged beyond repair by now. Not from screaming, Frederick didn't want to deal with that so he removed her vocal cords right away. That doesn’t matter, her hearing is what matters.

“Ergo absorption working as intended,” Frederick wrote down the progress.

Then Frederick began to examine her body, she was only wearing a medical gown, and the adjustments he made were beyond his expectations.

Adeline looks at her body too, her body feels still, and her arms and legs are now purple. They said something about Rigor Mortis, she knows what that means, is she dying? Is she dead already? Her fingers and toes are strange, they have this orange glow attached to them, shining like crystals. She was always a red hair, but now her long red hair was completely the color orange, bright as the glow in her fingers. Something is connected to her veins, yet she cannot make out what it is, the man gets closer to her, his mouth next to her ear.

“You are beautiful” Frederick whispers to her, she truly is, she is his greatest creation.

It took him only a week to make her a listener, and another to make her the perfect vessel. His life goal is in front of him, his wonderful hard work, his masterpiece. He has worked nonstop for this goal all his life, yet as soon as he got his listener in his grasp he knew that he had to show his true devotion to his cause, each day after leaving his duties as a doctor he would come here to work on her. He is sleep-deprived, and he feels tired but that doesn't matter.

Adeline recoils at him injecting something into her, he repeats the process multiple times until he puts aside his equipment.

Frederick takes a look at the table next to him, all the surgical tools he utilized, that was the easy part for him, it was… a little complicated to modify her hearing artificially with technology, thankfully alchemists have secret associates everywhere, including of course the Workshop Union, since he is a smart man, he only needed to carefully analyze those notes, in the end, he did it himself, truly he doesn't trust anyone else to touch her, it is already bad enough that he has to leave his listener behind.

All alchemists in Krat are singing his praises at this moment, however the sense of pride he has in himself is nothing compared to them. His listener, his vessel, his philosopher stone is in front of him.

“Your body from now on will begin to change on its own” Frederick has a twisted smile, “I wish I could stay to see your full metamorphosis, sadly I will miss the beginning of it”

So her torture is only starting? Why? Isn’t he happy about everything he has done to her?

He starts to take off her medical gown, then he grabs a dress, those are not the clothes she had. On any other occasion, she would have found it beautiful.

“I think this will make you look even more beautiful, it suits you well” Frederick starts to change her clothes, “I need you to look prettier”

He treats her as an object, as a cute doll that needs to be shown off. Maybe she deserves this for being so mean to puppets.

Her ears feel heavy, she can’t look at them, she does know that there must be some sort of device attached to them. Adeline can feel strange cables coming out of it. She can hear everything now, from the heartbeat of the man in front of her, from each person who resides in Krat, and she can hear springs, the springs of all the puppets in Krat, all of them who have Ergo. Hearing Ergo…it feels…

Frederick grabs her face, forcing her to look at him “Trust me, when this is done, you will become the most beautiful thing in the world, what I always wished to achieve”

Adeline closes her eyes, he won’t give him that satisfaction.

“I love you”

Adeline knows he isn't talking to her, neither as an individual nor as the creation he sees her as, sometimes he talks to her as if he is talking to someone else, he always does this when the two of them are completely alone.

“If only you were here to see this”

She can hear emotions now too, this man only ever shows pride, hatred, or sadistic happiness at her or his other “creations”, yet at this moment, he sounds sorrowful.

Frederick lets go, reluctantly, he must leave.

Adeline is left alone, finally, she hates him, she hates everyone who did this to her. The only thing she wants is to die.

She closes her eyes, at the very least she is still able to sleep, she should enjoy it while it lasts. Maybe she can go to sleep and never wake up.

#lies of p #lop #liesofp #lies of p game #lies of p fanfic #ao3 link #this is in ao3 too #lies of p geppetto #lies of p pinocchio #lies of p gemini #lies of p eugenie #lies of p original character #lies of p oc

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coffeeandfaeries · 1 year ago

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The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle - A book review

L. J. Smith

I have once again read this book in one sitting. I am for some reason REALLY into this series. I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. But then again, I was obsessed with TVD (the show) as a teen so it makes sense. But the books somehow have more likable characters. Don’t get me wrong I think the cast did an amazing job, but I wish they didn’t change some characters, Elena and Bonnie in particular.

Even though Bonnie in the books can be a bit annoying because she’s often way too nice, I like her better than the TV Show version of her. I feel like Bonnie in the show was often rude and stubborn. I can understand why they changed Elena, to a certain extent. I wouldn’t be surprised if they wanted the main character to be a bit more “palatable”, but instead they made her into this whiny, useless character. If I recall correctly, Rebekah actually points that out. Although, Elena on the show was unbelievably self-centered. I don’t know a lot of people who genuinely liked her character.

I do have to warn you, I will be comparing the books to the show pretty often. I’m also team Stefan. Well, in the books at least. I definitely preferred Damon on the show. So if that bothers you, you probably shouldn’t waste your time reading thirteen reviews.

Yes. I’ve decided to finish this series. Even though L. J. Smith got fired after writing seven books. She wrote books 1-7, then an anonymous ghost writer wrote books 8-10, and Aubrey Clark wrote the last 3 books. L. J. Smith was hired to write The Vampire Diaries, unfortunately she didn’t realize what contract she was signing. If I recall correctly, she didn’t understand what “work for hire” meant. So, while the books were copyrighted to her, she didn’t actually own the books, she couldn’t publish anything without the approval of Alloy Entertainment. She wanted Elena to end up with Damon, Alloy didn’t. So they fired her and got somebody else to write the books. While I don’t like Damon personally, at least so far, maybe she’ll give him a redemption arc, I can’t imagine how horrible it would feel to spend years working on a book series just for that to be taken away. All because someone didn’t like my story.

Anyway, time to start talking about this book. Four hundred words into the review and I’m finally starting to talk about the actual book.

As we remember from the previous book, Elena is shouting Damon’s name trying to get his attention. One thing I gotta say is I do respect Elena’s cockiness, like nothing says teenager in love than acting like you have nine lives. She’s threatening Damon, acting like she could overpower him in any way. Ma’am, he could kill you before you even have the time to react.

Damon is still trying to win her over, he’s comparing her to Katherine. Saying she’s already powerful even as a human and how she would be unstoppable if she was a vampire. Honestly, I do agree with him. Vampire Elena would be amazing. I’m pretty sure Elena will become a vampire pretty soon. I know she didn’t become a vampire in the show until the fourth season. I wonder if she’d be more excited to be a vampire in the book. Another thing that hasn’t been discussed in the books yet is the “switch” vampires in the show have. For those who don’t know, vampires have some sort of switch in their head that, when flipped, turns off their empathy and emotions in general. Essentially turns them into a monster. However, I have noticed that vampires in the book have slightly different powers, like being able to turn into an animal and control the weather. So there is a pretty good chance the “switch” doesn’t exist in the books. If that’s the case then I have no idea how Damon is going to get a redemption arc. Especially since he was a bad person even before he became a vampire.

While Damon was trying to talk her into leaving Stefan and joining him he said this: You’re the girl who has everything else, but there’s always been something just out of your reach, something you need desperately, but can’t have. So… She’s just spoiled? Damn, first world problems. All jokes aside, he’s not wrong. Nothing ever satisfies Elena, she said so herself. The moment she gets something, or someone, she is already bored of it. The only reason she wanted Stefan so badly was because he wasn’t paying attention to her. For the first time in her life she didn’t immediately get something she wanted. I feel like the fact everything is so easy for her is partially the reason she always wants more. She’s never had to work for anything, it always just falls into her lap.

Also, throughout this entire encounter, and a couple of times in the past, Damon has been trying to use his powers to compel her, but it’s not working. She’s successfully resisted them almost every time. I know that she hasn’t been drinking vervain and doesn’t have it on her anywhere. So how is she doing this? It wasn’t explained in this book, but I think she is just strong-willed. I don’t think there’s anything more to it, but I did find it interesting nonetheless.

This book came out in 1991, A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire came out in 1996. Therefore Winter is coming is originally from TVD. G. R. R. Martin apparently was inspired by 15th century Scotland. So I like to think that Damon met the characters from GoT and they decided to steal the phrase from him. Or perhaps G. R. R. Martin is a big fan of the vampire diaries and just really wanted to use the phrase in one of his books.

Damon told Elena that she should give up and join her because Stefan is dead anyway To which she said: If Stefan was dead, she would know. How? Literally how. Did I miss the chapter in which Elena discovered her psychic gifts?

Elena starts running, looking for Stefan. But then she stops, lays down on the ground, covered in snow and says she has no reason to look for Stefan because Stefan will look for her. She falls asleep and Meredith and Bonnie find her, passed out, covered with snow. They take her home, Elena is still in a delirious state, saying she needs to go back and look for Stefan. Understandably, Aunt Judith, Robert (her fiancé), Meredith and Bonnie are against it, and decide they need to stay with her to make sure she doesn’t try to run away in the middle of the night.

But Elena is relentless, she is not going to give up on Stefan. So she asks Bonnie to use her abilities to find Stefan. Bonnie lights a candle and tells Elena and Meredith to focus on Stefan and not say anything, no matter what. Bonnie was channeling Stefan, he’s in water, it’s cold and he’s thirsty and tired. At one point Bonnie says Stefan feels like he should just end his life. And, of course, Elena screams No, breaking the one and only rule Bonnie had. Bonnie is willing to put her life out on a line for Elena, who doesn’t care about anyone other than Stefan.

Then a voice starts speaking through Bonnie, saying to stay away from the Wickery Bridge. The girls assume this is Stefan speaking through her and drive straight to the graveyard. Idiots. How have they not noticed by now that whenever Bonnie channels a message it’s never a positive one and something bad happens every time?

They go to the bridge and Bonnie just feels like something is off. We also find out that Matt followed them, because he knew Elena wouldn’t be able to give up. Honestly, Matt is such a sweetheart I really like him. Sure, he’s a bit of a simp and Elena doesn’t deserve him, but he’s just adorable. Call me boring, but I’d take a guy like Matt over a Stefan or a Damon any day.

Bonnie tells Matt what she saw, he doesn’t really believe her but he helps them find Stefan anyway. He realizes it sounds like he is in a well and drives them to the abandoned well on an abandoned farm. They find Stefan in there, and he looks ROUGH. They take him home insisting he goes to a hospital. Obviously taking a vampire to a hospital would raise some eyebrows so Elena and Stefan are against it. Bonnie, Matt and Meredith keep insisting so Elena compromises. She tells them to go get Bonnie’s sister Mary, who is a nurse, and if Mary says he needs a doctor they’ll take him. This gives Elena the time (and privacy) to give Stefan some of her blood, not a lot, but enough to recover.

I just would like to add one of my favorite quotes from the book, just straight up copy-paste this from my notes. Any additional commentary is unnecessary.

Maybe you think I’m terrible for loving him, considering what he is. He can be violent, and I know there are some things in his past that he’s ashamed of. But he could never be violent toward me, and the past is over. He has so much guilt and he hurts so much inside. I want to heal him. Ok Bob the Builder.

They go back to school and there’s a new European History teacher. Alaric K. Saltzmann, and he is way too friendly. Immediately he’s like “Yeah, let’s all sit in a circle, talk about our feelings, yadda yadda yadda”. He asks Bonnie about the night when she found Mr. Tanner’s body, and, understandably, she gets very upset while talking and starts sobbing. He apologizes and invites them over to his house. Then says attendance makes up for 50% of the final grade. Yeah, totally not creepy. Imagine your child coming home and telling you that they have to go to a teacher’s house that night or they’ll fail history. I’d be calling the cops on the spot.

I assume that because Alaric is a vampire hunter in the show he will be a vampire hunter in the books too. So the only non-creepy reason I can find for a grown ass man to invite a bunch of students to his home, is to check if any of them are vampires. But, uh, spoiler alert, no that didn’t happen. We didn’t really even get to see Alaric during the house party scene.

But anyway, we’re not even there yet, there’s one more thing that happened while they were in school that I just have to talk about. I have no idea if this is a US thing, or a 90s-00s thing, or, most likely, a media thing, but do people actually care about being popular in High School? Maybe I don’t get it because I wasn’t popular in High School, but I can’t understand breaking up with your partner because they’re not “cool” enough and are “ruining your reputation”. You’re a senior, chances are, you are never going to see the other students again after you leave for college. So who cares? Sure you’re not gonna be popular, but you still have friends? Like this quote in particular: It might be better if we didn’t see each other for a while. If they think we’re not together, they’ll leave you alone. Fam, you’re a 500 year old vampire, how do you still have the mentality of a child. I can understand breaking up with someone because they are a suspected murderer, but you know he isn’t. You have met the killer. To be fair, it’s not even Elena’s idea. Stefan is concerned about her public image more so than her.

I know that Stefan was just trying to be considerate because he didn’t want Elena to “suffer” because of him. But Elena wasn’t even being bullied, people were just a bit awkward around her because they think she’s dating a killer. I don’t necessarily blame them, and I do know that we, people in general I mean, love drama and making a big deal out of everything.

Elena‘s aunt Judith really doesn’t like Stefan, and I get it, I wouldn’t want my niece dating a guy who I believe is a killer either. But then again, the cops talked to him and he’s been cleared of all accusations. Also, aunt Judith is referred to as an “older woman”. How old is she exactly? I thought she was in her early 30s. According to the TVD wiki she’s middle aged, older than aunt Jenna in the show. So I’m guessing mid to late 40s?

On top of the issues Elena has with Damon and aunt Judith, Stefan has been acting like an idiot too. He’s extremely weak, weaker than ever and he’s refusing to drink from Elena. Your brother is on the loose, harassing your girlfriend and her friends, and murdering everyone else. If I were you I’d take any blood I can get, especially if it’s gonna help me protect my loved ones, or you know, not get murdered. It doesn’t even matter that Elena’s been keeping Damon’s visits a secret from Stefan, he still knows Damon is in Fell’s Church.

Stefan’s main concern is not being able to stop once he starts drinking from her. So why let him drink straight from the source? When you donate blood you give about 500ml (17oz). Which means she could easily give him a bottle of her blood. Like don’t let him drink straight from you, just fill a cup or something. Problem solved. Author’s need to start writing me as a character in all of their books, I would make the character’s lives so much easier.

Finally, we get to Alaric’s house party. Again, a really weird move from a teacher, but okay. Everyone is pretty awkward around Elena and Stefan, except for Bonnie, Meredith, and Matt, of course. They talk about how strange it was that he had planned a party, but made it look spontaneous. I’m glad they realize this is strange. Elena then goes to get a snack and oh my, who would’ve guessed it! She runs into Damon. Damon immediately starts acting like a weirdo, taking a bite out of some garlic bread Elena had in her mouth, almost kissing her. Stefan gets all cocky trying to threaten Damon. Stefan, sweetie, a child could beat you up now, stay in your lane. Elena drags Stefan out, but on their way out someone slips a piece of paper into Elena’s purse.

It’s a piece of paper from Elena’s diary, and it reads: I want to touch him. More than any boy I’ve ever known. And I know he wants it, too, but he’s holding back on me. I mean yeah that’s pretty personal, but a teenager being attracted to their boyfriend isn’t exactly weird. A bit embarrassing, maybe, but like this isn’t really a good threat. Why this part in particular? Especially since Stefan is dating her, if they weren’t together and the word that Elena was thirsting over a random classmate came out it would be embarrassing. But I’m pretty sure Stefan already knows Elena’s into him.

It’s pretty obvious now that Caroline has the diary. I thought at first that Damon had it, that he was gonna change her diary entries and make it seem like she actually hates Stefan. Then let Stefan “find” the diary and read it. But uh, that doesn’t sound like something Damon would do, it’s kinda childish.

Once Stefan and Elena get home (Stefan’s home) we get a bit of an info-dump, which I don’t necessarily mind because it was all in dialogue. If your boyfriend was a vampire you’d probably have some questions too, so him talking about vampire lore for an hour wouldn’t really be unnatural. The reason I’m mentioning this is because this is the first time vervain was mentioned in the books. It protects humans from succumbing to vampire’s powers.

The next day they find another note, tacked to the office bulletin board. It said: I feel as if someone has hurt him terribly in the past and he’s never gotten over it. But I also think there’s something he’s afraid of, some secret he’s afraid I’ll find out. Seriously, why are these parts of her diary chosen? Again, this is a pretty normal thing to say “Someone hurt my partner in the past, I wonder what happened”. My assumption is that it’s Caroline taunting her. The notes aren’t meant to be humiliating, they’re just supposed to make Elena realize someone has her diary and is planning on using it against her.

I think Vickie turned. Or perhaps she’s being controled by Damon. Nobody has seen her since the night she was attacked. Now she’s back in school, in the middle of the cafeteria, taking her clothes off. She also keeps freaking out whenever she sees Elena and says: You’re the one of them! I saw you! You’re evil! Is Katherine back? Was the gentle girl just a persona she put on?

After the whole Vickie fiasco, Elena tells Bonnie and Meredith to stay away from Damon, and to not invite him in under any circumstance. Bonnie tells Elena she kissed Damon, because of course she did. Then she says the weirdest, yet somehow the most Bonnie thing ever. Killers are sort of romantic. Imagine you’re dying with his hands around your throat. He’d strangle the life out of you, and the last thing you’d see would be his face. Someone keep an eye on Bonnie so she doesn’t fulfill her grandma’s prophecy.

Remember how we talked about vervain a couple of paragraphs ago? Well apparently there’s no vervain in Fell’s Church, at least not during winter. So, Stefan and Matt get in Matt’s car and go on a road trip down south to get some vervain. Honestly, Matt is unbelievable, imagine your ex girlfriend’s new boyfriend comes to you and tells you they need your car so they can go “south” (doesn’t even give you an actual location) to get some weeds for your ex. And you just agree, as long as you can go with them. I’d tell him to go to a flower shop and fuck off from me. But Matt is simply built different. Matt and Stefan are slowly becoming friends. Stefan even said that Elena and Matt are his only friends, the only two people who make him feel comfortable and accepted. I hope their friendship doesn’t get ruined.

For whatever reason, L. J. Smith switches from one POV to another without any warning. There isn’t even a divider, she just starts a new paragraph from another person’s POV. Which makes it difficult to write a cohesive review. How am I meant to do that if we go from two guys in a car to Elena’s dream sequence without a warning?

While Matt and Damon were on the road trip, Elena and Bonnie were planning a sleepover. Not for fun, Elena is worried that now that Bonnie and Damon had kissed, she might become a target. So she thought Bonnie would be safer if Elena was there with her. I’m not sure what Elena could exactly do to protect Bonnie, but alright.

Elena keeps dreaming the same dream again and again. The exact same scene from the beginning of the book is described now, 46% into the book. Almost word for word. Elena and Damon are in the same room and he asks her if she wants to dance. She doesn’t reply, she just laughs and walks away, knowing he’ll follow her. She’s not running, she’s teasing him. He’s trying to get her to forget about Stefan. The first time this happened she remembered him and then woke up. This time Damon managed to bite her, she woke up, screaming, while Damon in his crow form was attacking her. Bonnie’s dad beat him with a broom. King shit.

Damon compelled her to open the window and let him in. But the thing is, she invited Damon into Bonnie’s house in the last book, during the ritual. I can’t remember if I mentioned it in the previous review, but Bonnie taught Elena a ritual she can perform to see who she will marry. You’re supposed to light a candle, put one plate, one fork and one knife on a kitchen table. Then you hold a chair, and when the clock strikes twelve, pull the chair out and say “Come in”. She didn’t realize Damon was there and when she said it, she accidentally invited him in. So… Why did Damon need to compel her to open the window? He can control the weather and shapeshift, but he can’t use his powers to unlock a door?

She asked Bonnie’s dad to take her and Bonnie back to her house. Poor man thought she was suffering from some sort of emotional breakdown so he obliged.

Stefan came back with vervain and gave some of it to her, kept the rest so he could extract oil from the flowers. He notices something is wrong with Elena but she’s still refusing to tell him what’s been going on. He doesn’t even know she lost her diary and someone’s been using it to taunt her. I know Elena thinks she’s protecting Stefan by lying to him about Damon, but if I were him I’d be pretty pissed. She’s putting herself and everyone else in danger. Also, why hasn’t she asked Stefan to tell Bonnie and Meredith his secret? Wouldn’t they be safer if they knew what’s actually going on? They already believe Bonnie is psychic, why wouldn’t they believe in vampires too?

The next morning Elena tells Matt someone’s been sending her parts of diary and she thinks it’s Damon. Bonnie, Matt and Meredith all say that it just doesn’t sound like something a guy would do. It sounds too petty, and Damon doesn’t look like a guy who would be that petty. So they all come to the same conclusion, the only person who would do that is Caroline.

Elena leaves the cafeteria and accidentally overhears Tyler and Caroline talking in one of the empty classrooms. They are planning to use Elena’s diary as proof that Stefan is the killer. They want to announce this during the Founder’s Day parade. To humiliate Elena in front of everyone and get Stefan arrested. In her diary, Elena said that she had lost her ribbon near the Wickery Bridge and Stefan found it. Apparently this is proof that he’s a killer. Like stalker? Maybe. But killer? That’s a bit of a stretch. Seniors get to read poetry during the parade, Caroline was one of the seniors chosen for this and she plans to pull out Elena’s diary instead.

Caroline is taking this “being popular in school” thing a bit too seriously. Girl, no one's gonna care you were popular in like six months. What is wrong with you?

Elena, Bonnie and Meredith break into Caroline’s house one night in order to retrieve Elena’s diary. They ransack the house and find Caroline’s diary, but Elena’s is nowhere to be seen. The Forbes’ come home early and the girls need to leave the house quickly. Elena somehow gets stuck. I genuinely have no idea how she managed that. So she tries to get out through a window and guess who’s already there? Damon! Who would’ve guessed. He, once again, tries to talk her into becoming a vampire and “ruling” the darkness with him. She says she’d rather die than join him and tries to jump off the roof. He catches her and tries to make a deal. He’ll get her diary back and in return Elena has to spend time with him and let him drink her blood. She, of course, says no. Damon tells her to think about it and leaves.

Nothing important happens for a bit, but there is one diary entry I wanted to talk about. (Elena got a new diary).

And there are little things that shouldn’t matter, but they bother me. Like why Stefan still wears Katherine’s ring around his neck, even though he loves me. In his defense, she did die. Breaking up with someone and losing them isn’t the same. That doesn’t necessarily mean he doesn’t love you, or that he loves Katherine more. But she’s not an ex, she’s his deceased lover. This really is a tricky situation. On one hand dating again can be difficult after losing your significant other, and even feel like you’re betraying them. So just getting rid of the only thing you have left of them can be hard, and honestly unnecessary. On the other hand, however, being 17 and dating someone who lost their partner can be just as hard. Being insecure, not just in general, but also in your relationship can make you feel like you have to “compete” with the deceased person. Grown adults sometimes can’t handle dating someone who lost their previous partner, let alone teenager. Grief is complicated. I don’t think either of them are bad people, they’re handling it to the best of their abilities.

Alrighty, let’s get back to the plot. Vickie is back! And doing worse than ever. Vickie attacked Tyler, tried to bite him. Alaric said: Don’t hurt her! Be careful! It’s epilepsy, we just need to get her lying down! Epilepsy? Really? Does epilepsy make people strip naked, sexually harass other students and try to drink their blood? I’m no doctor, but that doesn’t sound like epilepsy to me. Maybe this Alaric isn’t a vampire hunter, or he doesn’t want the other students to freak out. If you don’t know what epilepsy is, maybe you’d fall for it.

For whatever reason aunt Judith hosts a rehearsal Thanksgiving party every year to make sure everything goes well on Thanksgiving day. Personally, I’ve never seen anyone practice hosting a holiday dinner, is that a common thing? Anyway, it was time to sit down and eat when Judith announced they have a guest this year. Yeah, you guessed it right, it’s Damon again. This man does not give up. The fact that Elena hasn’t tried to kill him is quite impressive. Could never be me. So, now Damon has access to Elena’s house as well. As if that wasn’t enough Bonnie got briefly “possessed” during the dinner. A voice spoke through her, telling Elena that Death is coming for her. Funny how this only happens when Damon is there. Not suspicious at all. Poor Bonnie.

Damon leaves and aunt Judith pulls Elena aside and says this: Well, I just thought you might give him a chance, that’s all. I thought he was very pleasant. The kind of young man I like to see around here. Can’t blame her honestly. Narcissistic abusers are remarkably good at charming people. Much easier to abuse your partner when their close friends and relatives are on your side. They can be incredibly charming and charismatic. It’s not that they can’t help themselves, they just choose not to control themselves. They know exactly what they’re doing. Elena doesn’t really say anything to this. What could she say? There’s no way for her to prove that Damon is a killer and not Stefan, without outing them as vampires. Something tells me that aunt Judith doesn’t believe in vampires.

As I’ve said, Damon does not give up. After they’ve all went to bed he came back. But once he got to Elena’s room he couldn’t get in. Which leads to Elena being, once again, an idiot. She tells him that the reason he can’t get in is because the living room and her room are what’s left of the old house. Therefore someone needs to invite him in again. Why tell him this, he can just come back and ask to see the living room, it’s not like Elena in particular has to invite him.

The following day Elena goes to Stefan’s house to tell him they need to talk. Finally, she’s gonna tell him everything! Is what I thought was gonna happen, but nope. She only tells him about the diary, she continues to keep Damon a secret. Honestly, I’m starting to think she’s not lying just to keep Stefan safe, I feel like she likes running into Damon. I mean, she does talk often about how attracted she is to Damon.

Now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. (and by we I mean me) Stefan finally feeds from Elena. Technically, he did drink her blood when she dragged him out of that well, but that was just a couple of drops. This time he drank straight from her neck. Also, the whole drinking blood thing is kinda like sex to vampires. The way the author writes these scenes feels weirdly erotic. It’s kinda uncomfortable to read. And!! He told her I love you for the first time. Then, he did something so incredibly stupid. He proposed. Proposed. She’s 17, she’s not even out of high school yet. Not only did he propose, but he proposed with Katherine’s ring. Lord. I think that may have been done so that Elena is wearing a ring once she turns into a vampire.

Elena then says my favorite quote in the entire book. I’ve learned my lesson; I’ll never keep things from him again. Elena, darling, you are STILL keeping things from him. What are you talking about? I don’t think she knows what “I’ve learned my lesson” means, because she most certainly did not.

We’re getting near the end of the book. It’s the day of the Founder’s Day parade. The girls were hoping Caroline will leave the book unattended while she’s in costume. Unfortunately, Caroline isn’t stupid, she found a way to carry the diary with her. At this point I thought they would go to Damon to ask for help. Honestly, if I were Elena I’d fake being ill. Dramatically fall over and pretend to faint. Everyone would be paying attention to me, and then Stefan could offer to take me home. Caroline could still decide to go through with her plan, but the main reason she’s doing it is to humiliate Elena. Can’t humiliate her if she isn’t there.

They fail to get the diary and proceed with the parade, bracing themselves for the inevitable humiliation. Caroline’s turn to speak comes and she gives a little speech. Saying that she would rather read something about what’s happening in Fell’s Church now, not a hundred or two hundred years ago. She then pulls out the diary and freezes. Someone switched Elena’s diary with Caroline’s. Now she looks like an idiot. Was it Damon? Yeah it was. Elena asked why he had done it and he replied: For my own purposes. To which she said: I don’t think so. I don’t think that’s the reason at all. She really thinks she’s hot enough to make a cruel vampire feel empathy or compassion. I respect the confidence.

Elena’s aunt comes over and tells her she should be nicer to Damon. Damon takes control of her aunt and Elena has a horrible argument with Judith/Damon. She runs to Matt and asks if she can borrow his car, saying she just wants to be alone right now. She drives straight to the old graveyard. She parks the car and while she was hysterically laughing/crying she feels Damon’s presence. She tries to get across the river, because Damon can’t cross running water. Something goes wrong and she crashes Matt’s car and drowns.

Bonnie, Meredith and Stefan find her and pull her corpse out of the water. The next bit was so confusing and I couldn’t tell if Elena was dead or not because Bonnie kept referring to her as a “wax doll”. For a bit I thought there was an actual doll in the river and Damon took Elena, but no she was actually dead. The darkness comes once again and Stefan tells them to run. He shouts that he’ll leave Elena under the Willow trees. Bonnie realizes that the reason Stefan is telling them this because he will not be there when they come back for Elena.

Since Elena didn’t say anything about Damon to Stefan, he doesn’t know that that night when Damon broke in, she drank his blood and he drank hers. He didn’t know that she died with Damon’s blood in her system.

Stefan is going after Damon. He’s planning on killing himself. He’s fed on Tyler, Caroline and their friends. He has to be stronger if he wants to take on Damon. He doesn’t care about getting caught because he doesn’t plan on living long enough to get caught. But what’s gonna happen once he realizes Elena is not dead? Is he gonna use his new strength to compel the people of the town?

While Stefan and Damon were fighting, trying to kill one another. Elena was waking up. Elena woke up. Hungry and tired. She could hear voices, someone screaming somewhere far away. She got up to follow them, when she remembered “him”. Oh yes, it was coming back now. She remembered him. He was the one who understood her, who loved her. He was the one she wanted to be with forever. And I had a slight feeling she’s not talking about Stefan.

Her next sentence confirmed my suspicions: He was there, with his black, fathomless eyes, and his secret smile. And he needed her help. She would help him. Stefan’s eyes are hazel. Is this because she died with Damon’s blood in her system in particular? Maybe that forms some kind of bond between them. God, as long as this book doesn’t have fated mates I’m good.

The book ends with Elena shaking ice crystals out of her hair and stepping into the clearing in the woods where Damon and Stefan were fighting.

I’m having so much fun reading this series. Honestly, I enjoy it a lot more than the TV show. I’m really glad the books are quite short, about 250 to 300 pages. Since I take notes while I read, it does take quite a bit some time to finish a book, usually about 4h. Writing the actual review takes a couple of hours too, but it does mean I can finish everything in one day. With longer books, especially other YA Fantasies which can be between 600 and 900 pages, it takes a long ass time to write.

I don’t remember the last time I was this excited about a book series. Is it perfect? No, definitely not. But it’s so entertaining. The fact that I know and love these characters already definitely helps.

Fingers crossed that the other authors who took over the series won’t ruin it.

Rating: ⛤⛤⛤⛤

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1 note · View note

eunbii · 2 years ago

Text

How does this thing work?

Move along, this was meant to be read by me only.

Wow, I’ve never been on here since ages. I just can’t sleep (mar 8 4:27am AU time) at this hour and thought of taking a trip down memory lane. I found my private online diary here and my last entry was from 8 years ago lol. Then it got stuck with that since I can no longer recall what email I used for that account. Looking back, even though it was a ‘secret’ or kinda like what Finsta is nowadays, I’ve been cryptic with my posts that I forgot who I was referring to at the time. But at least I got to take a peek at where my headspace at when I was in my teens (entries started in 2010 and tho not daily, I had posts there until 2014).

MAJOR CRINGE

I feel like all of us had our cringe moment and I wasn’t even jeje at the time. But, I feel sorry for my younger self. I noticed how lil me was too hard on herself and really had no self esteem. I felt like my younger self already judged herself way before others can. On top of that, she easily believes on other people’s comments. Damn girl, that might be the people pleaser in you. In all fairness, it also made me realize that somehow, I already am if not a full blown adult, then at least I matured a lot; totally different from my more-than-a-decade-ago self.

Should I start doing that again? I still have my manual journal (meaning pen and notebook) but my hands aren’t used to writing that I feel lazy writing my thoughts down. I have a lot of ebas in my mind and I’m thinking of maybe resuming on doing it once I start my farm job next week. Shit girl.. I sometimes can’t believe that this is my life now.

That old secret tumblr account felt like a time capsule and I guess the universe had to show it to me because lately I was just talking to myself saying I’ve already forgotten a lot of things and that’s how I trained my mind + my memory’s probably damaged by all the excessive things that I did in the past.

I think I should just write down my thoughts whether it be on this website, an app, or my notebook and just look back again soon. Call me vain or whatever but I’d love to see my progress from here on then to the next years of my life. I can’t believe that I’m freaking 28 now and I had this account when I was 15. Looking back at my private tumblr posts, I was still a teenager who’s about to embark on a new adventure. In retrospect, it’s happening again since I decided to forge another life-changing adventure this year. The past years (I guess since graduating college and those years further back back back) were a blur. I’m nearing my 30′s and I’m still trying to identify who tf I am. One thing’s for sure, I feel like I’m a bit kinder to myself now and wow wtf I’ve really been hard on myself since my puberty days? I wonder what outside factors occurred that made me feel that way. I was such a prude lol I was crucifying myself for exploring a lot of things.

#past midnight thoughts

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plush-rabbit · 3 years ago

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The Dateable's Making You Flustered

Request: Flustered scenarios with the dateables

A/N: Sorry for the bit of delay!! I really need to work faster with these (1k each)

Barbatos:

It’s been such a long time ever since the butler has felt some sort of attraction towards somebody. It surprises even himself and he’s able to see into the future. Yet, when he was given- or rather forced- into a day off, the first place where his mind had wandered had been to you. It was you that he thought of first. He didn’t have a clue on what he wanted to do, but when he was told that he had the day off- no exceptions- his mind had automatically gone to spending time with you. Barbatos wonders what changed that made you so important to him- he wonders when it happened, how it snuck past him and caught him by surprise.

He invited you on his day off, had sent you a quick message asking you’d like to accompany him around Devildom to pick up a few things for himself rather than the usual outing to the market. You had graciously agreed and now he stands beside you, his hand on a book and you peering to see what’s written on it.

“What’s the book about?” You ask, haven given up on trying to figure out what it was that had gotten his attention.

A few demons reach around and pull a book away from the shelf, talking excitedly to one another and he moves to stand closer to you. He smiles at you and holds the book close to him, already deciding to purchase it. “It’s an old tale from Devildom, similar to your Hansel and Gretal but this one is a bit more heavy.” You give out a hum, pleased at his answer and nod your head. “If you’d like, I could lend it to you once I’m done.”

“Oh!” You gasp, grabbing at the same book and holding towards you. “I’ll just take one with me,” you offer and he can’t help but feel a little disappointed that you didn’t want to take his. “This way, we can read at the same time and then discuss. If it’s supposed to be similar to Hansel and Gretal, I’m sure that I’ll enjoy it. Plus-” you look up at him, your smile kittenish the book pulled to your chest- “it can be like our secret book club. I’ve been needing an excuse to go to the castle and visit, so this will be perfect,” you say excitedly, see-sawing between the tips of your shoes and back to your soles.

“You don’t need an excuse to visit the castle.” He hooks his arm with yours, slowly pushing you away from where a growing crowd of demons appear. “You know you’re always welcomed. The Young Lord would never dare to shut the door in your face.” He stops near the corner end of the store, his eyes attracted to a few trinkets where he reaches for.

The book is lowered and you shift your stare to where you both once stood. “And you?” His attention is grabbed immediately and he looks at you with a confused stare. You meet his eyes for a moment before you pull away. “Would you mind if I came over?” You clear your throat and look down, your bottom lip pinched between your teeth. “I wouldn’t want to…” you trail off, clearly unable to find the proper words. “I wouldn't want to distract you or make your work any more difficult than it already is.”

He can feel the back of his neck grow hot. He can’t be mistaken by what your words mean. You want to know what he thinks of you, if you’re welcomed in his eyes. His shoulders lower and he smiles at you, his hand reaching out to take your book from your hands. When you look up at him, he has his gaze kept on the title of the book, following the rise and fall of each letters.

“You’re always welcomed.” He takes in a small breath and fixes his gaze back to you. “You could never be a distraction for me. If you wish to have a secret book club with me, then I am more than honored to be your guest.” He clears his throat and looks away from you, his smile slowly growing but wavering as he lets out a shaky breath. “You make work easier. I enjoy my job, but I must say that when you’re around, the only thing I can think of is finishing in order to spend more time with you. Being around you is… nice.” He returns his stare back to you. “I’ve been around for a very long time, but when you’re around me, well, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so young. I’m not sure what it is about you-” he raises a hand and holds your cheek- “but I find myself happy whenever I’m with you. So please, never think that you are a bother towards me. You’re always free to visit- whether it be for our secret book club-” he returns the book to you, smiling when your fingertips brush against his- “or just because, I’ll always make time for you.”

It might be cruel of him, but he can’t help but smile and let out a quiet chuckle when you press your face against the book. “Barbatos,” you say in a hushed whisper. He only hums in response, glad that his words had such an effect on you. You look up at him with a faux pout and furrow of your brows while he stands there with a wide grin. Your eyes turn away from him and you finally let a smile appear. “Thanks for the reassurance,” you mutter.

“Of course. Nothing that I said was a lie, so it was quite easy to let the words out, you know,” he teases, grabbing the book from you before you have another chance to hide yourself. “Now, is there anything else you’d like to see in the store, or do you wish to go somewhere else?”

“I uh-” still flustered, you rub your cheek where his hand once was- “can we check out the manga section?”

He hooks his arm through yours, his body close enough to where he can smell the sweet scent of your perfume. “Lead the way,” he says, following your footsteps through the store. He isn’t sure when his feelings towards you had changed, he doesn’t even recall the giddiness of when it all started, but he doesn’t mind it. It’s a nice change of pace. You’re something unpredictable and reckless, and something soft and fragile, and he welcomes having you so close to him, to where he could lean over and press his lips against the crown of your head and keep you protected under his touch. Barbatos welcomes the change that you brought and while the change wasn’t originally for him, he enjoys that it is for him now, that you’re the one that gets to be close to him and that gets to have the pleasure of having you wanting to visit him.

Simeon:

Who could have ever thought that he, an angel, would fall in love with a human? The very thing that an angel had created a war for, the very thing that caused him to lose those close to him, and the very thing that had shown just how different he was from someone he had considered a brother, he now commits the same unholy act. He must be a hypocrite. He is a hypocrite. The very thing he turned a blind eye to and here he is, so undoubtedly in love with a human that he fears his wings will be ripped from him, his blood staining his clothes and his halo broken beyond repair. Terror makes his blood run cold and yet, he cannot look away from you. Simeon keeps his gaze upon you with a mixture of hesitation and melancholy and you just smile back at him, the phone in your hand shared between the two of you as you watch a parody of a teen romance on an application.

“It’s amazing how much people have grown to like this er, show?” He asks, still unsure of what to call it. “It’s considered a show, right?”

Your shoulders raise in a shrug and you give him a small, tight lipped smile. “I guess. I think most people refer to it as a series.” The phone is lowered and it returns to your lap. “It isn’t wrong to call it a show, but since they’re short little bursts of episodes, I think people find it easier to call it a series, but it can go any way.” You move away from him, scooting until your thigh is at an angle and your knee is pushed against his. “Anyways, to answer your question, yes people do like it. I think since it’s like a parody but also suspenseful with the cliffhangers, it keeps people entertained.” He nods his head slowly, and he tries to ignore the rush of cold that is now at his empty side. “Did you like it?”

His eyes slightly widen, and his lips pull into a thin smile. “I- Well, considering the fact that it’s written and done by one person- I- It certainly is different than the things I usually consume, but-” He struggles to find a way to finish his thought without offending you in any sort of way and ends with a stiff nod of his head.

It’s a tense moment that doesn’t last long enough to linger on when you suddenly laugh. Your laugh is loud as it effectively gets him to snap his mouth shut. Your hands are waved in front of you and your knee leaves his as you curl onto the couch. “You don’t have to force yourself to like it, Simeon, I only wanted to show it to you, because you asked what I was watching.”

He appreciates you giving him an easy out, and he releases a breath he hadn’t known he had been holding. It’s a slow release and suddenly he can breathe again. “Well thank you for sharing it with me. I appreciate that from you.” Silence lingers and it isn’t like before where it’s tense, it’s lighter now, but it still feeds him an odd sense of air where he’s stuck between a breath, his eyes stuck on you.

Once more, your laughter fills the room and it’s short and sweet, a gift given to him for just the moment. “Of course, Simeon. I like spending time with you, and I especially like sharing my interests so I guess, thank you for allowing me to do that.” Your hand reaches towards his and he sees the slightest pause from you, the way your fingers twitch until you allow yourself to hold his hand and give it a gentle squeeze.

Warmth returns to him, something akin to a summer’s day in the Celestial Realm, and even though all air has left him once again, he is breathless in a way that matters, weightless and joy illuminating him. When he meets your eyes, he cannot look away and he cannot help but return your smile. The clock ticks onwards and he’s left with a heavy heart. He’s read about the perfect moment, thought about writing something so trivial and false, and yet, the perfect moment sits before him with their hand in his.

“I have to be honest with you,” he murmurs and his eyes feel hot, a lump forms in his throat that makes his words sound tighter. “I- I don’t-” How could he ever phrase what he wants to tell you? How could he drop that sort of confession on you? You know the story, would you ever want him to actually confess to you, to repeat the past mistakes and know the horrid outcome? He frowns. His eyes are stuck on the floor, running along the edge of the carpet and he can feel your gaze on him, your eyes that are heavy with concern and ever the angel, Simeon spares you and gives you the easier answer. “I’m thankful to have met you,” your name is a sweet whisper on his lips, a taste of sweet peach that makes his heart full and heavy. “I don’t think I’ve ever met someone as wonderful as you. I see you and I think that I’ve found something even more pure than an angel.” With every word, his hand turns to slip into yours, his gloves thin enough to feel the small crevices and calluses on your hand. “Even if you are human and you’ve committed sin, I still think that you are the most pure of them all with your kindness and generosity.”

He isn’t sure what he had expected, but he hadn’t expected to have you plant your face against the soft back cushion of the couch, your face held there for moments. Your hand slips away from his and he’s left holding empty air. His hands fret over your body and when you pull away, your face is flushed, your hands covering the lower part of your face as you look at anywhere but him.

“Simeon,” you whine, closing your eyes tightly. “That’s really sweet.” Your voice is high-pitched and your eyes open once more, as your hands finally lower. “I think I might actually die, that was really nice and something that I don’t hear often.” You finally look at him and your smile is ever growing. “Especially from an angel,” you say with a half-hearted chuckle.

His smile is soft and to him, it dulls compared to your brilliance. As if you were a puzzle, he fits into your hand with ease and grace. “Well if you were to die, I would return you in any way that I could.

Solomon:

He’s human, ageless and immortal, but human. He’s lived and loved, lost and grieved, and he’s gone numb and distant to emotions. He didn’t mind it, he welcomed it. He hated losing and hated the people that he lost and the empty space that they left. He promised that he wouldn’t ever want to feel that sense of sadness ever again. Then you came into the picture. He’s been called shady and worse words than that, but you don’t call him that. You hold his hand and you welcome him into your arms. You go on and on about the human in him and how you love that he’s there with you. Solomon isn’t sure when it was that he broke his own promise, but when he looks at you, he’s willing to love again and again.

The kitchen is a mess and powder covers the counters. His hands knead the dough and the smell of garlic and onion sizzled with oil is heaven in the air. You measure the ingredients and whisk at the eggs. It’s domestic and it’s something that leaves a storm of butterflies in his stomach. He could watch you forever, in the kitchen, with an apron tied around your waist, flour in your hands and the tip of your tongue peaking past your lips as you concentrate on rereading the cookbook. It’s domestic and it’s something he had long forgotten that he wanted.

“I have the ingredients memorized, I could simply tell you what to add,” he muses, returning to forming the bread into its shape.

“Knowing you, you’ll add something in there,” you quip, your smile now directed at him, with your tongue still pinched out. “Plus, it’s just reading. I can read,” you say with a defensive tone. “Just start dressing the bread with garlic and then we can get on with breading the chicken.” You jerk your head to where the chicken rests on the cutting board, the flour beside it.

“Okay,” he sings under his breath, returning his attention to the dough before him. The room is filled with a song from the Human Realm, a classic that has him feeling warmth in a kitchen that is not his, but with a person that is. It makes him long for another time, but when he catches you in the corner of his eye, he’s glad where he is. “I like your song choice,” he says, instantly biting the inside of his cheek once the words had left his mouth. It’s been so long since he’s ever tried to have an actual connection with someone, and he’s sure he wasn’t ever this awful at it.

“Yeah?” You step close to him, holding your hand out. “Care for a dance then?” Your smile is crooked and eyes gleaming with excitement as the song is replayed with a touch of your hand.

He’s frozen for a second, stuck in time, and rooted into place, his hand moving through thick amber as he lets his hand rest in your palm. The room is spun, colors mixing with each other and slowly blurring until he stands still, pushing you away and pulling you close, laughing and letting his hand rest against your side, his hand feeling the soft curve against your ribs. Your hands are powdered and his smell like bread, and your laugh is young and youthful. He can’t help but follow, letting his smile break out and hand slipping out of yours, to encase you in a hug where he traps you into a swaying motion.

The song fades and he’s forced to pull away, to step away from you and there’s hesitation is his steps and movements. His hands linger for a second too long, his eyes still stuck on you and his smile much softer than it was before. It’s a few seconds of silence where you take in deep, heavy breaths, and sway lightly to the song that approaches.

Your name is said and it’s sweet like honeysuckle and addicting like a drug. It’s a night where he invited you over, and now you two are busy making dinner in the kitchen and you’ve given him instructions and kept a close eye on what he does. Your perk your head and nod, allowing for him to continue. “Thank you for coming over,” he says with a tight smile on his lips.

“Anytime, Sol,” you respond, coming beside him once more. You bump your arm into his, leaning to look at the garlic mixture in a bowl. “You know I like spending time with you, so anytime you need a cooking partner, you can always call.”

He doesn’t say anything, only nodding and trying to keep the butterflies in his stomach at bay while his heart beats frantically against his chest. You move away from him, returning to where the powder rests in a bowl and he’s left without, and while the distance is short, it’s something that is unwelcomed. He’s left with dough in his hands and you’re away from him, and loneliness settles.

“Can I call you whenever?” He asks, an easy smile on his lips, but there’s a plea in his words. He’s never been the needy type, but he needs you.

“Of course, you can,” you respond and you’re as kind as ever. You turn away and close the bag of flour, pushing it aside to clear the space at the table.

Like a drug that leaves his mouth dry and heart racing, feeling as if he’s about to die, he calls your name. You’re so close to him and yet, you aren’t close enough. He needs you. He needs you beside him. And he takes the first step, standing in front of you with a red kissed face as stares at the cabinets against the wall. You call his name and your hand is tender against his neck, leaving a white stain that snows onto his shirt.

“I just wanted to thank you. I know how busy you can get and I just-” he can feel the telltale sign of tears and he wonders when he’s gotten so emotional- “I like spending time with you. I like your music choices and I like it when you cook with me- even if it’s just you giving me instructions- but I like it.” His tongue touches against his lips and he looks at you, fiddling with the end of his shirt. “I think you’re great and I just need you to know that if you ever need anything, I’ll be more than happy to help. I would do whatever it would take to make you happy because you have a really nice smile and I don’t think you should lose that.” His heart echoes and his smile is gentle and nervous. “Thank you for being with me.”

You stare at him and he wonders if he had overstepped only to gasp when you bury yourself against his chest, patting at his shoulder and pulling away with a hand covering the lower half of your face. “Solomon,” his name leaving your lips sends a jolt of electricity through him, “I’m glad. Thank you,” you whisper. Your hand reaches to pull his away from his shirt and you hold it in yours. “I like being with you too. Us humans have to stick together, right?” You say softly, letting your fingers run over his scarred knuckles.

He nods silently and leans over, his lips pressed against your forehead. “Yeah, us humans have to stick together,” he whispers against you, smiling when he feels your own lips against his knuckles. He’s with you, at this very moment, he stands in a kitchen with music playing, holding you close to him, and for a moment, he can pretend that this won’t ever end, that he won’t ever have to move away from you and risk losing you.

#obey me #obey me swd #om swd #obey me barbatos #obey me simeon #obey me solomon #barbatos x reader #obey me barbatos x reader #obey me simeon x reader #obey me solomon x reader #i hope you like it!#and that it was in charcater #i feel like i always sturggle for barbs

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subpar-ghoulfriend · 4 years ago

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Home

yandere!EraserMic x Reader

Mic skips a couple of steps and brings their darling home earlier than planned.

18+ only

tw: mention of blood, kidnapping, restraints

Hizashi felt panic bubble up his throat as he aggressively ran his fingers through his hair. This wasn't good, he wasn't good. He fumbled around trying to pull out his phone so he could message Shota.

-Sho, when are you getting home???

Probably in a few hours...-

why-

Shaking, the blonde continued:

-I brought her home

Hizashi was convinced he'd burn a whole in the rug with his pacing. Staring at his phone screen it looked like Shota was responding, then it stopped, started, stopped, and started. Finally after what felt like forever he got a simple reply:

I'll be home in 15 -

---

"Mic, what did you do?" Aizawa sighed. The grumpy man intended to scold his partner but he couldn't bring himself to do so when Mic was so close to a full on panic attack.

"She agreed to meet up with her ex, he was talking about getting back together and I panicked."

Aizawa sighed; he understood where his partner was coming from. Even though Hazashi had abandoned their plan to wait, he was no longer surprised by Mic's actions. There was an understanding between the pair as the atmosphere softened.

Mic lead him down the basement stairs, instead of using the overhead light there was already a dull glow from nightlight that allowed the Pro Heroes to see well enough. On the bed in front of them the comforter rose and fell along with the breath of their darling.

"She should be asleep for another hour or two," Mic whispered. "I only cuffed one wrist to the bed, I figured without her quirk she won't be too troublesome."

Aizawa lovingly rolled his eyes. His partner was such a softy. Nodding in agreement he moved the blanket aside to see the clunky metal quirk-cancelling cuff encircling her ankle. The two had plenty of equipment from their jobs that allowed them to make a "safe" space for their girl.

The couple had stumbled across you on accident; you worked at the new cat cafe that opened near their home. The two quickly became regulars and you snagged their hearts when you recognized them as cafe regulars. They went every Sunday, you had their orders memorized and even told them which cats seemed to miss them the most. Hizashi fell hard and fast. It wasn't until Aizawa found you crying in the ally after one of your shifts that your fate was sealed. You told him that one of the cats ran out of the cafe earlier that day got hit by a car. Learning about the death of a cat wasn't the only thing breaking his heart.

When he got home that evening he told Hizashi. They both agreed that you needed to be protected, shielded from the pain of reality, and never subjected to cat-death-by-car ever again. Essentially they baby proofed their home for you. Anything dangerous (from silverware to chemicals) was locked away. Eraserhead installed cameras throughout the house that streamed to both of their phones. The windows were locked and shatter resistant and they even installed a top of the line security system.

Then came the stalking, both kept tabs on you - in their minds they both casual about it. Aizawa even visited you (broke in) one night to bug your phone. This was how the learned about your ex. The breakup was amicable enough that you two occasionally checked in on each other. After all, you had been together from middle school all the way through your teens. The two of you just wanted and were ready for different things.

---

Sure enough, two hours later they could hear your faint scream travel up from the basement. Mic had taken care of the acoustics, of course. He made sure that not a peep could be heard from outside of the house; even before you were in the picture this was in place for his quirk. Between each floor of their house he also added sound minimizing flooring and installation. They needed to be able to hear you but also maintain their sanity.

"M-mr. Yamada? Mr Aizawa?"

Your wide eyes were filled to the brim with tears. As Mic sat on the edge of the bed you withdrew as far as you could from him.

Aizawa seemed more conscientious of your space; instead he knelt in front of the bed so he was at least on your level.

He was the first to speak, "There's no need to scream, y/n, you're safe here. It's just Zashi and I."

The tears finally spilled over. You tried asking them to let you go, that you wouldn't say anything. You told them you had work this evening (even if you didn't) and that they'd know something was wrong if you didn't show up. What made it worse was that the men just kept nodding, taking in every plea you made.

Finally Mic cut you off, "You don't have to worry about work anymore, me and Sho are gonna take care of you, it'll be great. We won't have to wait a whole week to spend time together."

"You can't," You hiccupped, "this is illegal. Once they find out you'll be in trouble."

It was as if they didn't hear you. Mic just kept rambling about what you three could do together and how perfect everything was and how you'd love living with them.

Aizawa on the other hand sighed and indicated to Mic that he should get off the bed. "It's a lot to take in right now, new environments can be scary. You should get some more rest, Zashi gave you a pretty strong sedative."

That explained the pounding in your head. You didn't bother to keep yelling as the ascended the stairs. Instead you focused on not crying. You kept telling yourself that now wasn't the time for tears. You needed to get away from your abductors. You had never been in handcuffs before, you tried pulling against the bed frame in hopes that something would give way. As you expected, nothing really happened. The cuff was secured tightly around your wrist and with every pull came a dull pain in your hand. There wasn't anything useful within your reach.

After crying on the bed for what felt like an eternity you were all out of tears. You thought back to a movie you saw last summer, this detective was cuffed to a furnace and he pulled his hand free. However, that guy definitely lost the flesh on his hand and probably broke something. Your stomach churned at the thought. Then your mind wandered to terrible things the men could do to you. What if they were cannibals? Or wanted to sell your organs on the black market? Weighing the pros and cons you began to pull violently away from the bedpost. The metal dug into your skin and you couldn't help but scream. Hopefully your captors wouldn't come until you were free. There was a small window at the very top of the adjacent wall maybe you could squeeze through.

The searing pain became too much and you stopped to collect yourself. There were already gashes along the base of your wrist and blood coated the handcuffs. You stifled a cry as you resumed your work. You let out a blood-curdling scream when you felt a pop. Instead of freedom, you felt even more trapped. Your thumb looks wrong and looked like it was caught half way in the handcuff and halfway out. Movies make everything seem so much easier.

Light poured in as the door to the basement opened. Panicking you concealed the evidence under the blanket. Both of your hands and parts of your clothes were painted with blood.

"Hey kitten," Aizawa cooed. "We brought you some water. Are you feeling any better."

It was Mic who noticed first. You flinched as his hands cupped your face, his thumb ran along your cheek and you felt something slick.

His voice was rushed and panicked, "Sweet girl, this is blood. Shota come here, y/n is bleeding."

The blonde man handles your face and neck trying to find the source of the bleeding.

You pulled the blanket tighter, "I'm okay, please let me go."

Then Aizawa noticed the specks of blood on the sheets. He tugged at the blankets until you couldn't hold on any more. You were really only holding on with one good hand. You couldn't recall seeing that much emotion on his face in the past.

"Mic go get the first aid kit, now," Eraser's voice was strained and quiet but it sent the other man scattering up the stairs. He pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked the cuff. Instinctively your cradled the hand to your chest, crying for the umph-teenth time that day. The scruffy man pulled you on to his lap, cradling your head to his chest like you would a child.

"You're okay, Mic's gonna get the first aid kit and we're gonna get you all taken care of."

When it came to flight or fight involving direct confrontation, you chose the third option: freeze. You focus on your breathing as the man continued to soothe you. You could hear Mic nearly throw himself down the stairs as he made his was back to your side.

Mic was gentle with your wound, after cleaning the blood off the cuts were visibly deep but not as bad as it seemed. Aizawa told him that it looked like your thumb was dislocated and that he would fix it once the bleeding stopped.

As Hizashi continued to apply pressure you were able to hear him sniffling as he held back tears of his own. Aizawa reached over to comfort Mic as he continued his fawning over you, "You're safe, everything's okay now. We should've known that you would get scared, all by yourself down here. We won't leave you alone again, especially while you're adjusting to your new home."

#yandere erasermic #yandere eraserhead #yandere present mic #yandere aizawa #yandere hizashi yamada #yanderes x reader #yandere erasermic x reader

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kyuremking · 3 years ago

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Is Remi, Haibara's younger sister?

I'm not really sure about this idea myself, but after thinking about it I think it has some chance of being true. So let's get started.

From what I've been able to find out it turns out that Haibara didn't come from a family of Jujutsu Sorcerers, but he did have a sister who could see curses.

In addition to that, Haibara banned his sister from going to the Jujutsu School.

So what we have from Haibara's sister is that she could see curses and that Haibara did not want her to go near the jujutsu sorcerers.

Now let's go to what we know about Remi.

What we know about her is that she is a sorceress (obvious since she is in the killing games), that she is not a sorceress from the past (she even complains to Fushiguro for thinking she is old), that she doesn't seem to be very strong (or pretends to be weak) and that she wants to be called Remi.

That she is not a sorceress from the past confirms that she is from the modern era, which brings her closer to the possible age range to be Haibara's sister.

That she is not strong may be related to her not being from a family of sorcerers. Recall that much of the power of being a Jujutsu sorcerer comes from genetics, and as far as we know because Haibara died at the hands of a Grade 1 curse that would make him only a Grade 2 or lower sorcerer.

And finally the most important point is her name or rather what they want her to be called.

She says "Call me Remi". She doesn't say "My name is Remi".

Which maybe means it is a nickname or what she prefers to be called as maybe "Remi" is the nickname Haibara used for her. And it is her way of remembering her dead brother.

Or maybe it's just a nickname to hide her real name so Fushiguro can't look for her with the shikigami from the killing games.

However when I thought about this I realised something. The age difference. I thought this was a big problem since Remi seems to be about the same age or maybe a year or two older than Fushiguro.

But then I remembered another pair of brothers, Mei Mei and Ui Ui. From what I have found Mei Mei's age is unknown but she seems to be at least a year older than Gojo. While Ui Ui seems to be in his early teens or not yet in his teens.

That would give us an age gap of at least 14-16 years. Since Ui Ui would be about 10-12 and Mei Mei about 28-29 although as I said the ages are unclear. Of course there is still the possibility that Mei Mei and Ui Ui are not blood brothers although we are not sure yet.

So the age gap between the siblings is 14-16 but Remi looks older than Fushiguro and Haibara was a year younger than Gojo which gives us a gap of 10-11 years or so. That still seems like a pretty big gap to me although that's because the age gap between cousins in my family is much closer although my father was about 16 years younger than his older brother. So maybe it's possible.

I'm still not completely convinced of my own theory but for now there are chances that it is true or maybe the next chapter will show that my theory is completely wrong. Well I have until Friday so we'll see.

Or maybe we'll never know because Fushiguro is going to kill her and the other guy.

#jujutsu megumi #Jujutsu Kaisen #gojo saturo #fushiguro megumi #jjk haibara #yu haibara #itadori yuuji #jjk nanami #nanami kento #jjk itadori #remi jjk #mei mei jjk #mei mei jujutsu kaisen #ui ui jjk #ui ui jujutsu kaisen #kenjaku #jjk geto #shoko ieiri #jujutsu kaisen memes

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radkindoffeminist · 2 years ago

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It annoys me so much that people will refuse to see how sometimes stuff feeds into a wider rhetoric and annoys me even further that when you question if something feeds into wider rhetoric that you’re dismissed as being like someone who believes in a crazy conspiracy or just told that not everything has to being about whatever issue. It’s just one show or film or plot or joke or comment and therefore is relatively harmless, right?

Like that post I shared the other day which said that asking a GNC person if they’re trans is just a question and not forcing them to be trans. But they don’t realise that they’re one person feeding into the wider rhetoric that GNC women are men and vice versa. When does it stop becoming people innocently asking one person a question (and btw a question GNC people have probably asked themselves before) and start becoming social pressure?

When I first started to think I was bisexual, I identified at so in the online spaces I was in. Multiple people questioned how I could possibly know I was bisexual if I had never even kissed before and thought that it was weird that I ‘just knew’ based on how I felt. I didn’t think so much about it when the first person asked me but by the tenth or so it had me seriously questioning myself and I ended up going back in the closet for another five years. You could argue that anyone who asked was just curious and asking a genuine question, but every person who asked made me question myself more. Every time that was their reaction to me saying I was bi, it pushed me back in the closest. When you ask gay and bi people how they ‘just know if they haven’t tried’ or ask GNC people if they’ve considered if they’re trans, you’re assuming they haven’t asked themselves that and that no one else has ever asked them that question before. Why would you assume that? Why ever ask a question that, more than likely, is just adding to the social pressure that they face?

What about a film like Licorice Pizza? It tells the story of a teenage boy falling in love with a 20-something woman and pursuing her until they eventually fall for each other. My friend thought it was a sweet romcom showing how people with age gaps can bond over shared interest. For me personally and as someone who dated a 21 year old when I was 15? I can’t see it as anything more than a film feeding into the rhetoric that paedophilia isn’t that bad when it’s the younger person pursuing the older person because it’s really only the grooming and lying which is the problem and not like the inherent power imbalances caused by teens not having as much life experiences, being at different developmental stages, and the financial differences. It took me so long to start dealing with the fact that I was traumatised and abused because in my first relationship and other ‘friendships’ I had, I had pursued them so I felt like it was my responsibility and that I did that to myself, but I know that the adults I was talking to should have known better than to keep talking to a fucking child and cut me off. Teenagers will always pursue adults, but adults have the responsibility to turn around and say no. We shouldn’t be blaming paedophilia on teens (especially teen girls) being to mature and irresistible for men to say no to.

And a final example: the way abortion is portrayed in the media, particularly medical dramas. I am convinced that this is why so many women see abortion as something which is only for the most desperate women and hence why so many refuse to seriously consider it as an option/automatically dismiss it. In every medical drama I’ve watched abortions are only seen as being for women who were raped, abused, or in a particularly poor (financial) situation, with only a small handful of exceptions to this rule. Women turn their noses up at the idea of having abortions, even when they are suffering from it or the baby won’t survive. Like Grey’s has four separate stories (one from the spin off) I can recall off the top of my head about women who were medically advised to have an abortion but refused because they would rather have the baby -two of these were because the baby wasn’t going to survive more than a few minutes; two because the women had cancer and couldn’t receive treatment while pregnant so accepted dying for the baby. Look at the wider media and what sort of stories about abortion access do you see post Roe vs Wade being overturned? I believe most the ones I’ve heard about are teenagers and/or rape victims.

Sometimes, something is just a joke or comment or whatever. But often when we say it’s feeding into wider rhetoric, we mean it. It’s never just one person or show or film company saying and doing these things, it’s many. They’re not all innocent and ignorant and we’re allowed to call out patterns when we see it. We’re not crazy conspirators for recognising that misogyny and homophobia and paedophilia exist in media, even if subtly.

#I now have mad respect for the person who cut me off when I finally told them I was 14/15 #that was the right thing to do #it fucking hurt at the time but they were absolutely right #thank you for not traumatising me

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fandomlit · 4 years ago

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neutral, chap. 2 (dream smp x reader)

series summary (in game!au) when an exiled tommy finally rebels against a manipulative dream, he finds safety in neutral territory, a place owned and guarded by you. staying in your safe haven opens up the younger one’s eyes to your way of life, while also revealing your deeper past before neutral; a past that involved a war for your love.

chapter summary tommy learns a little bit more about your relationship with dream before spending his day with ghostbur, exploring neutral territory and learning of the war that sparked its creation.

warning mentions of war, violence, and injuries

previous | series masterlist | next

gif cred belongs to @chillcrafting

“you have a package, y/n!” ghostbur called out just as you placed tommy’s breakfast in front of him. the ghoul’s words went completely ignored by tommy, whose gaze was solely focused on the beautiful stack of pancakes placed in front of him.

y/n smiled to herself. “you can bring it in, bur. i know who it’s from.” she shuffled syrup and butter over to tommy just as ghostbur came in with the fateful package.

tommy was already half way through scarfing down the stack of pancakes when y/n managed to open the package, ghostbur gazing over her shoulder. she took out a note set atop of the contents.

she read aloud, “y/n, i’m sorry i haven’t properly stopped by in a while. my work requires much of my undivided attention right now, which i’m sure you understand. please work your magic for me with the clothes included, and i will be sure to drop by for them and a meal soon. there are a few extra gifts included for you. i hope tommy isn’t burdening you. signed dream.”

“i’m not a burden!” tommy spoke offendedly through a mouthful of pancakes.

“you’re right, tommy,” y/n hummed, handing him a napkin to wipe some syrup off of his chin. “you’re perfect company.” tommy smiled to himself as he finished off his stack of pancakes. y/n sighed to herself, “clay really knows how to ruin a good piece of clothing..”

“so you and dream are close, y/n?” tommy grumbled, picking up his glass of milk.

she shrugged. “as close as you can be with someone you barely see.” she placed his battered clothes to the side, sighing again when she saw the rest of the contents of the box. tommy didn’t realize this, continuing with his questions.

“i remember that he respected your territory when he stepped into it,” he recalled. “he was going to kill me, but then he realized he was in neutral.”

y/n nodded. “when i made claimed this territory as neutral, i made a deal with everyone: i would mend and tailor anything you needed as long as you respected my territory as neutral.” she held up a box of diamonds and a smaller box of netherite to tommy’s view, making his mouth drop open with surprise. y/n held out another napkin to him for the milk that had sputtered out of his open mouth while ghostbur laughed into his hand. “clay is the only one who still tries to pay me.”

“with netherite?!” tommy exclaimed, letting out a surprised laugh.

y/n shrugged, seemingly not phased by the generous gift. “the nether..” she shook her head, placing the valuable materials onto the table, “is not a place i like to go. and most of this will probably be going toward dream’s armor, anyway.” she sighed, placing the gifts back into the box and laying the tattered shirts on top of them. “trust me, he’s still too kind for his own good with these sorts of materials.”

“how much netherite does that man have?” ghostbur scoffed, looking at how much was contained in the box.

“probably quadruple that amount,” y/n chuckled. “he has far too much free time.”

“and he doesn’t even spend it with you,” ghostbur sighed, shaking his head with a goofy smile.

“i know!” y/n spoke sarcastically before laughing out. she closed the box and set it under the table. “i’ll deal with that later. do you want any more pancakes, tommy?”

“no, i’m stuffed,” the teen yawned. “but thank you.”

she nodded. “well, then how about ghostbur shows you around the territory today?”

the boys perked up immediately. “really?”

“yeah,” she laughed, taking tommy’s empty plate. “you two can take the day to explore and have fun. go be a kid, kid.”

tommy excitedly looked up to his ghost friend. “fancy a game of ultimate tag?”

“you’re gonna get crushed,” ghostbur laughed before they both ran out of the house, laughing. y/n smiled.

“oh! i should make them lunch..”

...

“how big is this place?” tommy laughed after a few rounds of tag. they had found their way to a pond in a forested area, tommy deciding his knee needed a break after all of their running.

“it’s bigger than you think,” ghostbur assured, making sure to keep an appropriate distance from the water as they sat along the small shore. “y/n claimed the territory before l’manberg, so there really wasn’t any need for a turf war of any sorts for what she settled.”

“how long has she lived here?” tommy questioned.

ghostbur shrugged. “almost two years, i think. she’s made quite the life for herself since.” more to himself, he muttered, “god, has it really been that long since it happened?”

“since what happened?” tommy asked, leaning closer to his friend with sparkling, curious eyes.

ghostbur sighed, “i’ll admit, i don’t remember too much.. but i know there was a fight. one of the first wars of our time, and it was all over y/n.”

“they were fighting for her?” tommy spoke with confusion. “she’s not an object.”

“very good, tommy,” ghostbur prided, patting his friend on the shoulder. “you’re right, she’s not. that’s why y/n left her original home and sought to create neutral territory; to end the fighting and create a place where peace could reign. in exchange, she’d offer her goods and services.”

“so they were fighting over her for her skills,” tommy understood. ghostbur made a face. “..or not?”

“both sides obviously wanted her skills, but i think y/n tends to neglect the fact that they were all madly in love with her,” ghostbur sighed, shaking his head.

tommy raised his eyebrows. “a crime of passion, eh?” he joked, making them both laugh out before he asked, “who was it?”

“let me think,” ghostbur sighed, tapping his chin. “i know one was dream, but the other.. i think it was-”

“boys! lunch is ready when you are!”

tommy turned back to ghostbur. “well? who?”

ghostbur shook his head. “sorry, tommy, i don’t remember that far. that’s as much as i can tell you.”

tommy couldn’t help but fel disappointed, but he knew he couldn’t blame his friend. “that’s alright, ghostbur. let’s go get lunch before y/n comes looking for us.”

...

after lunch and an insistent rematch of tag, ghostbur and tommy made their way to the organized garden area.

“y/n grows anything you can imagine,” ghostbur bragged as tommy marveled as the fluorescent, beautifully natural area. “she’s been to nearly every biome to complete her garden.”

“you can grow cocoa?!” tommy exclaimed when he finally spotted y/n, who was swinging an axe at a low jungle tree.

“y/n found a way,” ghostbur shrugged, guiding tommy over to her. “hey, y/n!”

“hi, boys,” she smiled, plucking off the plant she had loosened from the tree. “was lunch good? im sorry i didn’t stay and chat.”

“it was delicious,” ghostbur complimented, tommy nodding in agreement as his mind drifted back to the mouth watering coleslaw and toasted sandwiches she had prepared.

“that’s good!” she smiled, placing the cocoa plant on the ground. “you boys may want to step back.” they did as told as y/n swung her axe over her head, splitting the cocoa clean in half and revealing the delicious beans inside of it. “voila!”

ghostbur clapped politely. “thank you,” y/n laughed, dropping her axe and picking up the split plant. “would you boys like a sample?”

“sure,” tommy shrugged, stepping forward with ghostbur. he picked out a few beans before popping them into his mouth. breaking through the semi-tough shell, the delicious, dark taste flooded his taste buds and made him nearly moan, as y/n’s food often did. he and ghostbur shared a look of satisfaction before he voiced, “oh, y/n.. they’re perfect.”

“that’s good,” she laughed before nudging her bucket closer to her and scooping the seeds out into it. “how has your day around the territory been?”

“entertaining,” tommy spoke before asking, “how did you get into gardening, y/n?”

y/n gave ghostbur a knowing smile before she answered the younger boy’s question, “i was tired of eating only meat and bread. gardening was a way to expand my diet to more than just carbs and proteins. also, it’s very calming.” they followed when she hiked up her bucket and moved to the next jungle tree.

“is it?” tommy questioned.

she affirmed with a nod. “it’s nice to be able to spend a day tending to things you made. the fruits of your own harvest are the sweetest, they say.” they watched as she knocked down another cocoa plant.

“they are,” tommy nodded solemnly, his mind drifting to a sadder, more familiar place. “that’s why i miss l’manberg.”

y/n was barely surprised by the boy’s open confession. she tossed her axe down again, going to place a hand on tommy’s shoulder. “i know you do, tommy, and i know it’s rough right now. but what we’re playing here is a waiting game; we’re waiting for a safe opportunity to get you home, and in the meantime, i’ll take care of you, kid.”

tommy offered you another nod and a smile. “we?”

y/n gave him a kind grin. “im going to help you as best as i can from where i am. and i know that’s not much from me, but i know that everyone deserves a home that they love. and you can’t get there alone, kid.”

“you’re right about that,” tommy sighed before looking into her kind eyes. “thank you, y/n. your help means a lot.”

she squeezed his shoulder. “of course, tommy. you and ghostbur go explore some more; try to keep your mind on the things you can control.” she picked her axe back up.

tommy looked to the pitying ghoul beside him before looking back to y/n, a new thought fresh in his mind. “can you teach me how to cook?”

y/n grinned as she lifted her axe over her head again. “of course i can, tommy.”

tommy smiled as she cracked open the plant. he looked back to ghostbur. “wanna go for a swim?” the ghost shot him a fearful look. “im kidding! im kidding, let’s go use some pigs for target practice.” they both began to walk off, chatting and giggling before tommy turned and called, “y/n!” she looked up attentively. “what’s for dinner?”

she smiled. “i was thinking ribs!”

tommy’s mouth watered at the thought. “oh my god, i can’t wait to learn how to cook..”

tag list!! @vanhakirja @victory-is-here @inkyynki @airiour @sylum @kiritokunuwu @221bee-slytherin @bllatrixcarpnter @soullesstaco @stxrryb1tch comment below or message me if you would like to be added <3

#youtubers x reader #youtubers fanfic #mcyt x reader #mcyt fanfic #dream smp x reader #dream smp fanfic #tommyinnit x reader #tommyinnit fanfic #dream x reader #dream fanfic #ghostbur x reader #ghostbur fanfic

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frosted-night · 4 years ago

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Jack Frost Designs Review

Yes it’s finally his time. This is going to include his book designs including previous incarnations in said books. There are more movie concept designs than book so, let’s dig in shall we?

This was in fact the first ever Jack Joyce designed while he came up with The Guardians Of Childhood. He even comes with his own backstory! (Which was cut. Sorry Joyce posts walls of text so it’s a girthy read.)

So instead of a young mischievous trickster, we got a much more depressing story of Jack. (Jack by default is sad obviously) but this one... It kind of hits differently and almost reminds me of the story he crafted for Pitch. A dad who tried to defend his family but through tragic events was ripped from them and changed completely. Design wise, he’s a lot more tree than snow. There doesn’t exist a colored version of this so we’ll never know if he sported winter and dull dead leaf colors rather than grassy greens.This Jack has a weird presence to him, I can’t put my finger on it. Rating: 6/10 He’s really neat! Just a little too Autumn feeling rather than a blend of both Autumn and Winter.

Nightlight feels like the baby evolution if Jack was a pokemon and that's what I’m gonna stick with. Below is a more recent version of him colored.

In all honesty that one is easier on the eyes proportion wise because sometimes Joyce has ‘interesting’ anatomy choices but we aint going into that today. It’s interesting how his hair somehow looks shorter and longer than Jack’s at the same time. Could be because the longer strands float seamlessly but star boy hair physics what can ya do. It’s a little hard to tell what is his skin and what is his armor, so that is a casuality in making a character only have one or two colors in their color scheme. I love other artist’s depictions of Nightlight but the canon one feels a little weak color wise. Rating: 5/10 Sorry, get some better LEDs and then come back.

Here we have a book Jack but I can’t entirely recall if this was used in the books or not. I digress. This design looks like him still wearing very Nightlight-esque armor/clothing and slowly growing into his new persona as Jack Frost. The intricacies are hard to make out but we’ll work with it. This one is very interesting to me because he very much looks like an older teen close to young adult. His hair looks very fluffy too. Not many complaints about this one but not much praise either.

Rating: 6/10 Not great but doesn’t stand out that much.

Remember when I said Joyce had ‘interesting’ anatomy decisions? Jack looks like he has half a head here and it bothers me GREATLY. This is the adult Jack design he went with. Supposedly he likes the opera and he sure looks it. This! Exists!! Kind of wish it didn’t. The outfit is nice but it just doesn’t fit Jack as a whole. This just screams to me that it’s someone else with a similar-ish hairstyle.

Rating: 3/10 Guess he’d be the...Phantom Of The Opera. (I’ll go home and so should he.)

And finally the final Jack. This is the one that almost exactly resembles the Jack we got in the movies(Probably because it was made after the movie but w/e) but just add a cape on him. I can’t really tell if hes got a hoodie and a cape, or just a cloak+hood on top of a sweatshirt. It isn’t too important because my thoughts on this one are obvious. Rating: 10/10 Edna Mode would have a field day with you boy.

MOVIE DESIGN TIME

Joyce claims this is a design he drafted when Leonardo DiCaprio was considered to voice Jack and I can kind of see that with how his face is drawn here. This Jack looks a lot more like a warrior and less of that trickster look. I can’t say I’m a fan of the weird antenna his hood has but his sword is really cool looking.

Rating: 4/10 Nice bow and sword but it can’t save your fashion choices.

This looks like a lanky 11-13 year old who would put rocks or slugs in my shoes and relish in my disgust. He has the exact look of a snot nose kid and I’m unsure how to feel about it.

His various hairstyles drafted here sort of make him softer looking or just more of a snot nose, no in between. Maybe even an Anime Protagonist.

The top right one almost looks like Hiccup from How To Train Your Dragon if you squint. It’ll be a little hard to rate them all as one individual but why not.

Rating: 5/10 I don’t hate them but they aren’t my cup of tea.

AH- IS THAT A FUCKIN GREMLIN?

Oh wait no it isn’t he looks like a 10 year old. Whatever don’t feed him after midnight. The staff’s design of not being shaped like a G is an interesting tidbit but the whole design looks like he’s really young or like a troll etc. This Jack looks like he thinks girls have cooties uses outdated slang.

Rating: 4/10 This is me being generous.

It honestly looks like he hiked his pants up all the way to his chest. A late teen with horrid fashion choices once again. Not many other thoughts here.

Rating: 2/10 Get a sweater on or something.

This is one is very interesting looking to me. His clothes looked a lot more leather based and very human-like. The tatters, tears and frays all make him look like he was a victim of an accident that never changed his clothes. It makes me wonder if this Jack had the same death as the final movie Jack or something else entirely. Either way, this one looks like hes a mid to late teen which really adds to my intrigue.

This was another image that greatly resembled the design so I included it here. It almost looks like his skin is blue here which is pretty neat to me at least. He’s also got leaf motifs here, which from the first Jack design Joyce made, we can see a pattern here.

Rating: 8 /10 I was originally weirded out by his head but now its not so bad.

This Jack is definitely dressed more like a nature boy rather than him having human influenced fashion and it’s an appealing touch. The tiny leaf sprouting from his staff is also kind of cute since the designers seemed to want to put leafs somewhere on his designs. His hairstyle is also very cute but it reminds me of Sasuke Uchiha in a sense. (Not a setback for me at least)

Rating: 7/10 13 year old Jack is going thru a phase.

I thought this Jack didn’t show up again in story boards but I was wrong!

They look a little different from each other but just similar enough to pair together, so bare with me. The first one obviously has looser pants, slightly longer sleeves and got his leaf motif going. This second Jack is a VERY green. It gives the impression that this Jack made his clothes out of plants and natural materials. Again I’m not wholly sure if greens fit his color scheme but they sure went for it for a while. I can’t say I’m a fan of it because it heavily reminds me of Peter Pan.

However a very similar looking Jack could be found in this storyboard. It doesn’t look as green as the other storyboards made it out to be and looks more like dead grass. Which is a pretty nice touch.

Rating: 5/10 I don’t hate it but it just doesn’t vibe yknow.

Speaking of a vibe...hoo this certainly has one. This Jack isn’t old but certainly doesn’t look very young, maybe in the 20-30 range, thats just me. He has facial features that remind me of Pitch but resembles the Jack Frost of Santa Clause 3

That being said, I wondered if him looking similar to Pitch was in the storyline of them being brothers.(Which was a scrapped thing, who knew.) He’s a bit more menacing in this design but certainly seems like he relishes in his work.

Rating: 4/10 I’d make it a lower score but I gotta give it props

NOW THIS JACK IS KINDA INTERESTING. This one looks like he’s 16 and going through a grunge phase. He’s gonna play Nirvana loudly and not turn it down even if you tell him too. His staff itself has mini icicles hanging off of it and leafs look stuck to his shirt. Did you glue or staple those on Jack? His hair also looks much longer than his other designs and I kind of dig it( Shut up I’m bias.) I’m not wholly sure why else this design has stuck with me but it just has something about it that I just love. I wish there was a full body drawing of it.

(He also kinda has the same hair as the Jack Frost in Runescape but I wont go on about that hoo hoo)

Rating: 9/10 *Bad Boy by Cascada plays in the distance*

This one definitely feels like middleschooler trying to be in a band. His sticks just resemble drumsticks to me what can I say. I’m a big fan of his shoes and his color scheme screams a hibernating tree in winter. His hair also looks like it’s covered in frost rather than it being wholly white, which is very neat!! He looks like he wants to fight but has slight hesitance. Overall a very balanced Jack.

Rating: 8/10 He’s ready for band practice

Not many thoughts here, I just found these tiny Jack designs cute. His hoodie being a jacket instead just adds to the charm of this one.

No talk to him he angy.

Rating: 6/10 fun sized boi

Now this Jack resembles the one earlier that dressed entirely in leather brown colors, however he clearly is different than that one. I’m gonna say it, he looks like a zombie or undead in this design and its pretty fucking gnarly. I don’t know whats going on with his hair but I’m gonna assume it’s just the wind making it look like that. He just has the vibe that he was once human but was turned into something else entirely. It isnt in uncanny territory but borders that. This version of Jack meeting Pitch and the others would have been *very* interesting. Rating: 7/10 Eat a twinkie Jack you’ll feel better.

The final design! I can’t complain much about this one. The way his staff subtly has a G shape and a hexagon(his signature shape) is a wonderful touch. Additionally, the way the frost is gathered mostly where his hand is such an intricate detail. His signature hoodie is iconic at this point so I can’t bad mouth that either.(I can’t anyway because there's no complaints from me here.) Although, I never understood the leather straps that his pants had or their functions. I couldn’t find any colonial outfits that resembled Jack’s pants so its a total mystery to me at least.

And I can’t go on about this design until I mention the snowflake pattern in his eyes

Pure beauty. It’s at a hue of blue that almost looks impossible to have, combined with the electric blue color of the snowflake in his eyes. The amount of detail in this movie amazes me to this day. Rating: One Great Blizzard <3/10

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