#THIS IS MY FIRST TIME SEEING GODZILLA RUNNING ALMOST HUMAN-LIKE

[adm-starblitzsteel-4305]

Godzilla running like a human is not real...

...is THAT SO?

[punkzines]

hi, first of all i wanted to say that i really like your writing style! i don't see many ghidorah x reader and yours was perfect! could you write more ghidorah x reader? i don't really have anything specific in mind, i think i would like it to be angsty or something like that? have a nice day/night! <33

HEYY THANK YOU SMM Im just starting out so this means a lot. so sorry for taking such a long time to finally answer this I kept redoing the whole work.

Im not sure if this is angsty be ghidorah and reader dont have a relationship like that but I hope this is good enough

and you're right there should be more ghidorah x reader. i need it in my bones.

anywaysss lets get on with the video!

NO HAPPY ENDINGS

summary: reader is crazy and delusional. ghidorah isn’t even concerned about them.

warnings: planning for suicide and death

word count: 1.9k

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They called you crazy.

Crazy for believing in what was right.

For believing that humans— the source of suffering, a virus to the innocent— were nothing but Gods of Destruction.

Destroying everything on their path, not caring about all the bad that happens around them— no. It only mattered that their own selfish needs were met. The world which was once so great, was now dying. The titans weren’t enough to help it. Earth was at the brink of collapse. Everyone knew it— they just weren’t brave enough to admit it. They never were.

But you were. From an early age, you were exposed to the chemical that is hatred. How could someone be so evil? So inconsiderate? You knew something needed to be done.

You were there, when Ghidorah finally rose from his deep slumber—( or was he ever sleeping? painfully aware of his surroundings…a fate worse than death).

It was perfect, he was perfect. Although you almost died getting out of the base at Antarctica, it was worth it. You saw the way he fought Godzilla— which you did feel a bit guilty about, Godzilla wasn’t a bad guy— it was a small price to pay. He fought so…it was simply breathtaking. Ghidorah would be the one to finally put an end to this so-called Human Race. He would be the one to finally bring peace.

When it was time to escape into the bunkers, for safety after Godzillas death— you betrayed your supposed “Leader” — a person you had no interest in following, you had only stayed for said objective and now that it has been accomplished, you will escape and abandon your crew. Because you weren’t going anywhere. You would stay outside, and die. It was your choice. You couldn’t live with killing half the planet’s population. That was impossible, as much as you wanted to pretend you could. You really thought everyone should have done the same, die for what they worked for. Because, they weren’t exempted from what they had done to the planet. They too had contributed to this mess. You would have killed them all, if you weren’t just one person. You’ve made mistakes before, but not stupid enough to make the mistake of taking on hundreds of skilled fighters with guns— as one might say. They would all die anyway.

Nevertheless, Boston was a shitty place to fall into your impending doom. The place held no sentimental value to you and since you had no accessible way to travel— which in this case would be an airplane— to a place where you did hold dear, you would just…die here? Yeah, you will. It was just a matter of where in Boston you would, well, shoot yourself.

There were people on the street, running towards refuge— ones that hadn’t been evacuated— for some odd reason (maybe they all came to understand what this is all for)— families. It’s hard to look at, but... This would all be worth it in the end. You could only look at them as they passed by—

“Watch where you’re fucking going.”

Your legs were beginning to grow tired— after aimlessly walking through the city, it was dark—

An odd sound— which wasn’t odd at all, but it was odd that you heard it all— captured your attention.

It was the Orca.

You furrowed your brows— turning around aimlessly, trying to pinpoint exactly where it was coming from. What were those guys doing?! You were in on their plan for a long time, but…this was never discussed. Not to mention how much of a stupid move this was! This was bad. The whole plan was set on— and promised that it would happen slowly. Another place being set ablaze would be devastating. Since Godzilla's death, and the Titans turning their loyalty to Ghidorah— Ghidorah would have no reason to wreak havoc on Earth unless challenged. This would quite literally, not be good at all!

Ghidorah— although a risky one to rely on, because of his alien nature— would surely deliver if he isn’t challenged. He wouldn’t be challenged though, no titan would take on him and win. But the orcas here! It was close— not too far away. You needed to find the Orca and eliminate whoever was that had it turned on. There was no other choice, someone this stupid couldn’t roam the Earth.

There was a car nearby, you ran towards it — broke the glass and opened the door like the universe was depending on it. Dropping the gun on the other passenger seat, you sat at the driver's seat and began to mess with the wires — of someone's abandoned Toyota — after seeing there were no keys around. Damn it. So much for going out peacefully.

You were halfway through driving— getting closer to the call— when you heard something much more chilling. Such anger, something you felt deep in your bones. Ghidorah was approaching— he is going to be here at any second. You grit your teeth— there’s going to be blood on the walls as soon as you get your hands on whoever turned the Orca on.

Turning the wheel in a dangerous way a few times, the ground was beginning to shake— you turned your head around and you saw a giant cloud coming your way— a giant cloud that you mistook for a Tsunami for a few seconds longer than you’d like to admit. Ghidorah was here. Looking for the Orca was starting to feel useless now— but you had to keep going — he would find it wherever it was. Ghidorah would go away immediately if you were to destroy the device.

Steering the wheel was harder than ever— especially when there was a giant cloud of disaster coming right behind you but you were finally where the Orca was turned on. You practically jumped out the car, and ran towards the broadcast booth above you were sure the Orca was being held at — but you were too slow.

The storm enveloped your entire surroundings— hugging you tightly, there was no way you could escape this. You were at the eye of it. Your eyes were drawn upwards and through the veil of the harsh winds— much like a Tornado— that’s when you caught a glimpse of him flying towards the ground. Oh, fuck. You had forgotten how fearful you had been the last time you were in his presence. As great as he was, he still scared the shit out of you— that sense of panic caused you to run away towards the entrances of the stadium— close to the benches where you were sure he would not see you, lest he confuse you as the one emitting that alpha call. Not that he’d spare your life if you were not. It’s still good to let your God know that you weren’t the one causing him trouble.

It takes Ghidorah no longer than a mere moment to jump down onto the ground with a low set snarl. His wings created winds so strong, they would be considered natural disasters of their own.

You pressed your hand onto your mouth— trying to stifle your cough as you watched Ghidorah scanning the building, until his eyes landed on the big glass window. He knew it was in there. His body illuminated— lightning rising up his chest and that’s when you knew you had to go back away— but once again you were too slow. And too clumsy, because amidst the darkness of the storm, you tripped on nothing. Really, where was your survival-

You gripped your head—having hit it hard on the ground, as you sloppily got up from the destruction going on around you. But— No! You couldn’t get up, your ankle was broken. So you tripped back down onto the floor with a grunt— could this day get any worse?

Somehow evading the destruction around you— you saw something— someone— running out the demolished building. That child— Emma Russels child. She did this. Of course. How could a child— a fucking child— steal the Orca? She caused all of this? Upon seeing who the person was, your anger grew. If Ghidorah doesn’t manage to get her…Turns out, Ghidorah was about to kill her. She tripped—dropped the Orca, and was now cornered by him. Could you be any more thankful? If only Ghidorah knew you would have done the same. If you— a mere human— were to bow down to him, would he accept you? You knew you wouldn’t, after all— you would die by your own hand. But…If there was a chance that maybe you were accepted by him— that your devotion was —

Ghidorah was struck down in the blink of an eye by something you recognized. By someone you recognized. There was only one being capable of doing such a thing to Ghidorah himself— turning around, you saw him. Godzilla.

Godzilla.

Your heart dropped— ignoring the child running away from the scene— your heart was sinking to the bottomless shell of yours. How could he be here right now? How could— why? How? He was dead! He was supposed to be dead! He was supposed to be asleep for another— you weren’t the one who kept tabs on his hibernation time— but surely longer than just a few hours! What the hell happened? Pressing your back to a broken wall— your eyes stared at the fight in disbelief. There was nothing— worse than this.

This had to be a prelude to hell.

—Suddenly, a giant piece of rubble fell on your lower body— tearing your muscles and fracturing every bit of it with a sickening crunch. The impact sent shockwaves of agonizing pain— you were helpless. There was no one who would help. Not Monarch who has taken their leave after realizing that child wasn’t here.

Was this— Was this— was this all for nothing?

No! No! It wasn’t. It wasn’t. It couldn’t be. Ghidorah will win this fight. Just like the last time. It didn’t matter that Monarch was with him. It didn’t matter that Mothra was with him. It didn't matter because— because you worked hard for this and Ghidorah heard you— your prayers— and he would answer. He would be the one to bring peace because— because you did this.

You did this. Not Ghidorah— you.

Your lower body was broken— you couldn’t move. I can’t move. This was all your fault. This was all my fault. You deserved this. This death— this painful and pitiful death— you deserved it. The fight that was going on around you— you couldn’t see it— everything going on around was— it wasn’t happening. Everything was— dark. The chaos— everything— it couldn’t be real. It was real.

You— How could you ever think you could change things? Place all you had to this— You became the same thing you sought to destroy. You’ve always known that— you have. That you promise. You thought you were doing the right thing but you weren’t, were you? Instead of trying to be a hero you should have died from the moment you realized there was no salvation— at least the people who died for this wouldn’t have died for nothing. For nothing at all. Any chance of dying with the certainty that the world would be restored— has left.

You were crazy— you laughed. You couldn’t stop the tears from flowing down.

A small part of you wishes there wasn’t an afterlife at all— because it would be worse than what you will experience in Hell.

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a/n: ill just put the fries in the bag😞

[thenixkat]

another not-godzilla

pls feed Kafka he's too skinny now

he's not even broad anymore, someone pls feed Kafka. Like he had to regenerate a lot in the past few weeks he needs some more rations pls his waist is so narrow i hate it

oh that's a scar on asshole dad's forehead not just him frowning constantly

that's rude as hell. I do not care for teh gamer boy

yeah Kafka's not really ok with everyone talking about killing him for parts or using him as a living weapon��� this is why ya shoulda been better at hiding yer secret identity sir. You could have transformed when no one was looking

rude ass hell

also ignoring why Kafka went berserk (ya know repeatedly getting his limbs ripped off by someone he was under the impression was trying to kill him) Kafka pls dont thank the person who just threatened to turn you into a suit

oh hey a hive of kaiju ants

i dont like this guy. he's rude. asked a subordinate for a loan to buy more junk and toys, is an influencer

huh ant kaiju are rare to see on the surface but folks run into them underground

Kafka wants to be recognized for his ability as an officer and not a kaiju weapon so he's trying to fight without fully transforming but like sir, try that after you've convinced folks yer more useful alive than as spare parts also yeah had a traumatizing time the last time he fully transformed isnt rocking with it at the moment

not the transformation failing. Kafka's kaiju side said 'nah, you didnt want my help last time'

not the cordyceps

also the ant kaiju spray acid like real ants

ah the fungus has a brain

right i have bee seeing brains in split kaiju wild that their brains are not important organs

how does using the Numbers weapons shave years off yer life? what are the ghosts of the kaiju that got made into them taking revenge

ah yeah 100% Kafka is scared of losing control that's why his transformations keep failing gets a pep talk from rich girl that's more or less 'we're too fucking badass for you to kill us if you lost it, so dont worry about it'

what happened to my guy's claws? also he finally figured out how to smile with that face

ah Kafka learned some tricks from the bug's joyride

Kaiju do have telepathy!

no. 9 tells other no. 9 to pls hold its learning about a new strong enemy right now

the influencer has kaiju eyes b/c biomodding soldiers is fine, kaiju-human hybrids from the wild arent tho

so its not future sight just literal mind reading

damn that's the first 'well done' rich girl got from her shitty dad since her mom died

apparently the ant swarm and two no. 9s were a diversion. B/c no. 9 the third planned to have teh shitty dad for dinner hahah

also how did that mother fucker sneak into yer base? damn yall are not ready for intelligent kaiju damn that man was nice to his daughter for teh first time in a decade and then got ate mind you his daughter is like 18 at best ah i assume no. 9 probably ate like a janitor and got in that way

also no. 9 has certainly been eating its Wheaties

huh so its just stressful to use

shitty dad acknowledges that he's been a bad father

rip to shitty dad, he tried to his best but uh he can't regenerate

shitty dad became dinner

no. 9 really was only here for dinner and decided to dip

Kaiju no. 9 what does a kaiju era mean? are you planning on getting rid of the ability of humans to fight back against the kaiju so they can do what they want? like its not like there's many sapient kaiju running around most of the fuckers seem to just be wild animals doing wild animal shit

ah the thing where Kafka started not being able to turn completely back human

human looking at least

have yall tried feeding him cause look at that you can almost see the poor man's abs

these are not good working conditions. Also just bc he stops being able to look like a human doesnt mean he'd stop thinking like a human necessarily

no. 10 regained consciousness in captivity. It's core is too damaged for it to regenerate. It had a blast fighting the vice captain and tells him if it's gonna become a weapon for anyone it wants him to use it

being… you are a head, a small piece of spinal cord, and like 2/3rds of a core the fuck are you gonna fight with??

ah it means it wants to be made into a weapon and that teh vice captain use it to fight. Bc it really really had fun fighting him and wants more like that good news the vice captain made a new friend and it has agreed to be interrogated bad news it still would like to eat him and the possibility of it trying to take over his body if he wears it is not zero

oh hey we've got the reveal that no. 9 is no. 10's parent

to be fair yall havent run into many sapient kaiju that are willing to use their shapeshifting to the fullest extent. and no. 9 is just creating more kids

how tho? How the fuck does heat and pressure at fault lines deep underground make substances that mutate nearby animals and plants (how did the animals and plants get that fucking far into the fucking Earth in the first place) into aliens. B/c you cannot convince me that kaiju arent aliens with their fucking biology that we've been shown

what do you mean in order for a human to use one of the Numbers weapons their cells have to be compatible with the kaiju that the weapon was made from? What kind of superior genetics eugenics shit is this? How are human cells compatible with kaiju cells anyway and why are yall not concerned that human cells can be compatible with kaiju cells

like zoonotic diseases? also should yall not be concerned that some humans are genetically compatible with kaiju cells or is that ok b/c you pick teh super soldier

another not-godzilla but this one has tentacles. There's a lot of not-godzillas in this, yall cant do a not-Mothra or a not-Ghidora for once?

idk about anything else but I think if a human's cells are compatible with kaiju material (i dont get how it works and it seems weird and iffy) but that should mean they can get turned into a were-kaiju the series continuously points out that Ichikawa is a teenager and yet the fandom is so fucking horny for that child it is genuinely disgusting

hmm and we're gonna saddle this teenager with an increased risk of dying young in this already dangerous job b/c apparently lacking in supersoldier badasses who can solo high tier boss monsters

oh hey a somewhat responsible adult tells Ichikawa to turn down the supersoldier offer

also fucking noodle ass human beings unfortunately, Ichikawa is an extremely loyal friend and takes up the offer

there's a neuro link into the weapons ok so the shit is giving people brain damage when they overclock

[quazies]

Just curious, what’s next for you? Are you going take a very well earned break, or get right back to animating? Please don’t overwork yourself;3; Will there be more Godzilla shorts in the future? Or perhaps something new? Sorry if I’m prying too much just too curious/nosy for my own good lol 🧐

I'll take a few weeks to just draw for myself, work on some scripts, just keep things relaxed 😅

Yes, I am continuing the Godzilla animations, I have a script almost ready for storyboards! Anguirus is the main focus of the episode, my favorite underappreciate lil' guy! I can see it being a long running series like Pootis, so much potential working with the Godzilla monsters!

I also have an original concept I've settled on, I've been brainstorming a lot about which of my ideas to adapt and I feel this one is simple yet compelling enough. I'll be working with voice actors for the first time when I settle on a final script, makes me a little nervous and excited?

I don't want to share too much because the concept still needs a lot of work, but it's a simple workplace comedy with unconventional employees! [Unconventional because they aren't quite humans😳]

Pootis is going to be a very long hiatus, I know this will make a lot of people angry, but I've put my full attention and passion into it for over 1 year. It's time for a break, like all series do between seasons. Most people don't know its just me, the one person, working behind the scenes😅 Working too much on one topic can fry your brain!

Sorry if I over answered this, but this ask was the perfect opportunity to share my current plans, Thank You!

[maddierussell04]

Balance and King is still a thing

Alright so I decided to make and exstensive thread on Godzilla KotM and the alpha system it introduced. Because I feel like it’s perhaps a bit misunderstood and a bit overthought. 

Important to note that a lot of it is my interpretation of the lore some of which aren’t confirmed but I’m simply using some logical assumptions based of what we have

No of course, this is lore, lore can go a bit in depth so this may seem a bit longer, so TL;DR Godzilla is the leader of a pack that includes most of the titans we see in KotM but not all and likely some of them are in it for individual reasons.

So to actually start with it, in 2014, the style they went for was different, much more “an ancient alpha predator” or basically an apex. One would think that KotM and it’s alpha system would contradict as he was hunting the MUTOs there and in KotM one arrives in Boston. However that is not true.

Yes, Godzilla hunts the MUTOs, because by nature the MUTOs were rivals or hunted Godzillas, able to supress the atomic breath with their EMP abilities. However it seems that Godzilla and other Titans have a form of inteligence and personality perhaps somewhere almost human. A lot of the time they still follow their basic instincts but seems to have emotions or think about what they are doing.

This may vary from species to species, but the MUTOs likely exhibit similar behavior. So why is that important?

Well, because in this case, it depends on the individuals themselves. The 2 we see in 2014 are freshly out of their metamorphosis and now try to mate, seemingly something Godzilla can’t tolerate because that means more enemies for him and also perhaps his pack (we will get into that later).

One of the things the director of KotM noted is that the MUTO we see in KotM (nicknamed Barb) has apparently a damaged eggsack, so in that regard she is of no concern to Godzilla and perhaps Barb understood she would have better chances to live within Godzillas pack of various Titans then trying to fight him.

Which speaking off, perhaps the 2014 MUTOs were never given a chance to join in the first place because they were trying to mate or simply ignored that. After their demise, MUTOPrime shows up and I believe it’s a similar situation, it runs Solo probably and probably ignored Godzilla for a while, only when her children died did she step in perhaps to make back her loses.

So that out of the way, how does the alpha-pack thing actually work? So to get it off the table, the wolve analogy Mark gives in the movie is wrong and based on outdated stuff, HOWEVER, Alphas are still a thing in nature, for example primates like chimpz and gorillas. (Perhaps Mark wanted to cut the chase with the general and simply used the wolve example not complicate things.)

Which that gets also pointed out, because the scene where Godzilla hears the ORCA for the first time and uses his intimidation signal, Graham compares it to a silverback gorilla pounding his chest.

So likely, the pack off these various species that decided to form one, work similarly to how troops of gorillas or chimpz work. It’s seems to be a combination of multiple structures, the silverbacks task is to lead and protect the group, however the infighting that happens works more like chimpz, simply because infighting seems to be clearly a thing which speaking of why would they fight anyway?

Well, it’s pretty simple, it’s a hierarchy where only the strongest rules. It seems also to reason the ones part of Godzilla’s pack are also some of the most powerful out there of their species as well, perhaps this plays also a role why it was build in the first place. Godzilla and Mothra build the head of the pack in this case, though I have an interesting idea on Mothra as to why she is so high in the first place, later to that.

But basically, Rodan, Barb, Behemoth, Tiamat, all the other Titans we see in KotM awakening and destroy the world for Ghidorah, would likely fight each other to get higher in ranks within the pack, this could be achieved simply by intimidation or even killing the opponent and the end goal could be various things, access to specific recourses they need, territory or perhaps even chances to reproduce since perhaps Godzilla only allows the top of the packs to reproduce, like say Mothra.

Which speaking off, I think we all saw perhaps that Mothra wasn’t the strongest fighter in KotM, however she seemingly is on equal terms with Godzilla. In pack structures like Hyenas, some can get higher in rank not via violence but befriending other Hyenas or doing things like taking care of the kids to get the leaders trust.

So not unlikely Mothra perhaps in her nature was more caring and less fighting and got that high that way.

Now, obviously, she got ignored by Rodan and the other whenever Ghidorah “killed” Godzilla and took over. Since we established the Titans having a higher level of thought, what likely happened was that they decided to rather follow Ghidorah and do his bidding and perhaps survive that way then try to defy him, likely from experience.

And well, this goes back into my other thought, that the pack alliance the Titans have is only there in the first place because of Ghidorah.

The information that Chen gets from the stone tablets and tells us is that Ghidorah “swallowed man and gods alike.” Now humans come in later and play an important part for the end scene, but later to that.

But basically it means when Ghidorah arrived, he probably waged war on all the Titans and murdered them, promtly reducing their numbers of some. It seemed to have also been a sort of war. So what likely they needed to do is team up to destroy a common enemy, and perhaps some Titans also joined Ghidorah since they saw more likelyhood of survival on his side.

Now this didn’t end up happening and at the end of all of it and Godzilla remained the King of the Monsters.

“okay but that scene of them bowing was stupid and makes no sense!”

*big sigh* alright, to get to the final point, like I said, the Titans are clearly more intelligent then people give them credit for, even 2014 had scenes shown of that and KotM took it’s own direction of that.

So why would these monsters all bow to Godzilla? Well on one hand it’s cool af shot and if hate it I’m just gonna assume you hate fun. Joke aside, bowing or lowering yourself to the ground is something very common in nature to show submission, again, mentioned in stuff like Gorillas, being lower to the ground and avoiding eye contact, this is exactly what happens at the end of KotM, just a bit more stylized.

And now here comes my suggestion from where they even got it from. Back in ancient times, before Ghidorah attacked, humans worshipped the titans, build temples around them and prayed to them. They were much more connected with them back then and perhaps Godzilla and the other ones we saw in temples and the like adopted this behavior into them, as they saw it as a form of submission. After Ghidorah got defeated the first time and the Titans were much more viewer in numbers and had builded a pack, they copied what they remembered seeing humans do in their presence to show submission. And obviously, Godzilla and the like know humans, multiple times is it show that they curiously inspect and look at them and don’t completely ignore them.

Because humans are part of this planet too and we belong also within the natural order of things, which the titans obviously have an affinity for. We are not part of their pack however, more so we are our own thing and that also applies likely to a lot of titans that didn’t awake in KotM and stayed in Hollow Earth perhaps.

Kong for example obviously is his own group but has no direct beef with Godzilla and wants just to be left alone. It’s when Kong leaves his island after Godzilla is tracking down Ghidorah again (aka Mechagodzilla), also leaving his territory, that he attacks Kong and Kong fights back and since he is the only leader of his own troop he tries to defy Godzilla. 

With Godzilla not wanting to outright kill him perhaps, possibly rather wanting to Kong to join him since Kong doesn’t really have any other options.

I think I will make a second post to this, in regard to the human relationship with Godzilla, because many people foolishly assume that Godzilla would just kill all humans if he really protect earth (which is a dumb thing based on dumb ideas about ecology) but this so far is my explanation for the stuff that happens in KotM.

[hrodvitnon]

And the next section is complete!

My Biollante!Maddie AU, Part 4

Monster X accelerates south through the darkening skies, following the Monarch team’s directions. Sure enough, after less than an hour of flying, they catch a glimpse of a large, flickering blue light moving beneath the surface of the ocean, heading in the direction that they'd come from. Wheeling about so they’re flying directly above it, they descend until they’re just a few hundred feet above the water and then call out a greeting, letting their roar echo down into the depths below.

Moments later, the blue light grows brighter, and the ocean’s surface swirls into a froth as Godzilla surfaces, snorting and shaking his head to clear his vision. He looks up and tilts his head curiously as he watches Monster X descending slowly towards him, their wings flapping slowly to help them hover in place. Young ones, he rumbles in a greeting of his own. Why are you here?

We… Vivienne’s voice is still a little unsteady, but she forces her nerves down. We know what you’re looking for: the source of that call. They nod back towards the north, where the distant echoes of Madison’s plaintive calls are still ringing out. We’ve seen it, and we know what it is, but… we needed to tell you before you get there. It… she doesn’t know what she’s doing. She isn’t trying to challenge you, or anyone else. She’s just confused and frightened; she’s trapped in a nightmare, and she needs our help.

Godzilla considers that for a long moment, and then nods. I understand, he replies. What is she? Sounds like a hatchling of my kind, but… different, somehow.

She is different, San confirms. She is like Sister once was – one of the little ones – but she’s been changed into something more like you.

I knew her when I was human, Vivienne takes over. She’s… She winces, another jolt of pain running through her as several memories of Madison flash through her mind. Apart from Manda, she’s the closest thing to a child that I’ve ever had. But there was an accident: some of your blood was mixed with hers, and it’s transformed her into a Titan. She’s like us, and she’s not a threat… but right now, she’s trapped in a coma, and she's not in control of herself. Whenever we get too close, she lashes out, and we haven’t been able to wake her up. We do have an idea that could work… but if we’re going to pull it off, we’re going to need your help.

I see. Godzilla nods again, more slowly and thoughtfully this time, before his species’ equivalent of a faint smile appears on his face, as if he's proud of how much his young ally has grown since their first awakening as a Titan. Very well, then. What do you have in mind?

– – –

In her hibernation trance, Madison Russell is still trapped in a deep sleep, filled with shadowy nightmares and waves of bone-deep pain. Now, though, the pain has actually started to recede, little by little, as the transformation process stabilizes and her body continues slowly adjusting to the changes in her physiology. The internal changes will take a while longer to finish, but externally her growth is almost complete.

The external plant-body that she unconsciously created as she changed, to act as a defense mechanism and as a means of gathering extra energy and nutrients to fuel her transformation, does not have a higher intelligence directing it. Its “mind” is simple and animalistic, operating purely on instinct to protect her from any potential threats during this vulnerable time in her evolution. Having chased off everything in the immediate area that was large enough to possibly pose a threat to the unborn Titan within its core, the plant-body has been calm and quiescent for the past few hours, except for the plaintive calls that continue to echo from its many mouths, channeling the thoughts of its slumbering charge.

But then, suddenly, that changes. The plant-body’s primitive mind isn’t nearly as intelligent as that of most other Titans, but it is very good at detecting threats. And it has just sensed something approaching from the deeper ocean waters to the south; something far bigger and much more powerful than anything that it has sensed until now.

The vine-tentacles bunch up and lash back and forth, low hisses rising from the pod-mouths at their tips. A threat of this caliber calls for a different approach than the previous ones, so the plant-body changes its tactics. Instead of making an aggressive threat display as it has against previous threats, the plant goes still, its many tendrils sinking below the surface of the water and slithering down to conceal themselves on the seafloor. Against a threat like this one, stealth is the plant’s first course of action, hoping that it may avoid detection. And if that doesn’t work… then it will be in the perfect position to launch a surprise attack, if the enemy comes too close.

And so the plant-body remains silent, and waits for this new threat to make the next move.

– – –

The Monarch team have continued to monitor the giant plant for the next few hours, keeping watch for any change in Madison’s condition or the outer plant-body’s behavior. So far, there haven’t been any major changes, although they have been able to confirm that there don’t appear to be any vital physical connections between Madison’s real body and the larger plant.

Mark is awake now, although he’s still keeping to himself; under the current circumstances, nobody wants to push him too hard. The horror of what’s happened is still lurking at the back of his mind, but he’s able to stay calm by forcing himself to look at the situation from an academic standpoint, compartmentalizing his emotions and doing his best to keep them suppressed. He’ll deal with all of that later, but right now his daughter needs help, and he’s going to be there for her no matter what happens, so he can't afford another breakdown.

The plant-body’s sudden change in temperament draws everyone’s attention. The core where Madison's real body is contained is still glowing beneath the surface, but otherwise it has gone completely still and silent, with all the vine-tentacles having disappeared beneath the surface.

“Okay, what the hell is this?” Rick mutters under his breath from his observation point inside the Monarch boat’s main cabin.

Ilene shakes her head. “I don’t know.” She glances outside to Mark, who is leaning against the railing and staring fixedly at the distant, towering form of the giant plant, illuminated by the moonlight filtering down from above and by some spotlights that they’d set up on the nearby islands. “Maybe… she’s waking up?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t think so,” Sam murmurs from where he’s checking their ongoing scans of Madison’s dormant real body inside the core. “Her vital signs are still the same: she’s stable, but there aren't any signs of her waking up yet.”

A moment later, the boat’s radio crackles with a familiar static, and the dual voice of Monster X echoes through the cabin. “You guys awake down there?”

“Vivienne?” Ilene exhales in relief and leans forward, peering out of the window. “Where are you two?”

“Look up,” the double-voice replies, and they all see a distinctive flash of Monster X’s red electricity overhead as the diminutive Titan glides through a patch of clear sky between two clouds, using the clouds as cover while they circle the area. “We’re ready to go. Were you able to confirm that we can separate Maddie from that plant without hurting her?”

Ilene nods. “As far as we can tell, yes. It’s feeding some energy into that core sac where her real body is stored, but it mainly seems to be acting as a defense mechanism, and the energy flow has mostly stopped by now. Removing the core from the larger plant shouldn’t harm her.”

“Good.” There’s another crackle of static as Monster X lets out a relieved sigh. “All right, then. Stay clear of the area around that thing, and we’ll bring her over to you guys once she’s secure.”

The team frown at each other, not entirely sure what she means by that, but none of them get a chance to respond before Mark steps into the cabin and speaks up, having heard the exchange up until that point. “Vivienne? San?” His voice is hoarse and cracked after his earlier outbursts, but he’s still managing to stay calm. “What... what are you going to do?”

There’s a brief pause, and then Vivienne’s voice speaks up again, softer than before. “It’s going to be okay, Mark. I promise you, we won’t let any harm come to Madison. Trust me.”

Mark still looks a little shaky, but he nods. “All right.”

“Ah, one question, Graham,” Rick pipes up, clearly still a little on the tipsy side thanks to his attempts to soothe his nerves. “How’re you planning to get Maddie out of there without that angry rosebush trying to tear you a new one? I don’t think it’s gonna be happy about you trying to remove her.”

“No, it won’t,” Monster X confirms. “Fortunately, we’ve got a pretty good way to keep it distracted.”

On cue, a deep, oceanic rumble shudders through the deck, vibrating in the team’s feet. At the same time, a pulse of azure energy draws their eyes to the front of the boat, where a large patch of ocean is now being illuminated from below. Sure enough, a couple of seconds later, three rows of bony plates knife through the water, and Godzilla rises to his full height, a deep growl echoing in his chest as his plates hum and crackle with blue light in an intimidation display.

There’s silence in the cabin for a moment, before Sam breaks the trance. “Well…” he manages to get out. “To be fair, that is a pretty good distraction.”

– – –

Godzilla remains on high alert as he wades through the shallow water towards the giant rose-tree. Curiously, it remains quiet and still, not budging an inch as he closes in. Humans would likely be confused by this, but his predatory instincts tell him that this unnatural stillness is not a good thing. This strange creature knows exactly where he is and what he’s doing, and is prepared to act on a moment’s notice if he does anything to provoke it, but it's not doing anything to give away its intentions yet.

All right, then. If it won't make the first move, then he will.

Once he closes to about a hundred yards away from the strange creature, Godzilla stops and stands still for a long moment, his eyes smoldering like twin orange flames in the night. He cocks his head to one side, examining it more intently, before he leans back and takes in a deep breath, swelling his lungs to their limit. Then his jaws gape open, and he leans forward as he lets out a long, drawn-out roar that thunders out into the night, echoing across the ocean for miles around, before finally falling silent. This is a deliberate attempt to either intimidate this odd entity into submission, or to provoke it into action. Of course, he isn’t sure which outcome he's going to get, so he remains on guard, ready to defend himself at a moment's notice.

As it turns out, this is a wise decision... because, a couple of seconds later, he gets his answer. Without any warning, the water directly in front of him erupts into a mass of lashing tentacles, and the eerie calm is shattered by a cacophony of wailing shrieks.

Holy crap, did I wake up to a smorgasbord in the inbox! Hopefully the plan goes well, but the plant body's defenses certainly aren't going to make it easy for anyone...

[rachetmath]

Favorite (Characters)

Ruby: *barges in* RatchetMath!

Me: What is it Ruby?

Ruby: You’re showing favoritism.

Me: Okay. And?

Ruby: You need to stop. Why not draw us for once?

Me: Hm, maybe because I like Jaune more. Hell I like Penny and Neo more than you or your team.

Ruby: Why?!

Me: Because your team is horrible.

Ruby: So is team JNPR!

Me: Yeah, but only because they have to follow you. They have some individuality but we don’t explore that as much. Plus, your team would be dead without them. But you know what Ruby, I would rather draw Yang, Blake or any other character except Weiss than you right now.

Ruby: What?! But I’m-

Me: The main character that barely does main character things. Woman, Salem was in Atlas! Why was she not your top priority? Why was James your problem?

Ruby: Um well…

Me: Ruby, she knows your mother! She might know what happened to her! I get Yang was some levels your mom but shouldn’t learning what happened to your actual mom be just as important? Especially after that dark memory.

Ruby: That is true.

Me: You have silver eyes but you still don’t know how to use them. There was army of grimm around Mantle and that would have been good practice. And a better solution than Ren.

Ruby: But then I be overpowered.

Me: No. Ruby your silver eyes only work on one person. If someone sneaks up on you or doesn’t care about that light you give off then, you’re dead. Maria is proof on that.

Ruby: Um..

Me: Plus, the question that everyone in the audience could have an answer to is whether your silver eyes can even work on Salem. In all honesty, it proves the writer don’t keep track of the characters and their personalities to where they fit together in story. You know what I have been making skits, trying to be funny but… the jokes died. Look guys I-I’m sorry but… let me explain.

1. Ruby and Blake should have stayed in Mantle. Why?

1. Salem is the main villian. She knows Ruby’s mother. You know the same mother who left for a mission and didn’t come back. The same mother, who Ruby knows nothing about while everyone seems to have different perspectives of her. Or has a better clue on who she is, than Ruby herself. Plus wasn’t Salem after her too? She basically would be killing two birds with one stone by kidnapping Oscar and giving Ruby a reason to see her. That way Ruby isn’t assuming what happened to her mother. Let Salem antagonize Ruby. (Question: Can silver eyes work on Salem?)

2. Perfect training for silver eyes. Let’s face it, Ren proved to us he can mask a bunch of people without Jaune’s help. All he needed was concentration. However, Ruby is more effective because silver eyes seem to be able to destroy multiple grimm on sight. And with lives on the line that gives Ruby plenty of reason to start using them.

3. Ren calling Ruby out on her issues. Look I loved how Ren was willing to tell the truth, but him revealing Jaune cheated Beacon was… weak. Reason being it relates to Jaune’s character and Ren still follows Jaune’s orders. However, Ruby, who is supposed to be a prodigy because she came to Beacon two years ahead of her class, has not proven once that she is worthy of such praise. The only reason-The ONLY reason Ruby was enrolled into Beacon was her silver eyes. Ruby even in volume one has been nothing but liability. Initiations, she almost dies from a Stinger. Stake out, she almost got run over by a truck and it ended in failure. First mission, she gets kidnapped and almost destroyed a city block. Roman, a man with no semblance or aura continues to beat her four times in a row. And it gets worse. Ruby almost got her uncle killed. She was the first to get knocked out by Emerald. Almost dies by a robot and Godzilla. And the moment she arrived in Atlas her first move was to lie to James. She didn’t even try to stop Tyrian when she saw him. She had her gun with her too. Ren is not her sister, he might as well tell her the facts so she can do better.

4.  Blake is Faunus. Mantle hates faunuses. Why not have Blake help them to prove faunuses are people too? Let Blake represent her people. I mean Velvet and Sun represent faunses more than she does her whole existence. Blake also can relate to Ren’s problem. How? Blake was a part of the White Fang, so there were expectations she had to fulfill. Especially when trying to measure up to Adam. However, she explains the longer she was in the White Fang, the more she found out how messed up and extremely bias it was. Including with Adam to the point she decided to leave. She even states she was lucky that Yang even forgave her after all the trouble she caused her. Blake challenged her bias nature, and it made her stronger for it. Blake would be basically telling Ren the more he tries to live up to someone else’s expectations, without seeing their flaws, the more he loses touch with himself and everyone around him.

5.  Oscar shouldn’t have been able break out of Salem on his own: I’m sorry but… Oscar got beat up. Took a magic beam to the chest. Had to switch between him and Ozpin and mind you he had no aura to help him. He should be tired and unable to move. (In my opinion, this kid was given too much screen time. At first I was worried about him but now I’m wondering why was I worrying at all.)

2. Jaune and Yang should have gone to Atlas.

1. Penny is basically Pyrrha in the opposite light. Penny’s special because she’s a robot with a soul, a mind of her own and an attitude to prove it. She is just as human as everyone else, but no one seems to treat her as such. James only sees her as something of a weapon. Pietro treats her like child even though she’s more mature than the rest of the female cast, except Maria. And now with maiden powers, everyone is out casting Penny even more. Jaune is perfect for her because he has experience with this kind of issue. However, he would’ve had to take different route to the situation considering his failure with Pyrrha last time they had discussion on maiden powers or responsibilities (Destiny.).

2. Jaune already has been a part of maiden business since volume three. His reason to be with Penny would be make sure she doesn’t meet the same fate as Pyrrha or Amber. Not just for himself but for others around him. Especially since Cinder was in Atlas and is willing to hunt her down for the maiden powers. And James was willing to turn Penny into a soulless machine to follow his every command. (Actually, Watts is more a fault considering he hates Pietro.). James and Cinder are also opposite to Jaune in some ways.  James earned his position and earned respect from his military. Jaune on the other hand cheated, and unlike James might not have everybody’s respect. Cinder treats her allies like tools. And with power she just consumes and gives nothing return. Jaune however treats his allies like family. And instead of just taking power he gives power to others around him. He’s the reason Cinder has maiden powers. So, him making it his personal mission to make sure Cinder doesn’t get more power only increases his resolve to protect Penny. (Especially since he already had to kill her in the canon finale.)  In other words, James and Cinder purposed a challenge to Jaune. Can he pervert history from repeating itself? Can he really protect the maiden powers? Is he truly worthy of being a huntsman? What is he willing to risk in achieving his goal? (Also let’s be clear. Hazel beat Oscar down for the password to the relic. James shot the kid and was willing to let him fall to his death. Qrow intentionally punched the kid.  I don’t care if it was for Ozpin, he still punched Oscar. Lion before even knowing Oscar was Ozpin reincarnation was already about kill him anyways. All Jaune did was push him to a wall. Yes, Jaune still would have hurt Oscar, but he didn’t. He walked away.)  

3.  A lot of the situations could’ve been avoided or mattered if Jaune was there. Don’t believe me? Well let me explain. Was Ruby the only option when sneaking pass Central Command? No, because they had Weiss, Nora and Penny. Weiss could have done a freezer burn like in her fight with Marrow. Or Nora could have thrown her grenades and Penny just shoots them before the hit the ground or damage anything. Both causing a smoke screen, so no one sees them. Plus, they were already caught by using Pietro credentials. Did Nora need to get knocked out for the team to escape? No. If she had Jaune with her they could’ve one caused an EMP wave being Jaune has gravity and Nora has lightning. Or two, if Nora still went through with it, Jaune would have healed her immediately. Penny lifting and keeping the arena in place. If Jaune and Weiss were with her then once Amity was in position, Weiss with Jaune’s assistances can keep it place so Penny can come back inside and the whole video could be played. Also, Pietro would know what was going on with his daughter and can properly explain how to fix her. (Better than Jaune healing her.)

4. Nora’s whole character is knowing who she is without Ren right? Then why not just have her lead the evacuation once she’s done with Atlas? Why not have her and Yang work together along with the happy huntress to evacuate Mantle? Especially if their friends disappeared to save Oscar. (And before ya’ll tell me they can’t do it….. Yang, blocked a punch from a mech, held off a Manticore, and has a semblance that literally lets her take damage and dish it back five times harder. Nora who literally crushed Weiss and Yang in a food fight. Knocked a giant horse down on its knee. And knocked Hazel away.  Are you seriously saying these girls are not enough to take on a few little tigers? Come on!) If the whole point of Nora’s character development was finding out more about herself then let Nora try something without Ren. Let her call the shots. Let her take charge. Give her a character. (Hell don’t stop there. Have her interact with other characters. Like Jaune. Yang. Weiss. Or anyone other character than Ren. Let them tell her what they think about her. Let Nora be a solution to a character’s struggle. Ya’ll make it sound like Nora has no friends.)

5. All Yang needed was a break from Ruby and Blake. In all honesty Yang should have been the one to see the hounds face and kill it. Why? Well Ruby is Yang’s sister and only reminder of her nonblood related mother. And Blake is her girlfriend. And if we saw the hound’s face, we know it’s not just a silver eyed person. It’s also a faunus. This will give her a reason to protect both her loved ones because by seeing the hound she knows Salem intention with Ruby and want to keep her, and Blake from meeting the same fate of being turned into monsters. Yang should’ve been the 2nd to 4th member of team RWBY to fall. Why? One, a Yang vs Neo fight. Two, Cinder and Neo both wanted Ruby dead. So why not get rid of Ruby first? The fights would have been more thrilling and seeing the character, the show is named after, presumed to be dead would have added stakes and tension to the fight. (Also let me say this. Why is it, that the only great display of the maiden powers I’ve ever seen, was from Amber and not the maidens, as of now, Winter, Raven, and Cinder? The maiden powers are basically magic right? Why isn’t Cinder using any other element than fire?)

6. Weiss was completely useless. Look, as the saying goes, “You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family.” And when it came to Weiss and family, she has little to no clue of what it is nor deserves it. Weiss should have been more of an inspiration for Whitley to do right. How? By simply talking to him. What reason would she have other than Mantle? Simple, he’s her brother and she started off like him. Beacon, she was a brat. She was arrogant. And more importantly a jerk. Blake ran because of her racist attitude. Ruby literally had to impress her to prove she can be leader. Even though Weiss is not leadership martial herself.  Plus, hearing May and how she and her family never resolved their issues should inspire Weiss to not repeat that mistake. And guess what, her mom, Willow, the drinker of the family, wasn’t wrong. Both her and Winter left Whitley alone. Klein wasn’t there for him either. All Whitley had was his father. So Weiss, actually acting like his sister and trying to help him allows him to feel less alone. Instead Weiss was complete Jacque through out the entire volume.  

And that’s all.  Look I know I should have seen this coming but I had to say it.  Volume 8 could’ve been good. The problem was.

1.       Characters are not placed well within the story.

2.       We lost track of who said characters are.

3.       The ships are in the way.

4.       Being dumb for the plot. (Sometimes it’s necessary.)

[adm-starblitzsteel-4305]

Based on your post @sassyassblog 😁:

P.S. I'm using the MonsterVerse Kaijus as humans since this is also from my GenAU MV Edition. So no worries.

Here's the scenario:

"Man..." thought Godzilla as he walked tiredly towards his mansion, "I need a quick nap..."

Turning around making sure no one was sneaking at him, he knelt down to the front door and snag a key he secretly kept from a carpet. He opened the door and enter before closing it shut.

The man took off his shoes and socks before putting it on a casket beside the door. His darkish black to navy blue hair is in mess due to the extreme heat back from where he work at a city and also in due course of his job. As usual, he often comes late at home since his wife, Mothra, usually is first to arrived home shortly before himself.

Still, she's not here, so maybe Godzilla need an extra free range of their cozy house. Once his wife arrived home, he smirked at the deal that he told her a few days ago.

He needs to arrange a few things.

It was already 5:15 PM, Godzilla thought about his best friends. Most likely, Rodan, Anguirus and Kong were sometimes having a sleepover with him (which Mothra denies it for their unruly manners, something that Godzilla feared for her anger), only for 2 days. Or even a week if there's an activity going around the mansion he and Mothra owned. Currently, Rodan had finally found a job as a chef from a local restaurant, Anguirus deliberately needed to pass an exam to be a history teacher, and Kong...well...he's still a policeman and work tirelessly to earn some savings for his adoptive deaf daughter Jia and her adoptive mother Ilene Andrews.

Success earns hardwork and support, that's something Mothra - yes, she is a science and art teacher - reminded them for their lives.

Anyway, just as Godzilla was about to head upstairs...

"LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKK AT ME~"

He jumped from a sudden breakout of a familiar voice that scared the shit of his pants. Well, whoever broke in to his home without permission shall get the beat out of their shit in no mercy, he swore it.

Instantly, the man heard a sound of a running water coming across the bathroom (the door was practically open slightly). Carefully not to make any noise, Godzilla tiptoed from the source, only for his eyes scanned from something he just ever seen in the entire motherfucking world.

"WHAT THE FU-"

"TELL ME WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATT YOU SEE~"

Standing in the middle of a shower is none other than RODAN!

By the looks of it, his back was on a curtains, showering by himself, and practically naked (well, half naked to be exact). The fiery red haired Mexican man didn't seem to bother that Godzilla was there peeping. In his hand was a brush used to scrub on a skin, preferrably the ones that Mothra used it.

Damn, of all places...

"AM I GOOOOOOOOOOOOOODD OR BAD~"

Godzilla had never been slack-jawed of how fucking awesome Rodan's singing voice is. I mean, he had seen Rodan singing crazily after drinking a shot too much back from their old times sake, which he and even Kong dragged him all because of his violent manner after having a fight with some unwanted men from a bar. But this one...

"Woah..." Godzilla breathed, "Rody's not so bad with that voice, I bet some girls would swoon over him if he was a celebrity."

"DON'T YOU JUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDDGGEE SO FAST~"

But as Rodan twirled around...

"Hey, hey, hey-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Rodan let out a mightiest girlish scream of the entire mansion, almost shook off the ass out of his confidence. His eyes wide as dinner plates when he saw Godzilla on the door peeping, who was indeed startled by the redhaired man's scream.

Knowing he is caught red-handed, and indeed naked, he covered himself with his arms and hands, purposely snagged a towel beside the sink and wrapped it around his waist, before marching towards Godzilla and slammed the door shut.

"What was that for, Rodan?!" Godzilla growled.

"Like indeed you are peeping me without knocking!" Rodan bites back.

"Oh really? Then you should've closed it before your bird-brain of yours!"

"You just entered my-our own house without texting me?!" Godzilla said angrily, "You know what happens when Mothra finds out just like what happened to you and Ghidorah!"

"That's in the past now, we'll never do it again! I promised!"

"Then what are you fucking doing here?!"

Rodan slowly opens the door with a dull expression...

"...I'm running out of water back from my apartment and I haven't pay a rent so..." He gave him a puppy eyes.

Oh great. Just fucking great.

Rodan had barely payed a rent just to avoid himself kicked out by the landowner. Many times, he would got himself into trouble, and Godzilla and Kong even needed to bail him out because of that.

Godzilla sighed heavily, massaging his temples just to avoid 10 times headache and all.

"Okay, fine! I'll gave you a cash."

Rodan beamed.

"But! I'm not taking any chances! You need to worked harder, and you're already hired as a chef. I'm counting on you, Rody."

"Gracias mi mejor amigo."

"Now hurry up before Mothra finds out and gonna beat you out of your daylights."

"Okay!"

"BTW, Rodan..." Godzilla leaned over the wall, "I didn't know you have a wonderful singing voice."

"R-Really?"

"Yeah, good thing nobody would notice your quite voice and good looks..."

"And that you are indeed a good singer."

Godzilla and Rodan are startled by another voice, because that voice was no other than Godzilla's wife and His Queen, Mothra.

Sweat trickled down their foreheads, seeing the expression of the white-haired woman...

"Now..."

Oh boy.....

Outside, infinite babblings and pleading were heard followed by a loud smack as Godzilla and Rodan are deserved to be punished.

But at the same time, Mothra quitely likes the singing voice of the red-haired man, but hated the fact that Rodan dared to enter their house without permission.

Lesson learned, Rodan, the Fire Demon.

~✦~

From @adm-starblitzsteel-4305

Also, the song Rodan sang in the bathroom was titled "Good Tonight" by Daniel Pemberton and Anthony Ramos from the movie The Bad Guys.

Also, my MV Rodan's voice actor is Anthony Ramos. I thought that would be fun since Ramos voiced Mr. Piranha. 😁

And I am still looking for MV Mothra's voice actress while my MV Godzilla's voice actor is Keith David.

Well anyway, have fun reading it!

😉

[star-going-supernova]

So. Madison Russell. Godzilla vs Kong. Welcome to my ted talk.

From a writing perspective, they totally wasted her character. She, Josh, and Bernie were almost exclusively used just as a method of showing the audience what was happening "behind the scenes" at Apex. Pouring the whiskey on the computer was about the only thing of note they did, and even that didn't do much. Mechagodzilla was only slightly hindered by it, and if they'd just written Kong and Godzilla differently in the fight scene, they could have skipped the whiskey part entirely. They could have done so much with having people "on the inside" but Monarch as a greater organization barely had any presence at all, which negated the need to have people on the inside. 

Maddie's steadfast insistence that Godzilla wasn't a bad guy at the beginning had so much potential, but it became the conspiracy thing instead. It felt less like she wanted to prove Godzilla wasn't turning against humans, and more like she and her new conspiracy friend wanted to crack open a shady organization, which was frustrating. If they wanted to depict her as someone who was forced to become competent at a young age, which was part of the serious, intense vibe I got from her, instead of the inexplicable personality shift, they should have showed her doing something to help. Getting in contact with her dad/Monarch, giving them evidence to begin a city wide evacuation outside the Apex Hong Kong HQ, messing something up or making it harder for the Apex people to get Mechagodzilla up and running—just, anything. 

The fact is, we had Maddie being very proactive in KotM. Stealing the ORCA was the game changer. Instead of taking that to the next level in GvK and giving her an opportunity to continue that aspect of her character—that is, being someone who refuses to sit by when she can do something to help, even if it’s dangerous—they rendered her obsolete. 

The movie wouldn't have significantly changed if you took her character out. If Bernie went by himself and ended up in Hong Kong, nothing would have changed, because Maddie didn't do anything of personal importance. She went from being an active character in KotM to being a passive one here, which are a pet peeve of mine. If you saw my post about what I liked and didn’t like about Godzilla (2014), that might sound very familiar.

It would also have made so much more sense if she developed a love for studying Titans instead of focusing on conspiracy theories. Plot-wise, it would have given her claim to her dad that Godzilla was being provoked more credence, and could’ve opened an interesting dialogue between them to reinforce that she knows what she’s talking about. Monarch was obviously still a big part of their lives, given that Mark had rejoined, so it would’ve been the perfect opportunity for Maddie to pursue a Titan-related future. 

Now, don’t get me wrong. I loved Jia, and wouldn’t want to take her out of the movie or even diminish her presence in it. In fact, I think they should have focused on Jia, and only on Jia. 

Hear me out: Godzilla vs Kong should’ve been split in two. A Part 1 and Part 2 situation. 

For Part 1, we keep a lot of the GvK canon, especially the Kong-centric stuff. Include even more scenes showing us that he’s protective of Jia, don’t just have Dr. Andrews say that he is. Have him defend her from something dangerous, maybe even from some humans. Include their backstory, how he saved her during the storm. And start it even earlier, before Godzilla attacks Apex the first time. Keep the whole Hollow Earth plot, keep the fight scene in the ocean, keep the discovery of the temple and the axe.

And on the Godzilla side of things, start earlier on that as well. Keep the other Titans in, have humanity tentatively believing that a time of great peace is upon them. Their mere presence is restoring the planet. There was an emphasis of nature, particularly in relation to the Titans, in KotM that I really think they should have included more of in GvK to better tie the two movies together, if only they hadn’t swept all the other Titans under the rug. They wanted a movie about a fight, not about the Titans. So, undo that. Show us a little of what Mark does, do a sweep of the other KotM cast (cameos at the very least) to show how they and Monarch are working to uphold that peace post-Boston. I’d also have loved to see Boston itself, too, five years later. 

Instead of giving us a Generic High School scene, show Maddie learning about the Titans alongside the experts. Bring back the wonder and amazement she had when she saw Mothra for the first time, when she reached out and touched her. She’s second generation Monarch, make that mean something. When Maddie took the ORCA to Boston, she had a conviction. She couldn’t not have. She was there in part to lure Ghidorah in, but I can’t even pretend to believe her plan ended with that. She knew Godzilla would come. 

That sort of belief is hard to kill, and if death via Ghidorah wasn’t enough to scare her off, no way anything else in those five years afterwards did. Her belief that Godzilla is good survived to GvK, and should’ve been a main focal point of her character. Godzilla attacks Apex—she and every other Monarch person who has spent years studying the Titans knows something is up. 

Keep Mark’s character development regarding his opinions on Godzilla. He believes Maddie when she says something has to be wrong, not just because he trusts his daughter, but because he looked into Godzilla’s eyes and saw more than just an animal. 

They’re in Part 1 only minimally, just to establish their presence and how they feel about Godzilla destroying Apex. The focus is clearly on Jia and Kong’s side of events. 

Sorry, but I’m leaving Josh out and seriously dialing back Bernie’s role. Instead, the character we follow inside Apex is Ren Serizawa. We see his motivations, his ambitions, and he becomes a character with more than just a few lines. Does he resent Godzilla? Or does he resent his father, too? Serizawa’s sacrifice was willing, after all. He was no accidental casualty. 

Part 1 ends in the Hollow Earth, with Ghidorah taking control of Mechagodzilla on the surface. Alter the timeline just enough so that Godzilla has only just arrived to Hong Kong, and Kong’s still in the Hollow Earth. The final scene is Mechagodzilla emerging into the city as the sun rises. The post-credits scene is our KotM cast in the Argo, location unknown, watching a screen with Mechagodzilla on it. 

Part 2 begins with a reveal: Ren Serizawa isn’t dead. 

Backtrack. This part focuses more on the Godzilla side, and Monarch. It’ll have flashback scenes from the five years between KotM and now, showing exactly why Monarch as a whole firmly believes Godzilla is reacting to something instead of being anti-human all of a sudden. The Titans are not inherently malicious; destruction is a side effect of their size, no more, no less. He earned his title of King in KotM—make it mean more than just trying to make Kong “bow.” Make him a protector, a guardian. He’s nature’s balance. By definition, he must protect humans as well. 

What Monarch needs to figure out is this: what is he trying to protect them from? 

They investigate Apex in search of the answer, but knowing from past experience the sort of things Godzilla gets proactive about—the MUTOs, Ghidorah—Monarch mobilizes. They prepare for another fight, at Mark’s instructions. He witnessed both San Francisco and Boston firsthand, even if the former was from a civilian standpoint. 

Godzilla has more hunt scenes. He targets a second Apex lab after his ocean fight with Kong, telling Monarch that they’re on the right track. 

Maddie, being a minor and not dragged into the thick of things (yet), has to stay home. Remembering the podcast she sometimes listened to, when the topic was focused on the Titans, she tracks Bernie down, and he tells her about what he saw: the eye. 

The two of them go to the ruined Apex building and discover the eye is gone before getting caught. With Monarch currently breathing down their necks, they recognize Maddie to be Mark’s daughter and take her to Hong Kong. Sorry, Bernie, but that’s mostly as far as you’re involved. Timeline-wise, this is roughly when Kong puts the axe in the temple floor and Godzilla blasts a hole to the center of the earth. Monarch is following Godzilla, but they’re behind a bit thanks to the tunnel shortcuts. They’re still unaware that Maddie has been kidnapped and is en route to Hong Kong.

This is also when Mechagodzilla gains a life of its own. Walter Simmons is killed and Ren Serizawa becomes trapped in the link to Mechagodzilla, serving as the bridge between the robot and Ghidorah’s mind. Ghidorah is essentially controlling MG by controlling Ren, who is controlling MG. Make sense? He’s the puppeteer’s puppeteer. 

We reverse some things. Godzilla fights MG first, gets beat around but not as much as in GvK because he isn’t fresh out of a different fight. Kong returns to the surface through the tunnel Godzilla created, having carried the one remaining HEAV out himself, because Nathan Lind has never flown one before and doesn’t know how they work. Kong wants to protect Jia, and Ilene Andrews and Nathan Lind are very lucky that Jia likes them. 

Mechagodzilla sees Kong and takes off, and Kong decides now would be a great time to fight Godzilla, who’s having a pretty bad day. Monarch arrives, and half of them split off to follow MG while the rest stay to try and deescalate the situation. Other than Godzilla faring slightly less well, the fight goes mostly the same as in the movie, except for one big difference: one of the Monarch crafts pick up Jia and Co, and she’s able to get Kong’s attention from the back of an Osprey well enough to tell him to stop fighting. There’s a bigger threat out there, and Godzilla definitely needs to be okay enough to fight it. Either they work together, or they reschedule. 

She’s very stern about it, and though no one’s really sure what the two Titans decide on, they stop fighting. They leave together to go after Mechagodzilla, who is currently being slowed down by Mothra, because she deserves to be in this movie. The other Titans basically hinder Mechagodzilla as much as possible as it rampages, telling Godzilla where it is. Monarch finally figures out that it’s heading for the nearest entrance to the Hollow Earth, right around when they also figure out that Ghidorah is involved. With Dr. Andrews and Nathan Lind’s input, they theorize it intends to take more of the power source down there to further strengthen it. 

They do their best to clear the cities in its path, evacuating as many people as possible. It’s all they can do. As in the past, they must trust Godzilla to do the heavy lifting. Around the same time, an assistant tells Mark that some guy named Bernie called and is asking for him. This is how he finds out Maddie was taken to Apex’s Hong Kong location.

Meanwhile, the Apex guards and Maddie finally arrive to find the facility abandoned and damaged, MG gone, and Simmons dead. The guards more or less split, leaving her there alone. Maddie, being Maddie, goes deeper until she finally discovers Ghidorah’s skull and Ren Serizawa inside, trapped in his own head with Ghidorah. It’s killing him. 

He’s aware enough to have a conversation with her. They argue about the Titans. He wants Godzilla destroyed out of anger over his father’s preference for Titans, rather than his own son. 

(“You’re not the only one with ghosts!” she yells at him. “You’re not the only one who resents a parent for putting Titans ahead of you when you needed them!” He chokes out, “I do not resent my father—” “Coulda fooled me. Why else would you be spitting on his sacrifice like this? Who are you trying to help, huh? All the other kids out there who are losing their moms and dads because you let Ghidorah out? Sorry, mister, but the last time someone did that, your dad paid the price.”) 

Ren is getting worse. He’s going to die if he stays in the link much longer, but he can’t disconnect. Maddie, looking around, gets to work on something. The camera slowly pans around to show that there’s a second pilot seat, back-to-back with Ren’s. It would allow for seamless switching between pilots without MG ever not having someone at the controls. 

Even with the other Titans’ help, Godzilla and Kong are unable to stop MG from going through the tunnel and into the Hollow Earth. Monarch is unable to follow, because of the gravity issue. They’re both tired from the journey and their fight, especially Godzilla. This is their last chance. If Mechagodzilla reaches the power source, it’s all over. 

The fight doesn’t go in their favor. They’re both bad at working together, so their attacks are uncoordinated at best, actively hindering each other at worst. Kong gets flung off a mountain and MG pins Godzilla. Even thought he caught himself, Kong isn’t going to make it up in time to help him. 

Maddie puts on an identical pilot setup, and with Ren’s instructions, switches the link over to herself, freeing Ren. He collapses forward, immediately falling unconscious from the release of the strain. Fighting past the pain and overwhelming presence suddenly in her head, Maddie does what she does best: she causes Ghidorah problems. 

She screams, and it echoes like a roar through his skull. 

In the Hollow Earth, Mechagodzilla stumbles. 

It’s the beginning of the end. She can’t control it or even really stop Ghidorah, but she gets in his way as much as possible, giving Godzilla and Kong the edge they need to finally get their act together and use some teamwork to take Mechagodzilla down. They destroy it and return to the surface before parting on amicable terms. 

After too long, Mark arrives at Apex with a whole team of people. Ren Serizawa is found comatose but alive, and he’s quickly removed for medical attention. Though Maddie’s also alive, there’s something else clearly wrong. She’s still wired into the piloting gear, stiff and unseeing, as if she’s frozen. Her eyes are open but distant, pupils virtually gone from how constricted they are, and her jaw hangs open slightly. Despite how tense her body is, she’s limp. Nothing they do wakes her up, even after getting her out of the skull. 

They wheel her out on a gurney to where a handful of Ospreys landed, but as they leave the building and step out onto the roof, they find Godzilla has returned. He watches them, and he’s exactly as aware as Mark remembers. 

(“She tried to help you,” Mark calls out to him. No one knows exactly what happened in the Hollow Earth, during the fight, but the scene in Ghidorah’s skull was telling. “No, she—she did help you!” For the second time in her life, Maddie put herself in Ghidorah’s path and, ultimately, won. Only this time, her victory came with a price.) 

Godzilla snorts before leaning over the roof’s railing, moving toward the gurney. The humans all back away, even Mark, though he doesn’t go far. Spines humming, eyes flaring blue, Godzilla rumbles deeply. 

On the gurney, Maddie stirs. 

Later, much later, after Maddie and Jia have met—heaven help everyone else, honestly—they sit together on the edge of a pier over the ocean, Jia leaning comfortably against Maddie. It’s quiet. They’re alone, watching the sunset. A heavy footfall behind them, the feel of the vibration trembling through the wood, makes them turn around. Half concealed in the brush at the edge of the island’s foliage, Kong stands, facing them. 

They both wave before standing. They sign goodbye to each other, then part ways. As Maddie walks away to a waiting Osprey, we see behind her as Kong crouches to allow Jia to climb into his palm before vanishing into the forest. 

The Osprey takes off over the calm ocean. It has a different design than most, with a large door set in the side instead of at the back, more like an ordinary helicopter. It’s open as they go, Maddie secure inside as she stares out. A smile spreads across her face as jagged spines slowly breach the ocean’s surface, easily keeping pace with the Osprey, which lowers to be closer to the water.

For just a moment, in the fading light, Maddie’s eyes almost shine blue. The screen goes black to the sound of Godzilla’s roar.

[squishmallow36]

Keeper of the Lost Prepositions - Thirty-five

Word count: 2.6k

Taglist (lmk if you want to be added/removed!): @stellar-lune @gaslight-gaetkeep-gayboss @kamikothe1and0lny @nyxpixels @florida-floppy-frog @poppinspop @crystallinewalker @uni-seahorse-572 @solreefs @books-over-boys @rusted-phone-calls @when-wax-wings-melt @cotyledon-tomentosa @good-old-fashioned-lover-boy7 @dexter-dizzknees @abubble125

Tw: none outside of the first verse of bohemian rhapsody

On Ao3 or below the cut!

    The day after I beat Fitz so badly in magic, he’s so far into his graveyard a necromancer wouldn’t even touch him, Elwin hails me to tell me that Keefe’s run away again. 

    Naturally, I text Keefe to try to figure out where he went. I thought we were at least on texting terms. 

   Hey Hunkyhair. I honestly thought you’d text me if you ran away. 

    I tell Elwin that I texted Keefe on Grady’s Imparter that he better still have, but it might be a little while before he responds. 

    I give Keefe a day to respond before saying, I’m not joking, Keefe. Give me a sign that you’re alive at the very least. 

    The next day, I’m texting him every hour or so until Elwin hails me, saying, “Hi, Dex. I found a note from Keefe. I’m guessing you’re going to come over here and break a few laws of physics in the process.”

    “One sec. I have to tell Fitzy.”

We’re playing Torchlight, so it isn’t difficult to find him, at least. 

    @Wonderboy Do you remember how I told you @Hunkyhair ran away again?

    @Dexnopath Why wouldn’t I?

    @Wonderboy Elwin says he’s left another note at the Healing Centre and it was a convenient subject change. 

    @Dexnopath I guess I’ll see you there.

    Wonderboy has left the game. 

    I log off to go chase Fitz down before he does something reckless. Particularly in the field of Alvar. 

    I walk in to Fitz saying, “That’s not Keefe’s handwriting. It’s close, but it’s off.”

    “You’re sure?”

    He whips around to see me walking over to him. 

    “He’s copied enough of my homework before school. I know it better than my own some days.”

    “Is it possible that it’s changed because of the human world or it was a bad handwriting day?”

   “These notes are normal,” he says, sifting through the piles of notes from his week in the Healing Centre, and I hope that he doesn’t find a Cassius one from when I accidentally…came out. Or at least he doesn’t read the content. 

    “See that there? His dots above his “i”s are almost always circles, but occasionally slashes. I’ve seen very few actual dots. And it’s tilted to the right. I always thought it was because he was writing at full speed at an angle, but this is completely straight up and down. Plus, it’s so much smaller than usual, and his “f”s are cursive, most of the time since Level Three.”

    “Okay. Wow.”

    “Considering all of that, it seems pretty likely that this is a forgery.”

    Taking the paper, brain thinking faster than I can explain myself, I turn on Elwin’s bunsen burner and hold the paper over it. 

    “What are you doing?” Fitz screeches. He’ll probably try to claim that he didn't ‘screech’ but I know the real truth. 

    Forcing thoughts into words, I explain,”If Keefe was the one to write this, he could’ve hidden something on here and most invisible inks react to heat. I saw him drawing on the walls at the Shores of Solace with invisible ink once.”

    “Is there a less dangerous way to do it? He could’ve hidden a code in there.”

    “Well, if you want me to expose it to different acids to see if it reacts, that’s still an option. Grape juice usually works.”

    “Fine. Keep doing what you’re doing. Just don’t set the paper on fire.”

    “Thank you, Captain Obvious.”

    He gives it another few seconds before saying, “I don’t see anything. Does it need to be taken away from the fire and left to cool before it’ll do anything?”

    “Unfortunately, no.”

    I sit down on the closest cot and Fitz sighs. 

    “So what now?”

    “Godzilla probably took our Keefe, so that means the Neverseen has access to his abilities.”

    “What’s a Godzilla?” Fitz asks, tired of asking me about human things.

    “Giant fire-breathing lizard. Destroyer of cities. Purely fictional, I think.”

    “Oh.” Fitz says.”Keefe wouldn’t use his abilities on purpose.”

    “I know, but he wouldn’t risk hurting Sophie, and they’ve proven time and time again they can do whatever they want whenever they want.”

    “What do you suggest? I can try to see if Alvar knows anything.”

    “He’s too stupid to be told anything so don’t bother. Just let me think for a second…I think I might have a quarter of a thought. Elwin, do you have any spare notebooks? I’ll bring you as many as you want.”

    “I’ll take you up on that offer.”

    He gives me an old notebook, and it takes me a few too many seconds to find a blank piece of paper. I’ve grown accustomed to taking a pen with me so I can write things down on my hand whenever inspiration strikes.

    Sketching out some messy diagrams that I won’t be able to read ever again, I begin to talk to myself, thinking out loud. “Keefe’s ability can be blocked by ear plugs. Well, to a certain extent that we’ve tested, so I should make a pair of ear plugs to protect us in the long term.”

    But they need to be turned on and off.

    “I can install a manual on/off switch. But what about if we’re unable to reach our ears for whatever reason?”

    Voice commands?

    “But what if we can’t talk to them? And how do I prevent Godzilla from just mimicking one of our voices to hack the system? Fitz, do you think we could make it so that it reads telepathic energy?”

    I look at him, patiently waiting for an answer.

    “Slow down, technopath. Please.”

    “Would I be able to harness telepathic energy to activate and deactivate a pair of ear plugs yes or no?”

    “I feel like I missed a lot. But you proved you could mess with it in the gadget about which we don’t speak, so I don’t see why not.”

    “Cool.”

    It takes a few more minutes, during which I am acutely aware that Fitz is watching over my shoulder. I don’t exactly remember when he sat next to me. My brain probably fried because he’s within a one-metre radius.

    “How do I prevent Godzilla from just deactivating them?” I whisper rhetorically.

    But Fitz actually answers, and it’s a helpful answer. “Telepathic energy is in the form of waves, right? And waves come in all sorts of different sizes?”

    “Amplitudes, and how fast the wave repeats is the frequency,” I supply. 

    “Sure. It would make sense that different people have different frequencies? Like fingerprints? Maybe?”

    “Yeah…but then only one person would have access to each different pair. And I would have to determine it to a tiny range, which doesn’t sound fun from a theoretical perspective. That’s usually where I have ideas and then realize in the real life application that it was a stupid idea.”

    “Or maybe make it only detect waves within a certain small distance away?” Fitz suggests.

    “So I have to intentionally make it crappy is what you’re saying.”

    “It’s not crappy if that’s how it’s designed to work.”

    “…I should hook it up to my Spotify account while I’m at it.”

    “Maybe do that after the first working version?”

    “Suggestion noted and immediately discarded. I’m going to go head home and work on this until it’s done or my eyeballs fall out of my head. I’ll text you when they’re in the prototype phase because I might have to do some adjustments like the thing about which we do not speak. Might be a few days until it’s ready. Tech is finicky, even on a good day.”

    “Are we still on for Torchlight tonight? Because if the answer’s no, I’m teaching Biana how to play Magic: The Gathering.”

    “Speaking of Biana, I should see if I can make light pass through it so it can’t be seen by Godzilla and the rest of the Neverseen.”

    “If you need a break, I’m free whenever.”

    “Thanks for the offer, but I know I won’t be able to take a break. I know my brain. Even if I convince it to take a break, it will still obsess over the problem. When it starts melting out my ears, it still will refuse to stop.”

    “Bye! I have too much free time. I’m here for whatever you might need.”

    I need to stop thinking about how stunning your smile is, that’s what I need.

    “Bye! If you haven’t heard from me in forty-eight hours, make sure I’m still alive. Just keep in mind that I won’t get up willingly before ten.”

    “Trust me. I know.”

    With a final wave, I leap away using my home crystal, and start building these tiny, tiny earplugs. Remind me next time that this is really a bad idea. 

    I constantly try to tell myself to go to sleep, starting at two in the morning, but before I know it, it’s sunrise. 

    I haven’t seen too many sunrises before. 

    I text Fitz around one, knowing he’s been awake for hours, When you see this, I need you for the first round of testing.

    I’ll be right there. You’re already done?

    I forgot to go to sleep. But I wouldn't call it done. 

    Sophie, is that you?

    I know, right?

    “Hey, mate. You look like you haven’t slept,” he says, entering my room. 

    “Sorry. I’ll be back to my normal sleep schedule within the week.”

    “You didn’t have to—.”

    “My brain wouldn’t shut up enough to let me sleep, so I chugged some tea and here we are. Are you ready to have your brain melted? Thought so.”

    “What do I need to do?”

   “First I’m going to test them on me one more time, so I’m going to put them in my ears, and you’re going to start talking to see if I can turn them on and off, then it’ll be your turn.”

   “Okay. What should I say?”

    “I’m so glad you asked. Channel your inner Siri and start reading these song lyrics.”

   “I’m sure you have some reasoning, but I don’t want to ask. ‘Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?” 

    I put my new ear plugs in, and it muffles the sound slightly. Not terrible. Like I have earbuds in with no music. 

    “‘Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality’”

    Turn on, s’il te plaît.

    I see Fitz mouthing, “‘Open your eyes, look up to the skies, and see. I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,’” but I don’t hear anything, other than my mental playback.

    Turn off.

    “‘’Cause I’m easy come easy go little high little low.”

    I join in. “‘Any way the wind blows doesn’t really matter to me, to me.”

    I tap out a pathetic version of the piano on the desk while Fitz asks, “Did it work?”

    “So far, yeah. Your turn. I’ll pick up where we left, and, just as an extra incentive, I’m going to be failing at singing it.”

    He pops in the ear plugs, and I begin. “‘Mama, just killed a man. Put a gun against his head, pull my trigger now he’s dead. Mama, life had just begun. And now I’ve gone and thrown it all away. Mama, didn’t mean to make you cry. If I’m not back again this time tomorrow, carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters.’”

    Fitz pops an ear plug out, and asks, “What did I do wrong? There’s more words.”

    “I figured the stanza break was a good place to stop. Also, did it work for you? Did you have to suffer through that the entire time?”

    “Your singing isn’t terrible, and even if you think it is, why did you choose to sing?”

    “Because it’s Bohemian Rhapsody and it’s going to play in my head anyway, so there isn’t really a choice.”

    “To answer your question, I figured out how to turn them on. Not so much off.”

    “Thinking please might help. There’s also a manual on/off switch and a switch to scan or ignore telepathic waves for convenience.”

    “This really only took you one day?”

    “Do I look like I’ve slept to you? I’m completely living on caffeine right now.”

    “You shouldn’t have done this to yourself.”

    “It needed to be done, and I have a nasty procrastination habit, so if I stop, it won’t get done. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to trick this out with invisibility and Bluetooth before making a ton more.”

    “Please sleep.”

    “I’ve got so much tea in my system that’s not an option. And there’s so much sunlight I might not even be able to pass out.”

    “Anything I can do…?”

    Maybe stop distracting me with that…everything. 

    “If you wanna play with them some more, I’m sure the triplets would love bothering someone.”

    “No thanks. I already have my own crazy sister. I don’t need yours. I’ll be back home if you need me. Hail me if you have a major breakthrough. Bye!”

    Barely even registering that he left, I say, “Bye,” and hail Biana to see if she has any insights about how to make this thing invisible.”

    “Hi, Dex. Didn’t think you were hailing anyone anymore,” Biana says. 

    “Hey Biana. I was wondering if I could talk to you about how I could get a gadget to allow light to pass through it.”

    “No clue. I just kinda do it. I did mean to hail you yesterday, but Fitz told me you were busy and I didn’t know how to send those messages you love so much.”

    “If you keep calling me out on that, I’m going to uninstall the hailing function on my Imparter,” I warn.

   “Yeah, yeah, whatever. What I was meaning to ask you was how to determine the difference between finding someone attractive, you know, objectively, and finding yourself attracted to them.”

    “Someone on this hail is questioning and it isn’t me. Am I right?”

    “Stay in your own closet. Don’t come and bother mine.”

    “I don’t know. I thought I liked Sophie, for pity’s sake. Do you want to give me any details about, say, what girl has caught your attention?”

    “Not particularly. How’s it going hiding your gayness?”

    “Almost told my parents. Twice. It isn’t fair that someone’s still so perfect all the time when you know for a fact that he won’t like you back even if he isn’t straight, which, of course he is because why wouldn’t he be?”

    “I hear you.”

    “Haven’t found out any more fellow gays in the past week, but I’m sure there’s more that we know. Just have to leave the house a little more often.”

    “You and Wonderboy have been spending an awfully long time ‘playing video games’ recently.”

    Ignoring her air quotes, I say, “At least he’s stopped baking. There’s a limit to how much mallowmelt I can eat and I might have found it if he hadn’t.”

    Biana laughs. 

    “I know, right? There might be such a thing as too much of a good thing.”

    “But today is not that day.”

    “Oh. One more thing. How do I beat him in Magic?”

    “Play a fast deck. Maybe a red or a green. Unless he has my mono white named United Assault. That way you can beat him down before he even gets a chance to do anything about it. Blue is good in the long game, so he’ll win unless you can deck him out. Just try to overwhelm him with a swarm of creatures.”

    “Thanks. He just got home a couple minutes ago, so I think this might be the day that I beat him. Bye!”

    She waves and clicks off before I can mention that I know he just got home because he was literally just at my house. 

[thiswasinevitableid]

95. you just witnessed me kill a guy and I have a really, really good reason for it, please don’t call the cops

Sternclay as a super/vigilante au? sfw or nsfw, please!

Here you go! This is NSFW

Content note: this fic contains mentions of murder, serial killers, knives. Brief description of a porn scene with implied dub-con (you can skip from the part where Barclay sees the TV to the next section break). But I included lots of fluff to balance it out.

This is the best hook-up Barclays had in years. Mr. Tall, dark, and handsome has done nothing but compliment him all night, from the fit of his shirt down to his kissing skills. So now that he’s facedown on the bed in this guys brownstone wearing only his boxers, he’s so excited he can barely think.

“Almost ready” a shcck of blinds dropping, “I just need to grab one more thing. Then the fun can start.”

“Can’t wait.” He sighs, shuts his eyes as his date moves across the room. Then the movement stops.

“Who the fu-”

Horrible, sticky warmth spatters the side of his face. Startled, he opens his eyes in time to watch his date fall to the floor, dead. Behind him is a figure in dark clothes with a tactical mask covering his face and a gun with a silencer in his right hand. A figure who has just noticed Barclay is awake.

In five swift, purposeful steps he’s at the bed, and Barclay doesn’t know what to do, whether to bolt for the window or knock the gun away or beg or, or or-

“Are you alright, sir?” The voice coming from the mask is calm and businesslike.

“.........what do you think?” Is the reply his useless brain comes up with.

“You look like you’re in shock. Which is understandable.” A gloved hand touches his face, “shit, I’m sorry, I was hoping none of it would get on you. Here, hold still.” He rifles through a pocket while Barclay’s mind drifts further from his body. Why isn’t he just killing him now? Is this part of some sick game?

“Turn your face this way just a bit” the back of his hand nudges Barclay’s chin, “good, thank you. I’m going to get you cleaned up, once that’s done I need to ask you to stay here until I’m finished cleaning up the scene. And also to not call the authorities for help when I’m out of the room.”

“Why?” Nope, okay, that’s it, that’s the reply that gets him shot.

“For one, you’re not in any danger from me. You were in danger from the now-deceased Mr. Martin, which is why I killed him.”

“I, uh, h-how can you be sure?”

“Let me show you” he helps Barclay up, guides him to the body, “you don’t need to look at him, just at that.”

He’s pointing to the boning knife clutched in the man’s hand. Barclay’s guts turn to sour milk.

“M-maybe he picked that up when he saw you?”

The killer shakes his head, gently guides Barclay back to the bed and, after a moment of studying the nightstand, pulls out the bottom drawer. It contains two more knives, duck tape, pliers, and seven, severed human thumbs.

“Oh fuck. What the fuck, what the fuck?” He whispers as the man closes the drawer.

“Mr. Martin is the Bear Butcher. I doubt you’ve heard of him, because that’s the name the authorities use among themselves while insisting that there’s no need to warn the public about him. He’s killed seven men, all gay and all on the bigger side; you would have been number eight.”

“I’m gonna be sick” He tips forward, feels gloved hands catch him and easily half-drag him into what turns out to be the bathroom.

“Wait here and do what you need to. I’ll be done in fifteen minutes, less if I can manage it. And, um, you might want to keep your eyes closed.”

Barclay has no problem with that order, though when the killer (his hero?) moves the body into the tub he discovers both the reason for the warning and that he does indeed have more in his stomach to throw up.

After an eternity of iron and bleach in the air and bile on his tongue, he’s helped back into the bedroom. The man hands him his clothes, turning his back as he dresses. He’s changed too, though the mask remains.

“I, I didn’t bring my car.” Barclay says weakly, knowing he won’t have the energy to walk home and the thought of getting in a cab or rideshare sets his nerves screaming.

“I assumed, since he wouldn’t want it being abandoned to lead to someone calling you in missing. If you’re okay with it, I can give you a ride home.”

Barclay nods. The man ushers him out the front door, pausing at the threshold for a final sweep. Then he pulls off his mask. Black hair sticks up until he smooths it back in a practiced motion, and blue eyes regard Barclay gently from a handsome face.

“It’s the Altima, right on the corner.” He says, folding the mask and tucking it into his pocket. Barclay gives his address, sits stiffly in the passenger seat as a pop station plays from the speakers.

“Do you want to change the station?”

“No” Barclay inhales fine, but the exhale comes out shaky, “jesus, how are you so calm?”

“Because if I’m trying to help you stay calm, I need to model the behavior. And, um, this isn’t my first time doing this, in case that wasn’t obvious. I’ve never had a witness before, for all the usual reasons and I’d prefer not to traumatize someone. But he went off his pattern and picked you up tonight, and I was not about to let him claim another victim.”

“Thank you.” Barclay doesn’t know what else to say. His adrenaline brain suggests propositioning the man in gratitude because it’s not everyday a hot mystery man saves your life. But the rest of him is well aware that if anyone touched him right now he might scream.

“It’s my job. Or it’s supposed to be.”

His curiosity peeks out from where it’s been hiding behind his sense of self-preservation, “What’s your name? Or can you not tell me?”

“It’s Joseph.”

“Barclay.”

“I wish we’d met under better circumstances, Barclay. Oh, here we are.” He parks the car, engine still running, “do you want me to wait until you’re inside to go?”

It should feel safe; it’s his apartment, his home above Amnesty’s new location, Mama’s own little house just out in the backyard. But his hand can’t make the fucking door handle go.

“Would, uh, would you mind coming up with me? Just, just for a few minutes?”

The man raises his eyebrows, but nods. Soon he’s standing in Barclays little kitchen, hands folded politely behind his back while Barclay tries and fails to start tea.

“If you want to just point to where things are, I can do that for you. You should eat something too, if your stomach’s settled.”

Barclay declines at first, but when his stomach growls Joseph moves through the kitchen--making distracting small talk all the while--not stopping until he’s assembled a plate of crackers, cheese and apples.

“Ooh, you got the good stuff.” He steals a piece for himself while Barclay nibbles a Triscuit

“Kinda a cheese snob; comes with the job.”

They talk about food and food writing until his plate is clear, at which point Joseph suggests he get ready for bed. Without being asked, he stays by the door as Barclay finishes getting changed and brushing his teeth.

“I, uh, I’m not really sure how to, uh, end this night.”

Joseph cups his cheek, “Lock the doors behind me. You don’t need to worry about anything else; you don’t owe me a thing. You’re safe. That’s what matters.” He smiles at him for the last time and heads out into the early morning light.

----------------------------------

“Hey big fella, you’ll never guess who put in an order.” Mama clips up the slip from the table she’s working; Amnesty has been busy in the week since they opened here, so much so that she’s had to help with the crowds.

“Who?” Barclay flips the pancakes he’s watching, checks the bacons for tables 15 and 9.

“Your late night visitor.” Mama winks.

He turns, spots Joseph at the far end of the counter. He’s in a black suit, blue tie setting off his eyes, and his hair is fully slicked back. On his chest is a badge identifying him as working at the nearby FBI offices. He’s clearly as surprised to see Barclay as Barclay is to see him. He’s less surprised that Mama saw him leaving; she gets up early and her window faces his back stairs

“Hold on” Mama nudges him, “did he give you trouble? Because you look pretty off.”

“No, no, just, uh, didn’t expect to see him again.”

Joseph orders hash and poached eggs, and when Barclay sends the order out, he hands Dani a slice of cherry pie to go along with it. He peeks over his shoulder; Joseph is looking at the free dessert, smiling. Then he takes a bite and makes a face that’s borderline orgasmic. Barclay looks away before he drops a hot waffle on his foot.

Amnesty's restaurant closes at 3, and as Barclay is locking the front door, he notices Joseph waiting for him in an easily visible, well-lit spot.

“You know, I meant it when I said you didn’t owe me anything. Not even the most delicious pie I’ve ever eaten.”

“I give freebies now and then” Barclay smiles, “no rule that says I can’t give them to someone who did me a huge fucking favor. And, uh” he blushes, “glad you like the pie.”

“The whole meal was incredible. You’re a very talented cook. Would it be okay if I came back?” His expression is hopeful, almost nervous.

Barclay touches his shoulder, “Anytime.”

-------------------------------------

“So, uh, I’ve haven’t had a chance to ask but, uh, when you’re not working or chatting with me here, what do you do? For, like, fun?” Barclay leans across the counter as Joseph licks his form clean of meringue. Barclay’s gone through twelve different pie recipes in the last month just to see which ones the other man likes best.

“I read a lot, cultivate an extensive knowledge of old horror movies, try to make decent risotto in my apartment...oh, I play frisbee golf sometimes, I picked it up in college.”

“Any interest in seeing that new Godzilla movie? It looks terrible but in a fun way.”

“Oh yeah, I like what I’ve seen of the design they’re using for the kaiju.” He notices Barclays hand resting millimeters for his own. He runs his thumb along Barclays knuckles, “are you asking if I’ll go see it with you, big guy?”

“Uh huh.”

“I’d love to.”

---------------------------------------------

“Holy fuck babe, when you said you were running out to get breakfast I figured you meant, like, McMuffins.”

“Only the best for you, big guy. Consider it a thank you for making dinner last night.” Joseph finishes laying out the donuts from “Holes in One” next to the plate of bagels and lox from the only place that Joseph insists does them right.

Barclay wraps his arms around him, tickling his cheek with his beard, “you’re fucking amazing babe.”

Joseph kisses him, coffee flavored and light, “So are you. Still want to play chess later?”

“Uh huh. Winner gets to blow the loser?”

“I like those terms, Mr. Cobb.”

It’s been like this for the last three months; evenings at the movies or tangled up in bed, mornings in sleepy hazes on the couch or out the eat, days upon days of Joseph spoiling, servicing, and just generally loving the hell out of him.

There are also the nights or, more often, early mornings, when Joseph returns steeped in grim satisfaction. At first he avoided having Barclay over those nights or going to see him the next day. Lately, they’re together so much that it’s unavoidable that Barclay will see the lethal edge lingering in his gaze or rub knots from his shoulders that he knows were earned in some darkened room where horrors had been playing out for weeks, months, even years. He doesn’t shy away from it; he loves Joseph, and that means seeing him clearly, though sometimes what he sees sends chills across his skin. Chills that feel less and less like fear.

They’re out for a walk around the lake, trading bites of gelato, when a question tunnels it’s way to the front of Barclays mind. He waits until they’re sitting on a bench far from any prying ears to ask it.

“What made you decide to, uh, do what you do?”

His boyfriend studies him, then sighs, “A number of things. Fear was the first one; you said you don’t follow true crime, so I’m guessing you don’t know of the Janesville Strangler?”

“Nope.”

“He killed ten young women over the course of three years. He’s also my biological father. Michael Stern is my stepfather and, at my request, my adoptive one as well; my mom remarried as soon as she was sure my father couldn’t get out. He, he never turned any violence on me, but I suspect he used me as leverage with mom; she was a smart woman, I suspect she noticed something amiss but was frightened into keeping quiet. I was six when they locked him up, eight when she remarried. Mike is a gentle man, he did his best to raise me the same. But I, I never shook the fear that whatever drove my father to kill innocent people lurks somewhere in my genes.”

Barclay’s arm rests protectively across Joseph’s shoulders.

“I joined the FBI because I felt if I was able to turn whatever killer genes I have towards understanding serial murderers, I could use them to help others. Keep people safe. Ambition and skill moved me through the ranks quickly but” he sighs, “the more I rose, the more I saw how little was being done. How cases were mishandled, how if there was the slightest hint it was a cop or veteran doing the killing suddenly the case went cold, how a killer could pick off person after person and no one cared because the victims were the “wrong” kind of people. It came to a head two years ago; I’d poured all this energy into a case where the killer went after sex workers. He was prolific and obviously cruel, I fought tooth and nail for every resource I needed to track him. Officer Alex Brown was my main suspect, I was so close to getting a warrant to search his property and then they closed the case. Insisted the deaths were unrelated. I...I went up and searched on my own and” he looks at the sky, rests his head on Barclays arm, “lord almighty the things I found. I was right, I was right and I couldn’t do anything about it, he’d get to just go on preying on people and I couldn’t handle failing his future victims that way. I waited until he went on a hunting trip. Alone. Lots of things can happen to a man in the woods. And it’s hard to find evidence when his body just happens to fall near a coyote den.”

A little smile, one he tries to suppress, creeps up his cheeks, “I’ve never felt so powerful in my entire life. I decided I’d still try to play by the rules but that if I knew, for certain, someone was guilty and being shielded by either ignorance or malice, I’d solve the problem myself.” He looks at Barclay for the first time since he started his answer, face turning to shame, “I’m sorry, I, I should have given the short answer. I didn’t, I don’t want to upset you, or scare you but it’s hard not to given-”

“Joseph” Barclay carefully runs his fingers over black hair, “it’s not like I forgot how we met. I...I’m not under any misimpressions about what you’re capable of. I just wanted to know how you arrived at the solution you did. It’s, uh, it’s not what I’d choose for myself, not something I could do but, uh, I guess what I’m trying to say is that this isn’t going to push me away from you. And that it means a lot to me that you trust me enough to explain it.”

His boyfriend curls closer, “It means a lot to me, too.”

-------------------------------------------------------

Black gloves on his throat, weight on his chest and when he opens his eyes it’s Joseph above him, steel in his gaze and between his fingers. He’s in a muddled dream version of Bear Butcher’s apartment

“Hi, big guy.” The thin knife slices up Barclay’s pants, “let’s get you out of these.”

“Please, please I-”

“Shhhh” Joseph kisses him, “I removed the man who threatened you. But you’re so handsome laid out like this, a victim just waiting for someone to make you scream.”

“Babe, I-”

“That’s not my name right now. Call me..” the hand no longer has a knife, is running roughly up his cock instead, “call me…”

Barclay wakes up still humping the mattress as he cums. Blindly, he reaches for his phone to check the time. It’s the fifth dream like that in two weeks, and they always leave him so horny he tries to get it up and get off again if there’s time. No such luck today; he has to be up in ten minutes.

He tries not to think about it during work, just like he tries not to think about it the rest of the time. Especially in bed with Joseph, his attentive, indulgent Joseph who puts all his organizational skills and professional practice at giving orders into domming Barclay so sweetly he stays in subspace for hours.

He’s still very much not thinking about Joseph gagging him so his screams don’t wake the neighbors as he climbs the stairs to his boyfriends place. Dani was a sweetheart and took care of his orders for him, so he was able to leave work early.

The T.V is on, volume up loud enough that he can tell what his boyfriend is up to before he even walks into the room. He fully intends to tease him for not being able to wait until Barclay was there to jerk off before hauling him into the bedroom. But when he sees the screen, he freezes.

A man in what looks like a cheesy camp counselor uniform is tied to the bed, his shirt stuffed into his mouth as a make-shift gag. Straddling him is a man in a black jumpsuit, knife near his hand and cock buried in the counselors ass.

“That’s it sweetheart, wiggle and try’n get away; you ain’t gonna and it feels so fuckin good when you try. This is what you get for leaving the window open.”

The counselor shakes his head, fear so palpable Barclay barely notices the fact the boom mic is in the shot. The killer pulls the gag free.

“Please, please, don’t kill meAH, ohgod”

A dark laugh, “I’m not gonna kill you, sugar. Thought about it, but when am I gonna find an ass this good again? Nah, I’m gonna take you back with me, keep you strapped down because you’re the, fuck, cutest goddamn specimen I ever caught.”

On the couch, Joseph tenses, cumming in the sleeve he’s using with a cry at the same moment the killer on screen cums and bends to kiss his co-stars tear-streaked face.

Joseph hits the remote, causing the T.V to go dark and reveal Barclay’s reflection.

“Shit!” Joseph leaps up, making Barclay yelp in surprise, “oh, oh thank the lord it’s just you….oh god how much of that did you see?”

“Some?”

Joseph drops to the couch, head in hands, “shit. I’m, I’m so sorry Barclay, I, I never wanted you to know about this habit, I’m sorry it’s awful.” The voice between his fingers sounds like it might cry.

“I mean, that wasn’t like a snuff film, right?”

“Those aren’t real.”

He can’t help but smile remembering Joseph’s rant on the subject, “what I meant was: those guys are just actors getting paid to do a scene like that, not some actually getting attacked.”

“Of course not.” Joseph looks up, horrified, “I’d never watch something like that. The, the whole reason I like this company is that they do horror porn under very ethical working conditions.”

“Then why are you acting like I caught you pissing in my coffee?”

“Does the fact I get off to this honestly not bother you?”

“I mean, people get off to all sorts of shit. Like, um, like” he twists the bracelet on his wrist, “like their boyfriend tying them up and threatening to make them scream.”

Josephs eyes widen. Then he shakes his head, “No. No we can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because I...I never, ever want to hurt you that way. Even in a scene. I can’t stand the thought of you being scared of me, of turning these impulses loose on you. It sounds fun until I picture it and then it makes me ill. No, this stays firmly in my head.”

“Okay.” He keeps his reply soft to hide his disappointment. Joseph is still on the couch, refusing to look his way, and so he circles it and kneels at his feet to better rub his arms. He thinks about the images on screen. About Joseph, blissed out then suddenly shame-faced. Joseph, two nights ago, calculated and loving as he worked Barclay over.

No, maybe the kind of scene he’s been picturing isn’t for them. But he can think of one that is.

“What if, uh, instead of giving into the desires that freak you out we kind of rechannel them. Like, instead of strapping me down to torment me, you’re doing it to show off?”

Blue eyes meet his for the first time all night, “Say more.”

--------------------------------------

“Ready?” Barclay bats his eyelashes at Joseph as his boyfriend finishes double checking the tightness of the rope he’s using to tie Barclays arms above his head.

“Ready.” Joseph stands, rolling his shoulders and closing his eyes as he takes deep breaths. Then he frowns, “can you start us off?”

“Sure thing, babe.” He nestles his head on the pillow, “okay, you found me tied up like this. What’s your first thought?”

Joseph opens his eyes, gaze sharp, “That I’m so lucky someone left a handsome specimen like you where I could find him.”

Barclays cock twitches at being referred to that way, “You’re not gonna let me go?”

“Not just yet. You’re so perfect, will you let me make a case for staying here with me?”

“Please” Barclay whimpers as Joseph straddles him, knife in hand.

“I’m very precise, for starters.” He cuts slowly up Barclays boxers until he can pull the strip of fabric off. Repeats the process, lips a firm line of concentration, with his undershirt, “see? There’s not even a scratch. I have to be careful not to damage my perfect specimen.”

Barclay groans, rolling his hips. Joseph smiles, shifting so his cock rubs against Joseph’s clothed crotch.

“Fuck, Joseph-”

“Shhhh” a gloved thumb brushes his lips, “When you’re like this, my name is Sir.”

“Ohfuck.” Barclay rubs his cheek pleadingly in his palm, “Sir, please, please, untie me so I can touch you.”

“Not yet.” Joseph pats his cheek, scoots backwards on the bed, “besides, you’ll have lots of time to touch me once I take you home and make you my sweet live-in plaything.”

“Holyfuckingshit.” Barclay fights off a dozen tantalizing images of what that could entail to focus on their plan, “Sir? What, uh, what was the guy who tied me up going to do to me?”

His boyfriend settles between his legs, “He was going to take you apart.” He lifts Barclay’s right leg, “starting with these, so if you got free you couldn’t run. This tendon first” he kisses the back of his knee, making Barclay giggle. He pauses, then decides on holding both legs up at once so he can repeat the kiss on the other side. His lips move slowly down to his ankles, right side and then the left, before a final one lands on his arch, “he was going to cut here too. But not me” the kisses continue, “I’m going to rub them every evening so you’re never sore.”

“Fuuuuck” He sighs as Joseph straddles him once more, leaning forward so he can kiss and fondle his arms.

“He was going to slice alllll along here” Joseph’s breathing is picking up the longer he lavishes Barclay with kisses, “then he was going to take your fingers one by one” Joseph kisses each knuckle in turn, his free hand petting Barclay’s face and hair, “then he was going to commit a cardinal sin by mangling these” Joseph toys with his pecks, sucks happily on his left nipple for a moment, “what a crime that would have been.”

“Sir” it’s a whine as Joseph nips and kisses his way down to his navel.

He raises slightly, mouth just above Barclays cock, “and because he had no imagination, he was going to cut this wonderful appendage off. Which is not the treatment it deserves.”

“What treatment does it deserve SirrrrrOHfuck, fuckyes” Barclay pants as Joseph licks stripe after stripe up his cock. As Joseph licks and sucks him to a hard-on, he feels the plug slip from his ass.

“I don’t know what his plans were for that” Joseph sits up, undoing his pants and pulling out his cock, “but I know what mine are.” He pushes Barclays legs wide, works his cock in with slow, steady thrusts while Barclay tries to remember how words work.

“Shit, yes, god your ass is amazing, what kind of person sees it and thinks its for anything but fucking?”

“Nngh” Barclay clings to the ropes as Joseph’s thrusts quicken.

“Lord, I thought you were a perfect specimen before but I was wrong, you look even better taking my cock.”

“Fuck, fuck that’s hot.”

Joseph grip his thighs tight enough to hurt, “well, big guy, will you stay with me?” His eyes glitter, his hair is coming loose and falling across his forehead.

“YesAH, yes, ohfucksirright there” He didn’t notice Joseph changing the angle of thrusts until his cock found his prostate, “I’ll be so good Sir, wanna be a good boy for you.”

“Oh good.” Joseph’s smile goes wolfish for an instant, “because I would have had to do some very mean things to persuade you if you refused.”

Barclay cums at that, staining Joseph’s shirt with white. His hands knock against the headboard as Joseph fucks him hard enough to make him sob with oversensitive pleasure.

“You’re going to be such a nice plaything for Sir, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Good boyOH, ohshit, shit.” Joseph pulls out halfway through cumming, spattering it on Barclays thighs and balls. Carefully, he lowers his legs. Then his boyfriend collapses into his arms, panting and giddy.

“That, that was so fun. I’d say who knew but every time we fuck you show me just how fucking fun all this can be.”

“Aw, babe.” He goes to hug him and rediscovers the ropes.

“Ohshit, here” Joseph sets to work undoing his knots, “are your wrists okay? Not too sore? How about your shoulders?”

“They all feel fucking great, baby. I feel great. How could I not? I got you looking after me.”

Joseph smiles, “and out for you.”

“That too. Now c’mere, special agent, your next assignment is cuddling your boyfriend.”

[dappercritter]

Godzilla vs Kong: Brutally Honest Thoughts

(Took me long enough, eh? Depending on home video releases be like that.)

So first things first, I have a confession to make: I spoiled the movie before I watched it. I was impatient and they had only announced an HBO Max premiere in the states and a theatrical run in Canada at the time. Afterward, I got heads-up from a friend and immersed myself in the opinions of those lucky enough to see it early. I’m just saying that I have some preconceived opinions that I’m sticking to.

That said, Godzilla vs Kong turned out to be more fun than I expected! But you already knew that. Everyone did. The two kings of movie monsters had their rematch and this time it was with glorious Hollywood SFX powering it this time.

The human story was fun but it’s clear they stopped trying at this point. Team Kong stole my heart, especially Jia. Team Godzilla (although the Conspiracy Crew would be a more fitting term since they spend more time chasing down mysteries than trying to back or understand Godzilla) was more fun than I expected and their dynamic was surprisingly enjoyable. Bernie is actually kind of funny, it's nice to see Madison acting more assertive, and Josh was fine--he was the only sane man of the bunch but he was also the butt of the jokes. Still, all the hardcore conspiracy jokes got old fast and it feels off seeing the daughter of two scientists turn into an edgy conspiracy crackpot. Why not an edgy science major?

Team Apex are fun villains, especially Walter Simmons who's a great megalomaniacal CEO type, but Ren Serizawa is a joke. I like his actor's performance but he's just another footnote. Nobody bats an eye at his last name, although the only heroes he interacts with are Nathan Lind and he just misses Team Godzilla. He really could have just been any other villain, but instead, they had to sully Serizawa’s legacy further while robbing a good actor of some interesting material. (As is, it turns out he was just an egotistical jerk with daddy issues--an easy puzzle to solve on day one--after all...)

However, I still cannot and will not approve of the fact that somebody thought it would be a good idea to make the heroes of a sci-fi story into hardcore conspiracy theorists in this day and age. Likewise, I’m not a huge fan of how they essentially made the Hollow Earth into its own universe complete with a crazy portal and an environment with its own laws of physics, nor am I totally crazy about the huge leap in technology that was made between this and KOTM, or G’14 for that matter.

The monsters as awesome as they are, are the biggest mixed bag in the show.

Kong is at his best in ages, and while I am all for the new heroic warrior character that Legendary have crafted and I acknowledge that making him a worthy opponent for their god-tier Godzilla was going to be a hurdle, I think they did a splendid job. Seeing Kong using agility and acrobatics was a glorious sight to behold, and something about Kong becoming a tool-user and weapon wielder just feels right. It’s a far better demonstration of Kong as a “thinking animal” (*wink, wink*).

I’m much less thrilled about their treatment of his greatest opponent ever. After everything they’ve done to build up Godzilla as the incredible force of neutral good fighting to maintain balance and all the build up to ancient rivalry debating back to a great Titan war--even going as far as putting his name in front Kong’s this time!-- they’ve reduced Godzilla back to glorified bully for Kong. He only gets the minimum amount of sympathy from the cast of his movie before they go off to deal with the conspiracy plot or focus on Kong and the Hollow Earth. Worse still, he is somehow more powerful and more aggressive than ever for a good chunk of the movie which leads to an outcome I’m sorry to say we all saw coming. Somehow, I suspect that the reason behind this was how Wingard cited Godzilla vs. Mothra, vs. Destoryah, and Shin-Godzilla as influences for the monsters scale and story, which while cool and all, are all movies where he was played up as a mostly stoic antagonist rather than a three-dimensional character like Kong. (Though ironically vs. Destoroyah and Shin did a better job of making Godzilla feel more sympathetic and in both of them he was a walking nuclear reactor meltdown.)

Due to the unfortunate time constraints of the three-way deal between Toho, WB, and Universal at the time this was in production, Kong was unable to secure a proper sequel that could develop his skillset like Godzilla’s did. Nevermind the fact the filmmakers completely surrendered to the “nothing matters but the monsters” mentality that a chunk of the fanbase has been spouting since this universe unofficially kicked off almost 10 years ago. (Sidenote: Oh god, I’m turning in an old fart already.) As a result, the movie trips over itself trying to set up Godzilla and Kong’s rivalry as well as building up Kong as a worthy opponent to Godzilla while expanding on their shared lore, and as a result countless plot points set up in in the previous movie and tie-in movie are thrown out the window. I’m sorry to say but in spite of all hopes and illusions of grandeur, it’s safe to this damn thing is a Kong movie with Godzilla as the bad guy.

...at least until HE shows up. Yup, Mechagodzilla. The biggest spoiled twist of the centuries steals the show so the movie can pull a Dawn of Justice. But! It does it much better than the fractured DCEU’s most controversial entry ever could. Mechagodzilla’s inclusion gets a decent amount of build up thanks to Team Godzilla/the Conspiracy Crew, and when he shows up, does he make an impression! At first, I wasn’t sure how to feel about his inclusion or his design, but I’ve come to like this one. He’s basically a kaiju terminator built in Godzilla’s image made purely out of heavy machinery piloted by the best Ghidorah head. It’s a jarring change of pace compared to previous MechaG’s but it grows on you after a while. With the abundance of weaponry stuffed into him, he feels like a fitting update of the original killing machine, and even if his inclusion feels like an easy way out of the big showdown, it’s fun to see him played as a literal colossal heel for the kings to team up against. Not to mention he looks shockingly good with those red highlights. However, one still can’t help but wonder how and why he was made in this universe, or how he feels like pure heavy machinery one minute and then an extra-large Ultron unit the next.

As for the the big throwdowns we’ve all been waiting for... well, we’re still in the mixed bag deparment. While the fights are all exciting and excellently choreographed, and benefit from some more eclectic lighting and cinematograph, I’m sorry to say that as far as the rematch of the century goes they dropped the ball on this one.

Don’t get me wrong, the fights are all great in their own ways, but there’s a drastic change in the feeling of weight and power with the monsters. Godzilla, Kong, and even Mechagodzilla all feel strangely floaty in most of their fights. One moments they feel like true behemoths shaking the very earth with every movement and then it’s like they’re in Godzilla Unleashed, running, jumping, and throwing each other around with speed that feels that almost makes you wonder if the Hollow Earth’s gravity inversion stuff is leaking out into the world. While it’s all perfectly cool, you can’t help but wonder how Kong is able to leap between aircraft carriers and buildings, when Godzilla got the ability to blow a hole through the Earth itself, or how a colossal machine is able to move so nimbly or why it has to be flashing blue all the time.

It’s fascinating and fun but you just can’t help but wonder how we got from almost posthuman disaster and war movies exploring how we’re at the mercy of the ancient almost mythical forces beyond our comprehension, we’ve found ourselves smack dab in the middle of Bayformers meets Jurassic World levels of Hollywood absurdity where anything and everything can and will happen in the name of getting to the monster fights. Although I can’t say I’m surprised given the director’s take on Death Note made some questionable choices with it’s take on the infamous cast while still coming up with some genuinely inspired choices. Still, all things considered we could have gotten worse compared to ther cinematic universes made by WB and Universal.

As for some misc. thoughts to close up this rambling mess:

-The soundtrack is fantastic. A great continuation of the feel of Skull Island’s mixtape with some truly wonderful picks. Special mention goes to the opening and ending songs, and they GOT AN ELVIS PRESLEY SONG IN HERE! YES!!! The three kings of pop culture together at last!

-While this movie didn’t need to be any more overstuffed, it would have been nice if the rest of the Titans didn’t disappear entirely from this movie. I get that Godzilla: Dominion already explained what happened to them all more or less, but it really is a missed oppurtunity that we never got to see another Titan war. Or Rodan attacking Kong to avenge his pterosaur bretheren from days long past. Speaking of which...

-“Save Mothra” jokes be damned, Mothra would have been a welcome gues star, not just to help break up the big fight, but to show off Godzilla’s softer, more protective side. And yes, I want more Mothzilla. Shut up, we deserve it.

-Boy, Monarch sure does a whole lot of nothing up-top, huh?

-The cinematography is a great update but there’s a little too much neon lighting, especially in the Apex HQ and the Hollow Earth throne room. It feels like they’re trying just a little too hard to sell the more futuristic, Hollywood sci-fi feel.

-The score is... great but not that great. Of course, I’ve always had mixed feelings about Tom Holkenburg (AKA Junkie XL)’s music. I liked Kong’s themes, but they REALLY dropped the ball with Godzilla’s theme. Mechagodzilla��s works really well as long you ignore that it’s just Godzilla’s theme in this movie with an ominious choir added in.

-The new Hollow Earth creatures are all perfectly fine. Actually, I thought they were another highlight! Especially the Warbats, Hellhawks, and Doug the Titanus Foetodon Man.

-I want to do a release the extended cut campaign but I don’t think any of us have the energy for that s**t anymore.

[archangeldraws]

Reunion

Since some were so interested in the story of King Ghidorah and their human Eva, this is their story. Please, enjoy (also give me feedback as I don’t usually write stories ^^)

A King Ghidorah fanfiction 

Dorat AU

„Wake up. Come on Ni, wake up boy. Time for walkies!“ A soft voice rings through the air, tickling Ni's ear. The Dorat stirs, sleepily opening one eye and looking around the living room. “Come on Ni-Ni! Don't you want to go outside?” His gaze falls upon a young human girl, standing by the door, hastily putting on her shoes and leashes on two other Dorats like him. His brothers watch him, waiting for him to move. Ni yawns, stretching his golden wings and climbs off the comfortable couch he was sleeping on, trotting over to his master.

She smiles, putting a red collar and leash on the third Dorat, giving him a pet on his fluffy head. “Good boy. Lets go!”

It's a sunny day today, the air is crisp and fresh. It's spring! Eva, their little master, loves this season the most. And they love seeing her happy.

The walk is the same as always. Passing by the same houses, going down the same streets, towards the park.

The park is great. It's big, big enough to stretch their wings and fly around all they want and play.

San, the youngest Dorat loves visiting the park. He's always so eager, flapping up and down, back and forth, almost crashing into his brothers and trilling happily.

Unlike their older brother Ichi, who glides gracefully through the air, looking down on all the passerby.

At the park, Eva lets her Dorats fly free and unzips her backpack, pulling out their toys, a blanket and some drinks and snacks.

Everything is great. They play, enjoy the sunshine and food. Master brought those fish crackers they like.

Ni is chasing another Dorat, a brown one, around the park. That one dared to take a toy! That thief! That one will pay!

A shriek pierces the air, disrupting the chase. Perplexed, Ni looks back. Master?

He watches in horror as a dog, a filthy beast, is attacking Eva. That thing dares to harm HIS MASTER?!

In a rage Ni races towards that monster, flying as fast as he can, not stopping for a second. He doesn't even notice Ichi and San also trying to get in between the girl and the dog.

Ni crashes into the foul beast, bearing his teeth and snarling. The thing yelps, rolling on the ground after the collision. The Dorat, though a bit smaller than the wild dog, put himself between the animal and the girl.

San and Ichi stay with Eva, hissing and screeching angrily, not moving from her side as she weeps and cries in pain, a puddle of blood already forming around her leg on the ground.

Ni growls, daring the dog to move. Do it! Come on! I'll tear you limp from limp!

Not that the dog would have understood it anyway.

In a flash the animal was upon Ni, biting and snapping at him. But Ni isn't afraid. All he sees is red. He bites and claws at it, chomping down on the beasts neck and shaking violently. Ni himself gets thrown around, bitten and scratched. It doesn't matter. He doesn't even feel it. Ni snaps at the soft neck of his opponent, biting and shaking him over and over. The dog screams, letting go of the smaller Dorat and jumps back. In a defiant stance, Ni stays between it and the girl. He growls. And finally his enemy yields and runs.

“NI! OH MY GOD! NIII!! NO!”

Ni turns, Eva approaches him with a limp and she wraps her arms around him.

“Ni! You're hurt! Oh my god, your ear! Your eye!”

A few hours later, Ni wakes up again. Was it a dream? He is in his bed, but something is blocking his view. Why can't he open his left eye? What is that thing?

“Be still, brother. Don't move. You need to heal.” Who is that? Oh, right. It's Ichi. Ichi looks down from his spot at the wall. He likes sitting there. San comes rushing to Ni's side, gently grooming him in a comforting manner. “Are you ok? That fight was really bad! You were lucky you didn't lose your eye, Ni!”

Fight? Oh, yes. Right. That dog. But, what about Eva? Is she ok? Ni looks around the bedroom, trying to see past that weird, round thing around his head. There she is. On the bed. “Ni. You're awake? I'm so glad you're ok!” She smiles, walking towards him and petting him, carefully stroking his back fur.

“The vet said you were really lucky! That dog almost got your eye with it's teeth. But your ear wasn't as lucky, half of it is missing.... Oh Ni, you were so brave! Thank you! I was so scared!”

She quivers, wiping off the tears from her soft, round face.

“You're my hero!”

Ni, not wanting to see her cry leans into her small hand and purrs reassuringly.

“You were hurt.” “It's ok, my leg is better now. Don't worry, everything is ok now. See?” She grins, showing hims her bandaged leg. “Rest now. You'll get a big treat later, ok? You're a good boy, Ni. I love you”

I love you

I love you

I love you....

Ni groans, opening his eyes and stretching his long, powerful neck. Groggily he looks around, spotting his brothers by his side. They've curled up around each other, still sleeping.

As always. Ni, first one to wake up and last one to fall asleep. He hates sleeping. Not sure when it started, but it's been a long time. Sleep brings dreams, memories he'd rather not see.

And now he has to wait for Ichi and San to wake. He sighs, keeping look out. Ni isn't known for being the patient one, but he can be. Not that he has much of a choice. It's not like he could just, get up and walk around. Not anymore. He could wake Ichi. A good bunt in the head would do. But that would also mean getting bit in the snout and right now he wasn't in the mood for a fight. Usually, yeah. But not right now.

His mood was too sour for that.

“Good morning Ni!” San has risen from his slumber and yawns, stretching and rubbing his head against his big brother in a greeting. “Did you sleep well?” Ni sighs. “Same as usual. You?” “Uhm.... I guess so. Got enough sleep at least.”

Ni wasn't the only one plagued by bad memories. San's weren't just memories. They were nightmares. Nightmares that had happened.

Sometimes the youngest brother would wake up screaming and thrashing during the night, begging to be “let out” and biting if you came too close. Ichi and Ni would have to subdue him together, just until the left head would calm down again.

Poor guy had been through a lot. They all have been. But it seems fate has been more cruel to the younger one. He had lost his head, quite literally, many times. Each time he lost more and more of his happy go lucky attitude, if only slowly.

But since that fat lizard had ripped him off last.... They know the memories. They weren't there, but San shared what had happened to him with them, after they reformed that last time.

Last time.... Was the worst. Things are a bit confusing, since they regenerated from a dead head, from a brain that had been dead for some time. They knew their old version had fought on, but their memories stopped after San's death, only to resurface once the humans did something to his brain, feeding him with the energy needed to come back to life.

They know of the pain and fear San had endured, being nothing but a thought in his own mind. Again. Again humans tried to control them, their minds, making them their toys!

But San didn't share everything with them, that they knew... Or they would know of the things he dreamed about and woke from, screaming for help.

They also heard what had happened to their old self. That that one was completely destroyed by the “King” of the monsters, with the help of his Queen.

It is weird to know that you did something, without being there yourself... Never before have they been.... two Ghidorahs. Can they even call it that? Are they themselves even real? Or just a copy?

They know each time a head dies, it grows back with all it's memories. But there had never been a time where.... They had to regenerate their whole being. Until now....

Ichi wakes, shifting and yawning before looking at San and Ni.

“How long have you two been awake?” “Oh hey Ichi, good morning. Not long yet. How was your night?” San smiles at the middle head, greeting him like he greeted Ni with a head rub.

“Luckily, uneventful. Full night rests have become rare” “Yeah.... sorry about that.” “Don't be, San. It's not your fault... Well, now that we're up, let's get out of here. I need some fresh air.”

With that, Ghidorah rose to their feet and walked out of the cave they had carved themselves some time ago. After they had regenerated, they had traveled the world for a while, not knowing what to do with themselves. They were thinking of going after Godzilla again, but..... They were just tired. So they made themselves a small home, if you could call it that, on monster island. They had made an agreement with Godzilla. While they would never yield and submit to him, they promised to stay out of his way and leave the humans alone. As long as they didn't destroy anything, they could be at piece.

Or at least by left alone. And the other Titans did leave them alone.

Wherever they went, the other Kaiju would run and hide. No one dared to try and talk with them.

Except for Godzilla, who would sometimes pass by and check if they still hold their part of the deal.

Sometimes Rodan would come and try to talk with them. That firebird is a huge chatterbox.

Right now Ghidorah made their way down the mountain they had made their cave in, living high above the others, where they had a good view over the island.

“Brothers, look there. A boat” Ni and Ichi look towards the sea, where San was pointing at. “Ugh, humans.... Those pests. They better not think about stepping on this island!” “Calm down brother. What do we care what they do? As long as they leave us alone, I don't give a crap.” Ichi snorts, moving their body down and to the other side of the mountain.

They walk towards a lake and San has a little drink. They don't really NEED to drink and eat, but it's a nice treat and it gives them something to do. One of the few things they can still enjoy, since destroying and conquering is now off the table. At least for now.

Ni looks at his reflection. It's him. But it's also not.

Gone is the round face and the big eyes, gone is the little snout and ears. Gone is the fur on his head and back.

Instead there is a long, strong snout, filled with rows of sharp teeth. His eyes are beady and red and his head adorned with jagged horns, sharp and deadly. Everything on them is sharp and deadly.

But the scar is still there.

He remembers, like in his dream. The scar that made him unique, a hero in that little girl's eyes.

But she's gone now, long dead.

Why is the scar still there? They can heal. And it was gone. But he made it again. For some reason, even though he wants to forget.... He scars himself over and over again, each time it heals, he takes one of their spiked tails to his face and draws blood. He's done it many time, he knows exactly where to cut, how to cut it. Each time a perfect copy.

And his horn. The second horn on the left, he always breaks it off. Where half his ear used to be.

Ichi keeps a look out, watching the smaller kaiju hiding in the shadows of the trees, waiting for them to leave and have a drink.

As they should. Useless lot, they are beneath them. Look at them quivering, shaken to their very core by their fear, Ghidorah's presence almost crushing them like little worms.

Ichi has always enjoyed looking down on others. Since he was a cup, he'd find the highest places and sit there, watching the others. He's always been more cruel than his brothers, that's just who he is. Not that he doesn't know how to be compassionate. He loves his brothers.

Sure, he reprimands them often, especially Ni, as he likes to act up and square off with Ichi.

But he still cares. And he'd do anything to protect them.

Once he cared for someone else. A little someone, though bigger than them at the time, but so small and fragile.

Somehow she made him want to protect her. To love her. And he did. He loved and protected and cared and vowed to stay forever-.... Until forever was over.

Gone were the good days, the days filled with happiness and love and care. Replaced with fear and pain and numbness instead.

They were like her. But they were not like her. Not soft and sweet and loving and warm. No high voices carrying nothing but goodness to his ear but instead, cries and screams and yells of malice and horror and the stench of rotting flesh and dry blood.

Their new “masters” were nothing like her. They never gave them the feeling of being safe. Only fear. Only pain. Only rage!

And then.... Nothing. Sleep without dreams, dreams without sleeping. Moving but unmoving.

Pain but no feeling.

And then they woke up. They woke at a cold place, nothing but ice and piercing cold and blinding white. No humans in sight. No... Her..... Alone. They were alone. And they were one.

They knew they were, have been for long. But now that they were awake, it was strange. Having to learn how to move again.

And the urge.... The urge to.... kill... destroy.... It was ebbed into their mind so deep, into their very core.... All they could think about was “Find Godilla. Kill him. Destroy him. Kill. Destroy. Kill. Destroy. Destroy. Destroy. Destroy. Destroy. Destroy destroy destroy destroydestroydestroyde-....”

The thought was still there, once jackhammering in their head, now a soft drumming... They had found Godzilla. But that one was not the same they knew now. That one fought long and hard, made them weak and trapped them in the ice, where they had awoken the first time. And they slept.

And now.... The same thing. They found Godzilla, a different one, fought and lost again. Were killed this time and somehow they came back.

You'd think knowing that you were able to cheat death like this would make you stronger, would make you want to try again.... And maybe they will, one day. But now they're just tired....

“Hello?.... Are you there?” They look up. “Yes? What is it?” San looks to Ichi. “I didn't call you.” They look at Ni. “Wasn't me” “Can you hear me?”

Confused they look around. Was it one of them? One of the small ones hiding in the shadows?

“What do you want?” Ichi growls at the trees and the little kaiju skitter away quickly.

“It's me. I'm here.”

“Who the fuck is calling us?! Who is it?” They stand and Ni snarls and snaps at nothing.

“Come to me. I'm here. Are you there?”

“What the fuck?” Ichi grows more and more irritated, looking around but seeing no one.

“Come find me. Were you waiting?”

“Ichi.... I think it's coming from there.” San points back at the ocean again. Is it a water Titan? Manda perhaps?

“I swear if that snake is out making a fool of us then we'll have it for breakfast!”

“Good idea Ichi, sound delicious!”

They follow the voice, down to the shore. They don't see Manda, but the human boat is still there.

“Ohoh, it's the humans! It must be them. Of course. Why am I not surprised?”

“Wouldn't be the first time, Ni.” “Should we kill them?” “We can't, Godzilla-” “I know San, I know! But he never said we can't defend ourselves. If they try to attack us, it's free game!”

“My sweets....” They freeze. What did they just call them? No one ever called them that but-... No. No, she's gone.

“Can't you hear me? Please answer me. Remember our promise? I promised I'd come find you”

No... No, no no no, no! It's not true! This is a trick! They are tricking us!

San leans closer, looking down at the boat and the humans on board.

“Ichi... Ni... San.... Do you remember me?”

They stare. They stare at the human woman with the dark hair and eyes. The eyes they know, the eyes they only see in their dreams.

“It's her!” Sam rears ups, shocked and confused. It's her. She's back! She's come!

“Ichi, Ni, it's her! It's her! Master!” “NO! Get a grip San, it isn't!” Ichi roars, staring down at San. “This is a trick, clearly!”

“But-”

Ichi doesn't believe, doesn't trust. Ni wants to believe, wants to trust. San believes, San trusts.

San bends down again, trying to reach the boat, he needs to see her, smell her, touch her. “Master!”

“NO!” Ichi snaps, he grabs San by the scruff of his neck and pulls him away. They stagger, their body, twitching. The heads fight.

Middle tries to dominate left, biting and power grooming him into submission. Usually San would yield, but not this time. He rises, roaring at his brother in fury.

“STOP IT ICHI! It is her, I know it!”

“IT CAN'T BE SAN, SHE IS DEAD!” They are torn apart, feeling an array of feelings.

Yes! No! Want! Don't! Believe! Fear! Trust! Rage! Can't be! It is!

“STOP!!”

They stop. Ichi and San look at Ni. He glares at them. Is this what happens when they see a glint of what had been? It tears them apart just like this? How weak have they become, how low have they fallen?

“Brothers.... Please.... Who else could talk with us like that?” San pleads at Ichi and Ni, lowering his head. His eyes displaying nothing but sadness.

“Our connection is still there... After all this time, all those years our link is still strong. Who else but her could speak with us? Who else knows the names she gave us?”

All three heads turn to look back at the boat. The humans, pointing their weak little weapons at them, stare, waiting for them to move.

Except the woman. She stands at the railing, tears in her eyes, her face contorted as if in pain.

“Please, don't fight... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry. I couldn't protect you. I promised you, remember? That I would find you, no matter what. I said I would come. And I am here now, my sweets.... Please forgive me....”

She cries. No humans ever cried for them but....

“Eva...?”

Her head snaps back up so fast, you could almost hear it crack. Ghidorah leans down towards the boat, all three heads until their noses almost touch it.

They look at her. The face, the scar of the dog bite on her leg. The way she smiles. They smell her.

Like spring. She smells like spring. Like her favorite season. And fish crackers. She reaches out, placing her soft, small hand on Ichi's snout and smiles that smile that sings of love and happy memories.

“I'm sorry.... Did you wait long?”

[nealiios]

The Supernatural 70s: Part I - Corruption of An Innocent

"We're mutants. There's something wrong with us, something very, very wrong with us. Something seriously wrong with us - we're soldiers writers."

-- with apologies to the screenwriter of "Stripes"

Dear reader, I have the darkest of revelations to make to you, a truth when fully and wholly disclosed shall most assuredly chill you to the bone, a tale that shall make you question all that you hold to be true and good and holy about my personal history. While you may have come in search of that narrative designer best known for his works of interactive high fantasy, you should know that he is also a crafter of a darker art, a scribbler of twisted tales filled with ghosts, and ghouls, and gargoyles. I am, dear innocent, a devotee of horrors! Mwahahahaha!

[cue thunderclap, lightning, pipe organ music]

Given the genre of writing for which most of you know me, I forgive you if you think of me principally as a fantasy writer. I don't object to that classification because I do enjoy mucking about with magic and dark woods and mysterious ancient civilizations. But if you are to truly know who I am as a writer, you must realize that the image I hold of myself is principally as a creator of weird tales.

To understand how and why I came to be drawn to this sub-genre of fantastic fiction, you first must understand that I come from peculiar folks. Maybe I don't have the Ipswich look, or I didn't grow up in a castle, but my pedigree for oddity has been there from the start. My mother was declared dead at birth by her doctor, and often heard voices calling to her in the dead of night that no one else could hear. Her mother would periodically ring us up to discuss events in our lives about which she couldn't possibly have known. My father's people still share ghost stories about a family homestead that burned down mysteriously in the 1960s. Even my older brother has outré memories about events he says cannot possibly be true, and as a kid was kicked off the Tulsa city bookmobile for attempting to check out books about UFOs, bigfoot, and ESP. It's fair to say I was doomed - or destined - for weirdness from the start.

If the above listed circumstances had not been enough, I grew up in an area where neighbors whispered stories about a horrifically deformed Bulldog Man who stalked kids who "parked" on the Old North Road near my house. The state in which I was raised was rife with legends of bigfoots, deer women, and devil men. Even in my childhood household there existed a pantheon of mythological entities invented explicitly to keep me in line. If I was a good boy, The Repairman would leave me little gifts of Hot Wheels cars or candy. If I was being terrible, however, my father would dress in a skeleton costume, rise from the basement and threaten to drag me down into everlasting hellfire (evidently there was a secret portal in our basement.) There were monsters, monsters EVERYWHERE I looked in my childhood world. Given that I was told as a fledgling writer to write what I knew, how could anyone have been surprised that the first stories I wrote were filled with the supernatural?

"The Nightmare" by John Henry Fuseli (1781)

My formative years during the late sixties and early seventies took place at a strange juncture in our American cultural history. At the same time that we were loudly proclaiming the supremacy of scientific thought because we'd landed men on the moon, we were also in the midst of a counter cultural explosion of interest in astrology, witchcraft, ghosts, extra sensory perception, and flying saucers. Occult-related books were flying off the shelves as sales surged by more than 100% between 1966 and 1969. Cultural historians would come to refer to this is as the "occult boom," and its aftershocks would impact popular cultural for decades to come.

My first contact with tales of the supernatural were innocuous, largely sanitized for consumption by children. I vividly remember watching Casper the Friendly Ghost and the Disney version of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I read to shreds numerous copies of both Where the Wild Things Are and Gus the Ghost. Likely the most important exposure for me was to the original Scooby Doo, Where Are You? cartoon which attempted to inoculate us from our fears of ghosts and aliens by convincing us that ultimately the monster was always just a bad man in a mask. (It's fascinating to me that modern incarnations of Scooby Doo seem to have completely lost this point and instead make all the monsters real.)

ABOVE: Although the original cartoon Scooby Doo, Where Are You? ran only for one season from 1969 to 1970, it remained in heavy reruns and syndication for decades. It is notable for having been a program that perfectly embodied the conflict between reason and superstition in popular culture, and was originally intended to provide children with critical thinking skills so they would reject the idea of monsters, ghosts, and the like. Ironically, modern takes on Scooby Doo have almost entirely subverted this idea and usually present the culprits of their mysteries as real monsters.

During that same time, television also introduced me to my first onscreen crush in the form of the beautiful and charming Samantha Stevens, a witch who struggles to not to use her powers while married to a frequently intolerant mortal advertising executive in Bewitched. The Munsters and The Addams Family gave me my first taste for "goth" living even before it would become all the rage in the dance clubs of the 1980s. Late night movies on TV would bring all the important horror classics of the past in my living room as Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, the Invisible Man, the Phantom of the Opera, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Godzilla all became childhood friends. Over time the darkened castles, creaking doors, foggy graveyards, howling wolves, and ever present witches and vampires became so engrained in my psyche that today they remain the "comfort viewing" to which I retreat when I'm sick or in need of other distractions from modern life.

ABOVE: Elizabeth Montgomery starred in Bewitched (1964 - 1972) as Samantha Stephens, a witch who married "mortal" advertising executive Darren Stephens (played for the first five seasons by actor Dick York). Inspired by movies like I Married a Witch (1942) and Bell, Book and Candle (1958), it was a long running series that explored the complex relationship dynamics between those who possess magic and those who don't. Social commentators have referred to it as an allegory both for mixed marriages and also about the challenges faced by minorities, homosexuals, cultural deviants, or generally creative folks in a non heterogeneous community. It was also one of the first American television programs to portray witches not as worshippers of Satan, but simply as a group of people ostracized for their culture and their supernatural skills.

Even before I began elementary school, there was one piece of must-see gothic horror programming that I went out of my way to catch every day. Dark Shadows aired at 3:30 p.m. on our local ABC affiliate in Tulsa, Oklahoma which usually allowed me to catch most of it if I ran home from school (or even more if my mom or brother picked me up.) In theory it was a soap opera, but the show featured a regular parade of supernatural characters and themes. The lead was a 175 year old vampire named Barnabas Collins (played by Johnathan Frid), and the show revolved around his timeless pursuit of his lost love, Josette. It was also a program that regularly dealt with reincarnation, precognition, werewolves, time travel, witchcraft, and other occult themes. Though it regularly provoked criticism from religious groups about its content, it ran from June of 1966 until it's final cancellation in April of 1971. (I would discover it in the early 1970s as it ran in syndication.) Dark Shadows would spin off two feature-length movies based on the original, a series of tie-in novels, an excellent reboot series in 1991 (starring Ben Cross as Barnabas), and a positively embarrassingly awful movie directed by Tim Burton in 1991.

ABOVE: Johnathan Frid starred as Barnabas Collins, one of the leading characters of the original Dark Shadows television series. The influence of the series cannot be understated. In many ways Dark Shadows paved the way for the inclusion of supernatural elements in other soap operas of the 1970s and the 1980s, and was largely responsible for the explosion of romance novels featuring supernatural themes over the same time period.

While Dark Shadows was a favorite early television program for me, another show would prove not only to be a borderline obsession, but also a major influence on my career as a storyteller. Night Gallery (1969-1973) was a weekly anthology television show from Rod Serling, better known as the creator and host of the original Twilight Zone. Like Twilight Zone before it, Night Gallery was a deep and complex commentary on the human condition, but unlike its predecessor the outcomes for the characters almost always skewed towards the horrific and the truly outré. In "The Painted Mirror," an antiques dealer uses a magic painting to trap an enemy in the prehistoric past. Jack Cassidy plots to use astral projection to kill his romantic rival in "The Last Laurel" but accidentally ends up killing himself. In "Eyes" a young Stephen Spielberg directs Joan Crawford in a story about an entitled rich woman who plots to take the sight of a poor man. Week after week it delivered some of the best-written horror television of the early 1970s.

In retrospect I find it surprising that I was allowed to watch Night Gallery at all. I was very young while it was airing, and some of the content was dark and often quite shocking for its time. Nevertheless, I was so attached to the show that I'd throw a literal temper tantrum if I missed a single, solitary episode. If our family needed to go somewhere on an evening that Night Gallery was scheduled, either my parents would either have to wait until after it had aired before we left, or they'd make arrangements in advance with whomever we were visiting to make sure it was okay that I could watch Night Gallery there. I was, in a word, a fanatic.

ABOVE: Every segment of Night Gallery was introduced by series creator Rod Serling standing before a painting created explicitly for the series. Director Guillermo del Toro credits Serling's series as being the most important and influential show on his own work, even more so than the more famous Twilight Zone.

[goldenscalez-art]

Unexpected Savior

Summary: Godzilla was fighting another creature. It was more powerful than him and it almost kills him until someone unexpected saved him.

“What the hell is this thing...?” The lizard huffed after recovering. He was already tired and weakened. Rodan is not around and Mothra... she’s not back yet. He was fighting another beast. It was slightly taller and bigger than him. Through his eyes you could see how much this thing wanted blood. His blood. It probably wanted his place as king just like Ghidorah did. But there’s a problem. This creature is incredibly powerful and it was giving him the beating of his life. Was it made by the human? Who is this guy?

The creature stayed silent. A grin was plastered through its face. He suddenly rushed at the lizard who was still recovering from the pain and struck him on his chin, making the lizard stumble back and fall to the ground.

It has been a long fight for Godzilla and this thing was winning. It was fast and strong, it managed to avoid all of Godzilla’s attacks and Atomic Breaths. Godzilla did manage to land some blows, but it was not enough, this creature recovered from them easily. Now he is tired and weakened. The only thing the lizard wanted now is to get back home and rest, but it’s impossible.

As he layed on the ground with his eyes closed something was putting extreme pressure on his chest. It was hard to breathe. When he opened his eyes his saw that the creature was pinning him on the ground. The thing’s head was close to his. Deep growls were coming out of it.

“Perhaps that was too easy for me”

“W- what?” The lizard replied to whatever this creature was rambling about.

“No matter, my job here is complete. Goodbye, lizard”

Godzilla struggled to get out of the creature’s grasp, but it was impossible for him. Its foot won’t move. Suddenly a purple light started to appear on the creature’s mouth. “Uh oh”. The lizard thought. Was this it? Is this how he will die? By a being that he has never seen before? He couldn’t believe it. This has to be one of those awful dreams he has sometimes, but it was not. This was very real. He closed his eyes, waiting for the pain to come...

It didn’t.

A combination of high and low pitched sounds emerged from the sky. A large gust of wind slammed through his body and then the pressure on his chest was gone. He opened his eyes, looked around and saw a familiar creature...

“G- Ghidorah...?”

They had pushed the creature away from him. They had their wings spread and necks upright. Except for the left one. Its neck was curved, almost as if it was scared. Their tails were rattling. Godzilla didn’t put much attention to this and he took to opportunity to stand up. He then looked at the golden hydra again. He was confused. Why did his biggest rival... save him? He still thought this was some sort of dream.

“Don’t put too much thought on why we are helping.” Said the middle head.

Yep. This is not a dream. B- but... how are they alive?

“Get out of my way. This is about me and the lizard.” The creature said after recovering from Ghidorah’s hit.

It seems the middle head was still hesitant to reply, but... “First, you have to go through us”...

...

“Can I be reminded, why are we doing this?” Ni said through their neurons.

“I can’t give you a straight answer Brother Ni, but there’s something more important than that” Ichi pointed subtly at the monster.

“I’m kinda scared...” San said. He had his neck curved out of fear. He doesn’t like fighting and this creature seems really powerful.

“Don’t be. Everything will go well” Ichi reassured his brother. Then a slight smirk appeared on his face.

The trio turned to their right where The Lizard appeared while looking at the creature.

“Nice seeing you again” The Lizard said while not breaking eye contact from the creature.

“We could say the same” Ichi replied.

The creature then released an ear piercing roar. It made both Titans flinch a bit.

“Enough of the family reunion. Now I have two targets to get rid off. Or maybe four? Hah! Doesn’t matter”

Both Titans stayed silent.

“Ready brothers?” Ichi said.

Ni was snarling. When it comes to a fight, Ni snarling means a yes.

“Y- yes!” He tried to get courage and moved his neck upright, just like his brothers, though he was still kind of scared.

The Lizard then turned his head to the hydra. More specifically Ichi, who are also had turned to look at The Lizard. Both had a tiny smile on their faces and nodded. Ichi never believed this would happen, but they’re teaming up. Probably for the first time and the last time this will ever happen. Then both turned their heads on the creature who had a expression of absolute fury on it.

“Let’s do this” The Lizard said...

...

“Why are they doing this?” Godzilla thought to himself and before he knew it, Ghidorah was already charging towards the beast. Better think about this later, for now it’s a matter of life or death. Godzilla followed along and, standing on all fours, he charged towards the creature running past the crumbled buildings. He was still injured, but having an ally seemed to ease the pain a little bit.

The three heads had latched themselves onto the creature with their teeth, biting hard so it couldn’t move and giving Godzilla the opportunity to land a hit. Sadly, it didn’t work. The creature managed to escape by grabbing their necks and pushing them away. Godzilla almost lands the attack with his claws, but the creature managed to dodge to one side and pushed Godzilla away in the same direction he pushed Ghidorah making them clash and stumble to the ground.

“It’s too powerful” Godzilla growled. He looked to his left and noticed that the hydra was already standing up.

“C’mon, get up. Laying there won’t work” The middle head spat. “They don’t call you the “King of the Monsters” for nothing, right?”

Godzilla looked at them... He hated to admit it, but they were right. After that he stood up, resisting the pain the his wounds gave him. Both Titans looked at the creature. It had a smirk on its face.

“C’mon! You’re making this too easy for me” The creature said.

“Any ideas?” Godzilla spoke.

Ghidorah stayed silent for a bit, but still replied. “Use your blue attack, it’ll probably make him flinch. Then we can charge while its recovering” The middle head said.

The lizard was hesitant, it was his rival that was instructing him after all, but this was not a time to argue. A faint glow appeared from the lizard’s plates in his tail. Then slowly they started charging up to his neck. Then he shot his Atomic Breath at the creature, making it flinch, just as Ghidorah said.

“Charge” The middle head said.

Both Titans them rushed towards the beast. Ghidorah bit on his rival just like last time, but this time it was the neck. The creature’s body was thick so it was shard to tear through flesh, but it still managed to give damage. Godzilla came and he managed to strike the beast with his claws while trying to avoid hitting Ghidorah. He did the same action constantly. The beast managed to escape Ghidorah’s grasp by grabbing their necks again, but then the lizard grabbed the creature and started biting the neck. It seems that it was its weak spot. The creature let out a growl. A purple glow was coming from the creature’s mouth. It shot and it hit Godzilla making him stumble back with a cry of pain.

Ghidorah was following along and, just after Godzilla fell, they bit its neck again, this time, making the creature fall back and pinning it down. It seems they had the upper hand until a tremendous amount of pain came from their back. The creature had stabbed them with its tail. Then, with its feet, it managed to push Ghidorah away and it stood up. Godzilla was standing up now.

...

Black blood was falling from their back. It hurt like hell, but thankfully it would regenerate soon. The downside is that they’re in an incredibly vulnerable state. They layed on their back. The rain was falling to their eyes.

“Wh- what was that, Brother Ichi? It hurts a lot” San said with a worried face.

“It stabbed us. The fucker stabbed us.” Ichi said. They tried to stand up but the pain made them stumble back again.

“Can we fucking get up NOW!?” Ni growled. A face of anger was on his face.

“Not yet... the pain is making us impossible to stand. We’ll have to wait here... It’ll regenerate.” Ichi said to his brothers.

Ni growled before talking “What if the creature comes for us? What? You want us to die?”

“And what about The Lizard? What if he...” San had an extremely worried tone in his voice.

“SILENCE!” Ichi screamed in their neurons. “I have a hunch The Lizard will protect us. Regenerating won’t take long. We’ll be back soon. I have an idea on what to do when that happens.”

Ni let out another growl while San let out a whimper of worry.

...

“Shit” The lizard looked at the immobilized hydra.

The creature cackled “Seems like your ally has gone down too. How pathetic” The creature kept cackling

Godzilla stayed silent. He stood there looking at the creature. An emotionless expression on his face.

“What? You’re giving up? Oh c’mon! I was having so much fun. Bah! I’ll take this opportunity” The creature started to charge at the lizard. Surprisingly enough the lizard had a plan. Hopefully it’ll give time for Ghidorah to be healed.

Godzilla charged up an Atomic Breath. It hit the creature square in the chest making it stumble back and it let out a cry of pain. It... it hurt him That’s a surprise.

Godzilla took this opportunity to attack. He sprinted towards it and clawed on its face constantly making the creature flinch. Then he buried his teeth on its neck again. He tried to rip its head off like a rabid dog, but the creature was fast. It retaliated and struck him on his chest making him lose his grip on it.

While Godzilla was recovering, the creature slammed itself on Godzilla making a building in the back crumble and making the lizard fall to the ground. Pinning him on the ground again. “Great. This shit again”

“No more stupid games. Goodbye, lizard.” Purple light emitted from the creature’s mouth again until...

Ghidorah was back. They grabbed the creature with their feet and wrapped their tails around it. The claws of the feet burying themselves on the armor of the creature and making it easy to grab. Then the right and left head bit the beast by the shoulders and lifted it. This was... familiar to Godzilla in a way. “Hmph. Could’ve been faster”

“Thank us later” The middle head said. Then they started to fly up high. They’re doing the same like they did to Godzilla back in Boston.

...

“HOW THE- Bah! Forget it. Let me the fuck down. NOW!” The beast screamed at them. He couldn’t attack them cuz he was on his back and they took hold of the tail so stabbing them wasn’t an option.

“Oh we will. Just give it a little bit of time. Be patient” A big smirk appeared on Ichi’s face while they kept flying upwards. Into the stratosphere.

“What are you fucking DOING!?” The creature yelled at the hydra. An expression of fury on its face.

“You don’t have to worry. We did this to a friend recently and they’re still alive” Ichi said

The creature squirmed trying to free itself but it was futile. The grip they had on it was extremely strong.

Finally they reached the stratosphere.

“Heh! It almost feels like home up here. You’ll have a fun ride” He was still smirking.

“Let go. NOW!” The beast exclaimed again.

“As. You. Wish” Ghidorah let go of him making it fall from the sky. The scene was beautiful. The sky lit up with the fire that was surrounding the creature. A solid 20 seconds passed until the creature went through the clouds and slammed on the ground leaving a huge crater. Ghidorah then landed safely on the ground. Godzilla came along.

“Thanks for that save... again” The Lizard said to them.

“Heh... not a problem” Ichi said.

“Haven’t had this fun in a while” San said. A grin full of evil on his face.

Ni didn’t say anything, but he was growling to the creature as a warning to stay down.

...

The creature stood up fast, but not without letting a cry of pain. Damage was being made. A good sign “You’ll PAY for that” The creature said. It did not wait and started to charge another beam and shot it at both Godzilla and Ghidorah. Godzilla dodge to his left and Ghidorah flew up. Both Titans slammed themselves on the stunned creature and both managed to pin it down. Ghidorah made sure to keep the tail in check so it wouldn’t stab anyone.

“Seems like it’s the end of the line for you” The middle head said. A big smirk on his face.

“Indeed. Better end you here now” The Lizard added.

“No! I refuse to accept this. I’m the most powerful being! I can’t die! It’s impossible” The creature was squirming around their grip trying to let itself free. It was futile.

“Sounds like me a while back. Good thing I learned my lesson” The middle head said in a stern voice.

“Lesson?” The creature had asked.

“You’ll learn eventually.” The middle head chuckled. Then her turned to the lizard with a smile “Ready?”

Godzilla chuckled and responded “Ready”

Both Titans charged up. Godzilla with his plates lighting up and Ghidorah with their necks emitting a yellow glow. Their eyes turned yellow too.

“No! This is not happening! It’s false” The creature said in desperation.

“Goodbye” Godzilla said and then laughed.

Both Titans shot their beams at the weak spot. The neck. Making the creature scream in pain and vaporizing it completely. It also separated the head from the body. Sooner after that they stopped shooting. The creature had been defeated.

Both Titans stood straight and roared loudly at the sky in victory. Godzilla’s powerful roar and Ghidorah’s high and low pitched sounds governed the area. Sooner after that, they stopped.

“You could’ve used that yellow attack of yours sooner you know” The Lizard said while looking at the stiff body of the creature they just defeated.

“We know. We didn’t have our full energy so we wanted to use it at the best time. Like that one” The middle head said.

Silence surrounded both Titans. Godzilla had a troubled look on his face while Ghidorah’s three heads looked at the horizon. It was full of wet crumbled buildings. Godzilla was the first to break the silence.

“Why did you do this?” Godzilla turned to them.

The middle head turned to him “Hmm?”

“Why did you... help me? We’re rivals. You could’ve easily let me die, beat that thing and become king again. Also how are you back? I killed you. I remember it clear as day how I vaporized your body.”

“You forgot one head” The middle one said in a monotone voice and the left head peaked in with a smile and a giggle. “You can also blame the insects of this planet. It was their work too, it seems. As for you other question...”

“Yes...?”

“We... do not have an exact reason. We have no interest killing you and conquering this planet anymore. Leaving it might be our next objective”

Godzilla stayed silent while looking at the ground.

“Maybe... you can stay”

The three heads turned to him in disbelief. Stay? What is this guy rambling about now?

“Maybe... you can have a new home now. With the condition of not causing any trouble, of course”

...

“What the fuck is he talking about?” Ni said through their neurons.

“Home. He is talking about home. About staying here on this planet” Ichi said still in a monotone voice.

“Hey! This place is fun! Maybe we can find someplace to stay here. If you two agree if course” San suggested

“Nah. Absolutely not. I would like to leave this place. This has been absolutely humiliating. Getting fucking killed? No, thank you” Ni said in an angered tone.

Ichi stayed silent.

“What do you say Brother Ichi?” San asked his big brother.

“We will leave. But the possibility of returning is there. I always remember where planet are located so... maybe sometime later. Was that understood?”

Both heads nodded in agreement. Then Ichi turned to look at the lizard who was still standing there in silence.

...

“Lizard!” The middle head spoke catching the Lizard’s attention. “We will leave. But be sure that we will return in the future. Your offer sounds... pleasant, after all.”

“I understand. This planet will be here waiting for you then” Godzilla replied.

Godzilla and the middle head stared at each other directly. Godzilla let out a smile. The middle head did the same.

Ghidorah, then, flapped their wings hard a flew up high, disappearing through the clouds and letting out a roar.

“Can’t believe I’ll say this, but... thank you.” Godzilla said whispering. Then he turned around and started to head for the ocean hoping to find some peace and rest in his home. This is a battle he was not going to forget anytime soon.

[poptod]

Hi I hope ur having a great day! I love ur writing so freaking much! This request is a little different than what I’m sure ur used to but hopefully ur comfortable enough with writing it. Could u write a one shot (or headcanons if it’s easier) where Snafu from the Pacific is crushing big time on the reader (like almost in love) and he’s always hitting on her but she never shown any interest toward him. Then a few days in when the nurses come Snafu walks in on the reader making out with one of the nurses. They see each other and he walks out all like CONFUSED and shook and the reader runs after him to swear him to secrecy. He’s still shook and admits his feelings and she comes out as a lesbian to him. He’s even more SHOOK but he’s rly understanding and accepting even tho he’s incredibly heartbroken. Sorry if it’s not what u usually write, as a bi I’m just always a sucker for “I’m dumb she’s a lesbian”

notes: anon i love you you're literally perfect WC: 1.9k

+

He was used to this sort of behavior when he first met girls – curt and rude, meant to pry his eyes off their figure. Eventually though, after time, he would win their affection through his shining personality (or, at least, that's what he thought happened). Usually it only took about a week or less; he was good at what he did. This was ridiculous, though – he was ranging on the sixth week of knowing you. That's one and a half months, far above his usual score.

But you're beautiful. Even if you won't share a genuine conversation with him, you 'let' him watch you, allowing yourself to become his only source of entertainment on the island. The shine in your hair – always neatly pulled back – is a fantastic distraction from the blisters on his palms and the heat of his sunburnt skin.

You're the last piece of humanity here. It makes sense he would never be able to win you.

Today you're tending to his wounds, an activity he thought he would never love as much as he does. Your fingers are still soft somehow, brushing against the exposed skin of his arms, sliding over the bandages to ensure they won't slip. The concentration evident in your sharp eyes is revealed in the way you bite your lip, gaze never leaving the bloody blisters on his hands.

"Not for nothin' babe, but," he began to speak, voice raspy and dry, "last time someone looked at me like that, I got laid."

You very slowly raise your head, reluctantly meeting his eye with a dead stare.

"Not today, Snafu," you say.

"Tomorrow then?"

You scoff, shake your head, almost laugh, but in the end you say nothing. Instead you return to your work, diligently cleaning the scabs and covering them up. He can't say he minds––whether or not you truly engaged with him, he heard your voice, and felt your touch. That would be enough. For now.

Surprisingly enough, they still get to have movie night sometimes. That doesn't mean the movies are good, but they're generally more entertaining than watching the shore birds. Every now and then, Snafu will even go and join his tent mates, ogling more at the nurses than paying attention to the actual movie. Those are always good nights, and the forest is close enough that it's not a problem if he gets too excited.

Tonight's movie is titled 'Godzilla Goes to College,' and upon hearing the name Snafu knew he would not be able to attend a full hour of it. Instead he wanders around the encampment, watching shadow silhouettes and the movement of the breeze on tent flaps. The sound of shuffling catches his ear, and when he turns, he's pleasantly surprised to find you beside him, drowning in an oversized jacket. He laughs, loud and probably impolite, but the juxtaposition of him being shirtless beside you truly tickles him.

"Evenin', doll," he says through his laughter, stopping you in the middle of the pathway. A soft groan leaves you as you turn to face him.

"And good night," you say in a too-cheery tone, your saccharine smile instantly falling into a dead stare as you go back to walking, a renewed vigor in your step.

"Hey, where y' goin' in such a hurry?" He asks, and begins to trail slowly after you. He allows a decent amount of space to grow between you before he continues with, "stay n' chat a minute, cher!"

You don't even bother to respond once you turn the corner, where Snafu loses his trail on you. He curses to himself, turns back around, and finds several of his mates coming back from the movie rather tipsy. How long have they been there?

"Reeaaaall lucky with the girls, aren't'ya, Snaf?" Burgie asks, and the four of them fall into teasing laughter.

"I'll get her, you'll see," he promises, turning back to see if he can glimpse you between all the tents. "One a' these days, she's mine."

Later that evening he sees you again, through the sheer fabric of your tent, where you've been burning a candle. It casts your shadow clearly against the wall, allowing him to see you perfectly.

Snafu likes to claim he isn't a pervert, but most who know him in any way know that's not really true. Sure, he can be a gentleman, but if no one's looking he doesn't especially care. No one but him will know, not even you. Even if he wasn't a pervert, he still wouldn't be able to tear himself away––you're undressing, peeling the clothes off your skin and he can see the whole of your body. In outline, of course, but there nonetheless.

Fucking creep, he tells himself, calls himself, but he doesn't cease his staring till you've put out your candle. At that point he can no longer see you, and he returns to his own tent with fantasies circling his head like vultures.

It's not that you're particularly rude to him. You just don't engage or indulge any of his bullshit, which is fair enough he thinks. He has a lot of bullshit coming out of his mouth 24/7. Everyone knows that. There's a theory he has, though––a theory he came up with just a little while ago, that you would treat him perfectly normal as long as he didn't come on to you in conversation. If he treated you just like he treated most others, then you might actually be nice to him. You're a good person. You're not going to be needlessly mean.

"Afternoon," he says to you, and he has to physically bite his tongue to stop himself from calling you cher. You quirk one of your brows.

"Afternoon," you repeat back. "Something ailing you?"

"Why'd ya think that?" He asks, slinking into one of the chairs in the aid tent.

"This is a medical tent," you say, and he wants to facepalm himself.

I'm just achin' with love for you, boo, he wants to say, and again, he has to bite his tongue to stop it from coming out. Damn it, he thinks, that's actually a good line.

"So why are you here then?" You ask.

"Better than tryin' ta find somethin' edible in my lunch," he grumbles out, leaning back against the chair and closing his eyes. He lets out a satisfied sigh.

You giggle, you actually laugh from something he did, and say, "understandable. You should still eat, though. Here."

You move from your spot at a nearly-fully stocked tray, instead digging through one of the numerous unlabelled boxes piled like towers in the aid tent. From there you pull out a granola bar, brand name, and throw it at Snafu's face. He nearly falls off balance, but catches it before he loses his cool.

"Thank ya kindly, ma'am," he says with a grin, tipping an imaginary hat your direction. Again you smile; there is nothing better than this, sitting across from you, and being the reason for your happiness.

Eventually he has to leave in order to make room for those who actually do require medical aid, but he leaves singing on a high note. You say good-bye to him this time, for the first time, and a smile tugs at his lips all day. Therein lies the secret to your affection––a blazingly obvious secret that all men should know––that he must treat you as an equal, not size you up to something he can win over, something he can buy with cheap words and undressing eyes.

He thinks it over all day, lets it mull over in his head how he should next approach you. Things get twisted in his mind if he doesn't speak them out loud, and by eveningtime he's convinced that he should meet you tonight, even if it's just him barging into your tent. Politely, of course. A polite barging in.

For a moment he stops, his hand poised above the handle of your tent flap. You're definitely in there––or someone is––as there's shuffling behind the material, a sound he can barely process over the rushing of his heart.

Fuck it, he finally says, and without giving himself a chance to doubt, he pulls open the flap.

You don't even notice him. To be fair, your eyes are closed. And you're a bit preoccupied. Your tongue is pretty far down that nurse's throat.

His mouth falls open as every muscle in his body freezes. It's the other nurse that actually sees him, and she taps you harshly with her wide eyes set on Snafu. You tear yourself away from her touch, turn to the marine, and all the air in the tent goes stagnant.

He leaves. Throws the flap back into place and all but sprints away, wide eyes burning in the cool night air. It's only a second or two of running before he hears the flap open and close again, followed by you yelling something, and ultimately your chasing footsteps.

You end up being surprisingly fast, and you easily catch up to him. Once you do you grab his wrist, tugging him back, and forcing him to face you. Both of your hearts are racing a hundred miles a minute, both of your eyes wide with shock.

"Merriel I am begging you, you cannot tell anyone about this, please, please, you can't, I’ll do anything," you beg him, and it's then he notices there's tears on the edge of your eyes. "Please do this for me, you can't tell anyone. Don't even think about it––just, pretend it never happened?"

He's panting, unable to formulate any response, only able to stare into your panic and sink in the fear pouring out of your desperate eyes.

"(Y/N), I'm––no, I won't," he says at last, and you practically collapse with relief, falling into him with your forehead on his shoulder. He continues in a murmur, awkwardly holding you, "I just... I'm.. I'm in love with you. I––I couldn't do that to you."

"Fuck, I know," you say in a breath, removing yourself to look him in the eye. "But I can't be with you."

You pause, and he waits a moment for you to continue, his brow quirked in curiosity.

"I'm a lesbian, Snafu."

"Oh," he says, but it doesn't process. Not for a minute, anyway. "Oh. Ohh. OHHHH."

"Yeah," you say with a vigorous nod.

"Okay, I thought – I thought I jus’ lost my touch, you're just.. a lesbian, okay," he says, sparking a laugh from you.

"You're not angry?"

"Shit cher, you can't control who you wanna get freaky with jus' as much as I can't," he says, smiling, and the tears in your eyes finally fall. They aren't sad, though––birthed from fear, yes, but falling from happiness.

"You're a lifesaver, Snaf."

As heartbroken as he truly is, none of it really shows in his face. At least now he knows it wasn't really his fault that you didn't show interest in him. Still, disappointment fills up his chest, until you tell him that he makes a good friend. It's then he realizes he can still keep you in his life, a version of modesty and stature and innocence that he can't achieve alone.

He won't ever be able to kiss you, which he does mourn––your lips are painfully soft, and every time he catches sight of them he yearns to press his own against them. Your statement on him works in reverse, though; you're a good friend, and that would be enough for Snafu. But Merriel hides within the bravado, within the suaveness of his voice and actions, and Merriel weeps childish tears that Snafu doesn't know how to wipe away and comfort. Snafu understands the reality of the world, but Merriel will always lament the unfairness of life.

You're the last piece of humanity here. It makes sense Merriel would never be able to win you.