#ain't supposed to die a natural death (play) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

hel-phoenyx · 6 months ago

Text

Desire, Nru, Universe and Kal @corneille-but-not-the-author 's characters

She's a weird little lady, that one. All in pink and skin subtly revealed, her tiny stature barely reaching my neck, she's looking at me with the interested eyes of a predator that just found his prey.

I don't like those eyes, but they're giving me a damn good hint on her nature. Usually people take me for the predator. Especially right now, with both magic and anger seeping through every hole in my body.

People that can die never consider me their prey, nor their inferior.

It's a goddess. I can hardly guess her nature nor her motive, but I suppose it will be revealed soon enough.

I squint my eyes, look towards her, take advantage of our height difference to try and assert dominance.

She doesn't even flinch.

"Alright. What the fuck am I doing here? And adding to that, WHERE is "here"."

A smile rips through her lips.

"Do you mind not screaming? I have sensitive ears."

Well talk about a first impression. I roll my eyes, crossing my arms on my chest. I'm not even screaming, godsdamnit, I just have a very strong voice. The kind that beams through battlefields.

"Just fucking answer that question."

She laughs, hand in front of her face, her smile still not disappearing.

"What a filthy mouth you have there, Mairù Claro. Did you ever teach yourself politeness?"

"Abyss nope, and certainly not toward goddesses. Can I have a fucking answer now?"

Her eyes gleam with victory.

"They weren't lying, you are a smart one."

Her arms held behind her, she salutes me with a reverence people reserve for their equals.

"I am Desire of Lazzaro, current Queen of Lazzarian principality. And coincidentally, that's where you are. Happy coincidences, ain't it?"

"Principalities are ruled by queens now?"

"Let's just say I had to.... Reinstate old titles."

Not reassuring. And the fact I don't even know that country is not helping. Is it a part of the Paper continent? I thought we were good with Faloi. And worst of all, her tone when she's telling me that is somehow heavier than it needs to be. What old titles? Fuck is happening here?

Like I'd know. I only just got back from a several year long exile, just in time to witness the most disgustingly bucolic scene my eyes have ever seen. Anger fills my heart at the thought, and I restrain a hiss with all my willpower; sadly, it didn't get past her.

"As for what you're doing here... I think you have some sort of idea. Kal'Dithryon was about to kill you. I couldn't let that happen."

Right. I remember now. I was right in the middle of something important and my asshole of a former boss kinda threw some creationnist spells at me. Apparently he's now keen on starting duels on royal grounds, that's damn interesting. Oh how I wanted so badly to thrust a tentacle or two into his sorry ass. Or bones. Whatever.

But killing the queen's new counselor would have earned me the death penalty for sure, and that is in admittance I'd have won. Kal is far from a newbie in magic, and we play on the same field. A duel would make my victory more uncertain than you'd think.

That still doesn't answer my question.

"And you wanted me alive for what?"

Because I'm not stupid, people and especially gods don't save lives with no hidden intentions. There has to be something.

Desire is still smiling, albeit a bit more... Hungrily.

"You are indeed a smart one. I didn't save you from the goodness of my heart, despite how cute you are..."

I grumble at the use of the word I stopped believing a long time ago but she carries on, unfazed.

"... I just need you for several things. First one is easy, just be a mole for me. Spy on your queen, bring me intel, I don't ask for much, I know you're not the Mandate's favorite person..."

She winks, and I shiver. I'm not used to feel terror, but that little woman is making me feel really uneasy.

"The second thing is more important. When the moment comes, and you will recognize it, I'll need you by my side. Sadly I can't say much, a law of the cosmic kind is stopping me, but I will tell you as much as I can, in due time."

Not sure I'll believe it, but eh, loyalty to a kingdom's never been my forte. And I have a... Certain resentment towards the Mandate. So betrayal is not something unforgivable, if only...

"Sounds like you wanna make me your little pocket dog until then, sweetie. And I'm not keen on being kept on a leash."

"Pleaaaase.... I only give leashes to consenting partners, and I wouldn't dare force one on you."

I smile. Magic crepitates between my teeth, ready to strike.

"Cool. Wouldn't want you to discover what it exactly feels like to have a goddess put down."

"Sweettalker. Don't worry, I will not only give you your life in exchange. What about a little deal?"

Deal? She speaks more of my language. I did not usually receive deals in my life. Either I take what I want, or people take what they want from me. Come to think of it, the last person I made a deal with is Kal.

The expression on her face tells me there are things I'd better leave uncovered, but for now, I decide to dare the devil and keep looking that girl in the eyes.

She's still smiling.

"A deal, huh. Like what?"

"Well I am goddess of Desire. As such, of course I know what is the Desire of your heart..."

"Is that supposed to be a pun? Spare me that, please," I grunt, "and get to the point."

"You're a fun breaker. What if I serve you your beloved on a plate, with the deaths of Kal'Dithryon, and Kage and Nru Frosilæn as a bonus? Would that be of interest?"

Well that's getting to the point. I let myself smile, pushing away the very tempting idea; Deals with that kind of entity are often more binding that they appear to be and I don't want to give myself a reason to fight a goddess yet.

"And how would you do that in a way I can't?"

Again she winks. Abyss, she's creeping me out. My body's not supposed to react like that to anyone. I am not supposed to feel fear. Where did all those years of conditioning go?

"Stealthily for starters. No offense to you but you're not exactly sleek in what you want. And how do you think Asura would react if you killed her wife in such an obvious way?"

Good point.

I always was a fast thinker, but now I don't even take the time to reflect before extending my hand.

"Deal. But you let me take care of Kal. Old resentments."

And I'd rather be the one who ends his life. Letting him die without having my part in it would be... Dissatisfying.

She takes my hand and smiles even wider.

"Deal. I'm sure we'll get along smoothly."

I never less believed a lie.

****

She's squirming on the floor of my laboratory, hands and feet tied, a look of pure hatred and terror on her face. But I ignore her easily enough. I have waited enough to see Nru Frosilaen at my mercy for being afraid now.

Why would I be anyway ? All daughter of Death she is, I am a better fighter than her and she knows it. I won't hesitate to kill her and the split second she would take to try and kill me would be far, far more than enough.

Desire is smiling, towering over Nru with a foot on her back. She doesn't even pay attention to the first daughter of the Frosilaen trying so desperately to escape.

"And there she is, the girl in the flesh ! Or bones, I don't know. Daughters of death have a tendency to become lichs. Have I ever told you about the Collector-"

"I don't want to hear a history lesson, sweetheart, I have things to do."

Desire winks at me.

"And an owl to pluck, of course of course! I wouldn't want to slow you down... But no offense to you, it's hard to believe you're motivated if you keep calling me petnames, Mairù, my dear. I'm gonna start to believe I did everything for naught..."

Really ? Goddesses and their tendency to joke around, really I'd never understand that species.

"Don't take this personally, everyone get petnames. They just get meaner if you're being a bitch and I'm seriously considering it."

"Aw, and here I thought we had something special. But what are you gonna do with the owl ?"

I lower my eyes towards said owl, even if she's currently in her human form, disgustingly human features and damning jet black hair that looks so much like Lina's. But while I adored her hair, that feature on Nru only inspires me with sheer hatred.

How dare you look so much like her and take everything when your sister gave me all ?

I'll make you pay. For taking my place, tossing me aside a time too much, and continuing to look at me with those eyes full of fear even after all those months.

I'm sick of people looking at me like a monster. So if they're not gonna change their minds about me, at least I'll give them the show they'll expect.

"None of your business."

"Thought as much. Too bad, I wanted to see that hatred of her face become fear. That would have been simply delicious."

"Whoa there! I'm a monster, not a torturer. I'll be quick, that's all you need to know."

Nru is still squirming, putting in question my resolution to act quickly. If not painlessly. Well, I didn't intend to give her a painless death anyway. I'm not good at that and certainly don't wanna learn.

"What do you have against Nru anyway ?"

Desire shrugs.

"Nothing in particular, but Death and I have history of some sorts. And, well, I do enjoy thorns in my side being pulled off. A daughter of death is a real danger for my current plans."

"Fair enough. Can you go now so I can get down to business ?"

She smiles again, and for a split second I feel my nerves straighten.

"Of course. Good evisceration, dear."

****

I don't remember anything before the point I woke up in the remains of my former confrery building, destroyed Gods know how. But one thing for sure, my body remember that woman.

Not in a weird way. more like in a "I'm not supposed to feel frightened" way. The way people that can kill me are making me feel like.

Fear is not in the natural order of things. I was always more powerful than other people around me. Only exception being Kal. And now, that woman.

And since people can't all be creationnist magicians reputed to be messiahs of a god nobody believes in anymore, I take it this one is a goddess.

She is waiting from me in what looks like a used torture room. Standing on a chair covered in blood, holding a wedding ring in her finger.

"Rings are powerful tools of love, are they not ? This one was made in honor of the love between queen Frosilaen's predecessors. A beauty of a couple, and people killed too soon. But you don't remember that, don't you ?"

I roll my eyes.

"I certainly remember not liking people that talk in riddles."

A laugh escapes from her throat, and she jumps from the chair with a huge, happy smile, taking my hand to guide me towards the inside of the torture room. I don't like that, blood is making me uneasy, tugging at the strings of my broken brain like something I should, or shouldn't, remember.

"Still the same as ever, Mairù ! I'm glad memory loss didn't take that from you."

"You know about my memory loss ?"

She climbs the chair, up now at my eye level.

"Of course I know. How could you forget about me, you... Oh wait, of course you did, since someone took your memories! Silly me!"

Again I hear her laugh, but far, far away in my head where other words she made sound so trivial resonate so harshly.

Took my memories.

So my memory loss WAS artificial.

I don't know many mages able to erase a memory entirely. It could be Kage, with a powerful space-time spell, I know those people mastered that fucking craft. Or Kal. Kal, who described himself as my friend, an old friend, of course he would hide from me that someone took my memory.

And why the actual fuck did people tamper with my brain, godsdamnit ? Can't a guy have autonomy around here ? It's disturbing enough to see people looking at you weird without knowing why !

Something is boiling in me.

I think it's anger.

I hope it's anger.

"... Memories taken away, huh."

"Yeaaaaah. And you didn't even reach the goal I promised you, I feel so guilty for that failure ! And here I thought everything was perfect..."

Her words once again call for an echo in my mind. A goal. I had a goal. Something I desired more than anything in the world...

I remember now.

She's Desire. Goddess of Desire.

And this is definitely not our first meeting.

Probably seeing the light of comprehension in my face, Desire smiles almost wickedly. For a split second, I feel a shiver run down what's left of my spine. That girl could gobble me up so easily. Just a split second...

I shake my head. No time for fear, I may be in front of one of the biggest opportunities in my dump of a life.

"And I guess you can do something about that, sweetheart ?"

She laughs again.

"Oh dear, I haven't heard petnames in so long! And I can do anything people Desire enough..."

"I almost wanted to forget your tendency to do puns around your name."

"You wound me. Do you want your memories back or not ?"

I don't hesitate. Never intended to.

"Yes."

Her eyes burn with a newfound victory.

"Come a bit closer."

Her tone is far more commending than it was before. I'm not one to follow orders, but to my biggest shame I am not in any way able to disobey, and I walk the two, three steps that separate me from the chair she's standing on. From where I am, she's now higher than eye level, and that's highly disturbing : But I don't move, and wait for the next seconds to pass.

She takes my head between her hands. Her eyes didn't leave my face.

"Look at me."

My eyes are riveted on her. I couldn't look away even if I wanted to. Even if all my nerves are screaming to run away, run away before she bites my head off, before that face that is very much too close reaches her goal-

Her voice holds me in place, almost too sultry.

"You don't mind me, do you ? I'll need a bit of... Closure to achieve my goal."

I feel something on my mouth, hot and soft, right after I had the time to nod, and my mind blanks on the only thought that can reach through my brain at the moment.

Did she just give me tongue that little-

I can't finish that sentence. Because at the exact moment her tongue brushes mine something explodes in my brain and it's now only flashes and flashes of pain and screaming.

I see that face I now remember I loathed bringing me to the training grounds. I can feel the spells, my body changing, morphing, despite all my attempts to block it, I feel the magic pulsing in my veins, destroying what's left of the fight. I feel all that magic getting out, hitting the innocent face of a five-year-old I never wanted to hurt. I feel the looks on my face, so full of fear and disgust, so little people wanting to be near me. I feel her kisses and I hear her laugh, right before in my head resonates a "we can't continue like this."

And in the middle of that maelstrom of pain, I see her. Red-headed, beautifully authoritarian, holding my neck like I was naught but a naughty cat in need of a little scolding. I see her in my laboratory while we're sharing a laugh on a reagent that exploded while I didn't want it to, and my face is now covered in bubbles. I see her looking towards me while I explain exactly what pain I'm feeling, those looks I hoped to be understanding but discovered to be longing far too late, and when I realized it, how I wanted so badly to give her back those looks.

I remember the training, even harsher than the first one but this time of my own volition. I remember wanting so hard to become useful to her, to be a man nobody could fear anymore, that she would be proud to love. How I wanted so badly to come back to her and say sorry for everything I failed her for.

I remember coming home far too late.

I remember the black-haired bitch.

I remember the blood on my eyes.

I remember my most precious friend taking my face into his hands.

I remember everything.

The hands around my cheeks are not Kal's. They're Desire, who's stroking my head with an almost worried expression.

It hurts.

It hurts so much.

Please make the pain stop.

Please.

Anything.

Anyone...

"Shhhhht. It's okay. Take your time."

The first voice I hear isn't the one I desire the most. It's the one of the goddess that incarnates that desire. She's not here. Of course she's not here. She is in her arms, frolicking, doing gods know what, casting me aside like I was nothing but a fleeting comfort.

Again I am nothing but a fling.

There is only me and Desire in that room.

Whatever that means.

I rip myself off her hands, and lean on the nearest wall, trying to stabilize my breath. I didn't even notice I was breathing like a rabid dog. Godsdamnit, should it always hurt so bad to recover memories ?

Well, considering the nature of the memories, I guess that couldn't be avoided.

It takes a little while to finally regain control of my brain, but when it is finally clearer, Desire is still sitting on the chair, a huge ass smile on her lips. She looks almost too happy.

"Well ? What do we say to our favorite goddess ?"

I laugh almost sincerely.

"Thank you, Desire."

"Good boy. Now what do you intend to do ?"

Thinking doesn't take me long, as usual. I am currently under the biggest cover I can have, and not a lot of people can realize I recovered my memory. Either Kage, but Kage's never here, or Kal. But I know several ways to shut Kal up.

Best take advantage of it.

"Keep a low profile, of course! I am currently innocent like the newborn lamb for them, and I contribute to society! Why would I ruin that?"

"As always, you always choose the smartest move, my dear!"

It's not the most enjoyable one, but well, I know it will pay.

I don't mind playing the long game.

****

It's been a long time since my fucking trial, and Lina's coronation. Twenty years, if I recall. It's a lot, but for Travellers it goes like a second. Especially when you're at the head of a kingdom that needs rebuilding to the core.

Not like I care anyway. But contrary to Lina, who still looks as young as ever while having reached her forties, I feel my end approaching very, very quickly. I'm already at the high average of my species' life expectancy. I don't have much time to spare.

So I'm waiting for the right moment quite expectantly. Even more since Asura married. The pain I felt that day almost broke my vow of laying low, but I held my grounds. In a big part thanks to Desire and the tiny little button-like device now at the back of my head, that strangely helped regulate my emotions easier than I ever did myself.

She promised me only ten years of waiting. We're close to the deadline, and I still haven't heard a peep of that great project, besides the occasional mind conversation. We had a lot of things to do in ten years. For starters, I finally found something about Aelie's disease. I think I can create a vaccine, but I'm not quite sure. The virus is almost godlike, and gods don't like me meddling in their business.

Except Desire, apparently.

Since she's now sat on my fucking chair.

I should be happy to see her, really, I should. But the only thing I can think of is what the fuck girl I litteraly just woke up ???

"Wha- The hell are you doing in my room ???"

She lifts her head from the book she was reading, my research about the vaccine it seems.

"Oh hey Mairù ! Well, I'm trying to understand what you wrote there, but sadly I am no scientist."

"That- That wasn't my fucking question ?"

I say while realising in a split second that like the usual I'm fucking naked. Because of course I sleep naked, clothes are giving me a sensory nightmare. And I usually don't mind it except right now there's a fucking girl in my fucking room and she's the fucking goddess of fucking desire !

"fucking" being the appropriate word considering the look she just gave me. I'm under the feeling she just saw a very yummy plate of ribs that looks a little too eatable to my tastes. Intrigue the First, are goddesses always that horny ???

I blush, and pull back my covers on my chest. Not right now, not for you, and no don't smile more it's only creeping me out!

"Shy, are we ?"

"Can't a man have a right to damn privacy ? Let me put something on, at least, Intrigue the first be sent to Abyss!"

"Of course, of course, go ahead!"

And she

She doesn't move an inch.

Obviously.

I roll my eyes again, trying to not use a flashbang to get my damn privacy. Because that would be hostile, and plus, I'm not sure it works on gods.

"Desire, sweetheart, I meant LOOK SOMEWHERE ELSE !!!"

I can't miss her look of disappointment.

"Ohhh, right. Tell me when you're ready, would you ?"

Finally she turns around. I leap out of my bed, keeping my eyes on her, and hurriedly put on underwear and something to become at least a little more decent. Finally, when I've got my blouse on me, I signal Desire I'm now dressed, and she turns around a bit fast for my tastes.

"There you go! Now I can finally give you things to do!"

"Bossing me around, huh ? Never been a fan of that, hon."

"I would never. Except in bed."

My blasé look is, I think, enough of an answer. She laughs a little bit, before standing up.

"But more seriously the plan is almost in place. I just need some elements to make it more believable. Would you be willing to help me ?"

"Depends. On what?"

"Oh, nothing much. Now that I have my best mole implanted on the field, I need him in action. Soon enough a very special event will take place. I need someone that will blow the alarm whistle on it, and it needs to be from the Divine Mandate. Otherwise, they won't be able to participate."

I raise my eyebrow in surprise.

"And you can't tell them ?"

"Nope ! Cosmic law, remember ? It needs to be a Mandatian that discovers the info on their own terms for it to be broken."

Of course it always needs to be convoluted. But I know cosmic bindings quite well. I have studied the case of the Enlightened One in much of my free time because Asura loved that part of history. So I am familiar with promises that bind you by the very law of the universe.

"I see, I see. And you can't drop the documents I'm certainly gonna need on anyone, of course."

"Well, I could, but there is a slight chance it won't work. Nru tried to spill the beans earlier in history but almost died, you know ? She is from Ink, maybe it played a role."

"Not like it would have bothered me."

Desire has a small laugh.

"Of course. Point is, I'm putting every last chance on my side. Your species is Mandatian to the core, you know ? Your kind is only born in that territory, and we never could figure out why. If there is someone that can break that cosmic binding, it's you."

And then again with being a prophet... Well, can't say I'm not used to it. And at least it would be useful for my very own personal goal.

"All right. Where do I need to go to find the precious information I'm supposed to break a cosmic binding around ?"

Desire smiles brightly and jumps towards me.

"Perfect ! Nothing far, don't worry, only in Love's cathedral."

"In where now ?"

My face must be very funny because Desire bursts into laughing almost immediately.

"Don't look so surprised ! Adam kept quite a lot of documents during his reign, on all of the kingdoms including yours. Love's cathedral is the best place to start genuine research."

"Okay, fair enough, but Love's cathedral is where, sweetie ? In PAPER CONTINENT. You think I'm allowed to go there alone ???"

My concerns are brushed aside in a movement of the hand and a shrug.

"Just find someone to accompany you, pretend a breakthrough for the vaccine, there's many pretexts ! It will be even more impactful that way !"

If you say so. I suppose it will be better than to stay in that unbearable status quo. And I'll finally get to see that infamous Love cathedral where lied the first Frosilaen brother.

****

I’m back from Paper continent with a shitload of new intel and even more questions, starting with those three countries I finally remember, or discovered, the existence of. Now I know what Principality of Lazzaro is referencing, and it doesn’t exactly please me. A cosmic binding can’t be enough to hide both three countries and a giant fuckass tournament to decide which one is governing the other.

Worst, in my opinion, is that Lazzaro won the last one. But the Mandate is still autonomous and going strong. So what the fuck happened ?

I’m sat in my room after giving the news, and watching Lina’s face shrivel in terror. I think there are other implications to this tournament I don’t follow. She already asked me to participate. How funny it is that she needs me exactly when the country is in dire need of power.

And not at any other moment.

Oh, the irony. Did she ever see me as something else than a tool to satisfy her needs ?

Did everyone ever that was in love saw the other as something other than the satisfaction of their needs anyway ?

My visit to Love’s cathedral convinced me otherwise. Love there was only people kissing, noises of face meeting and absolutely no conversation. I’m starting to believe these people speak another language that needs their tongues joined together, and I am definitely not fluent. I would accuse Adam of twisting the meaning of Love, but even his death didn’t change anything.

Being the son of Love, Adam must have known what she wanted. What the word meant.

And if it’s only that… Have I ever been in love ?

A cough is heard right behind me. Desire, popping in my room for the second time in a week. This time, fortunately, I am not naked.

“Congrats for completing the task. And now that you know what I meant by “being by my side”...”

“You want me to participate in the tournament.”

I cut her in the middle of her sentence, but she doesn’t look too outraged. Only nods, eyes still riveted on me.

“Exactly. Sorry for having to be clear now about what our agreement was, but cosmic bindings make so. I mean, I would like to participate, but sovereigns are not allowed to, and that means giving up the crown, even only for a moment…”

“Eh, I’m better at fighting than ruling or naming over successors.”

“You were once Thaumargeikhon for the Heirs, tho.”

“Don’t remind me.”

Dark period of my life. Even though Kal had to twist a little the true meaning of that ancestral place at the Heir government, I never loathed more my place in politics. And I was only here to snarl at those corrupted fuckers wanting to be no better than the one genociding them. And I meant the term. Racism goes both ways even when there is one part of the people that is systematically discriminated against.

Desire doesn’t push the subject. She just shrugs.

“Fine, as you wish. I’m also gonna need to recruit Kage and Kal, since they’re not out of my hair.”

“Why them ? I am enough of a powerhouse already.”

She smiles, sitting on my bed. Great, now I can’t go lie down, it’ll just be weird.

“You are. But if they’re not with us, they’re against us. Lina will recruit them to her team, especially if you’re not there, and you and Kal are of equal strength. I can’t afford uncertainty. I need to win.”

“Why ?”

“For the exact reason it will be easy to convince Kage and Kal.”

She shuts up. Probably not wanting to say more. But there is something in her voice, something that tells me that the matter is all more personal than simply taking over a kingdom and reclaiming a victory the Mandate did not accept.

I would have pushed the subject, in another time. Or maybe just asked more questions. But my mind is occupied enough as it is.

Probably she noticed my silence, since she turned her head towards me.

“Something on your mind ?”

“A lot of things, really. I’m still thinking about Love’s cathedral. You’re really hated there, by the way.”

Desire sneers.

“Of course. They think love and desire don’t meddle easily, only create suffering. For them, love should only be submission. I find that completely stupid.”

“Heh. And here I thought you would tell me something about how love and sex are intertwined.”

I didn’t intend to do anything about that sour look on her face, only tease a little about all those times people told me to love someone, you must fuck them. Including some of the idiots in Love’s cathedral thinking sex is something you give, something you endure out of love. I always thought it was stupid, because then I’d never have been in love; but who would be listened to between the Love priest and the monster people love to hate ?

But to my surprise, she bursts out laughing, all traces of sourness gone from her face.

“Echiapolis, no! I’m not that stupid and especially not that inconstant. Sex is a matter of desire for pleasure, yours or the other’s, it has nothing to do with love. Can be linked, yes, but ain’t everything ?”

She lays down on my bed -great, there goes my nap- and sighs heavily.

“You know, sometimes I think I should have been one of the first goddesses. Because Desire, for everything, is what drives life forward. I have power some of those idiot Twelve can’t even imagine, including Love herself. But law says I am only a minor god with no counterpart, because Creator or whatever knows why. And Love is taken for everything I am while reducing what she is so, so much.”

“And what is love, then, if not what I saw at the cathedral ?”

Another sigh.

“You’re asking me a difficult question.”

“Who is the older-than-thou goddess that just told me Love isn’t what she appears to be ?”

She laughs, and pokes my non-existent ribs with a teasing smile.

“Smartass.”

“Should have thought of that before making a deal with me, sweetheart.”

Desire smirks and pinches the skin under what’s left of my torso.

“Oh, I’m more than happy to get the whole package, if you know what I mean.”

And if I had any doubts, the wink she just gave me is proof that yes, I know what she meant. Ew. Horny little shit. You’re not even sure I have something down there, for all you know magic could have destroyed that part of me. I did not check if it was still functional anyway, and I don’t see any future where it would be.

“You still didn’t answer my question.”

Apparently she didn’t expect me to come back to the subject, but she doesn’t have any ways to escape anymore. She sighs, and lay down again, looking at the ceiling with pensive eyes.

“Love is… Well, more than kissing, for starters. It’s the Desire to be close to someone, to hear their heart beat for you, to live for them. It’s shared interest or wanting to hear all about what they like, because it’s them and whatever they enjoy must be worth it. It’s wanting to stay with the person forever. It's so much more than just surrendering to someone.”

“You’re putting a lot of “want” in there.”

“Love is a bit selfish. It’s the selfishness to be selfless.”

“Wow. Deep,” I say with all the sarcasm I say. “You guys have something with a word and its opposite ?”

“Hey, you asked me to answer.”

“Fair.”

I think for a brief moment, before turning my head towards her.

“Have you ever been in love ?”

I probably shouldn’t have asked that question. Because her eyes are now lost behind a veil of mist, and the sadness in her expression is making me another kind of uneasy. I think it’s regret. Is it regret ?

Her face taints with every kind of sorrow.

“I have, yes.”

I stop pushing the subject.

***

My head hurts.

It hurts so much.

Why does it hurt that much ?

I should be happy.

Nru just died and it wasn’t my fault.

Yes, I did kill people during that tournament, but for her I stayed put. Like Desire told me to. and it paid. She's dead. Not by me.

I should be happy.

Why does it hurt ?

Was it Asura’s tears ? Everyone’s looks of sorrow ? Or my death approaching with the feeling I’ll never get those tears ?

I don’t know.

It hurts.

I have to fight Srodek tomorrow, and this time I don’t think I’ll be able to manage with the same bravado. Even though I swiped the Mandate’s team with ease, it took a big part of my energy and I had to get Kal to help me against Alba. Damn Byleth. Why did Desire expect me to fight an Aspect and win ? I barely obtained a victory and it was because he surrendered.

I feel so tired. My end is growing near. I could reach my forties but I know I won’t live past fifty. Every happiness I’ll obtain starting from now won’t last.

It hurts.

Desire is standing in front of a painting. Old, judging by the state of the paint. A woman is represented lying down on pillows, wearing a chiton whiter than snow. she would look perfectly normal if not for her skin, swirling and tracing a pattern of galaxy.

I don’t know who that woman is, but Desire looks at her with enough resentment for me to hate her.

I don’t know why.

“Mairù ?”

I sigh. Of course she would spot me. The amplification device tells her wherever I am, in whatever state. I didn’t expect her to worry about me.

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“Come closer.”

I obey, too tired to protest.

It hurts.

“How are you feeling ?”

I sigh.

“Bad.”

“Nru’s dead, tho. Shouldn’t that make you happy ?”

“I’m too close to death to be happy about anything right now.”

Something shifts in her expression, subtle, almost soft, before she finally stops looking at the painting to turn towards me.

“You won’t live that long, will you ?”

“Probably not. I’m already on borrowed time, and going full power for so long isn’t helping.”

“So any of the happiness I promised you wouldn’t last long anyway.”

“Afraid so. Hey, not your fault, alright ?” I smile, seeing some kind of shift in her face. “You upheld your part. The fact that I’m not eternal is my problem.”

It still hurts.

Desire bites her lower lip. Her eyes shift, from the painting to me to the painting again. One moment, I think she wants to say something, the other she just closes her eyes and steps a bit closer.

Her hands run over what’s left of the skin on my left arm.

“Nothing of this is fair.”

“Life ? Fair ? If it was, I wouldn’t be here with you, and I wouldn’t have any reason to accept your deal. Should be happy life fucked me over, sweetheart.”

Even the petname doesn’t make her laugh.

“I should not have to.”

It hurts a little less.

***

My brain is empty.

I do not know why I didn’t die.

I should have died.

I am close to death. And now the only thing keeping me alive threw my last chance of a fleeting happiness in the face.

Is it my fault ?

It’s probably my fault.

I don’t know what I’ve done. Only that it’s bad.

Only that Chiara is the only one who stopped in front of me.

“Desire seeks you,” she said. “You can still do something,” she said. But what ?

What good am I ?

Going on the battlefield at this time would kill me. My magic is too unstable, blood and death would be my end. At least I should time up that death to wipe out a maximum of enemies. But are they even my enemies ?

Some of them are the people Kal and I commanded. Heirs brainwashed by what took Love’s place to fight, to believe there is a future to that victory. But there won’t be a victory for anyone. Only for that eldritch beast that eats gods.

Is the something I can still do my death ?

Will I die as a tool after living as a monster ?

I can’t think.

I only walk, deep in the underground where Desire seeks me.

She’s there, protected by the H.A.R.D.I.. In front of her burns a purple flame, almost extinct, she’s looking at it with tired eyes.

She doesn’t even look my way.

“You’re here.”

The H.A.R.D.I. are looking at me with hateful eyes. Don’t know why. Too tired to care. I only know that now that I’m next to Desire, the pain is subsiding at least for a little while.

“Hey.”

“Guys, she ordered without even giving me an answer. Do me a favor and get out. I need pristine concentration.”

H.A.R.D.I. grunt like a sole man, but obey without any question. Ivan pushes me aside like I’m nothing but an obstacle in his way, without even sparing a look in my direction. I only roll my eyes. Whatever goes through those meatheads, I want nothing in it.

I sit down on the floor, waiting. What good can I still do, here, with a goddess and a weird flame ?

“Do you know what that is ?”

She asked, like she has nothing better to do. I squint my eyes.

“The Soul of all Souls, I recall. Artefact hidden in the chambers that helps give the royals their powers. What is responsible for Lina’s ability to cast powerful creationnist spells, and what’s left of the creationnist energy of the kingdom.”

“Yes… And no. Creation was consumed with the death of the royal lineage, who were also the last of their species, only maintained alive by that flame. With them gone, there is no one able to channel their power enough to keep creationnist energy like you knew it. This flame is not a remainder. It’s a catalyst.”

“Huh.”

There is something she’s not telling me, again, in her tone of voice. some sort of fear, some sort of longing. But I’m too tired to go deeper. I only want to sleep, sleep and hope I won’t wake up in this life.

Even though eternal punishment would be waiting for me at the end it would always be better than her eyes burning with hatred.

Desire is still standing in front of the flame.

“Do you know what I’m trying to do ?”

I shrug. Something that has to do with awakening a power bigger than the gods to end that fucking thing. And the war that is starting in the fields in front of Wake’li. A war I can’t partake in, because it would be too early for me to die that stupidly.

“Vaguely.”

“Do you think I can do it ?”

I roll my eyes.

“You’re asking a scientist to give a result on something that has never in all life been tested. Sure, I can think, but what good would it prove, anyway ?”

“I underestimated your pragmatism, it seems. You’re not keen on encouragement, are you?”

“Never has been, never will be. Did you ask for support or facts ?”

“Good point.”

She laughs a little bit, before looking again at the flame.

“Do you know what I’ll be able to do if I do it ?”

“Not quite. Kill that bastard of a giant critter over there ?”

“I mean, yeah, but not only.”

She is still back turned on me, still standing, still immobile. Her hand is, I notice it now, right in the middle of the flames. It doesn’t consume her, apparently, her skin and flesh stay pristine. But she doesn’t get her hand out.

“I will be able to wield a power big enough to mold the world like I want to. I could give you what you wanted for good. What would you wish for, if I could give you all ?”

That’s a difficult question. What would I wish for when every last one of my reasons to live disappeared with no chance of coming back ? I have only some days to live and even then, I wouldn’t have anything to live with. Anything to live for.

What then ? Do I ask for life and live the bland existence of the one that always will be alone ? Or worse, of the one you call only when you need him ? The one you run away from ? Or do I ask for death and leave behind me nothing but a meaningless existence ? What do I want from life that doesn’t need a sacrifice ?

My lack of answer is apparently not of Desire’s taste, because she grits her teeth.

“Her again ?”

A painful smile grows on my lips.

“What for ? She hates me, and loving me would take everything I cherished away from her. Even if you could grant me life, Desire, it would only be meaningless.”

“What, then ?”

“What could I wish for ? I had illusions all my life, but the truth is I led an existence as nothing more than a tool or a monster.”

And tools or monsters cant wish

for

anything at all.

Silence falls on the basement. The flame burns brighter. And for minutes I thought I won’t have any answers, before she turns around, and I see something I’d never thought I see in the corner of her eye.

“I do not see you as either a tool or a monster.”

And strangely I want to believe her.

Because in all the years I knew her and looked at her face never have I seen a single tear.

***

Universe is looking at what’s left of the Worm, godless and exploded out of creation leaving only behind dust and the traces of its existence. Everything is now over, and even though I hear faint crying on the battlefield, there is no sounds of battle.

We won.

And I’m still alive.

I spent three days in that room, slipping Desire some magic, helping her control hers. It helped me regain a bit of control over my brain, enough to not explode yet, but what really saved me is one single word out of the mouth of that strange goddess now possessing my…

Huh. I don’t know what word to use. Partner in crime, perhaps ?

Anyway. The First God, or whatever she is, is still possessing her. I won’t say a word, because we kinda needed her to win at that point, but I really don’t like that situation. Is Desire going to stay like that forever ? I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.

Lina, next to me, is grunting.

“Okay. Now that we got worm dust and an army running away from my castle, can someone explains to me what the fuck is going on ?”

Desire, or rather, Universe, turns towards her purple eyes.

“Nothing, Lina Frosilaen. Just my awakening.”

“You’re not making any fucking sense.”

“Am I? Maybe I should smite you for that disrespect.”

And Lina, for once in her life, shuts up. Maybe because she finally realized that Desire’s voice is not Desire, or maybe it’s because her body is now squirming, trying to fight that amount of power.

Universe rolls her eyes.

“Can you stay put, Desire ? I won’t be there for long, you’re the one restraining me.”

“Let’s see if I got that properly," interjected Asura with a wary expression. “You are not Desire, but rather the power she tried to awaken during those last four days. And now you want to gain… Or regain autonomy but she’s stopping you. On what grounds ? You don’t look like a power a mere goddess can control.”

I would be insulted for the use of “mere” goddess if I didn’t witness Universe break an enemy we took so long to fight in only one word. But I’m still surprised by her precedent affirmation. Why is Desire restraining her ? The fight proved the power of her mother is not something you can control. If she continues, she may end up hurt in the process.

I don’t want that.

I don’t want to ever see her agonize.

Universe crosses Desire’s arms, a bored expression on her face. It doesn’t suit her at all.

“You’re right on many points. I don’t intend to stay any longer under the yoke of that pest, and nor do I intend to hurt you. I just want to spend some time with my daughter, see what I missed in this word. But she wants to… extort from me a last service before I leave.”

“That is ?”

She sighs, before turning her head towards me.

“Well, she wants me to definitively stabilize the sovereign of magic. In a physical, mental, magical, and… Sexual way, apparently.”

wh.

wait.

wHAT ????

I’m not the only one surprised, apparently. Lina looks like she just swallowed a big chunk of Heir viscera. And I won't talk about Asura whose jaw is somewhere on the floor, stupefied by whatever just got out of Universe’s mouth. She turns her head towards me, and I feel her eyes piercing me, in a mix of disgust and astonishment.

My cheeks are probably completely blue with embarrassment, but I still have the energy to shout.

“Hey, don’t fucking look at me like that! I have no damn idea what she’s talking about!”

“Mairù Claro and women, once again striking, she sneers, putting a hand on her forehead. You really have no idea ?”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean ?!”

Worst is, I hear from what’s left of the infirmary a double laugh that I know damn well whose it is. And I’m getting fucking tired of this shit. Now is the moment you choose to be little siblings ??

“Eat your damn shit, Baku, Akira ! I didn’t ask for your mockery!”

Of course, the laughs don’t stop. And Universe is still looking at me, quite expectantly. I think she’s waiting for something.

“What do you think about all that ?”

What, me ? She’s asking for MY input ? It’s even more surprising than Desire admitting she wants to fuck me. Because well I’m not gonna lie, now I think I should have seen that coming.

Trying to hide the embarrassment, I cross my arms and stare at her right in those damn purple eyes.

“You think I would spit on an opportunity to finally live my life without pain and the risk of exploding at every damn moment ?”

“Funny. I would have thought you’d rather die.”

Well.

That is kinda true.

I did want to die. Moments before. days before. I don’t know.

But now when I think about the possibility of me dying it’s just. That would be such a waste. I didn’t die during that giant ass battle, why would I die now ? And if I don’t die, I will take the opportunity to live. And live however I want to.

However I want to…

“Yeah, well, suicidal phase over. People would be too happy I’d disappear anyway.”

And I’m certainly not gonna let that happen. If I have to live, I will annoy everyone that thought I would die soon in a way they won’t forget.

If I can live, I'd rather live a life for people who believed I could. Like the little woman restraining the mother of all life with all her body and might just to give me that chance.

Universe smiles. Then open her mouth. And the litany of words that gets out of it sends all of us into a deep, deep sleep.

***

“You still think life is unfair now ?”

I have woken up from one of my first full nights of sleep in ages, and Desire is on top of me, her transparent dress not covering anything. I can still see the marks I gave her earlier in the day, everywhere on her chest and prominent belly, where my child is preparing to be born. I’m sure I’m in a worse state. Gods, apparently, mark as well as sovereign of magic when both of them want to, and I desperately want to keep a trace of her on me.

I laugh, kiss her right next to that cute smirk, and bring her closer.

“Abyss yes. How is a man supposed to get immortality, full power with no repercussions and a woman that perfect without thinking how life is unfair to the poor saps that won’t get the same chance ?”

“Sweettalker.”

“Always for you, sweetheart.”

Her laugh joins mine while she lays down on me, her pregnant belly weighing against my stomach. She’s heavy, but I would admit that for nothing, because that means she would move, and I don’t want her to move.

“Up to do something today ? We could go to the castle and annoy Lina, or just stay here for a little while to do some… Sport.”

“We were at it for five DAYS.”

“And I’m still a goddess, my dear. Plus, from what I’ve seen, your body is reacting very well to your newfound infinite endurance.”

“I’m beginning to think I’m nothing but a sex toy to you, love. A very useful, extremely multitasking and always willing sex toy.”

Her laugh rings in my ear, the sound of it rippling through my body.

“You wound me. Alright mister, no sex for you!”

“You’ll yield before me, you cute little horndog.”

“Then no hugs.”

She looks at me with a victorious smile while I burst out laughing.

“Please, no! My heart won’t handle it !”

“Liar! You don’t have any heart !”

“And the fact you asked for my dick to be regenerated rather than my heart is saying a lot about you, honey!”

She hits me playfully with the back of her hand, or tries to anyway, since I catch her right in the act and make her roll on the bed. We spend a little time like this, just playfully fighting, ignoring the sheets and pillows going everywhere in the room. There’s no one to hear us anyway, this far in Liovelnis’s desert.

Finally I yield, and she climbs once again on top of me, just plopping on my chest. Intrigue the first she’s adorable when she pouts like that.

But because I’d rather see her smile, I stroke her hair gently, and bring her closer. I have no heart for her to hear beating, it’s true, but it’s for her nonetheless.

I let her put her head in the curve of my shoulder and smile.

“I love you.”

She kisses my collarbone with the exact same smile.

“I love you too.”

#hel is talking #hel ocs #lysara ibruael #lysara #hel stories #hel writing #I kindaaa intended for this to be short but I spent two days writing it and Docs is telling me it's 30 pages sooooooo #sorry if you find that long #but they're cute anyway #even for a manipulative goddess that like her men being murderous scientist rats #and said murderous scientist rat

2 notes · View notes

agoddamn · 2 years ago

Text

I sat down and pounded out several chapters of Engage to try and recruit Mauvier so I could see his birthday lines and missed the window by about two hours. </3

I really do not know how this dude is convincing himself he's helping Veyle through all this brainwashing. I had thought that maybe none of them ever really spoke to her (which seems to be the case with Marni) but Mauvier is supposed to be her actual knight who cares about her as a person and it's not until chapter 21 that he finally says, "I think the repeated brainmelting might be kind of bad for her"? With the mildest dissent possible, too. He is so mild about his dissent that he will even happily deliver another soldier back to the cause of brainmelting Veyle!

So far Mauvier seems like the kind of guy who's genuinely so stupid that you could convince him to suck your dick by telling him a bee stung you and you need his help getting the venom out.

As tired as waif mind-controlled to villainy is as a trope, Veyle's (JP) voice actor does an amazing job with the switching back and forth. I was enjoying just listening to her.

Got the DLC for my birthday and the way they present the 3H characters as having a "friendly rivalry" dynamic lmaooooo that's literally the name of the skill! I don't know what game these characters are from but it's not 3H

Lindon get! The average age of my army is slowly creeping up. Love that he's just...a guy. "Yeah idk I'm not vibing with this Fell Dragon thing any more, can I bounce with you?"

I can tell that the devs are having him constantly mention his wife in order to dissuade me personally, but that ain't gonna work

Got my very first A-rank support! Diamant and Alcryst. Definitely did not play naturally for it, took a lot of forcing them onto each other.

I had intended to use Rosado, but after his first map I realized how bad his shitty build score was crippling him. Bench juice.

I don't understand the economy in this game. It feels like there was supposed to be a money DLC grinding map like Fates--there's so many huge money sinks. The country donations? The gifts? The ingots showing up at the flea market? Weapon refining? Hell, the costumes? Absolutely fucking deranged of someone to make a dress cost a silver bar. And that's before getting into traditional FE money drains like staves and Master Seals! Makes me suspect a money grinding DLC might drop...

Me realizing the reinforcements on 21 aren't going to stop: I AM BEGGING YOU TO GET OFF MY DICK

Two break bars revival stones are stressful. Although... I'm this far in the game and I don't actually know what the "running wild" state does lmfao every time I see revival stones I set up my team to be able to end things in one round. At this point, enemies on the map are doing so much damage that it's a death sentence to try and tank hits.

Framme fell off and got benched :( this really is Fire Emblem: Bases

And with Saphir, the average age of my army climbs yet higher!

Weird, though--in English she's Saphir but the JP sounds a lot more like Zephaia, and Lady Badguy is Zephia in English but Sepia in Japanese.

"Why the fuck would you send ONE soldier as backup--oh. Her. Carry on."

She's afraid of heights...m-moe

She bullied the absolute shit out of Griss 😂 dance brave axe dance brave axe die

I gave her Lyn and much like Diamant, she's getting scary with an actual speed stat. I'm getting her to double with her brave axe on enemy phase.

Lindon...lends himself very well to the "dirty researcher" archetype, huh...

--Panette and Pandreo are siblings?? I guess they do have the same hair color...come to think of it, I think I remember hearing about this pre-release. I learned this from the ally notebook because Panette is another one who joined and went directly to the bench

So Lindon wants to do research with Mauvier, huh...

#boots plays fe17 #post is getting long we'll do plotty shit separately

8 notes · View notes

myvaginacalledmehomo-blog · 6 months ago

Text

1) reading a very very well written fanfic but with one or two very specific weird things about it like... WHY??? you were supposed to be a perfect book. Or when a good indulging book has a relatively dull ending. Couldn't you keep the same level as the rest of the book huh?! Again, love the free cake just that i'm a hater ignore me

2) bashing characters without being provided a reason to bash them within the fic. I know this is about drarry but once i read a badly written wattpad dramione where hermione just joined the death eaters and started killing her friends and it wasn't even a "morally grey" or a "dead dove:do not eat" fic. It was plain boring and unimaginative and looked as if someone just wanted to write that type of FIC but couldn't manage it with their childish writing skills. In hindsight i shouldn't have read on wattpad anyway

or poorly written out of character(even for fanon) touches which are WEIRD(for me) to digest. Like i can swallow narcissa being pro gay!draco but lucius being a proud father of a gay son since the start of the fic is weird. Atleast give him an arc. He's supposed to represent the white bigoted racist magic nazi who went as far as to hurt children and his love for draco is conditional. He's not your average fairy godmother full of love and acceptance. Give him a struggling arc or let him be the homophobic racist he was. Make him slightly difficult to accept draco or make him ask draco for a pretend marriage or something just for Malfoy heirs or something

3) snape and dumbledore lovers writing about harry's immense LOVE and respect for both of them in a canon compliant continuation fic and yelling at draco for even saying their names as if he'd dirty them. Snape abused Harry his entire hogwarts life. Dumbledore fucking played Harry like a pawn and in the end expected him to die. I like the way they are written as complex characters but that has nothing to do with the hatred I have for them being terrible people. Terf Rowling can write whatever garbage but harry ain't naming his kid albus severus. Love albie(harry's kid) but he deserves a better name. Even in drarry fics. And Harry ain't gonna worship them even if he digests their respective roles. That's what i like about Harry Potter and welcome to the world of grey. It shows realistic harry about both of them.

4) harry being scared of draco's dark mark or disgusted by it like no that bitch would be scared of people showing him unconditional love rather than a forced tattoo(which isn't even mentioned in the book, only in movies). Harry is a victim throughout the series. His normal isn't the same as your average mentally healthy person's normal. Writers should think about the character in the context of the character and not what they themselves would want to do.

5) canon compliant continuation fic where in 8th year Harry just suddenly is the shy flower about his crush on draco and does weird 13 year old things that even 13 year old Harry won't do. Harry is awkward and funny and a lot of things but timid nature isn't one of them. And no this isn't about how he acts with Cho in GoF and ootp. What I'm talking about is way way worse. And how come him liking Malfoy makes him fear draco lol as if feelings for draco would make him a coward rather than annoyed at said feelings. Again those who write these things have dull writing and should study the characters first. He didn't defeat voldemort to act like a y/n character 12 year olds love to write

6) harry being all "I-killed-voldemort" and spitting it at draco as if Harry would do that. He does not brag nor did he "kill" voldemort technically atleast. Again these aren't even darkharry fics. They are normal fics just with blatant lack of care about the actual characters and again prolly one directional look at the characters.

7) while i like my share of ginny's infidelity or draco being a rentboy/poorest of the poor fics.. It doesn't make sense that much. Even for fanon something has to make sense right? And a lot of writers just pass it as a fact instead of giving some narrative to their sense of thought. "Oh ginny cheated on Harry? Haha such a slut. Draco's selling his ass on the red light district and eating dirt to feed himself? Deserved it."

Show us hinny's relationship falling. Show us harry struggling with his emotions. Show us ginny wanting adventurous outgoing lifestyle while harry wanting a silent life. Or atleast give us a ginny to hate. Show us how ginny likes Harry less and less the more she knows him. Show us small things in their life that are big things that lead to her cheating. Give her reasons to cheat because she won't cheat like your average american man.

Malfoys are rich af jeez they're billionaire status. War reparations aren't gonna cost billionaires shit. Even if you take 99.99% of Malfoy wealth draco doesn't have to stoop as low as to steal food from the bins or eat dead rats found on the street. And gringotts + the goblins dgaf about it. Gringotts doesn't work under the ministry. It's separate. give us a reason why draco becomes poor like he couldn't maintain anything malfoys did and fell into debt or he himself donated everything to various causes out of guilt or wizengamot trials ensured either his magic is to be regulated or he can BUY his way out by giving everything he owns out of his own consent(which is different from the court seizing his property) or that he was disowned by lucius cus he was gay/some other good reason. Yes i will still read these fics cus some of them are written with an addictive nature to it or they're just plain good emotional and pure cathartic an experience. Doesn't change that it doesn't ick me that victim!draco is so normalised in fic writing. That man is a spoilt heir to one of the top families of vixen Britain. Give him better reasons to fall and crumble him under his past choices.

8) every character sounding the same and everyone having one single personality. Nothing about anyone is different. All their lines can be said by one person and haha it won't change anything. Bad writing at its peak.

9) all gryffindors marrying all slytherins. Wishful thinking or some kink of the writer lol 1 or 2 characters i understand but literally every one of them? Lol. Then again it's just me yucking on someone else's yum so :p

Again, everything(okay almost everything) is acceptable if your writing is brilliant enough to convey what you're seeking in your story. Hell i didn't know I'd ever be able to like voldemort in a story but #wttwog made it so. Doesn't mean I'd go out of my way to purposefully read voldemort adopting harry fics unless i actually want to. Just shows 'give us a reason to believe what you believe and let's see if you did a good job at it'.

Anyway these are all just my opinions lol maybe i'd think something else from a different angle after a few years. Change is just as human as to err. Lolz bye!

i have no clue if this will get any interaction but i don’t think there harm in asking 😭

what are your biggest pet peeves when reading a Drarry/Harco fanfic? and if you have them, what are you favorite things when ready a Drarry/Harco fanfic?

#anti snape #anti dumbledore #drarry #drarry fic #pet peeve #wttwog

10 notes · View notes

96thdayofrage · 4 years ago

Link

A half-century after its premiere, Melvin Van Peebles’s musical “Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death” is heading back to Broadway.

The producer Lia Vollack said Tuesday that she is putting together a revival with the collaboration of the creator’s son, Mario Van Peebles, and under the direction of Kenny Leon. Vollack said she expects to present the revival on Broadway next year.

The musical, which began a nine-month run on Broadway in 1971, is constructed as a series of monologues, often vivid and confrontational, about Black life in a low-income neighborhood. Nominated for seven Tony Awards (but winning none), the show seems to anticipate both the confessional and personal style of musicals that followed, and the poetic spoken-word sounds of rap and hip-hop.

Melvin Van Peebles wrote the show’s book, music and lyrics. Bill Duke and Garrett Morris were in the original cast, and Phylicia Rashad was a standby.

Leon has long been enamored of the musical, which he performed in while a student at Clark Atlanta University.

“It was so visceral, and so strong, and so powerful,” he said. “It gives voice to people who we normally don’t hear on a Broadway stage, and if we do hear them, we don’t hear their truth, we just hear their suffering.”

Leon said the renewed focus on diversity and equity following a series of deaths of Black Americans in encounters with police catalyzed the production.

“Right after everything that happened last year, I talked with Lia, and she said, ‘What do you want to do?’” Leon recalled. “I said, ‘I would love to do “Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death” — I think it’s my life’s calling to do that play,’ and she said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

Leon said the challenge facing his production would be “How do you marry the ’70s to the post-George Floyd moment in an artistic way?” He added, “Nothing about it is going to feel like a museum piece. My goal is to make the audience feel as if the play is new.”

Perhaps best known as a film director, Melvin Van Peebles also wrote plays, novels, music and journalism. Mario Van Peebles, an actor who is being billed as the revival’s creative producer, said in an interview that he considers the musical (which he saw on Broadway when he was 14) his father’s best work.

“It was a transformational experience — I saw people of all colors coming in, some who had never been to a theater before, and many who had, and some laughed, and some cried, and some applauded, but everyone was somehow changed,” he said.

Mario Van Peebles said that throughout his life, people have told him that “Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death” was ahead of its time, and that he has been eager to revive it while his father, who is now 88, is still alive.

“Americans now have better tools to understand each other than we did before,” he said. “In a way, America has caught up, and the language and the tools that were once inner-city are now part of our culture.”

The New York Times, for one, gave the original production a mixed review.

“Whites can only treat ‘Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death’ as a journey to a foreign country,” the critic Clive Barnes wrote, “and on those terms I think it has the power to shock and excite.” (The paper summed up the show this way in a sub-headline: “Blacks Move Through Gantlet of the Slum.”)

The show has occasionally been revisited over the years; in New York, there was an Off Broadway production in 2006, when a New York Times critic wrote, “the series of vignettes explodes like a round of mini-riots.”

With racial equity much discussed in the theater industry recently, “Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death” becomes the seventh new production with a Black writer announced for Broadway when it reopens.

The others are a revival of “Trouble in Mind” by Alice Childress; a Michael Jackson biomusical called “MJ” with a book by Lynn Nottage; and the plays “Lackawanna Blues” by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, “Skeleton Crew” by Dominique Morisseau, and “Thoughts of a Colored Man” by Keenan Scott II, as well as an untitled play by Nottage.

Denzel Washington has told The Daily Mail that he expects a revival of August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson” to reach Broadway next year featuring his son John David Washington alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Danielle Brooks and directed by LaTanya Richardson Jackson. The producer Scott Rudin, who has the stage rights to “The Piano Lesson,” has declined to confirm the report.

#ain't supposed to die a natural death (play)

4 notes · View notes

coopsgirl · 2 years ago

Text

Review of Rings of Power ep 1 (some spoilers)

This dude (Galadriel's "brother") could really use a comb for that severe cowlick he's got. What's even more egregious though is what he says to young Galadriel when he's trying to teach her a lesson. He says he may not always be there to help her in a very ominous foreshadowing of his death. Except he would have no reason at this time to think he would ever die as they are living in the bliss of Valinor.

I guess they didn't have the rights to use a map of Beleriand. When the elves left Valinor (end of years of the trees/beginning of the first age) the map didn't look like this. This is what it looked like at the beginning of the second age.

Sauron looks cool here but one cool shot ain't gonna save this thing.

One of the soldiers tells Galadriel that their mission was supposed to end months ago and she tells him no one wants to go home more than her but the "home" she's referring to is Valinor and she says she can't go until her mission is done (the mission is finding Sauron and avenging her "brother"). This is totally out of character for her as she did not want to go back to Valinor. She wanted to be in Middle Earth and have her own realm.

The CGI of the snow troll looked good (so that's at least where some of the money went) but the wire work (where the actress playing Galadriel would have been in a harness jumping in the air to attack it) looks very unnatural. Elves are light on their feet but they still move within the bounds/laws of physics.

The way they had the "not hobbits" hiding was clever but they are all so filthy that they just look like a bunch of old hobos and the acting amongst them is really not very good. I do wonder why they made the decision to make them sound Irish.

We meet Elrond and a couple of female elves tell him he can't go to the next council meeting because it is for lords only and he looks a bit upset. Of course that's because this version wants to be a politician (please kill me now!). At least Lindon looks pretty.

At one point Galadriel says, "Why Elrond, you really have become a politician" and he says, "You make it sound so grim". I'm dying inside here!

Gil-galad seriously chews some scenery to announce that he's rewarding some of the soldiers with a rare honor - they are going to Valinor like they just won a trip on a game show. That wasn't rare or an honor as it was a natural place for elves to go. If they wanted to go, they just went there.

Galadriel is standing amongst some statues of fallen elven soldiers including her brother and she tells Elrond that she doesn't want to leave them. That is just really dumb because the actual elves would be in Valinor alive (if their spirits have left the Halls of Mandos) and that seems a damn sight better than a statue. Then she tells Elrond that going to Valinor will not make her feel better or take away the bad memories of battle but that's exactly what it would do. Tell me you know nothing about Valinor and elves without telling me you know nothing about Valinor and elves.

They must have a Supercuts or something here for this dude to get such a fresh haircut. Seriously though, you see something like a very modern haircut that you would need electrical clippers to get in something like this and it takes you out of that world. It's like noticing zippers on costumes where they shouldn't be (they were first used in clothing in the 1930s).

One of the elves tells fresh haircut that he will return home with more than he left with including a title. There is no such thing as an elven aristocracy! This is just so dumb.

My response to seeing Celebrimbor was to burst out in a fit of laughter which I don't think is the reaction they were going for.

Then we cut to this and I'm laughing again! Why did they make him look like he has a square head?

Nice mullet there buddy!

As they get close to Valinor, Galadriel jumps off the boat which should basically mean death as they are very far from any land so that was a really dumbass thing to do. Then the meteor lands with the dude in it that I guess we're supposed to think is Sauron but will likely end up being Gandalf.

This show is just basically a big disappointment and feels like a cheesy TV show instead of the beautiful, complex world of Middle Earth.

#rings of power #rings of power sucks #middle earth must have a great barber shop #these elves looks like regular people with bad prosthetic pointed ears #none of the characters are interesting #nothing sucked me in #it just sucked #not tolkien

35 notes · View notes

simmonsized · 2 years ago

Note

hi tell me about transversal trickshot please and what your thoughts are on which dave you chose to have that conversation thank you very much

omg okay i'd love to!!!

this is probably long so i will kindly put it under a cut!

it's probably not related to what you are asking but the name is also a joke specifically relating to the fact that bro was stabbed with his own sword crossways, lmfao (thus, transversal)

anyway!

basically, i picked Dave (god) for two reasons to start, and then it spiraled from there:

ONE, the last Actual Conversation he had with Bro from his point of view was a kind of fraught, awkward conversation in chapter 12, which was written to reflect the last time Dave remembers Bro treating him like a little kid (which is to say, with kindness) (and then does, in this scene, treat him like a little kid). that's some deep deserts lore bullshit, but there's a, waves hand, scene in katabasis that is being directly referenced here. not terribly important.

BUT u know his last interactions with him were like -> watch him almost die -> go back into time using powers he said he never wanted to use again and talk to Bro in this strange gentle way that was completely alien to him because neither of them know what to do or how to talk to each other -> watch him almost die but from future dave's perspective -> watch jane bring him back to live -> see him again and the first thing out of his mouth is "i'm glad you're not dead again"

Basically, he didn't get to have a conversation on the roof like Dave(sprite) did, and so i needed something, i suppose, that would let him connect with Bro, and Dave already had that, so it was his turn.

TWO: Rose lmfao. I had mad crazy plans early on for Rose and Bro, but it also involved tackling something i consider to be a problem in canon; once Rose started drinking, Dave started to retreat away from her, and he certainly didn't do shit to help. Dave is a coward. That's pretty much canon. He doesn't like confrontation, he's not any good at working out his friends’ problems, and he's selfish. But because he doesn't understand Rose, it leads to conflict, and because he can't talk to anyone else about it, it became easier, in that way, to talk to Bro, who he knew at this point, had at least some kind of past with Mom, who he knew is a (recovering) alcoholic.

This then led to The Sword, and a moment in time where Bro gets to see a peek at Dave, and his shame, and the thing that, at that moment in time, is quite literally weighing on him. if that makes sense???

also got to make a funny joke about bro and dirk a la lancelot vs galahad (arthurian legend jokes, caledfwlch, etc)

I wish I could explain how i tend to write conversations between characters but i guess just like. most of the time i do dialogue first and fill everything in later. this usually lets me kind of make sure we stay on track, or at least meander naturally, and then i can fill in what's going on in between, especially if there is a big pause!

So while it starts about Rose, it ends up involving the sword, and thus, the Nasty Death Scar, as it is so lovingly called in my household.

Part of the reason i would not think Dave(sprite) suitable for this is that while he is Dave, and is morbid, his current preoccupation with playing a hand in Bro's death would probably do nothing more than make him feel worse. also he's got his own scar, bro ain't special.

And also Dave, at this point specifically, still has all his crazy unresolved feelings relating to the sword, the fact that Bro doesn't seem bothered too badly by his own death (though we find out later this is not true) and he just. Is gross. LOL i love him but Dave is gross.

I think by seeing Bro's scar, he can kind of like. confirm in a weird way that the event Actually Happened, and that it's over, and that Bro is here, and is alive. That there isn't just a huge fucking hole punched through his abdomen and that Dave isn't insane?? you know??

also references to signs at sundown, my beloved <3

and then of course at the end we see Bro offer a little piece of himself that Dave has never known, although rng is intentionally littered with these, one of my big things with the Strangeness between bro and the daves is that they don't Really Know him as a person. they know bro as BRO the guardian, BRO the person who "trained" (yikes) them, but they don't know anything else about him. This is common with kids as they grow up, as we learn that our parents used to be kids, too. So that one little nametag, handed over begrudgingly, maybe a little embarrassingly, is Bro giving Dave a little piece of himself at that age, something that at this point, this Dave needs desperately. He's already jealous of DS, though it'll take him time to realize it, and so it was important for him to have this conversation with Bro, and to see him as human.

I hope any of this was anything!!! and also sorry it's so long!

#THIS GOT REALLY LONG I'M MORTIFIED SORRY SORRY SORRY #SORRY I HOPE THIS ANSWERS UHHH ANYTHING????????????#the run and go fic #yup i'm embarrassed i'm sorry #i'm so sorry anon i hope this is okay #rng director's cut

13 notes · View notes

dumpster-party · 3 years ago

Text

I've been seeing ppl post headcanons for the dsmp lately, so I thought I'd gather up some of my notes scattered on my phone and post them here

I really like the sbi + Mumza dynamic and I decided to roll with the idea that the boys all get some sort of "gift" in exchange for being a servant of death (though they arguably don't do much serving, just a title Kristen smacks on them to justify watching over them), so there's your context for my terrible note taking

Mumza!

God of death

The queen, the overseer, the beloved

That's all :)

(Also used to have the resurrection book but lost the right to use it because apparently you aren't supposed to use it on ppl meant to be dead, but shhh)

Philza

Angel of death

Reaper, catches souls and hunts down ppl whose time is up

Immortal but not really, just lives really long and has the fucking god of death watching over him to make sure he don't get his ass beat

Wilbur

Not a reaper, more like an usher

Can still fuck with souls tho

Talks to spirits that can't move on from the living plane and deals with their unfinished business, then pretty much holds the door open for them on their way off to the afterlife

Writes about the stories the spirits share :D

Technoblade

The balance for life and death

Except he only works on the whole death thing

When the balance is tipping the voices get a louder until he does something, louder they are the worse the balance is

Basically he's a reaper who doesn't give a shit if someone's time is up or not

You know the whole "blood for the blood god" thing? Yeah that's pretty accurate

Phrase came from his chaotic phase where he went on full massacres and developed a small following of bloodthirsty fuckers

He didn't mind it cause it "helped with the job"

Now he's in his chilled out and totally not just running from a few hundred ppl who worship him as a harbinger of death phase, and maybe a few thousand warrants for his execution

Mans just does some quiet hunting now ☺️

Only servant of death who can't see spirits, if he did he'd probably get a lot of middle fingers

His job is causing deaths after all, he ain't cleaning that shit up

He also might be the subject of a fucked up reincarnation but I ain't touching that yet

Tommy

Cursed or some shit

Okay, okay, he's a walking rift between planes, there, ya happy?

The dude is phased between the living world and whatever plane you call the one gods fuck around on

Hence why he attracts gods and whatever else's attention

He's basically the embodiment of "foot in the door" or "one foot in the grave"

He can also predict deaths through his dreams or something idk

He can predict things that will cause death too (like oh idk… fucking L'manberg), but that's still stuck to only his unconscious mind

He gets nightmares about death a lot to throw him off tho, so he always plays it off as his mind messing with him or being paranoid

He can also tell where places have hosted a lot of death

*Cough* L'manberg *cough*

He can see spirits but can't interact with their souls

Dude also has terrible luck but that's probably just a him thing tbh

Loose headcanons

All of the family is technically dead, just not body wise. Their souls are classified as souls of death, a soul type unique to any servants of death. Because of the nature of their soul, they are dead- no light breathed back into 'em. It comes with perks however- they cannot take any damage to their soul (can't kill something that's already dead) and can't have it taken or anything like that. TLDR: death can't make life so we party with the undead

Death can speak to them through dreams, though it's not really dreams, they just die while they're asleep and get sent to her realm. It makes sleepovers interesting

16 notes · View notes

kickmag · 3 years ago

Text

R.I.P. Melvin Van Pebbles

Melvin Van Pebbles, the trailblazing director who is considered to be the father of modern Black cinema died Tuesday night at age 89. Pebbles' Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song was an independent triumph in Black images when it was released in 1971. He wrote, produced, directed and acted in the feature that showed Black people going up against the system for the first time and winning. Pebbles self-financed the film and finished with a loan from Bill Cosby. Earth, Wind & Fire composed the soundtrack for the movie that opened in the only two theaters that would screen it; one in Detroit and another in Atlanta. The X-rated film quickly blew-up and earned more than $15 million at the box office making it one of the most succesful independent films of all time. His vision was to show the United States from a Black perspective. Film historian Donald Bogle explained the hypersexual nature of the film as being a remedy to years of asexual Sidney Poitier characters. Pebbles' film and Shaft also released in 1971 are credited with starting the blaxploitation film genre. But Pebbles' later pointed out that Hollywood movies using the label were divorced from the politics of his film and turned the characters into street criminal cartoon figures.

The distinction was important to make because there was no Black filmmaker with complete autonomy since Oscar Micheaux. Pebbles' set the blueprint for modern self-actualized Black moviemaking and became financially successful in the process. Huey P. Newton called Sweet Sweetback "the first Black revolutionary film" and made it required watching for members of the Black Panther Party. In 2003, his son Mario, would create BAADASSSSS! a movie about the making of his father's film.

There were plans to turn Sweet Sweetback into a musical in 2009 and a preliminary version was staged at The Apollo Theater. Pebbles directed a total of 15 films and recorded seven albums. There were plans for him to make a double album with Madlib and in 2011 he began to perform with members of Burnt Sugar. In 2013, he made his public debut as a visual artist. Pebbles is the subject of two documentaries and there are plans to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sweet Sweetback at the New York Film Festival that starts Friday September 24th. A new box set of his films will be released next week and a revival of his play Ain't Supposed To Die A Natural Death will hit Broadway next year.

In a statement Mario Van Pebbles made about his father's passing he said: “Dad knew that Black images matter. If a picture is worth a thousand words, what was a movie worth? We want to be the success we see, thus we need to see ourselves being free. True liberation did not mean imitating the colonizer’s mentality. It meant appreciating the power, beauty and interconnectivity of all people.”

youtube

#melvin van peebles #sweet sweetback's baadasssss song #Youtube

4 notes · View notes

rpmemesbyarat · 4 years ago

Conversation

RP Meme Lines from "AHS: Coven" Episode 8: "The Sacred Taking"

You don't go home till I say.

Make me fight for it

I'll carve you up in big thick slices, then plug every hole you got.

[NAME] set me straight.

You were never my friends.

You don't see me bitching out.

[NAME] filled my head with that bullshit, too.

That bitch will say anything if it gets her what she wants.

This isn't for you. Yet.

You just killed an innocent man!

This town ain't big enough for the two of us.

War is coming. And you're gonna lose.

I used to think I understood pain.

My body doesn't belong to me

The doctors say it's terminal.

Die before Thanksgiving, so none of us have to suffer through that mess of raisins and Styrofoam you call stuffing.

They say love is the best medicine.

You are so beautiful.

You're just a fool in love.

You like the way I look, take a picture.

I don't want you watching me decay.

Are you scared?

I'm not scared of dying.

I'm scared of living like this.

I wouldn't give anyone the satisfaction of me killing myself.

I'll stay alive just to spite them.

I just have to figure out which one of those little pecker-heads it is.

They worship the devil.

Look what they did to you.

You don't get it! They saved me!

Nothing happened in that house.

You brought this on yourself.

You had no business going that house.

You're unclean.

Take off your pants.

She's hurting him.

Let's get back to the battle plan.

I want to slit her throat.

You have to stay hidden until it's time.

She cannot know you're back.

We have one shot. That's it.

Our plan has to be flawless. So does the execution.

Failure turns this into a suicide mission.

You have to save me.

I knew the world could be a dark and evil place.

I tried to disappear into nature. But I have been found.

Aw, you probably have no idea where you are.

You've been through a terrifying ordeal, but you came back.

The cicadas have stopped singing.

Somebody is looking to kill me.

You were set on fire and left for dead.

Whatever troubles you had, they are ours now.

Don't worry. You're amongst friends.

I thought I'd never see you again.

Given my wretched appearance, maybe it's a good thing you're blind as a butter knife.

How did your hair grow back so quick?

What have they done to you?

I've lost my eyes.

Our journey starts today.

We're gonna be busy all night.

Why can't he watch porn and jerk off like any other guy?

Be good, baby.

We'll have fun later.

I feel like a queen.

You thought it was you, didn't you?

Well, I knew it wasn't you

It could be any one of us.

It's not a gift. It's a burden.

Now, give me your hands.

We're ready to begin.

Can you imagine those poor Salem witches, traveling all the way down here in covered wagons without a proper charcuterie platter or a bidet? Absolutely savage!

Does nobody see the flaw in this plan?

I just love this room, especially the walk-in closet.

I need that.

Surprise, bitch.

I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me.

How soon can you have all of your stuff out of here?

I really need my own room.

I can't wait to break it in.

What are you?

Who brought you back?

Looks like you've got some 'splainin' to do.

We all know the playbook on this.

I'm gonna bring marshmallows and graham crackers to make s'mores.

As my powers grow, yours fade away.

Let me break this down for yo, and stop me if I talk too fast; I'm in, you're out.

You can swallow these pills and go to sleep. Stop suffering. And stop our suffering. The choice is yours.

Is everyone back from the dead, or have I already died and gone to heaven?

That's not one of the choices, darling.

I have finally found someone I belong to. Someone I truly love.

No details, darling. I couldn't bear it.

I am very ill, [NAME]. I won't last long.

You haven't thought through this, [NAME]

You're still my beautiful angel.

This dream of a perfect love you're clinging to is just a nasty trick life is playing on you.

You will die the same way you lived your life; alone and disappointed by everyone.

What's the matter?

He won't stay till the end. They promise, but they don't.

You are nothing but an envious old bitch.

This whole room smells of death!

I'll die soon. I promise.

How'd it go?

Why can't it be me?

You have no style and your pits smell like fish sticks.

You guys suck balls.

Come hold this mirror for me.

Life is a carnival, [NAME].

I was so crazy about him.

Some play it safe on the merry-go-round, others go for the thrills on the roller coaster.

I mean, I could sit here and boo-hoo my choices, torment myself over the selfish detours I have taken. But what good

would it do now? Hmm?

Do me a favor, get me my fur from the closet.

It was preemptive, I suppose, my leaving. Get out of town before they run you out on a rail.

I've always been rigorous about not staying too long at the party. Bad form.

Know when it's over.

I could never pull off the corals.

You need to take this. We must purge you of this poison.

I was murdered.

I see everything.

I am finally trying to do something decent

You're making a martyr of yourself by giving up.

You've been tricked.

I won't permit it.

I don't understand.

They've been running a number on you.

They've been leading you to your doom with lies.

You've always been my silent sentinel.

Ain't they feeding you?

Whatever did I do to deserve this betrayal?

Didn't you like my pot pie and my peach crumble I learned how to make just for you?

You put me in here.

You can get me out.

This cage is just unfit for a human. Which is why it's so perfect for you.

You know, when I had the idea to have you brought back to me, I thought of all the many ways I could dispose of you. But I've found it give me great pleasure just to know you in a cage.

I'm not your damn maid!

I wouldn't be so eager to show my arrogance from that side of the cage.

What you gonna do? Kill me? I can't die.

Eh, throw me back in the box.

I seen enough of this world.

You think I only have those two choices?

The mistake you make is from a lack of imagination.

I'm not afraid of you. I wouldn't give you that satisfaction.

This gave me no satisfaction. But we've only just begun.

How dare you come into my house after what you've done.

Stay away from her!

I made you and I can unmake you.

Don't leave me!

It's Schubert's last sonata. It's all about acceptance of death.

This is so incredibly stressful and weird.

You don't feel anything?

My stomach feels like a storm's about to hit, but it's probably just my nerves.

I'm not exactly what you call a natural born leader.

Your feet should be getting warmer.

I'm told it starts as a tingle in the cooch.

You can't be in here.

We're under attack.

None of us are safe.

I might have slept until noon.

You didn't really make this coffee all on your own, did you?

If you're waiting for me to get down on my knees and beg for your forgiveness, you can forget it. It's not gonna happen.

Now you're proud?

#rp meme #rp memes #rp starters #roleplay memes #roleplay meme #roleplay starters #ahs #ahs coven

4 notes · View notes

hunter-the-sad-skeleton · 4 years ago

Conversation

Overwatch OC Character Interactions(Winter Edition!)(Part 1)

Mercy:

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

Mercy: Winter, have you ever considered becoming a medic or healer?

Winter: Nah...I don't wanna take up people's time like that!

Mercy: Oh, sweetheart...

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

Winter: Your wings look pretty!

Mercy: Oh! Thank you!

Winter: No problem! You just look really pretty!

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

Winter: How does it feel to be up in the air like you are most of the time?

Mercy: It's nice, if you are not afraid of heights! Maybe I could carry you up with me sometime!

Winter: If I ever get over my fear of heights, I'd...I'd like that!

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

Genji:

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

Genji: Hello, young one!

Winter: Hello, not-so-young-one!

Genji: That is...Quite fair, honestly.

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

Genji: Why are you so short?

Winter: Why are you so nosy?

Genji: Ah. To hold all of that built-up anger. Understood.

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

Winter: So we're on the same team for once! Same team for the first time! Feels great!

Genji: Not quite...

Winter: Huh? What's that supposed to mean?

Genji: Oh, um, nothing. Never mind, it was a slip of the tongue.

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

Genji: Have you ever felt true peace before?

Winter: Well...When I hang out with you, sure!

Genji: Oh...That is...quite sweet of you to say...

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

Genji: Okay, memory check, what's the last thing you remember from before you woke up?

Winter: uh....You gave really good hugs!

Genji: Ah....That's...A good thing to remember, yes.

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

Mccree:

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

Mccree: I'm curious, what do ya see me as?

Winter: Hm....Big brother!

Mccree: Aw! That's sweet!

Winter: Because you're as annoying as one!

Mccree: okay, THAT hurt. OUCH.

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

Winter: I know why Apple Pie is your favorite treat!

Mccree: Why's that?

Winter: Because you're as sweet as one!

Mccree: Okay, THAT'S adorable.

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

Winter: What time is it again?

Mccree: It's hi-

Winter: Oh, wait, I can check my watch; it's five thirty one!

Mccree: RUDE.

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

Winter: Mccree, you like Pie, right?

Mccree: Yeah, why?

Winter: Your ult is High Noon, right?

Mccree: I don't like where this going.

Winter: One could call it...PIE noon?

Mccree:.....I WANNA SWITCH TEAMS. PLEASE.

Winter: Don't be like that! Just CRUST Me on this one!

Mccree: LET ME SWITCH PLEASE.

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

Hanzo:

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

Winter: So you're Genji's brother, right?

Hanzo: Yes, why?

Winter: Does that mean you have dragons too?

Hanzo: Yes.

Winter: Neato!

Hanzo: I will pay you to never say that again.

Winter: Okay, I'll say Tubular instead!

Hanzo: I will pay you EXTRA to not say THAT either.

Winter: Cool beans, bro!

Hanzo: *HEAVY SIGH*

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

Winter: Your ult is dragons, right?

Hanzo: Yes. Why?

Winter: How many are there?

Hanzo: Two, I believe.

Winter: So you have the....SCALES OF JUSTICE on your side?

Hanzo: CAN I PLEASE BE PUT INTO ANOTHER TEAM?

Winter: *Giggles*

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

Hanzo: Why do you like puns so much?

Winter: They're PUNDERFUL, Hanzo!

Hanzo:............I am leaving.

Winter: No, wait, I agree, my puns can DRAGON for a while!

Hanzo: YOU CANNOT STOP ME.

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

Winter: Everyone uses a gun of sorts, what do you use?

Hanzo: A bow and arrow.

Winter: Whoa! Really?! That's cool!

Hanzo: It's always good to find one who finds the Bow and Arrow a cool weapon. It is rare, but always a treat to find one of such understanding.

Winter: Wanna see what I use?

Hanzo: I suppose there is no harm.

Winter: *Pulls out large scythe* This is what I use! And it ain't just for cultivating crops!

Hanzo: Wow. You are a danger to all, including yourself.

Winter: Oh, I know! But it's cool nonetheless!

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

Soldier 76:

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

Soldier 76: What do you remember from before you woke up? Just doing a quick memory check.

Winter: I remember that.....You were grumpy!

Soldier 76: Ah. Good to know that the sass has stayed through the memory loss.

Winter: What now?

Soldier 76: Oh! Nothing!

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

Winter: Dad! Did ya see what I did last round? Did ya see how I did?

Soldier 76: Yes, I did. I very much so saw.

Winter: Are you proud of me?

Soldier 76:.............Yes.

Winter: Yay!

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

Winter: Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad!

Soldier 76: What!?

Winter: I wub wou!

Soldier 76:...............get back to work.....I love you too.

Winter: *Giggles*

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

Winter: Dad, is being short a bad thing?

Soldier 76: Nonsense!

Winter: Awwww-

Soldier 76: It makes you have great aerodynamics and able to fly farther if we need to throw you towards the enemies as a distraction!

Winter: Dad.....!

Soldier 76: Wait, no, that was a joke, I'm so sorry!

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

Winter: Daaad!

Soldier 76: What?

Winter: When are you and Papa gonna get together?

Soldier 76:...................I DON'T LIKE HIM.

Winter: The tension between you two huuuurts!

Soldier 76: I DON'T LIKE HIM. NOW STOP.

Winter: You secretly do though~!

Soldier 76:......................

Winter: Dad...?

Soldier 76:....If you tell ANYONE, I will put you in the corner.

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

Reaper:

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

Winter: Papa! Guess what!

Reaper: What?

Winter: I won a round!

Reaper: Good job.

Winter: Are ya proud of me?

Reaper:..............Yes.

Winter: *Happiness noises.*

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

Reaper: How are you good at your job? You're so...SMALL!

Winter: I may be small, but I can say f-

Reaper: OKAY, NO NEED TO SHOW ANY FURTHER, YOU CANNOT.

Winter: Coward! I will swear if I please!

Reaper: DON'T YOU DARE.

Winter: FRICK. HECK.

Reaper: *Sigh* you are a disaster...

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

Winter: Papa, why do ya wanna be so scary all the time?

Reaper: It scares the enemy.

Winter: AND?

Reaper:...........And 76 gave me the outfit.

Winter: ship.

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

Winter: Do you ever play any card games?

Reaper:.....Why?

Winter: Because some card games require die, die, die!

Reaper:..................Stop being adorable.

Winter: *Giggles* Or you'll DIE of laughter?

Reaper: I will tickle you. DON'T test me.

Winter: Eek! No!

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

Winter: So, when are you and Dad gonna get together?

Reaper: *Coughing fit*

Winter: OH GOD, I KILLED PAPA!!

Reaper: NEVER ASK THAT AGAIN. YOU ARE BANNED.

Winter: But you OBVIOUSLY like him!

Reaper: BANNED. THAT IS IRRELIVANT.

Winter: You're supposed to be Reaper! Get some guts and ask him out!

Reaper: You can't tell me how to live my li-er...AFTER-I did NOT mean that. I DON'T LIKE HIM.

Winter: Oh, both of you are HOPELESS....

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

Zenyatta:

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

Winter: Zen-Zen!

Zenyatta: Hm? Yes?

Winter: Hello!

Zenyatta: Oh! Hello!

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

Zenyatta: Have you ever experienced tranquility, young one?

Winter: Well...When I hang out with you and bro-bro Genji!

Zenyatta: Oh, that's so sweet!

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

Winter: I don't see why people have a problem with Omnics! You guys are neat!

Zenyatta: I agree, we only wish to exist in harmony with humanity.

Winter: Exactly! Why can't people just get along?

Zenyatta: Some people are tunnelvisioned in their world views.

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

Winter: How are you so calm all the time?

Zenyatta: I think of all the good things in life and meditate on them.

Winter: How do you meditate?

Zenyatta: Everyone does it differently.

Winter: Maybe I should try it...

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

Zenyatta: I heard you met my student, Genji, yes?

Winter: Oh! Yeah! I have!

Zenyatta: What do you think of him? What do you feel he is in your life?

Winter: He's my big bro-bro! He's nice! I like him!

Zenyatta: Ah...I see!

Winter: Yep!

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

Winter: What do ya like to do in your off time, Zen-Zen?

Zenyatta: I like to meditate, observe nature, maybe have tea with Genji, and just relax!

Winter: Sounds nice!

Zenyatta: Oh, it is!

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

Mei:

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

Mei: Hello, Winter!

Winter: Oh, hi!

Mei: How are you?

Winter: Good, craving death, you?

Mei: I'm sorry, what was that last part?

Winter: You?

Mei: Before that!

Winter: Comma?

Mei: Winter!!

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

Winter: Maybe we should form a team of our own! Mei and Winter! Unstoppable forces! An a-Mei-zing duo!

Mei: *Giggle*

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

Mei: Winter, since your name is Winter, what's your opinion on cold weather?

Winter: It's okay, I guess!

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

Mei: I heard you like puns, right?

Winter: Yeah, they're pretty n-ICE!

Mei: *Laugh*

Winter: My puns are COOL with you?

Mei: *Harder laughing.*

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

Winter: Wait, do you still have Snowball?

Mei: Yes! I never leave him anywhere!

Winter: Can I meet him?

Mei: After this match, sure!

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

Bastion:

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

Winter: Hey big guy!

Bastion: *Greeting beep*

Winter: I think you're adorable!

Bastion: *Flustered thankful beep*

Winter: Awww!

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

Winter: Bastion, Bastion!

Bastion: *Quizzical beep*

Winter: You're doin' great!

Bastion: *Happiness beeps*

Winter: Aww!

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

Bastion: *Calling out beep*

Winter: Yeah?

Bastion: *Encouraging beep*

Winter: Awwww! Thanks, bud!

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

Winter: Hey, Bastion!

Bastion: *Beep of acknowledgement*

Winter: *Imitating Bastion's happy beeps*

Bastion: *Ecstatic happy beeps*

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

Winter: Bastion, how do you stay so positive?

Bastion: *multiple beeps.*

Winter: So deep...so wise...

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

#Overwatch Oc #My Oc #Winter Browns #Overwatch Mercy #Overwatch Genji #Overwatch Mccree #Overwatch Soldier 76 #Overwatch Reaper #Overwatch Mei #Overwatch Bastion #Overwatch Zenyatta #Overwatch Hanzo #Long post #Ask To Tag

5 notes · View notes

annaphoenix1994 · 3 years ago

Text

Colter - Enter, Pursued by a Memory (2)

"Goddamn, this cold!" Arthur groaned as he entered the morning freeze, using the sole of his boot to light the match for his cigarette, taking a long and slow puff of the tobacco as if his life depended on it. He forced himself to walk through the snow, mentally preparing himself to feel the cold wind cling to his skin through his clothing.

He rushed into the main cabin, seeing Missus Adler struggling to stay warm while she kept her distance from everybody else while Abigail Roberts, Tilly Jackson, and Mary-Beth Gaskill were surrounding the hearth for warmth. "Hello, Arthur," Abigail started as Arthur chucked a fresh log into the small fire.

"Abigail." He replied gruffly, holding his palms to the fire.

"Arthur...how you doing?" She said nervously as she approached him. He looked at her nervously, taking her in. He had always scolded himself for not marrying her when he had the chance, but he knew that wasn't how things were supposed to be. He cared deeply for her and young Jack, but in a way, he still loved her from when she had been friendly with not only him, but almost every man in the gang at one point.

He gulped as he held those memories at bay, where they needed to be, "Just fine, Abigail, and you?"

"I need you to...I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry to ask but..." She stuttered.

"It's little John...He's got himself into a scrape again." Arthur replied with annoyance and a bit of jealousy coating his voice. He brushed her off as he continued to find warmth from the fire.

"He ain't been seen in two...two days!" Abigail protested.

"Your John'll be fine," Arthur said, opening his arms at her. He hated arguing with her, but she needed to hear it. "I mean, he may be as dumb as rocks and as dull as rusted iron but that ain't changin' because he got caught in some snowstorm!" He argued.

"At least go take a look," Hosea intervened as he closed the book he was reading to young Jack. "Javier?"

"Yes?" Javier Escuella replied, looking up from cleaning his gun.

"Javier, will you ride out with Arthur and take a look for John?" Hosea asked. "You're the two best-fit men we've got."

"Now?" Javier questioned, exhaling a puff of smoke from his cigarette.

"She's...we're all...we're pretty worried about him." Hosea continued, taking note at the look of jealousy on Arthur's face as well as a bit of concern eating at him.

Hosea had played a major role in Arthur's life in the earlier years, seeing Arthur as a son to him. He could tell when things were bothering him or when he was keeping something to himself. Hosea knew Arthur and Abigail had a brief romantic history and that Arthur at some point thought that young Jack was his son, but he couldn't stop Abigail from falling in love with John Marston, who was his fellow brother, but also his competition.

"I know if the situation were reversed, he'd look for me." Javier said as he handed Arthur his sewed-off shotgun. Arthur nodded as he took the gun before turning on his heels, pushing out Abigail's 'thank you's out of his head as he walked through the doorway.

"This way! Last I know, John was headed up the river!" Javier said over the wind as he took the lead.

"For all we know, he kept ridin' north and never looked back," Arthur grunted, bowing his head so that the brim of his hat would shield his face from the wind.

"He wouldn't leave. Not like that." Javier doubted.

"Well, wouldn't be the first time," Arthur replied, clutching the reins tighter, wishing he had on two pairs of gloves instead of one. He and Javier trekked north, both of them encouraging their horses to continue on their journey. Arthur may not have had a bond as strong with this horse like he did with Boadicea, his fallen horse after the failed ferry robbery in Blackwater, but the mahogany bay stallion was pushing through. "Good boy!" Arthur encouraged as he gave the stallion an encouraging pat to the neck. "So... You were there, Javier, what really happened on that boat?" He asked.

"We had the money, it seemed fine, then suddenly they were everywhere," Javier explained.

"Bounty hunters?" Arthur guessed.

"No, Pinkertons. It was crazy. Raining bullets," Javier continued as the horses were now on steeper terrain. "Watch out for this crevice!" He warned. "Dutch killed a girl in a... bad way, but it was a bad situation."

"That ain't like him, though." Arthur replied.

"They continue along the cliff wall here!" Javier said, referring to the horse tracks he and Arthur found shortly after they left camp. "Davey got shot. Mac and John... Both shot too. Sean, we don't even know. I'm surprised we escaped at all. By the time you boys showed up from the other side of town, we were only just holding on." Javier continued.

Arthur sighed, "Bad business alright."

They were now trotting through fresh snow, which was too much for Arthur's liking, so he decided to slow his horse down to a walk as he knew the fresh and deep snow had to be hard on his horse. "You're alright boy," He encouraged. "The horses are struggling."

"Yeah, a lot of fresh snow here."

"I don't know about this, Javier. W-we can't follow nothing." Arthur doubted.

"Let's push on a little bit, maybe we'll pick up the trail again," Javier encouraged as their horses continued to push on up the steep embankment.

"Almost there, boy, c'mon now!"

"Hey, look! Over there, you see that?" Javier pointed as the men stopped their horses before nudging them to a lope. Upon closer inspection, it was a deceased horse. "John was riding that horse when we left Blackwater." Javier sighed.

"Oh... That's..." Arthur grunted. He didn't mind killing an animal when it came to hunting but seeing a dead horse hurt him on the inside. Aside from a buck, horses were his favorite animal as they represented so much freedom, beauty, and spirit. Something Arthur wrote fondly about in his journal was Boadicea. He sighed as he looked away from the deceased animal before turning his attention back to Javier.

"Let's see if he can hear us!" Javier said before firing his revolver, the gunpowder echoing through the icy canyon and empty mountains.

"Hey! Help! Here!"

"Come on... Up there!" Javier suggested as he pushed Boaz into a steady lope up the embankment.

"Hello? Over here!"

"It's coming from up ahead somewhere. I don't think we can go much further on the horses. We'll have to walk from here." Javier said as he dismounted Boaz. "I'd grab that shotgun from your horse. Who knows what's up ahead."

───※ ·❆· ※───

"That's quite a scratch you got there." Arthur said as he and Javier were now looking at John Marston from over the cliff he had sought shelter.

John looked up at the pair with his new three lacerations, "Never thought I'd say this, but it's good to see you, Arthur Morgan."

Arthur sighed as he eased himself down to where John was, looking him over briefly, "You don't look so good." He said as he slung John's arm over his shoulders.

"I don't feel too good neither," John groaned as Arthur easily lifted the man up, helping him get atop the cliff so Javier could help. "I'm freezing!"

"Don't die just yet, cowboy." Arthur said as he hoisted himself back up before slinging John over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, slowly walking behind Javier as he figured out a way to get back to the horses without having to go through the rough terrain they had encountered on foot.

"You see that on the ridge?" Javier said as distant howls echoed from afar. Arthur felt John shift his weight as he was still slung over Arthur's shoulder, looking up at what damage the animals had caused.

"Shit," Arthur mumbled as he helped John to his feet. "I'll distract them while you get to the horses. Go, I'll draw 'em off you." He insisted.

"Let's get back to the others!" Javier exclaimed after Arthur had successfully terminated the three wolves after a brief scrapple. Arthur clutched his wrist to rid the pain as he had gotten bitten, but it luckily didn't pierce through his skin, only his coat.

"I don't feel too good," John complained.

"You'll be fine. It's just like a...a dog bite."

John sighed, "I knew a feller, got bit by a dog. Died an hour later."

"You ain't gonna die! Not yet-" Javier assured. "More of 'em to the right!" He shouted.

Arthur quickly pulled out the sewed-off shotgun Javier had given him, hoping that his new horse wouldn't spook too bad from the shots and the wolves coming at his fetlocks. "Easy boy!" Arthur said as he shot two wolves quickly, regaining control as his horse's natural instincts took over.

"You see any more, Arthur?" Javier called.

"Don't think so." He grunted.

"Jesus!" John whined.

"You still with us, Marston?" Arthur teased.

"Just about." He groaned.

"You're gonna be okay. We have some shelter now." Javier assured.

"Thanks for coming for me."

"Of course. That bullet in Blackwater, now this? You had a hell of a time."

"And Arthur always says... I'm lucky." John croaked.

"You know, we're gonna need to come up with a better story for that scar!" Arthur teased as the horses trudged through the current of the river in an attempt to cover up their scent.

"So, freezing, bleeding, starving, damn near getting eaten to death, ain't good enough for you?" John questioned.

"Yeah...c'mon. Let's push hard and get back."

"See those buildings up ahead John? That's where we're camped. Nearly there." Javier assured as the camp was inching closer.

"Come on! Someone help John down off this horse!" Javier exclaimed.

"Can we get some help here?" Arthur intervened as he pulled his horse to a halt, dismounting as he heard the main cabin's door squeak as Abigail came running out. "You're alive! Oh, you're alive!" Abigail cried as she gripped onto John's jacket.

"Ay, careful idiotas, it's his leg!" Javier warned as he was still atop Boaz.

"Come on, let's get you warm!" Abigail said as Bill was acting as a crutch for John, leading him to the cabin. "Thank you! Thank you both!"

Arthur and Javier nodded as they were soon joined by Hosea and Leopold Strauss. "Thank you, Arthur. Thank you." Hosea said, patting his shoulder.

"You got any other lost maidens need savin'?" Arthur groaned.

"Yeah, that Minnie Barlow," Hosea teased, referring to the brief conversation he and Dutch had about the woman after they brought Sadie Adler to camp, Dutch explaining to Hosea that Arthur had kept asking questions about the fellow outlaw relentlessly, making it clear to Dutch and Hosea that he may be under the impression of a crush, which Hosea loved to play "matchmaker."

"I don't know what you're talkin' about," Arthur scoffed. Hosea chuckled as Javier and Leopold Strauss retreated slightly, "Dutch told me about your crush."

"Whatchu talkin' about? I don't have no crush!" Arthur blushed.

"You're forgetting that we know you better than you do, Arthur. Since when have you been so curious about an outlaw when you're an outlaw yourself?" Hosea questioned. Arthur shook his head as he wanted to get the topic of love interests from his head. 'Yeah, like a woman like that would have me anyways.' He scolded to himself.

"Have you and Dutch talked about how we're gonna get out of this?" Arthur asked, changing the subject.

"I was just discussing with Herr Strauss when the weather breaks I suppose we'll have to keep heading east."

"East? Into all of that civilization?" Arthur objected.

"I know," Hosea replied. "The west is where our problems are worse. C'mon, Herr Strauss, let's get warm."

Arthur nodded as he thrust through the snow, rubbing his palms up and down his upper arms in an attempt to generate heat, but he felt as if he was getting nowhere. He quickly shut the door to the cabin, retreating to his room for a brief bit of isolation, something that he needed. He had a sudden urge to write as if nothing that was going on even mattered. He sat on the edge of his cot, pulling the nightstand closer to him to make a table:

𝓦𝓮 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓫𝓮𝓮𝓷 𝓻𝓾𝓷𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝔀𝓮𝓮𝓴𝓼. 𝓦𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭 𝓼𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓫𝓮𝓮𝓷 𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓲𝓷 𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓸𝓵𝓭 𝓪𝓫𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝔀𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓮 𝔀𝓮 𝔀𝓪𝓲𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝔀. 𝓗𝓪𝓻𝓭𝓵𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓹𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓘 𝓱𝓪𝓭 𝓫𝓮𝓮𝓷 𝓱𝓸𝓹𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓯𝓸𝓻.

#rdr2 #minniebarlow #arthurmorgan #reddeadredemption2 #fanfiction

1 note · View note