#Tentacle Postman

[marlynnofmany]

I do love some good misheard lyrics. I just rediscovered the song "Ten O'clock Postman," which someone in my vicinity once overheard as "Tentacle Postman," which led to a couple very entertaining short stories.

I still think fondly of that character.

[rei-ismyname]

Loser Husbands plus Callisto feat Tentacles

It takes a lot to eclipse my brain's natural instinct to pick apart Chuck and Mags' love and speculate on this possible Genoshan polycule, but Callisto with tentacles will do it. Especially when she's saying...

CHUCKY?

There's so much going on here, and that's with me editing out the Xavier Institute's singularity power core explosion that almost certainly destroyed the tristate area AND naked Jean in space with Carol Danvers' hologram, Bishop & Deathbird's daughter, and Nightcrawler. Claremont is unhinged for The End. I'm howling at the moon and barking at the postman.

[eri-luffery]

Amon and Klein are not alike.

Amon and Klein:

- tentacles.

- "guess 😏".

- "my believers? I am my believers".

- avatars and puppets for all occasions.

- after them, Medici needs a psychologist. Everyone needs.

- f*ck the rules and the gods who invented them. And just gods.

- "I will go to work as a postman, because it would be convenient".

[starman-waiting-in-the-sky07]

characters im considering for the hunger games simulator, got any more?

Goku Vegeta Frieza Piccilo Ikuro Hashizawa Usagi Tsukino Yami Yugi Blue Eyes White Dragon Monkey D. Luffy Naruto Jonathon Joestar Robert E.O Speedwagon Dio Brando (part 1) Joseph Joestar Caesar Zeppeli Rudol Von Strohiem Kars Jotaro Kujo Old Joseph Noriaki Kakyoin Muhammed Avdol Jean Pierre Polnareff DIO Josuke Higashkita Okuyasu Nijimura Rohan Kishibe Yoshikage Kira Giorno Giovanna Narancia Ghirga Diavalo Joylne Cujoh Foo Fighters Enrico Pucci Johnny Joestar Gyro Zeppeli Funny Valentine Scott Pilgrim Laios Marcille Senshi Izutsumi Mickey Mouse Donald Duck Goofy Pluto Minnie Mouse Daisy Duck Max Goof Pete Chip 'n' Dale Bugs Bunny Daffy Duck Tazmanian Devil Roadrunner Wile E. Coyote Elmer Fudd Tom And Jerry Scooby Doo Shaggy Velma Fred Daphne Winnie Tigger Eeyore Popeye Olive Oyl Bluto Papa Smurf Smurfette Clumsy Smurf Vanity Smurf Gargamel Danger Mouse Penfold Colonel K Baron Greenback He-Man Skeletor Thomas The Tank Engine Fat Conductor Optimus Prime Postman Pat Fireman Sam Leonardo Shredder Homer Simpson Marge Simpson Bart Simpson Lisa Simpson Maggie Simpson Moe Syslak Krusty The Clown Clancy Wiggum Fat Tony Mr. Burns Smithers Lenny and Carl Seymour Skinner Sherri and Terri Dr. Frink Sideshow Bob Milhouse Ned Flanders Apu Nahasapeemapetilon Grampa Bob The Builder Jimmy Neutron Peter Griffin Lois Griffin Meg Griffin Stewie Griffin Brian Griffin Fry Leela Bender Prof. Farnsworth Amy Wong Hermes Conrad Dr. Zoidberg Nibbler Richard Nixon's Head In A Jar Scruffy Spongebob Squarepants Patrick Star Squidward Tentacles Mr. Krabs Sandy Cheeks Plankton Zim Samuri Jack Kim Possible Wallace Gromit Aang Toph Prince Zuko Phineas Ferb Baljeet Buford Isabelle Candace Perry The Platypus Dr. Doofenshmirtz Finn The Human Jake The Dog Princess Bubblegum Ice Wizard Mordecai Rigby Twilight Sparkle Bob Belcher Linda Belcher Tina Belcher Gene Belcher Louise Belcher Teddy Mr. Frond Jimmy Pesto Gumball Watterson Darwin Watterson Dipper Pines Mabel Pines Grunkle Stan Soos Wendy Old Man McGucket Lil' Gideon Pacifica Northwest Bill Cipher Templeton Steven Universe Garnet Rick Morty Star Butterfly Marco Tom Kelly Ludo Avarius Toffee Milo Murphy Scrooge McDuck Huey, Dewey And Louie Webby Vanderquack Launchpad Della Duck Lena Ma Beagle Flintheart Glomgold Magica DeSpell Adora Catra Glimmer Hordak Cricket Tilly Gramma Anne Boonchuy Sasha Waybright Marcy Wu Hop Pop Sprig Plantar Polly Plantar Maddie Ivy Sundew Leopold Loggle Grime Lady Olivia King Andrias The Core Mr And Mrs Boonchuy Luz Noceda Camila Noceda Eda Clawthorne King Clawthorne Vee Willow Park Gus Porter Amity Blight Hunter Raine Whispers Lilith Clawthorne Hooty Boscha Kikimora Belos The Collector Molly McGee Scratch Libby Andrea Courtney Pim Charlie Mr. Boss Mr. Frog Homestar Runner Strong Bad Salad Fingers Charlie The Unicorn Double King Skidd And Pumpy Runmo The Meatball Man The Bonekeeper Uzi N V J Tessa The Absolute Solver Big D Rocky Rickaby Pomni Caine Jax Gangle Kinger Skibidi Toilet Kid Vampire Bubby Tina Nabiu King Kong The Seven Dwarfs Snow White Godzilla Mothra Bilbo Baggins Frodo Baggins Aragorn Legolas Gimli Gandalf Gollum Sauron Mary Poppins Gomez Adams Luke Skywalker Darth Vader Jar Jar Binks Indiana Jones James Bond E.T Terminator Aladdin Genie Jafar Jack Skellington Woody Buzz Lightyear Jessie Emperor Zurg Harry Potter Ron Weasley Hermione Granger Dumbledore Voldemort Neo Iron Giant Ginger Mrs. Tweedy Shrek Donkey Fiona Puss In Boots Fairy Godmother Lord Farquaad Coraline Other Mother Wall-E Eve Gru Margo Edith Agnes Dr. Nefario Mr. Incredible Katniss Peeta Fred Flintstone Barney Rubble The Doctor Rose Tyler Ruby Sunday Amy Pond River Song Captain Jack Harkniss Kate Lethbridge-Stewart Weeping Angel Cyberman Dalek Sek Davros The Master Tinky Winky Dipsy Laa-Laa Po Red Ranger Count Olaf Arthur Dent Ford Prefect Zaphod Beeblebrox Slartibartfast Marvin The Robot Walter White Jesse Pinkman Saul Goodman Alison Cooper Mike Thomas Julian Pat Captain Omniman Mr. Strong

[linuxgamenews]

Experience the Nostalgia of Monkey Island with The Adventures of Tango Rio

The Adventures of Tango Rio hand-drawn point and click adventure game is going strong on Kickstarter for Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. Created by the brilliant minds at Bean Adventure Agency. You can still support the crowdfunding campaign. Get ready to laugh, solve mysteries, and maybe even feel a few feelings with The Adventures of Tango Rio. This hand-drawn, point and click adventure is a love letter to the quirky, hilarious 90s classics like Monkey Island. Oh, and you can play the first chapter right now on Steam via Proton. A native build is also coming to Steam soon.

We're excited to let you know that the Mac and Linux versions will soon be available on Steam.

Here’s the response from the creative team at Bean Adventure Agency. In the meantime, you can check out the Linux demo of The Adventures of Tango Rio exclusively right HERE. From the same folks who brought us the fan-favorite The Booze of Monkey Island, Bean Adventure Agency is back. This time with their very own, fully original adventure. You’ll step into the slightly battered shoes of Tango Rio, a cynical postman who’d rather be anywhere but on a tropical quest. But when a mysterious letter shows up, signed by his dad who’s been missing for two years, Tango sets off to uncover the truth. And he finds more than he bargained for! This journey takes Tango from his predictable life in Italy to the stunning yet strange Aloe Archipelago. A vibrant world full of Polynesian folklore, Vatican mysteries, and even some time-travel chaos. Ancient secrets, weird rituals, wild dances—Tango will face it all as he uncovers his father’s past and his own destiny.

The Adventures of Tango Rio Teaser

Why This Game Feels So Special

If you like Day of the Tentacle or The Curse of Monkey Island, The Adventures of Tango Rio will feel like a warm, funny hug from the past. But it’s not just about nostalgia. Bean Adventure Agency has cranked up the creativity with gorgeous hand-drawn animations. Due to give the game a modern twist. Every scene is alive, full of charm and detail that make exploring this tropical paradise feel like stepping into a cartoon. And it’s not just the visuals. The humor, the mystery, and the heart behind Tango’s story will keep you hooked. This is more than just a fun adventure; it’s a story packed with twists and laughs. While offering just the right amount of drama.

Help Bring Tango’s Journey to Life

To make The Adventures of Tango Rio the best it can be, Bean Adventure Agency has a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. While the game will release no matter what. These extra funds are due to help them polish every detail and add even more content. If you’re into hand-drawn point and click adventure gane or just want to support something great. You can back the project on Kickstarter, wishlist it on Steam, and dive into the free Windows demo on Linux via Proton right now. Or play the native build on itch. So, what are you waiting for? Tango’s not thrilled about this adventure, but you definitely should be! Jump into The Adventures of Tango Rio today and join the fun.

[bronze-bell]

(This letter has the same treble clef in the center of its seal as before, though the encroaching frost is replaced by what appears to be tentacles, and the paper is notably much newer, folds crisp and confident.)

Dear Victor Grantz (or would you prefer Postman?),

Thank you for replying to my previous letter. I must apologize for the... incident that led to my name being unreadable. I simply had to write my thoughts on whatever I had with me at the time, before the thoughts escaped. Ink only dries so fast, unfortunately for us both, and a careless water spill can ruin so much.

A monotonous day can still be quite productive, even with the matches interrupting anything we do. I've spent a lot of time practicing and trying to create something worth writing. I'm glad this format of reaching out works for you, I hope we can continue to communicate. (And... you're welcome. It's nice to have a letter that responds to me like this.)

I fully understand your point on not wanting to share others' secrets, especially from my own experience. Some things are not meant to be shared or seen by any eyes except those I trust not to tell. I'm glad you're the same way. I've written and received my fair share of letters myself, though I can't say I've gotten to see the same kinds of things you have. I tend to receive letters that follow the same bent, regardless.

Hm... codes and hidden messages aren't my area of expertise, but I suppose those make sense in a lot of ways. They help conceal to those who shouldn't see, and being a translator can feel empowering... though unnerving when you know you're now additionally responsible for secrets that aren't yours to bear, I imagine. Being that messenger, that middleman, must carry quite the responsibility. And... if you hold enough secrets, a risk as well.

You made it to the right place. I've received your message.

Sincerely,

Frederick

(this letter, placed under the door discreetly, is in an envelope with faint embossed details of ocean waves. The wax seal is a glossy royal blue, bearing the same mark it did before. It appears that Victor is doing his best to continue the theme Frederick has set.)

[Dear Frederick,

Would you like some paper to take with you, next delivery? The material you had on hand seems rather delicate, (though I have made sure to take precautions to keep it safe) and I could think of some paper that might fit the decorations of your letters. I would not wish to push this on you, however.

I can definitely understand the feeling of having to note things down suddenly, there's been a few times where I've needed to put down information quickly and have had almost nothing on hand. I am lucky the destinations of the letters in this manor are much easier to remember.

Truthfully, I... am glad you like to keep secrets. I've always been rather anxious about letting them slip. You never know what someone's working so hard to keep hidden, after all, one untied tongue can ruin everything.

On your note about translating, I admittedly find myself with the latter set of people. "Seeing something you're not meant to can lead to quite the bad situation, and soon there'll be a target on your back", so I've been warned.

Sincerely, Postman.

(p.s. I do not mind being called Victor at all, I'm just rather unused to it. Thank you for asking.)]

[darnalila]

070823 I knew her first With longing dressed as indignation In a lavender haze A tentacled trickster As though A person Who was able to both experience and express their life With such self-possession Could make me voiceless - We go on, I, with my noble theories A vantage point to call out victimhood (While embodying, Albeit denying my own) You, Miss Martyr, My March-Maiden In the thick of it From the beginning Steeped in mud That smelt like Blood and Sweat and Sinew Brahman Babin' Foraging fruit Collecting clay from your riverbed To build a city around the people (An instinct far more noble than mine) - And there we were In the mud Triangulated together Trauma-dumping Our trivial things Turned sombre And surreal You and I, Each elder sister A prophetess of pain Taught to feel wrong Down to the membrane Grown from girls to women, Wrong into rage - In many ways, You have lived A life inverted Embodied a river of tears too soon I have seen you Darkly laugh In Mars' face At times And quietly braid The lives together Of the ones you love As though Only they Are deserving of endings - I know you now, A Common Heath Turned Desert Pea A Running Postman All gold in the light To deliver the news That you love As deep as you hurt That you hold Your heart out for others Not because you are unafraid But because see no other choice; After all, There is No other way To live through a year.

[cerddom]

Really, though, who hasn't done the horizontal polka with 'ol Brucie Wayne? I mean Oliver, Hal, Clark, Lex, Aquaman (that's a tentacle fetish of it's own colour...), Harvey, the postman (he always rings twice), the president of the PTA...

Honestly, the only non-familials he definitely hasn't done it with are Ma Kent and the Pope...and the Pope is a definite maybe.

Tim looking at old news articles:

Tim finding one about his dad: what the- 🙄

Tim reading the article:😳😟

Dick: hey whats with the face babybird?

Tim: Did you know Bruce had a relationship with my dad?!?!

Dick: 😅 I'm gonna just go- *runs out of the cave*

Tim running after him: HEY ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION RICHARD!

______________________________

Bruce at a JL meeting: 😐

Tim: 🧐

Bruce: ok Robin why are you staring at me like that?

Tim: when we're you going to tell me that you FUCKED MY DAD?

Bruce: uh never-

The rest of the JL: 😳😳😳 the fuck-

_________________________________

Tim talking to Jack Drake: so when we're you going to tell me you like men?

Jack Drake: Wtf Timothy I don't like men

Tim pulling up an article: this is literally a picture of you making out Twitter BRUCE WAYNE!

Jack Drake: 😳 that was edited *speed walks away*

Tim banging his head on the table: *screaming*

________________________________

[kayssweetdreams]

A Wonderous Christmas

Timeville loves a good holiday, whether it be the world's biggest Easter egg hunt, to The ultimate Halloween-fest, they always manage to have the biggest holiday spirit. However, the holiday that they seem to have the most excitement for, the time that everyone looks forward too, is that of Christmas.

The hustle and bustle in town as filled with many workers preparing various decorations to cover the town, or shoppers looking for that perfect gift to bring to their special someone. The smell of peppermint and Gingerbread filled the air while the falling of snow floated in tune with Christmas carols.

A postal truck could be seen zooming down the icy streets, rushing to its destination. "Coming through!! Light delivery!!" The postman shouted, avoiding the various people and piles of snow. Where is he going in such a hurry you may ask? Well, that would be to the Azure Isle, the location of the Bruno Household.

Sliding down the hills, the postman just BARELY made it to the mansion, to an awaiting Stefan Bruno. "Wow! 2 minutes early!" He joked before giving him a hand "You have no idea! These things are HEAVY!! Why do you need so many?" He asked. Stefan gave a chuckle "Well, the house isn't going to decorate itself." He said, pointing to the large property coated in snow, and half decorated with various lights.

Thea Bruno came out, a few more decoration boxes she was holding. "Stefan Dear? Could you please come grab these real quick?" She asked. Stefan immediately ran to help his wife. "Here we go dear, I'll handle the decorating on the roof. And speaking of which, Where is our daughter?" He asked.

Thea gave a knowing smile "You know where she is, she went with her friends to the mall." She said. "She wants to find the PERFECT present. Even though she doesn't know what exactly that is yet." She said. Stefan smirked, they both know that their daughter loved to shop. "Hey Thea, Look what we're standing under." He said, pointing up.

Thea saw that they were standing underneath someone mistletoe...and Stefan gave a flirty look. "Oh Come here you!" She said, pulling him closer as they shared their Christmas smooch.

Meanwhile, In Wonderworld...

While Timeville was filled with holiday induced enthusiam, Wonderworld was practically overflowing with the Christmas spirit. The theater was decked out in the most beautiful Christmas decorations you've ever seen, as the sound of a entire orchestra was heard blasting out full force, Christmas carols in Balanese.

The Tims could be seen hopping behind the positive Maestro, all of them now had a little Christmas accessory on, whether it be a little sprig of Holly, or Reindeer antlers, they all hopped behind their equally festive maestro.

Balan picked up a small white Tim with a black top hat, making it look like a snowman "Oh I just love the holidays! They bring me with so much cheer! And soon, Christmas will be here!" He cheered, booping the Tim on the nose. The Tim gave a happy chirp, before it hopped down with its siblings.

Balan smiled at the positivity emanating from the Tims, before he felt a somewhat neutral presence behind him "Oh Balan, You say that every year, how the holidays always fill you with cheer" Lance said, his own suit being more festive as well.

Balan just gave his normal large grin as he wrapped an arm around Lance "Oh Lance, Where's your Christmas spirit? The holidays are for everyone! There's no reason to fear it!" He boasted, the light seemingly getting brighter with Balan close to them. Lance just simply removed Balan's gloved hand from his shoulder "Balan, Every year it's the same. You throw your party, and go all out with no shame." He said.

Balan waggled his finger at Lance "Oh but you forget, we ditched the status quo! After all, the inhabitants and Wonder Stars are coming, my tentacled Foe!" He reminded. Lance rolled his eyes and was about to retort, when an Air Cat, who's fur resembled a white cat came out "Balan! The food for the party is almost done if you and Lance would like to sample them!" She said, holding up a tray with Gingerbread cookies, that resembled the Tims, Negati and costumes.

The scent of the cookies got to the both of the maestros noses, a smile gracing both of their faces "I could do with one or two, Lance? How about you?" Balan asked, only to see the dark Maestro already biting down on a Ghostlii shaped cookie "These are splendid! Truly well done! I suppose that I can have more than one?" He asked. Balan and the Air Cat laughed at Lance's love of Gingerbread "of course! Right this way!" She said, leading the two into kitchen to try more Christmas treats for their holiday soirée

Happy Holidays everyone! Here's a Christmas gift from me to you, A holiday tale true and true! Now the story is getting started, so join in! Grab a seat! This is one holiday story that can't be beat!

[floofyflowers]

masterlist !

survivors

emma woods - the gardener

emma x gn!reader - romantic hcs

lucky guy

lucky guy x affectionate gn!reader fluff drabble

lucky guy x gn!reader - romantic hcs

naib subedar - the mercenary

naib with a gn!s/o that laughs when they're afraid

martha behamfil - the coordinator

martha with a gn!s/o that laughs when they're afraid

william ellis - the forward

william reacting to their gn!s/o's mini hastur pranking them out of jealousy

kevin ayuso - the cowboy

kevin ayuso x gn!reader angst drabble

kevin reacting to their gn!s/o's mini hastur pranking them out of jealousy

mike morton - the acrobat

mike and reader are tasked w making dinner for the manor, ft reader who can't cook

victor grantz - the postman

victor grantz x gn!reader fluff drabble

luca balsa - the "prisoner"

luca x modern!gn!reader headcanons

edgar valden - the painter

edgar valden and gn!reader who is usually relaxed and polite but is flustered and shy around him

edgar valden x gn!reader fluff drabble

hunters

joker - smiley face

general relationship hcs w gn!reader

smiley face reacting to his mini self trying to defend gn!reader by attacking his feet

violetta - the soul weaver

violetta reacting to her mini self trying to defend gn!reader by attacking her feet

michiko - the geisha

michiko reacting to her mini self trying to defend gn!reader by attacking her feet

hastur - the feaster

hastur reacting to his mini self trying to defend gn!reader by attacking his feet/tentacles

xie bi'an and fan wuju - wu chang

wu chang reacting to their mini selves trying to defend a platonic!gn!survivor by attacking their feet

wu chang x gn!reader who accidently burned down part of the manor

wu chang with a gn!s/o that went missing for a day

rivaling with mini them for gn!s/o’s attention

wu chang comforting gn!s/o after a bad day - hcs

joseph desaulniers - the photographer

hcs with a gn!reader that gets easily sick

joseph reacting to his mini self trying to defend gn!reader by attacking his feet

rivaling with mini them for gn!s/o’s attention

mary - the bloody queen

mary reacting to her mini self trying to defend a platonic!gn!survivor by attacking her feet

antonio - the violinist

antonio x gn!reader comfort drabble

hcs with a gn!reader that gets easily sick

antonio x gn!reader who became a hunter

misc.

first post (just a little drabble)

[mrslittletall]

11 for Postman and Louise from Nier Reolicant please ^^

Title: Fleeting Rest Fandom: Nier Replicant Characters: The Postman, Louise Word-Count: 1.596 AO3-Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33815986

Summary: Hans, the postman, isn't feeling very well, but he's the only one looking after Louise, the girl from the shipwreck. He can't make her wait any longer for food despite his poor condition.

(Author's note: I don't think that the postman would think of himself as the postman, so I looked up his name and it's Hans, so the postman is referred to as Hans. This is my first fic for Nier Replicant for characters I didn't even expect to get, but I am satisfied with how it turned out.

This is completely based on the story in the game, not on the story “The Mermaid Princess”. I am not too sure if the postman having the black scrawl is canon or a headcanon, but I went with it.)

Prompt: Bed Rest @sicktember

Even though Hans had been feeling ill for the last few days, he couldn’t postpone visiting Louise anymore. The last time he had brought her food had been more than three days ago and the way she was scarfing down any food he brought here… he couldn’t let her suffer like this again. Who knows how long she had stayed on this ship, floating through sea, before it wrecked on the Seafront shore? He had to get some food for her and see how she was doing.

His leg was hurting a lot when he left the post office. He knew it was the beginning stage of the black scrawl. He knew that his days were numbered, but he would make the most out of them. He only wished that Louise had taken up his offer on coming with him; having a daughter in the post office would make his days so much brighter. Maybe she would change her mind once she got used to seeing light again.

He limped to the tavern to get some fresh bread. When the tavern owner saw him, he expressed quite some concern.

“You know I would be glad to deliver your food to you. The post office has done so much for the town. It is only fair that we give something back.”, he said.

Hans only shook his head as he paid for the bread. “I appreciate it, but this food isn’t for me. I… have to get it to someone else.”

The tavern keeper gave him a questioning look. He probably assumed that it would be the lighthouse lady, but she had been dead for a while now. Luckily, he didn’t ask any further questions and handed Hans the package.

“Whoever you are helping out this time, I am sure they cherish it.”, he said and waved him goodbye. Hans reciprocated the greeting and limped outside, heading for the shipwreck.

Even on good days the way to the shipwreck wasn’t easy with his bad leg. It was why he so often wasn’t able to deliver the mail and was more than glad when the young man with the white hair appeared and helped him out. Still, walking to the shipwreck was a lot easier than going all the way to Popola’s village, fearing that the shades on the way would tear him apart.

He was bathed in sweat once he arrived at the shipwreck, the bag with the bread clutched to his chest. Now he only needed to enter the shipwreck and find Louise, who probably was staying in as deep as possible as always. She really was afraid of blinding herself by the daylight. It didn’t surprise the postman, he also would be reluctant to step into the daylight when he would have lived in the dark for who knows how long.

As he entered the shipwreck and made his way to Louise, Hans noticed how much worse the smell had gotten in that place. He really should talk Louise into getting used to the daylight soon, when this place was rotting from the inside, there was no guarantee it would hold up for years. Still, the smell hadn’t been that bad three days ago… could the shipwreck really rot that easily?

Whatever it was, Hans had a different thing to be concerned about. The symptoms of his illness were rapidly getting worse the longer he was up and out of bed. The bad smell didn’t help at all and soon he was coughing on his way, having to drag his bed leg behind him. He probably wouldn’t be able to stay around long and spend some time with Louise today…

In the meantime, Louise had stayed in the ship and tried to practice her writing. It was so difficult. He had shown her how to form letters to build words, which would allow her to communicate with him. Because she was a shade, he couldn’t understand her words… she wanted to speak the same language as him. Louise wished so much that she could be human to be with him. He had looked so sad when she declined his offer to come with him… if only she could walk under the sun…

She already feared that he had left her alone. He hadn’t been here for days. He used to come daily… why wasn’t he here? Had he figured out that she wasn’t human… Louise feared nothing more than being left alone again. Everyone always left her alone when they saw her real body…

“Louise? Where are you?”

It was his voice! She shot up from her chair and hurried to him, she was so glad to see him again. Her joy turned into deep concern though when she heard a heavy sound, like if something or someone had hit the ground and to downright horror when she saw him lying there, clutching a bag with food (for her, he always brought food for her), and he didn’t move or react to her at all.

He looked so ill and weak. There were sweat beads in front of his face and he was so pale, even paler than usual. She knew that he had trouble walking, he always would limp, but she didn’t know it was that bad.

Had he dragged himself here just to see her? Louise instantly had a weird feeling welling inside up her chest… how could she have thought that he abandoned her? He never would do that. He was the first one who was ever kind to her! How could she ever have doubted him?

Though, right now he needed her help… humans normally would rest in bed when they were feeling ill, right? Louise walked over to him, hesitating when she reached the light of the sun that filtered through the holes of the shipwreck.

She could take it. The sun would hurt her, yes, but she could easily heal the damage. Besides, with him being unconscious, he wouldn’t notice the true nature of her body. As Louise stepped into the light of the sun, a low hiss escaped her when her body started to burn. She walked over to him and tried to lift him up.

She couldn’t do it. This body that she was inhabiting… it was too weak. He was so much larger and heavier than that body… she despised having to do it, but…

Louise let part of her shade form take over, her arms turning into tentacles, having to pinch her eyes when the unfiltered light of the sun hit them, making the burn so much worse. Though her pain was nothing against the pain he must be in, he had come only to see her, even though he was feeling unwell. She would endure every pain for him.

With her tentacle arms, it was a piece of cake to lift him up and carry him into the sole bed she spent her time at when she didn’t have anything better to do. She sighed when she stepped back into the shadows, grateful that the burning pain of the sun wouldn’t affect her anymore. She gently lowered him down and tucked him in, stroking over his hood with one of her tentacles, before looking at it in disgust and hiding it in the shadows.

When Hans opened his eyes, he was lying down. Apparently, he also was lying somewhere soft, as opposed to the hard floor he had felt when his consciousness had left him. When he looked to the left, he could see Louise standing there, her face obscured by the shadows, like always, but that long black hair and the bow he had brought her, it was unmistakably her.

“Louise…?”, he said and pulled himself up, only to get hit with a cloud of dust which prompted another coughing fit. As he was busy coughing his lungs out of his body, he felt how Louise gently but firmly pushed him back into bed.

“Oh woah, you are pretty strong…”, Hans murmured. She looked so frail and small. How had she even been able to carry him here? As he looked at her with questioning eyes, she took a step back and began to cower away from him. She always did that when he talked about something she was afraid of.

“Hey it’s okay, I… won’t ask…”, he said. “Thank you for taking care of me, Louise. I am afraid I was a bit weaker than I thought… I should head home and rest…”

As he pulled himself up again, ready to get out of bed and limp back home, he got pushed back into bed a lot more firmly this time, with Louise stepping back into the shadows right away after he had been forced to lie back down.

“You won’t let me, hm?”, he said, a faint smile on his lips. “Alright, you won, I guess I'll rest here until I feel well enough to go back to the post office.”

Louise stayed in the shadows for a while longer. Hans already wanted to stop looking at her and close his eyes to rest up, when she stepped closer… and began singing. The tune he had hummed to her. The lighthouse lady’s tune.

She was singing in her rough, broken voice, likely from a throat too damaged to form more coherent words, but for him, it was the sweetest sound he could imagine.

He smiled as he let his eyes close and lull himself back to sleep, murmuring: “Your singing has gotten better, Louise…” (Author's note: And this was the fourth of the sicktember prompts. It was surprisingly fun to write the monster in hiding. Louise is a character that certainly should get explained more.

I have the feeling I made the replicants a bit too nice, because in canon almost all of them are kind of shitheads, but hey, canon is painful enough, let us have a little bit of kindness in fanfiction.)

[mystxmomo]

Title: Empathy (Reprise)

Fandom: Identity V

Pairings: Luca Balsa | Prisoner/Victor Grantz | Postman/Andrew Kreiss | Grave Keeper/Edgar Valden | Painter, Antonio | Violinist/Andrew Kreiss | Grave Keeper, Victor Grantz | Postman/Andrew Kreiss | Grave Keeper, Luca Balsa | Prisoner/Andrew Kreiss | Grave Keeper

Chapters: 1/2/3/4/5/7

Description:

They fall into a relationship with Andrew in a way that's so calculated, he forgets it is not planned.

Which is to say.

He writes him a letter, and slips it under his door.

Link: Ao3

==

The thing is, Antonio isn’t so bad when you get to know him, really.

Somewhat.. Stupid. Brilliant, but stupid. Like Luca. Within a week of knowing him, Victor has heard the man create hours worth of melody off the top of his head, fluid and powerful and moving. Could have fooled Victor into believing it to be a song he’d memorized, but he insists it’s of his own creation.

“ I’ve never been good with music, ” Victor admits to him, “ So perhaps I am easily impressed. ”

“Hm,” Antonio shakes his head, but says nothing of his belief.

The other thing is, it’s not just Antonio.

Andrew, apparently, has more a tendency to the hunters then he does other survivors. Victor could have assumed this based on everything he’s been told, but the ease to which the other interacts with the hunters kind of terrifies him. He doesn’t wander the halls of the hunters side of the manor with the same sort of fear and anxiety Victor does. He has the maze memorized, knows each hunter by name and could probably tell Victor what each hunter is capable of.

He catches him in conversation with Ann once, her cat wrapped up in his arms, batting away at the cross necklace as though its a toy. Some discussion on the state of good and evil that Victor can’t even begin to dissect or understand. He begins to notice how much snippier Andrew is willing to be with Joseph, the ease that Andrew slides past Hastur's tentacles.

A lesser man might think Andrew respects them more. Victor is no lesser man.

He asks Antonio about it, instead of Andrew.

“It is as I said,” Antonio tells him, offering him a cup of tea, “He feels no fear around us, because he sees himself as being akin to us. It’s quite interesting, is it not? For someone to find so much braven in their self-loathing.”

“ Doesn’t it bother you, ” Victor asks, leaning over to absentmindedly accept as he’s finishes his sentence, “ That the only reason he feels comfortable around you is that he values you as lesser. ”

“Hm,” Antonio tilts his head up, “I wouldn’t say that.”

Victor can only wonder what he means by that. No amount of confused looks and gesturing gets Antonio to explain.

//

Luca, as it turns out, does not know much of Andrew’s relationship. Andrew is not at all on board with the whole, telling Luca gently, either.

“What if he hates me,” Andrew asks, shifts in his spot, “What if he tells everyone else?”

“ I don’t think he will. He knows better than to be loose lipped,”  Victor points out, tilts his head back and forth.

“He is rather loose-lipped of your relationship,” Andrew points out.

“ Yes. Well you must understand. I have never cared, Andrew. ”

“You should,” Andrew says, critical and sharp. And then, softer, and more worried, “You really should, Victor. The world isn’t so kind.”

He doesn’t tell Andrew that he need not to tell him that.

But Luca finding out is also an inevitability, so they rip it off like a bandage. Harshly, and all at once.

“Okay,” Victor whispers, reaches over to press his hands to Luca’s chest to stop him from walking, “I need you to promise not to do anything drastic.”

Luca scoffs, smiles, confused, “Drastic? What do you take me for?”

Victor ushers him into the private den they often take up. Antonio smiles something elegant, and Luca almost shocks him immediately. Instead, Andrew steps in the way, taking the blunt of it. Luca panics, rushes forward, Antonio laughs awful joyous, and Andrew groans in pain.

Admittedly, it could have gone so much worse.

(“He talks with hunters so easily?” Luca asks him, later in the night, sounding genuinely amazed, “He isn’t scared of them.”

And Victor… He’s hesitant to reveal Andrew’s secrets. But he is comfortable enough to sign, “ Antonio has explained it as ,” Stops to consider it, hands drifting mindlessly as he does, “ Ah. He thinks himself to be one of them? I have been attempting to wrap my mind around it as well, ” Tilts his head, knows he looks more confused than confident. This does not help Luca’s own confusion on the matter.

“What?” Luca looks amused, then realizes he’s serious, “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Kriess..” Luca sighs, “What are we gonna do with him?”

And he’s not sure why, but Victor’s mind fixates on the we of this statement.)

//

“Antonio isn’t horrible ,” Luca admits outloud, not even two conversations with the man, “Kinda weird. Not horrible. I think. No weirder than we are.”

Victor finds himself agreeing, nodding along.

Andrew sighs. Presses his hands into his face, and thumbs at pressure-points, “I’m going to be stuck with the both of you, aren’t I?”

“You weren’t already?” Luca sounds appalled that he might think otherwise.

//

Andrew takes to sitting with him in the manors impossibly large library quite often.

Victors never seen a collection as grand and well kept as the one at the Oletus Manor. It’s one that seems to grow with time. Their own personal Library of Babel, shelves that line the wall and create mazes in the floor, and when they sit in the far back of the library no one would ever be able to find them.

The light is also so dim that Victor is also forced to speak if he wishes to talk to Andrew, which is both a good and a bad thing.

“It’s not like I can read them,” Andrew argues, “Not well. There’s no point to my presence.”

“Nonsense,” Victor smiles at him pleasantly, “I enjoy your company,”

Andrew stares at him. A long look, like he still does not believe the honesty behind Victor’s words after all this time. But he, slowly, nods. Folds his hands in his lap and looks down to the table, “I suppose it’s not too bad in here.”

“It is quiet, and the light is low,” Victor agrees, “I thought you would enjoy it.”

“... ah. Thank you.”

“If you want, I can read it to you?” Victor offers, tapping the cover of his book. An copy of Frankenstein old enough that the pages have yellowed and cover has collected dust, “I just started this one. It would not be too much trouble for me to start from the beginning.”

Andrew looks offended that he’d even offer, “Do you take me to be a child?”

“Not at all. It might help me practice,” Victor begins to admit, brings his finger up to tap his lips, “You know.”

Andrew doesn’t look like he knows what Victor means by that. But he does seem to understand the framing of it being for Victor's benefit, rather than his own. He hesitates. Purses his lips. Sighs, and leans back to get comfortable, “I would not mind listening,” He decides, eventually, looking to the title of the book, “What is is about?”

//

Other times, he sits in on Andrew and Antonio.

Nothing too personal. Just likes to listen to them speak. Not necessarily because he learns anything new, but because their conversations can be awfully… Well. It's always something.

“Do you think heaven takes bribes?” He hears Andrew ask Antonio one day, the question sincere and with an odd amount of passion behind it. Antonio seem’s about as amused as Victor is confused.

“Well. I believe I’ve heard tell that the good lord isn’t too fond of money. Right in that book of yours, actually,” Antonio tells him, leans closer with a laugh, “Now the church, on the other hand. Built on bribes, I tell you.”

Andrew sighs. Long, and tired, “Bribery has always been the devils game, I suppose,” he admits.

“Ah. No, I’m almost positive that’s poker,” Antonio laughs, and plucks at his violin.

Andrew shakes his head. Victor sips at his tea, gaze bouncing back and forth between the two of them as they speak.

Fascinating, he thinks to himself, in what might be Antonio’s exact tone.

//

Now, learning sign language isn’t exactly a requirement to Victor’s friendship. He’s never asked people to learn it for him. He never would. He can get by on pen and paper just fine, and if he absolutely must he can bring himself to speak.

That said...

“If I’m to spend so much time around you,” Andrew decides, “Then I might as well. It would be easier than reading what you have to say.”

Victor is apologetic. He feels bad that his own troubles work so badly against Andrew’s. But he’s never said as much, and Andrew’s only expressed his own in passing, and Victor thinks if it truly bothered Andrew then maybe he could force himself to speak more. With practice. Practice that he’s been getting quite a bit of.

But it doesn’t. And Andrew doesn’t ask him to. Is willing to learn sign language for him. And Victor appreciates the effort, for how unsure of how to express as much.

He doesn’t pick up on it as easily as Luca does. His hands are clumsy, doubts even what he gets correct. Even the signs he knows, he has to mouth to himself to follow through on. He squints when Victor signs back slow in return, not from struggle to see but uncertainty of comprehension.

“I’m sorry,” Andrew says, dreary sigh on his lips, “I’ve never been bright.”

“It’s okay,” Victor speaks in whispers, gives the same grace he’d given Luca in following his words with his signs, “I think you’re learning quickly, all things considered.”

Andrew sighs. There’s a ghost of a smile on his lips, and a tired glint to his eye, “I will trust your judgement on that.”

//

If he were to be honest about the first time he realized he might just feel something more for Andrew Kriess, the story would go like this.

Lakeside village is a miserable place for most.

They find that it's the map most hunters give up on, that half the time even they refuse to hike around the place. It’s beautiful, mind you. Just, muddy, and large, and if you step the wrong way, aren’t paying close enough attention, you’ll come back cold and wet and covered head to toe in mud.

But that isn’t the worst part of it.

The worst part of it, in Victor's opinion, is that Wick often comes back from it just as soaked in mud as the rest of them. Which means coaxing his best friend into the tub, which on his own is at least a two hour long process. Wick behaves with most things. But she whines and squirms and attempts to scramble away from him on baths, which he finds insulting, as she is more than willing to prance about in the lake water and get messy to begin with.

Weird girl.

And he would ask Luca for help, but the last time Luca helped Wick pulled him in a way that messed up his legs and left him out of commission for a good day. So he will not be asking Luca for help.

" Can you help me give Wick a bath ," He asks Andrew instead, guilty smile on his face. Andrew looks Victor (Who is also covered in mud, also rather messy) up and down, as to point out that maybe he should be the one to shower first. But he is polite enough not to directly state it. Victor remembers that Andrew is not entirely fond of dogs. Clarifies with, “All you’d need to do is hold her.”

"... I don't mind helping," he decides, still seeming apprehensive.

It’s probably the correct attitude to have.

Andrew is assigned the dutiful position of holding Wick still as Victor scrubs mud from her fur and plucks the rocks from between her paws. She isn’t a big dog. But she’s almost entirely made of muscle, pulls at Andrews arms and licks at his hands and whines as though she wants to be covered in mud.

“Victor,” He warns.

“Hold on, hold on ,” Victor mumbles it to himself, rushing to pour a bit of water over Wicks fur to rid her of the suds, “Almost done-”

She barks, purposeful, and gives a yank forward. She pulls Andrew into the muddy water, slipping from his grip with a splash. Victor scrambles to catch her, falling over in the tub and onto Andrew in a mixture suds and water in the process. Wick scrambles away, shakes the water off close enough to shower them in return.

… Victor reaches over to brush some of the bubbles on his hand off on Andrew's already soaked shirt. Andrew looks bemused at best.

“Sorry,” He says, a whisper, “That could have gone better,”

Andrew only sighs at him.

Only a little more into the night, they sit together soaked to the bone, smelling of wet dog and mud. Victor still needs a real shower, and Andrew needs a new pair of clothing, but instead Victor has grabbed the warmest drink available to them (Hot apple cider, that he suspects is spiked) from the kitchen and huddled with him in their den.

“Thank you,” He signs with his words to Andrew, watching what he swears is a very smug pleased Wick snooze in front of the fire, “For the help.”

Andrew sighs, tilts his head back. Tries to burn the signs into his eyes, “Yeah,” He says, “It wasn’t horrible.”

And he thinks, maybe sitting there with him, soaked to the bone, hair at odd angles, and firelight glowing against his face, that Andrew Kriess was beautiful. That the way butterflies burn in his stomach and skin crawls where Andrew’s touches his could very easily be love.

It scares him.

He sits on it.

//

Emily doesn’t approve of them bleeding out.

“It causes more problems than it solves,” She tells him, tense and stern, around the second time he allows Luca to do it, “You’ll continue to feel the wounds for weeks. Complications of the health for months. It adds up. I am begging you two to simply come and get your wounds stitched up proper.”

Victor thinks that’s a silly misunderstanding of human nature. No one wants to die. Even Aesop, who to this day was still playfully teased for his fascination in death, didn’t really want a blade through his spine. It was just easier to accept a moment of peace, waking up the next day with the taste of blood on your teeth and ghost pains crawling through your body than it was to sit through stitches that wouldn’t matter and medicines that only did so much.

They’ve become jaded to it a long time ago. Hopeless, he might argue. Had all accepted death and pain as a regular part of this life that it doesn’t quite matter much anymore.

Andrew has a tendency to take rather bad hits in his matches. It comes with his position. He’s often sent off on rescues, has a tendency to stumble over himself while doing so. And Joseph- Well, Joseph has never been kind. Particularly not to their lot. Victor can only do so much to help.

“I think I’m cursed,” Andrew admits to him for the hundredth time, words slurring from bloodloss, “My existence is one that earns this fate.”

Victor thinks Andrew may just be unlucky, and that he’s just being a tad bit dramatic right now. But he’s not one to argue with a dying man, and Andrew is huddling closer to him not for stability, but for comfort.

“I don’t think we can make it to the hunters side of the manor this time,” Victor frowns, “I think-...” It’s more trouble then it’s worth.

“It’s fine,” Andrew seems to have resigned himself to his fate, “Stay with me.”

So he does. He brings him to his bedroom (Because Andrew's room feels unwelcoming, and cold, and lonely, and no one stops them to force them to go to Emily, technically speaking) and begins to bring him to his bed, but Andrew shakes and shivers and whispers something about staining the sheets.

"Luca use to-" Still does, often. Andrew didn’t need to know that, "Sometimes, just let himself bleed out on the bed. Instead of waiting to heal. Never quite liked that much. Never did at all."

"Sounds wrenched."

"Yeah,” He whispers, rough, “Stained the mattress a while ago.”

Andrew holds him tighter, and the way his head dips down hides his face, “I still would rather not make a mess of your room.”

And it feels ridiculous to care about. He’s about to insist that really, he doesn’t mind, it’s okay, he can clean it, his floors already have blood dried into the cracks and pillows sometimes reek of iron. That he just wants Andrew to have a moment of comfort for once.

“Tomorrow I’ll rest,” Andrew follows up, “Tonight will not be as kind.”

"... Very well. The Bathroom," he tells him, calm, then repeats,  "Come on. Bathroom."

He dumps the man into his clawfoot tub and begins to unbutton his shirt with shaking hands. He pointedly, very pointedly, ignores the way his finger stain red, the way the blood will catch under his nails and stick to his clothing.

“I’m sorry,” He says, speaks, softly, apologetic for something even he can’t entirely decipher, “I’m very, very sorry.”

“You’ve nothing to be sorry for,” Andrew tells him, and he thinks he might be laughing. He assumes a reason for Victor, “We’re both men. Not that there’s point to ceremony here.”

Victor shakes his head, reaches up to touch the edge of his cheek, “You deserve to be comfortable, Andrew. Allow me to give you that much.”

He doesn’t miss how he accidentally smears blood across his cheek. It feels wrong, in a way that makes Victor's stomach turn and shift. He’s never been the squeamish type (Had to be able to hold his own, in his line of work.)

But something about it being Andrew, makes it taste sour on his tongue. It contrasts too much with his skin, Victor decides, as he reaches up to turn on the water. The blood taints the water red, running pink down the drain. Victor watches it, instead of Andrew, because it feels polite to avert his gaze.

The water runs lukewarm at best, because they’re never so kind as to have hot water without an extra step. Luca complains about it often. But Andrew sighs as if it’s absolutely heavenly, tilts his head back to relax, “Never had access to running water. Not like this. I never imagined that I would.”

Something about that sits wrong with Victor. He doesn’t say as much.

And they sit like that. Victor drapes his arms into the bathwater, rests his forehead on the porcelain, holds onto Andrew’s arm. Andrew mumbles prayer to himself in a language Victor vaguely recognized as latin. Victor didn’t know Andrew knew latin, let alone enough to pray in the language.

It’s an ugly, peaceful scene.

(Andrew wakes up the next day with ghost pains under his skin and bags under his eyes. He doesn’t say anything of being in Victor's bed, wrapped up with enough blankets to claim decency. Nor does he say anything of the night prior. Instead, the first thing he does is complain that Luca came in and pulled open his curtains again.

“They’re there for a reason,” Andrew tells him, holds his head, “Please close them?”

Which Victor does, bemused.

The next thing he does, however, is answer Victor’s question.

“ Are you feeling better, at least? ”

“It was the most peaceful sleep I’ve had in years,” He tells Victor, who delivers him his coffee, “I wonder if that’s what heaven is like.”

“ Quiet ?”

“... Painless.”)

In the morning, it's just another death. But that night, and that night alone, it sits heavy on his chest.

//

" He bled out two nights back, " Victor tells Antonio, next time he approaches him in a match. He doesn’t think Antonio intended on going friendly, exactly. But he’s feeling particularly bold, and Antonio has always been one to humor them.

Antonio tilts his head to get a better look at the notepad. He swears he hears the man sigh, can pick up on it as an accusation.

"Some things are outside of my control, just as they are yours," He says, "I will not guilt myself over that of which I cannot change."

Victors brows furrow. He spins around to write against the machine, and the man hums a song to himself.

“ You’re the ones killing us ,” His handwriting is sloppy, and rushed, and he knows that.

“I do not hurt him,” Antonio points out, “I am quite selfish like that.”

Victor looks at him with bewilderment. Raises his pen, and then lowers it.

"Hm. Surely you've been here long enough to realize? Death is little more than a charade. A show. The laws that govern our land are different to the world outside this manor. As such, the songs we sing have changed with it.”

"..." Victor grips the side of the machine, ducks his head down, "It still hurts to be stabbed," he points out, voice shaking. He can’t look at Antonio when he talks. Physically still cannot bring himself to. The beat in his chest almost overpowers him, but he breaks through, “I don’t like seeing them die.”

“ Hm. You are a truly empathetic person, Little postman. I must wonder. Do you care more about their deaths than your own ?” Antonio muses, italian dripping off his tongue, “ .. Isn’t that selfish ?”

Victor turns. Blinks at him. Doesn’t respond fast enough for Antonio’s liking.

“Hm,” Antonio repeats his hum, strum’s at his violin, “Ignore me, if you would like. I am thinking out loud.”

Victor is silent. He’s not actually sure what Antonio could mean by that. He doesn’t ask, because he doesn’t want to know the answer.

" Why are we here, " He finally asks, feeling miserable, writes it because he cannot bring himself to speak, “ What’s the point of all this. ”

"... I truly could not say," Antonio admits, not nearly as apathetic as his tone might imply, “Especially not for your lot. I do not see the point in baiting pawns into a game. However. For many hunters, this land is a second chance. I would not call them all grateful for the opportunity. But one cannot deny an opportunity when it is presented to you.”

"... You ?" He signs it. But it’s little more than a point, and Victor would call him out on ignoring it.

"..." Antonio tilts his head, "Surely, You must understand. I have never quite liked being entrapped in a cage, Little Postman. But at least here, I have my music, fine wine, and good company. It is but a farce of freedom, but a farce of happiness is better than an ugly truth."

Victor thinks Antonio might just be an incredibly simple man to understand. He wonders why he was ever scared of him, to begin with.

“ Do you think any of us will get out? ”

"... I think today is a most excellent day to be playing nice, wouldn’t you say?" Antonio does not answer him, steps and bows in a show of truce, “We all deserve a break now and again. Tell me. What sort of melody shall I play today?”

The song he decides on is something familiar, and melancholic. It reminds him of waves rolling on stone, and wind running through tall grass. Of the smell of fresh bread and drying flowers.

It reminds him of home.

(Victor decodes alone with him, the slow melody drowning out the cipher machine’s metallic shriek. And when it finally pops, he can’t bring himself to do another.)

//

"Do you think it's possible to be in love with more than one person," He asks Luca one day, out of nowhere, after he'd spent a good ten minutes doing nothing but staring up at the ceiling

"Uh," Lucas's reply is almost immediate. As mindless as any of his other ‘ Victor I'm really into working right now but I'll humor you’ thoughts are, "Sure. Love is just a series of chemicals lightin’ up in our heads, ain't it? S' possible. Probable. Which doesn’t change that it’s still love- I mean, all emotions are just chemicals and neurons lighting up in your head. It’s what makes the human body real fascinatin’. We work- I think we work kinda like equations like that. Lots of, you know. A and B create C. For example, Kissin’ Victor gives me serotonin, which makes me happy. I bet if we really tried we could create entire equations to map out the way our brains work out. Real beautiful. Kinda poetic, almost, isn’t it? Numbers bein’ so ingrained in our lives."

" Right ," Victor signs, flustered, goes to continue. Luca blinks, seems to realize he’s tangented a bit off topic. Victor raises his hands to offer a few signs, but realizes that Luca isn’t looking at him. His pencil taps against the paper, but he’s not writing. Just thinking, it seems.

“... No one will only love one person throughout their lives, I think, and it’s a fool's thought to believe otherwise. Love is tricky like that- Did you know the ancient Greeks had eight different words to describe their love? And lots of languages have more than one word describin’ it. Of course, language ain’t my strong suit these days,” These days. Victor could roll his eyes. He’s heard Luca have entire conversations with Norton in Spanish, much to the amusement of the later. Victor does not mention this, because Luca cannot pull that out on command, “But it’s kinda interesting, the way it’s sort of. You know, evolved and changed with time.”

Victor sits up on the bed, tries to speak this time but finds his body working against him.

Frustrated, he digs for a pen and paper, cursing himself and his nerves and his no good rotten body and mind for being unable to scrap up a few words.

“- Oh, hey. Hello,” He passes the note over to Luca. There’s a fond smile on his face as he flips open the note, “Haven’t gotten one of these in a while.”

Luca stops talking. His face blanks over as he reads the note. It’s somewhat petrifying.

" If I told you I was in love with more than one person? "

"I wouldn't.. be entirely surprised,” he finally says, eyes cast down to the table, "I'd say I was expecting that,"

"..." Victor wets his lips. Shrinks in on himself. Sort of wishes he had Wick here to pet, because he wants something to do with his hands other than have them folded together in his lap. The air feels heavy to breath in, silence tangible and thick.

"... Well? What do you want to do about it?" Luca asks, finally, props his chin up on one hand and folds the page up between his fingers.

"You're not upset," Victor says it, because he’s so startled by this realization that he can’t even think to sign it.

Luca has the gall to snort, "I mean, it's Andrew, isn't it? It was always gonna be Andrew.”

Victor flushes, eyes widen. The two of them are silent, as Luca waits for an answer, and Victor registers how obvious he must have been recently. Or, perhaps, for some reason, surprised that Luca is as observant as he is. He’s known this about Luca. For a while now. He opens his mouth to speak. Closes it. Luca laughs, but he thinks it’s humorless, “You’ve fancied him since before he enjoyed your company, Victor.”

“ Stop ,” Victor signs it hard enough that it snaps against his palm, then, not in the mood to be teased, hides his flustering face in his hands.

“You’re nervous?” Luca asks, tilts his head. Victor nods, breath of air leaving him. Luca sighs, smiles, “That’s fine. I mean, it is fine. It really is. Take your time.”

He raises the sign for love with a shaking hand, hides his face. He doesn’t know if Luca replies to that, but he does hear him pace to stand over him. Feels him take a spot next to him. Wrap his arms around his waist. Luca is just as tense as he is, he notes. Arms feel a bit heavy on him, form feels too light.

Victors hands come down to touch Luca’s. It’s enough to get them both to relax.

They talk about it later. But for now, he’s grateful for the time to think.

//

They fall into a relationship with Andrew in a way that's so calculated, he forgets it is not planned.

Which is to say.

He writes him a letter, and slips it under his door.

//

Andrew

I’m sure it will come as no surprise to you, but I’ve never been the best with words. I’ve always been less eloquent with feelings. Not in the moment. I find that I struggle to understand my own, let alone the feels of others.

I’ve been sitting on how to approach this for a while now.

But after talking with Luca, it has become clear to me that I should be forward, and honest. You’ve become someone quite dear to me. I understand it might be hard for you to believe, but I swear it to be true.

If you wish to talk about it, I will be waiting in the gardens tonight. You do not have to come. Should you not, we need never to speak of this again. That is my promise to you.

Victor

//

(He does sort of with he’d been there to see Andrew’s expression, reading that for the first time.)

//

(“...” Andrew holds the letter up to the light, “You are honest?” He asks, quietly, might as well be shaking.

“I wouldn’t lie,” Victor tells him, “I am not cruel.”)

Here’s how it goes.

Not a lot changes about their relationship. They had never been touchy, in the same way him and Luca were beforehand. Even after putting a label on what was already there, Andrew is not one for touch. Certainly not in public. He’s a private man, like that.

But now, he allows Victor to sit particularly close to him in the library when he reads with him. Victor will wrap a single blanket around the two of them, will hide their laced hands under the table for Andrew’s comfort. Andrew earns a key to his room, just as Luca had, and Victor’s windows earn curtains thick enough to block out the sun.

“You’re allowed here anytime,” Victor assures him, gently, as though it’s not just a room a few doors down. But Andrew understands it as the gesture it is, sighs something sweet and nods his head.

“Thank you.”

Luca isn’t dating Andrew, technically speaking. They don’t put a label on it. But Victor sees the way Luca’s eye’s soften on Andrew’s. He hears the two of them together, talking in the dead of night, when Luca should be asleep. Andrew accepts Luca’s touches easier than he accepts even Victors. Maybe because of how freely he gives it with others. Maybe because Luca’s hands are something gentle, and comforting, and Victor understand’s that. He hears Luca whisper assurances of love under his breath, which confirms whatever suspicions Victor might have.

“It’s just kind of confusing,” Luca admits of it, when Victor asks. Luca shrugs, “Seems fittin’, for this place.”

And it’s comfortable between them like that.

//

He is not Andrews first. Andrew seems to hold a certain amount of guilt over this.

"Antonio and I have.." Andrew hesitates, flusters, but he’s firm when he says, "I will not apologize for that."

"I wouldn't ask that of you," Victor assures, knocks his forehead to Andrews, "I've slept with Luca. I've slept with others, even before."

Still. There's a certain amount of anxiety that comes to Andrew’s actions. A certain amount of guilt he cannot rid himself of. No amount of gentle words or easy touches will get rid of the fact that Andrew mumbles prayer to himself after they’ve slept together, and no amount of assurance changes that sometimes, often, Victor wakes up from his doze to the sound of Andrew in the shower. That he knows, without checking, that he’s been in there at least an hours time.

He cannot change this about Andrew. So he does what he can, and gives the man the space he needs.

“ It confuses me ,” Victor admits to Luca, signs across the table from him over breakfast, “ That he holds so much guilt over a relationship he was so willing to come into. ”

Luca’s lips twitch up in a grin, “ He runs on guilt, ” Luca points out, giggles nervous, “ I don’t think it’s your fault. ”

Assurance doesn’t come directly. It comes with.

Well.

“If I have the date correct,” Andrew tells him, tone distant, lingering in his doorway, “She would have died today.”

Victor blinks. His eyebrows furrow and it takes looking down at the frame in Andrew’s hand for it to click.

His mother.

He steps aside to allow Andrew to come in, and he does so without hesitation, “Can it just be us for now?” Andrew asks, softly. And Victor isn’t one to deny such a request.

Victor isn’t catholic. He’s never been religious. Does not think he can worship a god, after being in this wretched place. But he kneels with Andrew and allows the man to guide him in prayer, allowing the words to ghost over his lips and mourning to drip from his tongue. He gathers candles and flowers and food from the kitchen and offers it to Andrew after, convinces Naib through apologies and a careful explanation to take his match and says nothing of the way Andrews sobs stay silent against his shoulder.

“I don’t think I’m over it,” Andrew admits to him, red-eyed, curled up on his floor with him, “Her death. I don’t think I will ever move past it.”

“... That’s okay,” Victor assures, “You’re allowed to be upset.”

“She didn’t- She didn’t even have a proper burial. The church refused her the honor.”

Victor is almost scared to ask. But he does, “Why.”

“For housing a demon,” It comes out so blank that it turns bitter. Victor doesn’t know if Andrew is angry at himself and his existence, or at the church and it’s transgressions. He thinks it might be both, “She was a good woman, Victor. Even when I was younger, I knew how strong she was,” His breath comes out shaky, and he falls slack against Victor's shoulder, “Her strength came from love. I don’t know if she deserved to be scorned for that.”

They’re silent for a bit. Victor holds Andrew’s hands between his own and ignores the way he trembles.

When he speaks again, it’s in a far lighter tone.

“I like to think she would have liked you. That you would have gotten along with her,” Andrew admits to him, resting his head on his shoulder as he watches the candles burn, “You’re hard not to get along with. But. She liked to read, you see. Was particularly fond of old folk tales. She had so many memorized,” He smiles, “... I think she would have been happy for me. She would have been happy about this. She would have welcomed you with open arms, just as she had her demon spawn. She was just that type of person.”

Victor is unsure as to why that brings him comfort. It does.

Luca joins them later in the day, after Andrew has calmed and the candle has burnt to the base. He brings ale and bright yellow flowers and food far better than what Victor had been able to hurriedly scrounge up from the kitchen. Warm and filling and fresh and more than the three of them actually know what to do with. Andrew thanks him, with sincerity, for the gifts. Seems a little overwhelmed by it.

“Well. I’m just the messenger. I can’t cook to save my life. I uh- Set the kitchen on fire too many times,” Luca admits, shoving a piece of apple pie in Andrew’s direction, “But Naib told Eli, n’ he and Naib and Fiona sort’a insisted. I think Naib made the Stew, n’ Eli made the garlic bread, n’ Fiona made the pie. Or maybe it was the otherway around..?” he smiles something gentle, “Anyway I guess she spilled to everyone else, Cause the ale is from Demi n’ Kevin, you should have heard ‘em fight over which to give you, and flowers from Emma n’ Aesop. She said they’re real easy to take care of, for what it’s worth. Good indoor flowers. Prefer the shade. You’ll have to ask her what they’re called. Aesop insisted they be yellow though.”

Andrew blinks down at everything. Exhaustion lingers on his face, and maybe that’s why he looks more overwhelmed than he had beforehand, “Oh,” He says, a bit breathless, “I see.”

Luca is quiet as he shifts to wrap his arms around Andrew, “N’ I just brought this,” He says, and it’s softer than before, “So there’s no need to be upset, yeah?”

And Andrew doesn’t cry again, exactly. But he stares down at the gifts offered at his feet, and rubs at his eyes and huffs out what might be laughter, and when he smiles it’s the brightest it’s been in weeks.

“Yeah,” Andrew says, resting his head against Luca’s, “I suppose there’s no need for that today.”

//

It’s not impossible to sneak onto their match grounds, is the thing.

It takes Victor well over a year to learn this. Because it’s not exactly easy to do. While they might be connected to the hunters manor through maze of hallways, they seem to wake on the maps in a fog. No way to know how they get there, and always come out through a door they can’t go back through.

Emma is the one who shows him how to get there.

“Emma has been going there to see Mr. Hell Ember for a while now!” She admits, cheerfully, “You just have to remember. Mr. Skelkro always guards the entrance. Remember to thank him, yeah?”

Which Victor humors her on, offering the thing an awkward smile whenever he passes it.

Eversleeping Town isn’t the worst place in the world. Not compared to the area’s like the Arms Factory, somewhere inhabitable to all but ghosts, or Moonlit River Park, where he swears he can still hear giggles and chatter of children as he’s decoding the ciphers. He would even argue that Eversleeping Town is a place of beauty, in a melancholy sort of way. Somewhere that feels like an echo of normality. He’d never been to Japan in his lifetime. But it’s the closest thing to a city they have.

And on a normal day, thrown into a game where he’s forced to run for his life, he doesn’t get to appreciate that beauty. But sometimes, rarely, they can sneak into the town. Other times, they are invited to it.

“Michiko likes to dance for the hunters sometimes,” Andrew explains to him and Luca, hands folded in his lap, “Performances. And. Ah. I suppose I’m invited, this time? If you two would like to come as well,” He is a tad awkward as he extends the invitation.

Of course, they accept.

They arrive a tad early, when the moon is still shy in the sky. They spend a while exploring alleyways that feel as though they cross together, following the tram tracks in an endless loop. Luca narrowly avoids getting hit twice, and Victor and Andrew pull him to the far end of their group so that it doesn’t happen a third. They feel both welcome and unwelcomed, somewhere they’re allowed to be but for all purposes should not.

To his surprise, they aren’t the only survivors there.

Helena looks nowhere near as awkward as he feels at her presence, eyes lighting up when she realizes they’re there. She taps her cane a few times, dressed in elegant shades of red and white. Victor, in turn, thinks that maybe he should have dressed up a bit more as well. You know, with what he has access to.

“Wait,” Luca says, of her company, “Aren’t you uh. Blind?” He says this like they haven’t been living in the same manor for the last few years. Rather, like this wasn’t one of the people he talked to with some amount of frequency. He realizes his mistake, “Wait. Wait. Fuck. I’m so sorry, that’s.. Stupid. I’m sorry, Helena. Ignore me.”

Helena, to her credit, takes this in stride. A small smile across her face, a giggle of laughter, “Well. Yes. I suppose it’s a fair question,” Her head turns to the sound of the music, elegant and sweet, and she tilts her head, “That is no reason to avoid coming to support a friend.”

“Ah,” And Luca seems to understand that much, “I didn’t really know you two were close.”

Slowly, hunters make their own entrance. Mary approaches their group with a thin lipped frown. The sort of expression that makes Victor feel as though he’s going to be told off for being here. But she coughs, offers them a curtsy (Something, he notes, Luca returns with an appropriate bow) and takes a spot next to Helena. Joseph lingers a fair distance away from them, glaring as though they’ve intruded on something they do not belong in. He feels less awkward about his presence. Jack and Hell Ember speak in low voices to the far right, and Violetta has settled by Robbie on the edge of the fence way.

“Is N’tonio going to be here?” Luca asks, attempts to stand on his toes. As though he wouldn’t notice a man twice his height approaching. It doesn’t work, exactly, and both Andrew and he press their hands to Luca’s back to step him from falling back on himself.

“He will be playing music for darling Michiko’s performance tonight,” Mary pipes up. Her normally stern expression hardens, and she sighs, “He seemed excited for the challenge of a new instrument, however I do worry about him messing up her performance.”

“I don’t think he will,” Helana assures, reaches out with a free hand to touch the womans waist, “It will go more than fine tonight.”

“Hmph,” She sighs, “I will have a fair few words with him, should it not.”

A distance away, beyond the wooden gates, The Geisha steps on stage.

(Helena was correct. There had been nothing to worry about. The performance was beautiful. For a woman he knows to be shy, she’s confident in her specialty.

The three of them stay long after everyone else leaves. Luca hums an echo of the song Antonio had played, skipping stones on the water beyond the fence. Andrew leans against the railing.

"I wanted a family once. I sincerely thought it would bring me happiness" Andrew tells him whispers, staring off at some of the lanterns floating on the water, “Have I ever told you that?”

Victor shakes his head. "... I'm sorry,” Though for what, Victor is unsure. That he knows that will probably never happen. Not the sort he knows Andrew to be talking about.

Andrew shakes his head, scoffs, “You’ve nothing to apologize for. I had accepted long before I came here that it would never happen. For a multitude of reasons,” he says, and Victor knows that to be true, “I used to think it was the lord testing me.”

“Now?”

Andrew shakes his head. Opens his mouth, then closes it, “I think,” He finally looks away from the lanterns, but if Victor looks close enough he thinks he sees the lights catching in Andrew’s eye, “It doesn’t matter anymore. I am unsure, if what is happening is part of the lords plan,” He huffs out a laughter, “Ah. This may be the afterlife, for all I am aware. But for the first time in my life, I am at peace. Thank you for being apart of that.”

Victor is quiet. His fingers brush to the Andrew's hip, and he steps closer to him.)

//

The holiday’s have always been a rather odd time at the manor.

Sneak up on the best of them. They celebrate what they believe is everyones birthdays. Have a calendar where they keep track of them, even if the days don’t match up to the times and dates don’t always seem to align. Sometimes, they decide to celebrate because they feel as though they need to. Because it’s not always enough to sit and drink around cards. Sometimes reminders of “Happy Hanukkah!” or “Merry Christmas!” end up cheered about at some point in the year. They celebrate the New Years, the Chinese New years. Norton introduces many of them to the day of the dead, and Fiona and Eli introduce them to the Solstice festivals. All things that always ends as a beautiful trainwreck of color. If there’s a holiday on the books, they’ve most certainly used it as an excuse to party.

Recently, he’s been spending them with Luca. But, as much as he loves Luca, Luca prefers to spend them bouncing about from person to person. As he does. And Victor would, more often than not, rather not.

Antonio and Andrew, on the other hand, take a far more private approach. Apparently, the traditions have slipped over to the hunters as well.

“ I hope I’m not interrupting, ” Victor writes, shifts in his spot. He feels like he is. But Andrew shrugs, and Antonio shakes his head, and he is offered another drink.

“Anything but,” Antonio assures, “I had invited some of the hunters as well. But they have more important things to do than humor a poor dead man's wishes. How sad!”

“Please stop joking about that,” Andrew mumbles, hiding his face behind his hand.

“Ah. But we’re all dead here, technically, are we not?”

They’ve taken refuge on the hunters side of the manor, in one of the smaller ballrooms. Antonio and Andrew occupy themselves by talking in low chatter, and Victor sits close to the light to flip through a copy of sherlock he’s dug from the library.

Luca joins them later into the night. Luca, who unlike the three of them, has spent the good first part of his evening drinking with Norton and Naib, smells heavily of run and gingerbread cookies. Not that they haven’t also been drinking. But he’s far more giddy than them. There's a bounce to his step, a flush to his cheek, and a smile on his lips. The first thing he'd done upon entering the room is announce that he was teaching Andrew how to waltz.

"What?" Andrew had said, sounding somewhat bewildered. And then, "I don't dance-"

"Surely you do. Everyone dances," Luca scoffs, offended.

And then, softer, "-You know how to waltz?"

"Kinda," Luca reaches over to grab his hands, pull him forward with a near impressive amount of strength, "I think. Let's find out if I 'member the proper steps."

Then, he tries to request, "Antonio, can you-" around the same time Andrew tries to spit out, "Antonio, don't you dare- "

“What an absolutely fascinating development… Ah. What wonderful energy the night brings!” A bubble of laughter at his lips, Antonio chooses his side. A melody begins on his violin, and judging by the way Luca's eyes light up it absolutely must be a waltz of some kind. Despite himself, Victor can’t help but smile bright. Andrew, despite his protests, doesn’t attempt to fight Luca. Only offers a sigh, and a glare, and follows his footing.

“Here,” Luca tells him, ignoring the way Andrew hides his face in the crook of his neck. He thinks he hears Andrew mumble something in response, but Luca laughs, “It’s not embarrassing. Come now, it’s just us.”

Andrew sighs. Brings a hand to rest on his face, “You’re too much sometimes,” He says, just loud enough for Victor to catch.

The smile on Luca’s face is something fond. He slows his steps, “Try like this..”

“You’re not going to join them?” Antonio notes, not a question. Victor raises an eyebrow. Then his drink. Then his book. In that exact order. Smiles rather sleepily. Antonio laughs, “Ah. I respect that.”

Luca's steps look sloppy, from where Victor is sitting. Andrew attempts to follow along as best he can to the drunken man's instructions, but is evidentially getting somewhat mixed up. He flusters as he steps on Luca’s toes for the fourth or fifth time in a row, and deciding that this was not the reaction he wanted from this situation, Luca calls out a;

"Antonio! Play something faster,"

"What- Luca ,"

And just like that, they're off. Luca holding Andrew close, hand on his hip, one outstretched, attempting to swing the two of them in what is absolutely not a waltz, with laughter loud enough to echo around the room. Antonio's tune starts on something pluckier.

But there’s, at last, ghost of a smile on Andrew’s lips, and a drunken giggle on Luca’s.

“I didn’t expect you to play something like this,” Victor admits to Antonio, as he throws down a chunk of chicken for Wick to take. But only because it’s the holidays. She deserved something nice too.

"You think that I wouldn't know a basic irish jig, Little Postman? I am insulted,” He does, in fact, not sound insulted.

"Well, you mostly seem to know how to play classic in matches,"

Antonio huffs out a laughter

"Classic is what’s trained into my fingers, correct. I would not say it is my preferred taste in music. A waltz is little more than a rich man's dance. The upper class don't quite like jigs and shanties. Pretentious, all of them,” Antonio’s tone lingers on something serious, before going back to the loose, gentle note it normally takes, “Now bars and inns? Fast paced tunes were in high demand. The most fun I have playing was with the poor men. Know how to party well, that lot."

“...” Victor nods. He understands that.

For the first part of the song, he sits. Allowing the music to follow the pages of his book. But as his eyes wander back to the two dancing, his mind does as well.

“If I may ask,” He starts. Pauses. "It doesn't bother you, that we’re with him?"

“Fascinating, that you choose to ask that now,” If he squints, the tone might be something dry, “Any reason it comes to mind?”

“I’ve never actually asked your thoughts on it,” He pulls his legs up to his chest, squeezes in on the chair he’s taken refuge in, “He assured us when we got together that it would not be an issue with you. And you’ve never said anything,” He refuses to even fake looking Antonio in the eye, “Truth be told, you intimidate me. So I decided to trust his word.”

“Hm,” Antonio nods, “I think I understand.”

Antonio collects his thoughts. Offers a small spin on his heel as he plays a particularly fast bit of his song.

“ My relationship with the little angel is something unique. Distinctly inhumane, and beautiful, ” He finally says, and theres a slight change to his tone that sends a shiver down Victors spine, “ Something beyond romance. Rooted deep in the soul, between the edges of fate. You understand this, correct? ”

He cannot return in italian. But he does nod, to signify his understanding, “I never know when you’re being hyperbolic,” He admits. Antonio shakes his head.

“ He is happiest here, and now. And I cannot take that from him, ” another spin of the heel, a particularly fast melody, and he’s back to english, “I refuse to. That is what is important to me. Ah! But does it bother you , little postman?”

It’s not an accusation. It’s genuine curiosity, sung against a song far brighter than their conversation. Victor reaches over to grab his drink, watching the way Luca spins Andrew about. Andrew has finally begun to grin, large, and Victor only catches a moment of it before Andrew is hiding it in Luca’s shoulder. Luca says something to him, but whatever it is happens to end up lost to the music.

“No,” He decides, “It never has.”

And then the music stops as Luca stumbles back a step or two off key, much to the panic of Andrew.

“Oops,” Luca says, but he’s laughing and out of breath “That might have been a bit too much for me. A little past my limit,.”

“Please be careful,” Andrew shifts to help balance Luca properly.

“I will be fine,” Luca insists, “No need to sit just yet. Just give me a moment.”

Andrew shakes his head, fond smile on his lips, “Come here, you foolish drunken man.”

Antonio sighs, dreamy, "You and I are voyeurs of the worst possible kind, Little Postman. But with that, comes understanding of others. A blessing and a curse.”

Victor smiles. This one is shallow.

"Perhaps."

...

Andrew brings Luca over to sit with them. Luca collapses into the chair next to Victor. Victor takes the chance to offer his back a few, easy rubs, and to shove water in Luca’s face instead of the alcohol he was planning on stealing from Victor's cup. Andrew makes his way to sit beside Antonio instead.

“Hm. You know, I cannot actually remember the last I’ve played truly for myself,” Antonio admits, quietly, laughs with it, “But I do not mind. My music touches your hearts, and for that I am grateful.”

Victor thinks that this may be the best Holiday he’s had in years.

//

Once again, they’re back to where they began.

Luca has finally taken up decoding, something Victor helps him with a few letters, and his own hands. Edgar has decided to stop tormenting them, but also refuses to decode.

“Look. No. It’s the principle of the matter,” He tells Victor, breaking out the limited paints he carries with him in matches, “If I do not have to, I’m not touching that thing .”

He instead decides to paint off to the side. Some sort of landscape portrait of Leo’s Memory, if the canvas of pastels and whites Victor catches out of the corner of his eye is anything to go by. Victor can’t be too upset. He’d rather the man use a match where they’ve nothing to fear to paint, rather than one where they’re in danger of being slaughtered. He’d done that before. Multiple times. He was particularly fond of ditching matches on lakeside to paint scenes of the lake. Just another reason Lakeside was a miserable place, really.

Andrew and Antonio stand off to the side, talking between eachother.

“You’ve got snow in your hair,” Andrew tells Antonio, reaching over to clean him off, “Will I be seeing you tonight?”

“Of course,” Antonio nods, “On a holiday as fine as this, I do not think I could stand to be in the same room with some fo those stuffy hunters.”

Andrew nods. Sighs, “You know you’re welcome here,” He says, reaches up to touch his cheek, “Just be careful coming over. I would rather Miss Gilman not drag you off in the middle of the night, this time.”

“Oh, you know as well as I that she was simply curious of our bond! No reason to fret over something so small.”

Andrew shakes his head, “It’s none of her business,” He mumbles. His gaze travels up to meet Victors, entirely accidental. But he smiles at him, sincere and sweet, and Victor feels himself heat up.

He smiles back.

He was too easy, he thinks, as the cipher pops.

When he glances off to the side to peer at what Edgar is painting, he thinks he catches sight of a violin somewhere on that canvas, and a suspicious amount of black blotting out the pastels. But when he tries to get a closer look, Edgar glares, and blocks him from looking.

Ah. A surprise then.

Fine by him.

==

Andrew

When I think about it, I think you have more secrets than you can know or say. That is alright. I don’t think I want to discover the depths of the sort of life one must live, to believe that simple acts of kindness are hiding vitriol and poison.

I don’t know if I could ever convince you that you’re not of the damned. No amount of love can patch up the lifelong wound done to your person. I think that’s okay. It has to be. I wish we could have met sooner. In a different place, at a different time.

But the world isn’t so kind, and love has never been easy, and I am lucky to have you now. And I suppose that’s what’s important.

When I think about it, the real tragedy is that you’ve lived a lifetime that’s blinded you to how loved you have become. I think, I hope, one day, that even if you believe yourself damned, you’ll be able to understand that even demons deserve love. It may not be now, and it may not be soon, but we’ve all the time in the world and only eachother to spend it with.

You’re truly something special. I hope that your happiness is sincere, and that you can keep it close to your heart. Be it through us or him.

Victor.

[Grave Keeper has received letter entitled Bravery.]

[comickergirl]

Alright. Let’s give this a shot.

SPOILER-Y DISCUSSION OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, INCOMING:

I figure the best way to do this is chronological; my prior attempts have not been chronological, which might account for their feeling a little...all over the place and unorganized.

This will also be a good test to see how much of the film I remember.

RIGHT THEN: First and foremost, (and we gleaned this from the trailers, obviously) MEMORY-LOSS PLOT. Which is Classic Carol™. She’s lost her memory like. Four times.

(her poor brain D:)

All of this to say: The premise of the movie, a kind of reverse origin story in which Carol figures out who she is, in a very literal but also figurative sense, was a great way to go, IMO.

Love all the moments from Carol’s past. I was admittedly surprised that we didn’t get more of that? But what was there was effective and given the amount of ground the movie had to cover, I think it was sufficient.

So after the dreams** we get the early morning fight with Yon-Rogg (who I was absolutely certain was Yon-Rogg, in spite of all the back and forth speculation and Marvel attempting to ‘hide’ his identity) and there’s exposition, obviously, and the set up of Carol’s struggle with Yon-Rogg’s forced Kree values clashing with Carol’s humanity but MORE importantly...

PHOTON BLASTS.

Love the way they render the energy pulsing just below the surface of her skin. Looks so cool. 

Then: Chit Chat Time with The Great Intelligence!

I thought for sure it was gonna be Helen Cobb.

BOY WAS I MISTAKEN. (More on that in a sec.)

Favorite Visual #1: The slow pan of Starforce and the excellent shot of Carol’s helmet as they swim to shore on Torfa.

The whole rescue mission sequence/Carol’s kidnapping is...Truly a Highlight, in my opinion.

I mean!

She’s running around the enemy ship! Without her boots! Pummeling the Skrulls with unwieldy metal shackles! And growling in their faces!

#BOSSOFSPACE

Also, comic connection alert: Carol was kidnapped and experimented on by the Brood, which resulted in her stint as Binary.

So, back to the movie:

Talos man.

TALOS.

We’ll get to him later.

Okay what month of 1995 does Captain Marvel take place in? Because I was honestly offended that no one, and I mean NO ONE made a Buzz Lightyear joke re: Carol’s outfit and being a member of STARCOMMANDFORCE who checks her wrist communicator to try and make contact.

(Toy Story came out in November so if this takes place in the summer I GUESS I will let it slide.)

But otherwise dug all of the 90s references.

The little Gameboy sound when she calls Yon-Rogg!

(Also, train chase was great but I’m trying to save time though I do feel inclined to mention Kelly Sue DeConnick! Bringing some quality side eye! Very nice.)

Young Fury + Carol = excellent buddy cop combo, 14/10 would take an entire spinoff of their wacky 90s road trip adventures.

‘You look like someone’s disaffected niece’ might be favorite line in the film.

Let’s pause for a moment and appreciate the score, shall we? Pinar Toprak CRUSHES IT; the Captain Marvel theme feels like something out of The Rocketeer but with about 400% more sci-fi synth and I LOVE IT.

**Love the piece of score played when Carol wakes up. (Appropriately titled “Waking Up” I think, on the soundtrack.)

I also like the songs they picked for the movie? This is probably the complaint I’ve seen most often, that they feel obvious and easy, but. I dunno. I was never expecting something like Guardians of the Galaxy? So I wasn’t mad about it. 

(In related news, I’ve been listening to “Connection” on repeat ever since the special look trailer dropped.) 

Anyways.

GOOSE.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE.

MY GOOD FLERKEN GIRL.

(So, yes, breezing past the bar interrogation--though I do like the ghostly images of Carol’s past that crop up--as well as the trip to Pegasus, again in the interest of time.)

(WAIT. NO. THE TAPE JOKE.)

(Okay for real. Moving on.)

So then. THEN.

The Rambeaus. And the feelings.

Unpopular(?) opinion: I love that this big budget action movie focuses on female friendships and platonic relationships instead of romance THERE I SAID IT

ALSO LIEUTENANT TROUBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I spelled Lieutenant right on the first try. Just sayin’.

But in all seriousness, I love the time we spend in Louisiana. We get a lot of good stuff. Carol getting answers from Maria, Talos arriving with his soda (milkshake?) The standoff with Goose.

(Oh, and how could I forget Maria bidding farewell to the neighbor, shutting the front door as Carol continues to glower???)

‘What’s happening?’ ‘It’s loading.’ XD

Favorite Visual #2 (Chronologically, but actually the one I like best in the movie) The Pysche-Magnitron Light Speed Engine explosion.

(Thank you, Marvel, for changing it to ‘light speed engine,’ which is much easier to spell than Psyche-Magnitron)

But yeah, that was the visual that sold me, in the earliest trailer. I wish I had some profound reason for that, but the truth is I just love blue-glow-y stuff.

BUT ALSO

(And, okay, an additional spoiler- warning because this is a big one. Like. Big.)

...................................................................

...................................................................

...................................................................

Seriously, go away if you haven’t seen the movie yet.

................................................................................................................................

MAR-VELL iS A WOMAN

LIKE THIS WHOLE TIME. EVERYONE WAS SO FOCUSED ON JUDE LAW. And then there was that blip, right before the release, when Annette Bening revealed she was the Great Intelligence, again after months of secrecy so we were all like, HA we know the TWIST.

BUT NO. NO WE DID NOT.

Well played, Marvel. Well played.

This was something I was thinking about before the film came out; I just kind of assumed, because of the lack of an apparent ‘Mar-Vell,’ that Carol would be the first and only Captain Marvel in the MCU. And she basically is, b/c we have no indication that Dr. Larson was moonlighting as a superhero, but regardless this is SO COOL. SUCH A GOOD TWIST.

(A quick Google search on how many ‘L’s are in Mar-Vell led to a serendipitous discovery: an article on the gender swap decision, and apparently it came very late in the game. Like. ‘Already looking at guys to play Mar-Vell’ late in the game. *insert themoreyouknow.gif here*) 

Right, okay, back to Feelings:

When Carol’s like: You don’t know who I am! I don’t know who I am!

I was. Emotional.

(Brie Larson is perfectly cast and does a wonderful job.)

Maria’s pep talk? Also caused emotions.

And Maria got to come on the mission! I was pleasantly surprised, and really glad that the visit there wasn’t like. Just a pit stop, you know?

RIP Science Guy, we hardly knew ye.

Again, jumping ahead, but may I just say: It was truly an Experience, watching this movie with folks who had no idea what a ‘Flerken’ was.

Both my friends at the first screening I attended, and then like. Half the theater at the second one. XD

The whole row was like: WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT when the tentacles came out.  

So yeah, Talos and the 180 on the REAL villains: Nice. The enduring complaint leveled at the MCU is a lack of compelling villains. (I guess Talos technically doesn’t count as a villain by the end of this, but. We’re going with it.) And Carol’s commitment to helping the Skrull refugees lifts plot elements from my favorite portion of the DeConnick run, so. YEP. LOVED IT.

(I was also trying to determine if Talos’ daughter was perhaps meant to be like. a Tic expy. Did it say ‘Tic’ on the pinball machine? Or ‘Tig’? Or something else entirely?)

Loved the...mind prison? sequence. All of it. “Come as You Are,” the Great Intelligence rockin’ out in the jacket, Carol’s Big Damn Hero moment. Brilliant. Spectacular. Amazing.

“My name is Carol.” 

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSS

(Or does she say her full name? I can’t remember.)

And then the subsequent fight scene where Carol’s like. Simultaneously kicking butt but also enjoying all this newfound power/strength? A+++++

Favorite Visual #3: Carol sitting on the railing with the lunchbox.

Sad to see Minn-Erva go, but. Was so cool that Maria gets her own hero moment.

And then this big ol’ fight scene where Carol DESTROYS SPACESHIPS WITH HER BARE HANDS. 

Favorite Visual #4: Carol going Binary in the red, blue, and yellow suit with the helmet FLYING THROUGH SPACE, LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

All of the visuals from this portion are so on point it’s like they’re pulled straight from the comics.

Favorite Visual #5: When Carol’s staring down Ronan and she like. Does that thing, where you hit your palm with your fist? (IDK the technical term there) And there’s this awesome energy burst and AGAIN, BLUE GLOW-Y THINGS. I love.

I’m pretty sure there’s an interview where Brie Larson talked about watching Indiana Jones? And wanting to be the female equivalent of that.

WELL, that’s the movie I immediately thought of when Carol blasted Yon-Rogg into a boulder, mid-goading.

(Y’know, like the scene in Raiders where Harrison Ford was too sick/tired to do the fight choreography, so he just. Shot the bad guy.)

ALSO, when she drags his sorry butt across the desert? I was IMMEDIATELY reminded of Kara dragging Astra into the DEO.

DANVERS GIIIIRRRRRRRRRRLLLLLS

*ahem*

THE FAMILY DINNER AT THE END?????

LITERAL FOUND FAMILY OF ALIENS AND SOLDIERS AND SUPERHEROES JUST. HAVING DINNER. PLAYING UNO. WASHING DISHES AND SINGING "PLEASE MR. POSTMAN”?

Thank you, Marvel, for this beautiful gen fic material.

 WHOOPS I forgot the costume colors bit. (Admittedly confused it with the ending wherein Monica gives Carol her jacket back. Sans ketchup stain.)

So backtracking ever-so-slightly...

Let’s see if I remember this right: We get

Red and gold (Binary send-up, possibly? Or maybe the original Ms. Marvel costume?)

IDK what to call it....Lite-Brite? (♪ makin’ thi-ings with lii-iii-ight ♫) 

Black and Gold (bathing suit costume?)

White and Green (original Mar-Vel/Kree colors) 

That last one’s the only one that’s like. Obvious and deliberate. I’m just guessing with the others.

BUT CLEARLY I am ABSOLUTELY ONTO SOMETHING with the Lite-Brite.

BACK TO THE ENDING Lt. Trouble gives Carol her jacket and that’s my fav look, out of all the costume variations we see in the movie. I mean. I love the black and green, admittedly, and the helmet looks SO GOOD for being something that should be ridiculous, but my go-to answer for superhero costume design is: add a leather jacket.

Favorite Visual #6: Carol in the suit and flight jacket, floating above Earth, ready to go save the day.

AND THEN SHE’S OFF.

Ooooh, ooooooooh, but we can’t forget the scene. The scene that I’m certain ticked off The Continuity Police. (You know the types.)

See, remember when Marvel was like, ‘Carol’s the first Avenger!’ and haters were like, ‘UH HELLO IT’S STEVE????!????’ 

And then Marvel was like, oh ho ho ho, we meant LITERALLY the ENTIRE INITIATIVE IS NAMED AFTER HER CALL SIGN AND SHIELD STARTS LOOKING FOR SUPERHEROES BECAUSE OF HER ERGO SHE IS THE FIRST die mad about it.

That was so very, very satisfying to see.

(Also I guess she’s a literal Captain in the air force? If the rank on the jet is legit. Pretty sure she’s a Major in the comics, though. But I assume this change is to help sell the ‘Captain Marvel’ name.)

And then, friends. And then.

I was fully prepared to leave the theater, uncertain of when we’d next see Carol.

EVEN AS THE MID CREDITS SCENE PLAYED. I was like. ‘Well, they’re gonna cut it off before we can see anythINOHMaNTHERESHEIS!!!!!!’

‘Where’s Fury.’

*insert aesthetically pleasing keyboard smash here*

BRING ON ENDGAME.

And before we wrap up here, one final note:

The Space Stone, sought after by Trickster Gods and Mad Titans alike, was for a brief time, nothing more than a glorified furball.

FIN

(Nope, wait. One little anecdote before we go: of my core group of buddies, I am the Comics Nerd, and thus I am often consulted after we’ve watched a Marvel movie. So I had to explain that YES, Kara Danvers had the last name Danvers first, but she was adopted, and her GIVEN fake name was Linda Lee, so in all fairness, the same-name thing is a little less plagiarize-y, b/c ‘Linda Lee Danvers’ does not necessarily match up as well as ‘Kara Danvers’--which wasn’t even used until really recently--to ‘Carol Danvers’. ...Honestly, I was just really happy they called out the connection MY WORK HAS NOT BEEN IN VAIN XD )

Also, I sometimes get replies on posts like this which is totally fine BUT, I would ask that folks keep really spoiler-y stuff out of ‘em. At least for a little while.

[gildedtyrant]

favourite things about captain marvel

ー EVERYTIME CAROL GLOWED

ー goose and his tentacles

ー fury letting coulson believe his eye was burnt out by aliens instead of scratched out by goose because he patted him one (1) too many times

ー ronan was NOT crusty and actually kinda hot (god himself told me to write this)

ー carol's pilot outfit... her booty... life changing

ー carol returning to the heart of a skrull ship just to receive her boots. iconic

ー carol's little floating mohawk everytime she wore her helment

ー dr. lawson's energy core being the fucking tessaract. i swear to god this stupid ice cube has ruined my life enough

ー "dont ever call me nicholas, not nick, not joseph, it's fury" "what does your mother call you" "fury" "what will your kids call you" "fury"

ー Ronan: we'll be back. "for the core?" for the woman

ー no doubt - just a girl playing in the background while carol beat every kree ass she could

ー yon-rogg monologueing that carol would beat him without her powers if she wasn't so emotional and her cutting him off by blasting him into the next fucking dimension (see also: "I don't have to prove myself to you")

ー the beautiful friendship between carol and maria (seriously i kept tearing up whenever they'd interact)

ー maria's daughter monica saying "but your eyes are beautiful! don't ever change who you are" to the kree baby

ー uno being the single uniting force between two specifies

ー when monica helped carol choose the new colours of her uniform

ー the montage of carol getting up again, and again, and again

ー fury singing please mr. postman while washing the dishes when carol pretended she didn't know the song as a joke

ー fury and goose (name a more iconic duo, I'll wait)

ー fury can't eat toast cut diagonally????????? literally just??????? can't????????

ー carol destroying the wall of a pub to show fury her powers vs. gently heating a kettle when she was showing them to maria #characterdevelopment

ー fury looking at the skrull's dick. talos looking at the skrull's dick. it being implied that this skrull is fucking hung for a solid 40 seconds of the movie

ー "can you turn into a filing cabinet?" "I'll give you $50 if you turn into a venus fly trap right now"

[quietpagan]

Captain Marvel

Was marvelous

- the opening logo was completely dedicated to Stan Lee, which I thought was very classy

- the flashbacks were handled very, very well

- Carol you probably wouldn’t get punched in the face so often if you just fucking tied back your hair. It’s long enough. You can use a clip if you want. Just. Fucking tie. Back. Your HAIR.

- the fight scenes were NOT long and convoluted and I liked that she got hit and hurt and wasn’t just some invulnerable god. She got punched in the face and kicked in the gut the whole time.

- I really should have pegged the Kree as the bad guys and the Skrull as the good guys from the start, I mean

- Yon-Rogg was like ‘we gave you that power, we can take it away’

- and the Skrull were sifting through Carol’s memories, yeah, but they were actually very calm and polite about it

- Carol’s powers were fucking awesome

- loving Talos’s accent

- landing on Earth in the middle of fucking Blockbuster, so you know what the timeframe is

- two Skrull guys shapeshift into the same surfer girl and are like, well one of us is gonna have to change

- Nick Fury encountering aliens for the first time

- can we appreciate Samuel L. Jackson’s acting for a second here

- young and carefree Nick Fury is a delight, making jokes and one-liners

- he and Coulson are just cruising along and then Fury gets a phone call and it’s Coulson on the phone

- ‘Yeah I’m still at Blockbuster with the evidence, like, where tf did everybody go?’

- the Skrull shapeshifting ability is terrifying

- Fury and Carol hit it off right away; the interrogation scene is fantastic. Best buddy cop duo EVER

- ‘Smile for me, lady!’ “Nah, I’m gonna steal your motorbike instead”

- they didn’t gloss over the catcalling and the sexism in the military and in her childhood

- THE CAT. FURY GOES NUTS OVER THIS ADORABLE CAT. HES IN THE MIDDLE OF A MISSION WITH FUCKING ALIENS AND NICK GODDAMN FURY STOPS TO COO OVER A CAT.

- “What does your momma call you?” “Fury.” “What do your friends call you?” “Fury.” “What do your future kids call you?” “FURY.”

- the Skrull are terrified of the cat

- I really appreciate that literally nothing in this movie was sexualized in any way, shape, or form

- Carol and Rambeau are GIRL POWER 

- Literally don’t talk about a man once

- Totally were raising Rambeau’s daughter together

- I actually got a whole fuckload of ace vibes from this, like, there was no romantic subplot or even suggestion. Everybody just felt like really tight friends, which was INCREDIBLY REFRESHING.

- if you’re NOT going on a dangerous space mission to help alien refugees with an amnesiac with god powers and the buddy cop who’s eating all your food, then exactly WHAT kind of example ARE you setting for your daughter?

- Fury is literally just horking down all the food and sweet tea he can get at Rambeau’s place

- Talos is actually super cute

- so apparently the cat has a POCKET DIMENSION INSIDE OF IT and just swallows down the fucking Tesseract with it’s mouth tentacles. No wonder the Skrull were terrified of it.

- also ate a couple of Kree dudes, nbd

- Kree AI queen having fun with 90′s music

- Minn-Erva is super hot

- Talos reuniting with his family is the Best Thing. I could feel the love.

- nice healthy dose of the dangers of propaganda and  ‘history is written by the victors’ because the ‘bad guys’ are actually war refugees who just want to find a home to settle down in 

- Carol’s powers are BADASS AS FUCK

- She defeats the Supreme Intelligence with GIRL POWER

- Super intense and beautiful scene. We got flashbacks of her falling and failing at everything WHILE MEN LAUGHED AT HER AND TOLD HER SHE WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH, and the she PICKS HERSELF UP AND REFUSES TO GIVE UP

- like Wonder Woman was awesome girl power because she grew up around exclusively women and knew that she was always a boss, but Carol grew up with a lot of jackass boys and men laughing at her and telling her that she wasn’t good enough and she had to learn to get back up again and keep going and become a boss while powering through adversity

- same for Rambeau, who did it as a black woman and single mother. BOSS ASS LADY

- I appreciate the complete lack of inadvertent sexist comments from Fury. Carol and Rambeau are badass women and he doesn’t even blink. 

- so Yon-Rogg knows he can’t beat her and is like, alright, let’s settle this with a nice bout of fisticuffs and she just fucking shoots him in the chest

- ‘just a human’ which means I get the fuck back up when I’m knocked down, BITCH

- PUNCH a GRANDMA in the FACE

- Destroying A Kree Warship And Its Fleet, As One Does

- Literal one-woman army

- Nick Fury literally sings Mr. Postman and it’s the best scene in the movie

- “I don’t have to prove myself to you” BITCH PREACH

- I can’t get over how much fun Samuel L. Jackson was having with this movie. Young Nick Fury is a fucking delight.

- THE FUCKING ALIEN CAT SCRATCHES HIS EYE.  FUry has only one eye because a fucking cat scratched it out

- AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

- and then he has the cat in his office and it just pukes up the fucking TESSERACT OUT ON HIS DESK, LIKE. HERE! I BROUGHT YOU A FUCKING TRANSDIMENSIONAL POWER SOURCE.

[selkie-elf]

give me yer kravitz hcs

Nice

Sexuality Headcanon: He’s a gay gay he likes long big… adventures with Taako

Gender Headcanon: Cis man

A ship I have with said character: Taako

A BROTP I have with said character: Magnus!! I fucking love them as brotp, Magnus helping Kravitz with emotions and Taako and Kravitz telling Magnus how much Julia loves him and working as postman between the two.

A NOTP I have with said character: Lucretia.

A random headcanon: He has a tentacle tattoo on his lower back, just above his butt.

Okay okay, a better headcanon. Umm….

Birds just love Kravitz. Like he one time stopped to feed the crows in the nearby park and after that, everytime he goes outside, a flock of birds follows him. One morning Taako wakes up and screams because there is just this huge raven sitinng outside their window just staring at them.

General Opinion over said character: I love one skeleton man and his name is Kravitz.

Send me a character and I’ll answer questions about them!!