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ibis-gt · 4 years ago

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i made a fairytale au for cam and luther and then wrote nearly 5k words of fic for it?? which is wild bc i am not much of a writer. but. that’s under the cut. content warning for a pretty violent scene towards the end but there’s a happy ending i prommy

Once upon a time, there lived a prince. This prince, Luther by name, lived in a kingdom that was plagued by monsters. His father, the king, had gained his throne by feats of heroism, most notably by slaying a fearsome dragon that had ruled the land for years. The time came for Luther to prove he was worthy of the title of prince by slaying a monster of his own…

Down in the countryside, farmers have been complaining for weeks of an ogre stealing their cattle and frightening their children. So Luther sets off in a splendid suit of armor, with a sword sheathed on one hip, a quiver of arrows on the other, and his bow slung on his back.

Luther rides his horse down to the village where the ogre was last spotted. He talks with the locals and gets a description of the creature. At least forty feet tall, they say, with greenish-grey skin and dark hair and teeth the length of a man’s forearm. Luther leaves his horse behind with the farmers because he doesn’t want her getting hurt and marches off, following a set of giant footprints left behind by the ogre, sword in hand. He would have to admit that he isn’t the best at sword fighting, and that really he’s never faced a monster on his own. But his father gave him a crucial tip: every monster has a weak point. Find the weak point, exploit it, and you’ll win every time.

The footprints lead through the plains of grass, past the area where the farmers let their cattle out to graze, and into a dark forest. The sun is going down before he manages to find the ogre, so he sets up a little camp with a little fire and rests his tired bones. His armor isn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but it takes forever to get on and off even with someone helping him, let alone by himself. He sits with his back to a big boulder so nothing can sneak up behind him and eventually drifts off.

Luther awakens the next morning and groans at how stiff and sore he is. He sits up and pauses, brow furrowed, remembering that he’d gone to bed sitting upright. But just now, he’d been lying on his back. And he’s not the best tracker, but those giant footprints look… disconcertingly fresh. These things add up in his mind. He just about passes out. He crouches down and puts his head between his knees for a moment until he can breathe again and his heart stops pounding quite so hard. He was right next to it! He fell asleep leaning on it! If his father heard about this he’d give him such a beating. How could he not have noticed that the boulder was actually -

His stomach rumbles, interrupting his panicked thoughts, and Luther remembers that the last time he ate was back in that farming village around two in the afternoon yesterday. He digs out a bit of beef jerky and morosely works at it. His father swears by the stuff, but it just makes his teeth hurt. Luther dreams of the kitchens back home and drools a little.

He gives up on the jerky and manages to take down a couple squirrels with his bow and arrows. He gets his fire blazing again and sets them cooking over it, and sits down to draw in the dirt and form a battle plan. He gets wrapped up in his drawing and loses track of time, but is startled violently back to reality as a deep booming voice from behind him says, “Your squirrel’s burning.”

Luther’s eyes snap up to the fire. He hastily pulls the stick with his squirrels off of it, waving it in the air to put out the bit of squirrel that had caught fire. He blows on it and inspects the damage. Not too bad, a little charred. Still definitely edible. Then realization dawns, and he slowly looks up and over his shoulder.

That’s the ogre. He’s unmistakable. Huge, greyish-green, with shaggy black hair and big tusks that jut out of his mouth. He’s down on one knee looming over Luther, modesty barely preserved by a loincloth stitched together out of the pelts of many different furry animals. Luther wills himself to not faint for the second time that day.

“You gonna eat that?” The ogre booms. “’Cause I will if you won’t.”

“W-well, yes, I was planning to,” Luther quavers, “But there are two, so, um, you can have one if you want? We can share?”

He takes the non-burned squirrel off the stick and holds it up. His hand only shakes a little. The ogre takes it carefully between thumb and forefinger and tosses it in his mouth. With such a tiny morsel, he’d usually just swallow it whole, but an interesting flavor makes him stop and savor it for a moment.

“What’d you do to it? Not like any squirrel I’ve eaten. And I’ve eaten a whole army of squirrels.” He slaps a hand on his formidable belly. The sound makes Luther jump.

“I- I didn’t do much, j-just some seasoning, I-I’m sorry, I d-didn’t mean to, please don’t eat me next."

"You?” The ogre laughs. “Why would I eat you? You shared your food with me. That’s mighty polite. I’d say that makes us friends now, and I don’t eat friends.” He grunts as he shifts position, sitting down heavily and stretching out his legs. “Bad knees,” he grumbles. “Sat like that too long, but I wanted to see what you were drawing."

Luther is now horrifically aware that he is directly between the ogre’s legs. He is also horrifically aware that he was drawing himself hitting an ogre with a sword. He hurriedly kicks some dirt over it.

"Nothing. Nothing interesting. I’m a bad artist anyway.”

“Sure. What’s your name, little tin man? You didn’t seem too talkative when you snuggled up to me last night, but I thought maybe you were just tired. I’m Cam."

"L-Luther.” Oh god. He was supposed to kill this thing, it - well, no, not ‘it’, he can’t think of Cam as an ‘it’ now he knows his name - he’s terrorizing folks, stealing their livelihoods, he’s supposed to drive him away, save the day, bring peace to the kingdom. Instead he’s sharing his meager breakfast and making friends with the monster. How did it all go so wrong!!

“So, Luther, you made of metal? I thought you were gonna take all that off, looks pretty uncomfortable, but you wore it all night. Unless it’s like… you?"

"No, no, um, it’s just… it takes a long time to put it on and take it off? And I usually need help.”

"Well shoot, friend, why didn’t you say so?“ Before Luther can object, a giant hand descends and plucks him up. He panics, struggles in Cam’s grasp, and Cam tsks at him. "I can’t get all that off you if you don’t hold still. Don’t make me squeeze."

Luther goes still. If Cam squeezes the armor, it’ll stay squeezed. He wouldn’t want to still be in it if that happens. Cam clearly has no idea how to get someone out of armor though. He just pulls at clasps and buckles till they break, then shucks the metal off of Luther like an ear of corn. His helmet comes off first, freeing his dark brown curls.

“Aww,” Cam says, “lookit you. You’re kinda cute for a tin man.” He musses up Luther’s hair with a fingertip. "You’re like a little crab,” Cam chuckles. “Crack open the hard shell to get to the soft stuff underneath.” The food metaphor does not put Luther any more at ease as the rest of his armor is pulled off and tossed aside, piece by piece. Cam even strips the chainmail off of him and dumps it on the ground. This leaves Luther in his shirt and breeches, shaking like a leaf and terrified for his life.

“Oh, you cold? Here, I gotcha.” Cam sandwiches him between his hands. Luther awaits the pressure and the horrible crunch that will no doubt be the end of his short life, but it never comes. Cam just holds him there, and truth be told his hands are very warm, and it had been a chilly morning. Luther relaxes very slightly.

After a few minutes, Cam lifts one hand a little and peeks at Luther. “Better?"

"Much better, thank you. Even a little too warm, actually? Can I, um, come out now?"

Cam laughs and opens his hands like a book, then tilts them so Luther tumbles into the palm of his left hand. "So what’s a fancy little shrimp like you doing all the way out here, with that tough shell and those sharp weapons? You huntin’ something?"

Luther hesitates. It’s not… technically a lie, just an omission of truth, right? "Yeees…. Hunting.”

Cam laughs out loud, leaning back and slapping his knee with his free hand. “HA! You are just about the worst liar I ever met, Luther. Whew.” He actually wipes a tear from his eye. Luther feels his face heating up with anger and embarrassment.

“I am hunting! I’m hunting you!” As soon as he says it he regrets it. He slaps his hands over his mouth and cowers back as Cam sits up straight again and looks down at him, raising an eyebrow.

“That so? Huh. Well, you found me, oh mighty hunter. And you fed me, and let me take your armor off you, and left all your sharp things on the ground while you sit in the palm of my hand. So, uh… how’s that goin’ for ya?”

“It… I… um… please don’t kill me?”

Cam grins. It’s not a nice grin anymore. It shows off too many teeth. “Lotsa folks have hunted me, you know. Not a one has succeeded. Most of ‘em can’t find me in the first place, not unless I want them to. Neat little trick we ogres have. We blend in well. The ones who did find me, they regretted it pretty quick. When I heard you clanking along with your silly armor and your little sword, I thought oh boy, here comes another one. But it turns out this one couldn’t find his own ass with both hands and a map, so he ain’t one of them legendary monster hunters lookin’ to claim some bounty. And he’s a little scrawny slip of a thing, too, and he keeps stopping to look at birds. I kinda liked you. And honestly, when you found me, it took me by surprise. Thought I had you pegged all wrong. Then you made your little fire, curled up next to me, and went to sleep, and it took everything I had not to bust my gut laughing right then and there. And now… well, I don’t rightly know what to make of you. Cute little thing, I know that. But cute won’t save you if you wanna tussle with me. So, little hunter… what’re you gonna do now?”

Luther’s nearly in tears. He manages to say, “Then… were you just… toying with me? This whole time? Waiting to see what I’d do?"

Cam shrugs. "Pretty much.” That does it. The waterworks are in full swing. Luther’s chin trembles, his lower lip wobbles, and then tears are streaming down his face and he’s sobbing.

“Y- you’re s-so-ho meeeaaaan,” Luther wails. “Y-you’re j-just making f-fun of me, I thought w-we were friends!”

Cam has absolutely no idea how to respond to this. For some reason he actually feels guilty. “Aw - no - now look, there’s no call for - just… just stop crying, okay? Please?” Luther continues to sob, heedless of Cam’s pleading. “There, there,” Cam tries, patting Luther’s head. “I’m not going to kill you. Okay? How’s that? I’m sorry I called you - well. All those things. I’m sure you’re a great hunter. Look, you got those squirrels. And hey! That one I ate tasted great. You got some real skill there."

Luther wipes his eyes and looks up, teetering dangerously on the edge of another sobbing fit. His eyes are all watery and a little red-rimmed. "R-really?"

"Yes! Of course!” Cam clings to the compliment like a life preserver. “I bet you’re like, like the king’s cook or something, right? Cause you’re the best in the land?"

Luther’s face crumples a little and he looks down, mutters something.

"What?” Cam holds him up a little closer to his ear.

“’m his son,” Luther mumbles again.

“His son? You’re a prince? And you’re all - oh, hell.” Now he’s really put his foot in it. Luther bursts into tears again and curls up in a little ball.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I - oh, ugh, you’re getting my hand all wet.” Cam picks him up between thumb and forefinger and shakes the little tear droplets off his palm. “Now look here,” he says, attempting a sterner approach. “You’re a prince, all right? You can’t be crying and going to pieces just ‘cause some big bad monster was mean to you. You gotta kill big bad monsters, right? So here’s what you’re gonna do.” Cam sets him down gently, picks up his sword and hands it to him. “There you go. You’re gonna take that sword, right, and you’re gonna really let me have it. That’ll make you feel better, won’t it?“

Luther purses his lips and looks up at him. "But… all I can hit from here is your foot. That’s no good. I need a shot at something vital."

"Oh fine, fine, Mr. Picky,” Cam grumbles. He shuffles his legs to the side and leans down til he’s practically laying on his belly. “Face shot. Free one for ya. Go on, hit something good.” Luther considers. Just as Cam realizes how ridiculous this whole thing is, he draws his sword back and plunges it into Cam’s eye.

- Almost plunges it into Cam’s eye. The ogre moves suddenly, turning his head to the side to avoid the blow. Luther makes a deep gash in Cam’s cheek, and Cam roars. “Oh, you sly little shit. Very good, very sneaky. You almost had me there. Fine. We do this the hard way.”

He gets to his feet, draws himself up to his full, impressive height, and looks down at the dirt where Luther was a moment ago. Cam blinks in surprise. “Where’d you… goddammit…” He looks around, trying to catch a glimpse of where Luther could’ve gotten to.

Luther was not about to let the golden opportunity to run and hide during a big dramatic show of power go to waste. He slides into a patch of underbrush, catches his breath, and takes stock. He has no armor, no food, no bow or arrows. Those are all back at his camp, which is currently ogre territory. He has one sword that he’s okay at using. The ogre has the homefield advantage, and some kind of ability, possibly magical, to hide himself from those who want to find him. Luther shouldn’t let him out of his sight. But he should work on camouflaging himself. He takes a handful of dirt and smears it on his face and shirt. The sword he can’t do much about, he’ll just have to try and keep it from glinting. He glances to his left, away from where Cam still stands, turning in circles and peering around. Luther had only gone a little ways into the woods before he stopped for camp last night. He can almost see the forest’s edge from here. He could dart for the grasslands and try to make it back to the village, but he’d be in plain sight as soon as he’s out of the trees and there’s no guarantee Cam won’t just follow him all the way back. The further he goes into the trees the more firmly he is in Cam’s territory, but the more coverage he has.

Possibilities begin swirling around in his head. His best bet is trickery rather than a face to face confrontation. He’s got a running list in his mind of Cam’s weak points now. Food, monologuing, emotional outbursts. Although that last one’s probably off the table now. Bursting into tears isn’t going to get him out of a second pinch. Bad knees - if he can trip Cam up, he can get a shot at his face again, maybe cut his throat or get at his soft belly and sides. Cam’s a talker and likes to gloat, maybe if he gets him distracted by looking pathetic he could get him to walk right into a trap of some kind. He likes food… but Luther doesn’t have the resources to make a big feast to distract him or sate him, just a pouchful of seasoning that he never leaves home without. His lip wobbles again as he thinks about how that’s back at his camp… he may never see his precious seasonings again.

Meanwhile, Cam is getting frustrated. “Well, the little shit can’t have gone far,” he grumbles. “Just gotta flush 'im out.” Luther watches, petrified, as Cam lumbers over to a nearby patch of underbrush and without warning stomps down on it hard, twisting his foot and smashing every inch of it. He steps back and leans down to inspect what’s left. Luther bites his lip hard to stifle a whimper.

“Nope, not there,” Cam announces. “Eeney, meeney, miney…..” Another bunch of bushes are mercilessly ground into the dirt. “Moe. Hmmm. Where are you?”

Luther can’t stay in his hiding place for long. It’s only a matter of time before Cam gets to him. He needs an opening to make a break for it though, if he runs now Cam will spot him right away. As slowly as he dares, he picks up a large, flat rock, then skims it like a frisbee off to his right, where it hits a tree with a satisfying thock. Cam whirls around, and Luther bolts out of the brush. Cam hears the leaves rustling and turns back around, catching sight of him as he flees.

“There you are! Hold on now, don’t go running off! I just wanna talk, I swear. The whole monster-slaying prince thing not working out for ya? I got a better job offer! You can be my dinner!” Luther keeps sprinting as fast as he can, not even bothering to glance behind him. The last thing he needs is to miss a fallen branch or a groundhog hole and trip.

On flat, open land, the ogre would outpace him easily. But if he can get deeper into the forest where the trees are closer together, that could slow him down enough for Luther to get some distance and hide again, have a moment to breathe and think so he can work on his plan. He’s starting to get an idea of what he’ll need. He needs the element of surprise for sure, and he needs more than just his sword. If he had some rope he could set up a tripwire, maybe. He curses himself for not taking his father’s advice about packing, for letting Cam strip him, for being too weak and scared to do anything when he had the chance, for being born in the first place. His eyes well up with tears and he scrubs at them furiously. He can’t afford to have his sight blurred right now, he needs to keep his head clear and keep moving. He can hear Cam’s thudding footsteps behind him, gaining quickly. He can cover so much more ground in a single step. It’s simply not fair. The little bit of distance he was able to gain with his rock trick is disappearing fast and it won’t be long before he’s in arm’s reach.

Almost as if he can read his thoughts, Cam lunges forward and takes a swipe at him, trying to knock him off his feet. Luther hits the deck and Cam overbalances, stumbling and crashing into a tree. The tree snaps when his weight collides with it, and Cam has to windmill his arms to keep from falling over. Luther scrambles to his feet and keeps running. He even manages to put on an extra burst of speed when he hears Cam roar with frustration behind him. He’s not as fast as he could be because he’s lugging the sword along with him, but he doesn’t dare drop it. It proves its usefulness in the next minute. Cam closes the distance and grabs for him. Luther sees the shadow fall over him and whirls around, lashing out at the reaching hand. He slices across Cam’s palm, and Cam howls with pain and pulls back. Luther dashes away, and Cam stomps his foot in frustration.

"Hold still, dammit! You’re just making it worse for yourself!” He takes off after Luther again, but his stamina’s flagging. It’s harder for a creature his size to haul himself around and he’s used to running down his prey in the first minutes of the chase. This has dragged on long enough to tire him out, but he’s not willing to give up just yet. “When I get my hands on you, tin man, you’re paste,” he growls. “They’re gonna have to come up with new words for how dead you’re gonna be.”

The trees start getting close enough together that Luther has to dodge around them from time to time. He can hear Cam behind him crashing through them, spluttering as he gets a face full of branches and leaves. Luther smiles to himself. That’s nice, at least. At last he gathers up his nerve and dodges to the side behind a particularly large tree, hoping that Cam’s too busy navigating the foliage to notice. His gamble pays off. A few seconds later, the ogre goes lumbering past him without so much as a sideways glance. Luther waits just a moment more, then bolts in the opposite direction.

He’s got a plan now. He probably won’t be able to find Cam again, but Cam can find him. So he’ll set up an ambush. He circles back around to his camp and grabs his supplies as quickly as he can, his bow and arrow, his helmet, his tinderbox, and most importantly, his seasoning. He hunts for deer, takes down a decent-sized buck, and sets up a new campfire, deep in the woods, where the trees are close. He’s hoping that Cam will think that Luther thinks he’s safe in there, and that the smell of the meat cooking will lure Cam in. He takes off his shirt and fills it with twigs and leaves, sets his helmet up on a stick driven into the ground, and makes a decently convincing decoy Luther that he leans against a log. The helmet tilts at an angle that makes it look like he’s fallen asleep. With that set up, and night closing in, Luther climbs up a nearby tree and waits, sword in hand.

He doesn’t watch the fire. He wants to keep his night vision sharp. And sure enough, before too long here comes Cam, moving surprisingly quietly for his size. He squeezes through the trees with barely a rustling of leaves. Cam’s eyes are fixed on the fire and the silhouette that the decoy makes against it. Cam gets right behind the decoy and slams his foot down on it. He grinds it into the dirt with a relish that makes Luther shudder. Then Cam looks at the deer cooking with that lovely smell rising off it, and his eyes go big and shiny. As Cam bends down to pick it up, Luther chooses his moment. He drops like a stone and buries his sword lengthwise in the back of Cam’s neck. The impact sends a jolt up his arms and he hangs on as tight as he can. Cam lets out a garbled scream of pain and collapses face first on the ground. Luther gets to his feet, pulls his sword out with some difficulty, takes a deep breath, and begins to chop.

It’s messy, horrible work. By the third swing tears are rolling down Luther’s cheeks. By the seventh, he’s sobbing. After the twenty-third cut, Cam’s head is finally severed, and rolls to the side. Luther stumbles back. He’s trembling, covered in blood, panting and crying, but it’s finally done.

And then Cam’s head says, “Wow, kid. I didn’t think you had it in you.” Luther watches, dumbfounded, as Cam’s body sits up, searches around with its hands, locates his head, and puts it back on his shoulders as the flesh knits together again. Luther drops his sword in disbelief. He falls to his knees. That was it. That was all he had. He can’t even imagine what he could do against a foe who can just reattach his own head.

“Oh,” he says quietly. “Okay. Um. Make it quick, please?” Cam had been planning to crunch the little shit once he was back on his feet, but he can’t help but feel a pang of guilt at how despondent Luther looks.

“Aw, no, no, don’t give up so quick! Really, you almost had me!” Cam scoops him up and pats him on the head. “Look, it was a good effort. I’m sure if you had known I can’t be killed, you wouldn’t have spent all that time and energy trying to kill me. Just do a little more research next time, yeah?"

"Next time,” Luther repeats, and gives a hollow laugh. “There isn’t going to be a next time. I’m not welcome as part of the royal family if I can’t kill a monster. Even my sister’s done her first slaying already. A whole nest of vampires! And I can’t kill one measly ogre."

"Hey, watch who you’re calling measly,” Cam warns, but his heart isn’t in it. “Jeez. You’ve got some issues, kid. Not much of a fighter, I take it?"

Luther shakes his head and sighs. "I’m just not very good at it."

"Well they chose one hell of a first mission for you, that’s for sure. Ogres are tricky ones. We’ve got a lot of defense mechanisms.” Cam thinks for a moment. “You know what you are good at, though? You’re a good talker. Very convincing. I mean, you really had me going, with the crying and all? It was a really good ruse."

Luther bites his lip. "Um…"

"Okay, so it was for real and not a ruse. But you made the best of a bad situation! That’s also a good skill for a ruler to have. You just gotta show your family that your skills are less conventional, but still effective! Like, okay, why do you have to kill me? What’d I do?"

“You’re eating all the farmers’ cattle and scaring people."

"I thought free range meant I had free reign. Eh? Eh?” Cam pokes Luther in the ribs. Luther frowns at him. “Oh, fine, whatever. No sense of humor. You know, that’s pretty important for a king too. Yeah, all right, I’ll leave the cows alone."

"And the sheep,” Luther says sharply. “And the pigs, and chickens."

"I haven’t eaten any pigs or chickens,” Cam protests.

“Not yet. I’m being proactive."

"There you go!” Cam says, beaming. “There’s that negotiator skill! But seriously, if I can’t eat the cows and sheep I’ve got to eat something. Can you make it worth my while? 'Cause I’m not going back to squirrels."

"Well…” Luther says slowly. “What if… I hire you?"

"You… hire me?"

"Yeah. Like, as a bodyguard or something. Then I’d have to pay you, right? I could pay you in food?”

Cam is quiet for a moment. He brings Luther up closer to his face and scrutinizes him. Luther’s heart is pounding out of his chest. For a moment he thinks he’s made some horrible mistake and offended Cam and it’s all over for him. "You’re serious? Not kidding me, here? That’s your offer?”

“Y-yes? Is that… is it bad?"

"Bad? Bad? That’s the best offer I’ve ever heard! Pay me in food? HELL yes, kid! That’s what I like to hear!” The force of Cam’s enthusiasm knocks Luther over on his back. He stares at the sky for a moment. His life is so goddamn weird.

~~~~~~~~~

Luther’s father’s dragon slaying days are behind him. He’s an old man now. He has good days and bad days, but even on his best days he frequently needs help getting around. But when he sees that giant ogre enter his royal halls, he reaches for his spear. Luther eases it out of his hand.

“No, see, it’s okay. I didn’t kill him, but I stopped him terrorizing the countryside, and I kind of… hired him. As my bodyguard. This was easier, and we both benefit, see? Also, um, were you going to tell me ogres are immortal?"

"You were supposed to figure something out,” his father says. “Since you’re so damned smart."

"Well, I did figure something out. Just… maybe not what you wanted me to."

Cam waves lazily. "Hi, Yer Majesty."

"Cam,” Luther hisses. “We talked about this."

"Oh, fine, fine,” Cam grumbles, and takes a knee to bow low before the king. “I humbly pledge my service to your son,” he intones, hamming it up just a little. “Please allow me to protect him from all harms, and so on."

The king glares. His stabbing hand is itching. But he doesn’t currently have a better plan, and this’ll keep the peasants quiet for a bit. "Fine,” he spits, “But you’re taking care of him. Feeding him, walking him, cleaning up after him, whatever. No getting the servants to do it for you. He’s your responsibility now."

Cam grins at Luther. "So, speaking of feeding… when’s dinner?”

#art #writing #giant tiny #g/t #cam and luther #fairy tale au #to be more specific re: content warnings there is a beheading but he gets better so it's okay #tiny knights are very important to me as u can clearly see #there's just something about. someone who is sworn to protect others going up against a force so much larger than themselves #EDIT mobile hates readmores sorry if u get a three mile long post on yr dash :(

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thekytchensynk · 4 years ago

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Eiko RPFs Her Way Through Demon World Chapter 4

In chapter 4, Eiko ... or rather Beeko ... has to deal with a terrible dragon. Read it on AO3 here. Beeko was sitting in class one day, staring out the window as the teacher droned on and on about some old war. She didn’t care about the war. She didn’t care about history at the best of times. This had to be her least favorite class on her entire schedule. But it was worse today. Because today was the sixth day since Irudo had stopped coming to school.

Sure, two of those days had been the weekend. She’d first noticed it the last day of last school week -- that Irudo didn’t show up and she didn’t get to see his smile, which always brightened her day. She assumed he just had something come up -- maybe he went into his wicked phase or something? But after the weekend he kept not showing up. And now, six days later, she was starting to think something truly serious had happened.

She’d asked everyone, but no one had any idea where he might be. She resolved that today, after school, she’d travel to the home he shared with his grandfather and would definitely knock on the door and ask to talk to him. Because she was worried, they all were, and…

She got distracted as a small, fuzzy creature came winging unsteadily across the courtyard. It bobbled on the breeze, looking cute on its stubby wings, but Beeko got a feeling of foreboding looking at it. Where had she seen it before?

Oh! She remembered now! It was Professor Kaletos, in the form Irudo had temporarily turned him into. But he looked unsteady on his wings, and she thought she could see blood. If he was in that form, Irudo had to be nearby right? He had said when she found out his secret that the change was only temporary.

She jumped to her feet and ran out of the classroom, ignoring the teacher shouting after her and the hubbub of the classroom.

She got outside just as the transformed teacher landed with a thump on a bush out front. Carefully she scooped him up, disentangling him from the shrub. “Professor, are you OK?” she asked.

“Do I look OK!” the creature squeaked in an adorable voice, unlike the cold tone she was used to hearing from him in his demon form. “I need help. I have been cursed to stay in this form by a dragon and I need help to defeat it. And since only you and Irudo know the secret and he’s been caught by the dragon, you need to go free him, right now!”

The teacher was just as demanding in bat form as he was in demon form. But there wasn’t time to worry about it. “A dragon?” she asked.

“Yes, and since I cannot let anyone, especially teachers, see me, you need to defeat it to let me turn back to normal.”

It wasn’t very polite, but she found herself saying, “Nevermind you, what about Irudo.”

“This is all his fault,” the teacher squeaked. “The dragon wanted to add him to its hoard. And when I went to see why he hadn’t come to school lately. But I suppose defeating the dragon will also release him from its clutches.”

She set him back in the bush. Well, that was all there was to it then. Except that Beeko wasn’t sure she had the power to defeat an angry dragon. The teacher might not want anyone else to see him in that state, but she would need help to face a dragon. But who? Her friends were all smart and good at magic and very pretty, but she wasn’t sure they were ready to fight a dragon. He said no teachers. Maybe one of Irudo’s friends? There was that pretty Zazmodean demon who’d been hanging around him too, but he hadn’t been at school for a couple days either. Who else? Rumor was that a guy named Labrock had fought a massive monster already with Irudo. Maybe him?

She went to his classroom and barged in.

“Young demon, this is unacceptable!” the teacher scolded, but she went straight to where Labrock sat and leaned close. “Can you please help? Irudo is in danger!”

He stood up immediately and followed her out of the classroom. Behind them, she heard the class go “oooooh!” clearly getting the wrong idea about what was happening. But both she and Labrock ignored them. They had more important things to worry about.

“Tell me more about the danger!” he demanded.

So she told him what she knew, which was not a lot, as they walked back to where the teacher still perched in the bush. She heard him shout her name angrily as she approached, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her either. He might not like her getting help, but at least she hadn’t let another teacher see him like this.

“We needed help. Tell us where to go to stop the dragon.”

The teacher scowled as best he could as a bat. Then he said, “Go to Zazmodean’s house.”

As Beeko scooped the bat creature up, the two students headed for the front gate, Beeko practically jogging to keep up with Labrock’s long strides. “Zazmodean’s house,” Labrock said. “He has been absent lately as well. I wonder if the creature has imprisoned them both.”

Beeko didn’t really care. If they could help the other student too, that was all well and good. But frankly, she didn’t like him all that much. He looked cool, sure, and he was very talented. But he also looked at everyone who crossed his path with disdain. The only exception was-

“Hey, Labrock?”

“Yes?”

“Do you think Zazmodean could have something to do with the dragon? I mean, it’s at his house. And he has been acting weird lately.”

“Has he? I have never paid attention to him.”

“Yeah.” she marveled at how easy he was to talk to. It was like having a big brother. He seemed so scary, but it was reassuring to have him with her. “I guess maybe it’s silly.”

As they approached the house -- a dark and brooding castle-like structure set deep in a dark wood -- an unnatural silence settled around them. It seemed something had scared off all the birds and hellbeasts and other monsters. She guessed a dragon could do that.

The front gate was made out of wrought iron, formed in intricate curlicue loops and swirls. A heavy lock firmly kept the pair from walking in.

“What should we do?” she asked. “We-”

But Labrock wasn’t listening, he was concentrating. A moment later, a huge sword appeared in his hands and he sliced cleanly down the crack between the two gates, shearing the lock into a pile of messy bits. He looked in satisfaction at his handiwork, then over at her. At seeing her surprised expression, he asked, “We wanted to get there as quickly as possible, correct?”

“Oh, definitely,” she said, nodding her head. “Thank you! Let’s go.”

They walked up the broad pathway leading to the front of the house. But they had only gotten a few steps when the heard the heavy whumph of massive wings and a long, serpentine dragon landed in front of them, glittering eyes glaring down at them.

“Who dares trespass on my domain?” it demanded of them.

“We’re looking for Irudo!” Beeko shouted up at it. She felt so very small before this gigantic creature.

It growled deep in its throat. “Leave here.I have nothing to give you or discuss with you.”

With a shout, Labrock launched himself at the dragon. The sword he had created to take care of the gate remained in his hands and he swung it overhead in a massive, powerful arc. He was also very small compared to the dragon, but his jump was mighty and he cut the creature across the center of its chest. The dragon let out a roar then breathed fire at Labrock as he landed. He dodged the flames, but his clothes got a bit singed.

“We need a plan!” Beeko shouted, releasing the processor into the air so he could move to safety.

“The plan is to defeat it!” Labrock shouted back, launching another attack. He damaged the dragon again, but the creature guessed his movement this time and he took a full blast of fire. He landed much harder this time, smoke trailing off his hair and clothes.

“That’s not a plan that’s just a goal!” she shouted back. But what was she going to do? Labrock was strong and could make weapons, and she’d come here in her school uniform and completely unarmed. What could she possibly bring to this terrible fight?

But oni weren’t known to give up. There had to be something. Like … the dragon was breathing fire, right? And the opposite of fire was…

Shouting an incantation, she made a bread gesture just as the dragon opened its mouth to breathe fire at Labrock again. A deluge of water doused the creature, some of it going down the monster’s throat. It let out a loud cough, a smoke cloud escaping between its teeth.

“Aha! Excellent idea!” Labrock shouted, and he did the same thing as she did. The dragon was getting totally drenched now, and was retreating a little bit before the onslaught.

“Fools!” it shouted at them. “This can’t stop me!”

“It can annoy you!” Beeko shouted at it. “Until you leave us alone!”

As she shouted that, the door to the house opened and Irudo stepped out. “Finally you’re distracted again!” he shouted as he made a gesture toward their battlefield.

The dragon turned toward him, water dripping off it, and said, “Did you forget? That ability won’t work on me. My magic will just warp it and redirect it again! Your friends-”

“Are fine!” he shouted with confidence. He looked tired and his clothes were dirty -- had he been stuck in the same school uniform since he disappeared? -- but he also looked happy and defiant as the wind from the dragon’s wings whipped his hair around. “Because I didn’t target you!”

It was then that Beeko noticed the dragon seemed smaller. Much smaller.. It was almost the same size as her now. And the house too -- it looked very small. And Irudo and Labrock dwindled away below her. She was … she was ...

If the person I change is helping me, it can make them bigger, stronger.

His special ability!

She was bigger than the dragon now, and she stepped forward into the middle of the front yard, bringing one hand around with all the speed and force she could muster. Her palm collided with the dragon with a force she’d never felt before, lifting it off its feet. It tried to open its wings, but the force of the blow was just too much and it went sailing off over the treetops, tumbling end over end until it disappeared. A second later they heard the crash of its landing.

“Hurry!” Irudo said. She could just barely hear him from her great height. He ran over to help Labrock and the trio began walking back toward school. Beeko had to move very carefully because she was so tall and her feet were stepping on a lot of plants and things with every step.

On their way back, the professor met them. He was in demon form once more, but looked very confused. When he saw the students, he asked why they were out of school in the middle of the day.

“You came to find help, remember?” she asked him, realizing that she was shrinking back down again. The magic must have worn off after a few minutes.

“I did no such thing,” he said, but there wasn’t conviction in his voice. She guessed that however the dragon had warped Irudo’s magic, it kept him from remembering what happened. A good protective ability. At least once he realized Irudo was with them, he backed off. It seemed he still remembered what had happened the first time their paths had crossed.

Beeko got a scolding when she got back, and she knew Labrock had as well, but they both felt like it was worth it. They had saved Irudo, and the dragon was gone, and by the next day, everything had gone back to normal. Except that during lunch that day, from his spot sitting with Zazmodean (who had also come back to school) he had shot her a secret, grateful smile when no one else was looking.

~~~~~

There. Eiko considered this ending, trying to figure out if she was truly finished, but this story had done what she needed it to. If Labrock was going to intrude on her daydreams, then she would just have to integrate him as a force on her side, instead of replacing her. Maybe with this her brain would stop being fixated on him crashing her fantasies!

Though there was one other person crashing her fantasies in real life. After all, if he wasn’t so intimidating, then she could totally work up the courage to talk to the real Iruma, right? Frowning, she bent over the paper again.

~~~~~

But the one thing Beeko didn’t notice was how Zazmodean also shot her a secret look. But this one didn’t have gratitude, it had daggers. It was the look of someone angry. And someone plotting.

~~~~~

She felt a tiny little bit bad. Asmodeus didn’t seem like a totally bad demon, not really. He was standoffish and haughty, but he also seemed very gallant a times, and never seemed to go out of his way to be mean to anyone specific. But she couldn’t help it. After her conversation about lunch the other day, she couldn’t help but see him as intimidating and mean. Yeah, without him -- or even if he just gave Iruma some space -- she would definitely have thanked her hero and asked him to eat lunch with her already. That had to be the thing keeping her from making her move. And then there had been after school yesterday...

“Hellooooo. Are you coming to school or what?”

The voice, sounding far far too close for comfort, made Eiko jump and slam her notebook shut guiltily. Looking over toward the door, she found Gaako standing there, waiting for her.

“Eiko, you OK? You were spacing out! I knocked like three times and you didn’t answer.” Gaako stayed over in the doorway, perhaps sensing that Eiko was really embarrassed to have been caught at her writing.

“Um.. sorry,” Eiko said, hopping to her feet and sliding the notebook under her pencil box. She grabbed her books and hurried over to the door.

“Finishing some homework?” Gaako asked.

“Not exactly.” She hesitated. Part of her was almost ready to tell Gaako what she was actually doing. It would feel good, not to have this as some weird, dark secret that she had to keep shoving under stuff in her room the moment anyone came near. But … was it weird? Would Gaako think she was weird? A lot of people would, definitely. But her?

Well. Maybe another day.

As the pair got outside and took to the skies to fly to school, Eiko said, “Sooo …. You were right.”

“Of course I was,” Gaako giggled. “But about what? This time?”

“I kinda like Iruma…”

“No offense, but we all know that.”

“Wh- all? Who all?”

“Like … anyone with eyes?” Gaako said, amused but gentle. “Come on. Whenever they have the whole school in one place, you’re always looking for him. Sometimes you even ask if anyone else sees him. I didn’t think you were trying to be subtle.”

“Ah. I didn’t know anyone noticed.”

“We noticed.” she reached over, poking Eiko in the shoulder with one claw. “So? Are you going to talk to him?”

“I want to!”

“But?”

“You know why I can’t.”

Gaako laughed. “Is it still Asmodeus?”

“Yeeeah.” Turning in the air, Eiko pleaded with her friend. “You don’t understand. It’s not just about lunch. It’s all the time.” She’d tried, after school the day before, to go find Iruma. She didn’t even want to ask him out really, not yet. She just wanted to thank him for saving her on that first day. And every day that passed between that event and her eventually thanking him made it feel more and more awkward. So she really needed to get to it, before it became an entire thing .

But Asmodeus stood between her and that goal like … like a dragon, jealous and protective. As she’d approached down the school hallway, he’d whipped around, eyes narrowed, so quickly that on instinct she’d hopped back out of sight, hiding from that fiery gaze.

“I just don’t know how to get close enough to tell him thank you for that first day. Do you have any suggestions?”

“You just have to do it,” Gaako said simply.

“It’s not that easy!”

“Who said it was easy?” Gaako swooped around beneath her to the other side. “But aren’t you a demon? Come on.” She grinned. “You just have to be brave and march up right past him. Be so confident that he can’t stop you.”

“I don’t know-”

“You do know, you just need to build up to it. Come on. Let’s hurry or we’ll be late.”

Up ahead, the bell chimed, letting them know that they were going to be cutting it dangerously close. As they sped up, Eiko decided that Gaako was right. She just needed to be brave. Live up to her name.

Today, she would totally talk to him. Nothing was going to stop her this time!

#mairimashita! iruma kun #fanfic #eiko oni #suzuki iruma #sabnock #asmodeus alice

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halothenthehorns · 3 years ago

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All in the Family

Chapter 68: Mayhem at the Ministry

They landed in yet another office, though to call it such was a bit grand. More like a cubicle that was waiting on an upgrade. There was paperwork set up in neat, alphabetical files along the desk that was hardly wider than the chair beneath it, and yet still seemed to find room for the inkpot. A nameplate was the only thing out of place, only the first few letters visible and the rest obscured by a picture of the Weasley family.

The eight of them had been crammed in tighter quarters, but it wasn't fun to have no elbow room in the minuscule space, nor particularly enjoyable to scavenge for the book. It was at the bottom of a stack of papers with freshly signed ink from Crouch over an import of a sphynx that seemed forgotten, the large majority of everything current was complaints and requests for reimbursements of their damaged property from that catastrophe of a Cup.

Remus accidentally tipped it all to the floor as he tried to dig the book out, then winced and muttered an apology to no one here. Potter forced a laugh no one acknowledged as Remus began Mayhem at the Ministry, eyes flickering to the floor once more and mentally agreeing.

Lily shifted uneasily in sympathy as Mr. Roberts gave the improper goodbye upon Harry's group leaving, well aware that could have so easily been her or her family under other circumstances. On pure instinct, her mind flickered to the thought Sev would never let that happen to her, but then she shifted even more uncomfortably as she wondered how true that was. Considering the lot he'd been hanging around so much lately...

The Weasleys made their way home with much a'fuss from their mother, then Harry slipped off to Ron's room and spent some time worrying about Sirius Black not having replied yet. The present Marauders, all four of them she checked, looked surprised and even concerned at this news. Even Regulus Black could be visibly seen biting the inside of his cheek, and Frank and Alice exchanged a bewildered look the man wasn't keeping in better contact with his godson after the news Harry had delivered; still all Lily could think of was her absent friend.

How long had they been missing? Was he worried at all about her? What would she say to him when she saw him again? She tried hard not to look accusingly at Lupin as the last conversation they'd had simmered in the back of her mind.

"...thought we were supposed to be friends?" Snape was saying, "Best friends?"

"We are, Sev, but I don't like some of the people you're hanging round with! I'm sorry, but I detest Avery and Mulciber! Mulciber! What do you see in him, Sev, he's creepy! D'you know what he tried to do to Mary Macdonald the other day?"

Lily had reached a pillar and leaned against it, looking up into the thin, sallow face.

"That was nothing," said Snape. "It was a laugh, that's all."

All his throwaway comments, all his pestering and assumptions about what the Marauders got up to, and he'd been right all along. Would she tell him? Was it not fair to admit to him he'd been right all along, they were up to something in school?

Lupin had very nearly killed them, true, but they’d also been locked in a cage with him and he had done everything to stop Black in the meantime from hurting Pettigrew just now. She knew, the whole school knew Severus had done something involving that tree and some monster in its roots because Dumbledore himself had gotten involved and forbidden he speak of the events, to protect Lupin she now knew. Sev followed them all over the school, had apparently followed them down there one night because he could never leave them alone, trying to get them caught and thrown out. Who did that make in the wrong, the illegal animagus’s playing around the werewolf, or her nosy friend for getting involved?

She remembered all the way back now, to Snape’s Grudge and him recounting an event of Potter playing some nasty trick to nearly get him killed. She’d thought that simply hadn’t happened yet, but as protectively as James Potter had defended Sirius Black as well as Remus Lupin through all of this, never leaving a moment of doubt as he stood between his friends and them, it seemed a ludicrous notion he’d do such a thing as get Severus involved in their private affairs when he’d never even bragged to her about his masterful transfiguration work of nearly getting eaten alive once a month via a deer.

He’d done nothing to pull Pettigrew back into the folds of whatever argument they were having though. This future was a complete mess, he was apparently dead because of that friend, a deed he was being punished for but still not scorned away from? He’d held Black back rather than joining in with his son nearly being presumed dead under that mark. What was the line he’d cross? Had Severus made one too many theories and cracks and Potter had tried to teach Lupin a lesson, or were their secrets, their friendship still more to him?

She knew now, even more than her best friend, the insides of their group. Yet it still gave her no better idea of who was in the right in their constant fights. Pettigrew still had dried blood on his face and was avoiding looking at any of his so-called friends, Potter was standing slightly apart from his other two friends with a miserable look on his face and gazing up at the ceiling without taking in a word of what the Ministry was going through any more than her.

Even the Weasley family's inner squabble about some writer giving Arthur some bad light and Percy defending his boss over his father wasn't really holding her attention, she had her own misgiving feelings to worry about.

Regulus, on the other hand, couldn't help but stare on in fascination as Lupin's derivative voice spoke for Percy made his feelings clear. He would have thought Sirius more than anyone would be sticking up for Percy, but he was hissing his displeasure as well into Lupin's ear apparently and had stopped prodding along the edges of his own bloodied nose. Considering the blood traitors he still sort of thought them to be, he'd been under the slight impression from what he'd seen of their family they were all very close, this was an odd perspective to see their inner quarrelings were no different than his family's.

"Dress robes? Of all the silly things for the school to add?" Alice giggled a bit and squeezed Frank's hand. He startled a bit and dragged his attention to her from his own thoughts, but then admitted sheepishly he hadn't caught what she said.

"What's the matter?" She asked as Ron began complaining to his mother for the pair he got. They did sound a bit old fashioned.

He hesitated for a moment but didn't bother lying to her, sharing his impending worry. "I'm ah, wondering what Harry's going to encounter at school this year is all. Something's obviously building up to happen, again."

She wanted to laugh that having to dress up had him so worried, but Lupin gave them the warning the chapter was about to end before she could respond, and she winced a bit at the parting lines showing more discourse running in the Burrow as Ron lamented his poor state again. She gazed once more about the office, eyes lingering on the Weasley family photo on the desk. She couldn't help but mentally agree her boyfriend was probably right to be worried at this rate.

HPHPHP

Your input is important to me, every single person reading this, so if there's someone's point of view you'd like to see more of feel free to let me know.

#Harry Potter #fanfiction #Marauders #GoF #reading the books #Wolfstar #Jilly #Regulus Black #Remus Lupin #Sirius Black #James Potter #Alice Smith #Frank Longbottom #Lily Evans #Peter Pettigrew

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sanchoyo · 3 years ago

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danny phantom, season 3, episodes 7-13 thoughts! cannot believe im finishing this series so fast. ...cannot believe it ended like that...uh. one of the weirdest finales to a show I think I've seen, it really stood out against the rest of the series, and not in a good way, in my opinion. I paused to yell in caps lock...several times, I think, out of anger... BUT. ANYWAY, HERE WE GO.

see prev episode thoughts in this tag <3

-the fentons putting the kids to Work in the lab, with NO SAFETY GEAR. AT ALL. THEY JUST GOT BACK FROM SCHOOL AND ARE TIRED!!! and when jack asked how danny his day was and danny tried to say it was bad jack cut him off :( for the 400th time, i am stealing these kids.

-maddie and jack IMMEDIATELY SELLING THEIR LAB AND WORK FOR A LOT OF MONEY. and danny cant get into the portal anymore, oh no!!! he could always just steal vlads I Guess.

-THEY ARE VLADS NEW NEIGHBOR. OH MY GOD. this is a sitcom format. a butler came with the new mansion. i would absolutely try a kiwi fudge milkshake, why is the butler disgusted.

-the..guys in white bought the lab to shoot a missile. into the ghost zone thru the portal. bro i hate these guys

-jazz straight up setting her new bedroom up in the library. i am very very jealous

-"RATED E, FOR ENTRAILS"

-I like how the 14 year olds very quickly realize if the giw destroy the ghost zone itll destroy OUR ZONE because its just. like. the other side of the quarter so to speak. and the giw, a fully funded government agency, didnt consider that...(or worse, are willing to risk that anyway...)

-a...graphic novel version of the constitution? what in the world have you been READING SAM

-'cool, I always wanted to be called a meddling kid!' scooby doo reference...

-can they keep the butler. I love him.

-ecto latte....I also want to try that. is ectoplasm edible...

-YESS I KNEW DANNY WOULD USE VLAD'S PORTAL. vindicated.

-DANNY WHY DIDNT YOU JUST ASK JOHNNY NICELY. STEALING HIS BIKE IS SO SO RUDE.

-youngblood is also into astronaut stuff, thats really cute. and him being like 'phantom, dude!! :D' ALL EXCITED. THATS ADORABLE.

-the slapstick comedy of the giw slipping and falling and running into shit in the lab. is funny, but also, because this lab has NOOO safety codes in practice. god its a wonder dannys the only one to have died here...

-JOHNNY, SKULKER AND YOUNGBLOOD HELPING DANNY!!! I keep saying it but the other ghosts helping him. is my fav thing in the world. and, it's a really good thing the missile in the real world was harmless...otherwise the fentons wouldn't have had a home/lab to come back to...

-WULF WANTED POSTER!!! we havent seen wulfy in so long :( very funny the box ghost is offended by how much these ghosts are wanted for. first off, what do ghosts even DO WITH MONEY. does the ghost zone have its own currency??? what are ghosts BUYING

-the box ghost is So Funny, im so glad hes still got his bubble wrap. u are VERY wanted in THIS house box ghost. you are SO scary king. dont give up on ur dreams

-this needs to be a meme format. I made a transparent version, very very messily, for future use.

-this is a Fellow and a Friend

-box ghost accidentally bringing lunch for everyone, and giving people at the mall free shoes. SHOES ARE SO EXPENSIVE, ID BE SO GRATEFUL. helpful king. i feel SO bad for him lmao, he's putting in SO much effort. he wants the evil aesthetic So bad but hes Just Too Silly. I understand your plight, box ghost....

-oh my god. pandoras BOX. 'THOSE OF US IN THE BOX TRADE' HOW MANY ARE IN THIS BOX TRADE. I WANT IN. pandora is a multi-armed ghost goddess and i love her.

-SKULKER WHY ARE YOU RUNNING FROM THE EVIL UNICORN?? YOURE A HUNTER!! JUST SHOOT IT!!!!!!! JUST HUNT IT!!!

-box ghost...where did you get the cowboy hat. I respect it, i just want to know

-JAZZ COMING IN WITH THE BAZOOKA TO FIGHT THE 10 HEADED DRAGON!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!! and the rest of the fentons I Guess

-ignoring the sam/danny moments. I simple do not see them.

-...why doesnt danny just fly over the maze. or do the whole 'real world people act as ghosts in the ghost zone' and turn back!!! I know its just to show off the ghost greek monster designs. but STILL.

-danny being like. um. hi pandora. i found your box. >< polite...PANDORA IS SO GIANT. GIANT GHOST WOMAN. SHES GOING TO BEAT BOX GHOSTS ASS. another ghost thats nice to danny to add to the list :) and HER FORCING BOX GHOST TO APOLOGIZE. and having sandwiches with danny after making box ghost clean up. I LOVE HER.

-DANNYS 'BEWARE' AT THE END JAKHDJFKN

-okay, when dash pulled out danny's seat and was calling him buddy, for half a second I was like 'this is a prank, hes gonna pull it back' BUT THEN FRIGHT KNIGHT MY BELOVED IS BACK. AND EVERYONE STARTS CHANTING FOR DANNY TO BEAT HIS ASS WITH GHOST POWERS AND DANNY DOES WAY TOO EASILY, and im like, yup, this is a dream LMAO

-danny is getting an A+ in science :) my smart son

-DANNY WAKING UP FROM THE DREAM RIGHT BEFORE KISSING SAM AND BEING LIKE 'that was a dream...no, a NIGHTMARE!' same. not to be a hater but, shouldve been val. maybe I am a hater

-...danny running and checking the 'tapes'...why is his whole house constantly being recorded. hes been in ghost form/fights plenty of times in his house. does he have to run and wipe the tapes after?? every single time?? god

-letting this image speak for itself

-this is SO cursed

-NOCTURN'S DESIGN FUCKS SO HARD. the Venice mask vibes. also his space pattern not moving while the rest of his animation does is big chowder vibes. but this guy is basically the sandman but Evil, huh. I love dream plots. also, nocturn's design feels very similar to clockwork, like, red eyes and a scar over the same eye, but also just the purple, and the Cosmic Vibes. I want to see them fight. anyway nocturn's va was also avatar roku AND alfred in several batman cartoons.

-the 'sleepwalkers' designs were super cute in shape (kinda remind me of oogie boogie! pillow-cased shaped, which is appropriate for the 'king of dreams's minions) until I looked closer at their eyes. why do they look sewn shut!! (they open their eyes a few times, so they aren't, but they look like it...)

-I like how this show has been pretty consistent (with a few exceptions) about a Ghost Being Huge (or getting larger) = Very Powerful

-2 months of summer camping??? wtf, do camping things usually take that long?? I've never been to a camping...thing like that. but isnt that basically their entire summer??

-'the entirety of nature is your bathroom!' and thats why I do no camping despite loving nature LMAO.

-sam, at least TRY TO BE NICE TO THE OTHER GIRLS YOU'RE GOING TO BE SHARING A CABIN WITH. also, the amount of times people in this show have their SHOES ON THE BED!!! IM DISGUSTED

-swamp creature Is A Ghost. Big Foot is a Ghost. starting to think in this universe, every single cryptid or legend is a Ghost Actually

-paulina crying not only because star is missing, but because SHE FORGOT HER SUNBLOCK AND SHE BURNS SO EASILY!!!! okay girlfriends

-ghost cops are the real monsters at the camp. i.......I mean. fair. no one missed you walker

-WULF!!!!!!!!!!! WULF IS BACK!!!!!!!! MY FRIEND WULF :D MI AMAS VIN!!!!! kaj danny lernis Esperanto :)

-'relax kid, we arent here to do any harm' *immediately shoots danny* yeah. ghost cops. and also danny bringing walker 'wulf' and walker IMMEDIATELY SUCKING DANNY IN A THERMOS. FUCK OFF

-haha walker Bald. and haha walker Frozen Now

-the fenton thermos can...reverse its polarity to close portals? okay

-LIBERA MIA AMIKO. :")

-ohhh they end the ep with them star gazing, thats pretty cute...

-dani is back! ...with a new voice actress? wiki says AnnaSophia was in 3 diff movies in 2007 when this aired, so she was probably too busy... (including, bridge to terabithia aka the movie that ripped my heart out that I mentioned in the first ep Dani was in...kinda wanna rewatch it now)

-shes still scared of vlad, who's still being creepy and spying on her. 'shes hardly going to come home to daddy!' I WONDER WHY. also does vlad's cat look more evil than last time? love the concept of him going shopping for cats and being like 'give me your most EVILEST looking cat, please, so I can pet it in my spinny chair dramatically!' ...oh god white cat hair on his black suit. I have a black cat and her hair is still way too noticeable..

-vlad has a big 'valerie' button in his office. can he be pressing that button every episode, thanks

-'theres a GIRL called dani phantom?' yeah valerie. no relation, obviously, even with her looking EXACTLY like danny. so sad valerie just wants to help her dad and her get out of the place theyre in now and vlad using her. ill MAUL HIM

-dani having to STEAL FOOD. :( and valerie immediately being like oh poor kid :(( and trying to help her!!! and then dani immediately helping valerie!! this episode is starting SO well

-...and then valerie catching her. DAMN IT. and being surprised dani knew danny?? HELLO VALERIE I KNOW YOURE SMARTER THAN THIS. I AM SO SORRY THEY WROTE YOU THIS WAY. I STILL LOVE AND BELIEVE IN U !!!

-valerie lying her ASS off for a chance at gettin danny. ok <3 also 'they couldnt catch a ghost if it was living under their own roof' JSDHKJHNK

-danny. why dont you just tell valerie!! this would be so much easier if he was direct. there is NO way valerie would hurt danny (fenton) she'd be HORRIFIED. esp since she got on board helping dani!!

*is held* :)

-look at valerie and danny. flying together. about to go beat vlads ass together <333

-DANI SCREAMING AS VLAD IS MELTING HER. WHAT THE FUCCCK

-...fucking vlad convincing valerie hes a good dude with his stupid duplication. FUCK. DANNY JUST TELL H E R

-jesus christ how many times has danny had to watch loved ones die. even if she didnt stay perma-dead. glad they fixed her...

-valerie and dani pranking danny when he came out, oh :( cute...them havin fun and laughing together...babies

-BUT THEYRE JUST LETTING DANI LEAVE, AGAIN??? SHE WAS PREVIOUSLY STEALING FOOD. CHRIST GIVE HER A PLACE TO LIVE. OR A FAMILY. actually, I think it'd be really cute if, since danny isnt ready to out himself, dani went and lived with valerie?? dunno if her dad would have the money but,, it'd be a cute concept. big sis valerie...

-'tomorrow, it's game on!' 'and ill be ready to play!' THE FLIRTING....DANNY/VALERIE REAL

-oh my god,, valerie found out about vlad in the end. But he doesn’t know she knows!!! the DRAMA!!! HOLY SHIT THAT ENDING.

-this episode was. SO Much and probably one of my favorites out of s3. (I mean, there has been a gross lack of valerie this whole season, so thats not a hard choice to make...)

-FINALE EPISODE TIME.

-the title screen looks different! so no title card...

-vlad has his own fucked up satellite that looks like him?? okay. why does the animation look so different?? are they mixing cg in?? for what. anyway, vlad and the gang in SPACE. danny is 100% living his astronaut dreams rn

-'defeating frostbite' YOU BETTER NOT HAVE. YOU STOLE HIS COOL MAP. FUCK YOU VLAD

-wait oh my god. vlad is the final series boss, isn't he. I half expected a fake out, for another boss to show up midway, and for him to finally have to have a real truce with danny for this ep. ITS THE FINALE. VLAD FEELS SO UNDERWHELMING.

-And it's like-- his character isn't bad, i just feel like..he has more potential! they WANT him to seem like some smart super evil genius, but the way he's written makes that SO hard to believe...but the solid backstory and design is THERE and its FRUSTRATING.

-...DANNY CALLING VLAD OUT SAYING HE NEEDS THERAPY LMAOO THATS WHAT IVE BEEN SAYING.

-my grandpa technus is in the finale too :) 'well look on the bright side, at least im not downloading them illegally!' he says while stealing dvds. feels like hes calling me out. im watching this series on a bootleg website lmao. anyway, him turning the tech into a transformer. love that

-mASters BLASters sTOp diSAsterS shut the fuck up. you will never be valerie or danny. bite chomp kill. violence

-like this if u crie everytiem

-my god the 3d/cgi mixed in looks SO BAD IT DIDNT AGE WELL AT ALL

-the white stripe in dannys hair kinda rules tho. did he just KILL HIS GHOST HALF??? 'revert his human half back to normal' UM. you ever unkill yourself. why are his friends/jazz so mad about it, he'll be in a lot less danger!! christ. they can still hunt ghosts!! as humans!! if they want to!! hes 14 if he wanted to be normal. let him. vlads stupid little team has things COVERED apparently. why are they acting like this. jazz would never act like this. is this fake whats going ON

-oh my god jack was in a college band. vlad was also in the band. what did instruments they play. i didnt need that headline to tell me they sucked, but i want to KNOW MORE REGARDLESS

-valerie was here for 0.3 seconds.

-sam calling danny selfish. the audacity. no one is stopping YOU from hunting ghosts, girl. valerie does it!!

-I'm halfway through the episode and incredibly underwhelmed so far.

-why would they send jack and 3 teens to space to destroy the asteroid. why not professional astronauts. not even the 3 teens that have already been to space this episode...

-jack getting beat up by teenagers. ON TV. IN SPACE. I GUESS. I GUESS EVERYONE AGREED TO SEND JACK BECAUSE..VLAD SAID SO? we know it was to embarrass jack, but why would everyone agree. why didnt any other space program Do More or whatever, they sent like, 3 rockets/missiles tops?? no way

-danny attempting to punch vlad in the face. i WISH HE WOULDVE LANDED THAT HIT.

-vlad outed himself on live tv, on purpose? and BLASTED AT THE TEENAGERS HE HIRED. LMAO. HES HOLDING THE WORLD HOSTAGE, MAKING THEM PAY HIM BILLIONS TO STOP THE STUPID ASTROID. THATS YOUR GRAND PLAN??? REALLY. REALLY. im like. lmfao

-jack just now, on the last episode GETTING TOLD HE MADE VLAD A GHOST. THIS SHOULDVE HAPPENED WAY SOONER. jack's reaction was one of the only times in this entire show hes seemed human. 'an old friend? no. you? yes.' GET HIS ASSSS ACTUALLY. HE STRAIGHT UP LEFT VLAD IN SPACE. GOD DAMN. that is a Murder! I mean, I guess vlad could fly back to earth, but...I mean, he'll have to, right? no food in space. (that we KNOW of...)

-'thE WHolE EArtH, INTangiBLe?!' oh my god.

-...the white strand of hair somehow still had ghost dna, I guess, and getting blasted turned him back into phantom. I GUESS. I GUESS.

-the fentons being the first to clap for danny despite not knowing hes phantom...that was sweet. and very sudden character development, not at all gradual over the course of time or episodes like it probably should have been...

-sam and danny kissing. IT SHOULDVE BEEN VALERIE, BUT OKAY, I GUESS. also, its a little underwhelming, considering theyve kissed already...

-ALL of the ghosts being ready to beat danny's ass? really. no they wouldn't, they've worked together before, and some of those ghosts are friendly!! cringe. why is the last ep written like this. I mean they came thru at the last minute but. was really cringing for a minute there, why did they write it like that

-valerie is there for another 0.3 seconds! ....she should've been more involved. dani is also there! for also like 0.3 seconds. almost fast enough to miss. (btw, I think shes still homeless at this point, are, we going to...do ANYTHING ABOUT THAT IN THE LAST 5 MINS OF THE SHOW)

-the cgi smoke or whatever it is. this whole post is me saying the cgi is bad, but IT IS.

-'danny or should we say. DAAANNNNY.' this is like the 3rd or 4th time hes been outed damn, but to the whole world, again. and valerie saw, and is just. an extra in the bg clapping. bro im so mad.

-TUCKER IS THE NEW MAYOR? WHAT THE FUCK?? HES 14.

-i think. this is still linked to the dream ep a few times ago. hes still dreaming. this is a plot a 14 year old would write. this feels like a bad fanfic. so much got rushed, and not tied up. vlad wasnt really even the villain this episode, a fucking. non-being asteroid was.

-they kiss again. ok. sure. whatever at this point.

-VLAD IS NOW A FREE-ROAMING SPACE NOMAD. I GUESS. THATS. SURE. WHATEVER. THE END, I GUESS. cannot believe I'm saying this, but: they did vlad dirty.

-IF YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE HIM A VILLAIN, MAKE HIM A VILLAIN!!! DON'T MAKE IT A METEOR!!! STOP BEING WISHY WASHY WHO WANTS TO SEE DANNY VS ASTEROID!!! I didnt even WANT vlad to be the final villain because his character is SO back and forth (esp this season.) but he has done some FUCKED UP SHIT AND I WANTED THE WRITERS TO DOUBLE DOWN, PERSONALLY, IF THEY HAD TO MAKE HIM THE FINAL BOSS. the cabin ep where he basically held danny and maddie hostage? FUCKED. THE DANI THING? FUCKED. FUCKING COMMIT AND MAKE HIM ACTUALLY SCARY OR HAVE HIM FUCK OFF AND AGREE TO A TRUCE!! WHAT IS THIS DYING IN SPACE NONSENSE. (and, he will (fully) die out there, right? still half human, still needs food and water. I imagine he'll like, slowly half-die but this time his human side is dying. will he come back 100% ghost? we dONT KNOW. WE DONT GET TO SEE, ITS PLAYED LIKE SOME FUNNY THING AT THE END, THEN THATS IT!!! WHAT!!!)

-I don't know how to articulate how FRUSTRATING THAT IS. having him basically out himself and ''hold the world hostage'' does not track at all in my brain. like. he's always been scary because he is HUMAN, TOO. like, if he was 100% ghost, he'd be LESS scary, but vlad MASTERS has more power and influence than vlad PLASMIUS because of his position as mayor, his money, too, and his (supposed, s3 made me doubt it) intelligence/manipulation skills, and his being in good graces with jack made it HARD FOR DANNY. him outing himself for,, money and to 'control the world' i guess?? MONEY WAS NEVER HIS LIKE, MAIN GOAL. yeah obv he likes money and is materialistic and values his Rich Life, but hes got billions, the end goal? 1. getting maddie (and or danny as his son, but to me he always treated that as secondary) 2. ruining jack. this feels like they wanted to say 'oh he just wants POWER' which is. HMM?? OKAY?? obv he /does/ want power (usually over certain ppl, tho), but seeing him try to get it like this FELT WEIRD SOMEHOW. weird like the ep where he tried and failed to take over various historical civilizations, because like,, how is that realistically going to do anything for him?? just, being in that time forever and never seeing maddie aka Goal #1 again?? HELLO??? this was like that, but worse

-this was such a weird ending to an entire show. why did season 3 only have 13 episodes?? why did it feel so weirdly paced?? WHY WAS THE ENDING LIKE THAT. I think. I am going to pretend I did not see that. fucked up, dudes. I'm like...hm. I shouldn't have watched that because now I'm mad. valerie sweetie im SO sorry you shouldve been more present. it felt like..if they knew this season was going to be short, and the last season, they should've spent more time wrapping up EVERYONE'S plot lines for the entire season. imagine how cool it wouldve been if every single ep of season 3 was working towards something, a big, nice wrap up at the end, with nothing feeling TOO rushed because they'd been heading towards the End for the whole season....

I will probably end up writing a follow up full series thoughts post. In a couple of days so I can sit with my thoughts. BUT. overall, I really liked the show! (ignoring the finale and some of the moments that aged pretty poorly...) it was charming and a fun concept and very fun to watch in general :) and I am pretending the finale didnt happen <3 and I’m gonna dive RIGHT into the dp tags and mix fanart and posts in my queue, very excited to run and look at that 🏃🏻 (and, of course, make more fanart myself hehe >:3)

#dp thoughts #danny phantom #sanchoyorambles

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corpse--diem · 4 years ago

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Jet Lag | Nora & Erin

TIMING: Before Christmas PARTIES: @fearfordinner & @corpse–diem SUMMARY: Nora is worried there’s something wrong with Erin and tries to offer her a gift to make her feel better. CONTENT WARNINGS: none

Nora had noticed something that bothered her. Something about Erin. Erin had been posting a lot of sad things online. Things like is anyone truly happy? Nora agreed with it, but didn’t want Erin to not be happy. Instead, she decided to make a plan. She’d take Erin scuba diving on a warm beach, just like Erin said she wanted to. Taking a deep breath, Nora stepped up to Erin’s front door and knocked on it. Tickets for a flight were clutched in her hand as she stared, her black eye mostly healed but definitely colored, down at doorstep. They weren’t even real tickets, because Nora was going to use the family private jet. Instead they were hand drawn flight invitations, of Erin and Nora on a beach scuba diving with monsters in the water. Babadook sat in the car, mournfully staring out the window as he waited to see the interaction.

Erin wasn’t expecting company when the knock on the door lifted her gaze from the paperwork she was filling out. Until the funeral home was finished, this was about as much as she could do now that she was unable to do the fun hands-on part. Well, fun for her. Macabre for the rest of the world. Except maybe for the person standing on the other side of her door. “Nora?” She asked, the surprise evident in her confused, crinkled expression. “What are you doing here? Not that I’m not happy to see you but--” she couldn’t for the life of her remember planning something. But it also wasn’t unprecedented for Nora to show up unannounced. Her gaze fell to the papers in her hand, but got stuck on the discolored patches around her eyes. “Oh shit, are you okay? What happened?”

“I-” The words caught in her throat for a second. Nora turned to the side letting out a quick cough before turning back. “I came to see you.” Then Erin was asking if she was okay. Nora wondered if anyone had seen a black eye before because they were all acting like it would have her bed bound for as long as possible. “I’m fine.” Nora mumbled, reaching a hand up trying to make it look like she was brushing back some hair but really just covering her eye. “We should go scuba diving.” Nora held out the hand drawn tickets. “Anytime you want. Now if you want.” Nora turned away, unsure if she was making a mess of this. How could she say thought Erin sounded sad on the internet and wanted her to not be sad.

“Are you sure?” Erin questioned lightly. Nora didn’t seem to want to talk about the black eye that’d immediately gotten her attention though, and she didn’t want to press too hard on the subject. It wasn’t really her business, even if it was asked out of concern. Her eyebrows jumped up at the handdrawn tickets in Nora’s hand. “You want to go scuba diving?” It took a moment but one of their last conversations came rushing back and her features softened immediately. “Oh, Nora,” she started, shaking her head with a smile that didn’t hide how much this had amused her. “This is… such a sweet gesture but even if these tickets were real, I can’t just go scuba diving.” Realizing Nora was still standing in the hallway, Erin stepped back and pulled open the door. “Come on in, though. Are you hungry? No. Dumb question--you’re always hungry. I think I have some burgers in the freezer.”

“I wouldn’t lie to you.” Nora made sure to look Erin directly in the eyes as she said it. Normally, Nora wasn’t much of a liar. She didn’t see the point, but she would make a promise to Erin that she wouldn’t lie to her. If there was any concern of it, Nora would ease it right away. “You.. Said you wanted to..” Nora almost stumbled over the words, instantly dumbfounded by the fact that Erin said she couldn’t go after stating she wanted to go. Nora followed Erin to the kitchen, not bothering to deny that she was always hungry. If there was food, she’d eat it. Nora sat on the counter, staring down at her hand drawn tickets. “You said you wanted to get away and scuba dive.” Nora swallowed her words, eyes not moving from the ticket. “And online, you’ve sounded sad. You said, is anyone truly happy? You could be.” Nora mumbled.

Erin met Nora’s eyes, nodding. “I know. I believe you, don’t worry,” she answered. Nora hadn’t lied to her yet as far as she knew and she didn’t believe she’d suddenly start now. ��If you want to talk about it though, we can,” she made sure to add. Erin felt as stunned as Nora looked and she narrowed her eyes as she tried to remember that conversation more clearly. “I--yeah, I do. God, I’d love to go scuba diving with you, Nora, seriously. That sounds like so much fun but I can’t just stop everything I’m doing.” That was… obvious, right? She started pulling the burgers out as she spoke, starting to get everything together. “I’m not sad. I mean, not really? I don’t know.” If Nora was being honest with her, surely she owed her that in return? Everything Nora didn’t know about what Erin had been up to in the last six months made her hesitant to burst that bubble. Would she look at her the same? Would she even want to talk to her? She straightened her back, focusing on the burgers. “I could be but things just aren’t that simple, you know?”

“Why not? What’s stopping you?” Erin had said that while the new funeral home was being built she didn’t have much to do. That she actually wanted something to do. Well this was it, something to do. A trip to any ocean to scuba dive anywhere. “The jet can take us any time. There and back.” Work it in. Give yourself something to do. Enjoy a trip. “Everything will still be here when you’re back.” Everything was still here for Nora when she came back, and she was gone for a very long time. Nora understood things just weren’t that simple, hadn’t everything that happened in one week of being back proved as much? But this could be the happy journey. Instead, Nora put down the tickets, and stared blankly at a wall. Unsure what to say. She let time pass instead. “Okay.” She said finally. “We can go whenever you want. When you can.”

Erin felt like she was dashing Nora’s own happiness with her rejection and the guilt simmered low in her stomach. Marley instantly came to mind, pressing at the front of her responsibilities. She told her, over and over that she’d be there for whatever she needed. Wouldn’t instill much faith in the fragile mending process they’d only just begun. “I’m sorry. I really do want to go,” she sighed, stopping momentarily as the burgers started to sizzle on the pan, turning to face Nora properly. “I have a friend here who was hurt really bad recently. She’s okay but she needs someone here to help her out, and that person’s me. But the offer is really, really sweet.” She gave a short smile, putting her hand gently on Nora’s shoulder, trying to be as reassuring as possible. Her eyebrows narrowed when something struck her suddenly. “Wait, did you just say jet?”

“Oh.” Was all the answer Nora gave. Yeah. It was nice that Erin was helping a friend. Erin always helped friends. Nora liked that about Erin. Truth be told Nora liked a lot about Erin, not that she’d ever use her words to admit as much. It really just proved that Erin was the good person Nora thought she was because she would put her friend first. Nora didn’t offer any other words. She didn’t have any to give. She’d came, she’d asked, she’d been told no. Not much else to it. At least she would get a burger out of it. If she’d been a better person she would have asked more about the friend and if there was anything she could do to help. Nora was not a better person. When Erin asked about the jet Nora just shrugged noncommittally. Lots of people had jets. Her family’s jet was nice but it wasn’t anything special. “Yeah. Whenever you want. I’ll set the schedule for it.”

Nora still seemed so disheartened about Erin’s inability to just drop everything, take those handwritten tickets, and just go off with her. Her reasons were valid and it was the responsible thing to do. She would stay firm on that one. “I will take that rain check though,” she said with a smirk, plucking the handmade tickets out of Nora’s hands again. But the only thing she could think about was the jet. “What jet are you talking about?” She asked, taking a better look at the tickets in her hand as she flipped a burger in the pan. Her eyes jumped back up to Nora quizzically. “Are you going to rent a jet?” A thought occurred to her suddenly and panic filled Erin’s eyes. If anyone was going to impulsively do something like that--renting a jet--it was going to be Nora. “Nora, don’t you dare. Do you know how expensive that kind of thing is? I don’t have the money for that and there’s no way I’m going to let you even try to pay for something like that.”

There Erin was going. Talking on and on about how she shouldn't be renting a jet because it was too expensive. Nora blinked once. Blinked twice and then shook her head. “Why would I rent a jet when I own one.” How silly. Nora stared at the burgers that looked almost ready. Her stomach let out a low grumble. She tried to contain it. “Why would you need to pay? I’m not paying either.” Nora sat up, stretching her arms, staring more and more at the burger. “Are they done yet? I’m really hungry.” Nora finally asked, looking instantly like the kid from that one moving, holding out a bowl and asking ‘Please sir may I have another?’

“Of course you have to pay for it. You don’t just fly for free--” Erin started, then stopped mid-flip when another realization dawned on her. “You’re… not going to steal a jet, are you?” She had no evidence that Nora was capable of something like that. But she also carried around snakes and spiders in her pocket, and if their first meeting after a brief conversation online indicated anything, she had no idea what Nora was truly capable of. As she set the finished burgers in front of Nora, she looked her in the eyes, trying to smile. Because this was a joke, right? “You’re not--no. That’s silly. You’d never.” She kept an eye on her. She’d never. Right?

Steal a jet? Why would she steal a jet? “I own a jet.” Nora murmured, full of confusion about this conversation. If she was being actually correct her fathers owned the jet, she just had full access to it. “It’s on call for my family. Whenever.” She did her best in her monotone to stress the word whenever. When Erin wanted to go, she’d get up and she’d go. “I would, though.” Nora admitted with a yawn. If she was in a situation where she needed a jet but couldn’t use her family jet? Sure, she might steal one. She didn’t imagine it would be that hard. In fact, she could practically imagine how easy it would be. “Would you prefer that?”

I own a jet. The statement earned Nora another raised eyebrow. “You own a jet,” Erin repeated, the disbelief thick in her voice, though as she explained she realized that might have been an unfair immediate assumption. Erin didn’t know too much about Nora’s family after all. She straightened, disbelief giving way to uncertainty now. “You own a jet.” The words came out again with less judgment. Her head tilted as it slowly started to sink in. She’d never met anyone who owned a jet, let alone someone offering to actually take her on one. And she especially didn’t expect that person to be Nora. “No. No! Don’t do that. Don’t steal anything. Are you--you’re being serious?”

Nora’s head tilted to the side as Erin asked about the jet, twice. Presumed disbelief. Oh well, that was better than straight up running away. Although, where would Erin run? They were currently in her house. If someone ran away from Nora while she was in their house did that mean Nora owned the house? She’d own a lot of houses. “Well my dad’s do. They won’t be using it for a few months though.” Nora’s eyes drifted back to the sizzling hamburgers. Her stomach gave out another grumble. She hadn’t even known she was hungry until Erin started cooking. Such was life. “Yeah. It wouldn’t be that hard.” Nora was assuming Erin was talking about stealing the jet. “Wouldn’t know how to fly it though. I’d try.” Nora gave a shrug of the shoulders. “Do you know how to?” Erin was talented, it could be true.

The pan crackled behind her, snapping Erin out of the prolonged brain haze she’d found herself in. “Shit,” she cursed, turning to pull the rest of the burgers off of the pan. Browner than she wanted but not quite burned, and she was sure Nora would eat them regardless. Probably. “Sorry, I didn’t--I don’t mean to sound like an ass. I just… didn’t know your family was personal-jet wealthy.” A breath rolled from her, still trying to wrap her head around it, eventually turning into a soft laugh. Nora didn’t seem bothered thankfully so she served the burgers, finally, withholding one for herself. “I don’t. Pilot lessons weren’t really on the mortuary science curriculum unfortunately, though I’d have paid extra for that. And there’s no way you can just steal a jet, Nora. They’d lock you up before those big ol’ paws of yours could even think about padding down a runway.” Erin smirked, chewing thoughtfully as she watched her for a few moments and nodded abruptly, her grin widening hopefully. “Oh! Speaking of family! You and your birth family--how’s that going, anyway?”

Nora wasn’t sure how she was supposed to tell people that her family was ridiculously wealthy. It wasn’t that she wasn’t aware that that was a 1% thing. It was more of a, she just assumed everyone knew already. Where she grew up most people spent all their time gossiping, thus most people knew exactly who was who and how much money their family had. In the end it resulted in Nora just assuming everyone knew. It was a strange adjustment to live in this small town where people apparently had trouble paying bills? Nora took a moment to reflect on all the jobs Blanche and Remmy held. Too many, thought the girl who’d never had a real job in her life. “...Do you want pilot lessons?” There was no reason for Nora to keep offering Erin gifts. Perhaps, in some part of her mind, Nora assumed that if she didn’t offer value to someone so easily frightened of her, that person wouldn’t want her around. As Erin told Nora that she could never steal a jet, Nora looked down at her hands, imagining her paws in handcuffs. Despite what Erin was saying she knew she could steal a jet and she knew it would be easy. She let the subject fall between them. Instead she chose to eat some of her burger. Nora stopped chewing on that burger as Erin remembered what Nora had said about her birth family. Nora swallowed what was left, suddenly not feeling hungry. Nora took a moment to look away and consider the answer an answer. “It was a false lead.” She licked her lips, her mouth suddenly dry. “Turns out I won’t be able to find them. But. Who knows.”

Erin shook her head softly, a slightly defeated smile on her face. “No, Nora. That’s--I’m fine. I don’t need anything, okay?” Was this something Nora did with everyone she knew, she had to wonder? Maybe she didn’t know better or maybe it was simply the way she expressed her emotions in a nonverbal manner, considering she wasn’t the most chatty person Erin knew. Not that she minded that either. Something felt a little off after that question. Nora’s demeanour changed and she didn’t even touch her next burger. “Oh, shit. I’m sorry, Nora,” she slumped a little, remembering how excited the younger woman had been at the prospect of making contact with her family. She reached out, patting her hand a little and giving it a squeeze before pulling it back into herself. “What happened?” She asked, shaking her head. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Lydia was dead. There were people in her basement. She wasn’t a good person. She’d wanted Nora to be fa-. Nora shrugged it off, sliding off the counter. “Nothing important.” It hurt, that feeling that surrounded the whole conversation. Irked by the knowledge that her real mom’s name had been stolen by a fae and would never be a connection she could use to find the woman. “Thanks for the burger.” Nora nodded at the half eaten burger on the counter. “Sorry for bothering you.” With the most care she could muster, Nora dropped her hand drawn ticket on the counter. “Let me know if you change your mind.” Nora started to slink towards the door, raising a hand over her shoulder in a wave goodbye.

Nora’s insistence that nothing wrong didn’t quell any of Erin’s uncertainties but she knew better than to push here. It felt like something had gone wrong, more than what she was telling her, but if she didn’t want to talk about it, that was that. “No problem,” she nodded and followed Nora to the door. “I’ve been trying to make sure I’ve got at least a pound or two of meat in the freezer now that you’re back. So… if you want to eat and chat, about anything, Nora, you know the food’s here waiting,” she smiled softly and waved back as she left. Went to close the door but hesitated just long enough for doubt to creep in. She pulled the door open and shouted down the hall before Nora got too far. “And please don’t steal any jets!!”

#chatzy #wickedswriting #chatzy: nora #jet lag

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wits-writing · 4 years ago

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Ultraman Z Ep. 22: “Individual Tomorrows” (TV Review)

(Original Air Date: November 28, 2020, Director: Koichi Sakamoto, Writer Sotaro Hayashi)

With STORAGE disassembled in the wake of the previous episode, Haruki and Yoko hang out during their down time to discuss what their next steps will be if they can’t fight to protect people anymore. The answer turns out to be that they’ll do it anyway as another Space Pirate Barossa arrives to get revenge for his brothers.

“Individual Tomorrows” is a simultaneously comforting and energetic episode as we see the dynamic between the ensemble cast of Ultraman Z at its best, even without their usual resources to back them up.

[Full Review Under the Cut]

Opening the episode on Haruki in the middle of another workout and flashbacks montage sets the tone for the rest of the episode. As with the other time this happened, the flashbacks are accompanied by a slow piano cover of the opening theme, but the moments Haruki’s remembering are quite different. Rather than moments of regret, it’s a collection of all the silly moments he’s had with the rest of Team STORAGE. On the surface, it’s a reminder of what Haruki will miss now that the organization has been dismantled. Below that surface lies the heart of this episode, that the team bonding through these moments made them an effective monster fighting unit. An idea that bears out through the rest of the episode as we see them work together to stop an alien threat, even when it’s not their job and with zero hesitation.

Before they spring into action, we get to see a bit of how everyone on the team is dealing with being on leave. Yoko inviting Haruki to hang out gets implied to be her not having much life outside of her dedication to her job as a pilot. She points out that she hasn’t kept up with new trends in a while when she tries her first boba tea while hanging out with Haruki. There’s also an enjoyable bit where she asks Haruki pay for his movie ticket, even though she won two free passes, after he loses another arm-wrestling bet.

On their way to the theater, they end up coming across a friend we haven’t seen in a while; the one and only Sevenger!

STORAGE’s original giant robot has been relegated to a museum piece with the secondary function of promoting the operation of robots like him to the public. Overseeing Sevenger’s display are two more friends from STORAGE; Yuka and Bako, working in PR and maintenance on Sevenger, respectively. Even if we only briefly see the four of them together outside of a work environment, it’s still a refreshing change of setup. I hadn’t grown tired of STORAGE or the characters’ roles within it at all, but sometimes you don’t know how much a change of pace can add to a series until you get one. They’re all taking advantage of this interlude in their lives their own ways before figuring out what their individual tomorrows will hold.

However, their time together does leave one member of Team STORAGE doing his own thing the whole episode, Juggler. He skulks around the former STORAGE base, rechristened Special Airborne and Armored Group (SAAG), while disguised as a pizza delivery guy. Juggler’s investigation leads him to what the GAF’s plan is to replace and “improve” on the robots of STORAGE, a machine called “Ultroid Zero” modeled after Ultraman Zero. He ends up overhearing Mai Yuki talk about how they need data on Ultraman Z’s energy blasts before the new machine can be combat ready. Since he’s the type to stir the pot whichever way will keep things most interesting to him, Juggler goes off to make sure SAAG gets what they need. He even stops Zett from defeating Barossa too quickly to make sure the fight goes on long enough that the Ultra will resort to stronger attacks.

Everything in this episode converges once Barossa makes the scene and the action starts. This is another Koichi Sakamoto episode, so the fights all have his specific energy. We get to see Haruki, Yoko, and even Bako take their turns fighting against the space pirate. While the two pilots get tossed aside quickly, the senior engineer’s fighting skills actually intimidate the alien into running away. Seeing them all work together against a threat outside of the usual pattern of STORAGE operations displays how they’re personal bonds defined their dynamic more than their official positions.

As the fighting escalates to giant scale we get a two of my favorite things in the episode, seeing Zett grow to giant size from the outside rather than through a transformation sequence and Yoko piloting Sevenger once more to join the fight. A few more complications get added between one of SAAG’s new pilots showing up in King Joe to stop Yoko from using Sevenger and Juggler transforming into Tri/Five-King once it’s clear Barossa’s not enough to get Zett to use his strongest attacks. Tri-King even retains the sky darkening power it had in “The Mystic Power” as it emerges from a cloud of smoke in one of my favorite shots this episode. When Zett and Haruki do finally resort to a beam attack, Juggler uses Joe as a shield so Mai can gather the data she needs to complete Ultroid Zero. (Though the attack leaves Joe broken down into its component vehicles.) The fight ends on another high note for the episode as Zett finishes off the fight with Gamma Futures powers, if only because it’s nice for older forms to still feel like they matter in a show like this after the hero already obtained a final powerup like Delta Rise Claw.

However, the unparalleled pinnacle of this episode goes to Yoko and Sevenger, the comeback kid. One of the funnier bits of the episode feeds into their highlight, as Ultraman Z’s talking sword, Beliarok, gets excited to fight against Five-King until Haruki mentions they fought the monster before. The mouthy blade being so particular with how it’s used opens the opportunity for Sevenger to wield it. Though not before Yoko taunts Beliarok for being too cowardly to fight Barossa. Sword in hand and with Yuka controlling King Joe’s monster transport platform, Sevenger lands a skateboarding sword slash finisher against the space pirate. After episode upon episode of Yoko jobbing against every monster of the week while piloting Joe on top of Sevenger’s lengthy absence, seeing them get any win (let alone one this stylish) was phenomenal.

Everyone in Team STORAGE contributing to one victory or another this episode will probably make it rank highly when I’m thinking back on Ultraman Z as a series after it wraps up in a few weeks. Even if Juggler’s main contribution was to be one of the defeated monsters. Though he does also get a nice moment as Hebikura when he says his farewells to them, since everyone is no longer part of the GAF’s robot division with the exception of Yoko, a candidate to pilot Ultroid Zero after Mai saw what she could do with Sevenger. When Haruki expresses his sadness at how everything they worked for and he’s defined himself by have been torn away, Hebikura tells him to prove everyone who underestimated STORAGE wrong. Once more demonstrating how, even if he’s hiding his true self, Juggler does care about his team.

Ultraman Z’s final arc continues to impress me. Seeing the main ensemble operate in a new context and Sakamoto’s stylish action made this a great step along the last stretch of episodes. I’d be more than happy if this warm energy hung around the rest of the season. But given the next episode is called “Prelude to a Nightmare”, I kind of doubt that will be the case.

If you like what you’ve read here, please like/reblog or share elsewhere online, follow me on Twitter (@WC_WIT), and consider throwing some support my way at either Ko-Fi.com or Patreon.com at the extension “/witswriting”

#Ultraman Z #Ultraman #Wit's Writing #TV Review #tokusatsu #Haruki Natsukawa #Koichi Sakamoto #Sotaro Hayashi #Tsuburaya Productions #tsupro #toku

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the-mandalorian-clone-lover · 4 years ago

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Aces in Spaces Chapter 18

*runs in* Mom’s on the phone so here ya go!

Warning for a little angst at the beginning but they work it out!!! Takes place after the last chapter

Also, warning for allusion to past trauma, nothing is strictly mentioned but I don't want to have it be an unexpected thing--

The song they sing is the Elephant Medley from Moulin Rouge!!

Tags: @sunshinepascal @rentskenobi @princessxkenobi @agent-450 @maybege @obaby-wan

Masterlist

It’s not that he insists that she follow any set course of behavior per se. It’s just that, well, if she was happy with their current situation together, it certainly wasn’t showing.

It’s not that he doesn’t understand, not at all, in fact he thought it might have moved a little too fast too, but its been two months since that first sleepover and instead of getting closer, more open, and being around more often; its like she’s further away than ever. The first few sleepovers had been about a week apart, always fun, not awkward even at the beginning and then, Roman wasn’t sure when exactly but, something had changed. She’d cancelled two in a row and that was ok, he understood being busy, understood having things to do, they were both adults but, then she started cancelling dates, almost like she was avoiding him. He’d tried to bring it up over a phone call, ask if she was ok but she seemed to get off in a hurry once he did. Everything seemed to be at the beginning of a spiral, creating a moment that Roman knew might be the one he looked at as the beginning of the end of everything if he didn’t play his cards right.

Which led him to where he was now. Prepping himself to call her and ask to meet somewhere for dinner, calm, casual, like he did at the beginning when she was still skittish around him.

She picks up after four rings, probably debating letting it go to voicemail his brain reminds him cruelly.

“Hello?”

She sounds, off. Not in immediate danger off, but not like her normal self either.

“Hello love.”

He pauses when she doesn’t respond, trying to steady himself, because somehow everything is coming down on him at this moment and it’s all cutting about as deep as the time she said she wanted to leave him, but he goes on.

“I, um” He fights off another wave of heartbreak because he’s trying to fix this, neither one of them has done anything drastic there’s no need to panic. Yet.

“I was wondering if you were free for dinner tonight? Maybe at the Italian place you like? The weather is supposed to be nice tonight and they have a, outside, balcony, thing.” He stutters out the last part, praying to whoever is listening that a) she doesn’t already hate him, and b) the nauseous feeling in his stomach goes away soon.

“That sounds nice.”

Her voice still sounds slightly strained but, she agreed, which is better than things had been going.

“Do you want me to send Butch for you?”

“No” Comes the hurried answer, “No, I can meet you there.”

Roman frowns quietly, to object to him was normal, a lot of people did but, Butcher and Erica had always gotten along. He thinks sometimes she trusted Butcher before she trusted him.

“Ok. Um. I love you?” He hadn’t meant for it to be a question. Damn it.

“I love you too” Comes the response before he can correct himself, voice tight but not in an angry way like she didn’t want to say it. It sounds sad, there’s a finality to it. That didn’t seem to add up.

“I’ll see you, around six then?” Questioning, hopeful.

A small huff that may have been a laugh if it had been allowed to grow comes from her end, “Six is good” her voice is still strained, almost as if, had she been crying?

“Ok. Love, I love you. Please don’t ever forget. I know—I know I haven’t said it as often but—”

“I know, Roman, I know.”

It isn’t meant to silence him, or if it is it does so gently. Gently enough he doesn’t really want to heed it.

“I know but—”

“Roman I have to get back to work, I’ll” her voice breaks slightly but she disguises it as an ‘um’ and he knows now that she’s been crying and he wants to help her. Reach out and cradle her to his chest and let her brush her fingers along the nape of his neck the way she loves, kiss the top of her head and dance with her in the living room like they used to.

“I’ll see you tonight. Bye” The ‘bye’ is barely above a whisper and he hears the click before he can even respond, heart shattering at the small sound.

He collapses into the chair, mouth resting against his knuckles to keep his own composure before moving to plant his forehead against it. Where had he gone wrong? Surely there were always ways he could be more accommodating, he thought he had been. He plants both elbows on the table now, holding his own head before gripping his hair and wishing he could rip it out. A sight that would be.

Some amount of time passes while he sits in agony and eventually he hears a tentative knock at the door.

He turns his head toward the sound but can’t remember who he’s expecting.

Erica. His brain suddenly supplies.

What if it’s her?

He nearly runs to the door, jerking it open, face wide in reception—

But its only Butch. He’s just as glad to see him, throwing himself into the other man who hasn’t quite recovered from the shock of the door being thrown open, let alone the (possibly crying) man who is now firmly wrapped around his torso.

Calling to mind the phone call he’d left him alone to make Butch wraps his arms around Roman.

“Tell me what happened?”

Roman nods, pulling away to walk back into the house and towards the living room, leaving Butch to shut the door.

“Did she break it off?” He calls through the hallway.

“No” Comes the meager response from the other room and Butch makes his way towards it, knowing Roman has more to say. “Probably will tonight. And this time I probably won’t be able to talk her out of it. I barely got in by the skin of my teeth last time and, and this time I don’t even know what I did!”

Butch doesn’t think he knew last time either but he takes a seat in the chair across from Roman and listens anyway.

Roman’s been pacing but he falls to the couch in a heap after all of two laps. “I don’t want to loose her Butch, not over something silly, or even something huge. What did I do that is so terrible she can’t even stomach looking at me?”

Butch leans back. “You didn’t—” He gestures vaguely downward, “did you?”

Roman looks confused then horrified. “OF Course Not! I wouldn’t dream of a thing like that!!! I’m not a monster! Not like the horrible people she’s known before, I’d never do something she didn’t want me to---”

He stops abruptly in his gesturing (and near shouting), blinking at the ground. A few moments pass. “She only told me about all that lately. Do you think she’s afraid?” It comes out in a whisper. As if he were afraid of the answer.

Butch regards him gently, leaning across the distance to hold out a hand. “Maybe it isn’t you she’s afraid of.” Roman takes his hand. “Maybe its just, puttin herself out there like that, knowin you know somethin really, y’know, personal about her.” He stops to take a deep breath before continuing softly. “Movin in together is a big step. I don’t blame anybody for gettin cold feet.”

Roman nods, swallowing hard. “She agreed to dinner” He manages hoarsely. “Six o’clock.”

Butch retrieves his hand to check his watch. “The Italian place?”

“yeah”

“Gives us an hour and a half to whip you in to shape. Allowing that you want to be 30 minutes early like you do when you’re nervous.”

“yeah.”

“Alright then.”

Somehow, Butch does it. Roman’s been at the table 15 minutes now and he hasn’t cried so it’s a win. They offer him wine but he declines. As much as he’d like to be drunk for a rejection, if Erica really isn’t afraid of him specifically, he might still have a chance, and he’d rather be sober for that.

He scans the restaurant and entryway every few minutes (seconds if he’s honest with himself) but he’s come up empty every time. He checks again anyway.

Short woman, strange looking man, that nice waiter that offered him mints, random teacher looking person, a tall and beautiful woman with very short hair, another waitress, hostess--- wait.

His eyes snap back to the tall woman who currently has her back to him, seemingly scanning the restaurant as well. He half stands, those shoulders, the curve of her neck—that looks like—

She turns.

“Erica” He gasps before managing to catch his own breath. He doesn’t think she managed to hear him over the background noise (that should be there but has completely faded since he saw her) but her eyes find his shortly after anyway. She’s, wonderful.

Erica looks around a moment longer before she thinks she hears someone gasp, she turns her head (it feels like she overdoes it, compensating for the hair that’s now missing, which is ridiculous because its hair but somehow, its true) to look for the disturbance only to find—Roman. Beautiful, Wonderful, Roman. Half out of his chair and looking like he’s seen a ghost. Great. So it really was that bad. It’s what she did it for she supposes, unable to suppress the hurt that flashes across her face before making her way to him. He fully unfolds himself, arms beginning to reach for her before they still at his side, and that hurts a little more.

“Is, is this why you were staying away?” He does lift a hand now, holding it about two inches from the side of her face—just like before. Like nothing had changed. Like she hadn’t changed.

She blinks at his hand, trying to swallow around the cotton that seems to have made it into her mouth, taking a breath before answering. “I um, I got it done a few days ago.”

“oh” Roman falters. She takes a shuddering breath (and all her strength) and lifts his hand up to her hair. His fingers barely graze her ear and she steps away from the contact, dropping his hand immediately, hating herself. She frowns at the floor, willing the tears away and hating. Why did she have to be this way? Why couldn’t she just be normal? Enjoy human contact like everyone else? Have a healthy relationship she wasn’t actively trying to destroy in an effort to punish herself? Roman’s stepped back when she opens her eyes again.

“I do like it. You wear it well. It—” he bites his lip “Frames your face nicely.” He smiles at her when she finally looks at him, and she looks over at the table before responding.

“You don’t have to lie to me.”

When she looks up again his mouth is slightly open. “Why would I--?”

The waitress walking up disrupts them both.

“Do you want to move to the patio now Mr. Stanton? I held the table if you’d still like it.”

Roman looks to the woman before looking back at Erica and raising his eyebrows in question. Erica barely holds his gaze before smiling at the woman. “Outside would be lovely.”

Roman’s heart breaks a little. He remembers when she used to use that word to describe him.

She pauses next to him for barely a second as she moves to follow the quickly retreating waitress and he offers his arm just before she steps away. He bites his tongue. She turns the slightest bit back toward him, reaching an arm to curl it around his and he steps forward hurriedly to allow it. He notices her eyes are glassy before they turn to admire the ceiling. She mumbles out a ‘thank you’.

He hesitantly places his hand over hers.

She moves her fingers just enough to tangle with his.

They make it to the table, its off to the side so they have some privacy but not far enough that Erica’s worried. It, well, if there’s a full moon and she magically transforms into someone who isn’t a coward, it has enough privacy she could tell Roman she does actually love him and she’s only been pushing him away because she’s scared. But that’s not very likely. Not unless there’s some kind of magic involved.

Roman reaches to pull a chair out for her. She lets him, sitting down slowly and catching his hand where it rests on the chair before he can walk away. Normally, he rests his hands on her shoulders after he does this. Sometimes leans down to give her a kiss of some kind before moving but today he’d begun to withdraw with nothing. She doesn’t know why she stops him but she looks up and her heart is in her throat.

“I thought—” his eyes search hers before he continues, “Sometimes you don’t like contact so I didn’t want to push”

Right. The halter top. Her shoulders are completely exposed. Now she wants to cry.

“Roman I—”

She squeezes her eyes shut and looks at the table. She promised herself she wouldn’t cry.

Romans excusing the waitress and kneeling down, hand never leaving hers.

“Love, what’s wrong?”

It’s so soft, so gentle and kind, steady but tender. Lenient in the sense she knows she doesn’t have to answer, but devoted in the sense that if she does he’ll listen. He’ll help.

She breaks. A sob that manages to be a gasp as she pulls him into her, uncaring of smudging makeup on his coat, uncaring of all the people around them that will undoubtedly worry, not caring about any of it. All she can think about is him, how much she loves him, wants him close, and how much that desire is outweighing the terrible fear that’s demanding she push him away.

He just holds her. Hand brushing along her lower back where she’s covered (God bless him) and then someone is gently laying a (blanket?) jacket across her shoulders. It feels enormous and she can’t begin to process so she just grips Roman tighter, trusting him.

Then she hears it. The soft rumble of Butcher’s ‘I’m the bodyguard and I’m in charge here’ voice and she realizes, it must be his. She relaxes a fraction. She stops the crying best she can, and reaches up to wipe under her eyes, mumbling out an apology that Roman quickly affirms there’s no need for. She’d pulled him up toward her otherwise they’d both be sitting on the floor, which, considering the setting probably wouldn’t be appropriate. Roman leans down to whisper to her tentatively.

“Do you want me to take you home?”

She nods, eyes watery. “Yes”

He nods back, already pulling away to spring into action before she grips his jacket again. “Our home”

He freezes before leaning down and squeezing her to him a little tighter. “Alright love, home for both of us”

Butch has already cleared the way and they leave with little fuss, Erica attempting an apologetic smile at the hostess but the woman doesn’t pay her any mind, Roman keeping her close to his chest. She slides into the car with him, immediately moving to slip off her shoes before cuddling herself into his side, turning toward him and laying her head on his chest.

Butch passes a box into the back seat before shutting the door and moving up front.

Roman reaches for it, putting his arm around her as he opens it, grabbing a fork and holding a bite out to her before she even processes what it is.

“Cake?”

“It’s the chocolate one you like, I thought it might help.”

She nuzzles his chest briefly, words leaving in favor of soaking up his comforting presence, then leans forward to take the offering. It is her favorite, after all.

She chews thoughtfully. She opens her mouth again and he reaches for the box without a second thought before her hand goes out to stop him.

“I, I need to tell you things, first.”

Her lip wobbles as he looks to her in confusion. Then his face clears and he smiles soothingly.

“I’ll listen as long as you need love.”

She nods. “I, I cut it because I wanted you to hate me.” She looks down at his shirt but plunges ahead. “I sometimes, I punish myself when things feel too nice and, and—” she looks up to his eyes “And you are nice Roman, wonderful and kind and so much more than I could ever deserve.” She gives a small fond smile as she watches him struggle between telling her how wrong she is about deserving things and staying quiet until she finishes. He settles on the latter, gesturing for her to continue with a nod.

“I, it all felt too good to be true all the sudden and, after I told you all those things, I thought you would” She looks down again, in shame this time. “Feel differently about me.”

He puts hand over hers where it rests on his chest, eyeing Butch in the mirror and communicating that they can drive awhile (at least he hopes that’s what he communicated). She starts again, but much quieter.

“I pushed you away because, I got scared. I thought you would, I don’t know, shun me, or try to fix me like they did and I just- I just reverted back to how I used to be. Cold. So I figured I would make it easier. For myself and you. If you hated my hair you could make it about that and it would be painless. Or if you made it about something else then I could pretend it was my hair whenever I wanted to cry about loosing you. Convince myself you were shallow and that’s why it didn’t work.”

Roman’s been quiet this whole time and she chances a look up at him.

“Do you like it?”

“Like… My hair?”

He nods.

“Well” It’s an abrupt change of subject but she takes it in stride, “I suppose so, I didn’t do it for that though.”

“Can I touch you? Your face?”

The rest of her is still shielded by the jacket but she concedes willfully with a nod. His knuckles brush her cheek slowly, before he checks again.

“Can I touch your hair?”

She nods.

His fingers, long and slender, brush through the cropped hair on the side of her head (carefully avoiding her ear) and his head tilts just slightly so his eye line can follow them. He tilts the other way then, eyeing the opposite side before his hand comes up to brush against the top hesitantly,

“Can I--?”

She hums.

His fingers sink into the tuft at the edge of her hairline, brushing back slowly, catching slightly on the product she’d used to muss it up. He increases the pressure the slightest bit so his hand brushes against her scalp with the motion and her eyelids flutter shut, pushing gently against the sensation and humming like a cat would purr. His hand continues its course, sliding down the back of her head and to her neck before he brings his knuckles to drag along her face again.

“I think its lovely.”

She opens her eyes to gaze at him and smiles softly. “I thought I’d need magic to get all that out but, it was easy. You made it easy.” She tilts her head at him, “I guess loving someone is like magic sometimes.” She says it with a far away look in her eyes as they drift to his chest, pondering her own words.

“All you need is love”

The smile crawls across her face even before her eyes meet his. “A girl has got to eat”

“All you need is love” This time it comes out a little slower, more like the song.

“Or she’ll end up on the street!” It’s said without any real belief

“All you need is, love” he hangs on to the last word, flitting his gaze over her face.

“Love is just a game”

“I was made for loving you baby, you were made for loving me” Roman adds the slight shimmy just for her and she laughs a little before answering.

Butch glances in the rearview mirror one last time before telling the driver to make for the penthouse and pulling out his phone. Hannah picks up after one ring.

“Yeah they’re singing, I think they’re gonna be ok.”

“Oh thank goodness.”

******************************

Erica's new haircut that I imagine--

#asexual #ewan mcgregor #aces in spaces #ace character #original characters #original fic #original story #new chapter #this is a really emotional one #so I'm sorry for that but #I think its something a lot of ppl (not just aces)#struggle with #and its good to know there are ppl out there that understand that and are willing to help us

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anistarrose · 5 years ago

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Entropy (The Owl House)

Summary: As a witch, Eda thrives on unpredictability and chaos. Unfortunately, so does her curse.

Word count: 1734

Warnings: mild violence, but it’s no darker than the show itself

AO3: archiveofourown.org/works/22518526

The first of what I expect will eventually become many Owl House fics from me! This story is set a few months before Luz’s arrival to the demon realm, but also has some big spoilers for Episode 4, so beware!

***

Eda believes that unpredictability is a witch’s best friend. Magic should always be a little wild, a little feral, a little chaotic, a fickle force of nature that keeps its users on its toes. Predictable magic is weak magic, diluted magic, practically homeopathic magic that’s left with nary a spark of what once made it so fierce and formidable.

This is the philosophy that’s made Eda the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles. It’s the philosophy that’s helped her dodge imprisonment for decades. It’s even the reason why against her better judgement, she invited a scrawny little demon with an extreme superiority complex into her home — and as loathe as she is to admit it to King’s face, the little wannabe tyrant has brightened up more of her days than she’d ever expected.

Adherence to a status quo leads only to stagnant magic. Routine makes the bile in Eda’s heart run dry. Variety is the spice of life, and despite all the challenges she’s had to overcome — or perhaps even because of them — Eda is living.

But the most potent curses are always the most ironic ones. The ones that weave themselves not out of foreign magic, but out of the victim’s own nature, turning strengths into weaknesses and prides into secret shames.

In Eda the Owl Lady’s case, this means that her curse is very wild, very feral, very chaotic, and never predictable. When the feathers begin to sprout and she feels the telltale pinpricks of quills in her hair, when her fangs begin to elongate and her stomach makes its appetite known through bloodcurdling growls, she only has a matter of minutes at best before she loses herself — only a few minutes, at best, to find her elixir and stave off her transformation.

And if there’s no elixir in reach to be found, well… her last few moments of lucidity are best spent ensuring that no one will be around to see her in this state, both for her sake and theirs.

***

Eda is unceremoniously tossed into a Conformatorium cell, unable to get to her feet before the cold iron anti-magic gate slides down in front of her. The gaps between the rungs look plenty wide enough for King to slip through, which means either the guards haven’t noticed him shuddering and trying to hide in Eda’s arms, or they just don’t care enough about whether he escapes to bother securing him better.

“The Warden will be seeing you shortly, Owl Lady!” one guard barks from behind his beaked black mask. “I’m sure the two of you will have plenty to discuss!”

As their jailers leave, King wriggles out of Eda’s arms. “Are they gone?” he meekly asks, poking his snout out between the bars and peering down the hallway.

“Yes, but not for long,” Eda grunts as she attempts to draw a small spell circle in the air. A few sparks surround her fingertip, but fizzle out before the circle is complete. “Drat. They learned their lesson from the last time I broke out of this place.”

“Then looks like it’s the King of Demons’ turn to save the day!” King declares, raising a tiny fist. “And what better place to find recruits for my army of darkness than here, in this cesspool of sinister machinations and forbidden black magics!”

He pokes his head into the adjacent cell, in which a demon with foot-long pointed nails leans against a wall. “You there! You look like a foul, black-hearted creature if I’ve ever seen one! How about you join my prison riot?”

“Are you joking? There’s nothing foul or black-hearted about overthrowing an unjust government institution that misuses its authority,” the demon scoffs, continuing to polish their nails. “Come back and talk to me again if you think of something that’s really evil.”

Muttering to himself and shaking his head, King trots over to the prisoner on the opposite side of Eda’s cell. “How about you? You’ve got a lot of life left ahead of you — do you really want to spend it all in a prison?”

The baby in the cell ignores him, preoccupied with repeatedly stabbing a knife into the floor.

King trudges back to Eda’s side, head hanging. Very quietly, he asks: “Eda, what if I’m just not cut out for demonic tyranny?”

“Oh, don’t be silly.” Eda rubs his head. “I’ve never seen a demon more power-hungry than you are, you evil little thing. And hey, it’s not all bad — now you know exactly what types of demons not to recruit for your army of darkness!”

King’s mood immediately lightens. “You’re right, I just need to look on the bright side of things! Like how at least you didn’t have your staff with you today, so it’s not going to end up locked away in the warden’s contraband pile!”

Eda tries to retort that if she’d had her staff, she never would’ve gotten captured in the first place — but her throat has gone dry. After all, she hasn’t had anything to drink in hours.

Why do the torches in the hallway suddenly hurt to look at?

“All they actually confiscated was that orange potion you were drinking,” King goes on, completely oblivious. “Good thing they didn’t take anything important, ha!”

Eda runs a hand through her hair. Her fingers graze quills, sprouting from her scalp.

No! Not here, not now! Not in front of —

“King, you have to leave,” she hisses, falling to her knees and clutching her chest. “Squirm through the bars and run. I’ll catch up later.”

“Are you serious? I’m not leaving you!” King exclaims. “I can’t fly back home unless you carry me!”

He’s so precious.

So stubborn.

such dumb, easy prey

“I know a way to break out of here, but it’s — it’s — you’ll just get caught in the crossfire if you stay.” Eda claps one hand over her mouth, hiding her extending fangs, and with her free hand, picks up King by the scruff of his neck and stuffs him through one of the holes in the iron grate. “The guards will all be distracted in just another minute or two, so don’t waste your chance! Run and meet me back at the Owl House!”

no, little demon

come back inside, little squirrel creature

Halfway across the Conformatorium’s main chamber, a door creaks open, and King finally takes it as his cue to bolt.

so bright

too bright

can’t see

kill the lights

“Eda the Owl Lady!” Warden Wrath’s voice echoes. “I’ve been waiting so long for this moment…”

new demon

bigger demon?

bigger meal

Warden Wrath is wholly unprepared for the explosion of claws and feathers that tears through iron like it’s parchment, then barrels out of the Owl Lady’s cell with a scream that would cause a banshee to lose their voice for a week. The monster rakes a clawed hand across the wall, shredding half a dozen torches into tinder with a single blow — then turns to face Wrath, baring her fangs and grinning.

Wrath has read of the bloodthirsty strixes, the owlishly metamorphosed victims of potent curses — but he’s never encountered one face-to-face, never stared into these black eyes that are simultaneously so empty and so cunning. A lesser warden might turn tail and flee, but Wrath knows his duty.

Strixes are unnatural. Improper. Unpredictable. Feral.

Unsuitable for society, but a worthy opponent for him.

He charges, swinging a scythe-hand, and Eda effortly catches it with her fangs. She swings Wrath around like a toy, sending him careening into the wall — but he has a trick up his sleeve, and he transforms his hand into a hammer that pries Eda’s jaws open before she can extricate her teeth from his flesh.

Wrath laughs as Eda recoils, as she spits out dark ichor and shards of shattered yellow fangs. The acidic ichor sizzles as it lands on the cobblestone floor, and its ghastly smell reaches Wrath even through the herb-stuffed beak of his mask.

Seeing their warden stagger backwards from the pool of acid, two guards rush Eda — a mistake, they realize a few seconds too late. They add a degree of entropy to the battle that the strix exploits, whirling around and delivering two powerful kicks from her rear legs — and before Wrath can even admonish his inferiors, they’ve been flung on top of him, their heavy metal armor pinning him to the ground.

Eda licks her lips, advancing slowly, savoring the moment. A tiny drop of icor dribbles down her chin from the corner of her mouth, and her batlike ears twitch with delight.

Wrath’s arms are pinned, and any sudden shapeshifting movement will surely provoke the strix to lunge before he can get an attack off. Unable to remove his mask, yet left with no other option, he points his head at Eda as best as he can, and opens his mouth.

As the spout of flame incinerates the likeliness of a raven beak and spills out to fill the hall, Eda screeches and extends her wings so quickly that a sonic boom tears though the Conformatorium. Cast-iron gates are shattered, cobblestone is pulverized into rubble, and leagues of demons and witches run free.

Nearly overwhelmed by the stampede, Wrath staggers to his feet just in time to see the strix take flight, and soar out the skylight at the top of the prison dome.

***

Eda awakens beneath a tree, scattered patches of feathers still present where the early-morning sunlight hasn’t yet crept through the leaves to dapple her skin. As she collects herself and steps out into the direct sunlight, her transformation fully reverts — though her stomach still grumbles for flesh and blood. She’ll just have to get home quickly and quell it with an elixir, instead.

When she walks into the Owl House, King almost immediately springs into her arms and breaks down sobbing. “I was so worried! I ran like you said but I heard so much screaming and I saw something get lit on fire and I wasn’t sure if that was what you meant to do or —”

“I never do exactly what I mean to do,” Eda tells him, forcing a smile. “It wouldn’t be very wild and unpredictable of me if I did, would it?”

She sets King down on the couch. “But you can always count on one thing — I’m never leaving home without my magic staff again.”

#the owl house #the owl house eda #the owl house king #eda the owl lady #warden wrath #the owl house spoilers #the owl house fanfiction #rosalia writes fic

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nobodyfamousposts · 5 years ago

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Dolls AU - Papa’s Day

Who wants to cry?

Mother’s Day had been a day to remember.

Sure, there had been the initial panic with Littlebug disappearing. And then the discovery of another living doll running around. Because yeah, it was a Chat Noir doll—which was awesome, but more importantly it meant that Littlebug wasn’t alone. There was the initial fear that there was actually an akuma involved and someone was making more of these dolls for some unknown purpose, but that was soon erased when he realized that the dolls both came from Marinette and that she was fully aware of making them.

Oh, and the discovery that Marinette was actually Ladybug. There was that, too.

He…hadn’t known what to think at first. It wasn’t quite the romantic identity reveal he’d been dreaming of, but it was AN identity reveal and seeing Marinette’s shocked and stammering reaction more than made up for it. Revealing himself in turn ended up feeling less like a build up he’d been expecting and more like a release.

He hadn’t even realized just how much he’d been stressing over it, actually. Not knowing who she was under the mask meant she could be anyone—from someone like Rose to someone like Chloe. All this time he had been trying to prepare himself for that. But the matter he hadn’t considered—or rather had been trying very hard not to think about—was how SHE would react to the discovery of HIM. Would she like him as Adrien? What if she hated him? What if he wasn’t the type of person she could like? What if her knowing his identity unsettled things too much?

And now that the answers were there, it only brought up other questions. Because he knew Marinette wouldn’t hate him. But…now that they knew they were already friends, what effect would this have? What if it ruined their team dynamic? What if they messed up because of this?

He was excited, sure. But he was also really uncertain. And it seemed she was, too.

“Aren’t you…?” She started before trailing off, worried and biting her lip.

“I’m really happy to know it’s you.” He assured her. Because if Ladybug did end up being someone he already knew, he was only all too pleased that she would be Marientte.

“No,” She shook her head. “Aren’t you…aren’t you scared?”

Truthfully, he was. For a lot of reasons.

“If Hawk Moth gets either of us, the other will automatically be at risk. Then there’s the fact that now I know it isn’t just Chat Noir fighting monsters, it’s Adrien, too. And that…that’s difficult to take in.”

“I’m scared, too.” He admitted. “A lot could go wrong.”

He felt something shuffle onto his lap and looking down, he couldn’t help but smile at the way Littlebug was looking up at him encouragingly. He patted her head in response, feeling calmer just by having her support.

“It’s scary knowing that if I lost Ladybug, I’d be losing Marinette, too.” He looked back up at Marinette. “And it’s definitely going to be different going into a fight knowing it’s Marinette I’m actually working with. That’s something I’m going to have to figure out how to manage. But I think this could be a good thing, as well.” He hesitated a moment before taking her hand in his. “Now that we know, we can support each other both in the masks and as ourselves. We can make this work.”

“You think so?” She asked, hopefully.

He nodded. “We’ve done it before. Both as Ladybug and Chat Noir as well as Marinette and Adrien. We just need to figure out out the dynamics on both sides of the mask and work out the best way to use this to our advantage.” He couldn’t help the smirk at that. “And if anyone excels at that, it’s you, My Lady.”

Seeing her smile and the way she lit up at the prospect made him feel braver as well. It was…kind of comforting to know that Marinette had a lot of the same worries. And it showed that there was more to discover.

They spent a lot of the rest of the day just talking. Mostly about their respective dolls, how Marinette had made them, what they had been up to. But also about their lives—why Littlebug had been so good for Adrien and how Chaton (She called him “Chaton”! How adorable!) had been keeping Marinette on her toes. What Marinette had discovered about the dolls and their powers. What Adrien had noticed about Littlebug and how things work around her.

But…they also talked about themselves and each other. Finding out Marinette had been holding a crush on him all this time was a pleasant surprise. And his explanation for just WHY he had fallen for Ladybug since around the same timeframe also seemed to have more of an impact than any of his previous attempts at confessions.

It was nice knowing that they had been each other’s crush all along, but…for all that they were both happy to have the reveal (if not just a bit worried and having valid concerns about Hawk Moth in the meantime), the sudden revelation of the other's secret identity and having their own known did have an impact all it’s own and they had to acknowledge were both struggling to navigate that.

The reveal didn’t come with a romantic relationship like he had been fantasizing all this time. It did, however, certainly come with A new relationship, and one he certainly wasn’t disappointed by. It was not just a closer partnership with Marinette, but also a change in setup with the dolls. Now that they both knew about the dolls, it seemed wrong to keep them apart—especially given how happy the two seemed to be together.

Thus they agreed on arranging regular playdates and exchanging of “custody” (as Adrien called it) or “babysitting duty” (per Plagg as he groaned all the while). With an exchange of schedules, they started to coordinate times to meet—both to bring the dolls together and to allow themselves a chance to spend time together and continue to figure things out as well. To Adrien’s relief, this reveal also meant that when his schedule got particularly hectic, he had someone he could leave Littlebug with whom he could trust with her care. And Marinette admitted feeling the same about Chaton.

“Even if he is a little troll sometimes.” She commented, giving the little guy a poke. Chaton merely smiled cheekily before grabbing Marinette’s finger and nuzzling it, prompting a round of petting that left the doll a curled up vibrating mass in her lap.

There was also the matter that he was pretty certain the dolls had planned this out. And though he couldn’t really bring himself to ground Littlebug for it, he did give her a firm talking to once they had gotten home (though he doubted it really made a difference given how proud she continued to look).

The next month was spent this way. Spending more free time together. Finding more spots in his schedule to add meetings and get togethers. It was taking a bit of time for the two of them to reconcile what they knew of each other as civilians and what they knew of each other as their superhero partner, but it was time worth investing and Adrien was only finding himself enjoying getting to know Marinette more and more.

And through it all, though he hadn’t thought it possible, he only found himself falling more and more in love with her.

All in all, Mother’s Day had been full of surprises. Adrien couldn’t say he regretted or was disappointed with any of them. With that one day, several of his desires came to fruition and while they weren’t exactly how he had envisioned, he had still been more than satisfied with the results.

If Mother’s Day could turn out that well for that side of things, he thought to himself that night with growing hope, then maybe Father’s Day would work out, too?

______________________________

Father’s Day blows.

Part of him felt bad for the negative thought, but the rest of him was too hurt and disappointed (and angry, though he wouldn’t admit that) to care.

Adrien had prepared a good couple months in advance, even before the incidents of Mother’s Day. He made sure Nathalie kept both their schedules clear. He bought the specially designed gift. He made the card himself. He had specifically requested his Father’s favorite meal to be the dinner. He had even managed to find a special edition copy of his mother’s movie for them to watch together. Then after the reveal with the dolls and Marinette, she had even been kind enough to agree to keep the two with her for the day despite her own Father’s Day planning. And while the two didn’t seem particularly happy, they settled with little fuss.

He set up everything. All he needed was for his Father to be there.

…wild guess which one didn’t happen.

It was a last minute meeting, Nathalie had told him. There were no other times the other party would be available. It was very important. It couldn’t wait.

And of course this meeting took precedence.

And of course it lasted the entire day.

And of course all of Adrien’s well fashioned plans were made pointless. All with a single phone call.

He didn’t even bother to voice his displeasure. He barely ate any of the food—no point when it tasted like ash anyway. He didn’t try knocking on the door to his father’s office, which lacked anymore sound or indication of life than any of the rest of the house. If he tried to knock, he half expected there would be an echo.

Instead, he gave up and just went to his room.

“How pointless.”

So Adrien was left sitting on his bed, looking down at the stupid card and the stupid box with the stupid gift he’d gotten for the stupid dinner his father, kicking himself mentally for being so stupid. Because of course his father wouldn’t come. Of course the man in charge of a fashion company would have better things to do than spend Father’s Day with his own son.

But…he’d hoped.

“Come on, kid.” Plagg said, trying to cheer him up. “You can still give it to him another day, can’t you?”

“I know.” Adrien sighed.

Plagg merely floated close by, listening.

“I know it’s silly to expect so much out of one day, but…” He couldn’t help clenching his fist. “I had put so much into this! I prepared ahead of time. I went well out of my way to make sure everything was set up. I made sure he wouldn’t be busy. All he had to do was just BE there, if just for half an hour, and he…and he…”

He flopped back on the bed, staring balefully up at the ceiling.

“He couldn’t even do that.”

His eyes trailed to the kwami who could only look down at him despondently.

“What did I do wrong?”

Plagg winced. “Nothing! It wasn’t your fault.”

“But it had to be something.” He argued. “If he can find time for everyone else, what does it say when I have to schedule to be able to spend time with my father? And that even after all that, he would just put me off anyway?”

“It says that he’s a crappy father.” Plagg replied, bluntly.

He almost laughed at that. He didn’t, though. He was certain he would start to cry if he did.

“Adrien…”

“I think I just want to call it a day.” He replied, bitterly. Nothing personal to the kwami, but for all that Plagg could be supportive, Adrien really just wanted to forget this day happened and try to sleep.

The insistent tapping sound made that difficult, though.

Wait—tapping?

A poke in his shoulder pulled at his attention. “Kid, you got company.”

Weird. There couldn’t be anyone at the door. Nathalie and the staff had no doubt already left for the day.

The tapping continued, more insistent.

Adrien raised his head up to look towards the window and—oh! That company.

He practically jumped to his feet and quickly made his way to the window where Ladybug was waiting…along with a carrier bag? He shook his head and unlocked it to allow her entry.

“Ladybug? Is everything alright?”

“I’m fine. There’s nothing wrong, just wanted to visit.” She reassured him as she entered. In a flash, her transformation ended and Tikki was there as well. “I’m sorry. I know you had plans, and I hope we didn’t interrupt.”

He shook his head bitterly. “There was nothing to interrupt anyway.”

She frowned, clearly displeased. “I see.”

Apparently she did see there was more than he was telling her. But while she was not happy about it, she did not comment on it further. For that, he was grateful.

“Then it’s a good thing we came by after all.”

That got his attention.

“We?”

She gave a smile that made his heart flutter and set down the bag. It was one he recognized quite well, and he was pretty sure he knew what—or rather who was inside.

And sure enough, two little heads poked up out of the bag and two sets of eyes settled immediately on him.

“They wanted to see you.” She explained with the fond smile, though no explanation was really necessary.

They never needed an explanation to be able to see him.

Sure enough, two little sets of eyes peered up at him from the bag. He couldn’t stop the smile. “Hey, you two. What have you been doing to make Marinette come all this way?”

It wasn’t admonishment, not really. There was a teasing lit to his voice and he couldn’t help but feel glad to see them.

Somehow, they could sense this, because both reached up for him. And in short order, Adrien had two little dolls in his arms and hugging him as tightly as their little plush bodies would allow.

Marinette laughed quietly. “I think they missed you.” Tikki giggled behind her hands and even Plagg gave a small smile.

“But they saw me just this morning.” Adrien replied. That didn’t stop him though, as he hugged them back just as much. “I missed you, too.”

It was all too soon that the two were pushing away from him, just enough to point to the bag that Marinette placed on his table. Curious, he took them over and set them both on the table next to the bag.

“How were they?” He asked Marinette.

“They were fine. Quiet most of the day, though I was admittedly a bit distracted with the ‘Dupain-Cheng Father’s Day Mecha Strike Tournament’.”

He blinked. “Really?”

She shrugged with a small chuckle. “It was what he wanted.”

He felt guilty as he was mixed parts happy for her and jealous of how simple it was to appease her father and how easily they could spend time together. The others seemed to catch on, as he was jerked out of his brooding before it could really begin by a little plush polka-dotted hand tugging on his own to guide him to the bag.

“What’s this then?” He asked, curious.

Marinette smirked. “While I was busy preparing for my Father’s Day, these two were busy as well.”

Both Chaton and Littlebug were staring up at him eagerly, Littlebug pulling and Chaton pointing—both wanting him to check the bag. Confused on how to respond, he looked to Marinette for answers. She simply smiled and shook her head.

“How about you let him take a seat and I’ll pull them out?”

The two dolls merely bounced eagerly, not at all put off by the waiting. Amused, Adrien sat in the chair and watched as Marinette reached into the bag to get whatever it was they had wanted him to see.

“Here we are!” She announced as she pulled out a piece of paper. Chaton stood up on the tips of his toes and made grabby hands for the page. Again, Adrien found himself smiling at the antics as the doll almost seemed to cheer once he had the paper in hand. Turning to Adrien, Chaton almost seemed to be beaming with excitement and pride as he held out the paper to him.

It was a picture. Childishly drawn in crayons with little blobs of color that he easily recognized were supposed to be people. Himself, Marinette, Littlebug, and Chaton. There were even two little circles with eyes floating above them that could only be Tikki and Plagg.

And words.

Happy Papa’s Day!

He suddenly found himself having to blink. A lot.

“My Lady?” He asked, trying not to choke. “What is this?”

“After you mentioned your Father’s Day plans, they got curious and wanted to know what it was. And once they knew…” Marinette sent him another smile as she pulled something else out of the bag—something woolen. Cloth? Two of them—one red with black polka dots and the other was black with green dots…no wait…cat prints. “They wanted to do something special for you.”

Littlebug took the items from Marinette and presented them to Adrien as well.

He reached out for them, finding his hands unsteady as he took hold of the cloth and…oh…mittens.

“They were really insistent on doing this themselves. They made the card,” The picture, he realized. “They both knitted the mittens as well.”

Heh…hehe…his kittens made him mittens.

Marinette paused, realizing just how much he was shaking.

“Adrien?”

“I’m just…I’m gonna need a minute.”

He didn’t want to cry. It’d mean he was sad and make them sad but it hurt except it was such a sweet hurt and he didn’t…he didn’t know what to—

“It’s okay.” A soft whisper came as arms wrapped around him.

Slowly, he reached out and hugged her back.

“It’s okay, Adrien.”

And like that he gave in and let the tears fall.

It had to have been a few minutes that they stayed like that. Him in her arms and her holding him and smoothing his hair. She didn’t shush him or try to make him stop. She just let him get it out because this was too sweet and he didn’t deserve it except he did—he had to because they were there—they were all there and they clearly felt he deserved it because they wouldn’t still be there otherwise. He felt Marinette’s hand in his hair and two sets of arms hugging his legs and even Plagg had nestled into his neck with Tikki on the other side. And he just cried and they let him and for once he didn’t feel like such a bother even though he knew he was getting Marinette’s shirt wet and Plagg never really cared to show any real emotions besides laziness but he was purring into his shoulder and…

He wasn’t the best son. So how was it that he could be considered a good father?

How could they see him that way?

He hadn’t done anything to deserve it. He didn’t raise them. Or make them. He only spent time with them and took them places and hugged them and taught them things and…

He was with them. Even when he was busy he still tried to make time for them. That was…only everything he wanted from his own father and it was impossible wasn’t it? How could it possibly be that easy of a thing to give?

Just some of his time…and it was just that simple?

So…why couldn’t his own Father do it?

It was a few minutes before the shaking eased and the tears ebbed. There was a feeling of stress flowing from his body that he hadn’t realized just how tense he had been before. It was amazing how crying could actually make you feel better.

“Adrien?”

“Thank you, Marinette.” He whispered. “But I’d like to stay like this just a little longer if you can.”

He felt a pressure to his head that in any other situation would have sent him over the moon but now only made him feel more relaxed. “Whenever you’re ready.”

So they remained like that. Nobody speaking or indicating any discomfort their very positions probably caused them. Adrien couldn’t express just how grateful he was that nobody pulled away. They stayed there until he was ready to pull away. It felt like it was simultaneously too long and too soon when he was finally calm enough to pull away. Marinette smiled sadly in understanding. Tikki floated up and patted his cheek. Plagg…surprisingly didn’t move from his place, though the purring did die down. The kids though…

There was shuffling again from the now overturned bag as the dolls were reaching in and pulling out…a couple of big things.

“Oh. There was one other thing.” Marinette said as she guided him to the table.

Adrien almost didn’t believe his eyes.

Awaiting him was a pink ceramic bowl, a spoon, and a box of cereal. He didn’t know what kind it was—something sugary and filled with marshmallows, given the packaging. Something clearly unhealthy.

He couldn’t find it in him to care.

“They wanted to bake something for you as well, but I figured it might be better to have something simpler in case you had just eaten.” She explained as the two dolls set to opening the box. She gave a small chuckle. “It’s also because the last time Chaton tried to make something, we ended up with 750 macarons.”

He blinked in shock. “Like…750 actual individual ones?”

“Yeah. I had a hard time explaining it to my parents. That and the loss of all the ingredients used up in the process before I caught him and stopped him from making more. Then Littlebug found out about it and wanted to try. She apparently had a goal of 2000.”

He gaped. “So that was why you kept giving out all those macarons!”

She laughed. “Kind of makes me wish they’d been there for Heroes Day. My picnic announcement wouldn’t have been any issue with them helping me.”

He couldn’t help but laugh as well. Both dolls looked all too pleased with the praise.

A Father’s Day dinner of a children’s cereal and milk from his own fridge, shared with his superhero partner and gifted by the two pseudo-children in plush form. It had been overly sweet, chock full of sugar and calories and all sorts of unhealthy things that would have made his dietician have a heart attack. There had even been a little toy inside. A kazoo of all things.

It was weird.

It was probably the best Father’s Day dinner he’d ever had.

While he and Marinette had been eating, the kids were looking over his movie cabinet. He hadn’t realized just what they were doing until he had finished eating and they approached him with a DVD in hand.

The Incredibles.

They looked up at him pleadingly.

“Yeah. Okay.”

A movie sounded really good right now.

And as he settled in to watch, Marinette sitting by his side, the kwamis resting on the top of the couch, and two little forms seating between them, he couldn’t think of a time he had felt more loved.

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etaleah · 5 years ago

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Clichés Turned Upside Down in Good Omens

I took Neil Gaiman’s MasterClass (which is quite good, would recommend) and particularly enjoyed the video about incorporating humor into your writing. His advice was (in a nutshell) to take a cliché and turn it on its head to make your audience laugh. Make fun of the cliché or give it an ironic twist, with characters being more concerned about a little thing than a big thing. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Good Omens is chock-full of this. It constantly does the opposite of what we expect to create humorous moments. Some examples:

The angel is selfish, a little bit of a bastard, and more than a little materialistic. The demon is nice and hardly materialistic at all (with the one exception of the car, but let’s face it, who wouldn’t cherish a beautiful Bentley like that?).

The angel and the demon are friends instead of enemies, allowing for many odd couple moments.

Armageddon is funny and comical. That alone makes the story unique; end-of-the-world plots don’t typically lend themselves to humor.

The demon is shocked by humans and maybe a little afraid of them too. Other stories about demons may have them laughing maniacally at humanity’s crimes or be proud of having caused them, but Crowley, demon of Hell, is just out here like WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING and that’s funny to think about.

The witch who is accused and caught in the witch hunt is actually a witch. Think of every other story you know about witch hunts and witch trials. The woman is never really a witch; she’s just a poor sap who gets scapegoated by misogynistic men and ends up dragged to the stake kicking and screaming and begging them not to kill her. The accusation tends to be something “sinful” like dancing naked in the woods or some such thing. Badass Queen Agnes Nutter though? She’s a real witch who gets accused of doing nice things like healing people and then goes marching right in with her head held high and is all “Joke’s on you motherfuckers! If I go down, I’m taking you with me.” This is brilliant because it’s not only a cliché turned into humor but is also effective satire. It highlights the fatal flaw in the witch hunting argument: If these women really were witches with magical powers, wouldn’t they see the mob coming and save themselves?

The omens mentioned are good instead of bad. That’s why “Good Omens” is such a fantastic title. It gets your attention because it’s the opposite of what you typically hear, which is “bad omen.” In any other fantasy book, the prophecies are gloomy and foreboding, predicting big bad things like a villain coming to destroy the world. And here Agnes is prophesying nice little things like “Hey, maybe don’t buy Betamax.”

Instead of a demon, it’s the angel who possesses someone. It’s even somewhat amicable (and consensual? I think?), with the possessed person still maintaining some control. That never happens in stories like The Exorcist and other horror movies involving possessions. It gets even better when you consider that the person he’s possessing is someone the angels and religious bigots might consider unholy.

Also the Antichrist is the one who “exorcises” Aziraphale from the possessed person.

The satanic nuns. Like, as a concept.

There’s a bookseller who will do everything in his power not to sell books.

The hellhound becomes a nice, friendly dog instead of a generic evil monster.

The Antichrist is a normal-seeming kid with friends and not a scary-looking dark-haired child who’s isolated.

The “computer engineer” is terrible with computers.

Peace and food are presented as the things that must be stopped at all costs (from War and Famine’s POV and to some extent from Heaven and Hell’s too).

Angels using profanity. Like, did anyone not burst out laughing when Aziraphale said fuck? It’s funny because it’s the last thing you expect an angel to say.

The demon’s “evil deeds” are just silly pranks, which he himself tends to get hurt by.

The real guns don’t kill anyone. As Crowley said, it wouldn’t be funny if the folks at Tadfield had died. And in the book, the paintball scene is set up like a cliché getting-shot-and-killed scene only for them to realize they were overreacting and are actually fine. It’s a shame the show didn’t do this too because it really is hilarious.

Mr. Dowling doesn’t actually realize what’s important in life when his son is born.

Angels buying pornography. ‘Nuff said.

“Sorry, right number.”

“Get thee behind me, foul fiend! After you.”

“You can’t kill me! There’ll be paperwork.”

The only demonic wrath from Crowley is directed at plants for not growing and flourishing enough. Any other demon in any other show or movie would be like “BOW BEFORE ME! KNEEL BEFORE MY ARMY! KILL YOUR FAMILY! SACRIFICE YOUR VIRGINS ON A PYRE AND WORSHIP AT MY FEET!” But Crowley is just like, “END LEAF SPOTS 2k19!″

Aliens bring messages of global peace instead of threats of conquest or destruction.

And when Newt tells Shadwell about the aliens, he couldn’t care less and is all about nipples.

Someone who can do real magic thinks that fake magic is more fun. Basically Aziraphale is the angel version of Arthur Weasley and that’s beautiful.

Shadwell says “This is where I pop the question” and instead of proposing, he asks Madame Tracy how many nipples she has.

And finally, one of my favorite examples is the seance. Every other seance scene I’ve watched in media is very tense and tearful, with the widowed relative crying and desperate to reach their lover, full of things left unsaid and such, but this lady just wants to reach her husband so she can keep nagging and complaining. It’s like she doesn’t even realize he’s dead. And instead of wanting to hear her voice one more time, he can’t wait to never hear her voice again.

And these are just the ones I could think of off the top of my head. I have no doubt if I went through the book and show with a fine-tooth comb, I could come up with more (and please, feel free to add any I forgot). Can’t wait to read Neil’s and Terry’s works and see what other clichés they turned into laughs.

#good omens #good omens meta #masterclass #neil gaiman #humor #my thoughts #analysis

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 5 years ago

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Psycho Analysis: Imhotep

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

The Mummy movies are a lot of fun. Who could hate a young, charming Brendan Fraser having the time of his life fighting mummies and raiding tombs? Clearly this was a sign of a long, happy, trouble-free career for the man!

Oh, I’ve gone and made myself sad… let’s just cut right to it and talk about Imhotep.

Imhotep is the villain of the first two films of the series, and he really helps set the tone. Things get a lot less funny and a lot more darker whenever he’s on the scene, changing the tone from “fun, goofy Indiana Jones-esque romp” to a more overtly horror tone. This makes sense, seeing as he’s a soul-sucking undead monster based on one of the classic Universal monsters… but that’s really a very surface-level look at Imhotep. You see, unlike Ahmanet, the previous mummy covered on here, Imhotep has a real personality and motivations beyond being a simple villain hellbent on domination. In fact, Imhotep doesn’t want to conquer the world at all. He has a very simple, even sweet goal that makes him instantly relatable and tragic: all he wants is the woman he loves.

Actor: Arnold Vosloo plays Imhotep to perfection. He hits all the right villain notes whenever the scene calls for it: he can be scary, intimidating, badass, hammy, emotional, and even sexy. The last one’s a given when you spend a lot of the movie either shirtless or wearing a revealing robe, you know? I’m guessing one of the reasons the third movie failed so hard is because he wasn’t there to bring his own brand of awesomeness to the table, though I wouldn’t know because I’ve never watched the third film and like to pretend everything in the franchise ended happily after the first two films and there was nothing but Scorpion King spin-offs until the end of time.

Motivation/Goals: Imhotep is such an odd villain. Despite being a very powerful mystical being who could bring the world to its knees if he wished it, Imhotep is motivated solely by love. All he really wants is to be reunited with his lover Anck-Su-Namun, and he goes to great lengths to achieve this goal, lengths that do put him beyond the pale but also add a layer of tragedy to him.

The second film has him awakened by a cult to try and steal a supernatural army from Dwayne “The Scorpion King” Johnson, which ends up leading to him becoming far less sympathetic and a lot more cliche in terms of goals, though the romantic and sympathetic qualities are there still. They’re just now forced to share screentime with character traits that Imhotep didn’t really have in the first film, and while they don’t ruin him by any means and they help play into his ultimate tragedy, it just feels kind of sad they made Imhotep return and use him for a “take over the world” plot when his first outing had him really stand out as a villain in a big-budget action movie that didn’t have such a trite motive.

Personality: Imhotep is a pretty nice and friendly guy, for an ancient mummy. In the first film especially, he’s awful open about his plans to Beni and even keeps his word to him, and just in general he’s rather affable… unless, of course, you get in his way, in which case he will kill you without hesitation. He ends up dropping a lot of his more affable personality in the second film, which does come to bite him in the ass. It’s honestly pretty sad, because all that really ends up making him a villain is the manner in which he goes about his goals. Obviously bringing his loved one back would be a grim affair no matter what, but he goes way too far, with his desire to be with the woman he loves driving him to disturbing lengths to be back with her. In fact, the fact that he is such a loving man really plays into his ultimate tragedy, as he continuously suffers for love and in the end his suffering is rendered moot. Maybe villains who can’t comprehend love are better off after all.

Final Fate: In The Mummy Returns, Imhotep is clinging to a ledge and begs for his lover Anck-Su-Namun to save him. Instead, she flees, and Imhotep sees a similar situation happening with Rick and Evy; it ends exactly as you’d expect a dangerous situation with a protagonist couple to end in a cheesy adventure film. Imhotep looks to them with a look filled with jealousy and respect, and then lets go of the ledge, falling into the underworld. It’s a rather depressing and tragic fate that really highlights that for all the evil he did, Imhotep really only wanted to be with the woman he loved, and after all the pain and suffering he endured trying to make that happen, it ended up being all for nothing. It also ends up being ironic and karmic; throughout the film, he shows a lack of empathy for those serving under him, so it ends up being fitting the only person he cares about genuinely would leave him in his time of need.

Best Scene: Imhotep’s giant sandstorm from the first movie. It has become an iconic signature scene of the trilogy for a reason, after all.

Best Quote: So I didn’t exactly find a great quote from Imhotep himself on Wikiquote (my usual source), but I did find a quote from Arnold Vosloo himself that I think sums up Imhotep quite nicely:

“I’m so thankful that all that stuff made it to the screen, because a lot of the time studio executives say that there’s no time, or ask why we should feel sympathy for this bad guy. I joke that I’m the romantic lead in the movie, I just happened to pick the wrong girl. Imhotep is kind of the tragic villain, I guess, and a lot of people have come up to me and said I was hating you, but then I reach a point when I was feeling sorry for you too. It's those different facets that help explain why this film is such a success."

Final Thoughts & Score: For such a bunch of silly adventure films, they sure did go hard when it came to giving us a fantastic villain. Imhotep is, to be fair, not the most complex character in the world; I think being in a film like The Mummy kind of necessitates you being rather simple. But much like the movies he inhabits, he takes his simple concept and runs with it, elevating it into being something greater.

I love how he’s a villain not motivated by power, greed, or ambition, but a desperate desire to be with the person he loves most. In these sort of Indiana Jones-esque archaeological adventure films, you kind of expect to have the main villain or villains being motivated by greed, or power, or something to that effect, but here those motivations are relegated to side villains and our big bad is simply someone who really wants the girl he lived and died for in his arms again. It adds a layer of tragedy to Imhotep, which is only exacerbated in the sequel and then comes to his ultimate conclusion with his final death.

I think Imhotep really shines where a mummy like Princess Ahmanet ultimately failed: he has a clear, defined personality as well as a more relatable goal than “destroy the world.” As much as I enjoyed Princess Ahmanet from the reboot, my wife was right to point out in her guest spot on Psycho Analysis that her personality boils down to being ambitious and graceful, and not much else. Imhotep, on the other hand, shows a lot of emotion, even to his final look to Rick and Evy, which says so much without a single word being uttered. Ahmanet never really got moments like that, but that’s because she was stuck in a movie with an attention whore like Tom Cruise; Imhotep is in a movie with certified nice guy Brendan Fraser, so of course he’s gonna get his fair share of development.

IMHO Imhotep deserves nothing less than a 9/10. He’s the perfect villain for the cheesy fun of the first two Mummy movies, but he’s also something more, something richer than these movies deserved, and is emblematic of what made those movies so special and beloved: how, despite their flaws, there was just some magic there that allowed the films to rise above their simplistic popcorn action reimaginings of a classic monster movie to become something that even decades after the fact people still love and cherish to this day. The only thing holding him back from a perfect ten is the fact that the second film doesn’t do him quite as much justice; I have to say, the whole “world domination” thing looks better on an ambitious royal like Ahmanet than it does on a tragic romantic like Imhotep. Still, there’s no denying that Imhotep is a cool, fun villain for some cool, fun movies.

#Psycho Analysis #Imhotep #The Mummy #The Mummy Returns #Arnold Vosloo

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precuredaily · 5 years ago

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Precure Day 162

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 14 - “Karen, The Troubled Student Council President” Date watched: 3 December 2019 Original air date: 6 May 2007 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/ZVrof8Y Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

Karen has a big think

It’s Karen’s turn to hold the character development conch. This time, we get to see how she handles pressure from all directions! We also find out a little secret about Otaka-san and the school’s leadership. Good stuff, so let’s dive in!

The Plot

Various clubs approach Karen, aggressively requesting budget increases. The futsal club can’t afford new balls, the drama club can’t afford costumes, the judo club can’t afford new weights, the list goes on. Karen is taken aback and tries to explain the complexities of the situation to the students, but they are insistent. After trying to come up with a solution, she approaches the Vice Principal and explains her situation, requesting a budget increase for all the clubs. He is reluctant to change the budget that’s already been agreed upon for the year, but because he respects her decision to approach him, he will take it up with the principal. The VP goes to the Principal, revealed (to the audience) to actually be Otaka-san the lunch lady, but she insists that she doesn’t believe they need a budget increase, and there are still solutions the clubs haven’t yet come up with to resolve their budget woes. Komachi talks with Karen, commending her willingness to work hard for the clubs where before she probably would have simply said that the budget was already decided and they had to make do with what they had. The influence of their determined young friends is rubbing off on them.

Coincidentally, Nightmare is also having budget issues of a sort. Although they aren’t in a pinch, Kawarino is scolding Bunbee for blowing a lot of money without producing any results, and implies that his subordinates are useless and the whole department could get restructured. Bunbee decides to go fight the girls himself to get some results.

Back at school, Karen is still being hounded by the clubs, and her attempts at de-escalation aren’t working, so Otaka almost steps in, but Komachi is actually the one to put her foot down, startling everyone. She reminds the club leaders that they agreed to their annual budgets before the proposal was sent to the school administration, and that Karen alone cannot solve everything. With help from Nozomi, she gets them all to line up and explain their problems, to see if they can work together and figure out alternative solutions within their existing budgets.

The biggest offender is the drama club, which is going way over budget because they’ve picked a play with lots of extravagant costumes. However, Komachi gets them to work with the sewing club, who were looking for a platform to display their work, and the two split costs in this mutually beneficial agreement. The Judo club couldn’t afford to buy new weights AND new uniforms, but they also got the sewing club to patch up their uniforms so they could buy heavier weights, and donated their older ones to the futsal club. Now that she doesn’t need to buy weights, Rin can afford new balls, and donates the old ones to the art club, who find their shape and texture very inspirational.

I’d like to point out that the dumbbell Nozomi is struggling to lift is only 5 KG, that’s about 11 lbs.

With everyone’s issues resolved, the girls enjoy a moment of peace as Rin takes her new dumbbells to her club space, but on the way, Bunbee shows up to cause trouble. He turns the dumbbells into a Kowaina and taunts the girls about his own superiority. They transform and fight back, but he is pretty strong. When Mint shields one of the monster’s attacks, he launches a missile that breaks the shield, and he easily dodges when Rouge and Aqua try to fight him in the air. Dream and Lemonade have no luck fighting the Kowaina and they’re all left on the ground, defeated. Bunbee boasts about how much easier it is to do everything himself, and Aqua scoffs. She says she used to feel that way, but now she knows they’d never win if they did that, and the team springs into action. Bunbee tries to missile them again, and again Mint uses her shield, but this time Aqua also blocks it with Aqua Stream and this weakens it enough to bounce off the shield. Dream and Rouge restrain the Kowaina while Lemonade attacks it with Lemonade Flash, then the two throw it and perform their finishers. The Kowaina is destroyed and Bunbee retreats, self-justifying the day by saying you have to spend money to make money.

Back at the lunch table, Nozomi observes that Komachi might actually be stronger than Karen, which gives them all pause. Otaka comes over with a basket full of yakisoba bread, claiming the principal told her how they avoided a budget crisis, and suddenly people from all the other clubs appear, all vying for some of the free bread. Nozomi cries because the crowd beat her to the stuff she really wanted, and that’s the ending card.

The Analysis

What a fun episode. Karen’s commitment to the students is really earnest and inspiring. You can see why she’s the president, and even how much progress she’s made since the start of the show. Old Karen just cared about order, new Karen has the best interests of the students in mind and wants to meet them where they’re at. She fields the ire of the various clubs like a champ, trying not to get overwhelmed, and explaining the delicate balance that is adjusting budgets: since the budget has already been agreed upon, for her to allocate more to one group than previously agreed means the money has to come out of somewhere else, and that could put the other party in a pinch. Important financial lesson for the kids in the audience, too. And when her advice isn’t sufficient for them, she goes to bat for them by requesting assistance from the VP. My only criticism is that she probably should have asked why they needed more money first to see where their funds were tied up at, but honestly I would probably do the same thing, jumping straight to “let me get them what they say they need” and not “let me look into the situation more”.

When they get to the drama club and find out the reason they’re so over budget is because they decided to produce an expensive-ass play, I about died. LOOK AT THIS OUTFIT.

gosh I wonder why

There’s a lesson in here somewhere about working within your limitations. Urara suggests they do a simpler show like Kintarou, which would have costumes and props they could reuse in other shows, but from the club president’s response I get the impression they’ve done far too many shows like that and are sick of it. Also can’t fault them for doing something different. I remember in my junior year (11th grade), my school put on a production of “High School Musical” (this was when that was still a pretty fresh and hot property) and it sold like crazy, so the next year they were able to perform “Little Shop of Horrors”, renting the Audrey II puppets from somewhere. It’s okay to dream big, but you gotta make sure you can afford it. (inb4 ok boomer) However, working with the sewing club was a very good compromise. They get a platform to showcase their work, the drama club gets good costumes for cheaper, and they split the costs. Some of the other deals are a bit more one-sided but as long as everyone’s happy, it works.

By the way, Komachi’s restraint when the club president goes “oh yeah we spent all our budget on that one outfit and we need a bunch more” is remarkable. (I looked it up and I see similarities to Les Miserables: it’s a famous story that takes place over multiple generations and features LOTS of recurring characters) Komachi is, thankfully, very good at keeping herself in check, but if you manage to set her off, she is downright scary. That’s a common attribute for shield-based Cures, and it started here.

For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, since they only have a few of the costumes done, the drama club president is only ever seen in-costume, looking like a prince with a pencil mustache drawn onto her face. If we take the bold assumption that this all occurs in one day, even one lunch period, then this makes sense enough, but it’s still kind of silly.

The first half of this episode is so good, and tells a pretty complete story, that both times I watched it I forgot what kind of show it was because I was so absorbed in the antics of the clubs, so I thought the resolution was just going to be sorting out their budgets, when that was actually only the halfway point. The fight with Bunbee in the second half, while good, feels incomplete. I’m not sure if something got lost in translation for the subtitles, because he seems to indicate he spent money on a better Kowaina mask but the subs don’t reflect him saying this, only the girls’ response that it looks the same as normal. I do like them switching up their fighting style, and it comes with one of the strangest calls to action I’ve ever seen:

previously unsaid sentences in human history

The context is that, earlier in the episode, Nozomi and Urara traded lunch items, and now Karen is reminding them all to trade opponents and work together to beat the monster. Hilariously, even though Nozomi was the one who wanted to trade in the first place, she’s the last one to get this coded message, after Rin explains it to her.

She is special.

The elephant in the room here is that Otaka-san, the humble lunch lady who always adds a million onto every order, who appears a little disheveled, is in fact the school’s principal. Books and covers, ya know. I don’t recall if the girls every learn her secret, but it’s revealed to the audience here. I assume she serves as the lunch lady in order to get close to the students and understand what’s going on without calling attention to her position of authority. That’s the thing about power, even if you act relatable, if someone knows you’re way above them on the totem pole, they’re going to act differently, so she has put herself on the level of students. It’s like Undercover Boss except she never reveals the ruse. And honestly, it’s a very good ruse. She is approachable to the students and they all love her, so she can listen to their problems and make sure that the school is running well from the ground level. Also, as the lunch lady, she wears plain clothes, an apron, and flat shoes. Her only accessory is her trademark silver brooch. As the principal, she wears a suit, her hair is more tamed, she wears lipstick and earrings. She even speaks differently between her roles, sounding more raspy in her disguise, while she adopts a more formal and stern tone while acting as the principal. It’s impressive. I know she appears in this role at least one more time in the show, so I look forward to seeing that.

As usual there were some great moments of comedy, wonderful facial expressions, and you can see those chronicled in the gallery.

Next time, in Precure Daily, Nozomi’s mom is sick, so she has to do the housework! How badly will this end?

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 0 kettei!

#Precure #Pretty Cure #Yes! Precure 5 #YPC514 #PCD162

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venus-says · 5 years ago

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Kamen Rider Gaim Movies

Goodbye is a bitter fruit.

Time to sadly end the Gaim cycle with its many movies! Okay, it's not so much, there are only three of them, but there are 5 stories overall to talk about so IT IS A LOT. I'll try to keep things simple considering how long my last Gaim review and I don't wanna put anyone to have to read so much back to back.

In any case, let's send off this series with a bang starting with the stand-alone movie.

Kamen Rider Gaim: Great Soccer Battle! Golden Fruits Cup!

So... I feel like they had an idea for what the Gaim movie should've been, but then a higher up came and said that because of the World Cup this movie needed to include as much propaganda pro the Samurai Blue and then this movie came up as the way as it did. And that's pretty much the reason why I don't like this movie very much because I could see that there was something they were trying to do with Lapis trying to find hope that Humans aren't like the Femushinm and that debate was interesting to a certain extent and I'd love to watch if the movie had gone all the way through with this. But then we have this world obsessed soccer, which I'll admit is more believable than a world where street dance is so important like in the original show, and we have a lot of scenes in the soccer field, and there's a lot of participation of the players who were part the actual team of the Samurai Blue at that time and it's pretty obvious that none of these people have acting experience and is just very awkward, and the damn final fight is a dumb soccer game that to a person like me who doesn't like soccer it looks just stupid.

But the movie has good things too, as I mentioned, there's the "humans are monsters that only hurt each other" aspect of it that is cool, despite thinking it's a stretch I like the concept of trying to emulate the power of the Golden Fruit and creating this creature, and I like that there's finally not just one but two apple-themed riders because that's something I wanted to happen in the show itself not just in that epilogue, I also like this thing where Kougane had to sacrifice other riders in order to use his lock seed, and just like in all Kamen Rider movies the action is awesome, I love that scene of Gaim fighting Kougane and they're doing it riding horses, that was awesome, seeing all riders together was also very cool, I just what we got after it was an actual fight and not a soccer game disguised as a battle, but oh well. In other words, it was enjoyable to a certain extent but not necessarily good.

Gaim Gaiden: Kamen Rider Zangetsu

Zangetsu's special is the one that got me more disappointed out of the four Gaidens we got, but in this case, it's less because the special was bad and more because I had higher expectations for it and we got wasn't what I wanted. When I saw the line-ups I thought Zangetsu and Knuckle would happen after the show ended and Baron and Duke, for obvious reasons, would be set in the past, and I was really excited to see how Takatora was doing in the future. But this was a special set in the past, I believe it must be anytime around episode 20 or so, and this was more to kinda dive in Takatora's mindset around that time of the show. And, you know, that was good, I just wish it was more, I feel like considering all the horrible stuff he learns about his father there they could've explored it more, I was also a bit disappointed that he used the watermelon seed but it was just a color change of his original melon suit, I think that was kinda cheap. But it's still a good special I'd say, I like how it got really emotional at times with him remembering of his childhood, and the end with Duke killing the girl with the apple seed felt really brutal especially because they did a good job with setting up her connection with Takatora.

Gaim Gaiden: Kamen Rider Baron

The Baron special was exactly what I felt that was missing from Kaito's story in the show, it's where we see his backstory and we get to understand how he ended up the way he did. Yeah, it was kinda silly to do this doppelganger plot and everything, but it really worked in this case, I got to learn more from Kaito which made me appreciate what I saw in the show more. Yeah, I think his backstory is a bit way too edgy and is trying hard, but that's Kaito, he's an edgelord so it works. My real problem with the special is how Yoko comes like a Deus Ex Machina at the end to deliver the apple lock seed the girl from Zaangetsu special used, I think they could've spent less time showing Shapool doing his stupid stuff and more time setting up for that moment. But I overall enjoyed this one quite a lot, I love the design of the dragonfruit suit, that was also another fruit I felt like it was missing from the show so I'm glad we got something with it.

Gaim Gaiden 2: Kamen Rider Duke

The Duke special feels a bit odd to me, but despite this weird feeling I really enjoyed it. It feels like this cult, I think their name is Black Bodhi, came out of nowhere and that's pretty much my only problem with this special, but that aside I like the whole thing. One thing that I think it's great here is that we got to see Yoko's and Sid's pasts, that was incredible and left me wanting a Gaiden for Yoko alone exploring that period of her life, seeing how she became a rider, and also giving us a better understanding of why she is the way she is, yes I'm biased I DON'T CARE, just give me that Marika Gaiden, please.

This is right before the energy Riders become a thing I the show and I like to see Takatora and Ryoma's relationship in that time a few episodes before the betrayal happens. This also created a concept of someone harvesting those bomb lock seeds and to me that was just very cool and I wish they had done something similar in the show, like having a section of Yggdrasil dedicated to just that so they have unlimited supply of seeds for the Kurogane troopers to use, it seems like a good idea for them and it'd be very fun. I still don't buy this story of the testing of one of the lock seeds ended up splitting that guy's soul from his body, but I like that this is also used to set up the ground for Knuckle's special, and of course, his Blood Orange + Pomegranate form looks just dope as hell, I love it!

Gaim Gaiden 2: Kamen Rider Knuckle

Knuckle got the best special and I dare to say is the best movie story of the Gaim movies. First, it's set after the show which is great, I love seeing the world recovering after the finale and I like it even more that it shows just how those characters were trying to move forward. I wish they had set up in the show that he has a crush on Peko's sister because there are parts here that rely a lot on his feelings for her, but I feel like they balanced it well showing how much he cared for Kaito and how much he cares for Peko as well, which were both things that were explored in the show, so in the end, I'm okay with it.

One great thing this special does is that it not focus only on Zack but it also gives a lot of character to Peko who pretty much just sits there in the background doing nothing for most of the show, but that has left a great impression on me after these events. We also got to see how Team Baron started which was something I didn't know I needed but that I enjoyed seeing and that also tied up with the motivation of the main antagonist for this special. Speaking on him I liked the dude, he doesn't seem to be a teen that would be a part of that dance crew that kinda originated Baron, but he's an obsessive maniac and it worked. I feel like they were setting up something with that whole thing with the Saver System, but that didn't really go anywhere, which is understandable because, as I mentioned, this was more focused on seeing how Zack and Peko were trying to move on without Kaito, but it did feel like that was useless.

I feel like it's redundant to praise the action at this point, but we can't deny that the action here was once again amazing (that fight Zack had with one os Shura's minions out of suit was incredible), and it also gives me an excuse to talk about Knuckle's new form. To begin I'm glad they actually gave him a new form rather than just a color swap or a form used by another rider, I'm not really sure how the Chestnut Energy came up to be but I'm glad he didn't get the shorter end of the stick just because he was a side character. It doesn't look all that great with the chestnut shells in his hands, but once those go away I feel like the design becomes more harmonious, and I like how it kinda serves as Knuckle's deadly power-up because after he uses it he collapses in the floor making it seem that Zack has died and the ending scene where he dances with Kaito makes it look pretty ambiguous if he's alive or not and I like that! This is definitely worth watching.

And I'm glad I get to close this final post about Gaim in such a good note because this is what this wonderful show deserves. Thank you so much for reading and I hope I can count on you for next week as I finally begin Drive. If you have anything to add, feel free to do it in the comments. See you, folks~

#Kamen Rider Gaim #kamen rider

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rubykgrant · 5 years ago

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Have you never seen Invader ZIM before, but now that the movie is out, you want to know what all the hub-bub is about? Ah, but maybe you don’t want to watch the WHOLE show (although, it isn’t that long and extensive), you just want some episodes to help you get a feel for what it is? Here-

(FYI, for those who aren’t familiar, Invader ZIM has elements of dark humor as well as gross-out moments. I’ll just to put little *warnings for what I remember, so you can avoid something potentially upsetting)

The Nightmare Begins (first episode, introduces the main characters and sets up the show. not much to warn about... yet. some cartoon violence here and there, nothing graphic)

Germs (ZIM becomes panicked about the germs on Earth after watching a sci-fi movie. mildly gross moments, being about germs and all, icky food is a factor)

The Wettening (after both Dib and ZIM discover that the pollution in the water can harm the space alien, they begin a water war. the water causes ZIM’s skin to burn/sizzle, somewhat uncomfortable to see)

Door to Door (after hearing about a “mystery prize”, ZIM is determined to sell the most candy bars and win it, but he gets rather carried away. more icky food moments, including a moment where a character vomits and somebody coughs-up the sawdust that the candy bars are made out of)

Game Slave 2 (Dib’s sister Gaz waits in line for a new gaming system, only to be cheated out of it by another kid. She does not take this well. fairly tame episode regarding disturbing content, perhaps the most jarring is the “colony of rat people” who have become lost in the depths of a parking garage)

Battle of the Planets (there are strange formations on Mars that ZIM investigates, all while Dib does some investigating of his own, leading him to another planet in the solar system. again, mostly just cartoony action)

Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom (Dib is seeing more creepy stuff than normal, even for him. It isn’t just because of Halloween, there is another Nightmare World full of monsters that wish to escape. Both Dib and ZIM get pulled into it. fairly disturbing and disgusting scenes; Dib’s head is a portal to the Nightmare World, and at one point he is sent to the “Crazy House for Boys”, which is an upsetting mental institution image. the monsters are not quite horrific, but they are indeed creepy. at one point the robot Gir eats way too much candy, and it gets a bit gross to watch)

Mysterious Mysteries (a TV shows finally gives Dib a chance to talk about his space aliens theories regarding ZIM, and awkward reenactments are the result. opens with a character that seems to be a person who says incoherent nonsense that people think might be insightful, but the visual gag involves the character character being “over weight and gross”, which is an unpleasant stereo-type. at one point ZIM has a small communication device that he needs to hide, so he says it is his “medication”, and painfully swallows it)

Megadoomer (ZIM accidentally is sent a robotic weapon he thinks will help him conquer earth, but it is far more trouble than it is worth. another fairly mild episode, with general cartoon mayhem/violence that doesn’t get graphic)

Lice (an outbreak of lice at school makes most of the kids miserable, but ZIM seems to be immune. Dib also finds somebody who seems to be even more obsessed with unlikely theories than he is. lots of itching/scratching going on due to the lice, will probably make you feel itchy just watching it. a scene involving a “Lice Queen” similar to that of the Alien Queen from the “Alien” movies is a bit gross and graphic)

Abducted (ZIM has to deal with space aliens who are even more clueless than himself, even when he takes of his disguise they still insist he’s a human, and they plan on “fusing” him in an experiment... they tape a gopher to his head. pretty tame, these other space aliens aren’t very good at what they do, so nothing graphic happens)

The Sad, Sad Tale of Chickenfoot (Dib is determined to dis-prove what he believes to be a fake supernatural creature. gross factor involving disgusting fast-food, and a character wearing a mascot costume for way too long to the point that is has gotten yucky)

Gir goes Crazy and Stuff (in an effort to make Gir more helpful, ZIM locks the robot into “duty mode”, and Gir actually turns out to be more efficient than ZIM. the visuals aren’t too disturbing, but there are somewhat upsetting implications regarding ZIM switching a man’s brain with a squid, and a a child who has been forced to be perpetually happy even when they feel pain)

Tak: The Hideous New Girl (a new kid in class seems interested in both ZIM and Dib, and ZIM attempts to use this opportunity to learn more about earthling relationships. however, she takes every chance she can get to cause him harm, and seems to have her own insidious plans. mostly just the cartoon mayhem and violence again)

Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars (ZIM wants his leaders to finally come and see what a “good job” he’s doing, Dib has been tinkering with a space ship, and on the side there is a resistance force who wish to defy the Irken Empire. also another episode without mush going on in the gross departments, silly action scenes for the most part)

Mortos der Soulstealer (a very real mystical monster is summoned by Dib, but it is far more annoying than majestic. only minor instances of gross food, nothing extreme)

ZIM Eats Waffles (Dib is finally able to observe ZIM inside his base... and nothing seems to be recording properly. lots of eating of waffles, they start out normal but more disgusting until it becomes a little sickening)

The Voting of the Doomed (a school election seems like a perfect way to gain power over the students for ZIM, so Dib does what he can to help an opposing candidate win. a disturbing sequence, though not visually graphic, in which a student has their “free will” removed in a way that is implied to be painful)

The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever (a futuristic robotic snowman tells the story of an X-Mas where ZIM and Dib clashed. mostly just carton violence again)

(If there are more warnings people would like to add, please feel free!)

#invader zim #ref

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