#MYSTERY ZOMBIE?? WEIRD ZOMBIE??

[pluckygreen]

Chombie Zomwich

+

1k ish words, as per usual.

Warning!: there is mild zombie gore, there is an adult man attempting mild intimidation, and there is mild peril

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Chapter 4 - And where we stand.

These fucking guys. You’d burn down their camp too if given the opportunity. 

You and Tucker haven’t worked out alternative job system yet. It was proving to be an issue assessing strengths and weaknesses. For today, you’re on gardening duty. 

“Ted you’re fucking it up, stop moving the- Ted! Ted stop- STOP MOVIN’ THE BASKET!” Schlatt was prying a basket of tomatoes out of Ted’s hands, seemingly for no reason. His new york accent becoming thicker with the increase of volume.

“No I’m just, it’s fine- it’s. Schlatt I’m handling it. I said i’m-” Ted yanked the basket out of Schlatt’s reach.

“No you’re not handling it. It was handled. It was sitting at the spot I put it and you keep FUCKIN’ AROUND.” 

You rubbed your eyes with your dirt covered hands. Maybe it’s best to separate them. 

I thought they were supposed to be friends. You thought. Are they always like this?

“ENOUGH!” you finally screamed, “Ted, office. Schlatt, sit down. NOW.” 

Ted let go of the tomato basket, eyes wide with surprise. He mumbled something to himself, and began his walk to what you had hoped was the office. Otherwise you would just look like a bossy idiot.

Schlatt held his trophy, the basket, with a sheepish look on his face. Everyone else in the vicinity had cleared out by now, finished with their tasks. Now, you had to babysit two bickering children. 

“Fine, don’t sit, just… Just be quiet for half a second please.” You leaned against a wooden planter, rubbing your temples and trying desperately to think. You had problem after problem, and the good Lord above decided a week ago to give you three more. 

You couldn’t hear any thoughts over the shrill ringing in your ears.

Lifting your head, you met his eyes. 

“Do you two always fight like that?”

Schlatt gave a small shrug.

“Fine. It’s fine this is..” You sighed, looking around for a trace of any other human being. “Finish the tomatoes, please?” 

He nodded, mouth still shut. You couldn’t tell if he was genuinely embarrassed by his behaivior or if he was being a smart ass. 

You decided it was a lost cause, and turned to follow Ted as he disappeared into the campus building.

“Son of a bitch” Schlatt finally said. You turned, ready to kick this punk into the fucking moon. 

To your surprise, he wasn’t talking to you. He was facing a zombie who had gotten tangled up in the wire surrounding the fence. Three more were lumbering towards you, no doubt drawn in by the screaming and commotion. 

You reached for your pistol, but opted against it. Gunshots are loud and make people panic. This situation called for some hand-pruning. You picked up a trowel, which was closer than the machete and hatchet you had thrown in the tool pile.

“It looks weird.” Schlatt said plainly. 

You stopped your approach to stare at it. It seemed normal. 

“What do you mean?” You asked.

“I dunno just look at it. It’s off somehow. It’s weird, I’m tellin ya.”

“I don’t get it.” You tilted your head, squinting.

Nope. Nothing weird. Just a normal, undead creature. Just your regular old, missing an arm, guts spilling everywhere, covered in blood and gore, decaying human that’s been long dead. Completely normal. 

(This was one of those times when the bizarre nature of the life you now live hits you full force. You paused a minute to ride the mental wave.) 

“Well toots? Ya gonna kill it if it’s so normal?” The unexpected nickname brought you out of your peaceful moment of acceptance. Schlatt was staring at you, eyebrows lifted impatiently, arms crossed.

Before you could answer he unsheathed his bowie knife, crossing the distance from you to the zombie. Two more had gotten stuck.

You stood back and watched as he plunged the blade into their skulls repeatedly, scrambling the brain matter. His face held an expression of focus, his eyes intense and almost angry. You ignored the way you felt about his arms. 

They were average arms anyway. 

He shuffled to the third zombie, leaning over the fence in an effort to reach the smaller stature of the undead. Probably a preteen. He hesitated. 

The fourth zombie grabbed his right arm, yanking him down with an astonishing amount of force. His arm was held fast as the two zoms snapped at his fingers, stretching their necks out as far as possible. He grunted, trying to maneuver his knife to get a better angle. 

You jogged up to Schlatt, quickly thrusting the shovel throught each zombie, one at a time. The hand remained firmly gripping onto his arm. With a barrage of mumbled curses, he finally wrenched the cadaver’s fingers open. 

“I didn’t need your fucking help okay!?” He snapped, slamming his bowie knife into its sheath. He stepped towards you. You figured it was a tactic to be threatening.

“Why are you so goddamn reactive?!” You snapped back, matching his tone.

“Oh you’d like to fuckin know huh! You think I owe you somethin, toots? You think you run this shithole?”

“I do run this shithole Schlatt!” You stepped closer, a fire lit in your stomach.

“And an awful job you’re doing here, toots!” “Don’t call me that.” Your voice dropped back into an even, growly tone. 

Schlatt paused, breathing heavily. His eyes glinting with anger, brows furrowed. You realized he was really close. And tall. And mad. 

“You need to back up.” He said, voice just above a whisper.

You turned the idea around in your mind, but couldn’t come to a conclusion. His eyes dug into yours, unmoving. His fists clenched loosely. Should you move? Was he about to try and hit you? Surely he can’t be that out of control of his emotions. His eyes flicked down to your lips. 

Are you supposed to pretend you don’t notice that?

“Are you two okay?” Tucker’s voice echoed out across the silent field. 

He broke the tense stance, tearing himself away from you.

“Fuck this!” He grumbled, kicking the fence. 

Tucker and Ted stared at him, watching him skulk off to the far end of the football field. 

“Keane, you need to watch your bitch. I’m fucking exhausted.” You said, leaning back against the wooden planter. The tomatoes had been spilled all over the ground.

Ted spoke up.

“Sorry about the plants.” 

[edwardos]

[pookiepiss69]

i love scooby doo

[dragonpikachu]

List of old Gravity Falls things

because fans today probably don't know about all the batshit stuff that used to happen, here's some of the stuff I remember in no particular order:

People theorizing Robbie was a zombie

People also theorizing Gompers was connected to Bill because his eyes looked like that

Mystery trio

That time when Dipper got possessed by Bill, he stuck Dipper's arm in a silverware draw and then there was an avalanche of fan art with forks stuck in the poor kid's arm

The fact people guessed Stan had a twin actual years before the reveal, somehow even getting the name Stanley right, and then it turns out the names were swapped (there's so much old fan art calling Ford "Stanley", how could we have known)

All the crossover art with Over the Garden Wall

The fact Tad Strange's name was leaked and people came up with an entirely made up story about who he was, thinking he was some kind of weird shape demon like Bill, only for him to be a small 8 second gag character

When "Not What He Seems" can out and Stan's quote of "The Author of the Journals, my brother" somehow became a meme

When Steven Universe ended and somehow we got a bunch of fan art of him working at the Mystery Shack

That time "A Tale of Two Stans", the Steven Universe episode "Cry for Help" and the FNAF 4 trailer were all released on the same day, July 13, 2015

This:

I know there's other shit I'm forgetting so feel free to add some if you know any

[flash-from-the-past]

Billy Bob Abduction

[maribatshipper]

He would fit right in!

My contribution to the Gravity Falls hype is an 3 years old piece of John Constantine poorly drawn in the gravity falls artstyle.

[ckret2]

Chapter 92 of Bill Cipher using his involuntary human girl disguise to give Agent Powers the manic pixie nightmare femme fatale treatment: the last step in Bill's plan to trick the agents into leaving Gravity Falls has been executed; and Ford gets an opportunity to prove he really is the twin of professional con artist Stanley Pines.

When Powers pulled into the motel parking lot with Goldie, Trigger and Dale were already there, leaning against their car, with Trigger holding a laptop balanced on one arm. Dale gave Goldie a puzzled look as the pair joined them. "Why is she...?"

"She's cleared to view this material," Powers said brusquely. "Now, let's see what's in this file."

For added security from passersby, they piled into the government vehicle, Trigger and Dale in the front, Goldie and Powers in the back. Trigger awkwardly positioned the laptop on the center console so that all four of them could see it, and then he opened up the flash drive's folder, revealing well over a hundred reports—Powers did not remember making that many reports. Together, they began skimming through the documents.

It was like being sprayed with a fire hydrant of information as his memories rushed back in.

Report after report about weird things happening in and around the Mystery Shack. They exchanged concerned murmurs during the first couple of files—"Do you remember any of this?" "No."—before they fell silent, simply reading about the paranormal hotbed of the century. Ghosts, rogue AIs, a zombie attack—some he'd remembered, some he hadn't—and yes, Powers had been able to vaguely recall the zombie attack, but only as a memory so distant and abstract it felt like a dream. But he couldn't recall how they'd been attacked by zombies.

Until now.

Their investigation had apparently discovered Stanford Pines had an extensive criminal history under multiple names, was hiding some kind of doomsday weapon in the shack, stole radioactive waste from a... government facility...? hm.

Goldie nudged Powers and muttered, "Hey. Weren't you investigating here because a tipster reported there was somebody dangerous in the shack?"

He nodded slowly. "Could be."

Trigger was frowning deeper and deeper with each report. "How could we have just forgotten all of this? I wrote half of these! I—I remember them now, but... but now it feels like I never didn't remember." He looked at Powers in confusion. "We... didn't remember this earlier, did we? Didn't we have no idea what was happening in this town...?"

"We didn't," Powers said firmly.

"I think something's coming to me," Dale said. "About the doomsday weapon. I only came into town at the end of your investigation for the big raid on the shack—"

"I completely forgot about the raid," Trigger said with quiet horror.

"—but I—I remember the gravitational anomalies. Gravity kept turning off and on. Our cars were floating around."

"We were trying to find the doomsday weapon beneath the Mystery Shack," Trigger went on. "Somebody found a secret door in the gift shop..."

Powers murmured, "The moment we lost our memories."

For a split second, from his peripheral vision, Powers saw a flash of something almost triumphant in Goldie's face before her expression turned serious again. It nearly confused him until he recalled that only the other three of them were having their normal lives upended by the discovery of what had been done to their minds. For Goldie, there was no normal life to upend. She already knew her mind had been destroyed by at least one encounter with the Blind Eye. What was a horror to them must have been a relief to her: the missing pieces finally falling back into place.

He took her hand; he wasn't sure whether for her comfort or his own.

Trigger scrolled quickly through several more reports—by now, just glimpsing the first few lines of each report was enough to unlock the buried memories. "This is everything we should have known last summer."

"It fills in all the gaps," Dale said. "It doesn't explain how we forgot it all, but..."

"Maybe some kind of... psychic defense field...?"

"Anything's possible. Once we get that equipment to scan the walls for electronics..."

Powers had tuned out Trigger and Dale's conversation. He was thinking about Stanford Pines—the con artist with multiple PhDs who had spent most of the seventies in several countries at once, according to everything their investigation had dug up. His past was so muddled they'd even entertained the possibility that there were multiple people who'd used Stanford Pines's identity—he had a dead twin brother (allegedly), it was difficult to tell whose trail was whose. But after everything he'd learned today, he'd begun to wonder about Stan Pines again.  About how he'd managed to find that radioactive waste. About his doomsday weapon.

"Memory gun," Goldie said, dragging Powers's attention back to the present.

Trigger and Dale stared at her. "What?"

She nudged Powers, "We found blueprints in the museum for a gun that erases memories—and a huge cache of stolen memories. Some secret society in town has been using it."

"Society of the Blind Eye," Powers said, taking over the explanation. "They're in cahoots with the Department of Cover-Ups to keep sensitive information secret. There's more than one active Bureau case in town." He took a deep breath. "We were on more than one Bureau case in town."

Dale's brows shot up in surprise at the same time Trigger's furrowed in confusion.

"Obviously, there's only one explanation," Goldie said, reaching toward the laptop to tap a picture of the Mystery Shack taken during one of their stake-outs. "Whatever's going on here—the DCU doesn't want anyone to know about it, including us. They called their friends in the Blind Eye to wipe our memories and keep us away from the Mystery Shack."

"'Our memories'?" Trigger echoed.

"She's with the Bureau." Powers could explain the rest later.

Goldie's theory was sound—but. But he couldn't believe Bureau's own parent department would treat its agents that way. He didn't want to believe it.

He was too afraid of the possibility to believe it.

Surely there must be another reasonable explanation. "Or, the Blind Eye betrayed the Department—and us."

He could tell by the look Goldie shot him that she hadn't considered that possibility. "Huh. It could have," she conceded. "It doesn't... doesn't quite sit right with me."

"None of this sits right with me." What did Powers do now? The agents in this town were drowning when they hadn't even realized they were in hot water. The Blind Eye, the Trembley case, the Pines case... There was something big in this town, and the police were in on it, the Bureau was in on it, he was in on it—and he didn't even know what it was or who he could trust.

But he knew where he could find out.

As Powers opened the car door, a look of panic flashed across Goldie's face. "Hold on, where are you going?"

"To the Mystery Shack. It's time we finally get to the bottom of this. I'm not leaving until I see what's behind the vending machine and find Stanford Pines."

"Whoa-whoa-whoa! You've gotta be kidding me! Tell me you're kidding me!" Powers was only halfway out of the car when she caught him by the lapel and tried to drag him back into the car. "You'd have to be crazy to go back! It's obvious somebody higher up on the food chain than us doesn't want us snooping in there—"

"Or a rogue local cult," Powers said.

"Either way!" Her grip tightened. "You got your mind erased for going there last time! Do you want to get brainwashed again?!"

The thought terrified him. But the thought of not finding out what was happening terrified him more. He couldn't afford to think about what might happen to him; he pushed the thought aside. "This time is different. They won't be expecting our arrival and they won't have time to set up—whatever they did last time," Powers said. "And even if they do, we'll be split up. That way at least two of us will remember. Trigger?"

"Yessir!" Trigger hopped out of the car after Powers.

"But—but you can't," Goldie said desperately.

"Why not?"

"Because—" Her mouth hung open for a second as she tried and failed to think of a counterargument. Then, with a low growl of frustration, she dragged him into a kiss.

For a moment he hung there, half in and half out of the car, one hand on the back of the seat and the other hovering in the air, uncertain what to do with itself, until it finally settled on Goldie's waist. And for a split second, Gravity Falls and its horrors were a thousand miles away.

But only for a second. And then he put his hand on Goldie's shoulder, gently pushed her back, and tugged her hand off his suit. Her hand was so small and delicate compared to his; and her grip was so tight he was almost afraid he'd hurt her prying her off.  "I know," he said softly. "I know. Me too." 

Her face was flush with rage, her eyes wide with terror. "But—it's—too dangerous. You know it is."

"I know. But we're all in danger until we know what's going on." He had more people than just himself to worry about. He had to worry about his team.

His whole team. Goldie had already lost so much; what would happen to her mind if she lost any more?

She struggled a moment longer to think of another argument; then let out a noise that was half sigh of defeat, half groan of frustration. "Fine. Just... Get out of here before I give into the urge to break your knees."

####

"You two are cute," Dale commented.

"He'd be cuter if he did what I said," Bill muttered. Why couldn't everyone simply obey him at all times without question! He'd even pulled out the desperate kiss routine, humans were supposed to be suckers for that corny trash! He flung himself back into his seat with an indignant huff.

The plan had been going perfectly until now. He'd convinced Powers that the government and the Blind Eye were working together. He'd convinced Powers that they'd been brainwashed. The agents opening the flash drive and discovering what they'd forgotten was supposed to seal the deal. It was the key to his plan working! It was supposed to convince the agents that their own government was behind whatever was happening in the shack and they should stay out of it. It should have terrified Powers out of Gravity Falls! Not made him charge straight back into what looked like an obvious trap!

And if he found the portal... If he got his hands on either one of the Stans and dragged him downstairs too, where he could see Bill had started repairing the portal...

Now what?

Bill scooted behind Dale and leaned around the shoulder of his seat. "Hey, you should go through the rest of the reports. Maybe there's something else important we forgot."

"Good idea." Dale settled the laptop on his knees. "Powers said you're... with the Bureau?"

"Yep, proud eagle. Cryptology expert," Bill said.

"Oh." He gave him a mildly surprised look. "Sorry, I don't think I remember you."

"No prob, Bob, I don't remember the Bureau either!"

Dale nodded slowly. "Riiight. Memory-erasing gun."

"Bingo," Bill said. "Powers and I'll tell you the whole story when we rendezvous. But maybe we should focus on the reports first, don't you think!"

"Right, of course." Dale turned his attention to the laptop.

And Bill slid out his phone and kept it behind Dale's seat, where he wouldn't notice Bill typing.

####

UNKNOWN: STAR GIRL WE HAVE A PROVBKDM

UNKNOWN: PROBLEM

UNKNOWN: APPARENTLY PANIC MAKES THUMBS SHAKE! I HATE FLESH SO MUCHH! HA HA!

MABEL: Who is this?

UNKNOWN: ITS BILL I STOLE A PHONE NOT IMPORTANT DONT TWLL ANYONE

(Ah. Mabel should have guessed that. She added his number to her phone.)

BILL: POLWERS AND TRIGGER ARE HEADWD TO THES HACK

BILL: THIA WASNT PART OF THE PLAN

BILL: TELL THE STANDS TO HIDE

BILL: STANS

MABEL: OK! I'm looking for them!

MABEL: What went wrong???

BILL: IDK THEY DIDNTR REACT LIKE THEY SHOUDL HAVE

BILL: POWERS SHOULD BE TOO TEIRFIFIED TO GET WITHIN A MILE OF THE SHACK INSTEAD HES ONT EHW WARPATH

BILL: HES FIGURED OUT WAAAAY MORE THAN HE SHOULD HAVE IDK WHATS GOING ON UNDER HIS STUPID OPAQUE SKULL

MABEL: Did they figure out we tricked them??? 🙀

BILL: NO HE BUYS IT FOR NOW. HE RAN THE WHOLE MARATHON HE JUST REFUSES TO CROSS THE FINISH LINE 

BILL: BUT IF HE GETS HSI HANDS ON THE STAND WHO KNOWS

MABEL: OK, I warned them!

BILL: GOOD! TELL THEM THEY CANT HIDE BEHIND THE VENDING MACHINE PWOERS IS HEADED THERE FIRST

MABEL: Ummm... Grunkle Ford isn't hiding. 

MABEL: He said he knows how to handle this.

BILL: NO NO NO NO NO

BILL: WAHTEVER HES DOIGN HE CANT DOT TAHAT

BILL: STAR GIRL LISTEN CAREFULLY

BILL: I NED YOU TO SCREAMJ IN HIS EAR UTNIL HIS EARDRUM RUUPTIURES. THAT SHOULD SLOW HIM DOWN

BILL: IF IT D OESNT WORK BITE HIS EAR OFF YOUR RBRACES SHOULD REALLY SHRED THE CARTILAGE 

MABEL: He asked you to send whatever you can think of that the government people know about the agents but we shouldn't know.

BILL: WHY????

MABEL: IDK!! He went downstairs to get something.

MABEL: But it sounded important!

BILL: FGINE

BILL: IF THIS GOES WRONG ITS O NHIS ARROGANT LITTLE HEAD AND TELL HIM I SAAID SO

BILL: BUT DONT SHOW HIM MY TPYOS

####

"That vending machine might be booby trapped," Trigger said as they walked toward the shack's back door. "We lost our memories just as it was opened."

"We'll find Ramirez. He must know how to get behind the machine without triggering the trap." Beyond that, Powers intended to demand that Soos produce Stanford Pines—and, if he couldn't do that, then he'd better produce some damn good answers. Powers raised a hand to knock.

A voice behind them said, "It seems I got here just in time."

Trigger and Powers whirled around. Standing on the lawn—as casual and jarring as meeting a ghost from your childhood nightmares in the grocery store soup aisle, like running into something that hadn't quite ever been real—was the superior officer who'd taken their flash drive last summer.

"You!" Trigger said. "What are you doing here?!"

The officer barked, "Stopping you two knuckleheads from blundering into the same mistake you made last summer! And you're lucky I am. If Director Gunn had done his job right and contacted me, you wouldn't have made it this far."

A jolt of alarm shot up Powers's back. Director Gunn had sent them to Gravity Falls. Or allowed them to go—he'd been reluctant to let them continue on this case. Nobody outside the Bureau should have ever even heard the code name "Director Gunn."

"Instead," the officer went on, "I had to find out what you were up to from museum security when you triggered their silent alarm! Mr. Jake Armstrong," (Trigger flinched in surprise) "Mr. Gary Walter," (and then Powers's back went stiff) "just what do you have to say for yourselves?"

He was important enough to know their names. They didn't even know each other's names.

Powers took a deep breath. "That we want to speak to Stanford Pines."

The officer snorted, and for a fleeting second his stony expression cracked as a smirk curled up one corner of his mouth. Powers couldn't believe it. He genuinely thought their request was funny.

And that—that, of all things—was what finally cut through his anger enough for a little fear to trickle through.

"Well," he said, "I'm afraid you get to speak to me."

####

Bill stared at his phone as if the force of his glare could will it into coughing up another text from Mabel; and because of that, he saw the bright colors in the emoji of Mabel's next message fifteen minutes before the message itself actually arrived, and several minutes before the message was close enough that he could actually read what it said:

MABEL: 🎉🌈😎 We won!!! 😻☀️💃

He reread the message several times, as if he expected the future message to blur and disappear as they slid sideways into a less lucky timeline. But it remained clear—a future so probable it was almost guaranteed.

How the hell had Ford done that?

####

"As you may have guessed by now, this building isn't just a cheap tourist trap," the superior officer said. "What happens in here goes over your head, gentlemen. It goes over your entire bureau. It's a matter of international security."

"Why?" Powers demanded. "What's under this shack?"

"A top secret facility," the officer said.

"For what purpose?" Trigger asked.

"That's top secret," the officer said. "This whole affair is so classified that you should never have been assigned to investigate in Gravity Falls in the first place—but it was also so classified that we couldn't tell you there was something here you shouldn't be investigating. A SNAFU we're implementing measures to prevent in the future. And you two can help by leaving and never thinking about this place again."

It all clicked into place. Of course the Mystery Shack was a government facility.

He'd almost put it together earlier, but had been too distracted by the horror of realizing all he'd forgotten—but it was odd that Stan Pines had known exactly where to find that radioactive waste, much less how to get it all in and out of the facility in one night, wasn't it? Almost as if someone else had given him instructions on how to get it. Odd that based on the reports they'd found in the flash drive—and their resurfacing memories—it seemed that Stan had been on the verge of using a doomsday weapon... and then hadn't. As if it were a test. Odd that a "superior officer" had just so happened to come by so soon after the doomsday weapon's near activation, right after they'd forgotten everything. As if he were already on site.

It would have been utterly astounding if it wasn't so disgusting. The Department of Cover-Ups had covered up their own tracks so heavily that they'd gotten investigated by their own sub-department. And who had paid the price?

"It's too late for that," Powers said. "We already investigated it, we know something's happening here, and your attempt to make us forget failed. And I think we have a right to know what's in here that was worth erasing our memories over!"

"I'm afraid that's not possible," the officer said.

"Why not?" Trigger demanded. "All we want is to see it! We're not going to tell anyone—we're on the same side!"

Powers was closer to the shack than the officer was—and for the moment, the officer was focused on Trigger. Part of him was tempted to turn around, kick in the door, and head straight for that vending machine. If it came to a fight, it was two against one.

The officer said, "Because you already know too much! In fact, I'd be giving you the same treatment you got last year if I wasn't so sure that forgetting what happened again would just make you come straight back to town searching for it again."

Powers was suddenly acutely aware of the strap across the officer's chest leading to a shape at his hip that could only be seen when his coat moved just right—a shape the size of a bulky gun. And suddenly, the idea of turning his back on the officer seemed impossible.

"And you should consider yourselves lucky you get to leave with your memories," the officer went on. "The side-effects of repeated mind wipes aren't pretty. You've got a genetic predisposition for Alzheimer's, don't you, Mr. Walter? Your mother?" (Angry bile surged up his throat. His mother had been in a memory care facility for the past two years.) "We don't know yet if the gun exacerbates those odds. I'd hate for you to help us find out."

"Then you could have let us go last year!" Powers said. "If you'd just told us we'd stumbled into some secret operation and sent us home, we couldn't have done anything about it!" And if he was honest with himself, it wasn't the secret happenings under this second-rate tourist trap that bothered him. In this job he'd seen everything from A to Z—aliens to zombies. He doubted anything could truly shock him. No—what really bothered him was how he'd been kept from finding out. "Why didn't you just let us go last year?"

"For one thing, that's not how my department operates." (Powers had assumed Gravity Falls was an aberration. What made him so sure people weren't getting their memories erased all over the nation? What did he really know about how the Department of Cover-Ups worked?) "And for another," the officer said, "we needed a good excuse to test the long-range memory gun. And there you were, with several dozen men."

There you were. The words hit like a hammer to the heart. In the corner of his eye he could see Trigger turn toward him, looking for guidance; but Powers couldn't turn to meet his gaze. There they were, convenient guinea pigs for a weapon of mass amnesia. Was that all their government saw them as?

While Powers was feeling the bottom of his stomach drop out and plunge into the dark as his life upended itself, the officer's expression didn't even twitch. His stare was stony and unsympathetic, the creases in his cheeks and between his brows sharpened by the hard line of his mouth.

But although his expression didn't change, his voice did. It dropped into a wholly different accent, slower, smoother—and far more menacing. "You see, we'll take any measures necessary to ensure that this town's secrets... remain buried." The chill in the officer's voice seemed better suited to the dark hidden chambers collecting dust under the museum, the cold cavern beneath the angel in the graveyard. The man with the voice from the Blind Eye's stolen memories looked directly in Agent Powers's eyes and said, "Is my meaning clear?"

Powers's throat went dry.

Trigger had immediately tensed when the officer changed his voice, even though he couldn't know what it meant. (Or did he? Had he heard the voice once and forgotten, Powers wondered? Was it coming back?) "Sir, what's going...?"

"Yessir," Powers said hoarsely. "Perfectly clear."

The ghost of a smile twisted one corner of the superior officer's mouth. "So. What is going on here, agent?" His voice had returned to his usual gruff, militant bark. That was his real voice, Powers realized; hearing him in person, it was much more obvious  than it had been in the recordings just how fake his British accent was. He must be working with the Society of the Blind Eye undercover—which meant this was his real job.

Powers should have listened to Goldie. She'd been right. It was stupid to think the Blind Eye might have backstabbed the government. The Blind Eye was the government.

In his mind's eye, he could see his own face twisted in terror, his arms strapped into the same chair where Goldie had been restrained as she'd lost her mind—just another video amongst the thousands that had been literally forgotten in the museum basement.

He swallowed hard. "Weather balloon," he said. "Or—or meteor shower. Nothing happened here."

The officer nodded sharply. "You're a smart man, Mr. Walter." He turned to Trigger. "What about you, Mr. Armstrong?"

Trigger gave Powers a bewildered look. For a moment, he looked ready to argue; but a sharp look from Powers deflated him. "Nothing unusual to report, sir," he said grudgingly.

"Good." The superior officer tilted his head. "I think your car's over there."

Powers could feel the hairs on the back of his neck raising as he walked away. He had to force himself not to glance over his shoulder to see if a memory gun was pointing at his back.

"What was that?" Trigger whispered. "Do you know him from somewhere else?"

"I'm afraid we all do."

"Where would—?"

"Later." Not until they got back to Dale.

And Goldie.

####

(Another chapter where I don't think I made any changes due to TBOB except futzing around with department names. But for TBOB-unrelated reasons, this one went through HEAVY revisions: initially Powers accepted Bill's version of the story much more easily, but then I went, no. We should terrify Bill a little first. And give Ford more to do.

I thought this chapter was gonna be the wrap-up, but then it doubled in length so I split it in two lmao. Next week for sure. Let me know what you think!!)

[bezierballad]

I actually began to notice a weird pattern with the arcs:

"INSANE DARK JACK THE RIPPER MYSTERY FULL OF MURDER AND BETRAYAL"

"okay time for a curry competition"

"INSANE MYSTERY WITH AN ACTION-PACKED BATTLE BETWEEN SERVANTS AND CIRCUS PERFORMERS"

"oh no someone died at a dinner party"

"INSANE ACTION-PACKED ESCAPE FROM A SHIP FILLED WITH FLESH-EATING ZOMBIES"

"oh no someone died at this school"

"INSANE ACTION-PACKED JOURNEY THROUGH A CREEPY FOREST FULL OF WEREWOLVES"

"okay it's jpop time"

[blueishspace]

Grian "The Watcher" Minecraft.

BdoubleO "Eyes so big they are like two third of his face" 100.

Tinfoil "Giant Green floating eyeball" Chef.

Etho "Weird mysterious red eye" slab.

Keralis "Look into my eyes, nothing but my eyes".

Zombie "Two glowing purple eyes under their base" Cleo.

...

Hermitcraft would be The Eye's favourite place.

[matts-girlfriend]

It’s You I Welcome Death With- Chris Sturniolo

TattooArtist!Chris and MakeupArtist!Reader

chapter 5

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

warning this series will contain, substance abuse, angst, arguing,tension,swearing, mentions of absent family, blood, abuse (not from chris). smut, oral, this is a warning for all chapters

The text came in while Y/N was elbow-deep in books and essays.

Nick S:

hey need a favor if you’re not booked—photoshoot thing for the shop, you in?

She didn’t hesitate.

Y/N:

i’m in. send details.

⸻

It was kind of weird how easily she clicked with Nick. He was the least chaotic of the brothers—organized, sharp-tongued, stylish in a way that made her trust his skincare routine more than most dermatologists. His tattoos were minimal, well-placed. And most importantly: he gave zero fucks about flirting with her.

God bless gay men.

The shoot wasn’t anything major, just some new promo shots for the tattoo studio’s Instagram. She was blending foundation into some guy’s jawline when Nick perched on a stool beside her, sipping an iced coffee with three shots of espresso and at least two existential crises.

“You’re good at this,” he said, watching her work.

“Don’t sound so surprised.”

He smirked. “Not surprised. Just impressed. That’s different.”

Y/N raised a brow but didn’t argue. The compliment felt genuine—like everything else about Nick.

When the last flash of the camera went off and everyone started packing up, Nick nudged her gently with his elbow.

“Hey. We’re throwing a party Saturday night. Kind of a big thing—grand opening slash shop launch slash excuse to get drunk and show off our new house.”

She wiped her hands on a towel. “You inviting me as the artist or the entertainment?”

“As the hot girl who made our models not look like sleep-deprived zombies,” he deadpanned. “Come on. It’ll be chill. Just a bunch of gays, tattoo guys, and questionable influencers. You’ll fit in.”

Y/N hesitated. Crowds weren’t her thing lately. Neither was pretending everything in her life wasn’t on fire.

But Nick looked so hopeful. And truthfully, she hadn’t been invited to anything in a while that didn’t involve cleaning up someone else’s mess.

She sighed. “Fine. But if someone plays Taylor Swift unironically, I’m leaving.”

⸻

Later that night, she sat cross-legged on her bed, tossing M&M’s into her mouth while Ava scrolled TikTok beside her.

“There’s a party,” Y/N said casually.

“Are you going?” Ava asked, not looking up.

“I think so.”

A pause. Then:

“Who’s throwing it?”

Y/N didn’t answer fast enough.

Ava narrowed her eyes. “Who’s throwing it?”

She sighed. “Nick. Chris’s brother.”

Ava dropped her phone. “CHRIS’S brother? Tattoo boy Chris? 2AM-blunt-sharing, sad-eyes, fine-as-fuck Chris?”

Y/N groaned. “Stop talking.”

“Oh my god.” Ava was fully sitting up now. “You’re going to his house. That’s basically Wattpad endgame.”

“I’m not even sure if he’ll be there.”

“But if he is, what are you gonna wear? Should I do your eyeliner? Do you want slutty or mysterious?”

“I hate you.”

“You love me,” Ava sing-songed, already grabbing her makeup bag.

⸻

She got to the party late.

The backyard was lit up with string lights and half-empty bottles. Music thumped from inside the house, not quite loud enough to be obnoxious. People were scattered in small groups, drinks in hand, laughter echoing off the walls.

Nick spotted her first, weaving through a crowd of guys who looked like they could hear colors and girls who looked like they were on the verge of throwing up.

“You made it!” he grinned, pulling her into a quick side-hug. “You look hot. I’m telling everyone you’re here to scout models.”

She snorted. “Please don’t.”

Matt appeared behind him, a drink in each hand. “You’re the makeup girl, right?”

“Y/N,” she said.

Matt gave her a once-over that wasn’t flirty—more curious than anything. “Cool. Heard about you.”

“Hopefully good things.”

Matt just smiled like he knew something she didn’t.

Chris was nowhere to be seen, and honestly? That was fine. She made polite conversation, complimented someone’s earrings, pretended not to notice three different girls making out on the porch swing. It was all good.

Until she stepped onto the upstairs balcony and saw him.

Backlit by moonlight, blunt tucked between his lips.

Black hoodie. Rings catching the light.

No girl beside him.

Of course.

Chris turned just enough to catch her watching.

“You always stare like that?” he asked, voice low.

“Only at people who look like they’re about to drop the biggest breakup song of the year.”

He grinned, holding out the blunt. “Come judge me closer.”

She walked over. Took it. Smoked in silence for a second before speaking.

“You really always smoke at parties?”

Chris shrugged. “Better than being outside. Less noise.”

“Mm.”

Another hit.

Then he asked, “Why are you like that with guys?”

“Like what?”

He gave her a look. “Mean. Distant. Untouchable.”

She didn’t answer right away. She usually wouldn't've but the weed in her system made it all the more easy to open up.

“I haven’t trusted a guy since I was thirteen and got left to raise my little sister alone.”

Chris didn’t flinch. Didn’t blink.

But something behind his eyes changed.

He said nothing. Just passed her the blunt again.

She took it slowly, then asked, “What about you? Why all the girls?”

Chris leaned back on the railing. “Sex is just sex. It’s easy. No one expects anything. No one gets close. But kissing? Kissing’s different.”

Y/N arched a brow. “You don’t kiss?”

“Not unless I mean it.”

She laughed, breathless. “That’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard.”

“You think?”

“I think the opposite makes more sense,” she said. “I kiss all the time. But I never let anyone get further. Kissing’s just kissing. Intimacy’s letting someone in. Sex is the closest you can be with someone.”

They stared at each other then. Long and quiet. Something buzzing in the space between them.

Chris tilted his head, His tongue swiping by his cheek before he spoke. “So what you’re saying is… you wouldn’t fuck me.”

“Nope.”

“But you’d let me kiss you?”

“Depends where.”

He smirked. Stepped closer.

And instead of going for her lips, he dipped his head to the curve of her neck, warm breath ghosting her skin before his lips pressed right against her pulse.

Soft. Lingering. Petty as hell.

Y/N’s breath hitched. She didn’t stop him.

Didn’t want to.

But then—her phone rang.

Ava.

Her stomach dropped.

She stepped away fast, swiping to answer. “Ava?”

All she heard was sobbing.

“Ava. Talk to me. What happened?”

“Y/N,” her sister cried. “I’m sorry—I—I went to get food and he woke up and he was so mad—he threw a bottle—”

Y/N was already running.

⸻

She didn’t even remember getting in the car.

Just the red light blur of the streets.

Just the fear.

When she threw open the front door, her stepdad was half-passed out on the couch, a new bottle of beer in his hand.

On the floor—glass.

A shard streaked in blood.

Y/N bolted up the stairs two at a time.

Ava was in her bed, crying, her hoodie stained at the shoulder where blood had soaked through. Y/N pulled the fabric back and saw it—a gash just above her temple, still bleeding.

“Shit, baby. Come here,” she whispered, grabbing the first aid kit. “It’s okay. I got you.”

“He didn’t mean to,” Ava sobbed. “I just—I dropped a plate and he freaked—”

Y/N held her tighter. Pressed a clean towel to the wound and kept her voice steady even though she wanted to scream.

“I’m gonna fix this, okay?” she whispered. “You’re safe now. I’m here.”

She kissed her sister’s forehead and bandaged the cut, tucking them both under the blanket like she could shield her from the whole damn world.

And once Ava was asleep, Y/N stared at the ceiling with tears in her eyes and just one thought looping in her head:

We need to get out. Now.

a/n: seriously debating on writting the stepdad falling into a ditch.

taglist: @courta13 @m4gz-png @lezleeferguson-120

@h3arts4nat @izzylovesmatt @sturnioliolo @hsemeria @sturniqloo

@venusbabysblog @chrisslut04 @crazy4weeed @chriscokewhore @chrisswaffles @urfavvvnyasee @sturnzluv @freshluvr @mattthemunchh @poolover123 @pleasantdelusionbear @carpentersturns @emosexyvirgin @emillionaireee @shamelessmilkshakefest @xoxochrissgf @sturniolodollx @joyfulheartwhispers @cutseylady @oopsiedaisydeer @steph1106

@laylaluvsu2000 @lvrsturniolo @chloe444 @yamommmasman @55sturn @whenlovesaround @luvs-booksss @vampyyluv @moth-feeet @cass-sturn

(dividers by @bernardsbendystraws)

[yandere-daze]

Thank you everyone for the big support on the RE2 Leon post! I was honestly blown away by all the nice comments I got 🥺💕

And now I'm back for more ^^

Hope you enjoy!

gn reader

tw yandere, obsession, over-protectiveness, possessiveness, heavily implied murder, implied stalking, kidnapping, jealousy

General Yandere! RE4 Leon headcanons

Above all else, Yandere! RE4 Leon is very protective of you, the dearest person in his life. To a very unhealthy degree.

He has always been protective but a lot has changed since his first day as a rookie. Leon has seen a lot, he knows how truly horrifying and cruel the world can be. He knows what dangers lurk in the shadows, just waiting for an opportunity to strike and snatch away his beloved.

He doesn't want you to go through what he has. He wants you to be safe at all costs. He simply can't risk losing you, you're everything to him. You're what keeps him grounded, the one beacon of light in the darkness that threatens to consume him every day.

His many missions have broken him, Leon is not the same person he used to be and that too reflects in subtle changes in his yandere behaviour.

He remains very protective, insanely so, but it´s not quite in the same way as RE2 Leon was. He has become pretty jaded and that also translates to him being more merciless when it comes to shooting down anyone that could be perceived as a threat.

There´s no more slight hesitation before going through with killing someone and pulling the trigger, no deliberation, he won´t leave even a sliver of a chance of something hurting you and that extends to zombies, cultists, or rude strangers alike.

He still likes showing off in front of you, proving to you how capable and reliable he is, but he would rather avoid having you witness him getting rid of the latter ones.

He´s sure you won´t object to him getting rid of horrifying eldritch horrors but he fears your naivete won´t allow you to see the other dangers lurking right around the corner. People everywhere that are secretly out to hurt you. People that have bad intentions. People that try to get between the two of you.

He certainly won´t forgive that friend of yours that told you how "scary" Leon´s glare was whenever he looked at someone that wasn´t you. And isn´t it weird that he´s somehow always there whenever you´re in trouble? And they could have sworn they saw him standing outside your window back when you had your sleepover at your house...

Of course Leon couldn´t let this continue any longer. What if you started listening to them and tried to keep your distance? Leon couldn´t bear that. How is he supposed to make sure you´re safe if you won´t let him?

He knows he needs to do something about this so-called friend of yours. Maybe at first he will start "small" and simply start incriminating them for crimes they didn´t commit. It´s truly scary how little you know about your friends, right? Who would have thought that they would turn out to be a criminal?

Leon hopes that will be enough to make them stay away but if they´re particularly persistent... Well, he knows just how to deal with obstacles that are in his way. His position as a special agent gives him plenty of opportunities to make that person simply disappear from all records after mysteriously vanishing.

But don´t worry, Leon will be right by your side, holding you tight and mourning the loss of your friend right with you. It´s really so terrible what happened to them but at least you have him! And he won´t ever leave you.

Now of course, if you yourself were acting difficult, continuously getting yourself into danger, ignoring all of his advice ( don´t leave your house without him. always keep him updated on what you´re currently doing. never go on a date with a stranger..) or avoiding him in any way, Leon would feel forced to take some drastic measures to ensure that you´ll always remain safe and his alone.

While RE2 Leon would not have gone so far as to kidnap you, RE4 Leon absolutely would. It would not be his first choice but in this case, he feels like there is no other way. He would rather keep you locked up for the rest of your life than lose you. He just cannot bear ever having to live without you, now that he has found you.

You´re the only good thing in his life and he´ll be damned if he´ll let anything happen to you.

Of course he understands why you´re mad at him afterwards and it breaks his heart to see you upset with him, but he´ll suffer through it all in the hopes that you´ll one day understand why he had to do what he did.

He´s sure you will come around to him one day and then you´ll finally live the happy life he you both always wanted. In the meantime, he´ll treat you with gentle care ( well, as gentle as Leon can be. His displays of affection are still pretty awkward and stilted even though he tries very hard) and makes sure all your needs are met.

He´ll also let you get away with many things like screaming at him, ignoring him or backing away from his touch, as long as you don´t try to escape him. You may hate him at the moment, but at least nothing can get in here and hurt you while he´s constantly monitoring you.

Leon hopes that one day you´ll be able to move on from this and become a normal couple, but he doesn´t really mind having you all to himself with no prying eyes right now. He´s very possessive too and he´d just hate having to get rid of another stranger that looked at you a second too long for his tastes.

[stxrsniolo]

⠀⠀ ⠀✦ ⠀ :⠀⠀somnium⠀ ⠀💭 ⠀ . . .

𝐀𝐄𝐆★𝐍'𝐒 notes : dear reader, this story will unfold over approximately 15 chapters, all of which have been meticulously outlined by yours truly (aka me, yes). it’s a slow burn between the characters, filled with a little bit of everything—from scenes not suitable for sensitive audiences to purely comedic moments, and even the classic teenage drama you’d expect from characters navigating this stage of life.

𝐀𝐄𝐆★𝐍'𝐒 pairing : dreambound!matt x lucid dream!reader

Chapter 01: The Dream That Changed Everything

matt was cranky as hell these days, his sleep schedule more like a roller coaster than anything resembling normal. living in LA with his brothers, nick and chris, in a fancy three-story crib, you'd think life was all sunshine, right? wrong. especially when you're one of the sturniolo triplets, where every day's gotta be content for their youtube channel, which had more followers than some small countries.

"hey, matt, you look like you got hit by a truck," nick said, his voice dripping with that LA cheer, as he watched matt drag himself into the kitchen like a zombie.

"yeah, well, i feel like one," matt grumbled, his Boston accent thick, "can't sleep fah nothin'."

chris, now hustling with his fresh love clothing line, was busy sketching new threads but still threw in, "maybe you need some new pajamas, bro. cotton or silk?"

matt just rolled his eyes, pouring himself coffee strong enough to wake the dead. he hated coffee, but he needed this boost for real. "i need more than pajamas, i need like, a new brain or somethin'."

the day dragged on with matt filming bits for their vlog, his heart not in it. he was trying to keep up appearances, but his mind was racing, lost in the haze of sleepless nights. they talked about random crap, from the latest video game drop to chris's newest hoodie design, but matt's responses were half-assed at best.

"matt, you okay?" nick asked during a break, concern piercing through matt's fog.

"yeah, yeah, i'm good. just tired, ya know?" matt forced a smile, but even to him, it felt fake.

the sun set, painting sky in hues of orange and pink, but all matt saw was the dread of another night of tossing and turning. he went through his night routine, hoping tonight would be different.

and... finally, after what felt like an eternity of staring at the ceiling, sleep came, pulling him into a dream so vivid, it was like stepping into another universe. he found himself in a surreal landscape, part urban, part wilderness, with skyscrapers touching the clouds but rooted in a forest floor.

and then he saw her. a girl, with eyes like emeralds and hair that seemed to move with a life of its own. she was there, walking around with an edge of caution to it. she looked at him, her gaze wary, as if she was deciding whether he was friend or foe.

"hey, you lost or somethin'?" matt asked, his accent even more pronounced, making his words sound thick with caution.

"nah, just enjoying the view," she replied, her accent sharp, her tone guarded. "i'm heist, you look like you could use some fun though. but, you know, if you're not up to no good..."

heist... what a weird name. but he brushed it off.

"me? nah, i'm just... tryin' to figure out where i am," matt said, his eyes scanning the dreamscape, half-expecting it to dissolve or change into something less welcoming.

there was a moment of silence, both of them sizing each other up, the air thick with unspoken questions. and without a word, heist turned and ran, her voice echoing in her quick, "gotta go!" her movements were fluid, almost ethereal, as she darted through the dreamscape, blending into the shadows and light.

"hey, wait!" matt called out, his voice a mix of confusion and intrigue.

he chased after her, not out of malice but driven by an inexplicable pull towards this mysterious figure. the chase was like a dance, with heist always one step ahead, her laughter a taunt, a challenge, a melody in the wind.

they weaved through the dream city, up staircases that led nowhere, down alleys that twisted into themselves. every time matt thought he had her, she'd disappear, only to reappear in his peripheral vision, her laughter both a beacon and a warning.

finally, in a moment of stillness, with heist cornered against a dream wall that shimmered like water, they stood there, breathing heavily, their eyes locked in a silent conversation of wariness and curiosity.

"why you runnin'?" matt asked, his voice softer now, the chase having burned away some of his caution.

"why you chasin'?" heist shot back, her tone sharp but her eyes softening just a bit.

but before any answer could be given, the dream world began to dissolve, and matt woke up with a start, his heart racing.

the room was dark, silent, the quiet of Los Angeles outside his window. yet, in his mind, heist's laughter lingered, a reminder of a chase so vivid, it changed everything.

©𝗦𝗧𝗫𝗥𝗦𝗡𝗜𝗢𝗟𝗢 | my little stars: @courta13 @chrislilcumslvt @marrykisskilled @chrislova @sturnshood @inspiredangel @strnilolover @emely9274 @sturns-mermaid

[arkhamochi]

Batman & Robin (2009, vol. 2) #ochireads

BATMAN REBORN By Grant MORRISON & Frank QUITELY

"The new Dynamic Duo uncovers clues involving the mysterious death of Bruce Wayne before facing off against each other in a heated battle that both heroes will regret — if they live through it! Includes THE BLACKEST NIGHT, as well as stories that lead directly into BATMAN: THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE!" [x]

DISCLAIMER: This retrospective may assume that you have a baseline knowledge of some of these arcs. Remember, this is all in the spirit of friendly story analysis and healthy discussion! All opinions are my own.

OVERVIEW:

Hooooo boy, okay, this one is kinda WEIRD. This volume is mostly filler for "The Return of Bruce Wayne", the greater DC event at the time. Damian is out of commission for the first half (due to the events of the previous volume), but whatever Damian moments are in here are more foundational than at first glance, even if it is at the expense of other characters.

REACTION COMMENTARY: (5 minute read)

Talia: "Isn't he magnificent?" Damian: *looking like a soggy piece of naan bread*

Co-parenting moment with your adult ward's ex girlfriend. Alfred's affection/care for Damian is a lot more unambiguous here, and now I really wish we could've seen their relationship grow in the comics (instead of it being implied "off-page")🥺!!!

To be honest, Morrison's narrative justification for introducing Damian still isn't satisfying to me. It's implied that Talia has promised Damian to inherit the Batman/Wayne empire. Now that he's super involved with the Batman gig, Talia is acting all confused and incensed about it. Am I thinking too hard about this?

SO CUTE!!! A little sweater vest moment as a treat 🥺! Another subtle nod to their genuine relationship, where Damian feels close enough to gossip with Alfred (albeit right in front of the poor subject).

I'm not sure if this is purposeful, but Damian's conversation also seems more relaxed and free flowing (compared to the previous arc). Outside of Robin activity, I don't imagine Damian going outside much, and he definitely doesn't have any friends, so he'd naturally spend a lot of time with Alfred.

Context: it really is a zombie clone!

What a smart cookie! It's a brief but interesting insight into Damian using his own unique knowledge of the Lazarus Pit to quickly deduce that this Batman is a fake, compared to Dick. I wonder if this is supposed to be a direct implication that Dick wouldn't have resurrected the wrong Batman if Damian was with him to challenge the idea?

Also, once again showing Damian has immediate and genuine concern for Alfred's wellbeing.

I have to share this whole sequence of teamwork! Could it be, Alfred and Damian are the secret Dynamic Duo!?

That spit is so iconic, so petty, disrespectful even to a zombie... Even when falling to his death, Damian doesn't scream. There's an initial shock, then reservation. Maybe he's even a little embarrassed? Disappointed in himself? Even the -tt- hints at some annoyance.

Damian has lived his life, not for the sake of living, but to achieve great things. It must be a little humiliating for someone like him to seemingly die in such a vulnerable and "pathetic" way. Does this imply that he doesn't fear death, or that he doesn't give himself permission to feel fear at all?

Fear not! Dick arrives just in time to save him! And Damian is immediately back to his quippy self, making sure that Dick knows exactly what he thinks instead of a "thank you".

Of course, Batman and Batwoman defeat Zombie Batman and save the day :)

Who let this 10 year old into the boardroom???

This whole segment is so appropriately silly. It's interesting how this might be the only time (in canon) Damian has been involved with W.E. affairs, and then he's kinda never put in a scenario like this again. Maybe Morrison was getting a feeler for where Damian's strengths outside of vigilante work might fit? Or maybe it's for a one-off gag.

Either way, I can believe that Damian would enjoy scrutinising data like a challenge to be won, but truthfully would have no interest in running W.E. But clearly it's a concept that didn't take off anywhere, so it doesn't really matter THAT much 😛

A/N: Ok so this post has been in my draft for over half a year up to this point, and I'm only picking it back up now. Apologies for the rustiness in my analysis.

Completely unrelated, have I mentioned how funny this batmobile looks to me? It reminds me of the biddybuggy from Mario Kart...

Anyway, uh...

Really beautiful panel here (even though the context behind it is super silly, so we'll just ignore all that).

Damian was raised on the legacy of Al Ghul, but technically that one only goes back 2 generations. Being promised (by Talia) to inherit the Wayne fortune, I wonder how much he knows about the history of his Father's side at this point? With Bruce (assumed to be genuinely dead at this point) out of the picture, is there an added pressure? An added loss? One day, will Damian's portrait be on this wall?

Just imagine if Bruce's portrait was already up, and then just a single beat of Damian looking at the blank space next to it... But once again, the writing kinda glosses over this character opportunity to forward the plot instead (not a bad thing, but just a shame that the potential is now lost).

GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, good food, good food...

They've obviously built up a healthy rapport at this point, so it especially hurts when Dick doesn't realise the depth of his insecurities (he even brushes it off twice, omg!!!).

For all the surface-level boasting Damian peacocks about his superior skills, (arguably) having already proved himself being worthy of the mantle of Robin, Damian knows, consciously or subconsciously, that it isn't enough. Despite how well he's settled into the role, true approval must come from his father in an emotional bid, and Damian is anxiously aware of exactly how Bruce feels about him.

I've always heard about how Morrison "character assassinated" Talia, and to be honest, my uneducated ass always thought "surely it can't be that bad". My god, it really is that bad.

It's unfortunately difficult to separate this characterisation from "canon" since it seems to be the main catalyst for why Damian chooses to stay in Gotham. Damian's motivations in his introductory comics were pretty vague and poorly written imo, so I am assuming this is Morrison's way of establishing something more definitive-- it's just a shame that Talia's writing has seemingly taken the fall for it.

#1 DICK GRAYSON STAN, DAMIAN WAYNE, RAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is...... silly.... this is so silly... And yet, I must admit, this twist had me gagged.

Context: During Damian's spinal surgery, Talia inserted a device that let's her control his body. Slade then takes over (trying to get revenge on Dick as well).

Jesus, this is grim 😻! Slade kinda catching some shade for being an old man tho hahaha. Really emotional panels from the Quitely; the desperation, struggle, and absolute trust between Batman and Robin is so raw and uncomfortable (positive!).

In an era where Damian was still universally hated, it's nice to see in-context moments of Damian's selflessness and maturity, despite the fandom rhetoric of him being a selfish brat.

DAMIAN CONVINCING HIMSELF THAT (he thinks) BRUCE WILL TAKE THE MANTLE OF ROBIN AWAY WHEN HE RETURNS AAUUUGGHHHOOUUUGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Something else that I love about Damian's character that I don't see get brought up often is the theme of unconditional love (for family). Even after what seems like an ultimate betrayal in love and trust, Damian still respects his mother, calls her as such, and still holds on to the expectations that, in a roundabout way, he could still make her proud.

This is similarly the case with Bruce, where Damian believes that Bruce has no affection or trust towards him, but he still respects him (and their relationship) as his father.

To cap this off, I also wanted to include this "writer's commentary" by Morrison lol.

Overall, this arc had a little more bite than the last! Everything is obviously overshadowed by the "Bruce Returns" event, but we got some really definitive Damian moments... even if it was at the expense of Talia's character...

Anyone else have favourite moments to share? Personal analysis and thoughts? Let's talk about it 🥰!

[ilovejeongintoo]

𝔾𝕒𝕫𝕖 𝕆𝕗 𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕖

!WARNING NSFW Content ahead! !MDNI!

Genre: Fantasy, Gorgon Hongjoong x Reader, Magic Academy Au Warnings: sex p in v, bruising(don't worry), venom/aphrodisiac, a little of blood(bite), begging, teasing kinda? Wordcount: 5029 Not proofread

Serpent Hybrid Honjoong would actually be so hot, I can't breathe. Also inspired by Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Summary: The magic school you go to has many secrets and students start disappearing again, but when you're friend also suddenly turns into thin air, you decide to find her yourself, one of the secrets is closer than you could have ever imagined.

"Did you hear?, it happened again."

"This is the third student this month."

"Aren't the teachers gonna do anything."

No, they won't, they never have. In all the years that you've been training to be a wizard, no one did anything against the mysterious disappearances happening in this school. And you doubt anyone ever will.

Every year, when the snow started to build a thick layer onto the gras outside and the days started becoming shorter, at night students went missing, one by one. And every time, not a single teacher would investigate further, you doubt that they even told the parents about the fate that their children would suffer.

It wasn't like they'd disappear forever, they would return one day, out of the blue. But not the same, they had a blank expression, as if the life was sucked out of them. And they would mutter about strange, unintelligible things.

This was seriously getting out of hand, you'd never know who would be next, maybe it was that nerdy girl in potions class, or that stupid jock that sat way too close with his sweaty self.

Or maybe you.

You closed your locker in frustration, swiftly heading off to your next class. You were not in the mood to listen to any of this nonsense anymore, the upcoming exams had you on your feet already, there wasn't any need for more stress on your end.

You were sat at your desk, patiently waiting for your friend to show up. But she wouldn't show, not even when the teacher arrived, or 10 minutes into the lesson. Maybe she just forgot to tell you that she wouldn't be coming.

You tried focusing on your lessons, a weird feeling stirring in your gut. As you were packing your books, the runes teacher called out to you, a small old woman.

You quickly headed over to her, your bag over your shoulder. Your brows furrowed at the serious and kind of dim expression that her wrinkly face was painted in.

"Have you heard anything from your friend, Adeline?" "No, I haven't, why?" It wasn't rare for her to miss a class, especially not this one. Why was she so concerned?

"She wasn't at her after school studies, or any of the club activities." Now those she definitely never misses, as she actually likes those. That feeling in your stomach started feeling heavier and a clump in your throat started forming at the all the possibilities of where she was, or what could have happened.

"Her roommates also noticed her missing." How could you be the only person to not have noticed anything, you, you were her best friend for god’s sake. You broke out in a cool sweat; she couldn't be far. Hopefully.

You thanked the teacher for informing you, telling her you'd tell her if you find out anything about her whereabouts. This cannot be happening. Not to her, your mind kept making pictures of all the times at the academy, how you'd spend any moment with her.

The third student this month. It must be her. She was now one of the missing students, that were going to turn up again like brain dead zombies. No way you'd let that happen. Your steps began quickening, you stopped in front of a few students to ask them if they'd seen her. Never getting a positive answer or even a clue. You kept asking people around the school until someone said something that struck you.

"Oh yeah, the little one, saw her yesterday with…who was it?" They stopped to think, you were restless and grabbed them by the collar.

"Who? With whom was she?"

You looked like you'd start killing the poor student if they didn't tell you, pupils small and eyes wide. You needed to find her, as soon as possible. Your hold didn't let up until they got the answer out with a trembling stutter.

"Kim- Kim Hongjoong"

You let the go, the person catching their breath a little and hurrying off.

Kim Hongjoong, you weren't unfamiliar with the student. He was also going to be a graduate, you had never spoken with him before, but you sure as hell would now.

He was a little popular with his looks and charms. But right now, he might be one of the names that would land on your "to kill" list. If he had anything to do with your besties disappearance. You knew where to find him rather quickly, with asking the next person in your line of vision, a lot nicer than before, as to where he would be. His charms class was just about to end, and luckily for you the classroom was just a few halls down situated.

As soon as your eyes were sat on a familiar blonde hair you grabbed said person by the tie and slammed them into the next wall, fuck being patient, your friend was missing. The dude was definitely taken aback by the shocked expression and silver rimmed glasses that fell down his nose a little.

You got in his face, trying to intimidate him even if he was quite a bit taller.

"Where is she?" "Who?" He seemed genuinely confused, as if, he must be playing dumb on purpose.

"Adeline fucking Winters, where is she?" You gripped him tighter, not aware of the stares some student threw your guys' way. You were sure you must be choking this dude with the way you were holding him.

"Woah calm down- he tried prying your hands from his shirt-"I don't know what you mean." "You were the last person to seen with her, so, where.is.she?

Fed up with your pulling, he roughly yanked himself out of your grip, face now an angry expression at your accusing tone. "I got nothing to do with her vanishing if that's what you're insinuating."

"Fancy words from a kidnapper-" You stepped up to him again, wanting to close the distance again. "-or worse a murderer, huh, what did you do to her." You jabbed an accusing finger into his chest, not believing that he didn't know anything at all.

Before he could come up with what you were sure, was going to be another excuse, a teacher interrupted. She pulled you away at the aggressive look and most definitely clenched fists, trying to deescalate the situation.

You would not let that man rest, he knew something, he has to. So, you shouted, hoping that he would hear:" I'll find out what you're hiding!"

After an hour-long lecture from the principle for your behavior you were finally let off with a warning. They still wouldn't do anything to help you find your friend though, making some lame excuse that she might have just gone and needed some time alone. They clearly just wanted this subject off the table.

You wouldn't give up though. And you had a plan, one that would start with operation: "Observe Kim Hongjoong". You came to realize that the dude was as boring as the next one though, he just went to his classes, hung out with his weird group of friends and would then retire in his room. Nothing out of the ordinary. He must be playing it safe. As to not get found out. So that would mean, you needed to switch to the next phase of your plan: "Confront Kim Hongjoong". That step was a lot easier than you were thinking, as he himself paid you a visit in your potions class, snagging the seat next to you.

Making himself a little too comfortable in the seat, same uniform as any student here wore. A tie, dark coat and slacks matched with dress shoes and a white pristine shirt.

As the lesson began, he began whispering to you. "Look I don't know what happened to your friend." He had a sympathetic look to his face; you'd almost believe him.

Almost.

"I know that you have something to do with this." It was more of a feeling than anything, he was either lying or just not telling you the whole truth, you were guessing it's more likely the first option. You turned to him, laying your fountain pen down and stared him down. Right in those deep eyes of his.

"And when I find out what you're hiding, everyone will know." Just then the bell rung, which made you snatch the book and supplies of yours into your arms and speed walking away from him. Being near him made it almost hard to breathe, he was a lot more imposing than you first realized.

You didn't even put away your books, heading straight to the library. Because maybe you hadn't found out where your friend was now, but you did manage to catch something.

His eyes. The moment you looked into them, for a split second, so fast that anyone could miss it, they changed. Yes, maybe you were actually going crazy…but if not, this could help find Adeline, Addy, your friend. You started missing her more and more over the passing days, praying that she was okay at the least.

For what reason would Hongjoong need someone to disappear? To kill them? To sacrifice them? God, he just a kid like you though. But those eyes weren't, they looked cold, like pure ice that sank into the depths of a deep-frozen lake.

You decided just looking at all the books in the library would take way too long, the room was practically the size of a mansion. You started looking through a few ritual books, nothing. Looking into some records of the school, nothing. No missing people, no records at all, even though this was a phenomenon that had been going on since your first year here. Someone must be covering this whole thing up, or something.

The tag for the forbidden section caught your eye, looking back to see if the librarian had their eyes on you, you slipped through the wooden door. It was left unlocked, well not willingly as some students broke the lock and the school decided the cost wasn't worth fixing. It was pretty dark in here, as you choose to keep the lights off. Noone needed to know you were in here, or the next lecture with the principal wouldn’t just end with a warning.

You looked through a few books, they were sometimes in a language you couldn't read or barely understood. A dark cover in the corner caught your eye, you reached for it and blew the dust on the top off it a bit. It uncovered the title "Legendarum Magicus". That almost sounded like a childrens book for magic legends. You flipped it open nonetheless, it didn't have an author and the writing, it wasn't printed, it seemed to be handwritten, each page of it.

And all the texts, they were all about this school. Hidden stories about the weird creaking in the abandoned girl’s bathroom. The hidden cellar in the school, which was supposedly home to mysterious caged creatures. What made your hand stop turning pages was when the book spoke about the missing students, or more importantly, the cause of it.

As you read through it with your phone as a light. Each paragraph you read, made your hand tighten and shake against the book until you closed it with a slam. A noise way too loud for anyone not to hear. As soon as you heard the familiar squeak of the librarian chair you ran out, slipping the book into your bag and hiding behind a pillar as to not get caught. When the coast was clear you headed to the stairs you just wanted to go to your room now, too exhausted and tensed with all the new things you learned from the book. And about the infamous Kim Honjoong.

Your eyes closed your eyes trying to keep the headache you managed to sport away. And at last made you fall asleep, bag still clutched to your body.

The next day phase three your plan would step into action: "Confronting Hongjoong and getting Adeline back". You had no idea how you'd do that but just in case of something happening, you packed a special little object with you.

Hongjoong must have some kind of unnatural for feeling when you needed to talk to him because he came up to you again, just before class was going to start.

"Hey, I just wanted to make sure, that you know I-" He gestured to himself, and you cut him off, not planning on listening to more of his lies.

"I know your secret Hongjoong." That sure got him to be quiet quick. He looked calm from the outside, but once again, those eyes said more than anything on that pretty face. The Frames didn't hide the icy expression, his eyes seemed to get deeper now you felt like you were drowning in that cold, frozen over lake. That same restricting feeling on your chest.

You managed to get it out though, in a barely there voice.

"I know what you are."

At that he abruptly grabbed your hand and began pulling you away from the classroom, not planning on partaking in the lesson. Your and his steps were the only things that could be heard in the empty hallway. Would he take you to where the others were now? You didn't feel that good about going there alone, wherever "there" was. His steps were quick and long and the rooms that you passed were a big, connected blur.

You stepped down several stairways, they all went further and further down. And then he stepped through doors until you were in the common bath, he pulled you in and then let go.

He stepped around the huge bath going for where the multiple faucets that were used for it were. He turned a few, seemingly in a specific order and when he stepped back from them a buzz rang through the room. An opening in the wall opened, the wall sliding from it former place like a normal door, yet this was anything but normal.

He walked through the hole, stopping and turning to you. "If you wanna know where your little friend is now, you ought to follow me."

Was this smart? Absolutely not. Were you going to do it regardless?

Yes.

You knew what this path led to, his lair. Where he trapped his victims. His eyes seemed to glow a green in the dark of the tunnel and he continued walking ahead, knowing that you'd follow.

When the tunnel opened up again it was into a big room. Water pouring from a lot of places in the ceiling and disappearing into nothingness. Big stone pathways were decorated with big statues on each side making it look like a big ominous walkway, headed straight to a statue in the front. All depicted the same animal, a serpent. That made your heart beat a little faster, your hands tremble a little more and you turned your bag a little more to you, for easier access. Hongjoong took off his coat, throwing it off into a corner. He loosened his tie and popped a few buttons open, before turning back to you.

"You know, your first one to figure it out." He said all friendliness and the desperate attempts of convincing you of his innocence were gone. Now before you stood the real Kim Hongjoong.

"You humans are usually so stupid and naive, quite easy to fool. But now, you show up, trying to play hero." He took slow steps to you, and you reached into your bag at the same tempo. Your heart began racing.

"Most of the times I just get a little bit of the energy of the magicians here, letting them walk away in a little daze and making them come back again if I’m in need of a little snack again." He continued on, explaining, not that you'd understand his situation.

"I think I'll make an exception for you though." He closed in on you just as you had done the first day you confronted him. You pulled out the round object that you took with you, a mirror. You looked away as well, not wanting to be affected with whatever he was trying to pull on you.

If the book was correct, what stood before you wasn't a human. It was the embodiment of medusa, the curse holder of the gaze of stone, a gorgon. He was a living myth, inhabiting the dark underground of this Academy. Feasting on his prey. He turned away with a yell, stopped by the reflective surface in your hand.

"Smart little thing, aren't you?" You heard him speak, not willing to give him an ounce of your eyesight. He wouldn't be able to catch you with his gaze.

"Yeah, that's right- you stood from your cowering position; mirror still held tightly in hand. "-so give me back my best friend and nothing will happen." You started looking for her in the room, not seeing anyone besides the two of you.

"Oh, but it will, now that you know, you don't expect to just walk away? Do you?"

"Oh, sweet thing, but she isn't even here." You felt a grip in your hand, making you turn your head regardless in shock. He turned your mirror away from him, gripping your wrist tighter until you let go and it shattered on the stone floor. You choose to just tightly close your eyes.

He stepped closer into your personal space, he dragged his one hand to your jaw, turning your head to him. "Look at me." It was a demand, a command to do as told or you'd suffer some serious repercussions.

You refused to give in, you wouldn't, for your friend. You felt his warm breath brush your face and then you felt a soft feeling against your lips, nonetheless, making you open your eyes. Which in turn made you gaze into his-now grey-eyes. You felt like you were afloat, in a daze, completely relaxed. Like you were on a high, it felt like when you used to make potions to fall asleep.

His blonde fluffy hair was starting to go out of focus a bit, your eyesight blurry. A hand cupped your cheek, now tilting your head to properly get you to look at him.

"Now Now, don't fall asleep, we're just getting started."

You didn't really hear his words, too out of it. The thing that you could focus on the most were those lips, that were now curved in a pretty smile. Your throat dried up a little at the notion of getting to feel those lips again, you leaned into him a little. You kissed up your cheek, in a motion way too sweet given the situation. You kept your eyes open now, intent on capturing all of his movements in your memories. You felt a little prick of him biting into your lower lip and right after you felt even more floaty, incredibly warm as well. As if you were coming down with a fever, Hongjoong's lips felt so cool in contrast now, which made you more the desperate to reconnect your lips each time. With each smack it seemed to cool you off, but your body began burning more.

You pulled him more into you, feeling the exposed part of his chest, just as cooling as the rest of him. You unbuttoned it more. "Eager, aren't we?" His voice seemed far away, but his touch wasn't as he got rid of your cloak and shirt just as fast.

His touch was soft but demanding not rushing at all, you however couldn't get enough fast enough. You pressed messy kisses along his neck, down his collar bone and chest, your hands finding their place on his pecs. You explored the expanse of his body, keeping your lips on his torso. You slipped your one hand down further his abdomen, now noticing a few scales scattered over the sides of his torso. You delicately traced his abs, being stopping by your head, when a hand pulled your head back by your hair. It forced you to make eye contact with the heavenly looking creature in front of you. "That's only for good ones, have you been good?"

You nodded, whatever would get you to feel more of him and satiate that ache deep inside you. To make the burning stop. Instead of letting you continue on, he completely pulled away.

The suddenness made you sink onto the cold stone floor. A whine escaped you in response, which, in any other situation would have embarrassed you. You couldn't pick your body off the ground, way too weak, your bones felt like they were made out of pudding. "Now tell me, who else might know that I'm the reason for the incidents happening on these grounds? Any friends you like to gossip to?" He tapped your chin to get you to look at him, noticing how it sunk at the relaxed feelings of your body.

You couldn't even understand him, the question hadn't registered at all in your mushed up brain. So, he repeated himself now sounding a lot more serious though.

You tried thinking back, no one, you hadn't told anyone about this escapade of yours, or even that you had the slightest idea of who could be behind the kidnapped students. That shook you awake a little, you were here for someone, for your best friend.

You didn't know which answer would make you come out of this alive, so you stuck with the truth. Instantly a a big smile formed on his face, eyes crinkling a bit and fangs showing. Fangs that you managed to only notice now.

"What do you want with them? You don't eat them, so what do you do to them?" Your weakened voice questioned. Hongjoongs one eyebrow raised in surprise at the fact that your head was starting to clear up again. That wasn't part of his plan in bringing you here. He supposed he could tell you, not that you'd remember any of this after, just like the others.

"But that's where you're wrong, I do eat them, partially. I take away that delicious spiritual energy, it doesn't kill you. But can you really call that living? You saw, they're empty husks after."

He enjoyed the wide-eyed look on your face, now just realizing what real danger you were facing. It was crazy how nonchalant he was about all of this. He kept his non-threatening facade for now, and then when you would least expect it, he'd wrap himself around you, just like a viper.

"No, please-uh not my friend please." Aww how cute, you were really worried about someone else right now?

You really were naïve.

Following him down here, trusting his words of giving up your mortal friend. He enjoyed seeing you beg, especially on your knees on the floor. It gave him even more of a power trip than he was already having.

The tears in your eyes, the disheveled state of your clothes and hair and God, the pink blush that was still left on your cheeks from before. He was barely keeping himself under control. Maybe he could make an exception, just this once.

"Alright, I’ll let your friend go, hell I'll even stop taking students, for a price of course."

Okay, this was your only chance to save her. You'd do whatever it took to know that she was alive and still the one that you spent all this time with, in all those years.

You were still looking up at him with those big eyes, in hope. That he would keep his words. "If I can’t feed on those friends of yours, you'll just have to quench my hunger."

Die? Was he really asking you to die? To sacrifice yourself? You were shaking, you were going to be one of those lifeless husks, roaming the halls until you graduated. Only God knows how your life would continue after.

You supposed you didn't have any other choice, if this was really the only way, there’s no way you could walk away and live with the guilt. If Hongjoong would even let you leave.

"Alright, I'll do it, but you have to let them go." He moved towards you at that, with each step your shoulders shook more in fear of what was about to happen to you. You were praying for it to at least not be painful. You closed your eyes in preparation of his next move.

Directly in front of you again he ran his fingers down, along your cheek. Going down and over your neck, feeling your pulse and staying there. The smell of your fear was already feeding him more than you'd ever know, but he wouldn't just stop without having an actual taste of you.

He leaned in, those same plush lips brushed over your neck and then slightly exposed shoulder. Your shirt had ridden down quite a bit, some buttons opened. You could feel his long tongue occasionally trace a few lines along the expanse of your shoulder, but he bit in, just slightly.

Your taste was heavenly, reminding him of his favorite pastry. He needed to keep you alive so that his now favorite snack would never leave him.

That made you wince; this would be it. His tongue went over the small holes that were left behind in a soothing touch. You started feeling dazed even more, more than before. His venom that must have been it before as well. Now that it was more and deeper it worked so much stronger. The heat was actually unbearable now, you began taking your top clothes off in a fruitless attempt to feel cooler.

Searching for some coolness your hands met Hongjoongs skin again wrapping yourself around him to get your naked upper body flush against him. His went around to hold your waist, quickly slipping down to push your skirt and panties off in one move. If your blood tasted that good, in between your legs would actually make him ascend to heaven. Usually, he wouldn't drain his victims like this, not at all.

He pushed you to lay on the floor, on your back. He followed right behind, settling himself between your legs. Eyes going for the space in between your legs, which was a sight for sore fucking eyes. So wet, from just a little kissing and his venom. And those tits, that he hadn't appreciated until now, he really should have. Everything about you was screaming to be consumed, he wonders if he was the one lured and not you.

He wasn't any better than you though, his dick leaking pre-cum and coating his underwear maybe even his slacks. He made quick work of both, just as impatient as you. Your hands kept going over him, caressing any space you could find. His hands found the back of your thighs folding them up to have you spread out even more for him, the position had him licking his lips. He lined himself up against your pulsing hole, that was clearly eager to be filled.

No foreplay at all he pushed in slowly to not hurt you anymore than necessary to get himself sheathed inside of you. He rubbed your clit to alleviate some of the pain that followed with his push. You barely even registered the pain, grabbing him by the nape and pulling him down into a kiss.

The moment he moved his hips back and forth you were seeing stars, your senses seemed so dimmed but your touch receptor and nerves were heightened. The pleasure was ten fold, the slide got wetter and wetter with each passing thrust. The groaning and moaning from each of you growing louder and rawer. You pulled back to catch a breath from the kiss, your head was thrown back at a particular deep and calculated thrust.

You looked down to see where you two were connected, the sight straight out of a porn, your wetness leaking all over Honjoong and yourself. And you could clearly see some sticky precum pulling strands and connecting the skin.

It was so hot, so sensual and dirty. The wetness provided the right slide for when your clit would make contact with Honjoongs pubic bone, grinding against it. Your climax was approaching way faster than any time before in your life, faster than when your favorite toy was hitting all those spots inside you, deeper than your fingers ever hoped to reach. The pleasure felt unreal.

The same was for him, he was so out of breath. The squelching from your pussy and your wet and warm walls made such a deadly combination. It felt as if no time at all passed, you hit your highs that fast, with Hongjoong curling over your body and pushing your legs a little further up. And you gripping onto his back for dear life, your body working overtime with all the sensations and pleasure coursing through you. Little lightning bolts making you flinch a little in sensitivity.

The only thing heard in the big room was the harsh breathing that escaped the both of you, having you stay in position for quite a while, until he separated the two of you.

His cock leaving you empty but that heat also slowly dissipating. You stayed laying on the floor until you felt some fabric being placed around you, like a blanket. Opening your eyes, it was Honjoongs coat your body disconnected from the uncomfortable floor and was lifted into his strong arms.

He didn't walk in the direction of the exit, he walked further in, it kept getting darker and darker making sleepier. His grip tightened in realization of you starting to doze off. In spite of the clear danger holding you, you felt yourself surrendering to the sweet sensation of sleep. He felt himself smile a little at the adorable sight and now he would have more than enough times to enjoy that over and over again.

A deal is a deal after all.

[noneorother]

All the music you didn’t hear: The Good Omens soundtrack is lying to you. *Part 1*

The Bonkers Meta Series part 2: Electric Boogaloo.

I so rarely get a chance to misuse my experience in classical music, but here we are. When I realized on my most recent watch-through of the series that the David Arnold score was brilliant, but also really wonky in some parts and I couldn’t put my finger on why, @embracing-the-ineffable suggested I listen to the album soundtrack to compare.

And when I tell you what I found hidden in there, you’re going to need Eccles cakes...

1) The Song is the Clue

So right up top we have this banger. The 12th track on the album is the orchestral backdrop to the scene in the Job minisode where Aziraphale reveals Crowley’s crow/goats. The duration is 2:22 (the only track with multiples on the album), and if you look at the track by itself it doesn’t mean much. But the song just before it is actually from this fucking scene:

You know, the one where there’s a song that’s a clue to a mystery. Except Clue is capitalised, and Aziraphale pronounces it. I’ve seen guesses that this is a reference to the movie Clue, but I would put a lot of money on the fact that we are supposed to read the title of the song currently playing at that moment in the show *as a Clue*, which is super convenient, because the word Clue is capitalized in the track listing. 

Seems like the overlords of Good Omens have a message for us : The song is the Clue. It’s what God wants. Cool cool cool. WHAT SONG?

2) Symmetry in all things 

Before I straight up tell you, we have to go back and look at season 1.

Now I’m far from the first to notice tons of parallels between the story, details and even lines in both seasons. It got me thinking that maybe there are some fun synch-up parallels between the two season’s soundtracks, seeing as they are both 6 episodes long. Here’s the end of S1 and then S2

Oh that’s a bummer, I thought to myself. 

They don’t even add up to the same number, or playtime, and neither of them is exactly 60 tracks. But do you want to hear a secret? S2 is actually missing 3 tracks on the album. And because there are 2 discs in S2 (cute), the numbers of the tracks start over again from 1. Remember how much God likes sevens? Check out where all the weirdness is happening in disc 2 (I’ve added the missing track listings in red to add context):

After checking each track with the show and listening side by side (for reasons that will become clear in another post) I can definitively say that there is something *very weird* going on at the end of episode 4. 

First is track 7, Zombie dressing room, which seems to actually reach over two distinct scenes of the photo evidence in the dressing room and then Shax in hell even though it only has one title.

But *between* these two scenes we get an eerily silent wine date with Aziraphale & Crowley.

There’s really no music or even sound here besides the dialogue and room tone (until after the cheers), and it seems like a very intentionally silent version of a ritz date from season 1.

My best guess is that we are supposed to divide that track into two tracks of 7, before and after the date to get a second track 7. Or maybe the silent one is missing music? The third track number 7 is the weirdest one. It’s this scene here, when Nina parks her bike, and Aziraphale parks the car at the end of S2E4.

If you take a close listen to the music, it’s a jaunty little piece, with an oom-pah base in 3 ⁄ 4 time. The thing is, this music does not exist in any Good Omens album. Please feel free to correct me, but I’ve tried to find any part of any song that this could even be a reprise of, and I Shazammed it to be sure it wasn’t anything else. This song does not exist anywhere except in this scene. (It quickly morphs into a reprise of the original theme once Nina leaves Aziraphale). It’s an invisible song.

So we have 3 tracks at the end of S2E4: a long one, a silent one and an invisible one. Only one of which is numbered 7, but that all fit into that place in the track listing.

Which, when we add the two extras to the original total of fifty-nine we get... sixty-one! Hey wait a minute.

How are we going to get to 62?

3) The real missing track. 

So the real reason we had to go back to the S1 album was because it contains the missing track that God is talking about. Let’s compare the last tracks on each album.

I’ve highlighted the mismatch between the in-show music and the album in S2, which means I had to add A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square back into the S2 album because guess what, it’s not in the S2 album. Even though it plays in the show. 

You want to know how not in the album it is? Amazon had to track it in the show as a season 1 song. They had to give Tori Amos credit for her song on Good Omens in the X-ray bonus features because that’s how not in the album this song is.

So my fellow beings, if the song is the Clue, then It’s what God Wants.

And if God wants a happily ever after with Aziraphale and Crowley on their own side, then by Job, I think Neil is going to give it to her.

-----------

And there's more where that came from! Part 2 coming shortly.

[jesncin]

Spirit World, Ride the Cyclone and Death. A weird comparative analysis

Gonna combine my musical nerd and cape comics fixation together for a rambling meta thought. I've been reflecting on how taboo the topic of death is in media after getting into Ride The Cyclone (highly recommend watching the slime tutorial and Waiting in the Wings' documentary on it) but also contrasting that musical with how Spirit World handled similar topics.

Both stories cover characters whose lives were cut short from a tragic circumstance, but while Cyclone directly talks frankly about how each character uniquely grieves over their lost life (and eventually accepts death)- Spirit World uses death as largely an aesthetic to a generic fantasy superhero adventure.

[spoilers for Ride the Cyclone and Spirit World]

Spirit World is about non-binary, half dead half living Envoy Xanthe Zhou, as they go into the Spirit World with John Constantine to rescue Cassandra Cain Batgirl. They eventually go toe to toe with the spirit of a bitter dead poet.

Ride the Cyclone is about 6 choir teenagers who die in a roller coaster accident in their small town. In the afterlife, they are given the chance to vote which one of them they believe should be resurrected.

For Spirit World, do we even know how Xanthe feels about being "half dead"? What does that even mean? They died as (what looks like) a 3 year old, and have clearly aged 15 more years since then. So they can age? Do they need to eat or drink (they're seen with a drink in a Pride comic)? Xanthe keeps mentioning they're half dead and half living, but the comic doesn't seem to want to discuss what that means. How would Xanthe feel that they were essentially given a job as an Envoy the minute they died as a very young child? Was this even a choice?

We've already covered the numerous plot holes in Xanthe Zhou's poorly thought out backstory so I won't go over that again. But honestly apart from the thematically loose "the dead shouldn't be forgotten" moral, a lot of how death is presented in Spirit World feels so superficial. When Xanthe is formally introduced as this cool character with a giant sword hanging around a gravesite, fighting all these hopping vampire creatures... this scene would play out the same if you swapped the setting with a forest and zombies as bad guys.

The Spirit World is less an afterlife for the spirits to move onto and more an MMORPG setting for our superheroes to travel across and fight generic evil beings and encounter eviler, bigger, boss battles at the end. Then there's the poet clout villain whose problems are just easily solved by Xanthe promising to remember her. I've already covered what a lost opportunity thematically this character was in my last Xanthe essay, but this time I want to contrast her with Ride the Cyclone's Jane Doe. I also want to compare Xanthe with Noel Gruber afterwards.

Ride the Cyclone's musical numbers follow each character performing a song reflecting their wishes, and musings on life (this sounds depressing but the musical handles all this with comedy and wit), hoping to prove themselves as worthy of a second chance at life. Of the characters, Jane Doe is the mysterious odd one out. The accident decapitated her, leaving her to enter the after life with no memories and the people of the living unable to identify her.

You might see where I'm going with this. So in Spirit World, Wan Yujing was this famous poet mourned by an entire empire. She only goes monster mode when a handwave-y "time erodes all" happens in the Spirit World and she is eventually forgotten- so she becomes desperate to demand to be reincarnated by the Jade Court. Because her clout ran out. Again, I already made the critique in my previous essay that this villain would better link to our protagonist if she was a queer poet whose poetry was being purposefully straight washed as an act of queer historical erasure. But I want to bring up how truly unsympathetic this villain is. She gets Shakespeare levels of clout but still demands more because she isn't getting reincarnated fast enough. Xanthe promises that as an immortal "half dead half living" person that they will remember Wan Yujing, so she too can be immortal in some way.

I think about all the Jane Doe-s in the Spirit World who don't get to be famous poets that have Empires remembering who they were. People who died anonymously without a past. In Cyclone, the main character chooses Jane Doe as the person who should be brought back to life. Our cast of teens come to terms with the fact that while it's tragic that their lives ended shortly, they conclude "to say that if one dies young, they die needlessly... that is to discount the years we had. We had a life, she didn't. That's my vote." Since Jane Doe has no memory of who she is, it's only fair that she is given that second chance.

I get that Spirit World is choosing these "larger than life" characters as villains, but it's at the expense of their own supposed themes. Of all the people to die and face off our hero as the villain, a character who's essentially an influencer but somehow has an entire empire forget about her anyway feels thematically hollow.

Modern Superhero comics are suffering from a specific problem right now; they're not really about anything. Characters don't feel like people with interior lives informed by the context of who they are. Class, race and bigotry are only touched upon as lightly as possible. Queer characters are now Pride ads with no personhood or flaws. They punch gentrified crime and fight for no one in particular. Even recent adapted media such as My Adventures with Superman and Caped Crusader follow this. Superman fights white-washed xenophobia, while Batman fights gentrified, white-washed classicism. It's why comics like Superman Smashes the Klan, Catwoman Lonely City and Alan Scott Green Lantern stand out so much. It's been a while since these characters talked about anything that matters. Don't get me wrong, slop that's about nothing exists in every industry. But when these characters and worlds historically used to have more bite- it's especially obvious.

If I could be playfully conspiracy theory-like for a second; I believe Xanthe Zhou was pitched so that DC Comics can buff out their Pride Anthology or AAPI anthology with a new younger character. The company will give this character one limited series, but that's it. Xanthe will appear in the larger DC universe whenever big magic plots happen, but that's it. Maybe they'll get a YA graphic novel. I would love to be proven wrong, but the problems with Xanthe are baked in the dough.

Because they don't feel like a person, Xanthe feels more like an industry planted Pride ad. They're designed to be the most palatable and marketable image of Asian androgyny. They literally have no flaws to grow out of, and their backstory makes no sense. They weren't built to be a sustainable solo character.

So I want to contrast Xanthe Zhou against Noel Gruber from Ride the Cyclone. Because they're both queer characters whose lives were cut short at a young age.

In a dramatic lament, Noel Gruber expresses how if he had a chance to live, he'd want to live the horrible cinematic messy life of a French sex worker woman in post-war France. He struggled as the only gay boy in a small town and never got to kiss a boy before he died. It's a look into a queer life that could've been lived, one with all the messy texture and self destruction Noel couldn't have but desires. We get to see how death and queerness intersect into rich, unflattering, gender-messy themes. "I want to be that fucked up girl." Noel sings.

But what's Xanthe's deal? They died as a 3 year old, got brought back, avoided their family at all costs for 15 years, and then had a transphobic confrontation with their family when they're invited to dinner way later. If Xanthe grew up in a transphobic household, how did they ever figure out they were non-binary when they were 3? Could they even verbalize it? Or did they instead figure out their queerness after they died? But how is that possible when they already held a level of familiar resentment towards their family's transphobia as if they've had several fights about it? It's hard to picture a 3 year old having multiple heated debates about gender with their parents for this level of resentment to make any sense.

Details aside, how does Xanthe's queerness intersect with themes of death and grief? Well, it just doesn't. This scene ends with Xanthe's sister telling them that she bothered remembering them even though their parents moved on from their death (which makes no sense since the parents wanted to have dinner with a random 18 year old they correctly assumed was their long dead "daughter" but whatever). Honestly, the only reason queerness exists in this family drama is so that Xanthe has a tense relationship with their family. The story would be exactly the same if Xanthe was a troublemaker that brought shame to their family. Who they are isn't specific to whatever grief exists in the comic.

When people give the critique that modern Superhero comics aren't about anything anymore, we usually think of these comics as "lacking political bite and commentary". We don't often think of something like Death to be political. And even though it is in many ways, it's also a social taboo to talk about. Death is an uncomfortable thing to confront, even in the safety of fiction. It's what made Ride the Cyclone such a difficult stage musical to market.

So how does a modern mainstream comic like Spirit World fit into that? It just sits there in this non-committal way. Yes, this is a story about a trans teenager who died, but only in a cool Superhero Origin Way, not in any way that would make readers uncomfortable. Bury Your Gays is a stereotype after all, so we can't talk about how queer people feel about death. We don't get to know how Xanthe feels about death as a non-binary Asian American. Especially if it's messy. It's the reason why Wan Yujing's character can never commentate on themes of historical queer erasure. God forbid superhero comics be about something.

I think about how, in the original Hellblazer run from the 80s, John Constantine had an elderly gay friend who was diagnosed with AIDS but was killed by a homophobic hate group. The comic openly talks about the sheer amount of gay people dying of the epidemic, a looming threat that informs John's queer life. It's such a culture shock, to contrast these early comics with how John Constantine is written in Spirit World. A character stripped of his own queer history and is at the mercy of incessant slutty bi jokes. Where is the desire to talk about how death informs a queer person's life? The mourning of a lost generation to the AIDS crisis? Something John lived through?

How about how any of this intersects with being an Asian American queer person? Queer people of color are often erased or purposefully excluded from queer history and communities. As a Queer Asian American, what does it mean to have identities that are often perceived to be in conflict with each other? Would your queer Asian ancestors even be remembered? Cultural differences with how you'd mourn your communities? But answering any of these questions means an uncomfortable conversation for Spirit World. For Xanthe. It threatens to be about something.

Which makes it all the more silly that, of the two stories, a musical about teenagers dying from a rollercoaster malfunction is more willing to have that uncomfortable conversation. You should ride the Cyclone.