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butterflydm · 3 years ago

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wot reread: lord of chaos (chap 16-chap 31)

spoilers for lord of chaos

1. Rand considers telling the Maidens about Alanna forcibly-bonding him but decides against it because they would probably take things Too Far. He’s lounging on the Dragon Throne and notes that it’s actually quite uncomfortable. Rand’s titles: “My Lord Dragon. Lord of the Morning, Prince of the Dawn, True Defender of the Light, before whom the world kneels in awe.” I note a theme. Anyway, Rand is finally meeting with the four previously Morgase-loyal ladies and lords of Andor.

2. Aw, Rand remembers some of Moiraine’s advice. This bit is about making an impressive first impression. “You can step down from a throne, and even if you behave like a farmer in the pigsty, some part in each of them will remember that you did descend from a throne. But if they see only a young man first, a country man, they will resent him stepping up to his throne later, whatever his right, whatever his power”.

3. More advice from Moiraine: “Never be hostile unless you must, but above all never be overly friendly. Never be eager.” Rand also makes certain to subtly remind them of his power (and Power) and influence. The other three say that House Trakand has had its time and gone, with Morgase’s betrayal of them, and support Dyelin, but Dyelin says that she supports Elayne. The care in which Rand is attempting to balance duty and his affection for Elayne here is so sweet.

4. lol, and Rand finally tries to work out everything regarding his family, figures out the Tigraine and Damodred connection. We find out here that Galad is his brother, but the information that he has a living brother out there had zero impact on Rand and doesn’t feel any desire to seek him out, which makes me sad. He also thinks about how he’s only willing to trust three women ‘touched by the Tower’ -- Elayne, Nynaeve, and Egwene. “he hoped he could trust them. if only just a little”.

5. Sammael has sent an emissary, who brings a message in a voice not his own: “we will stand on different sides, you and I, come the day of the Great Lord’s Return, but why should we kill each other now and leave Demandred and Graendal to contest for the world over our bones?” Rand recognizes the voice as Sammael’s. He proposes a truce between him and Rand until the Day of The Return. Rand trusts this not at all. Rand turning down the offer causes the man to painfully die. “no truce with the Forsaken. No truce with the Shadow.”

6. “Wanting Aviendha and Elayne, when he knew he could have neither. You’re worse than Mat ever thought of being. Even Mat had the sense to stay away from a woman if he thought he would harm her.” Notable for being a thought about Aviendha and Elayne without Min awkwardly being jammed in at the end!

7. Rand goes to Cairhien, with the intent to talk to Egwene, and hoping that he can trust her. LOVE that Rand has Traveling rooms, places specifically set aside for him to safely go without worrying he might accidentally hurt someone. LTT is talking to Rand A LOT these days, but Rand actually does control his temper most of the time still.

8. He goes to catch up with Berelain and Rhuarc, who were left in charge of Cairhien to watch over it (mostly because he trusts them not to try to seize the Sun Throne, I assume). Rand is also way more attracted to Berelain now than he was the last time he saw her in TSR, for whatever reason. I think it’s mostly due to Jordan making everyone more horny in the later books, but there it is. We are reminded that All Women Hate Berelain, because apparently, we must. Berelain is actually a Legit Good Ruler and I want more of this Berelain, please. She’s clever and wise and honestly kinda adorable.

9. Anyway, Rand asks after Egwene’s health and is told that she is doing better. Also, Rand, a man who literally just thought about how he wanted both Elayne and Aviendha: “gosh it’s so odd that the Aiel can marry multiple women; who would ever do that?” I will flick you in the nose, young man.

10. In sadder news, Rand passes a death sentence on a man he genuinely liked, because Mangin killed a Cairhienin for the crime of getting a Dragon tattoo, and Rand said that murderers would be hanged. He firmly tells Berelain and Rhuarc that they need to follow the law themselves and not wait for him to pass sentence for crimes where the punishment has already been written out. But Rand is determined not to play favorites with the laws that he’s made.

11. Rand goes to visit the school that he has set up in Cairhien! Excited! Also, side note, Rand is now guarded by equal shares of Maidens and one of the other societies (which society shares the guarding changes). The school occupied a former palace of Barthanes a mile away from the Sun Palace. It’s less of a school and more of a research center for technological innovation and I’m so thrilled that Rand created it. <3 <3 <3 This is why Rand is Best Boy. <3 Yes, I know five minutes ago he was not Best Boy. He contains multitudes. Literally, sometimes. He’s started one in Tear already as well, and is scouting out locations in Caemlyn. Because if he breaks the world again, he doesn’t want the Fourth Age to lose all the knowledge of the Third Age, like happened when LTT broke the world.

12. Anyway, now he basically gets to enjoy a science fair that has been arranged for him personally and I am THRILLED about every moment of it. Does not last long enough, would have been willing to read several chapters of it. They’re creating better paper, a better printing press, a six-furrows plow, a horse-driven scythe, a new kind of loom, designs for new roads and viaducts to carry water for Cairhien, a rudimentary idea for a telescope, someone wants to figure out how to build airplanes and has worked out how birds glide, and something that is probably supposed to eventually be a steam engine. Rand doesn’t understand most of it but wants to encourage it all.

13. He goes to visit a man from Andor named Herid Fel, who spends most of his time in the Royal Library. Honestly, Rand’s ‘Dragon Scepter’ cracks me up every time that it gets mentioned. Cannot take it seriously. It’s literally just a random spear from Seanchan. Anyway, back to Herid. He likes Herid because Herid seems to forget he’s the Dragon Reborn. He asks Herid if he knows of any way to break the Bond between Warder and Aes Sedai, but he does not. Rand asks about his previous question, about the Last Battle. Herid makes the point that because time is a wheel, then the Dark One’s prison must be whole when it comes time for it to be broken into again, not just patched. Rand asks about the idea of breaking the seals that LTT keeps bringing up, and Herid says he thinks it’s a bad idea.

14. Over to Egwene’s PoV. She notes that there appear to be a LOT of Maidens around the Sun Palace and they are acting sneaky. Egwene also feels hurt that when she saw Aviendha come back to Cairhien, she just gave Egwene a cool nod and then immediately went into a private conference with Amys, Bair, and Melaine. “She truly did not like lying to any of the Wise Ones” *looks back on Egwene’s ENTIRE HISTORY with the Wise Ones* Um, okay, Egwene.

15. Egwene doesn’t understand and finds it annoying that the Wise Ones actually like Berelain. Proper, wetlander women all hate Berelain, after all. Anyway, good for the Wise Ones. “they treated her as a woman of sense and respect” because she deserves it. They care more about her actions as a ruler than they do about the clothes that she wears, Egwene. Aw, Amys and Sorilea “smile on [Berelain] like a favorite daughter”. This is the Berelain dynamic that I enjoy: Berelain and the Aiel. note: “Aiel men and women shared the same sweat tents” - I think we only get to see Wise Ones sweat tent scenes, but they are canonically not restricted in general.

16. Egwene gets to wait for Rand in his room. I hope he actually gets a head’s up from someone before he walks in on her. The gai’shain dealing with Rand’s bedchamber in Cairhien is Niella, Aviendha’s first-sister. Hmm, she was also dealing with his bedchamber the last time it was mentioned. I wonder if that was a purposeful assignment all along. She is about six or seven years older than Aviendha and is halfway through her time as gai’shain. Egwene still has zero clue that there is any romance between Rand and Aviendha, let alone that they had sex.

17. Egwene tries to use her connection with Elayne as a way to bribe Rand into helping her with the Wise Ones. She asks that he convince Amys to let her return to lessons. He asks her if she will tell him where Elayne is. She tells him that it’s not her secret to tell. He asks her again, lets her know that he needs Elayne to take the Lion Throne and Sun Throne both. Egwene embraces saidar in order to resist the urge to tell him (and, of course, he can sense that she embraced saidar and assumes this means that she’s afraid that he’ll hurt her).

18. “Rand, I am sorry I can’t help you, but I cannot. Even so, I ask you again to help me, You know it would be helping yourself.” Rand responds with a quip about ‘a cat for a hat, or a hat for a cat’ and Egwene knows the rest of the phrase is ‘but nothing for nothing’. Basically, if she isn’t willing to give him anything that he wants, he isn’t willing to give her what she wants. She does think that she wants to tell Elayne about how Rand had sounded when he said that he needed her. “No man could say he needed you that way unless he loved you.”

19. This is so sad but honestly a very believable misunderstanding, again because it is about two people’s PoVs clashing and doesn’t get boiled down to Women And Men Just Can’t Understand Each Other. It’s very specifically about RAND and EGWENE not understanding each other. She thinks that keeping secrets from him is the best way to help him and he views keeping secrets from him as proof that she is fully Aes Sedai and not at all on his side. “Whatever clothes she wore, she wanted to be Aes Sedai, and she would keep Aes Sedai secrets even after he made it clear that he needed Elayne to insure peace in two nations. He had to think of her as Aes Sedai. It was saddening.”

20. Ah, the Maidens are trying to Be Subtle about keeping a constant guard on Rand. I love them so much in these moments.

21. Rand is dreaming LTT’s dreams -- the fall of the Age of Legends and the moment when Ilyena realized that he was going to kill her. Not a pleasant night of sleep! It’s the first time that he can remember dreaming LTT’s dreams instead of his own, which definitely disturbs him! It scares him so much that he doesn’t dare go back to sleep, clutching saidin close to him all night. He notes that Aviendha didn’t spent tonight sleeping in his room like she normally insists on doing. (hmm, she didn’t really acknowledge Egwene either last chapter; what’s going on with Aviendha?) He also doesn’t eat. So, you know, no food and almost no sleep is absolutely going to have a negative affect on your mental state even before any trauma or external ‘taint’ from the literal Dark One is brought into the picture.

22. Again, Rand randomly thinks about how hot Berelain is. ??? He was not like this about her in TSR. Also, we have absolutely now reached the point in the books in which I am not going to be able to remember any of these random nobles that Rand is dealing with. Too names and brief descriptions for me to try to hold in my head, sorry! Rand is surprised that “even the men” are looking at Berelain with “more than lechery”. Seriously, where is this coming from? Also, she runs the country for you, Rand. Of course the lords and ladies are taking her seriously?? They literally have to, since lords and ladies can now be charged for the same crimes that previously only ‘peasants’ could be held accountable for.

23. Rand really is getting very paranoid -- he assumes that Melanie (who is still relatively newly wed to Bael) is eager to see Bael in order to counterbalance Rand’s influence on Bael rather than because she, you know, wants to see her husband. In... more paranoia news? Even though Rand is definitely getting more and more suspicious, he’s also doing things like lowering the number of guards he has and allowing people he doesn’t trust to do things in his name (Taim). Which seems... ah, concerning? Rand, you aren’t you when you’re hungry. Please eat something at some point in this PoV. I’m worried about you. He also still desperately wishes he could get Alanna (and now that he’s closer, he knows that she’s been weeping while he was gone) out of his head.

24. We also get the note from Mat that he isn’t sure if multiple spouses is a dream or a nightmare (via Rand remembering it). Seriously, with all the Opinions that Mat had about polyamory, it really is a shame he didn’t have to deal with it in the narrative on a personal level.

25. Wow, Aviendha does a major Aes Sedai Lie to Rand here. He asks her if Amys and the others told her where Elayne is; Aviendha says that the Wise Ones do not know. But Aviendha DOES know; Egwene told her about Salidar at the end of TFoH. Big Aes Sedai Lie/evasion of the truth going on. Egwene did make her promise not to tell, so I’m not holding it against her. Just... noting it.

26. Aviendha DOES tell him about the dreams that the Wise Ones have had about him: him on a boat, with three women (unknown who) and a scale tilting in either direction. A man standing by his side with a dagger to his throat but he does not see. Him cutting the wetlands in two with a sword. Rand thinks he understands the last two but I, as a rereader, know that he is wrong about his interpretations. *sigh* The Wise Ones also dreamed about the Bowl of the Winds. “The key to finding the bowl is to find the one who is no longer”.

27. AVIENDHA POV! It’s happening! Ah, she feels shame because Lanfear knew about her sleeping with Rand, which magnifies her toh towards Elayne for doing it at all. Even being around Rand is a constant torment of shame. “I have toh” is the first set of handtalk that any Maiden learns. She thinks that killing Rand would meet one of her toh and killing herself the other, but to do either would prevent her from meeting the other one. Short PoV but fascinating. Putting your “soul in a wreath for a man” is the one of the greatest insults among the Maidens.

28. Three Ogier have come to the palace to speak with Rand. Loial’s mom (with one of the elders and with the Ogier woman that Loial thought was pretty back in Stedding Tsofu) have come to demand that Loial be handed over so that he can be ‘properly married’ off to Erith. Rand doesn’t want to tell them where Loial is at first, as Loial wanted to adventure and not get tied down in a marriage, but then he’s reminded that Ogier feel the Longing and die if they are away from the Stedding too long, so he tells them that Loial is in the Two Rivers. Rand asks them to tell him where all the Waygates are located so that they may be guarded, as Shadowspawn are using them to move quickly across the continent. Of particular interest to Rand is finding out there’s a Waygate in Shadar Logoth.

29. Rand heads to Shadar Logoth with the Ogier and his Aiel guards -- and Sulin, in order to round up the Maidens quickly, uses handtalk to make three gai’shain use haste, which definitely incurred her toh, which she states she will deal with after Rand is safe for today. Rand has a full two-way conversation with LTT about how Shadar Logoth scares both of them. LTT says he wants to kill Damendred; that he remembers killing Ishamael; that Lanfear did deserve her death but that he’s glad he’s not the one who did it, and that he himself deserves death but he doesn’t want to die in Shadar Logoth.

30. Rand thinks: “Here Mat had begun a road that took him to the Horn of Valere, that almost killed him on the way, maybe the road that had taken him to Rhuidean and the ter’angreal that he did not want to talk about. Here Perrin had disappeared when they were all forced to flee in the night, and when Rand finally saw him again, far from here, he had golden eyes and a sad look and secrets that Moiraine had never shared with Rand.” And he thinks about Fain’s connection to this place, Fain who wants Rand dead and who threatened the Two Rivers.

31. Rand weaves a trap around the Waygate using saidin, a nasty trap and inverts the weave so that even male Forsaken will not be able to sense the trap. Then he notices that someone is missing (it is Liah). The ward will kill Shadowspawn but humans can pass through untouched. Rand notes that his anger sometimes feels like it might be able to overpower the Void. As night comes close to falling, they have to give up the search for Liah. Despite Rand not realizing how upset he is over Liah being missing, the Ogier and Maidens are essentially treating him like he’s made of glass right now. tbh, I think a lot of this stuff would work for me if it were Maiden-specific, about being this connection to the mother that he never knew, rather than being Protect The Womens.

32. Rand drops the Ogier off far enough away from Emond’s Field that he doesn’t think news of him should reach anyone there. As he’s about to leave, Elder Haman tells him not to kill himself, which is so blunt that Rand is completely startled; despite dispassionately having noted in his narrative that he self-injured when he realized he was choosing to leave Liah behind. Rand stares off for a while in the direction of the farm in the Westwood where he grew up, then opens a Gateway back to Caemlyn. Oof, though, too real. Self-injury was something that I struggled with around that same age as well.

33. We are back to Mat! Rand has been going through So Much Plot while Mat has been slowly doing his showy march to distract Sammael. Also, Rand never had anything to eat during his PoV. I am immediately teased by Warder!Mat false foreshadowing. See, when this sort of thing happened before Rand was bonded, then it could see like misdirection about which ta’veren was going to be bonded, but it’s still happening! Talmanes (who has been very perceptive about Mat in the past) asks Mat if he’s ever thought of what it might be like to be a Warder. Out of the blue! An entire page of prose happens before Mat gets around to denying that he’s ever considered the idea.

34. Mat is juggling colored stones, which makes him think of Thom. He wonders if Thom is still alive but regretfully decides that he’s probably not. Mat still thinks that Elayne is frustratingly pretty, with a dimple that makes everyone want to fall down to obey her. I think that’s a you-thing, Mat. He hopes that Nynaeve and Elayne have missed him (in a round-about and vaguely insulting way).

35. It’s been eleven days since leaving Maerone and they are halfway to Tear. Mat thinks that he’s not looking forward to taking over from Weiramon... and yet he’s also basically trying to figure out what the fastest they can go is. So, he absolutely is in a hurry and does want to take over. Oh, interesting; they are using the river to help them keep their supply lines intact. Clever!

36. Mat’s collection: five colored stones, an eagle feather, a weathered piece of snow-white stone that looked like it had been carved with scrolls once.

37. There are a lot of Aes Sedai over on the other side of the river Erien, and Mat is glad to have his medallion. The news about the White Tower setting up Logain as a false Dragon has reached this far now. Mat also notes that Warders don’t seem to sweat. We learn that Mat uses former horse thieves & poachers as his scouts, as it is a similar skill set.

38. One of his scouts shows him some destroyed and bloody Tuatha'an wagons, with “Tell the Dragon Reborn” written on one of the wagon beds with blood. I’ll try to remember that and see if Mat remembers to tell Rand about it. Whoever destroyed the wagons also killed all the people and made sure to let no one escape. Finding all those dead bodies, of people who wouldn’t even have defended themselves, puts all of the Band in a solemn mood for the evening, and makes Mat think about “older memories of older dead. Too many battles, and too many dead.”

39. It’s so easy for Mat to define himself as “Rand al’Thor’s friend” in his internal narration now. It’s just part of Who Mat Cauthon Is (again). We also learn that when he was younger (back home), he would sleep outside and put himself to sleep by naming the constellations. Memories note: “in some of his memories he did not like Artur Paendrag Tanreall at all”. Mat’s luck has led him to escape an assassination attempt by his impulsive choice to sleep outside. He realizes that the Aiel were brought here by a Gateway (which implies Forsaken involvement) and he curses that he’s important enough to be hunted by the Forsaken.

40. And, I notice, that when he’s speaking neutrally or fondly (in his way of speaking fondly lol) about Rand, then it’s “Rand” or “Rand al’Thor” but when he’s mad about something related to Rand, then it’s “the Dragon (bloody) Reborn” lol. That tracks.

41. Mat discovers that Olver has been traveling with the Band all this time and makes him his official messenger/errand boy. Olver also collects stones and feathers, like Mat does, we learn.

42. Graendal visits Sammael, who has some small items from the Age of Legends that he says he found in a stasis box. An ‘exchanger’ (AC unit), glowbulbs (lightbulbs), a music box, and pieces of art. And a Zara board, which means that the stasis box was left by a Darkfriend, as the playing pieces of the game were people once. Sammael manages to convince Graendal that he did successfully make a truce with Rand, and he gets Mesaana’s location out of her: the White Tower.

43. Egwene noticing pretty women and handsome men. Bi!Egwene rights. Anyway, I’m guessing part of the reason that Egwene wasn’t allowed ‘legally’ back into TAR for so long is because sneaking into TAR kept hurting the part of her brain that allows her to access TAR, so her healing process took much longer than it should have (the Wise Ones were puzzled that it took so long for her to heal and her headaches to fade). But she’s finally well enough that she’ll be able to attend not the next meeting (in three nights) but the one after that. But, yeah, bet she would have been able to go back officially a lot sooner if she’d actually let her brain rest and heal properly. She’s as bad as Rand when it comes to these things, imo. Neither of them are willing to take proper care of themselves. Both Rand and Egwene are driven on by the certainty that there is never enough time to do/learn everything that they need. Both of them are constantly hearing the ticking of the clock.

44. Wow, this thought about Berelain is such an asshole thought; re: Mangin being hanged and Egwene not feeling like Berelain showed enough emotion over it: “that one was only interested in men who were alive”. Wow, Egwene. Wow. Berelain deserves better than how wetlander women treat her. I want her to marry into the Aiel. They treat her well and she thrives around them.

45. Egwene caring so much about ‘healing’ the Tower is kinda astonishing for how little actual time she’s spent there. She did think of it as ‘home’ when she last returned to it, but then almost immediately left again. I think it’s really more the idea of the Tower that she loves than the actual place, tbh. Her lofty thoughts about it rarely match the more solidly political reality of what life like there was actually like for the Sisters. Though it feels like that’s the case for most Aes Sedai. They talk about how much the Tower means to them but the actual REALITY of the Tower as we saw it as readers is absolutely not the same as the place they talk about lol.

46. Egwene also has a fit of paranoia (about potential Tower spies) that is intense enough to match any of Rand’s. So similar, I tell you. She eventually is able to calm herself by reminding herself that any of the people around look at her and only see an Aiel woman. She also spots Elaida’s embassy to Rand entering the city and follows it for a while. It has been “over two months” since Rand first received the letter from Elaida (which happened the night before Moiraine faced Lanfear at the docks).

47. It’s so amusing to me (but also kinda sad) that Egwene is only just now figuring out that Rand has rediscovered “the Talent called Traveling”. I don’t think she’s seen him Skim either, since she missed the fight with Rahvin? It really shows how separated Egwene and Rand are despite having traveled so long together with the Aiel and despite Egwene living in Cairhien (because she doesn’t live in the city itself but in the Wise Ones’ camps outside the city). Rand has rooms set aside for him to Travel into! Mat has had Rand Travel into his room in the middle of the night just basically to talk at him for a couple of hours! And Egwene is only just now going... yeah, I think Rand can Travel maybe. They’ve grown so far apart emotionally.

48. Berelain rode out to the Wise Ones tents to have tea with Amys, Bair, and Sorilea! <3 Baby! <3 Let Sorilea matchmake for you, honey. She would have better taste in men for you than you would have for yourself. You might still end up with a married man, but it would be one with a wife who enjoyed having you around. Aw, Berelain says that Rhuarc reminds her of her (I assume deceased) father. And then Amys kisses Berelain on the forehead and on each cheek, the way an Aiel mother would kiss her child. They have adopted her! <3 <3 It’s amazing how well Berelain comes off here even with Egwene’s ridiculously hostile PoV of her. Aww, Sorilea does want to matchmake for Berelain, though she thinks she has to try to find a wetlander husband for her.

49. It’s so weird to be that absolutely no Wise Ones can do Healing at all. Just... odd. Also, interesting backstory adjustment, rather than having just been asked to potentially be Nynaeve’s apprentice, now Egwene actually did study under her for a while back in the Two Rivers.

50. It is so interesting the different ways that Egwene DOES adapt to living among the Aiel (holding other people to the ideals of ji’e’toh, thinking of things in terms of shame) and the ways that she does not (mostly related to the prudishness of Two Rivers people and the bed of lies in which she sleeps each night).

51. Elaida’s embassy isn’t staying in the palace but in the house of a noble Lady named Arilyn. They have six official Aes Sedai with the embassy and five hundred soldiers (though most of the soldiers stayed outside the city). And the women inside are constantly channeling. Oooh, I was trying to remember why Aviendha had toh towards Rand -- it’s because she lied to him and told him that she hated him. Thanks for reminding me that lying brings toh, Egwene. She’s trying to mentally tell herself that in her case, her lying has been necessary.

52. It’s so funny that after a few meetings with the Salidar Aes Sedai in TAR, the Wise Ones are so much less impressed with the Aes Sedai as a whole. Egwene notices that during all the planning that the Wise Ones are doing about how to potentially protect Rand from Elaida’s embassy, they never bring up the whole thing about how “the Aiel failed the Aes Sedai once and would be destroyed if they did again”. You know, it actually occurs to me that if there is an element of prophecy in this, it might actually be referring to THE Aes Sedai aka the ones they actually used to serve aka Aes Sedai from the Age of Legends aka Lews Therin aka Rand. Because the Aiel’s survival is so closely tied to Rand’s survival.

53. Cracks me up that Egwene is super into Gawn’s red-gold curls. Considering what she almost had once upon a time and decided she just felt brotherly about. Anyway, Egwene and Gawyn see each other in person for the first time since the last time she was in the White Tower. So... The Dragon Reborn, I think it was? She learns that he commands the ‘guard of honor’ that the Aes Sedai have brought to ‘escort’ Rand and he learns that she is not in Illian. I think it was Siuan who told him that lie?

54. Gawyn tells her that he believes that Rand killed Morgase and she protests that he did not. Gawyn asks for proof and says that Rand probably killed Elayne too. Egwene tells him that Elayne is not harmed. She doesn’t tell him that Rand killed the guy that they actually DO believe killed his mom or that she was literally in the room when Rand found out that Morgase was (believed to be) dead. Potentially due to be distracted by running her hands through his hair. She makes him promise not to “raise a hand against Rand” until she can prove that Rand didn’t kill Morgase. Egwene, he is gonna take that WAY too literally.

55. She tells him she loves him. The last time she saw him, she liked his brother more than she liked him, but now she definitely knows that she loves him. They haven’t ever even flirted with each other, iirc, because Gawyn knew that Galad liked her, so he pre-emptively stepped aside. They have their first kiss. Good for them, I guess? lol. There’s so little substance to this romance that I can’t really take it too seriously. “I will give over everything, betray everything, for you.“ Sheesh, Gawyn, slow it down a little? You honestly barely know each other. Take a breath before you declare yourself willing to forswear yourself for her. He wants her to run away from her duties and the Last Battle and being Aes Sedai so that they can live on a little estate in the country together. Egwene says that she would love that but she can’t, but it’s literally nothing that she has ever expressed wanting so (x) doubt.

56. In brief PoV snippets, we learn that two of the Aes Sedai from Elaida’s embassy are working on tugging at the ambitions of Lady Colavaere (Cairhienin) and High Lord Meilan (Tairen). Then we go back to the main palace they’re staying at and they are trying to figure out the best approach to take to Berelain, who they suspect will be difficult. They are also troubled by rumors that al’Thor has a Green sister with him in Cairhien. They had believed that Siuan and Moiraine (both Blues) had worked alone. They also wonder whether or not Moiraine truly is dead.

57. Rand is close enough to Alanna that he can tell that she had bruised her heel that morning and scraped her hand and is currently in a temper. That IS precise. Rand also realizes that he hasn’t seen Sulin in eight days (since he returned from Shadar Logoth). There is a Whitecloak assassination attempt on Rand that kills 7 people total (one of the Maidens dies shielding Rand from an arrow). We get to hear some of Rand’s List Of Dead Ladies. Rand is relieved that the person he thought might be a second dead Maiden is just a short Aiel man instead. *sigh*

58. lol, oh, this is the conversation where Rand tries his best to figure out if he and Elayne are related and is relieved to realize that IF THEY WERE FARMERS they wouldn’t be considered related at all. lol. Gotta love a man with priorities. He’s hilariously relaxed after realizing this and doesn’t even consciously understand why. Amazing. See, this is hilarious, but it is also very in character and no one is TRYING to be funny. Rand heads off to Cairhien, still trying to avoid Aviendha at all costs.

59. Tonight, the Wise Ones are going to meet the Salidar Aes Sedai alone; in seven days, Egwene will get to be with them when they meet with the Aes Sedai. But Egwene is distracted from thinking about this or about Gawyn when she learns that Rand is back in Cairhien and plans to meet with Elaida’s embassy.

60. Egwene is picking up the Aiel prejudices (judging servants for doing their jobs) without letting go of her own that the Aiel don’t share (her hard-core disdain for Berelain). That’s... less than ideal, lol. Anyway, she’s gone to the Sun Palace to talk to Rand.

61. For all that she’s picking up some Aiel ways, Egwene still doesn’t understand how the Maidens feel about Rand and thinks that Somara talking about him “with the sort of exasperated pride a mother might have for an overadventurous son of about ten” is an Aiel joke of some kind. Though that may be because it’s a Maiden thing and not an Aiel thing, and Egwene is definitely not Far Dareis Mai.

62. As always, Egwene gets incredibly indignant when Rand teases her back after she teases him first. She warns him about not trusting Elaida’s embassy. She notices him talking to himself but doesn’t realize he’s talking to LTT. She tries to use reverse psychology on him to get him to offend Elaida’s embassy and is horrified when he says he’ll take her advice. Eesh, Egwene really is All In on the Aes Sedai: “Even if they followed Elaida, the idea of anyone showing impertinence to any Aes Sedai really did upset her.”

63. Ah, Egwene notices Rand responding to someone who isn’t there and is caught between worrying about him going mad and worrying about the Tower Aes Sedai catching her here. Rand hides Egwene next to the dais that his chair was on and wards her not to be seen, as the Tower Aes Sedai come in. Egwene is incredibly nervous having saidin so close to her. Egwene and Rand do also talk about Traveling here, but the way that Rand describes how he Travels (creating a hole in the Pattern) doesn’t feel right to Egwene.

64. Rand is casually arrogant with the Tower Aes Sedai and tells them that he “looks forward to the day [he] stand[s] in the White Tower” but until he’s ready to go, he rejects their offer of an advisor and tells them not to come within a mile of him or the Sun Palace. When he abruptly asks after Alviarin, Galina tells him that she is well before she can stop herself, which Rand figures marks her out as one of Alviarin’s friends.

65. One of the Sisters (Nesune) noticed feeling a woman who could channel hidden in the room with them. Galina assumes that it was Moiraine and that she faked her death, but Coiren says they can’t make that assumption. Nesune wants to write a research paper on Rand.

66. Rand hasn’t heard LTT’s voice in his head all day and it’s making him jumpy because he’s sure that LTT is there. He keeps bugging Rhuarc and Berelain over things that are either already settled or that they can’t do anything about and his temper is very difficult to keep a handle on.

67. Oh, this is a good insight that I don’t think we actually see change his behavior at all lol: “Rand al’Thor had run away from Elayne, from his fear of loving Elayne, just as he had run from his fear of loving Aviendha.” He decides “no more running” so we’ll, uh, see how that goes.

68. The Sea Folk are have been desperately trying to get Rand to see them this entire book and he keeps avoiding them. He never really gives a reason; they’re just really low on his priority list for whatever reason, despite ships actually being kinda a useful thing. Basically, whenever Jordan isn’t ready for Rand to deal with a plot thing yet, he just avoids it and buries it under all the other stuff he needs to do. Ah, we get a bit of an explanation later: since the Sea Folk aren’t mentioned in any of the Prophecies that he can think of, he bumps them down on the priority list.

69. Aviendha, pissed off that Rand keeps leaving without her, makes his guards promise to tell her where he is going and when; they promise and when Rand protests, they say that they already made a promise and can’t change it. I have to admit, this makes me wary because it seems like the sort of thing that would make Rand... go places without telling his guards first?

70. Rand is horrified to realize that that woman offering him a letter on a tray is... Sulin, dressed as a servant (not even gai’shain but a wetlander servant). After a few moments, he connects it to her toh over reminding those three gai’shain that they were Maidens. He is learning a lot about Aiel culture! Though he is still very capable of asking questions that make Aviendha want to die of shame from how little he knows. Because when he asks questions that feel very silly to them, it shows that Aviendha hasn’t been as good a teacher as she’s supposed to be.

71. Another assassination attempt, this time by a Gray Man. It’s possible these attacks against Randa and the one against Mat were all sent by Sammael, considering he’s the big target that Rand is obviously gunning for, but it might be one of the others, since Sammael had recently tried to convince them that he’s made a truce with Rand. Taim kills the Gray Man before Rand can attempt to question him, which makes Rand feel another swell of anger towards him and LTT really wants to kill Taim.

72. Despite him thinking earlier that he was going to stop running; when Aviendha lectures him over ji’e’toh and he notices that he’s mostly just enjoying staring into her eyes, “bit by bit he chased down the pleasure her eyes gave him and crushed it until only a dull ache remained”. Still sounds like running to me, just mentally instead of physically.

73. Oh! I had absolutely not realized that it is actually CANON that Fain influenced Elaida against Rand, but here it is. “Unlikely Niall would have ever supported al’Thor any more than Elaida would have, but it was best not to take too much for granted with Rand bloody al’Thor. Well, [Fain] had brushed them both with what he carried from Aridhol; they might possibly trust their own mothers, but never al’Thor now.” Oh, wow, yeah. So Elaida’s paranoia and egotism and etc. that she shows in increasing amounts is the poison of Shadar Logoth’s influence on her. She was never a great person, but she was capable of reason, once upon a time. Oh, wow, I’d forgotten this was canon instead of fan speculation, lol. Anyway, Fain is obsessed now with HIM being the reason that Rand dies and not letting it happen by any other hand. Ah, Fain was behind the attack by the Whitecloaks earlier. That makes sense.

74. Thom and Juilin have returned from their scouting (I think they were investigating the Whitecloaks). Apparently, the Whitecloaks have mostly been pulled back and gathered up. He passes along the rumor that Morgase is in the Fortress of Light but Elayne dismisses it and says her mother would never go to the Whitecloaks.

75. Nynaeve does the Plot Thing that they were stuck in Salidar so long before they could accomplish it and move on to their next location: she Heals Logain of being gentled (mostly because she’s distracted thinking of something else while she examines him with the Power, so she bridges the cut in him without thinking about it). Seriously, the gender essentialism is so strong/bad in WoT that Nynaeve literally thinks that men and women are as ‘different in the flesh’ as rocks and fish. Ridiculous.

76. Ugh, Nynaeve is actually thinking about how they could SHARE INFORMATION with Rand and I am just LONGING to this to happen. She actually wants to tell him things! So that he can avoid the mistakes that ignorance of events can bring! And yet we must continue to starve Rand of information in the narrative. Nynaeve and Elayne are the two ‘Tower-touched women’ who genuinely want to help Rand and so The Plot must keep them away from Rand as much as possible. I’m also thinking of how Egwene essentially used Elayne and Nynaeve as her excuse not to tell Rand things (”It’s not my secret”) but... Elayne and Nynaeve are FINE with Rand knowing things, in general? They actively want to tell him things? Nynaeve seems aware that Rand having more knowledge could actually be a BETTER THING than keeping him in the dark (Egwene is a big fan of trying to help Rand by keeping him in the dark as much as possible and only letting him know things as she decides, in order to influence his choices. Which he hates. Egwene learned the WRONG LESSON from Moiraine, imo).

77. Nynaeve is absolutely terrified of Logain, even though he quite reasonably points out how foolish he would be to attack a whole village of Aes Sedai from the center of it. lol, when the Aes Sedai arrive, Logain pretends that he doesn’t know anything about being Healed, as poor Nynaeve is berated for telling fibs to get attention. Aes Sedai really do treat Accepted like children. Sheriam and Myrelle hustle Nynaeve off and reveal that they DO believe that she may have really healed Logain and they want her to repeat it with Siuan and Leane. When Nynaeve reveals that part of the secret is that she uses all five types of flows to Heal, not just Water, Spirit, and Air, there are protests from the Yellows and then the reluctant admission that maybe Nynaeve’s way works.

78. One of the Aes Sedai says this means that they will need to gentle Logain but Carlinya (ha! Don’t think I’ve forgotten you and your raven tattoo/drawing viewing) points out that it might make negotiating with Rand a lot more difficult if they are gentling men while he is sending out an amnesty and gathering men who can channel to him. It would make any difference between them and Elaida not seem so different to Rand’s eyes. And now escape seems impossible, as every Yellow wants to study and talk to Nynaeve.

79. The fact that the Aes Sedai essentially stopped viewing Siuan and Leane as people while they were stilled and are now all “warm welcome[s] as if she had been away for years” is... yeah, that’s unpleasant. But Siuan is brainwashed enough into the Aes Sedai way that she completely understands it: “she held nothing against any of these women, not their cold distance before, not their insistence that she remember her place. The line between Aes Sedai and not Aes Sedai was clear”. But she is frightened and taken aback when she realizes that she’s much much weaker than she was before. Which... okay, if this were a one-off thing, then it could be worldbuilding, but there’s another (completely different) excuse later on in the books to depower a strong channeler to make her a suitable love interest for a non-channeling man and so this feels... not great to me here. Also, ugh, we learn here in a side note that Gareth has been hitting Siuan when he feels she’s been ‘childish’. Jordan was a big big fan of spanking (and, especially, of women being spanked). Anyway, apparently washing Gareth’s laundry and the occasional spanking has made her fall in love with him.

80. Elayne says she regrets them not “putting on disguises like Moghedien and walking past everybody” and Nynaeve is so mad at herself for never even considering that as an escape route. See, Elayne thinks here that they could “maybe even pass word along to Rand through Egwene” but that wouldn’t have worked because EGWENE NEVER TELLS RAND ANYTHING; she views keeping secrets from him as the best way of helping him! *sigh* Elayne’s intentions are good but none of the things that she, personally, tries to get out of them staying in Salidar actually happen.

81. Elayne thinks about how the power-based hierarchy of the White Tower makes sense. It does not, Elayne. It is nonsense, Elayne. I love you but you are wrong about this. The idea that sheer power is what matters most is a bully’s game. “Everything goes into it. Who learned the fastest, who spent the least time as novice and Accepted.” So the LEAST experienced you are, the MORE immediate power is handed to you once you attain the shawl. What a terrible system, where studying for years actually means that you’ll be much less likely to ever actually be in charge of something useful. A Darkfriend/Black Ajah Sister created this system. I feel it in my bones.

82. Elayne feels a pang of regret over not going to Rand when they had the chance when she hears that he’s met with Elaida’s embassy. Same, girl, same.

83. We learn that Delana (one of the Aes Sedai in Salidar) is a Darkfriend, who is now following orders from ‘Halima’ aka Asan’gar aka resurrected Forsaken aka we should all be glad this character is already cut from the show.

84. Valda really is one of those PoVs where I feel kinda dirty after reading it. He’s such a horrible person and he’s so convinced that he’s Actually The Best Person. Not an ounce of compassion or mercy in him at all, only judgement and self-righteousness.

85. Morgase is still being SO stubborn and so strong. She is fighting so hard. She finally gives up the fight in this chapter, due to a complete coincidence (well, not complete, as escaping with two Darkfriends would... also have been bad. Honestly, Morgase genuinely has ZERO good options here).

86. Another confirmation from Niall’s spy that the Seanchan hold Tanchico (though he still doesn’t believe it). But he feels like he should pay attention to it anyway, even though he feels like the man must be writing nonsense, so he asks for a courtier so he can send a message (which would take twenty days to reach Tanchico under normal conditions and a fast set of horses).

#wot #wheel of time #wot reread #lord of chaos #wot book spoilers #wot spoilers #i'm going to make these longer but less frequent #because it seems like they're disappearing from the tags #and my current theory is that my posts are too... frequent?#so testing that out #but this is so long tho

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weaselbeaselpants · 4 years ago

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Weird week behind me weird week ahead of me but I’ve done a lot of self reflection and came to the weirdest epiphany. The older I get the more I realize all my ‘problems’ with VivziePop - her thoughts on criticism; the choices she makes in story telling; some of the people she’s worked with (not that any of that’s my business; I’m not her mom) really aren’t about Viv, but more about her fandom.

I’m speaking of the preHazbin era Viv here and as someone who’s only watch horny fish jump at the surface rather than jump straight into the Hazbin-fandom, but given my ‘noncritical’ fellow fans have told me that the Vivziefandom now is also terrible - I guess I’ll go over my experience and make the most out of what I do know.

I followed Viv in 2009 and fell off in 2013 cause I kinda just lost interest and found myself wrapped up in other fandoms. I’ve always felt amicable about her content; I could give or take designs or the way in which she wrote characters -- ((Zech represent!!!)) but it’s honestly surreal and really fun seeing this person I recognize make it big and improve so much. Like I’ve said before I am very happy and very impressed with Viv doing all she’s done in the span of TWO YEARS. wow gurl.

Trouble is, there was the particular breed of fan who really made me...uncomfortable. They felt almost possessive of Viv’s attention. They sang praises about her work in a way that just made me want nothing to do with it because I was worried if I drew those characters these people would be like ‘hey, I’M Viv’s fav artist, not you!”. They would unironically write Viv messages like:

“you are a GOD” -- “I’m so not worthy compared to you” --“I wish I was as talented as you” -- “YOU ARE EVERYTHING AND CAN’T DO WRONG VIV”.

The kind of messages which were meant to sound flattering but, intentional or not, came off as gaslighting, like they were guilt tripping Viv about being better than them. This behavior, treating your favorite artist/internet personality like your superior and groveling like Starscream, it strikes a nerve with me; partly because I was this way with my favorite artists and influences back in the day, but also because once I got a taste of that treatment myself I realized just how bad it could be:

There was once a girl on dA who was jealous of me because of the attention I got on my art instead of her. I told her that I wasn’t gonna stop drawing but also that there was nothing wrong with her art and she’d find her place. It was weird being put in that position where someone is very clearly upset at you but also looking for your approval.

The second was some scumball who I blocked in 2016. He wouldn’t speak to me, only write condescending, backhanded comments on my art; check on my profile daily; call me a bootlicker (cuz I took commissions) behind my back; redrew my art and would talk about me in his personal artist notes about how I ‘probably wouldn’t see this’ - oh yeah all the while he did fan art of my characters but again never spoke to me when I replied. When I finally messaged him about his behavior he said he thought I was “really overrated” and “bad for the fandom” cuz I took money and kept him from getting the love he deserved. It took messaging another person within our fandom, one I had been in spats with online before, to finally realize I shouldn't put up with that bs....

That guy who was stalking me btw did so while I was well under 1.K watchers and am still pretty obscure. Anyway, I had one guy unhealthily watching me for the wrong reasons. Just one. This is why when Viv says she “hates creeps” I 150% believe this woman and am not about to call her a liar who just can’t take criticism. Like, if you really think that, I’m sorry but you don’t know what Viv’s gone through from both her critics AND fans.

Of course, a lot of people will be like “I bet you’re just jealous and really just want that kind of attention yourself so you’re preaching to the choir”, but like...no. I am envious of just about any creator who’s the social butterfly I’m not, but, like, if I'm jealous of an artist none of that is that artists’ fault. Ever. It’s my own issues with being comfortable with myself are at stake. If I criticize Viv’s work it’s not because I see her as competition or my Squilliam Fancyson; it’s because I’m a critical fan of animation and cartoons and have my own thoughts to share on the cartoons of an artist I’m familiar with. Jealousy/envy/mixed-admiration/godIwishthatwereme.jpeg feels are totally natural and valid emotions when you’re a creator. Envy becomes a problem when you internalize, weaponize, and scrutinize people on the basis of them being what you aren’t which -yes - some people do in the name of criticism. ((Although, I would hardly say some of the nastiest AntiViv folk are jealous as much as they are angry that this project they think is harmful is getting attention and using that as justification for some really shitty behavior of their own, which no, this post is not a part of by virtue of coming from a critical fan.))

Critique can come from either a good place or bad place; good critique can be used to bad ends and bad critique can come from a well-meaning place, and vice versa. It’s the difference between many a criticalfan having a sour taste in their mouth regarding the Viv’s base but persisting in a critique+admiration separate of that, and this asswipemonster trying to weasel his way into Spindlehorse while also bashing Viv on a public forum for clearly vitriolic reasons. He was a creep.

So yeah um please stop insisting that every Hazbin critic is just jealous’ because a) there are people who have a past with Viv’s base and that clouds their judgement, but in a lot of cases that doesn’t invalidate their feelings or thoughts on her work separate from that, and b) I’ve seen what clingy gaslighting jealous fans are. Spoiler: they’re not so much Annie Wilkes as much as they are Tommy Wiseaus. You don’t want Tommy Wiseau following you.

Another bad vibe I really picked up on that I can kinda confirm is still probably the case now: people think that they know Viv and the Spindlehorse crew and have the right to send them shit they don’t need or WANT to be seeing.

Like, I talked with Viv once ages ago. I don’t remember what I said other than we were talking about Frankenweenie, I think. She was nice. Outside of that she said “thank you” to my comments on her deviations but that’s it. I DO NOT KNOW THIS WOMAN AND unless you’ve worked with or are a legit friend/mutual of hers, NEITHER DO YOU. But I don’t think every Vivzie stan/critic knows this. Whether it be people assuming she MUST think they’re headcanon is now canon-canon cuz she liked a comment they made; or some critic thinking they must have seriously hurt her pride because they’ve been blocked by her on twitter (or you know, maybe she and the rest of Spindlehorse is tired of getting @s and don’t have to time to read through your analysis so they’re gonna just block and move on cuz they’re busy).

Just because the creators talk with fans doesn’t mean fans are literally their best friends and have a part in the show’s direction. And yes, critics and reviewers fit that bill as well. Know your damn boundaries people.

If you find/make some kind of contribution as a viewer that’s awesome but you should never expect nor DEMAND the creator see it. The most obvious horror stories involving this and Helluva/Hazbin have been the Instagrams made by the crew being harassed by incestpedo enthusiasts, but it applies even to just @ing creators as well.

I’ve seriously had someone tell me to just take my criticisms directly to Viv and like...no. Why would I do that?

I respect Viv and the artists working with her enough to know that they’re working their asses off on an animated series and should not be bothered. I don’t want them to stop all they’re doing and reply to me. I want them to keep working. Also, that kind of logic makes me wonder how many critics Viv’s found because she found it on her own or if some obsessed fan told her about it - which is really messed up cuz if it IS just good critique you’re, again, just pestering her, and if it wasn’t critique but full on harassment WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU MESSAGE HER ABOUT THAT ANYWAY? I’m sure she doesn’t need to be reminded that people drew and said really awful shit about her on Tapatalk. My point being I’m sure what people think they’re doing is

“OOOoh Viv lookitwut this person is doing in our fandom we need to ban together against this toxic behavior”

but what they’re actually doing, and sounding like, is -

“Hey Viv I know you are working so hard on the show and you’re trying to figure out where to go from here but LOOKITWHUTTHISHATERSAID. LOOKATIT! VALIDATE ME VIV AND PUT’EM IN THEIR PLAAAAAACE!”

TL;DR Viv’s fanbase back in the day consisted of everyman artists and interests but there was this one breed of fan -who I hope was just a vocal minority- that ruined it for everything else.

Call it stanning or ‘simping’ or as it’s classically known, ‘white knighting’, whatever it was it really soured a lot of people on her because of those fans.

That’s why the DollCreep drama got so bad from what I can tell. Doll and Viv had a falling out and then called out eachother online where people who took it upon themselves to speak for them starting throwing mud.

Back in the day I remember Viv used to get mad at artists for ‘stealing’ her style. I think this attitude from Viv directly has vanished but I remember it happening because one of the people she thought was stealing her style did art for me at some point and they were basically shamed/chased off deviantART by a gaggle of these really nasty Vivfans.

inb4> “VIV WAS AWARE AND STILL WEAPONIZES HER FANS THO”

I don’t know that. And honestly, where I’m inclined to believe she’d do something like that then I think Viv is really different and has improved her business and public image from her college days. I’d be very disappointed in her if she was pulling a Butch Hartman or Derek Savage, but I just don’t think she is one, k?

Viv is more self critical and aware than any of these uber protective-gatekeeping fans give her credit for. She said on the Pizzapartypodcast that she knows the Hazbin pilot wasn’t perfect; she’s been able to identify the problems with old Zoophobia; this woman knows that criticism of all kinds need to exist and from what I see she sounds like she’s trying to get used to that. It’s just, you know, when you have nasty antis badgering you, stalkers, obsessive yes-mam’ fans, opinionated shit posters, r34 artists, entitled shippers and the NDAs of a company alongside your own branded image - all that negativity, even the constructive bits, tend to clump together and you just want to scream at it so you can finish the damn cartoon already!!!!

TL;DR: PART TWO

VivziePop/mind is basically indie Tim Burton. Her work is fun, shallow and made with love but is marketed as being for everyone when it’s really not. Parts of it I love to watch; parts of it drives me crazy cuz of reasonswhatev this isn’t a review.

BUT any fanbase where people tell me I should just “expect what’s coming to me” when I’m trying to argue against dragging creators into fandrama is troubling. People have a parasocial bond with fandoms and their creators and they need to learn when to back off.

#vivziepop critical #hazbin hotel critical #helluva boss critical #critical fandom #I'm sorry to all the people I messaged n bothered over the past year bout my stupid thoughts #tw: stalker

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agoddamn · 4 years ago

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Oh, it's that little Bonteri shit again. Wonder if we're at any time gonna talk about his mom's support for Care Bear genocide or the hilarity of her whining about her husband killed by clones (people with no rights)?

Star Wars is doing that funny thing again where we are TECHNICALLY portraying a democracy but it populates it with characters that run on dynastic inheritance; this Bonteri brat is LITERALLY just Some Fuckin Kid to a bunch of politicians. His mom being a politician is completely irrelevant to his qualifications to be here. But, y'know, The Drama

"We can't just let them take him! He'll be killed!" well maybe if you didn't let RANDOM FUCKING CHILDREN into critical negotiations...

Hang on, why did the droids drag him away anyway? This is being hosted on Mandalore BECAUSE it's neutral. That means that Mandalore's security is supposed to be enforcing the rules.

Am I gonna have to put up with comphet again?

Wait, he ACTUALLY has the title of senator? Even though he's like fourteen? How--ah, what the fuck ever

I do like how Ahsoka has these consistent little...gremlin animations

The backs of these purple senate guards are identical to clone trooper backs (rectangular pack with two lines and a circle on it, cylinder in small of back) because mold reuse is the true king of design

This is legit How You Can Tell how much a series's sense of design leans towards the toyetic; characters designed around being able to share the same mold for major body parts. You also see this a lot in Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, where goons will tend to have a copied chestpiece with unique helmet.

Is this sword logo on the chairs Mandalore's? This ship doesn't look all that art deco, and it was being run by R2, and the senate guards were outside it

This kid is not very smart huh

"There is another option" is it terrorism?

"Like [the Republic] helped my mother?!" you do remember that your mother was not part of the Republic and killed by DOOKU without any chance for the Republic to do anything, right...?

Like, this is a perfectly normal way to process grief but I'd appreciate it if someone pointed out how irrational it is

"a group who are noble and allied with my cause" ah yes, terrorism

How much longer til this little shit dies

[fake shock] Oh my goodness, terrorists!

Ahsoka's winter hood with the montral pockets and little puffballs is really fucking cute

There's often an implication/outright statement in fic that Mandalorian armor is androgynous but that is definitely not the case with what I'm looking at

There's not a whole lotta consistency with Mandalorian names, is there? "Satine" and "Bo-Katan" don't sound like they came from the same planet

Why do I have to deal with a fake relationship plot with Ahsoka and some walking, talking spoiled milk rather than literally anyone fucking else

.............so Bo-Katan's a lesbian

>Mandalorians are bullying droids and this is supposed to be ominous regardless of the fact that our heroes bully droids 24/7

WHATEVER

Death Watch doesn't recognize Ahsoka? Wasn't she pretty publicly involved in ruining their plans?

"Tell your woman to leave us" oh these guys sound VERY egalitarian and not sexist at ALL

Love how these guys are bragging about having Dooku's location as if that information isn't several hours outdated by now and Dooku isn't a guy who moves around a lot

"We are battle droids no longer. Now we are slaves." NOW? Oh, whatever

These guys look vaguely Mongolian? The girl's facial decos made me think Mirialan for a second, but I think they're new. In a very weird cultural appropriation boomerang, this dude's hat looks like Amidala's

"You have taken our women" ...oh, I was not expecting the rape implications to be that, uh, not-implied

So traditionalist Mandos are DEFINITELY pretty fucking misogynist

>there's not even an animation of Ahsoka taking her coat off, it just vanishes between frames

Goddamn, this really does drag when everything that's going to happen is so blatantly choreographed

I'm tired of Deus Ex Artoo

What kind of shitty terrorists don't even bother to take a ship that was parked on their front lawn?

"You know I can't go with you" LITERALLY why??? He hasn't committed any crimes by Republic standards. He's got valuable info on a terrorist group. He has similar goals to Ahsoka and he's just proven himself quite fucking incompetent on his own.

"We could try to change things from the inside" LITERALLY WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?? Dooku is a SITH, there is no "changing from the inside" with that shit!

"We make a pretty good team, don't we?" No

"We'll see each other again" FUCK

#boots watches tcw

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kindness-bliss · 4 years ago

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New Beginnings Ch. 10

Timothy Thatcher x OC

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: none

Maya sighed as she sat in the and leaned her head back against the headrest “Why did you lean in to kiss me ?” she finally asked

“I just felt the moment was right, you held my hand on your own and I thought maybe it was a good idea. I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable, I just did what I felt was right in the moment” he explained “I apologize, I really do. I would never wanna make you feel like it was forced”

“Don’t do it again” she said softly “Now hurry up so you can drive me home and we can both change, you got your outfit ?”

“Yeah, just um a black long sleeve button up and black pants, that okay ?” Marcel asked

“Perfect” she grins as they got out “Also feel free to loosen up tonight, I can handle my drinking”

He raised a brow as he pulled in and followed “Do I need to remind you about what happened in Berlin ?”

Maya widened her eyes as she blushed and shot him a look “You said you’d never bring it up, so don’t start now”

“Sorry but you causing world war 3 at a club at 2 in the morning that led to us running through the back door isn’t exactly a small thing” he laughed as he brought his bag in “I’m not even drunk ! I’m fine, let’s go dance !” he mocked in her voice “and then suddenly a fight about who knows what and bam we’re in a taxi. How you weren’t some kind of fighter in your life still shocks me”

“I felt like it” she shrugged “she insinuated my Cartier bracelets were fake so I let her have it, period. Oh yeah and she hit on you right in front of me, she deserved it”

He laughed, shaking his head “how about none of that tonight ? Just fun, enjoy yourself with your friends and celebrate your cover”

“I invited Fabian” she blurted out, taking out her curling iron to touch up her hair “he said he’s coming, I gave security his name”

Marcel nodded as she took off his t shirt and ironed his shirt “That’s cool, glad he can make it”

“If you two don’t say sorry and make up tonight I swear” she groaned. Yeah they had been friends for a little over half a year but that didn’t mean him and Fabian were back together. Those two were like a married couple and seeing him without Fabian made her sad, he wasn’t the same without him and it killed her inside

“I can’t promise anything but if he’s there obviously he knows I’m going to be as well so who knows” Marcel admitted as he fixed his hair

“Lay off the gel, you look you belong back in Germany in some grade school with this haircut” she laughed fixing her eye shadow “Plus it’s gonna be hot in there”

“Then I’ll take my shirt off,” he smirked. “I think some girls there would really like to see that, don't you think ?”

Maya rolled her eyes, going into her closet and picking out a body con sequin dress, something to make her stand out from the others. She wanted to be absolutely sure she looked better than anyone else there, especially after what Tim had told her. Tim. As if that Dickies wearing, missing tooth asshole knew anything about fashion she shook her head. “No one cares Maya, he doesn’t matter at all” she repeated in her head turning and widening her eyes as she saw Marcel changing

“Wow...wow” she muttered quietly as she hid behind her closet door and peaked, taking a look at his perfectly tan body and abs, watching him check himself out in the mirror while buttoning up his shirt. He had to me the most vain individual she had ever met yet there she was hiding so she could admire him from afar. Her, the actual model, hiding in a damn closet to stare at him of all people. She quickly snapped out of her own thoughts and changed, putting on her heels as she walked out

“Alright all-” Marcel stopped speaking, practically stopping his breathing when he saw her

“Hey” Maya grinned softly as she saw his face

“Maya….I….” he took a moment to think clearly about what he wished to say, not wanting to make himself seem even dumber than he already did

“I-wow” he chuckled out finally as he put his hands in his pockets

“You...you look beautiful, stunning”

“Marcel, you’ve seen me in dresses but thank you” she giggled

“You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve seen, ever” he said sincerely “you look beautiful every single day but tonight is just wow”

She looked at him, trying her best to keep her look calm and friendly but part of her wanted to jump him right then and there. “Come on, let’s get going it’s late” she grinned as she went back out with him to the car and allowed him to take a picture of them to post ******

“So now explain” Johnny said as he sat with Tim in the living room of his home “why exactly did you um...snap ?”

“I did not snap” Tim responded calmly as he pet their dog Pawdme

“I...words didn’t come out as well as I hoped okay, that’s all”

“Um...you went to college right ? like graduated, correct ?” he asked

Tim nodded as he gave a confused look “uh yeah, I uh have a degree in Journalism, worked at a newspaper company for years. Actually” he chuckled “when we met in evolve I was stil- wait what does this have to do with anything ?”

“So you’re telling me you’re college educated with a degree in JOURNALISM of all things, like as in good with words and writing yet you don't know how to speak to a woman !” Johnny exclaimed “You legit use big ass words and write pages yet when a girl clearly is giving the whole “take me in the back seat of your car now” eyes you insult and demean ?” “Johnny, enough” Candice spoke up “He gets the point, clearly he’s upset and mad”

“Thanks” Tim nodded, “and to answer all your questions, yes, I get it. I acted like a moron and well here I am trying to think of ways to apologize once again and convince her I want her with me”

“Well we can all talk about this tomorrow, we got somewhere to go” Johnny stood up dressed in a button up and black jeans along with Candice in a black dress

“A funeral ?” Tim asked confused as he looked at both of them “sorry for your loss, whomever it may be”

Candice let out a soft sigh as he looked at Johnny and nodded towards Tim with her head “tell him…”

“Okay, first it’s “Johnny, shut up!” and now it’s “tell him” he mocked in her voice as he put his hands on his hips and looked up at Tim

“We’re…..we’re going to Maya’s cover launch party, she invited us a month ago and well we RSVP’d and honestly I won’t lie, it looks like a lot of fun, man. She rented out the entire club. It's at EVE and I mean we don’t get to do shit like this, it’s the best club in the city and we’re on the list and I feel special alright ?”

“Wait wait, what ?” Tim asked bewildered “You two are going ? Like actually going ? This isn’t some sick joke right because if it is I got pranked” he put his hands up “the act can stop now, I get it”

Johnny and Candice looked at each other as they both turned and gave him a sorry look as Candice’s phone buzzed “sorry Tim...we gotta go now, Oney’s waiting with Joanne”

Tim scoffed as he nodded and opened the door, catching Oney about to knock “I know, don’t even try to explain” he said as he shut him up before he could even speak

“Well damn” Oney shot him a look “Guess that means, you don’t wanna be my plus one….”

“What ?” the other 3 asked in unison as they looked at him

“Joanne can’t make it, she has work so that leaves me with a plus one” he showed the message “Maya never said I couldn’t bring Tim” he gave a shrug

“Wait…. He can’t go like that” Candice emphasized “babe quick, go look for a bigger shirt and Oney, switch pants with Tim and Johnny will give you another pair…..NOW !” she raised her voice at the 3 of them as she watched them scurry and go to her bedroom

“Wow, who knew you could clean up so nicely” Johnny smirked “let me do your hair now, you can’t go out looking nicely dressed with messy hair, oh and cologne, you gotta smell good in case ”

“You’re not serious ?” Tim asked

“You want her to see you looking good right ? So listen to me, if you look good and smell good she’ll like fall in love with you, she won’t even remember you insinuated her work was cheap, or that bikini models are whores or that-” Johnny gulped when he saw him glare at him “here just..just add a little gel and um see you downstairs, hurry up”

Oney chuckled as he watched him get ready “If this doesn’t work, then I don’t know. Not gonna lie you look….nice. You really do, this is probably what she wanted to see”

“Whatever” Tim shrugged as he finished buttoning up the shirt “I just wanna talk to her that’s all, talk to her and get this settled and we’ll go from there” he nodded as he followed him back to Candice and Johnny’s Uber and sat down

“Wow” Candice grinned “look at you, I mean it. You clean up so nicely Tim, you really do”

“Thank you” Tim said softly as he gave her a small grin. “How the hell did I get myself into this ?” he thought to himself. None of this was him, he could feel the sweat start to build up in his arm pits as he moved around in his seat lifting his head up when Oney offered him a mini bottle of Patron

“A roadie, to loosen up before we get there. You could use it, need a chaser ?” he offered some seltzer water widening his eyes as he watched him chug it down in one gulp

“Give me another, now” Tim nodded as he reached out his hand, taking the second bottle and downing it “there, much much better”. No not really all that better but at least it calmed his nerves slightly as he watched them pull up to the club. He looked through the crowd to see who he recognized, some were definitely other models but lots were from work. She really had invited everyone but him, not like he expected it anyways.

“Remember, leave no later than 3” Candice said as they got out and reapplied her lipgloss “Jesus, she’s popular look at all these people”

“You don’t say” Johnny looked around “And she invited US, that means she really does like us and thinks of us as friends. She’s SO nice”

“She is. She really is something” Tim whispered to himself as he stood with them ************

“I love seeing you two so happy and together !” Maya smiled a little tipsy already as she put her arms around Fabian and Marcel’s shoulders

“The two besties are back together ! You can go back to taking your little sexy shirtless gym pictures now !”

Fabian chuckled “well thank you I think ? Thanks for inviting me again”

“Yeah yeah of course, anything to get you two back together” she sipped her martini, feeling slightly buzzed as she sat next to Marcel and put her hand on his thigh “oh my god, you look so cute tonight I can’t believe I didn’t tell you already” she pouted

Marcel chuckled as he placed her hand back on her lap gently “Thank you, you’re telling me now and to me that’s all that matters”

“Maya maybe, maybe we can stop the martini’s for a bit” Fabian suggested as he motioned for the waitress to come over and order them waters with lemon

“What a complete party pooper, I thought Italians were supposed to be fun. This is NOT how Jersey Shore made it seem” she rolled her eyes, pulling out her compact to look herself over as she watched Fabian just laugh at her

“Hey... still very very pretty,” Marcel grinned as he closed it for her. “There’s no need to keep looking at yourself when you look perfect, now have some water so you can sober up a bit and enjoy your night. Everyone’s here for you”

Maya stood up and fixed her dress when she saw Candice walk towards her “hey, oh my gosh you look beautiful !” She gave her a hug and smiled, tilting her head when she saw Johnny take a selfie with her custom cake “why...why is he ?”

“Listen he’s telling everyone we know he’s at a celebrity party and how you’re his friend, he’s truly living it up” she admits with a chuckle

“I just...I like how you guys came, you two are so kind and nice and to be honest I kinda like you guys here more than the others my agent made me invite” she smiled softly “Can I offer you a drink ?”

“Oh yeah sure, I’d love one of those fruity ones you’re having” Candice grinned as she walked over to the bar with her “Listen before we enjoy the night, I have to tell you that Oney’s girlfriend couldn’t make it so...so he brought Tim”

“What ?” she spat out her water “He’s here ? As in right now ? Candice what the hell ? After what happened earlier ?”

Candice sighed as she took her drink in one sitting and got up “Long story short he feels horrible and wants to talk to you, really talk to you. 100% serious this time, no insults nothing so when you’re ready you let me know and I”m getting you two together to talk even if it’s the last fucking thing I do” she nods

“I just wanna enjoy my night and maybe when I’m a little more drunk so I can let his ass know everything I’ve been feeling” Maya nodded as she cheered her and took what she believed was her 15th shot of the night

“So are those real ?” Candice asked as she pointed to her revealing dress “because they look real but they also look way too perfect to be real”

Maya laughed as she touched her shoulder with her arm “They are, but did you drink before getting here ?”

“May have had a couple roadies” she admits as they continued to drink together, getting rowdier once everyone else came to join

“Let’s give it up for Maya !” Johnny yelled as he raised his champagne glass “MY friend is a model and she’s on an ACTUAL magazine and on a billboard !”

“To me ! For being really fucking pretty and having an amazing body !” Maya exclaimed drunkenly as she leaned on Marcel

“And with REAL boobs !” Candice added as they all cheered together and moved to the dance floor as the DJ played a playlist of mid 2000’s songs

Everything was great, perfect actually until Oney spotted Tim talking to a girl, a little too close for comfort in his eyes as he left and sat down keeping a close eye on him

“So what brings you here, do you know Maya ?” the girl asked Tim as she grinned and sat too close to him at the bar

“In a way yeah, you ?” he nodded trying his best to keep up straight as the alcohol from the car ride and the beers he had consumed were beginning to hit him

“well she won this cover over me. Some thing about brunettes over blondes, Kara by the way” she reached her hand out “and you are ?”

“Tim” he responded as he turned around and faced her, looking her up and down as he raised a brow at the less than favorable red number she had on “drink ?”

“Vodka soda” she smirked as she ordered “oh is this your friend ?”

“What ?” Tim asked confused as he turned and saw Oney with crossed arms standing behind him

“You’re drunk, come with me”

“He’s fine with me” Kara smiled sweetly “Don’t worry, your friend is perfect with me here”

“Tim….”

“I’m fine” Tim shrugged “You go and continue being stupid, I’m fine here with her”

Oney shook his head and sighed as he left him alone and went back as he sat down on a couch and watched

Maya pulled Marcel close to her as she turned around against him, moving to the beat of the music as she felt him move with her, putting his hands on her hips both swaying to the old Ice Cube song that played loudly in the club. They had gone to multiple clubs in the past and danced to way too many songs but this time something was different and they both felt it

Marcel felt the jolts in his body as he touched her hips and felt her backside press right against his groin area. Gulping to get rid of what felt like a ball stuck in his throat he made sure to keep his hands there as they moved

“You good ?” she asked not realizing what was even going on with him as she looked up

“All good, we can keep going” he nodded

He was positive his once black shirt was now soaking and see through with sweat as he tried his best to make sure he didn’t get hard as he squeezed her sides every so slightly. As he heard the song end and change to what he recalled was an old Lil Jon song, he groaned feeling her move quicker. Part of him felt like it was best to just leave to the car and handle what he needed to do but the other part said he needed to be composed for her. All that went out the window the second he looked down and saw her dress slowly ride up as she moved lower and lower

“I...I gotta go to the bathroom” he blurted out as he turned her around and saw her eyes, he knew better than anyone what that look meant

“We….we should go to the bathroom” she whispered as she laced his fingers with hers and leaned in to kiss the corner of his mouth gently

Marcel shuddered as he looked around and noticed everyone too busy to even notice them gone, he quickly took her hand and rushed to the nearest bathroom with her as he pushed her against the wall and crashed his lips onto hers, moving his hands up and down her hips as he moved down to kiss her neck feeling one of her hands on the back of his neck and the other immediately trying to undo his belt

“Not...not here” he whispered as he stopped her hands and held them in his as he kissed each of them “This...this is cheap, I don’t want it like this with you. You deserve more”

“My place” she kissed his lips again not wanting them away from hers any longer “You and me, my place. I want you, I need you Marcel” Marcel looked in her eyes trying to see any doubt , going with his gut as he nodded and walked with her, hitting a stall with his shoulder

“Busy” a female voice groaned “um really busy”

“Sorry” Marcel apologized quickly, cursing as Maya tripped against him causing him to fall against the unlocked door, widening his eyes at the view in front of him

“What’s going-” Maya stopped speaking immediately as she felt her heart drop to her stomach as she saw Tim entangled with a girl doing way more than kissing. She felt her legs turn into jelly as she watched him kiss and move her against him, at her party of all places.

Tim heard her voice and immediately opened his eyes as he pushed Kara off and fixed his pants and shirt “Maya ! No…..No listen I-I” he stuttered struggling to form a cohesive thought as he reached his hand towards her earning a hard punch across the nose and kick in the groin “Fuck that hurt !” he grimaced in pain not sure if he needed to grab his balls or nose

“Marcel, why is she crying ? what’s going on ?” Johnny asked concerned he watched Candice going after her “Did someone hurt her ? Tell me and I’ll knock them out !”

“That, that’s what’s going on” Marcel said coldly as they both looked at Tim and Kara exit the bathroom both disheveled with Tim’s more than obvious broken bleeding nose

“I told him to stop” Oney spoke up “He didn’t listen, brushed me off. The second he saw me talk to Johnny is when he left”

“It wasn’t your job to babysit” Johnny answered disappointed as he stared “Grown men can take care of themselves, or so we thought”

“You’re not getting a foot near her !” Oney exclaimed, fed up “How fucking dare you do this to her ? At her own fucking party ? Was this what you wanted all along ? To just come here and ruin her night ?”

Tim shook his head as he held his nose with his hand “I….I can’t….I can’t even talk, where is she ? I need to talk to her now” “You’re getting you and your little prost-.....friend the hell out of here NOW” Oney ordered

Tim snarled as he felt her touch his hand “get the fuck away from me”, scaring her enough as he watched her walk away quickly and hurried out the door. He looked at the guys and pleaded with his eyes as he watched them walk away from him

Marcel clenched his fists in anger as he calmed himself down for a second before walking quickly to the parking lot of the club searching around space by space as he found Candice consoling Maya on the pavement and rushed over

“Maya, Maya come on let’s get you home” he said softly as he kneeled in front of her and dabbed her face full of mascara tears with his sleeve. His own heart breaking as he saw how devastated she looked. Nothing mattered more to him than making sure he got her home and safe

“Listen to Marcel, he’s gonna take you home sweetie” Candice whispered as she helped her stand up as Johnny, Fabian and Oney joined them with sorry looks on their faces “It’s brisk” Fabian said softly as he took off his suit jacket and put it over Maya’s shoulders to cover her up “I’m gonna, I’m gonna take her home now, is that okay Maya ?” Marcel asked as he pet her head gently

Maya simply gave a small nod as her eyes stayed glued to the floor, her whole night and heart done for.

#timothy thatcher #timothy thatcher fic #timothy thatcher x oc #timothy thatcher imagine #marcel barthel #marcel barthel fic #marcel barthel imagine #fabian aichner #candice lerae #johnny gargano #oney lorcan #NXT

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juniaships · 4 years ago

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After being reminded of how awful canon film is I wrote my own self indulgent version of Batman Vs. Superman. I want the story to be self contained, so no Doomsday or Darkseid forewarning. Warning: Rambling, me being butthurt while high on sugar, really trying to make this a coherent storyline with genuine development, some Bruce x OC moments shut up you demon!

The beginning is the same as in canon with Lois in Africa???Middle East??? With her partner James Olsen trying to resolve a hostage situation. James gets killed trying to protect a hostage, but before anymore are killed Superman comes in and rescues them. He subdues not kill the terrorists but gets into trouble with the intelligence agency for interrupting their mission. This incident reaches the ears of Helen Hunt's character the no-nonsense Senator. However Superman is more concerned for the deceased James and the unharmed hostages than getting in trouble with the government, he feels guilty being unable to save James in time.

After James Olsen's funeral Clark and Lois are unsure what to do next. They decide the best way to honor his memory is continuing their line of working bringing light to troubling issues as well as a troubling rose of villains. They also find out that the terrorists had weapons given to them by Luthor (to protect interests in that region).

Meanwhile, Lex decides to capitalize on the post destruction of Metropolis by launching a smear campaign. He also starts pursuing charitable events to make himself look good in front of the masses. Because of growing negativity towards Supes, Clark starts feeling a lack of confidence but from reassurance from his mom he redirects his focus hero by doing small stuff around Smallville. Gradually the town starts to see him in a far better light but there's still Metropolis and the larger world. Clark goes there to help rebuild. At his job at DP, he gets the chance to interview visiting millionaire Bruce Wayne in Whatever City (not the actual name but a totally different city from Metropolis and Gotham). At the press meeting Bruce is rather cold & not as Clark expected. He's even working with Lex Luthor as part of a business deal, which makes Clark wary as he knows about Luthor's criminal activity.

Superman goes out in a flight to clear his head. While flying around he sees a kid walking on the railroad tracks hy himself with a pair of headphones....and a train steadily approaching! Supes swoops in and saves the kod from being nuked and chastises him for being so reckless. The teenager apologies and introduces himself as Jimmy Olsen (a nephew of the deceased James). He had been listening to music as a way to cope with his uncle's death. They talk for a while and Superman brings Jimmy back home. Several weeks later Clark ends up mentoring Jimmy as a school project.

Back in Whatever City we're introduced to one of Lex's assistants Nicola. She's a former Holliday Girl who had overheard Lex's plan and vowed to stop him. She managed to get in contact with an old friend: Diana Prince. Nicola brings up Lex's plan and hidden research of metahumans. The Amazon surmises that such a scheme could result in the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of people. Diana decides to bring her agency to stop him & asks Nicola to stay low. Diana gathers her old armor and prays to the Gods for luck.

Lex apparently likes Nicola enough to send her an invite to a charity ball, where she crosses paths with Bruce for the first time. They talk for a while only to be interrupted by Clark.

After a meeting with Luthor to discuss a merger with their companies, and seeing hints of Luthor's true selfishness, Bruce grows suspicious of him and started to dig around. We see through memorabilia that his initial coldness towards Clark and other people wasn't out of spite but of grief: Jason Todd's death some years ago.

Clark continues his good deeds and is slowly regaining his respect. He even makes plan to visit a children's hospital but is forced to cancel when Superman gets called to show up for a Congress hearing. At the meeting Superman admits his guilt but tells about James and how he died a hero. The Senator doesn't know where Superman is going with this but is listening. Then Superman's voice trails of as he hears a beeping noise and shocked he leaves the room in a hurry. He briefly searches the place and finds a bomb strapped in a closet. He carries the bomb out and throws it as high into the sky as possible Back inside the audience and senator are bewildered by his absence then hear a loud booming noise outside. There's shock as a bright light flashes in the sky...

Superman legit rejected their hearing to save them from a bomb. A bomb planted there by Tess on the instructions of Luthor...a plan she was willing to sacrifice her own life for.

This leaves the senator reconsidering her stance: if he really was as bad as people say then he wouldn't have saved them.

After the incident the entire country begins to have a more positive opinion of Superman while the government launches a search for possible terrorists. Bruce hears about what happened and after sneaking around as Batman, finds out about Luthor being the one responsible for the attempted terror attack. Later on he (as civilian) makes an announcement that he is not going to go through with the merger with LexCorp.

Hearing the news that Superman foiled his attempted assassination (and losing out on Wayne Enterprises), Lex gets very pissed off and threatens to fire Tess. She tries to save face by reminding Lex of his contingency plan...making Lex calm down and grin as he begins to remake his plan.

Nicola agrees to a date with Bruce and prepares. Meanwhile Lois and Jimmy are enjoying a night on the town while Clark stays behind to work on a news story. The two friends were about ti make it back to their hotel before being accosted by some men who force them into a car and takes them to Lex Corp.

At the HQ Lois calls him out that his plan could spell doom for the world. Surprisingly Luthor agrees but makes it clear he doesn't care. He orders his men to capture her, but Jimmy manages to escape and goes off to find Clark (who is writing a story to expose Luthor's actions). Jimmy tells him learns from him that Lois is in trouble Superman tells him to stay as he fetches the police. In reality he jas gone to find her as his hero alias. He finds her but just as he's about to rescue her Lex threatens that he also has another certain someone (Martha Kent ) captured if he doesn't comply, seeing that Supes was often seen visiting her. Reluctantly Superman complies and Lois is freed from her bonds, yet Lex takes them as hostages to a room lined with Green Kryptonite. He leaves to his warehouse to check on progress of his prototype. Jimmy wonders where Clark has gone and goes to the police station himself.

On their date Bruce mentions to Nicola that he knows what she's up to. Nicola coldly replies what was he talking about and he mentions Lex's actions and her possible status as an accomplice This starts a spat leading to Nicola spilling that she is working against Lex (making her a foil to the blindly loyal Tess) and that her goal was to stop Lex from unleashing his plan. She already called a friend to help them yet when Bruce presses forward they see a kid (Jimmy) wandering around and concerned asks what's wrong. Jimmy replies that his friend was kidnapped and doesn't know what to do. Bruce leaves to find Clark while Nicola stays with Jimmy.

Nicole & Jimmy arrives back at the hotel and sees Tess Mercer waiting for them. She had been sent by Luthor to eliminate the witness. Nicola tries to talk her coworker out of harming an innocent kid but Tess refuses. They duel but Tess proves to be a surprisingly stronger fighter. Before Tess could come in for the kill a frightened Jimmy knocks her out cold from behind.

At HQ Lois & a weakened Superman attempt an escape. Lois believes its hopeless but Clark reminds her that Lex won't put them down for long. Batman arrives at the HQ and stealthily avoids the guards. He deduces the room Lois and Supes are locked up in and free them. Batman says thay a little birdie told him everything Lois and Clark grinning that it's Jimmy and the two superheroes decide to work together to bring down Lex.

Batman goes to save Martha (the warehouse fight) while Superman goes to confront Lex, dropping Lois off at the hotel where rhe police are waiting (Tess apprehended). Nicola researcher offers to take the reporter home but she declines, not wanting to sit back and watch Lex try to destroy the world. After giving her report to the police she and Nicole meet Steven Trevor (a descendant of Steve Trevor and an agent). Steven says he already sent his men to arrest Lex as they found that he waa behind the bombing. Lois sneaks away to see if she can help Clark.

Clark manages to catch uo to Lex at his lab and tries to reason with him. Lex says that he already unleashed his prototype as a test to see how many lives Superman is able to save. Superman argues that Lex has gone mad trying to play god, which he disagrees: "I'm not playing god I'm only playing favorites is all." Disgusted, Superman leaves and goes off to fight the prototype. As he does an entire line of trucks arrive...led by Nicola's special friend...

Lex realizes he has been found out and tries to destroy the evidence. Lois realize that the monster was made of Kryptonian DNA so she looks around for the spare Kryptonite and manages to grab a considerable long piece. Just as she does the place starts flooding and she runs. However she nearly drown. Fortunately she gets pulled out by a woman wearing armor. Lois doesn't even ask her name as she recognizes the W shaped emblem and blue&red color scheme. Lois gives the heroine the spear and tells her that she says she loves Clark. Wonder Woman nods and heads towards the direction of Superman.

Superman draws the monster out away from the city and is helped by Batman. Wonder Woman arrives with the spear. The final battles commences with Batman providing a distraction to lead the prototype away. Diana and Superman fight the beast but is soon overpowered. Clark takes the makeshift spear and goes off and manages to subdue the creature rather unwilling to kill it. However he gets blown up by a missile sent by the US military and everyone thinks he is dead.

To his he walks out of the smoke, banged up but alive, having narrowly escaped the blast. The monster has died, leaving Clark to wonders sadly if the monster could have been saved as it had no control over its actions. A relieved Lois embraces him as the other two supers look on in bittersweet triumph.

Several days later, the President, on the behest of the Helen Hunt Senator, gives Superman a full pardon. The world also starts to see rising of actual superheroes to take in the increase of villains having been inspired by the actions of the newly dubbed Trinity. The ending shows that long term exposure to Kryptonite left Lex without any hair, cementing his iconic look. He had also beem arrested and tried and ends up locked up at a mental institution on an insanity plea. His other henchmen & Tess are jailed and Luthor's company scrambles to do damage control. Bruce catches up to Clark and apologizes for being cold. They part ways on better terms before musing at the similarities between their alter egos. Diana teases that they make a great team and returns to the capital with her team. Bruce returns to Gotham and stops at the cemetery to place flowers on Jason Todd's grave, showing that he moved to the acceptance stage of grief. Jimmy also ends up getting a job as an intern for Daily Planet with Lois as his mentor this time. And Nicola goes to Gotham to work as a social worker and takes up a case: Cassandra Cain.

The final scene ends with Clark as Superman dressed up in Metropolis visiting a local orphanage/foster home, showing that at his core he truly does care about humanity despite all them haters. 👏👏 👏 happy ending everyone!!!

The movie ends with a montage of

- Cyborg walking around aimlessly in his hometown and finding a discarded newspaper highlighting the heroes' exploits and getting the idea to try becoming a hero himself

- Aquaman in his kingdom catching up with the surface world and becoming curious, and wonders about an alliance

- Barry standing in a hill in his city in costume. He grins and smiles, before pulling over his cowl and racing off

- And Lex, plotting an escape from his cell, suddenly sees a peculiarly tall guard looming over him. He makes a digging comment that the guard shrugs off. To his surprise the guard unlocks the cell and leads Lex out. Lex asks who the guard is; the guard slips off his disguises revealing a sapient Gorilla...Gorilla Grodd!

All This sets up a future plot point that wouldn't be explored until after Justice League where we're introduced to the cinematic LEGION OF DOOM!!! The prototype they fight is not doomsday but foreshadows the creation of Bizarro (who was one of the original members of the LoD).

With the actual Justice League movie we continue with the formation of the team through several subplots converging into one major story arc. The Helen Hunt Senator plays a huge role being their ally and influence on building the Hall of Justice. Plus more Brucola stuff because we need fun stuff in Batman, Tom King.

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bre-meister · 4 years ago

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So, I just watched the first 3 episodes of Fate: The Winx Saga and I know I don’t usually talk about Winx on this blog but... girl gotta put her thoughts somewhere. This show was my childhood and Netflix really said “Fuck it”.

I’ll leave it under the cut so if you wanna stay for this rant, feel free

I went into this knowing I would hate it and, honestly, I do and I don’t

I think it is an absolute shit dumpster fire of an adaptation that someone poured gasoline on and then tried to lite on fire with Bloom’s inconsistent control issues and shit just got even worse

But, this could have been a fairly decent show If it was a stand alone- It had no need to be attached to the Winx name because it really is not Winx

There are some problems I had with it that everyone had before the show even dropped - The whitewashing and lack of diversity, the atrocious outfits, the lack of wings (“We evolved” that’s fucking bullshit y’all know good and well that part of the fun of the OG show was the new transformations and the outfits and we can’t even have that)

Also there is def technology here so why the FUCK do we not have Tecna? She’s the straight laced girl of the group but at the same time I feel like she could have added some much needed levity

And my girl would have told it like it is. Sometimes these people (not the Winx because they are NOT the Winx) do dumb shit for the sake of doing dumb shit and Tecna would never have allowed this!

Combining the Trix into one person is still iffy for me, like I get why they did it but I just don’t think it has the same effect as having the three of them

Sometimes she gives me Icy vibes and most of the time she gives me Darcy vibes and almost never she gives me Stormy vibes (even though her powers are most like Stormy) and that shit just gives me whiplash

I also think that having the witches at cloud tower provided the original show with this great idea of “even though we use dark magic and are considered witches we still make the choice ourselves as to whether or not we use that magic for good or for evil” but then again I might be reading into it too much who knows

It’s bad enough they had to go and make Aisha the token black character but then they also make her this mean, black woman caricature (and I know it stems from her frustration that she can’t do this one thing perfect but still, as a black young woman who has seen black women portrayed like this constantly it is damaging as hell)

On that note - why did they have to make the one black and overall minority girl the control freak? Idk it just doesn’t really sit right with me

Speaking of jealousy...we gotta talk about Stella

I know this is supposed to be more realistic and grown up and ya, I get it, girls can be catty but dude, Stella WOULD NEVER

THIS Stella endangered Bloom on PURPOSE because she was Jealous and then she really wanted to dipp on her in the woods after Bloom was trying to help her get back HER ring she shouldn’t have given her in the first place all cause she was a bit scared? Even scared Stella in the original show wouldn’t have done that! Would she have complained? YES! But she wouldn’t be so quick to give up

Need I remind everyone that she almost drained herself completely trying to protect her friends in the Omega Dimension from the Ice Snakes and only stopped because Musa was like “Stella, your hurting yourself. Take a break everyone will be ok”

And this shit show wants me to believe that these are the saem people? I think not!

So I’m only on episode 3 but I can already tell that whatever they’re trying to say happened with Rickie is not what actually happened and that whole storyline is just super annoying like bro, there better be a good ass reason why she is pretending to be such a terrible person and I just don’t trust this show to be that creative

This thing between her and sky is so confusing and makes like, no sense

Moving on...

I love Sam, he is so sweet and cute and amazing

His introduction “uh...I’m Sam...what’s up” made me laugh my ass off and I can’t even tell you why

Truly I love him but at the same time...he’s kinda getting in between Musa and Riven

Like I get that their relationship was not the best at all (and this Riven has even more problems which was kinda unnecessary cause he already had SO MANY!) but at the same time when we’ve only got the opportunity to have 2 of the original couples like... I’m gonna need this show to give me something

Riven - I loved him in the original show because he always had so many issues but then season 4 rolled around and he was genuinely trying to become a better person. And to have the guts to realize later that he was not ok and that he had to leave to figure that out? Respectable. I recognize that this dude had issues (and that Musa deserved better) but I respected him by the end of his journey

THIS Riven? He can eat shit. I know this is kinda supposed to be the whole Darcy arc he had in the first season or whatever but at least then he was being mind controlled to a certain extent which explained a lot of why he was doing what he was. But this dude is just an overall douche.

Isn’t he supposed to be Bi? Internalized homophobia is amazing guys we definitely want more of that - - (just to be clear that was sarcasm)

And I know this contradicts my wanting him and Musa to be together but I think that these two things go hand in hand

I hate that they upped his issues by 100000x because I legit want them to be together and have a genuinely good, functional relationship

But Sam is precious and should be protected

So now Terra

Honestly I think making her say “I have a cousin named Flora” only made the whitewashing more obvious and worse. If they seriously wanted to go this route they should have just committed and not brought Flora’s name into this at all. We the fans are not idiots Netflix! We know what you did!!

This might just be a more personal thing but I kinda feel like they made her entire personality (at least this far) only about her being plus size

And this was FAR more prevalent in the few chapters from the book I could stomach to read

And wasn’t that their defense for whitewashing? That they wanted to have more inclusion in body types?

You can have a plus size character and not make almost 90% of their screen time about them being self conscious about their body- Like this legit seems to be almost 99% of the reason she’s socially awkward

Again, if you’re going to commit, COMMIT! Show her being ok in her own body and her own skin. Let’s fight against the same culture that makes this character feel self conscious

As far as Musa goes... still don’t really like that they changed her powers

I guess they thought her new ones would be more useful in a more “practical” setting but um... they haven’t been? Not really?

I know she said she’s not a human lie detector but... they show keeps making her one whenever it’s convenient

I guess they thought her new ones would be more useful in a more “practical” setting but um... they haven’t been? Not really?

I still don’t understand why they have to sneak around but, idk maybe they’ll explain it later ( like I get that Sam is Terra’s bro but Musa and Terra don’t even know eachother like that for this drama to be such a big deal)

Bloom is alright

That’s all I have to say about her

Her mom though?

Idk why she was acting the way she was, Just why?

Not her making fun of Bloom going to antique shops when Vanessa owns a literal FLOWER SHOP in the original show!

I will say though, “This basic bitch will pull out her PhD and take you to school. Every comeback is another week without your door. Hit me.” with that confidence? BEST LINE IN THE SHOW!

She had my support for like .5 sec there

“Slam the door, loose the door” she was on some Black mother shit right there - the amount of time my mom has threatened me with this?

It wasn’t even a threat it was a promise

Sky seems to be the most in character but then again the bar isn’t set too high

Why are the teachers so fucking shady? And are there only 3 professors in this giant ass school?? (I say that knowing there were only, like 4 in the original - 5 if we count Daphnee)

It also took me a min to realize that they kinda combined Feragonda and Griselda into one person. I don’t really like it that much

I still don’t understand why they had to strip Aisha and Sky of their titles. I felt like that added so much to their characters - Aisha felt the need to be so perfect because she was a princess and Sky had all these increasing obligation through the show that would create conflict (sometimes it was stupid but still)

Also for a show about they Winx they sure as hell don’t spend that much time together

They got their name in the FIRST EPISODE of the original show. It’s been 3 and the only mention of “Winx” was a quick pan of the door label for their suite. Blink and you missed it

And they seem to keep flip flopping between being best friends to being indifferent to each other, to “I don’t really know you” to sometimes hating each other (the emotion flop is mainly Stella but the others seem to have some weird ranges as well)

From a technical standpoint this show has some weird choices

Sometimes cuts will just ...happen? Especially during actions scenes sometimes it’s hard to make sense of what’s happening

And all the fight scenes - especially the training scenes - just seem so rehearsed it hard to watch

and why does Riven keep flip flopping between the worst specialist and a great one?

The utter lack of creativity in terms of the technology and weapons and even just the representation of the magic in this show is sad

The Original was so magical and colorful It was always obvious that this was a different dimension

I feel like I could legit go to Switzerland and find a place just like this and it wouldn’t be anything super different or weird

I also still don’t get why earth can’t know? Are we just gonna pretend that the Earth fairies and Believix and the Wizards of the Black Circle just... didn’t happen?

If this person that Beatrix is working for isn’t Lord Darkar or Valtor like...idk what to do

Again I would just like to stress that this show did not need to be an adaptation

In fact it really isn’t I don’t know what they hell they are adapting cause this is NOT Winx and I cannot stress enough just how utterly wrong this felt while watching it

All most of the characters have the same names but they are not the same people at all - no where close

Also can I just say, Sky’s hair seemed so different (length, part, style) almost every other scene sometimes I would legit have to sit back and be like “this is the same actor right?”

Speaking of I’d like to finish this off by saying: absolutely no hate to the actors and actresses - I can see they are doing their best with what they have been given and most of the more controversial decisions were not made by them

I will say I did think that linking Fairy magic to emotion was a good touch - idk if they did this in the Original show or not. I can’t remember

So far this show...

As and adaptation:

words cannot describe how bad it is

As a stand alone property:

I mean, it’s noting amazing or truly different but I’ve definitely seen worse

I’ll probably make another one of these for the last 3 episodes. I could literally get 0 notes on this and still do it anyway. Sometimes you really just gotta rant

#fate: the winx saga #this was literal shit #rant #not my usual blog content #but it had to be said

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mytastessuck · 4 years ago

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Ween: Pure Guava

LThis is it. This is one of the essential Ween albums. If it wasn't for the album after it, I would call it objectively the best Ween album. This is Ween's refined brown like a nice chilled bottle of Gold Peak Tea. Even Aphex Twin recognizes this as a huge accomplishment in experimental rock. Can't even rave about it anymore, I wanna start on the tracks.

1. Little Birdy

Love how toasted everyone sounds on this. They sound like they are about to pass out and I love it. I used to listen to this song before I headed out to Habitat For Humanity. Put me in a good mood like touching a birdy's wings.

10/10

2. Tender Situation

In the song, Ween appears to be trying to defuse a bomb because it sounds like they're trying not to disturb something with the way they're crooning. A nice jam in middle makes this one of the better ways to trip to mushrooms.

10/10

3. The Stallion Part 3

Ah, to ride a stallion while on illicit substances. This song is awesome for making us believe we can high on a ranch. Hell, you fit this song into The Resident's High Horses and you wouldn't even notice. That would be because you'd be too gone but still.

10/10

4. Big Jlim

I hope Big Jlim appreciates this garbled masterpiece to his person. Wait, do you think Big Jlim knows Big Jim from Mattel?

https://www.adultswim.com/videos/robot-chicken/big-jim

That would be cool if that was the case.

9/10

5. Push Th' Little Daisies

Probably (and unfortunately) Ween's second most famous song to its appearance on Beavis and Butthead, this song is famous for being a little ditty that most people in the 90s couldn't figure out. Ya'll remember those GTA V character commercials released online? That revealed the character's to you with a soundtrack? If I had to pick a song for mine, it would be this one.

100/10

6. The Goin' Get Tough From The Getgo

This sounds like if Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd got into Hip Hop. I love it.

10/10

7. Reggaejunkiejew

Ah, we all know that one person who ruins the time for you when you hang out with other people you actually wanna chill with. For me, it's friends of family, family of family, the giant oni head that follows my mom around that only I can see...

9/10

8. I Play It Off Legit

It always impresses me when Ween go thug. It's this and Where The Motherfucking Cheese Go At that always makes me think these guys could briefly pause a group of muggers in North Philly before getting stomped. It's incredible.

8/10

9. Pumping 4 The Man

Pretty good fast-paced song if you don't mind outdated slurs. I think it sums up the feelings of working at a gas station very well. The tape cutting out at the end gives it an extra point.

10/10

10. Sarah

A soft ballad for all the Sarahs in our lives. The ones we find in our dreams and our sleeps, whatever those things are.

10/10

11. Springtheme

Another relatable song about one of the most beautiful seasons. Don't we all wish to touch a boob while we're outside barefoot on the grass as a warm breeze blows through our hair?

10/10

12. Flies On The Dick

A much-needed song addressing the epidemic of flies swarming around and landing on people's dick. I don't care how trifling or unhygienic someone is, no man or woman deserves flies on their dick. Glad to see Ween taking a stand for this in the past.

10/10

13. I Saw Gener Cryin' In His Sleep

Pretty sad song, especially since it's so personal. Poor Aaro---I mean, Gener. Looks like he can't even escape in his sleep. That's depressing.

10/10

14. Touch My Tooter

To lift our spirits, we get a song about a man braying about the joys of getting our tooters touched. Pretty cool song to sing while drunk. Definite karaoke suggestion.

11/10

15. Mourning Glory

This feels like a leftover from The Pod and I love it. Nothing but feedback and grumbling to make a person fear for their God. Awesome Sound from Ween.

10/10

16. Loving U Thru It All

A romantic song about loving your partner regardless of what happens, no matter the weather, no matter the mass! Oh yeah! Nice mumbling here.

9/10

17. Hey Fat Boy (Asshole)

One of the best songs on the album. We all wish we can revenge on the person that killed our mother, regardless of their weight. Fuck that person.

1969/10

18. Don't Get 2 Close 2 My Fantasy

The best song on the album with a memorable chorus, this song is a fine goodbye to Brown Era of Ween. You can see them going prog a bit here and I'm all for it.

2000/10

19. Poopship Destroyer

The post-script to the goodbye, a nice ditty to listen to in the bathroom when you're in the bathroom pretending to be a submarine commander on the toilet.

8/10

Album Score: 22.2/10

Next week, we cover the other definite Ween album, Chocolate And Cheese. Prepare for the underboob.

#ween #pure guava #musician #review

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therainroguefanfiction · 4 years ago

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⚘ Karasuno Alumni (Daichi Sawamura)

Genre: Slice of Life, AU, Fluff, Friendship

Word Count: 3,132

Pairing: Reader x Daichi

World: Haikyuu

Prompt(s): A bought the last piece of [item] that B was about to get. / “I have nothing to lose.” / Tattoo Artist AU

Author’s Note: This was written for the weekly-prompt (08/19/20) over on @hqbookclub ‘s discord server – you should check it out if you haven’t It should be noted that I do not have tattoos and I know nothing about tattooing. I asked a couple different people and watched a couple videos, but it’s hard to understand if you haven’t experienced it yourself so I kinda just wrote what I imagine would take place and how it would feel. So yeah.

━━━━━━༻⚘༺━━━━━━

You didn’t get cravings very often, but when you did, they drove you absolutely batty until you got the object that you suddenly desired so badly. This was especially annoying at midnight when all you wanted to do was sleep but your brain wouldn’t stop craving for some strawberry flake pocky which, not so conveniently, was sold only at the quick mart about twenty minutes away from your house.

With a groan, you forced yourself out of bed, throwing on whatever clothes you could find quickly as you grumbled under your breath about how much you hated your brain and its ability to act like a damn toddler. And nearly thirty minutes later, you found yourself approaching the quick mart, still grumbling under your breath, though, at this point, it was more noises than words.

The glass doors slid open, a burst of cold air hitting the top of your head and causing a shiver to go down your spine. The cashier, a young girl that should probably be in bed and not working at one in the morning, smiled brightly upon your entrance.

“Welcome!”

You nodded at her before heading toward the back of the store where your precious pocky was located. The pocky was lined up at the end of the aisle, appearing in your line of sight as soon as you turned the corner, but the lack of flavors was startling. Normally, the shelf would be packed with the treats, but they had clearly become much more popular than normal. The shelves were nearly empty, offering only a few boxes in varying flavors. Your eyes scanned what was left, praying to whatever deity you could think of that they had the flavor you so desired.

Just as your eyes landed on the strawberry flake pocky, a large hand shot out, fingers curling around the very last box before pulling it from the shelf. Time seemed to move in slow motion as your eyes trained on the box like a hawk, watching as it was placed into the plastic basket being held by the perpetrator.

The man in question was pretty tall, standing probably around five-foot-nine, and his body was well defined with muscles. You could just barely make out the tattoo of a crow in mid-flight peeking out from the collar of his sweater. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t think he was attractive with his messy raven hair and dark brown eyes, but the only thing you could focus on was the fact that he had just taken the last feckin’ box of strawberry flake pocky.

He finally noticed your intense stare, turning his dark eyes to meet yours. “It’s not polite to stare, you know,” he teased, the corner of his lips twitching up.

You scowled at him. “It’s also not polite to steal someone’s pocky!”

His brow quirked at that, amusement dancing in his eyes. “I didn’t steal anything. It was on the shelf, free for anyone to take. Maybe you should have been faster.”

In your tired, annoyed state, you didn’t recognize the teasing tone he was using and took it as a challenge. When he tried to step past you, your hand shot up, palm flat against his chest to push him backward. You resolve faltered for just a moment when you felt his toned chest tensing beneath your hand, but you quickly shook the thoughts from your head. “Give me back my pocky, you jerk!”

His eyes darkened, smile turning to a scowl as he grabbed your wrist to remove your hand from his chest. You could feel how strong he was from the amount of restraint he was showing. If he wanted to, he could easily hurt you, but his grip was soft, just enough to hold you back. “Maybe if you asked nicely I would have considered it, but since you’re being so rude, I’m gonna say no. Have a good night.” He released his grip on your wrist and headed for the front of the store.

Your eyes widened a bit at his words and you realized that you were being a complete jerk. Sure, you could use the lack of sleep and your shitty day as an excuse, but it was just that – an excuse. Shaking your head, you bolted toward the front of the store, intent on apologizing to the man, but he was already gone. You could only stand there feeling like a shitty person for being so rude to a man you had never even met before.

━━━━━━༻⚘༺━━━━━━

“Y/N!” Tsuko, your childhood best friend, burst into your dorm room without knocking and, since you were in the middle of erasing a failed equation, you ended up jumping and tearing the page.

You groaned, slamming your face onto the desk. Math was bad enough, but now you had to recopy everything because of the torn page and that did not sound like a good time for you. “How many times do I have to tell you to knock, woman?”

“Sorry~” She giggled, not sounding the least bit sorry. “I have the best news!”

You hummed as you tore the page from the notebook, beginning to re-copy the notes on a fresh, clean one. You were not really interested in whatever gossip she had to offer this time because this was a regular occurrence with her and it was mostly about other student’s relationships.

“Okay, so,” she plopped down on the side of your bed. “I met a guy in class today that knows Anne, you know, the exchange student from the states, who is good friends with Ako, that really cute football scholar in his third year, who heard from Carl, the half-Japanese kid that’s weirdly obsessed with tomatoes, who is best friends with Nia, that girl that was featured in Art Monthly in January, who happens to know -”

You slammed your head back on the desk, the notes completely forgotten as her word vomit swirled in your ears. First off, you didn’t know any of those people and you really didn’t care about them or what incredible thing they had passed along to a million different people. It was like one of those chain games you played as a kid – one person says something before passing it on to another and, by the time it got to the end of the line, it was something completely different from what it once was. “Tsuko, please spare me any further pain and just get to the point.”

She rolled her brown eyes, “You’re so dramatic, Y/N. Anywho, let’s get tattoos!”

“Heh?”

“Nia knows a guy that does tattoos at a discounted price for Karasuno alumni!” She clapped her hands excitedly. “I set us up with an appointment tomorrow afternoon!”

“You -” your eye twitched in annoyance as you looked at her, but your gaze softened when you saw how excited she was. She had always been super into tattoos and had dreamed of getting one since she was thirteen-years-old and her mom married a guy that was covered in them. You were happy she was finally getting one, but why did you have to get one, as well? Sure, you thought tattoos were absolutely gorgeous and you could definitely appreciate an attractive man with them, but you had never actually considered getting one yourself. “I don’t know… What would I even get? Aren’t tattoos supposed to have meaning behind them? It’s not really something you just decide on the fly, you know?”

“That’s true,” she agreed, tapping her chin. “But you really loved your time at Karasuno, right? You said it was the best time of your life! So why not commemorate that with a tattoo?”

You frowned. “Getting the name of a high school tattooed on my body sounds super tacky.”

“Not the name!” She clicked her tongue in annoyance before pulling out her phone. After a few taps, she stood up to thrust the device in your face, showing off various drawings and designs of crows. “You can get the school’s mascot – a crow!”

You hummed as you took her phone, scrolling through the various images she had found on google with a simple search. Some of them did look pretty cool and you had loved your time at Karasuno. Sometimes you even found yourself wishing that you were back in high school when things were so much simpler and easier. The more you thought about the idea, the more you liked it.

“So~, what do you say?” Tsuko clapped her hands together, giving you the best puppy dog eyes she could manage.

“Well,” you answered after a moment’s pause. “I guess I have nothing to lose. Sure, let’s do it.”

“Yes!” She threw her arms around your neck, squeezing you against her chest. “You’re the bestest friend in the world, Y/N!”

You slapped her arms frantically, “Then let me breathe!”

“Oh, oops.” With a giggle, she released you, allowing you to take in a large gulp of air.

━━━━━━༻⚘༺━━━━━━

Tsuko parked the car in front of the small tattoo shop nestled between a used bookstore and a fast-food chicken place. This did little to boost your confidence and you grabbed her arm before she could leave the car.

“Are you sure this place is legit? Did you research it? Look up reviews? What’s the -”

“Y/N!” She rolled her eyes. “This place comes highly recommended. Don’t tell me you’re going to chicken out at the last moment.”

“I’m not, I just…”

“Come on, we’re gonna be late for our appointment!”

With a sigh, you climbed out of her car and followed her to the door, glancing up at the bell above the door when it chimed loudly. On either side of the door were metal chairs lined against the class walls. Directly across from the door was an L-shaped desk with a computer on the right and various drawings scattered across its surface. A wall hid the tattooing area, offering a small opening on the left to pass through.

Tsuko stepped up to the counter while you hung back a bit, staying near the door. A moment passed before a tall man with a shaved head appeared in the doorway, covered in head to toe in various tattoo styles, piercings in both ears and on the left side of his bottom lip. He honestly looked terrifying.

His small eyes fell on Tsuko and his face brightened, a streak of red crawling across his face as he practically skipped over to the counter. “Hey, babe! You lookin’ to get a tattoo?”

“We are!” Tsuko chirped, clearly interested in this man even though she had only just met him. “We have an appointment, actually.”

“I gotchu,” he winked, stepping behind the counter to check the computer. “Ah, you two the Karasuno alumni?”

“Yep!”

“Perfect! Come on back and we’ll get to work!”

Tsuko didn’t hesitate to follow him and you sighed, trailing behind as you chewed on your bottom lip. Honestly, you were feeling kind of scared, but you didn’t want your best friend to think bad of you for chickening out, as she called it. How bad could it be, really? You weren’t afraid of needles and your pain tolerance was pretty high, so you were confident that you could make it through. Plus, you’d have a pretty bomb tattoo to show for it.

‘Hopefully,’ you thought as your eyes scanned the framed drawings lining the backroom. ‘These drawings look amazing, but there’s no way to prove that they did these.’

The man led the two of you to one of the plush chairs, motioning with his arms as his eyes stayed trained on your friend. “Have a seat, princess, and I’ll be right with you!”

She giggled in response, falling into the chair with a flushed face.

“As for you,” his eyes fell on you and you swallowed at how darker they got. “Follow me!”

You glanced at your friend, but her eyes were trained on the man’s back, offering you no support as you followed him a few chairs down on the opposite side of the room.

“Have a seat,” he grinned at you before turning toward the back of the room where a lone door sat, cupping his mouth. “Yo, Daichi! You got a customer!”

“Coming!”

You pulled out the folded piece of paper in your pocket that had several printed illustrations of crows in various poses. You had printed it out last night to try and help out the tattooer rather just saying, ‘I want a crow.’

“Hello, my name is Daichi and I’ll be -”

Your eyes met dark ones that widened in time with your own. Standing before you in a tight, black muscle shirt was the man that had taken your pocky the other night. Without any sleeves, you could see the dragon tattoo curling around his left arm, a light pink lotus flower clutched between its claws. On his right bicep was a crow sitting atop a volleyball and, of course, the crow in mid-flight could be seen more clearly on his neck.

Daichi cleared his throat, putting on an obviously forced smile. “I’ll be your tattooist today. What are you looking to get?”

“O-Oh, umm…” You handed him the paper with a shaking hand, unable to look him in the eye. Your face was burning with embarrassment and you were torn on whether or not you should mention what happened that night. You really wanted to apologize, but you weren’t entirely sure how, especially when one wrong word could land you in a world of hurt.

He took the paper, careful not to touch your hand with his as he glanced over the printed designs. “You want a crow?”

“Y-Yeah,” you cleared your throat, shifting in your seat. “I really enjoyed my time at Karasuno, so…”

He smiled down at the paper, settling himself on the rolling stool as he grabbed a sketchbook from beneath the counter. “Is there a specific design you want?”

“Not really. Umm… whatever you think would look nice.” You rubbed the back of your neck, glancing at your friend, but neither her nor the other man were paying either of you any mind.

“How about this?” He held up the sketchbook, showing off a small crow in mid-hop, its eyes trained on a butterfly flying above its head. Small feathers were spread out around it. It was such a simple design, but you fell in love the moment you saw it.

“Yes, that looks amazing!”

“Cool. I’ll be right back.” He stood up, tearing the drawing from the book before returning to the room at the back. When he returned, he was carrying a thin piece of paper that he held gently between his fingers. “Where do you want to get it?”

You glanced at the paper, taking note of its small size. “My upper arm?” You lifted the sleeve of the t-shirt on your left arm, looking up at him for approval.

“Can you take your shirt off, please?”

“W-What?” Your cheeks burned at the sudden request.

“The sleeve might get in the way of the tattoo and ruin it. It’s better if it’s not in the way.” Daichi explained, setting the paper on the table beside the chair before setting up the tools.

Swallowing your nerves, you glanced at him before pulling the shirt over your head, holding it across your chest. He didn’t even spare you a glance as he rolled over to your side, slipping his hands into black gloves before cleaning the area where the tattoo would be placed. The stencil was cold as he carefully smoothed it out across your skin, pressing hard to ensure that the ink transferred. When he was satisfied, he slowly peeled it away, the ink stuck to your skin.

Daichi’s dark eyes met yours as he picked up the ink gun. “Are you ready?” You nodded, taking a deep breath. “Remember to breathe and try not to tense up, it’ll make it hurt worse. If it gets too much or you start to feel lightheaded, let me know and we’ll take a break. I’m going to start now.”

“Okay.” Your eyes followed his movements as he clicked on the gun, lowering the needle to your skin. You sucked in a breath at the strange stinging feeling upon your skin, as if you were getting a shot multiple times. You found yourself focusing on the pain and it was making you feel light-headed – you had to distract yourself. “Hey, I uhh… I’m sorry.”

“Hm?” He didn’t glance away from his work, carefully tracing the lines with the needle. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just… the other night in the quick mart…” You chewed on your bottom lip as you searched your brain for the proper words, meeting his dark eyes when he paused his ministrations to glance at you. “I want to apologize. I was such a jerk to you even though I didn’t know you and… I’m sorry.”

Daichi hummed, the corners of his lips twitching up as he returned to the tattoo, his tone teasing. “Are you just apologizing so I won’t mess up your tattoo?”

“What? N-No, that’s not -” You paused when he started laughing, bringing the gun away from your skin so he wouldn’t mess up the tattoo. “You’re teasing me.”

“Yup,” his dark eyes sparkled with amusement. “Don’t worry, I’m not so petty that I’d mark up someone’s skin over something like that. To be honest, I had forgotten all about it until I saw you.”

Seeing him so close to you made your heart pick up speed because he was a really gorgeous man and you adored his laugh. You wanted to get to know him more, so you threw caution to the wind, looking up at him through your lashes. “Can I… make it up to you? Maybe I can buy you some lunch or something.”

“That sounds nice,” he smiled warmly, his eyes lighting up.

“Way to go, Daichi!” The other man waggled his eyebrows as he looked at the two of you, a smirk upon his lips. “And you always yell at me for trying to date the clients!”

Daichi scowled over his shoulder, a light shade of pink coming to his cheeks. “Shut it, Tanaka! Focus on your client.”

“Oh trust me, I am~” Tanaka wiggled his brows again, this time at Tsuko who giggled in response.

“We should go on a double date!” She suggested happily, to which Tanaka nodded enthusiastically.

Daichi sighed, giving you a sheepish look. “You up for a double date?”

You glanced at your best friend and her new love interest before giving him a smile. “Something tells me we don’t have a choice.”

“Definitely not,” he laughed.

━━━━━━༻⚘༺━━━━━━

📜 Read more by checking out my masterlist 📜

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tiny-maus-boots · 4 years ago

Text

The Howl pt 18

A/N: sorry this took...well. forever. I didn’t think I was actually going to finish. legit ran out of gas on the final chapter. needless to say after the pressure of real life lessened a hair I felt the need to button this up. For the story, for the readers...and for me. If you’re still reading, thank you so much for sticking it out and staying interested despite my annoyingly long hiatus. This one was a wild ride.

special thank you as always to my beta bestie @chloes-yellow-cup because she always does the thing for me. i honestly don’t know why i’m incapable of posting to ao3 myself.

18.

She really hadn’t expected her aunt to admit to anything and she wasn’t disappointed. They stared at each other as the coven tittered and whispered amongst themselves. There really was no use in trying to lie about anything at this point, but to The Lady, omission wasn’t really a lie. At least when she was the one doing the omitting. Amélie hadn’t so much as blinked but Aubrey felt that she could leap at them all fangs and fury at any moment and no one would be able to stop her. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d ended someone daring to defy her with an unexpected, violent assault.

Aubrey waited for gossiping whispers to stop before she strode forward far more confidently than she felt. She was much stronger now that she and Stacie had given in fully to their bond, but she still didn’t know the extent of all that brute strength and wasn’t at all sure it was enough to go up again her aunt. In her life she had seen a lot of nightmares come to life but none so scary as The Lady in a full tantrum. Something she hadn’t devolved into yet…but the night was young.

“Do you have no suggestion as to who is to blame, Aunt?”

The Lady said nothing, her shrug a bare dip of a shoulder. So be it, if her aunt wouldn’t offer an explanation then they would do it the hard way. Aubrey glanced over her shoulder at Stacie and felt warmth pulse through their connection. There was no way to explain the depth of what she felt when she looked at her mate but the enormity of it made her heart give a shuddered thump. The wolf gave her a wink, flirting even now in the middle of…all this.

Aubrey gave an amused twitch of her lips despite her rolled eyes. Later, love. It was all the promise she could give just then but Stacie’s easy smile told her it was enough. She pulled her attention back to the coven, pacing slowly back and forth in front of them to keep their focus on her. It was a trick she’d learned from her aunt and she could see in the older woman’s eyes that she recognized it for what it was.

“There is a vampire among us that is a threat to the truce with the pack and our very lives. Let me unmask the coward and bring them to justice as I was ordered to do.”

Nisha, one of the twin seers spoke, her voice soft and lilting with a light accent. “You are asking permission you do not actually seek. You’re going to do what you came here to do regardless are you not?”

She gave a slight nod and glanced at her aunt, still silently watching as cold and unmoving as if she were carved from ice. If she were going to stop Aubrey now would be the time. Seconds ticked by and when nothing further passed between them, she turned to point to each coven member she suspected could be the culprit.

“Luca, Santos, Evelyn, Owens, Cassandra, Balen…and you Massimo.”

He had been edging away from the group near the back and outside her periphery, likely hoping to slip into the shadow unseen to escape but he hadn’t counted on the wolves being so vigilant. No less than six wolves surrounded him, blocking any path he might take that didn’t bring him directly to Aubrey. Cynthia Rose snarled and nipped at his heels spurring him forward. It wasn’t an admission of guilt to want to escape but it might as well have been.

“Hey Rover…”

Redd padded a few steps forward and gazed up at her, eyes steady and clear. He had stayed with her the entire way to the cabin and while she wasn’t sure he was ready to let go of his anger entirely he was definitely ready to run at her side. He gave an annoyed sneeze at the nickname and she smiled, the urge to tug a furred ear playfully too much to resist. She felt the tingle through her connection at the gesture and knew Stacie approved of her bonding with the pack, with Redd in particular.

“If he moves again, kill him.”

Finally, something they could agree on. Redd barked affirmatively, the pack echoing his eagerness, and closed in on Massimo with his ruff bristled and full as he bared his teeth daring the vampire to try sneaking away again. Stacie swaggered toward the waiting vampires and eyed each of them with a measuring weight. Her voice was a soft rumble as she spoke.

“This doesn’t have to be hard unless you wanna make it that way.”

“This is ridiculous! How dare you accuse us, noble born vampires, of being…bitten trash. How dare you bring dogs to our home to threaten us, demanding we bleed for you!” One of the women pushed at Stacie trying to get distance from the Alpha.

“Shut up Evelyn! This is bigger than your ego, all of you. Fools! We have the source of the revenants here and now. We can free ourselves of contagion and move on to the more important business at hand like the treachery at our breast. And you want to quibble over insult? Do you want the wolves to think you are responsible for this blood debt?”

Santos one of the vampires Aubrey had called pulled his sleeve up and slashed at his own forearm, holding it out to Stacie with a haughty defiant air. He flashed his fangs at the others waiting to be judged and waited patiently. Stacie dipped her head in an approving nod and delicately took his arm to take in the scent. The tall brunette stood back, letting his arm go with a shake of her head.

“It’s not him.”

He gave a snort at that and made a mocking bow to the other still resentful vampires. One by one they came forward, Aubrey noting which balked and cast glances toward The Lady silently pleading for intervention. Even if they weren’t guilty, they were too loyal to her Aunt and would be a problem later. Massimo did nothing. He merely stood and waited, staring only at Stacie in a way that made Aubrey want to tear his throat out. Stacie was just reaching for Balen’s proffered arm when the spell of still attentiveness broke and Massimo rushed in a lunge close the spare distance between them.

It was no more than a blink of time and he was prepared to do damage. His fangs lengthened with deadly intent; his head slashing forward ready to sink his teeth into her flesh. Power flared up in Aubrey and she pushed it down the line with force. Stacie’s back straightened and she moved a breath before he would have latched on to her. Massimo stumbled into open air with confusion, his arms closing on nothing leaving him unsure where the wolf had gone. She tapped his shoulder and clasped a hand around his throat when he spun to face her.

“I think someone is a lil eager for a scratch an’ sniff test.” He didn’t need to breathe but that didn’t mean the crushing grip was comfortable. Massimo thrashed wildly, lashing out with clawed hands as he tried to free himself. Stacie only laughed, tightening her grip on his throat before tossing him roughly toward Aubrey. “Care to do the honor, my love?”

Aubrey’s arms went around the man instantly when his back hit her chest as he collided with her. She held him steady as the pack shifted eagerly around them and if she were being honest with herself Aubrey would have to admit that she was enjoying bringing about his end. Massimo twisted in her grip; sharpened nails ready to claw at her face but Redd was ready for him this time. He hadn’t been fast enough to keep up with that lunge toward Stacie but he was making up for it by grabbing onto Massimo’s wrist in his huge jaws, breaking skin, and bone alike. Redd gave a vicious shake of his head as the squirming vampire screamed in pain.

Stacie grabbed the flailing arm when Redd released it and gave the bleeding wound a deep sniff. She pulled back with a sneeze and growled deeply. The ancient vampire struggled in her grip to look at Aubrey’s aunt but Amélie turned her head, willfully ignoring the plea he wouldn’t speak out loud. Vampires skittered back away from them, perhaps fearing for themselves being so close to an infected vampire. Or maybe they didn’t want to be guilty by association. Whatever the reason they gave them room and Aubrey smiled widely. She leaned forward just enough to let her growl roughened whisper carry to his ears.

“You always wanted to know why I would not take your offered hand; it is because the only thing about you that would ever satisfy me…is your final death.”

Stacie’s power flexed and flared and Aubrey heaved Massimo through the air to land in a ring of salivating and snarling wolves. He scrambled back in the snow but could only get so far as they surrounded him. Massimo hissed defiantly and shakily got his feet under him so he would at least have a fighting chance. Rage twisted his sallow features and he snapped his teeth at a wolf that had darted too close for comfort.

“Wait!” The wolves stopped moving but didn’t take their focus from him for one moment. His tone was mocking and bitter. “Amélie!”

Her aunt barely turned her head to look at Massimo, whatever feeling she had for him as her creation was not enough for her to try to save him. The hurt in his face at her rejection quickly turned to hate and he bellowed in rage.

“You may let them bury me Amélie but that will not bury your sins!” Redd and the other wolves surrounding him, closed in closer. They were taunting him, daring him to run or lash out before they scattered his pieces to ash. “Did you never wonder, Aubrey? Who it was that attacked your grandmother in the woods outside her village?”

Aubrey froze at the mention of her grandmother. Anything having to do with her mother’s line was simply not spoken on. The taint of humanity too shameful to discuss even among the members of the coven. Why was he bringing it up now? To what end? She raised her head and levelled a gaze at his crouched form.

“No? Did I ever tell you…you look so much like her…” Power rose like a cresting wave and the wolves eased back only enough for Aubrey to stand among them. Massimo’s voice took on a longing that filled her with disgust. “I could hardly be blamed for it. My maker left me for dead, leaving me wild and alone. And so very…hungry. I admit, I always wondered if you would taste just as sweet.”

Aubrey was not conscious of the rage over taking her control. There was simply deafening silence and the feel of Stacie’s strong arms holding her back as she struggled to reach Massimo. Stacie tipped her head and howled as the pack leapt forward to tear him to shreds. There were too many, too drunk on the moon for him to fight but he tried. Her mate held her lovingly as much as she was containing the furious drive to join the pack.

She couldn’t say what soothing things Stacie whispered in her ear or how long she struggled to get to Massimo. She only knew that the thirst for vengeance still raged inside her, making her chest heave with the strength of its pulse, and giving her the illusion of life.

The coven watched on unmoved as Massimo was torn to shreds until what smoldering ash was left of him rose up on the breeze and the wolves backed up with triumphant yips and barks. More than a few of the vampires were watching her carefully, wondering what she would do with the knowledge that her entire existence was one long and cruel joke.

“I could never figure out why you hated me so much. Now I see. I would always remind you of your mistakes.”

She could feel the growl clawing up from her throat and all she could see was her aunt, haughty and distant. The vampires were whispering again, the sound like an angry hive of bees, buzzing with outrage and betrayal. A soft loose crust of snow crunched under her bare feet as she moved closer to the group.

“Amélie must pay. She put us all jeopardy…” “And who is going to come to collect? You? You’re as afraid of her as the rest of us Luca.”

“Creating a vampire and leaving it, passing it off as pure, hiding its transgressions…it goes against all our laws!”

The whispers ceased as she got closer and all eyes turned to rest on her. Aubrey was not aware of her hand raising, or the slight burn of the lignum vitae handle against her palm. Vampires scattered before her leaving an open path to her aunt. The blade slipped free easily and she raised it to point at The Lady of the coven.

“You have betrayed us. Your lies and deceptions could have killed us all…”

“Ne sois pas si dramatique.” Amélie raised her shoulder in a shrug, dismissing her actions with a flick of her wrist. “Don’t make this more because you’re bitter that I have been hard on you.”

Stacie roared angrily and would have pushed past Aubrey to get to The Lady if Aubrey hadn’t held out an arm to stop her. The coven surged like a bitter resentful wave seeming to swell in size as they hissed angrily.

“This is not about your family issues, Amélie! The coven speaks this night to decide your fate.”

The pack’s baying was an eerie counterpoint to the serpentine slither and hiss of nearly 70 vampires. In the back of her mind she knew this was about the bigger picture as Santos had said but she couldn’t help but take it quite personally. All this time, the taunting, and the abuse, it had never really been about her. It was true that Massimo was the source of the revenants but her aunt had known about it, hidden it even. She had used Aubrey, forcing her to use her bite and her body to gain wealth and powerful favors, and worse she had locked her own twin brother away to suffer in hunger and madness because she couldn’t bear the thought of his true death. Amélie had targeted her for what she represented, the lies she’d told and the pain she had created.

Santos jerked his head in signal and two vampires moved forward to lay hands on The Lady snapping Aubrey out of her thoughts too late to save them. They never saw The Lady move and could never have stopped her even if they had. Her movements were barely a blur but the bodies bursting to ash before they hit the ground was enough of a statement. The nearest to her backed away quickly from the wide arc of Amélie’s sword, wanting to stay out of reach in case she turned her attention to them.

“And who will enforce that fate? You Santos? Or perhaps you Nisha? Or what about…you.” The Lady turned and let her heavy gaze rest on Aubrey. Her blonde head tipped to the side and she raised a crooked finger to beckon her niece forward. “Have you not waited your whole life to face me? Come then, let’s see if you’ve grown into your fangs yet.”

Aubrey didn’t hesitate and leapt forward to press an attack. Each blow she struck fell heavier and harder with each frenzied deflection her aunt managed to raise in time. A quickly swiped parry left her open and her aunt delivered a devastating uppercut that left Aubrey airborne for the span of a few human heartbeats before she crashed heavily into the ground. She sat up as fast as she could and shook her head clear, trying to clear the ringing bells and get her bearings before her aunt could take advantage of her stupor.

She had just gotten her feet under her when there was a yelp and Stacie’s long body came flying into her, taking them both down in a tangle of limbs. Aubrey could hear her aunt laughing evilly as they struggled to stand together. They shared a look, she and her mate, a silent agreement passing between them that they would end this now, together. Stacie’s eyes glowed brighter, the silver ring bright as the moon and as one they turned and sprinted forward.

Amélie was strong but together they were stronger. They matched her speed and agility, ducking and weaving in concerted movement as they struck and parried. Their awareness of each other wasn’t a conscious recognition, the bond between them surged and swayed pulling them along in a violent dance until they had backed The Lady against a tree. Aubrey held the point of her blade to her aunt’s neck, pressing hard enough to make the pale flesh part as the tip of the machete dug in.

“What is the decree of the coven?”

Soft chittering whispers passed behind her back before Luca spoke. “The Greek will be taken care of. And she must suffer the loss of it.”

It was the way he had said ‘taken care of’ that made her pause. Her aunt’s lips moved and the barest flutter of sound came from her. It was more a prayer than a whisper and Aubrey understood why.

“You know what they will do to him…if not for my life, for his…”

She knew what was being asked of her. Sparing her Erasmus would spare her aunt, he would live and Amélie would avoid the pain of suffering. But would what kind of life would it be surrounded by vicious enemies? Stacie growled and leaned a little into Aubrey’s side showing her support quietly. It was her call and she didn’t know what to do. Erasmus had been the only friend she’d had; his suffering wasn’t something she wanted to be responsible for. Seconds passed into minutes and no one uttered a sound until she raised her voice loud enough to be heard by all.

“If you kill him you risk trying to contain an insane vampire. I think I’ve got a better option.”

Aubrey pulled her machete away from her aunt’s throat and drove it into the ground. She wouldn’t need it for a while. As one she and Stacie reached forward and yanked Amélie by they arms to drag her between them. Aubrey kicked open the door to the cabin and gestured to a vampire to open the hidden door behind the fireplace.

The Lady struggled between them, hissing, and spitting like an enraged cat as they dragged her down to the deepest most secure part of the catacombs. Stacie’s breath fogged the deeper they went, the cold settling around them like a weight. She could feel her mate’s curiosity at the edge of her awareness but this was likely the last time either of them would ever see this place. The coven may forgive her from picking the pack over them but they wouldn’t be exactly welcoming back home with open arms. The door to The Lady’s chamber was closed and likely locked with Erasmus inside it. Aubrey gave it a solid kick and it blasted open tearing the hinges from the frame.

Wolves flowed into the space with disapproving growls and sneezes, sniffing out everything until they discovered Erasmus tucked into a corner, his hands resting lightly on his knees. He gave her a resigned smile and stood. What few vampires had followed them looked about with wary curiosity never having seen the inside of this private chamber.

“Is it my time?”

“Not yet. Get the key.”

There was only one key of value and he knew what she was asking for immediately. Erasmus swallowed thickly and moved to the large desk in the corner of the room. She couldn’t see where he had taken it from, likely some secret nook or hidden panel, but it was all she could focus on when he turned around.

“You miserable excuse for…”

Stacie’s backhand blow stopped whatever hateful things The Lady intended to spew. Aubrey gave her mate an adoring look completely out of place for the moment and took the key from Erasmus. It was heavier than she expected as she closed her fingers around it.

“Open the vault.”

He did as told, rushing forward to pull the release mechanism that rolled a large stone bath along a hidden track to reveal a trap door. Erasmus pulled it open and Stacie shoved Amélie unceremoniously through to land in a heap at the bottom. Aubrey raised her brows and glanced at her beloved.

“There’s a ladder.”

“She doesn’t deserve a ladder.”

Stacie cupped her face gently and brought their foreheads together in a light bump. They didn’t have time for more but that one gesture spoke a world of comfort for her. Aubrey nudged her nose against Stacie’s and pulled back to look over their people.

“Everyone out. The less temptation to rise for the better.”

She couldn’t be sure her father would actually rise. He had been locked in a lead casket an exceptionally long time and certainly would be weak from lack of blood. But… her gaze dropped to her aunt’s crumpled form at the bottom of the opening, she looked weak and pitiful. But even weak vampires could be dangerous. Aubrey dropped into the opening and landed lightly, making room for Stacie to land in a crouch at her side. The hatch slammed shut over their heads and they were left in the dark.

“Should have maybe asked for a flashlight…”

Aubrey chuckled at Stacie’s grumble and reached behind her to feel on the wall for a switch. Lights came on in a soft amber glow, ringing a raised platform where a coffin rested. Stacie leapt up onto the dais and trailed a hand along the ornate lid, rapping with a knuckle in a joking knock.

“Hey pop in law, guess who baby girl brought home for dinner?” Amélie had backed away to the furthest wall she could but it would never be far enough away from her guilt. “Can he hear us?”

“Yes.”

She gave a nod and fit the violet shaped key into the locking mechanism. Each turn releasing another bolt in the long line along the edge of the coffin. Aubrey could feel power, light as a faint echo and she knew he was there, listening and waiting.

“Good. Brought ya a visitor, figured you’d like to have words with the woman that caused all your misery…”

Stacie dropped down to the ground and grabbed The Lady roughly, yanking her to the casket. Whatever fight had been in her had fled above ground. Now faced with her sentence she seemed…. broken. It was pitiful but she just couldn’t bring herself to have pity on her aunt. Aubrey gave a final twist of the lock and fit her fingers under the edge of the lid to lift. She took a breath to prepare herself and gave Stacie a short nod that was quickly returned before raising the lid.

She had never seen her father in person so she didn’t know what to expect, certainly not the youthful face he’d worn when he’d been locked in there. But she hadn’t expected a corpse so dried and decayed that she feared a good wind would blow it to dust.

“Papa…”

His eyes opened suddenly and they all gasped at the shock of it. Pale green orbs blinked slowly at her, recognition filtering through the haze of slumber and insanity. It was all the first meeting she was going to get before he remembered what hunger was. Aubrey stepped back as Stacie pushed Amélie into the casket and slammed the lid shut. There was a silence for a second before a raucous yowl rose from inside the metal box. Aubrey worked quickly to twist the key and seal it as it rocked precariously on its pedestal.

A loud bang startled them both into taking a step back, prepared for the lid to blow completely off with the force of the fight within. Aubrey gave the key in her hand one last long look before tucking it away in her pocket and backing away from her father’s resting place to the ladder. Stacie wrapped warm arms around her and she sank into the comforting hug for a minute before the urge to get out of there overwhelmed them both and they scrambled up.

The heavy hatch gave way as soon as Aubrey pushed and she and Stacie wiggled out of the vault with breathless relief. As soon as they were free, she kicked the trap door shut and pulled the lever to slide the tub back into place. Aubrey sagged against the wall, her back to the room leaving her unable to see whatever had made her mate go still and alert.

“Uh…babe?”

Aubrey turned slowly and blinked at the vampires filling the once inner sanctum of The Lady of the coven. Her hand twitched with the reflex to reach for her machete even though she knew it was still outside. Santos stepped toward them boldly and raised his chin full of arrogance and she expected that this would be the part where they told her to leave and never return if she valued her life.

“My Lady.”

He folded himself gracefully in a subservient pose and lowered his head. It caused a cascading ripple as others followed suit. It took everything in her not to look back at the trap door expecting her aunt to be there demanding obeisance. Amélie was gone, trapped forever in a prison she couldn’t free herself of. And then it dawned on her that he was referring to her.

“Think they’re scared of ya, babe.”

Aubrey blinked at Stacie and took the brunette’s outstretched hand to lead her through the ranks of vampires all on bent knee. It was surreal and a hair too much for her to process at the moment. More than anything she wanted to be back with the pack, at home in garage Stacie had made a den. She wanted to be with her family away from this place where only the dead dwelled.

“They’re scared of us…” A loud booming howl reverberated through the corridors and Aubrey smiled predatorily. “And they should be.”

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connorspiracy · 4 years ago

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Roasted and Ghosted || Connor & Rio

Timing: Current Location: Abandoned shack in the woods Description: Connor and Rio go ghost bustin’. Warnings: Ghosties

Orion hadn’t exactly decided what he was doing here. On one hand, his goal had partially been to determine whether this guy was for real or just try to use ghost hunting for fame or that thing other kids were saying these days…. Clout. But on the other hand, Rio had always been intrigued by those ghost hunting shows. Though he had never had the courage to watch them by himself at night or anything, trying to determine which ones may be legit or which ones were obviously fake had been a type of research for him. Ghosts and spirits were not Rio’s main focus or even a big concern of his, so he considered this little outing more of a hobby or something.

He spotted Connor coming from afar, recognizing his face from the videos Rio had been binging ever since the two had made plans. The place Rio picked was one of the lesser known ones around town. Places like the Misery Manor and Strawford park that regularly did scary shows and ghost tours would have been too baiting. Just outside of town, Rio stood many, many feet away from a large abandoned house that Rio had heard horror stories about growing up. Kids in school growing up regularly dared other students to hang out around the abandoned property, and sometimes Rio would hear the kids in his college classes brag about hopping the fences and trying to break into the house. This wasn’t Rio’s thing at all. In fact, a few months ago Rio would have gotten a good laugh out of the idea that he had just asked this semi popular and objectively very pretty youtuber to go to a haunted location together. His friend gang really had helped Rio come a long way.

Rio jumped up and down and waved at the guy as he lugged his equipment toward him. “Hey! You’re Connor! You look just like you do in your videos. Which makes sense. Because you’re you!” Maybe he was getting a little too excited about the idea of meeting a mini celebrity. “I’m Rio, nice to meet you in person. Do you need help carrying anything?”

It wasn't an unusual occurrence for Connor to meet up with people in the towns he visited, to be given tours, to have guides or people interested in contributing to his work. Rio hadn't been unique in the least, but that didn't mean Connor wasn't intrigued by him. Rio had offered to show him some cool places, and if there was anything Connor had learned over the last few years, it was that you couldn't overestimate the value of a local.

He really hadn't had the chance to settle into White Crest before Uncle Joe had gone full-on polter on his dad and Connor had needed to go home to London. He was intrigued by whatever Rio was going to show him. Based on what he'd said in their DMs, it wasn't somewhere you'd find out about on the town map.

"Alright, mate," Connor greeted, shaking Rio's hand. "Nice to meet you too." He handed Rio one of his cameras at his offer. "If you want to offer a hand, I might need some additional handheld shots, but I want to get some establishing stuff first. What's this place you wanted to show me?"

Orion grabbed onto the camera that Connor offered and fiddled with it for a minute, “Sure! I don’t have much experience with the stuff but I’m happy to help where I can.” He had watched a number of videos to get prepared, but it wasn’t until he started thinking about being with the Youtuber while he filmed that Rio realized just how much work must be put into each video. The number of cuts and changes in a video must have required multiple different shots and camera angles and takes. And that was just the groundwork filming at the location before going home to have to edit everything together. Rio was only getting a peek into the first portion of what went into making one of these videos. That didn’t make it any less fascinating.

“Yeah, definitely.” Rio waved his arms at the house behind him and began wracking his brain for the myriad of stories he had heard about the place. “Well, it’s a bit of a wild ride. This place has been abandoned since I was a little kid. And people have been talking about it for just as long.” Rio could barely remember the first story that he heard about the place because they seemed to blend together. “The general consensus is that a family died inside. But the rest of the story gets murky. Some people talk about seeing a woman in black and some say that they hear like little kids crying from one of the rooms. The stories aren’t all exactly consistent. I’ve never been brave enough to come here by myself to see if there’s any truth to it.” Rio laughed nervously and scratched at his neck, “But I figured if anyone knows what they’re doing I guess it would probably be someone who made a career out of it, right?”

At least this way Rio could hopefully get a good read on whether or not this guy was legit. Rio already knew how he was leaning. He had used words like medium and exorcist. Not exactly unknown words outside of people in the supernatural know, but it had still made Rio curious. If this guy was legit, at least Rio would know an exorcist. Having connections was always good. “When you say establishing stuff do you mean like, filming the outside of the property? Or are you going to record yourself talking about the place?”

"Just keep it steady and keep me in frame unless you're filming something else specific. Pretty much the basics," Connor said. Maybe if Rio was really interested in this stuff and he was any good, Connor would be able to have an actual camera-person again. "You ever done something like this before?" he asked, curious as to what had made Rio decide to take up this opportunity.

He listened as Rio spoke to him about the abandoned shack. The wood and brick was old and beginning to crumble. He could see rot and damage, evidence of weathering and bug activity. "Oh, sick," he said, probably a little insensitively as Rio explained the history of the place. "It's not uncommon for places to have their own local lore, rumors and stuff that start up. One thing we can do is check local records to see if there's anything officially on file."

He looked towards Rio with a smile. "Good question. The answer is both. But since you're the one who told me about the place, you can do the introduction, if you want."

Orion flipped the camera on and started spinning with it, trying to get a feel for it, “Got it!” He hoped he wasn’t completely awful with it, that last thing he wanted was to screw up any of Connor’s takes. “Uh, depends on what you mean I guess. I don’t know much about ghosts or spirits. I wasn’t even convinced they actually existed, if I’m being completely honest.” Not until Blanche at least, but Rio decided to keep things more vague for the moment. Rio wanted to remain a bit skeptical. He’s been told he has a habit of trusting people too easily. “But like I said I like to keep an open mind. And honestly all this history and supernatural stuff is super fascinating to me.”

Rio nodded, “Yeah, well obviously if you came here you must know that White Crest’s local lore is pretty intense.” The only perspective Rio had into that were stories he had heard from others that moved into town. Apparently, not every town had as many horror stories as this one did. But for someone that had never known anything different, this had all seemed so normal to Rio until he had gotten older. “Wait, really?” Rio couldn’t hide the excitement, bubbling up and forcing him to hop back and forth, “You look at local records and stuff like that?” He had to admit, this was already more convincing than some of the other shows he watched. Plus, who could turn down the idea of doing research? “That’s a great idea! I spend a ton of time at the local library. I can see if there’s anything they can pull for us!”

The offer actually took Rio aback for a moment. He was stunned at first by it, though it eventually developed more into stress as Rio thought deeper about it. He could feel his neck heating up and knew he was blushing from even considering the idea of him being in a Youtube video. “Oh uh- Wow. I mean I really appreciate the offer. Because that sounds really cool. I’m not much of a like… public speaker though. Even if there’s not a public right now. I know there will be a public. That’s terrifying. Does that not terrify you?”

God, if this kid broke his camera, Connor was going to flip his shit, but you had to give a little to get a little, so if this guy was going to help him out, Connor had to give him a chance. "What convinced you?" he asked, eyes bright and inquisitive as he looked at Rio. He liked hearing stories about people who had been skeptics and had changed their minds.

"White Crest's supernatural lore - if you wanna call it that - is exactly why I'm here." He snickered. "Usually I'd look up the records before I came to the building, but it's fun to shake things up. I like the surprise." The idea of being terrified of speaking in front of the camera was hilarious to him, and he gave a good natured laugh. "Nah. Never bothered me. Some people are more naturally inclined to it than others. I get that."

How did Orion explain his introduction into the supernatural? No, it was probably better to stick strictly to ghosts for the moment. Among the many horrors that Rio had seen and knew existed, ghosts had always been more elusive to him. He had proof of werewolves and fae. He had no proof that ghosts or spirits existed. So while he always kept an open mind, certainly not refusing to believe in them, he had kept a healthy amount of skepticism too. Maybe it was idealistic, hoping that maybe one horrifying thing people believed in actually was fake. “A good friend of mine has had experiences with them,” Blanche was like Connor, a medium. Or at least what Connor claimed to be. “I’ve never really had much experience by myself with ghosts, but she wouldn’t lie to me. So I believe her and I want to experience it for myself.” He shrugged. This wasn’t exactly the truth, but it was the closest thing to it that Rio was able to go with someone he barely knew.

“Yeah, fair. There’s uh- plenty of content to be had here. So are you just focused on like ghosts and spirits? Or anything supernatural? White Crest offers lots of stories of both.” Rio had to admit that he was impressed by Connor’s willingness to dive into what most would consider the more boring aspect of ghost hunting. Most seemed to go purely based on stories that fueled the ghost stories. It was nice to see that he actually wanted to dig a little deeper. “Well I’m happy to offer my help in that regard, if you want. Research is kinda my thing, y’know? History major and all.” It was easy to tell that the easy going demeanor that Rio saw on YouTube wasn’t an act, not completely at least. Connor seemed to have that ease in person too. Even his body language was more relaxed as opposed to Rio’s. “Yeah, haha. Awkward people probs, right?” He laughed nervously, cursing himself for not being more sociable. “But let me know what I can do, yeah? I’m willing to help with anything. I want to see what the whole process is like.”

"A friend, hm?" Connor began walking around the house, keeping his senses peeled for any sign of ghosts. There was nothing yet, but that didn't necessarily mean Rio was wrong about the hauntings. Maybe they were just shy. "Might be the same friend that I know." If there was more than one medium in town that he could liaise with, he'd want to know, but most people weren't exactly as open as Connor was.

"I'd say ninety per cent ghosts, ten per cent everything else." He'd probably record a voiceover for this footage so he could add any information they might find in the archives. "Great. Research buddy." He grinned over his shoulder. "Don't suppose you have the key?" His grin widened. "Or are we doing some good old-fashioned breaking and entering?"

“You know someone else that sees ghosts?” Orion questioned, running through the small list of people that Rio knew who was able to see ghosts. The very small list. But just because Rio only knew Blanche, that didn’t mean there weren’t others in town that could also see ghosts. For now, it was better not to bring her up. “That’s pretty cool. I can imagine that it can get sorta frustrating sometimes, seeing things that others can’t? So I’m sure it’s nice to have others that can.”

Ten percent everything else. That ten percent could give him a lot of content in a town like this. As long as he wasn’t too reckless and got himself hurt hunting it down. But trying to film the supernatural wouldn’t always land well with the ones trying to protect it’s secret. Which left a sort of conundrum that Rio had never considered before. Would hunter’s break their own code about protecting humans if it meant protecting the knowledge of the supernatural? Either way, it was probably better to make sure he kept an eye on these videos. To make sure he was safe. Rio gave an awkward thumbs up, “I think being your research buddy would be super cool.” Something told Rio that this wasn’t the first time that Connor had considered breaking and entering. Not that Rio could judge anymore, since he had done his fair share of it himself now. Rio tried the front door, the knob catching and refusing to budge. Unsurprisingly, it was locked. But Rio pressed against the door a little harder this time, shoving it until the lock cracked and the front door swung open, “Hmm. Guess it was rusted or something. Opened right up.” He laughed nervously, standing to the side and allowing Connor to get the first look inside. Rio couldn’t believe he was actually doing this.

"Well, I know a few people through family contacts and networking and stuff, but one in White Crest." There were likely more, Connor knew. Zombies, vampires, banshees... but he only knew Blanche. "It's pretty validating to have someone who knows you're telling the truth. I spent ages thinking there was something wrong with me when I was a kid."

Rio decided to answer Connor with his actions rather than words. He tried the locks himself, but they didn't budge. Rio, however, was stronger than he looked. "Would it be unprofessional if I said that was pretty hot?" he said with a grin. Once the door was open, Connor started filming, getting some shots as he walked through the door. "So we just got in, and apparently my new friend Rio is the Hulk in disguise," Connor narrated, flipping the camera to Rio for a second to smile at him. He turned the camera back to the house, slowly exploring. "Hey, anyone home?" he called.

Orion considered what it would be like to not know anyone else that could see ghosts or spirits. Rio had grown up around people like him, at least genetically. Maybe his was the opposite extreme. Rio had spent most of his life wishing that he hadn’t grown up around other hunters. “I can’t say that I know exactly what that’s like. But it sounds pretty lonely. I’m familiar with that feeling.”

Rio’s face was on fire, and he could tell that it must be a bright shade of red. “Uhhhhhhhh” Rio drug that out for far too long as he tried to figure out how to reply to the compliment. “Thanks. I mean it doesn’t bother me. That’s very nice. And you’re very pretty. Like objectively pretty I mean.” Rio rambled, clearly not used to receiving any compliments like that. “I mean, I’m sorta dating someone right now. Now that you asked. Or that you were like flirting or anything. But just so you know. I’ll shut up now.” Please for the love of god, have Connor edit that part out of his filming. Luckily, Connor got right back to work filming the place as they walked inside, and Rio trailed behind him and held his own camera up to film as well. When Connor turned the camera towards Rio, he smiled and gave the screen a thumbs up. “So does that usually work for you? Asking if they’re home?” Rio asked curiously, wondering how many ghosts kept up with manners. Considering the two had just broken their door down, greetings probably wouldn’t be the first thing on their minds.

Connor turned the camera back on himself. “Do you hear that, lads, gals and non-binary pals? You heard it here. I’m objectively pretty.” He couldn’t hide his charming little smirk before he went back to filming the room. “Nah, not always, but I’m going into their place. It’s polite to announce myself, right?” He started slowly and carefully looking around the room for any signs of who might have lived here previously. Family pictures, old letters, things of that nature. Mostly all that was left was damp and rot. “We’re not here to do you any harm. My name’s Connor, and this is my mate Rio. We just want to say hello.”

A shiver ran down his spine. Where there would normally be some kind of outline of a person, all Connor could see was a vague shape, like someone had left the stove on. “Whoa.” He stepped back, getting a look at the viewfinder of the camera. “You see that? The orb. That’s one of them. But it’s not.. I mean they’re not… they’re just a shape.”

Orion accepted his fate of embarrassing himself in front of his new friend and the potential hundreds of thousands of viewers that watched his videos and resigned himself to focusing on the video instead of pondering that any further. He liked the ease that Connor talked while the camera was around, as if he was just talking to friends. He definitely had a lot of charisma that Rio wished he could channel. “Hey there” Rio called out into the house as a response to Connor introducing the two of them to the spirits.

Rio spun around at Connor’s sudden find and trained the camera towards the orb-like shape that floated across the house from them. Rio could feel goosebumps running along his arms, but tried his best to keep the camera steady as he slowly trailed behind Connor. Why could Rio see this? He didn’t know nearly enough about ghosts or spirits, clearly. He didn’t to find something in the Scribrary and start reading. Especially if he wanted to continue being friends with and helping Connor out. Rio took an instinctive step back, but managed to keep the camera pointed at the orb. “I hate this. Why is it just floating there?” Rio mumbled, worried that the ghost wasn’t that concerned with manners at all.

“You come here alone?” The voice was nothing more than a whisper, but it seemed to come from all directions. “Bold mistake.”

Okay. That was less than ideal. The camera (and most people who accompanied him) wouldn’t pick up what it was saying, so Connor always repeated it back. “They asked if we came alone, and said it was a bold mistake.” He paused. “Why?” he asked the spirit, his voice casually inquisitive. “Why is it bold? You’re not out to hurt us or something, are you? Seems a bit unnecessary.” He kept his voice casual, not wanting to provoke it. “You got your bracelet?” he whispered to Rio. His own rested on his wrist, a leather knotted piece of jewellery with a glass vial containing salt. “It isn’t a hundred per cent failsafe, but they help a lot. Kind of like a condom.”

‘What are you whispering about?’ It asked. ‘Are you making fun of me?’

“No, of course not. We’re just… talking about the best way to help you.” He’d heard of spirits like this. They weren’t really ghosts in that they couldn’t take a human form, but they could still possess people, usually those who were emotionally vulnerable and isolated. “Are you here alone? I thought a family lived here?” he asked, keeping it talking while he took some supplies out of his bag on a rotting, dusty dining room table.

All of his life, Orion had been the one that heard everything. His stupid hunter hearing was temperamental, but it usually picked up on sounds too far away from any normal person to hear or too private for Rio to be listening in on. For once, Rio actually found himself frustrated that he couldn’t hear something. Knowing that the spirit was saying something that Rio couldn’t pick up on was nerve wracking and left him feeling vulnerable. “Can they hear me?” Rio asked Connor, taking a step closer to the ghost hunter as he tried to unpack his things. It seemed like he had a plan. Rio nodded a confirmation that raised his hand to show off the bracelet that he had tied against his wrist. The salt center made sense. It seemed like a pretty common supernatural deterrence. At least for things no longer alive. “Connor’s telling the truth. I can’t hear you, but neither of us are here to do any harm to you.” Rio felt useless. It wasn’t an uncommon feeling for Rio, but it was something that he hadn’t felt for awhile. For once, Rio had finally started to feel like he was able to help. Now, he was practically back to square one. But he took a step forward and tried to block Connor’s path. If Connor had a plan the least Rio could go was try to protect him.

“They can hear you,” Connor said. “Sorry, I… dunno what to call you,” he said to the specter. It swooped around the room. In the darkness, Connor couldn’t see it properly in its flimsy shape, but he figured it might be trying to possess one of them, hopefully to no effect. He drew out the circle in chalk on the ground, making use of the space Rio was blocking with his body. Hopefully it would respond to the same ritual that had got rid of Uncle Joe.

‘This one is stupid,’ the ghasper said.

“That’s not very nice,” Connor answered, looking at Rio sympathetically. “It said you’re stupid.” He wiped the chalk from his hands. “Some people just don’t know much about spirits. He’s new to this, mate, give him a break, yeah? So how long have you lived here? It’s… nice, apart from the structural issues and dust.” Connor was trying to keep it calm while he prepared his tools.

‘I don’t know how long I’ve been here…’ it admitted. ‘Years. There’s always losers coming in. I took hold of them sometimes.’

“Must be lonely,” Connor answered after repeating its words to Rio so he was clued in. “Make sure you get this on camera, okay?” he whispered.

A ghost had just called Orion stupid, and all he could think to do was chuckle. “That’s fair, but you might be surprised actually. Ghosts just aren’t really my specialty.” He turned around and glanced at Connor over his shoulder. Maybe that comment was a little more information than he needed to give to either Connor or the ghost, but his goal was to keep the ghost busy. Whether that was by peaking its curiosity or annoying it, Rio hoped that it was working. He spotted that Connor was drawing something and didn’t want to risk the ghost being able to see it, so he turned back towards the ghost.

“I think I knew those losers.” Rio agreed with the ghost after Connor had translated, “I grew up around here. I’ve always heard people bragging about coming here. They were usually jerks.” He nodded silently to Connor and readjusted the camera a bit, hoping that even though he was clearly scared out of his mind he was able to keep calm enough that he wasn’t ruining the shot. “But Connor here isn’t a loser. He’s the real deal. And I think he can help you.”

“Aw, yeah, massive wankers, Rio told me all about ‘em,” Connor chimed in. “Can you do me a favor though? I’m trying to help you, yeah? But I need you to come closer so I can see you.” Connor had left his camera on the table with a wide view of the room so it could record anything Rio might have missed.

‘You two don’t seem lonely at all. Well, maybe the stupid one, a little bit, but I can tell he has love in his life.’

Connor shot Rio a look, giving a low chuckle before repeating the ghost’s words. At least Rio was getting some.

“Nah, and nobody should be lonely, so… what do you say?”

There was a poignant pause before the ghasper decided to take Connor up on his offer, fluttering closer, like a little badly formed cloud of smoke. Connor stepped back, beckoning, until it was in position, right there in his chalk circle.

“Sorry, mate. Can’t risk you possessing some other poor bugger that walks in here.” He picked up his book of rituals, holding the ceremonial dagger that operated as his focal point, starting to recite in Latin. The wind seemed to pick up, walls shaking as the ghasper tried to resist.

‘LIAR! You lying bastard. You will suffer eternal damnation. My brethren will rip your insides out and use them to string you up!’

And so the threats continued, but Connor kept his focus, feeling his energy deplete. With a hard gust of wind, the ghasper vanished, and the building was calm once again. Connor had to lean against the table to keep himself upright.

“Bloody hell. Oof… still kind of new at that part,” he murmured.

Connor was sweet talking the ghost. Orion stayed mostly silent from then on, assuming that Connor had a handle on the rest. It was impressive to watch. And certainly cemented the fact that Connor was the real deal. This definitely hadn’t been his first run in with a real ghost. So that must have meant that Connor’s other videos had been real too then? Fascinating.

Rio’s face turned red again once Connor repeated its words. Even the ghost was embarrassing Rio in front of the cameras now? That had to be a new low for Rio. He decided to just shrug against the words. He couldn’t believe that he had just been called stupid multiple times by the random ghost. Though Rio didn’t have much time to dwell on it. The ghost was coming closer to the two and Rio backed away behind Connor to let him take over, making sure to angle it so that both the orb and Connor could be seen in the shot. Once the ghost got into the circle that Connor had drawn, the ghost hunter pulled out a book and started reciting Latin. Rio was familiar with the words, Latin being the only language that his parents had actually supported the twins learning. This was an honest to god exorcism. The orb seemed to go crazy, and Rio could only imagine what it must be saying. And then, the thing vanished as if it had never been there in the first place. “Holy crap.” Rio stares quietly, staring at Connor in wonder, but soon the excitement took over and he was hopping up and down and repeating himself, “Holy crap! You just did that! That was so cool! I couldn’t even tell that you were a beginner.”

Connor caught his breath. It always took something out of you to perform an exorcism, but Connor was still learning. He wondered if it got easier the more you did it, but from the way some of the contacts he’d tracked down spoke about it, he doubted it. “Thanks,” he chuckled tiredly, but his pride was evident in his voice and his expression. “Probably makes me a bit of a masochist to say it was fun, right? Luckily ghaspers aren’t very strong or dangerous.” He straightened up, his energy slowly returning to him. “Alright mate, let’s go back to my place and we can grab a beer and I’ll show you how I edit.” He grinned. “Unless there’s somewhere else you’d rather be.”

Still reeling from the exorcism that he had just witnessed, Orion had no plans of cutting off now and heading home. He had hoped that he could get a look into editing at some point but hadn’t expected Connor to invite him over immediately following this. “Seriously?” Rio asked him, still a bit confused at the idea of someone wanting to hang out with him. He shouldn’t be anymore. He had made friends that he knew wanted to be around him. Rio just supposed he had almost twenty years of evidence to the contrary that always kept him a bit skeptical. But this was a new year for Rio. He wasn’t about to let those doubts hold him back. “I mean yeah, definitely. Nothing better to do at all.” He didn’t break the news to Connor that he didn’t really drink, but figured that wouldn’t be important once the two got to work cutting all the footage together. “I can stop by and grab food on the way? I know a great diner.”

#paras #with: orion #wickedswriting #with: rio

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sympathyfortheblinderdevil · 5 years ago

Text

All is Fair

Oh, Dear God. I’ve had an idea for a fic. Tommy is bored with his OBE, MP life. In an attempt to cheer him up, Ada invites him to a fundraising soiree she has organized, and Tommy becomes horny intrigued by a bright young thing.

“I’ve lined up Picassos, Muchas, a couple of Lalique glass figures — lots of up and coming artists.” Ada paced back and forth before Tommy, counting on her fingers the artists whose work would be shown at the charity auction she’d helped to organize for the Grace Shelby Institute. “I snapped them up for a song, but with the crowd I’ve invited all trying to outdo one another they will bring in thousands…” Ada stopped mid-step and stared at her brother. He had insisted on meeting her before the start of business, and after summoning her at such an ungodly hour he didn’t seem to be listening to a single word she said.

“Tommy. Oi, Tommy! Are you listening to me?”

Tommy had been listening. He absorbed every word spoken in his presence, even while he seemed a million miles away. Smoke from a dwindling cigarette curled in a graceful column before his eyes. He was mentally weighing how much money the auction would bring against the amount in his charity reserve account. Of course, he could singlehandedly fund the Institute with the stroke of a pen and skip this whole event, but that wasn’t the point. Publicity was important, and Ada had arranged for all the right people to be seen at his party. That was the point. He knew the rules of the game, but it weighed heavily on him. He was bored with pretending to care about the issues and opinions of the upper-middle class. He craved the gritty realism of Small Heath; the honest observations of the working class meant more to him than the relentless droning of his new peers.

“Yep, Ada, got it,” he sighed as he stood up from his desk and pulled on his jacket. He crossed the room to where she stood and lit another cigarette, seemingly forgetting the one he left burning in the ashtray on his desk. “It should be a resounding success. Thank you for all of your hard work.”

In the clear light of day, Ada could see the strain of the last few years playing out on her brother’s face. His pale blue eyes used to snap with electricity, but now they were slower, deeper, and more contemplative. Not quite sad, but worn and weary. “I know it’s hard for you to go to these things, Tommy, but I’ve invited some bright young people who will make it a bit more bearable. Who knows? You might have fun,” she shrugged and smiled hopefully.

The energy that it took to keep up the façade of a legitimate businessman and Member of Parliament had sapped every ounce of fun from his life. “That wouldn’t be fair, now would it?” he mumbled as he stepped out into the hall and out the door.

***

“Lia, wake up!”

Sunlight streamed in through the window, painting the backs of Lia’s eyelids pink and warming her face. She had stayed up late talking with her cousin the night before, catching up on family gossip and getting the lowdown on her new job.

“Five more minutes,” she mumbled and pulled the sheet over her face. Her mind lazily drifted to thoughts of the upcoming day. She was to train as an assistant librarian; a position made possible by her cousin’s connections at City Hall. Even though she was grateful for the job, the temptation of a few more minutes’ sleep was tough to resist.

“Now! It takes a while to get across town. I stuck my neck out to get you this job, and I won’t have you being late on your first day.”

The rapidly approaching clacking of high heels on hardwood let Lia know that her cousin Jenny meant business, so she threw back the covers and groaned. “I’ll be ready in fifteen minutes.”

“You’d better be,” Jenny called. “I’ve got fresh scones and tea.”

Jenny’s two up two down in Small Heath, Birmingham was like all the others in her street, except where the other houses were filled to capacity with large families, hers was all but empty. Her mom and dad had moved back to the country, and her brothers were off with their own families, so in order to stave off loneliness, she wrote to invite her favorite cousin to come live with her in Birmingham. “It will be great fun, and there’s a position coming open at the library. They promised to hold it for you. After receiving the letter, Lia and her family decided that the change would do her good. The country was stifling Lia. If she stayed, she had no prospects for anything other than marriage to a local farmer and a brood of children. Birmingham meant freedom and adventure for the restless young woman, so she went.

The pale yellow frock Lia wore stood in sharp contrast to the sooty dark patterned wallpaper in the kitchen. At one time it must’ve been green with pink flowers, Lia mused as she sipped her tea which was the approximate color of the flowers on the wall.

Jenny laid a plate of scones down on the table and eyed her cousin. “You’ll need to get darker dresses, Lia. The mud and soot of Small Heath will make a hash of that.”

Lia rolled her eyes and smiled, “I plan on doing just that with my first paycheck. In the meantime, maybe I should help myself to your closet.”

“Not with those knockers you won’t,” Jenny teased. It felt good to have her cousin in the house, and despite the early hour, they were both in the mood to laugh.

Jenny sipped at her tea and flipped through the morning post until one envelope, in particular, caught her attention. Her lips moved as she whispered under her breath, and her eyes read and reread the writing on the heavily embossed card.

“What’s that?”

“My boss has forwarded an invitation to me. It’s for an art auction at the Grace Shelby Institute.” Jenny’s eyes were wide. “Oh, my God, I can’t believe I’ve been invited!”

“That’s great! Wait, do you have to go with your boss?”

“No, it’s my own invitation, and I get to bring a guest.”

The name Shelby rang a bell with Lia. Jenny read the look on her face and lowered her voice as if Arthur Shelby himself were lurking just outside her door. “Yeah, those Shelbys. But they’ve gone legit. The leader is even an MP now.”

Lia arched an eyebrow, “Legit? How exactly does a razor gang go legit?”

“The Shelbys can bloody well do whatever they want, and we are going to this event. It means a lot to get invited to these things, and I need to show that I can fit in.”

***

The pale blue dress that Lia wore had a low cut back and fringe at the knee, not at all the stuff of a librarian’s wardrobe. She had worn it to a formal engagement party the year before and had been pining away for a reason to wear it again. In a room full of tweeds and sensible shoes, she was a flash of blue sky on a stormy day. Her cousin dressed to blend in with the crowd—perfect for a work event, and Jenny was certainly all business tonight.

While Jenny circulated around the room, Lia availed herself of several glasses of champagne and studied the paintings on offer. As the daughter of a farmer, she had not had many chances to go to museums and galleries, but she loved art and soaked up everything she could read about it. There was an amazing selection of work at the Institute including a cubist piece by Picasso, but what really caught her eye was a group of Art Nouveau paintings by Alphonse Mucha. She stood, sipping her champagne and smiling at a depiction of a woman in a gracefully flowing gown on a backdrop of stars.

“Spectacular, isn’t it?” A sweet feminine voice with a Brummie lilt drew her out of her reverie. Lia turned around to see a woman with porcelain skin, dark bobbed hair, and piercing blue eyes extend a hand toward her.

“Ada Thorne, and you are…”

“Lia Montrose,” she managed to answer in a relatively confident manner. Jenny had mentioned the Shelby’s sister on the way there, but Lia never thought she’d end up in a conversation with her.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance. You know, at most of these things people only glance at the paintings and then try to make business deals for the rest of the night. It’s nice to see someone actually appreciate the art for a change.”

She held up a perfectly manicured finger in the direction of a waiter who immediately brought over a tray of drinks. “Champagne?” She handed Lia a fresh glass without waiting for an answer and then took one for herself. She smiled conspiratorially and raised an eyebrow. “Have you seen the Max Ernst yet?”

“You have an Ernst?” Lia asked, her mouth hanging open for a moment before she realized and closed it.

“Yeah, it’s in the next room. Come on.” She hooked her arm in Lia’s and led her to the next room where, indeed, the promised painting hung.

“It’s bloody amazing,” Lia whispered.

“I probably shouldn’t say this, but I’m sure you could have it for a song. None of the tossers here will recognize its significance.” Ada gently shook her head, and the rubies around her neck caught the light. Lia blushed and looked down. She had not near enough to even make a starting bid on any of the artwork. Ada led Lia around talking about the various works up for auction. She was genuine and warm. Not at all what Lia imagined a Shelby would be like. When Lia explained that she couldn’t actually buy any of the art because she had just started a job as a librarian, Ada commiserated with her about the low pay.

“I was a librarian myself for a time. If it weren’t for my brother Tommy… well, let’s just say I know what it’s like to live on a librarian’s pay...and much, much less”

Ada didn’t expand on her role at Shelby Company Limited, except to say she dealt in imports and exports, and Lia didn’t pry. Even though Ada spoke with a candid ebullience, it seemed safer not to ask questions. As they were discussing the merits of public reading rooms a man entered by a side door and motioned for Ada to come over. “Oh, dear. If you’ll excuse me, I should go to make sure that everything is running smoothly. It was so nice meeting, you Lia.”

“Likewise Mrs. Thorne.”

“Call me Ada,” she warmly smiled and was on her way.

Lia was positively buzzing. She had lost track of time and of how much champagne she had quaffed while talking to Ada. She squinted across the hall into the main room and scanned the crowd for Jenny, who was nowhere to be found. Unbeknownst to her, someone had been watching in admiration as she strolled along.

Another Picasso caught her eye, and she stood squinting and biting her bottom lip as she looked at it. She was so astonished by the colors and lines that she hardly noticed the gentleman who had come to stand beside her and ask her what she thought of it.

“Vastly overrated. I much prefer his blue period...”

As she spoke, she turned to find herself under the gaze of the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. He took her in with an intensity that was slightly lessened when he raised one corner of his mouth and tilted his head a bit. His voice was a low, raspy rumble and Lia felt it in her gut when he tutted and spoke again.

“If our Ada were here, she’d tell you all about how it represents the chaos of war and the destruction wrought by the powerful…how mechanization renders people obsolete…turns us into interchangeable parts.”

Lia stared at him as her mind lurched toward the realization that maybe she shouldn’t have been so candid. Our Ada? “Are you…”

He turned his whole body to face her. “Thomas Shelby. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mrs…”

As he kissed her hand her breath caught in her throat. She was toe to toe with the most powerful man in Birmingham, and his warm soft lips were currently on her skin. Tommy did not fail to notice the little shiver of electricity that passed between them.

“Miss… Miss Lia Montrose, and the pleasure is all mine.” The heat from his lips on her hand made its way up to her cheeks. She cleared her throat and swirled the champagne in her glass. “Great party.”

“Party, event, fundraiser, no matter what you call it it’s all about separating this lot from their money. Since my Picasso is shite, tell me, which ones do you like?” There was a hint of mischief in his voice as he spoke.

Tommy liked that there was something different about her. She was younger than the usual patrons of local charities, but the difference seemed to do more with the light in her eyes as she surveyed the room. Bright. The word Ada had used to describe their special guests sprang to his mind. She was one of those bright young things who Ada invited to try to make him have fun. There was a distinct lack of pretense in the way she carried herself. She had spent the evening looking at and chatting about art instead of business, and her honest reaction to his question did not surprise him in the least.

Lia giggled a little and apologized. “I didn’t mean to insult your taste in art, Mr. Shelby…”

“Call me Tommy.” He lazily caressed her body with his eyes.

“…I didn’t know who you were when you asked me.” Lia’s voice quivered, betraying her surprise at the bold way he was looking at her. After all, he was Tommy Shelby, and she was taken aback by the open way in which he was flirting with her.

He took a step closer and raised his eyebrows. “Had you known, would it have changed your answer?”

Lia bit her lip and fought back a smile before answering, “Well, no, but I would have used a bit more tact.” She looked up through her lashes at him.

Tommy held her gaze and waited for her to answer what he had asked previously. She seemed a bit dazed, so he repeated the question. “Which ones do you like?”

She glanced around the room, gathering her thoughts and began, “I really like the Mucha paintings. They are much more organic in how they reflect the beauty found in nature and…” As she trailed off, she realized that Mr. Shelby was still looking directly at her. His unwavering attention coupled with the champagne made it very hard for her to concentrate.

Tommy could see that she was having some difficulty in expressing herself, and he was having quite a lot of fun teasing her. He narrowed his eyes and ran his tongue along his lips. “What makes you think the Picasso is shite?” he asked in an exaggeratingly sincere voice.

She drained her champagne. Liquid courage could only help her current situation. “Personal preference, I suppose. It’s ridiculous,” She leaned closer to him in a conspiratorial manner. “It’s overwrought and pretentious.”

As soon as the words left her mouth Jenny came into view. Her eyes were huge as she gingerly approached Lia and Mr. Shelby.

“Oh, Jenny, let me introduce you to Tommy. We’ve been discussing his art collection.”

Tommy offered a warm greeting to Jenny, who hid her surprise as best she could. “Mr. Shelby, thank you for extending an invitation to my cousin and me.”

“My pleasure. The fine work you’re doing for our city has not gone unnoticed, and I’m happy to show my appreciation. Do you have opinions on art, Miss Montrose? Your cousin is partial to Mucha.”

Lia giggled and smiled up at Tommy, “Well, yeah, of course, I prefer him to Picasso.”

Jenny’s eyes shifted from Lia to Tommy and back again, as she could hardly believe what she was seeing. There was an obvious attraction between them. Lia was fresh from the country and had no way of knowing the gravity of the situation she’d stumbled into. But Jenny did.

She took the empty champagne glass from her cousin’s hand and placed it on a passing tray, “Thank you so much for your hospitality, Mr. Shelby, but we must be going.”

Lia frowned, and Tommy’s demeanor cooled as he turned to face Jenny. “Won’t you stay for the auction?”

“We would love to, but…” Jenny’s excuse was mercifully cut short by an announcement that the auction was beginning.

Tommy shifted his attention back to Lia and slowly shook his head, “It’s a shame, you know. I could use your expertise to run up the bids.”

Lia looked over her shoulder as she walked toward the door and smiled sweetly, “That wouldn’t be fair, now would it, Mr. Shelby.”

#peaky blinders #tommy shelby #peaky blinders fic #peaky blinders fiction #peaky blinders fanfiction #tommy shelby x oc

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photolover82 · 5 years ago

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The Masked Singer Season 3 Episode 16: The Finale/The Winner is Announced (Commentary & Reveals)

Hello fellow lovers of the Masked Singer. Welcome to the last Ana’s Masked Recap of Season 3 (don’t worry I will be back for season 4 in the fall... hopefully, depending on how busy I am). In the meantime, I am probably going to do more recaps of other shows (maybe AGT or World of Dance since they are starting up next week, let me know if you want to see that, I have no idea how I will do it but I will give it a shot) Anyways, for the last time *sheds a tear*, let’s freaking do this: (P.S. they are spoilers just a warning for y’all & I will be revealing them as I go similarly to the format of when eliminated contestants are revealed episode by episode, oh & we are still doing PANEL SPOTLIGHTS woohoo but this time we are gonna give all the judges’ guesses & reward them with a 🏆 or give them the 💩 emoji)

Alright, first & foremost, we have the mask that came in 3rd place, who was:

*DRUMROLL PLEASE*

THE FROG

Performance: To be honest, his performance of “Bad Boy For Life” by P. Diddy was probably the worst performance of the night, only because there wasn’t any improvement. It was the same kind of performances that he has been doing, which makes sense why he got 3rd place. However, I do gotta give him credit because rapping ain’t easy & he is a great dancer so congrats to him on being in the finals.

Having said that, the frog was revealed to be:

*DRUM ROLL PLEASE*

BOW WOW (AKA SHAD MOSS)

Yup, guessed it since his first performance! It was pretty obvious due to the clues & here are the latest set of clues:

Road to Finals Clues

Australian Flag= hosts R&B Friday Nights, an Australian night time radio show

Toy car with a 9 on it= reprising his role on the 9th Fast & Furious movie

likes shade no matter how you say it= reference to his real name Shad

Finale Clues

People saying things about him on social media= he has a problem with people trolling him on social media (i.e. the Bow Wow Challenge)

Playing Basketball= he was in the movie Like Mike

PANEL SPOTLIGHT AKA PANEL’S FINAL GUESSES:

Jenny: Lil Romeo 💩

Ken: Kid Cudi 💩

Robin: Bow Wow 🏆🏆 (2 because he came up with it & said it for weeks)

Nicole: Bow Wow 🏆 (she just rode Robin’s coat tails but whatever I'll still give it to her... even though she at first said MC Hammer which was a terrible guess)

Alright, now onto our runner-up who was:

*SAD DRUMROLL*

THE TURTLE 🥺😢

Performance: OK I am so upset about this one, because I feel (and a lot of people I saw on social media felt the same way as me so I don’t feel as dumb for feeling this) that he had the best performance of the night with Before You Go by Lewis Capaldi and he should’ve won honestly. He was the most vocally diverse on the show, he legit gave me chills & if it were based on talent, he would’ve won. This is genuinely the first season in which I don’t agree with who the winner is. In my heart, Turtle won but he didn’t get the trophy. Actually never mind let me give him a trophy: 🏆, here ya go, you deserve all the love in the world & I genuinely am a big fan of you with or without the mask.

Having said that, let’s get into who he was unmasked (someone who I am still a huge fan of... the same feeling I have towards Astronaut I have towards him):

*DRUMROLL PLEASE*

JESSE FREAKING MCCARTNEY

(Yes I said freaking because I am hyping him up, btw he came out with a new single, it’s called Friends & it slaps, I 100% recommend it if you are a fan of the Turtle like myself)

Ok, again, I saw this coming, I’ve listened to his music since the Disney Channel days (around like his Beautiful Soul days... 2004-2006 or so) so I recognized his voice immediately & I did some clue digging... and here are the latest set of clues:

Road to Finale Clues:

Chocolate Chip Cookies= voiced Theodore in Alvin & the Chipmunks

Surfboard= played a surfer in Summerland & won Teen Choice Awards

Finale Clues:

entered next phase of life with new Mrs. Turtle= got engaged last year

PANEL SPOTLIGHT AKA PANEL’S FINAL GUESSES:

Jenny: Jesse McCartney 🏆

Ken: Nick Jonas 💩

Robin: Adam Lambert 💩💩 (worst guess ever... does he even know Adam Lambert’s voice?)

Nicole: Jesse McCartney 🏆

Now, time to introduce to you, the winner of Season 3 of The Masked Singer:

*DRUMROLL PLEASE*

THE NIGHT ANGEL

Performance: Ok, yes, she’s the first female to ever win The Masked Singer & congrats to her for that, that’s amazing, girl power (I am a girl myself so I love that). However, her performance of River Deep, Mountain High by Tina Turner wasn’t anything groundbreaking nor was it enough to beat the Turtle. I can say that about her performances in general. They are great, but they aren’t anything spectacular. Not saying that she sucks by any means, she is a great singer, I just don’t think she won based on talent alone, but probably because she is a female & they wanted a woman to win the show this season since men have won twice before. I am a bit disappointed, this is the first time I don’t agree with the winner of the show & it makes me sad because I am the first person to want a woman to win, but this time I don’t feel like it was deserved. It is what it is though, no hate towards her by any means.

Having said that, the winner of the Golden Mask trophy was revealed to be:

*SUSPENSEFUL DRUM ROLL PLEASE*

KANDI BURRUSS

Again, this was not surprising at all! It was pretty obvious due to the clues & here are the latest set of clues:

Road to Finale Clues

Party Hat= did a song called Tardy for the Party

“Rights, Gates, Board” = Bills, Bills, Bills reference

Finale Clues

Having kids= Kandi has 3

PANEL SPOTLIGHT AKA PANEL’S FINAL GUESSES:

Jenny: Kandi Burruss 🏆

Ken: Teisha Campbell 💩

Robin: Kandi Burruss 🏆

Nicole: Taraji P Henson 💩(she was way too confident on this one, and she was way like way off)

Oh wow! It's the end, I cannot believe it! I just want to say thank you to anyone who has read any of these posts, I work really hard on them so it makes me happy to see people liking them or reposting them or even reading them in general. I genuinely am a fan of this show & all I say is just my opinion, for fun & entertainment purposes, so if you have a different opinion, that’s cool, let me know what it is & we can chat about it. Alright, so that’s a wrap for season 3, and hopefully next week I will see you guys with another show recap! BYE!!

#the masked singer #frogmask #bow wow #turtlemask #jesse mccartney #nightangelmask #kandi #season 3 finale

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renatlia · 5 years ago

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For Good

A peaceful silence hushed over the battlefield. It was won. However, the calm could only be enjoyed for so long before the scenery began to change.

Oh. It was over. Time and space were correcting themselves, closing the magical rifts that brought the group together. This was it.

Hearts sank watching the companions - brothers - around each of them fading away to their respective eras. Then, the transition seemed to pause midway. Caught halfway between the former battlefield and home, their surroundings looked strangely melted together. From the violent debris scattered along the ground, to the still eerily-dark sky, to the green grass beneath their feet, to the spectral-like figures of their friends.

There was no confusion on what was happening. The goddesses were giving their heroes the chance to bid farewell. Jaws clenched as emotions swelled and no words came to mind. Taking pity, Nayru cast her musical blessing on the silent protagonists, allowing them to express their feelings into song.

“I’ve heard it said,” the captain started cautiously, afraid to break the moment, “that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn. And we are led to those who help us most to grow if we let them, and we help them in return.”

“Well, I don’t know if I believe that’s true, but I know I’m who I am today because I knew you,” the smithy replied. He wasn’t too sure if he himself had made that much of an impact on the others.

The farmhand was finding it difficult to breathe, just like last time, but he wouldn’t say nothing. He had to speak, and by the grace of Nayru, he was able to. “Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes a sun. Like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood. Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better? But because I knew you, I have been changed for good.”

He was surprised to see his cub once again after his adventure was over, but he was stunned meeting the Hero of Time. If his wild child hadn’t been the one to explain to him what was happening, he would’ve thought he’d finally cracked.

The old man had noticed his recognition, but he never asked about it. Instead, he took well to becoming a mentor, and they grew close enough to share secrets. While he felt horrible about having to keep the fate of his mentor secret, learning more about his ancestors was like a dream come true. Becoming Wolfie was a lot easier with someone to cover your absence. After all, it wasn’t just the old man and his cub on this adventure. Being greeted by someone new wielding the master sword was not something he thought he’d see again, especially not the man who forged it.

It was the man’s protege that sounded next. He had a feeling he was about to experience loss in an entirely new way since waking, and he wanted them all to know just how much they’d affected him. How much he loved them. How he wouldn’t forget them. “It well may be that we will never meet again in this lifetime, so let me say before we part... So much of me is made of what I learned from you. You’ll be with me like a handprint on my heart.”

Coming across a snarky, pantsless man was not as out of the norm as one would think. Someone completely lost and asking what the guardian carcasses were was. He helped the pink-haired man back to his camp. There he was assaulted with equally curious questions well into the night, especially once they recognized his sword.

They knew his name. He would’ve been suspicious if he didn’t feel such a strong sense of familiarity. He was almost afraid of the close brotherly bonds he was forming until they found the familiar face of an old companion. He knew then that no matter how much it would hurt in the end, he wanted to make long-lasting memories with these people.

“And now whatever way our stories end,” their eldest cut in, “I know you have re-written mine by being my friends.” To think, he and the mrs were just about to give up on having children. Now it was something they were looking forward to, and after having known these boys for the past several months, the old man felt slightly more prepared.

Contrarily, their youngest felt grossly unprepared. He didn’t know what he was going to do once the guys he’d grown attached to- lived with- fought together with... were gone. It was all too fast, and there was no new adventure or task given to throw himself into once he got home.

The young teen was choking on his tears. Through a watery and hazy filter, he could make out the face of a knight in shining armor, who he had been mentally referring as big brother, staring back at him in sad concern. No. That look wouldn’t do. The sailor needed to convey that he understood, that he was grateful to have this conversation, that he’d be okay.

“Like a ship blown from its mooring by a wind off the sea. Like a seed dropped by a skybird in a distant wood. Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better? But because I knew you-“ He shakily gasped to compose himself. “Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.”

He wasn’t panicking. He wasn’t! He’s woken up in strange places before with no memory of how he got there. Looking around, he could see nothing but dark, rocky terrain. Okay, okay. He needed to breathe. He pulled out his compass and telescope.

Finding north, he started to slowly pivot with his telescope hoping to catch any sign of civilization. A giant blue gem filled his vision startling the boy onto his bum. Luckily, he’d met this blue-haired woman, though it had been quite a while.

This was going to be one heck of an adventure.

“And just to clear the air, I ask forgiveness for the things I’ve done you blame me for.” Whether the Hero of the Sky was asking from those listening or from himself was unclear. He knew he couldn’t hold on to the darkness eating at him anymore. The guilt he felt for causing an eternal struggle for so many in his future was met with bafflement by his friends. Even if he could be held partly responsible for ‘causing’ their curse, there was no ill will directed towards him. Alas, the Spirit of the Hero had a tendency for self-blame, so he would ask for forgiveness, if only to release the negative emotions he had trapped in his throat.

“But then, I guess there’s blame to share.” The Hero of Time took the opportunity to apologize as well. He knew his meddling with time had caused the drastically different outcomes in history the group had experienced on their journey together. And though there was always a chance of death, the fact that he was alive while another timeline suffered Ganon’s rule left him with a sour taste.

“And none of it seems to matter anymore!” The Hero of Hyrule could understand their guilt and thoughts of inadequacy, but what is done is done. They had done their best for all good intentions, and no one begrudged them for it. What mattered now was that his friends had to leave, and he would be alone. Having an apocalyptic world like he did, he had never really lost much. Never really had much to begin with. This was all very new to him.

“Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes a sun,” the smallest swordsman quoted from earlier.

He was just going through his same everyday routine when he met an older, scarred man outside town. He had been taken aback when the man had happily showed him his large sword. Most would’ve waved him off as a nosy child.

The blade was was impressive. Almost twice his height! Proudly centered in the middle of an angular hilt was the Goron symbol. It was incredibly sharp and looked perfectly balanced. He wondered if it was one of Biggoron’s works.

He would have never guessed what would happen next or the journey it would set him on. The man crouched down. Your name wouldn’t happen to be Link, would it?

“Like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood.”

A humble traveler walked along a yellow, worn path. Just a little farther and he’d veer off to explore a cave he’d seen once. If he hadn’t been in such a hurry before, he would’ve already done so, but just as well, he was excited. He just couldn’t get adjusted to living in a castle. This was the first time in a while he was able to sneak away.

He met a couple strangers before the mouth of the cave. Not uncommon, he introduced himself. He had not expected they’d actually been looking for him. Confused, he let them lead the way through the cave to their campsite where he spent the night hearing tales of old spoken in first person.

He would still need to explore that cave.

“Like a ship blown from its mooring by a wind off the sea,” a new voice sang softly.

He was running late. Again. Why was it so hard to wake up if he struggled to fall asleep in the first place? How did that make sense?

Finally, he could see the blacksmith’s wife outside waiting for him. Gulley was also outside playing with the cucco. Good. Less embarrassment when he got inside. Curse his decision to continue pursuing the craft.

He took a moment to breathe when Gulley spotted him and waved. The kid winced in sympathy knowing full well the apprentice was just buying time. Well, he couldn’t pretend to wheeze forever. No one bought it anyway.

Out of literally nowhere, a giant club swung by a hinox knocked him sideways. The mother and son ran inside screaming. He counted three and cursed, struggling to stand. How and why were hinox in Hyrule? He cursed again realizing he was legit wheezing now. Lucky hit.

He booked it to the shop avoiding bombs the cyclopes threw at him. Inside, he gently pushed past the three fussing over him and stared the blacksmith dead in the eye. He was tossed a newly tempered blade. He couldn’t let those monsters continue to live in Hyrule.

Shouts disrupted the anxious silence. He ran back outside and balked at a couple of kids running around avoiding bombs. Cursing at everything, it took the three of them about ten minutes to dispatch of the scarily strong oafs. He had to admit, he was impressed.

He could tell what was coming before they could even open their mouths. Goddesses! Could he not catch a break?

“Like a seed dropped by a bird in the wood.”

What? Where was this? He didn’t even get any divine warning! Groose was surely throwing a fit over him vanishing mid-convo. He could only hope the goof wouldn’t do anything stupid searching for him.

A strange, repetitive thunking was drawing closer from behind. He dove out of the way of whatever the beast was, but it had actually come to a stop a few feet before him. A young man with long blonde hair hopped off its back asking if he were okay.

He struggled to answer staring wide-eyed over the man’s shoulder. How was she here? Who was this, and why was she with him?

The man stared back contemplating something in his silence. The stranger then called him by name and seemed proud of the reaction he got. He was getting dizzy from the amount of questions racing in his mind. How’d this guy know him? Why’d he have Fi with him?

Why did he feel so familiar?

“Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better?”

Bumping into a large gentleman in the bazaar was not how he imagined a new adventure to start.

The man asked him if they’d met before. They racked their brains for a good half hour trying to remember where’d they knew each other from. It was only when Lana found them followed by a familiar face that pieces were starting to fall into place.

No, it wasn’t Lana’s doing, and she knew nothing of how either. She did, however, sense their presence and knew they were safer together. The old man was still a mystery, but Lana assured them this was fine. Maybe they’d remember later. They all had the Spirit of the Hero.

Suddenly, they were in a new town. The whiplash of everything changing in a blink made him nauseous. Whatever this was, at the very least, they were somewhat experienced.

“I do believe I have been changed for the better,” the Hero of Legend sang quietly, his flushed face partially hidden beneath his hair. Soft smiles were sent his way.

“And because I knew you,” the Hero of Twilight prompted.

“Because I knew you,” the Hero of Winds agreed.

“Because I knew you.” Streaks were running down the vet’s cheeks. He could never catch a break.

To be fair, there wasn’t a dry eye present.

“I have been changed...”

The unison voices drifted away along with anything not of the world one hero would be standing alone in.

“...for good...”

#legend of zelda #linkeduniverse #linked universe #angst #sad fic #this has been on my mind for a while #for months really #recent fics have made me think deeper on it #time to work on the fluffy one now #for good #from wicked

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lovemesomerafael · 5 years ago

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El Amor Todo Lo Puede Chapter 32: All In

Source: @barbaoutfits

Chapters 1-31

The hotel ballroom was crowded with people wearing expensive suits and cocktail dresses. Drinks were flowing as they always do at a professional function with an open bar.

Rollins leaned over to mutter into Laura’s ear. “Don’t look now, but Mr. Tall, Dark, and $2,500 shoes is checking you out.”

Laura rolled her eyes. “Staring like a dog in heat. How romantic,” she quietly responded. They turned back to the conversation of the group they were standing with.

“Look, all I’m saying is that judge was wrong. Our search was legit,” Carisi was saying.

The woman next to him took the bait, and they were off on a debate of the 4th Amendment in which neither Rollins nor Laura had any interest.

Laura sighed. “Has it been an hour? Can we go now?”

“Thirty-five minutes.”

“That’s it. I’m calling the ACLU. There has to be an exception to mandatory work events for people who can’t drink. Because alcohol is the only possible way to survive these things.”

“Lemme tell you, it’s not helping that much,” Rollins responded drily. “We could network, I guess. Kill some time. Maybe enhance our careers.”

“Uh-huh. Cuz I’m just dying to become a white-shirt. Can you see me in those administration meetings? I’d have Dodds in a chokehold and be banging his head against the conference table in about five minutes.”

Rollins held up her empty glass. “Well, I hate to do this to you, Parker, but I’m going to get a refill.”

As Amanda moved off toward the bar, the man who had been openly admiring Laura walked over.

“I’m Adam Watson, new head of Public Affairs at One PP.” He held out his hand, and she shook it. “I’ve been in NYC for two weeks now and the only people I’ve met are old men. I decided to introduce myself to you so that I can say I know at least one beautiful woman in the city. Help a guy out?”

“Hmmmm.” Laura took a sip of her drink. “Not terrible, but a little on the cheesy side. Also, just bordering on sexist. Wanna try again?”

He laughed. He did have a very nice smile, and nice laugh lines at the corners of his blue eyes. “Uh… how about simply, ‘Hi, I’m Adam Watson?”

“Better.” She said, and shook his hand again. “Detective Laura Parker, SVU.”

“Ah.” He nodded. “So, basically the exact wrong person to try that line on.”

“Basically. But I’ll overlook it because I know like five people in this room, and they’ve all deserted me.”

“You’ve got me beat. I think I know three. Mind you, I’ve been introduced to probably 50% of the people here, but I’ve already forgotten all of their names, and I’m going to be expected to recognize them when I see them again.”

Laura laughed. “You mean I’m not the only one who doesn’t want to be here?”

“Detective, 95% of the people in this room don’t want to be here.”

She laughed. “Well,” she said, clinking her glass with his. “Misery does love company.”

He moved closer to her, encroaching slightly on her personal space, but he didn’t touch her. “Looks like you could use a fresh drink. Can I buy you a refill?”

“At an open bar. Chivalrous.” They both chuckled sociably as they turned toward the bar area.

There was a mass of people crowded around the bar, jostling and trying to catch the attention of one of the bartenders. “Stay here,” Adam told Laura as they approached the edge of the crowd. “I’ll take on the mob. What are you drinking?”

“Pellegrino with lime.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Well, that’s no good. Sparkling water isn’t going to soften the edges of this command performance, is it? I’ll see what I can do.”

“No, thanks. Pellegrino is perfect.”

He winked at her and waded into to the melee around the bar.

A soft but scornful voice beside Laura’s ear said, “You do realize that wink means ‘I’m not listening to you, I’ll never get you back to my place if you’re sober’?”

She turned her head to grin at Rafael. “Cynic. 20 bucks says he comes back with Pellegrino.”

“50 says he comes back with whiskey.”

“You’re on.”

They turned to face one another. “Man, I’m glad to see you. Liv is requiring all of us to show the flag for at least an hour. I’m only forty minutes in and I already want to slit my wrists. Twenty more and I might end up starting a fistfight, just for something to do with my hands.”

Rafael laughed, smiling at her in a way that sent hot shivers through her. “Promise you’ll give me a heads up so I can get a good seat. And if you’re taking requests, may I suggest Rita Calhoun could use a good ass-kicking?”

“Uh-oh. What’d she win now?”

“I don’t want to talk about it. I’d rather talk about how pretty you look tonight.”

Rafael actually thought she looked better than pretty. Stunning was closer to the mark. The simplicity of her black dress accentuated her curves, and the low-cut back showed enough skin to make Rafael’s hands itch to caress her. The dress was exactly long enough to be appropriate, and not one millimeter longer. He had seen her from across the room and admired her legs as she walked with that yahoo in a cheap suit now getting her a drink.

“Thank you. You’re just not used to seeing me in drag, is all.”

“Tonterías.[1] I have excellent taste. If I say you look great, you do.”

“You look even better than usual, yourself,” she replied, a little shyly. The suit he was wearing, one she’d never seen before, was a beautiful worsted wool featuring a green stripe that made his eyes even more dazzling.

At that moment, Adam Watson returned, holding a small tray over the heads of the crowd. When he brought it down, Laura and Rafael saw that he had, indeed, brought her sparkling water. He had also brought two shots of tequila.

“Here you go,” he announced. “Pellegrino for your thirst, and tequila for the pain.” He looked quite proud of himself.

Laura looked at Rafael and saw the smirk she knew he would be wearing. But it was tinged with something unpleasant. “Laura,” he said, “You don’t drink, do you?” There was an edge to his voice.

“No, I don’t.”

“Do you mind?”

“Not at all.”

Rafael picked up the shot and tossed it back without bothering with the salt and lime on the tray. “Thanks, guy,” he said to Adam with an obviously fake smile. He put an arm possessively around Laura’s waist and steered her past Adam Watson.

He led her to a table about halfway across the room. “You owe me 50 bucks.”

“Technically, I don’t. You said he’d bring whiskey. But you do owe me 20, because I said he’d bring Pellegrino. Which, by the way, I didn’t get to drink before you whisked me away like the Secret Service.”

“I’ll buy you a case. Who is that slimeball?”

“New head of PR at One PP. Which means both of us are probably going to regret what you just did.”

“I doubt that very much,” Rafael snarled.

Laura squinted at him. “You OK? He’s just some flirty dude at a cocktail party. Why aren’t we just making fun of him?”

“I’m surprised you’re not more annoyed. Guy tries to force alcohol on you…”

“That might be a little overdramatic. C’mon, you know I can handle him.”

“Knock yourself out,” Rafael snapped. “I was just trying to do a good deed.”

“And you did. ��Thank you. But it wasn’t necessary.”

“Yeah. Whatever.” He tossed back the rest of his drink. “Then you’re on your own. You can probably still get that Pellegrino.”

As she watched him stalk off across the room, Laura wondered whether the motion he’d lost to Rita Calhoun today had gotten under Rafael’s skin, or whether this was an extension of the feelings he’d been having a few nights before. She made a mental note to call him when she got home and ask if he wanted to talk about it.

She turned around to look for a familiar face in the crowd, and almost immediately caught Adam Watson’s eye again. He was looking at her, and still held her drink. He raised it up to her in invitation. Not wanting to be rude, she walked over.

“Thank you,” she said. “Sorry about that. He’s um, protective of my sobriety.”

Adam ignored the mention of Rafael as though he didn’t exist. “Sobriety, huh? Good for you. How long?”

“Over eight years now. But you don’t want to talk about that.”

He again stepped just a little too close. “Actually, I’d enjoy talking about you. Let’s go see if we can find a quiet table where we can do that, shall we?”

Laura would rather not. His manner was a little oily for her, and she had no intention of sharing any kind of personal information with the new head of Pubic Affairs for NYPD. “I have a better idea. Why don’t we see if we can find the rest of my squad? They’re here somewhere, and…”

“Please, don’t make me meet any more people whose names I won’t remember.” He smiled down at her, putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her toward a table. “Besides, I’m sure they can’t be as beautiful as you. I’d rather spend some time getting to know each other.”

She mentally rolled her eyes and decided she was going to have to find a way to extricate herself gracefully from this situation. This guy was definitely sleazy, but neither she nor her SVU colleagues needed the new brass to start out with a grudge. She let him lead her – drive her, really – toward a table. Seriously, he was good looking, she guessed, but did women really respond to this bulldozer treatment?

He pulled his chair too close to hers and leaned in, touching her hand. She could smell some kind of spicy aftershave and something else – maybe a hair product. He put his face in front of hers and looked her square in the eye. “So. Who is Detective Laura Parker, hmmmm?” She almost laughed.

Laura caught Rafael glowering at them from across the room, and knew she would have to explain at some point how this had happened. She spent the next twenty awkward minutes trying to back away from Adam Watson, and out of the conversation. She realized that he was not only obnoxious but actually fairly drunk. Her patience ran out when he put a hand behind her head and tried to pull her in for a kiss. “I have to tell you, Laura,” he breathed tequila into her face, “I haven’t been able to look away from you in that dress. The way it hugs your body and shows off those perfect tits –“

Laura pulled away from him, but he grabbed her wrists. “Listen, let’s get out of here. I have a town car waiting for me, and I’d like to get you in the back seat and lick -“ His speech ended in a high-pitched squeak as Laura took the fingers of his left hand into a very particular grip.

“Mr. Watson, you and I have to work together. And that means that you will speak to me with respect. I understand that you’re drunk, and I’m going to assume that you would never act this way under normal circumstances. I’ll forget this ever happened. But, if you ever talk to me like that again, I’m going to break your fingers one by one.” Her expression had been as hard as her words. Just as suddenly, however, she favored him with an overly-sweet smile as she dropped his hand. “With all due respect, of course.”

She didn’t wait for a response. She got up and walked rapidly away, immediately scanning the room for Rafael. She was looking forward to hearing him laugh when she told him what had just happened. The first familiar face she saw was a junior ADA who had handled a few motions and arraignments for SVU.

“Hey, Suneetha, have you seen ADA Barba?”

“Yeah, he left about 10 minutes ago. Looked like he was in a foul mood, too.”

“Thanks.”

What did that mean? Rafael couldn’t think… He knew her better than that. As soon as Adam Watson tried to give her a drink she had told him she didn’t want, any possibility of even friendship between them had ended. Rafael had to know that. Although, to be fair, he did have the right to be a little miffed that he had tried to rescue her from a jerk, only to see her head right back to said jerk. She had been planning to call Rafael anyway. She decided she would need to begin the call with an apology, or at least an explanation.

Fin signaled her from a stand-up table a few yards away, where he was chatting with some people – clearly cops – she didn’t know. She spent the next hour in a surprisingly pleasant conversation with them.

Fin dropped her at her building around midnight. She was exhausted from trying to act appropriately in front of the NYPD brass and city legal dignitaries at the event. She’d much rather have been with him, chasing some suspect down a crowded street. She was also a little concerned because she had texted Rafael and received no response.

From the street outside their building, she had seen that his lights were still on, so she assumed he was still up. Besides, they often texted each other late at night. As she waited for the elevator, she decided to try another text to see whether he would talk to her.

Laura: You left without saying goodbye.

10 minutes later, when she had dropped her coat and purse on the couch in her apartment, he still hadn’t responded.

Laura: If you’re not speaking to me, it really only works if I know that.

That got him to text back.

Rafael: It’s late. Go to bed.

Laura: I’m coming up.

He might have answered, but she didn’t wait to find out. She grabbed her keys and took the stairs to his apartment, still wearing the dress she’d worn to the cocktail party.

When she knocked quietly on his door, she initially heard nothing. Then, his muffled voice came through the door saying, “Use your key.” He didn’t add, “if you must,” but she heard it anyway.

He had changed his immaculate suit for a dark green polo shirt and jeans. He was in his kitchen, in the process of slamming dishes none too gently into the dishwasher. He looked up at her, but didn’t stop what he was doing.

“I don’t know why you’re here,” he told her. “It’s midnight. I am not mad at you, I left because I wanted to, and everything’s fine.”

“Uh-huh. And that’s why you’re doing your best to smash those plates to bits.”

“Really? You’re going to criticize my kitchen abilities at this point in the conversation?”

She stepped to him and put a hand on his arm. “Rafael. Please. I can’t stand it when you’re mad at me. Will you let me explain what happened at the party?”

Rafael sighed and turned toward Laura. “There’s no need. I’m not mad at you.”

For a moment, they just stood looking at one another.

“I threatened to break that PR guy’s fingers, you know. I shut him down, and I wasn’t nice about it.”

“Yeah, but why? What was the point, Laura?” He turned his back, resuming his noisy work.

“He was a dick.”

“OK, that guy’s a dick, but maybe the next guy won’t be.”

“Stop it, Rafael. There’s no ‘next guy’. I’m not having that conversation again.”

“Laura, you could do better than me. And that is a conversation I’m not having again.”

“I don’t want to do better. I want you. Deal with it.”

Rafael slammed the dishwasher shut. “I’ve been dealing with it! Look what you’ve done to my life! I was doing just fine until you showed up. Now I’ve got you texting me nonsense all day, you’re on my couch every night, I’m leaving work early when I could be getting things done, I’m tripping over your kicked-off shoes everywhere… I can’t think straight! I haven’t had a moment’s peace since the day I met you! So why don’t you do us both a favor and take ‘no’ for an answer?”

Laura’s shock showed plainly in her face. She stood, speechless, confusion and humiliation robbing her of her senses.

“Laura, I…”

“Stop.” She managed to choke out in a small voice. She put a hand on his arm and tried valiantly to paste a small smile on her face. “Please, you don’t have to say any more. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… I can be… blind sometimes. I didn’t… I thought… I’m sorry. I really am. Good night.”

She straightened her spine and held her head high as she stepped, working furiously to maintain her dignity, out of his kitchen. Rafael thought he could actually feel the pieces of his heart tearing apart as she left the room.

He went after her. “Laura, no… Don’t go…”

“It’s late, I’ll see you at work,” she said, her voice beginning to break free of her control.

He reached her as she got to the door. As she tried to pull it open, he stepped behind her, reached his arm out past her and put a hand on it, keeping it closed. She stood, facing the door, in the small space between his body, the wall, and his arm.

“Please. Don’t go. I’m sorry…” Rafael spoke softly, his voice gruff, fighting with his own emotions. He moved his body just a bit closer to hers, testing to see whether she would tolerate his touch.

She felt immobilized by her own conflicting desires to flee from him in shame and to throw herself into his arms and beg him to love her. Without words to express any of that, all she could do was stand, forehead pressed against his apartment door, traitorous tears welling in her eyes and escaping to slide hotly down her face.

He risked another half step toward her, lowering his arm and wrapping it lightly around her waist. She could feel his face next to hers, his mouth just beside her ear. “Don’t leave me. Please,” he whispered, leaning his head on hers.

“I’m sorry f-for leaving my shoes here,” she choked, leaning just a bit back against him.

“Oh, God, Laura-“ He turned her to face him, placing a hand on either side of her tear-stained face. “Everything I just said was a lie. Do you have any idea what it does to me when I come home and I see those little holey tennis shoes next to my couch? They make it possible for me to start to believe you’re real.” He kissed her messily as she sniffled.

“I think about you all day long. I’ll be meeting with some asshole talking about unspeakable crimes and I’ll get a text from you with some stupid thing Carisi said, and I just want to start singing. I hardly ever stay late at work anymore because I can’t stand to be anywhere but where you are. And it scares the hell out of me. You know it does.”

“I know,” she sniffed. “It’s OK.”

“No. It’s not. I lost it just now because halfway is no good for either of us. I need to be in or out.”

Laura’s face lost all color except for flushed areas on her cheeks from crying. “Rafael, don’t-“

“Laura, I’m saying I’m in. The minute you started to walk out that door I knew I could never let you go. Who am I kidding? I’ve been in this whole time.”

Leaning down, Rafael tilted his face toward Laura’s, taking a long time to touch his lips to hers to let what he’d said sink in. When she tilted up to him and tightened her arms around him, he pressed his mouth more firmly to hers, deepening the soft, light kiss just a little.

“Are we OK?” He asked.

“We’re OK,” she whispered, moving to continue the kiss.

He began to kiss her more deeply then, pushing her gently back against the door. She returned his kisses with growing intensity, her arms winding around him as tightly as his around her. Soon they clung together, pressing their bodies together as though they couldn’t get close enough.

He realized, in some dim recess of his mind, that he wanted to move them somewhere other than this corner of his small, dark foyer. But he didn’t want to do anything to break the spell, anything that might make her change her mind and want to leave again. Only after a very long time, when he felt her relax against him and heard her begin to breathe soft moans of pleasure, did he take a step backward. He moved away from the door, tentatively pulling her with him while they kissed passionately, almost desperately.

He took his time, needing her to want to stay. It was working. She shivered as he ran his hands down her sides and the bare skin of her back in the low cut dress, her own hands enjoying the contours of his muscular shoulders and upper arms. He thought he felt her initiate a step then, and within minutes they were standing, locked together, a few feet inside his living room. He felt her hands move to his chest, sliding them slowly down his torso in a maddening caress. She stopped moving and drew in a sharp breath as she felt him effortlessly lower the zipper on the back of her dress. He ran his fingers lightly up the bare skin of her back from the bottom of the zipper to her neck. They both felt her skin break out in goosebumps. Such undeniable evidence that she was enjoying what he was doing ratcheted up his arousal a few more notches.

He kissed slowly down her jaw and began on her neck. When he heard her breathy moan, he slid his hands up her arms until he reached her shoulders, hooked his thumbs on the straps of her dress, and pushed them off her shoulders. As the straps slid down her arms, the dress slithered down her body, pooling on the floor.

“Smooth,” she breathed.

Rafael began with his hands on her hips and glided them slowly up her sides. “For half that damned party, I was working out how I could get this dress off of you.”

“I thought you liked my dress.”

“I like it even better now,” he said, leaning down to scoop her up in his arms.

He carried her easily into his bedroom and set her gently on the bed, then pulled off his shirt in one motion as she playfully kicked off her shoes and moved over to make room for him. He lay down on his side next to her with her arm behind him, and immediately reached over to pull her to him. They made quick work of his pants and her panties.

Immediately, she tried to pull him over on top of her. He chuckled down low as he kissed her, and stayed where he was, lying on his side. He propped his head up on one arm, placing his free hand on her shoulder and running it slowly down her chest, across her breast and stomach, to her hip. “Relax,” he murmured, dipping his head to give her a sweet kiss. “We have all night.” He took a very long time to simply look at her, drinking her in as she lay there next to him, entirely exposed to his eyes.

“’Ño, Laura, eres tan hermosa.”[2]

She found lying there, simply allowing him to admire her nude body, the most erotic thing they had done thus far. His eyes sparkled in the half-light, his expression hungry and appreciative. But she wasn’t going to be able to lie still for long. As he slid his hand back up to her breast, she couldn’t help but arch her back, pressing into his hand. Laura moaned and squirmed beneath him, feeling every touch of his hands and mouth like a jolt of lightning to her core. He cupped her breast, using his thumb to tease her achingly hard nipple as he leaned over to use his lips and tongue on her other breast. “Rafael…”

She tried to turn toward him. She wanted him inside her, now. He wasn’t having it.

“Shhhh… Just let me…”

“I want to touch you. You made me wait so long-”

“And I’m gonna make you wait even longer,” he said, kissing her fondly.

He used his hands and mouth to worship her breasts for so long that she could feel her wetness beginning to actually drip down the inside of her thigh. When he began to slide one hand down her side to her hip, he heard her breath catch. From the way she shifted her pelvis, he guessed his caress was having the intended effect. He slowed the movement of his hand, prolonging her anticipation.

Laura was becoming desperate. He was deliberately teasing her. Fuck, he was good with his hands, and his lips, and his tongue… She cried out as he finally ran a finger between her lower lips. He began a slow, thorough exploration with his fingers while he continued nuzzling her breasts. He smiled to himself as he felt her begin to move her hips and heard her whimper. He took his time teasing and caressing her with his fingers before finally, slowly slipping a finger into her. She cried out again. He began a maddeningly slow rhythm, sliding his finger deliciously in an out of her dripping passage, as he moved up to recapture her mouth with his. He relished her hungry response over prolonged minutes of deeply intimate kissing. She began to rock her hips wantonly, unable to control her moans, as he deliberately teased her with the tip of a second finger for long moments before giving in and sliding the second finger inside of her.

Finally, she couldn’t stay still any longer. She rolled toward him, throwing a leg over his. She kissed him, immediately taking control, exploring his lips and tongue with her own, while she reached down and ran her hand up first his leg, then slowly across his buttocks, before sliding it down his hip to caress his cock for the first time. His lips became nearly motionless as his entire attention became focused on what she was doing to him. His groan sent jolts of electricity through her. The idea that it was her causing Rafael Barba to make that noise was overwhelmingly exciting.

She had known, from their frustrating but delicious experiences on the couch, that his cock would be superb. Now, finally past the barriers of his clothing, she reveled in being able to see and fully touch him. She wanted everything all at once. She pushed herself up on one hand so that she could explore his chest with the other, stroking and nuzzling haphazardly in her excitement. When she bent down to lick the tip of his cock, the movement of her body made her intentions clear.

“Mi cariño,[3] you need to stop that,” he growled.

“And if I don’t?” She whispered wickedly.

He took her by the upper arms and guided her back up the bed, then rolled them over so that he was lying on top of her. “Then I won’t be able to do what I want to do to you.”

“You mean what I want you to do to me.”

She wrapped her arms and legs around him, laughing softly and moving her hips in a way he couldn’t resist. As he entered her, he groaned gruffly, “Eres una hechicera, ¿cómo tienes ese control sobre mí? Algún día podré decirte que no.”[4] She gasped in answer.

Neither of them were able to prolong things longer than a few minutes. Rafael was beyond thinking, overwhelmed by the sensations – both physical and emotional – he was feeling. He reveled in the hot wetness of Laura’s body gripping him as he moved in and out of her. Laura had already been impatient to feel him inside her, but the sheer ecstasy of Rafael’s size stretching and filling her exceeded even her expectations. He pushed into her, withdrawing almost completely, then joyfully entering her again. He wasn’t going to be able to last much longer, hearing Laura cry out her excitement and feeling her rock her hips in time with his pumping. Her arousal was his. He lifted up onto his elbows so that he could look down at her face. Seconds later, she cried out his name and arched her back. He wanted to stay with her through her orgasm, but that was more than he could take. She was still bucking and shaking as he felt his own overwhelming climax burst upon him.

Many minutes later, Laura felt him roll them over so that they were lying side by side, holding one another. She was too spent to open her eyes. She wasn’t sure whether she felt better physically, with all the endorphins and other hormones swirling through her, or mentally, knowing that she had just – finally - had mind-blowing sex with Rafael. It had been too fast, but she would take care of that in a little while.

Rafael cradled her to him. She felt him lift his shoulder to tip her head toward him and kiss her forehead. He held his lips to her face for some time, thinking that the smell of her shampoo would make him horny for the rest of his life. He found he was smiling to himself. Had it really been that long since he’d gotten laid, or was she really that special? He knew it was both. Go slow, my ass, he thought.

He felt much, much more than a blissful, post-sex haze. He tried to stay completely in the moment and think only about this woman he held, who had slipped so blithely past all his defenses. He cared far more for her than he wanted to, and he would much have preferred not to be that vulnerable. In his more confident moments, he reminded himself what they’d been through together and the complete trust he had in her as a result. But that was his body. This was his heart. Still, it was too late now. He had no choice but to trust her, because he knew, without a doubt, that he was in love with her.

“So that happened,” he finally managed to say, still trying to catch his breath.

“Holy shit,” she panted.

“Yeah.”

“When I regain the power of rational thought, I’ll try to form a sentence about how great that was. But for now…”

“Holy shit will do,” he chuckled, kissing her forehead through her hair.

“But, are you… OK?”

He replied in a more serious tone, and put a hand to her cheek. “I’m way better than OK. When we get under the covers, I’ll be perfect.”

“Now there’s a double meaning I really like the sound of.”

“Don’t end a sentence with a preposition.”

Laura sat up. “Seriously? At this moment, what you have to say to me is, ‘Don’t end a sentence with a preposition’? What is wrong with me? How am I naked with you right now?”

Laughing, they slipped between the crisp, cool sheets of his bed to cuddle together.

Rafael knew he was smiling in the dark like an idiot, and he couldn’t have cared less. Laura had her eyes closed, enjoying the sensory experience of breathing in Rafael’s scent, feeling his muscular shoulder under her cheek, running her fingers lightly over his chest to savor the softness of his chest hair.

She was dimly aware of a sense of awe underlying her post-coital bliss. He was so much more than she’d imagined – more tender, more skilled, more sensual and romantic. And they hadn’t even started.

They dozed together, sated and happy. Rafael woke a while later, distantly curious about what time it was, but didn’t have the energy or inclination to move enough to look at the clock. He felt Laura stir against him and heard her sigh happily. The idiotic smile was back on his face.

“Hypothetically, if I said you rocked my world tonight, how insufferable would you be about it?” Her voice was languid and dreamy, with a tinge of amusement.

“One to ten?” He asked. She loved the rumble of his voice in his chest under her ear as she snuggled into him.

“Sure.”

“Well, my baseline’s about an eight, so…”

She squeezed him as she laughed, kissing his chest, then lifted up so she could kiss his lips. She didn’t say anything, just looked at him with a satisfied smile.

“Ven aca,”[5] he whispered, sliding his hand up her bare back and pulling her to him. She kissed him back, deepening the kiss and running her hand over his chest. When she felt the kiss change, she slowly let her hand drift down his chest and abdomen, until her fingers lightly traced over his cock. She could feel the first stirrings of arousal in him, and tenderly fondled him while they kissed.

“I know that was fast before,” she murmured provocatively against his lips, “but what I lack in patience, I make up for in perseverance.” He thought he had never known a woman who challenged him so often to kiss and smile at the same time.

As he grew harder, she moved to kiss his jaw, then his neck, and shifted her body to scatter a long, meandering line of kisses and soft nips down his chest and abdomen.

He groaned again, low in his chest, when she took him into her mouth, softly exploring his balls with her fingers. The musk of him, and of their lovemaking, was intoxicating. He was soon grinding his hips and gulping air, moaning heatedly, which inspired her to do everything she could think of to pleasure him. She spent long minutes stroking him, sucking and licking him, following his movements and his cries to establish the rhythm he wanted. Fuck, it was hot to hear Rafael so undone, and to know that it was her giving him such gratification. When he began to fuck her mouth wantonly, she knew he was close. She continued to suck him, running her tongue up and down his shaft and around the head of his cock until a cry and a salty jet in the back of her throat told her that she had given him the pleasure she’d been aiming for. She paid close attention to him as he rode his orgasm to its completion, moving with him until she had drawn out the last shudders.

He was still breathing heavily as she crawled back to his side and cuddled up to him, throwing an arm and a leg over him as she kissed his chest. He fell asleep with his nose buried in her fragrant hair.

It took Laura a few blinks to realize where she was when she awoke. When she did, her stomach did a little flip and she scooted closer to where Rafael lay behind her with his arm over her. She felt him kiss the back of her hair.

“Hi,” she muttered.

He nuzzled the back of her neck. “Did I wake you?”

“I don’t think so. How come you’re awake?”

“I had a nice dream.”

“About?”

“About you. Turns out it was real.” She felt him chuckle behind her. It felt wonderful.

“I had the same dream. It was nice.” She turned over to face him and put her arm over him, pulling as close to him as she could.

“Laura…”

“Hmmm?”

He didn’t answer. She looked up.

“Rafa?”

“The waking up part is really nice, too.” He kissed her long and slow, and began to make love to her again.

[1] Nonsense

[2] Fuck, Laura, you’re so beautiful.

[3] My sweetheart

[4] You’re a sorceress. How do you have such control over me? Some day I’ll be able to say no to you.

[5] Come here.

#law & order svu #law & order: special victims unit #rafael barba #raul esparza #chicago pd #chicago fire #chicago med #chicago justice

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