#and disney seems to be shifting elsewhere

[goongiveusnothing]

[renardtrickster]

Also because bringing up "I watched Hazbin Hotel" and only talking about discourse is a Bad Look, here's my thoughts on the pilot and the four episodes thus far released.

I've seen some people say the animation in the show is less fluid in the pilot, but I think I like the show's animation more? It's a lot more consistent, the characters are shaded so they stand out from the background more (and kind of "pop"), but honestly a passing vibe I got in the pilot now and then was that it was "too fluid", like it moved too fast at places or like it had a lot of "flourishes" that felt off. I can't accurately explain it, but point is, I like the show's vibes more.

I also like the redesigns. I didn't notice anything too drastic with say Dust, Alastor, or Charlie, but Vaggie's was an upgrade. The red shirt breaks up the white, and she's looking much more Moth (the more Moth your characters look the better).

I don't really have anything to say about the voices, my attention was divided elsewhere. I will be committing seppuku later for not being able to have a strong, belligerent opinion on this matter.

Speaking of Vaggie, now that I've seen more of her character, I've grown to appreciate her more. There's a sort of 4-section graph where Charlie and Vaggie believe in the Hotel's success, with Charlie being much more personally emotionally invested in it while Vaggie's more cynical and seems to be doing it more for Charlie's sake. Meanwhile Angel Dust and Alastor don't believe the Hotel can succeed, but Alastor still helps while Angel Dust just blows things off.

Also everyone who did the "she's an Angry Latina stereotype" thing can eat shit now. She was angry in the pilot because Angel Dust publicly embarrassed her girlfriend, tarnished any credibility the Hotel had, and then insulted her to her face while being unrepentant the entire time. Now that we've seen more from her, she's just grumpy and more willing to put her foot down (as opposed to Charlie who is bubbly and more accommodating). I knew this specific accusation was bad faith from day 1.

I genuinely don't think the show is edgy. It "appears" edgy, but Charlie's a disney princess who walked onto the wrong set and is shifting the genre through her presence. The fact that her goal is to show that people in Hell can change and become better people isn't just portrayed as earnest (instead of naive) but it is in fact achievable (as shown by Pentious and the others over time) adds onto this. The show is a fundamentally hopeful and positive one and I respect it for that.

In line with that, I appreciate the musical numbers. They bop, I didn't need to tell you this, but they also fall into the category of "endearing through earnesty". Like Charlie singing to Pentious about how change begins with an apology is the corniest shit on earth, but I couldn't help but smile about it.

I do like the speed of the plot, both the "redeeming people" plot and the "expedited extermination" one. I cynically expected Pentious' redemption to be a red herring, but the fact that he stuck around and is turning over is something I approve of. It is a bit fast at times though, I do know that this is because there's only 8 episodes, but I choose to blame the studio/streaming platform over the writers on this one. Also, we should throw bricks through the window of every streaming service headquarters.

I did like Adam's portrayal. The original Adam and Eve myths, whether or not Lilith is there, do lend themselves to misogyny, both in terms of reading and "what influenced some doctrine". Between Lilith being cast out for not wanting to be subservient to a man/wanting to top and then having sex with animals and demons or something, and Eve getting duped by the snake and now humanity's been cursed with original sin because femoids are dumb and bad and men should make the decisions, etc. etc. Adam being depicted as a misogynistic frat bro-type who is obsessed with his dick and brags about his conquests to random people reads to me more as "a clever take/commentary on christian mythology and culture" instead of "gratuitous edginess".

Honest to god, I think they're better at using swear words now. My principle criticism of Helluva Boss (which I like) is that they sometimes use "fuck" like it's punctuation, and it can get grating or become "noise" that doesn't register, which is Bad when it's your funny dialogue. Cursing is still casual, but I feel like characters only turn on the capslock and start screaming FUCKING SHITASS when they're emotionally compromised or intentionally meant to come across as crude and unlikeable. If they took notes and course-corrected on this, I will never wear a hat because it's going to be off to them forever.

Angel Dusts' voice direction in episode 4 was really good. He usually speaks in a somewhat high-pitched, New York ("new yoike") accent, but when he was yelling at Charlie to leave I noticed that it seemed to get a bit deeper and he lost the accent, as though he was so upset he couldn't keep up the affect anymore. I got chills.

TL;DR Hazbin Hotel is good, actually.

Maybe people should take more breaks from using the internet, for their mental health.

[guizh0ng]

Remember

Chapter 3: The Visit

"Okay! Line Up! Line Up, Everybody!" Iris clasped her hands together and looked out at the group of people standing in the hall.

She scanned the line and noticed that everyone had found their positions, including Sora who had initially been unsure of where to stand.

However, upon being helped by Amara, she had eventually found her place.

Seeing that everything was in order, Iris released a small sigh of relief, hoping that everything will be as organised like this later on.

"Listen up everybody, the President's Secretary will be arriving here for a visit and I want all of you to be on your best behaviours, got it?!" Iris spoke with a noticeable strain in her voice, and her expression suggested that she was feeling a bit of stress.

Meanwhile, Viktoriya walked beside her, holding a clipboard which seemingly contained important oinformation.

Viktoriya whispered something at Iris as she immediately stepped aside "Alright, Listen up, Iris already told all of you what you need to know, is everything complete? Weapons Inspected?!" She proclaimed.

"Yes, Ma'am!" Barnaby and Adrianne's energetic voices rang out in unison, and they high fived each other in a moment of excitement.

However, as they continued to act unprofessional by goofing around, Viktoriya turned her gaze in their direction, causing them to straighten up and stop their behavior immediately.

"Right..Food and Water, all clean?!" Viktoriya continued.

"Roger, Madam!" Amara and Rafaèlla's unison voices filled the hallway, echoing throughout the silent surroundings.

"Okay look we never really call each other by codenames other than during missions but that bi– lady will judge us eitherway so codenames?!" Viktoriya crowed "Helios!" Aiden started.

"Lunear." Yamir continued.

"Stonehouse, reporting for duty!" Barnaby followed with such energy and enthusiasm.

"Okay, okay we don't say that last part just your codenames, Barn? alright continue" Viktoriya interrupted as the line followed on.

"Yellowbell!" Amara added.

"SilverMist!" Adrianne said with glee.

"Fianchettó." Espen resumed.

"Aquamarine!" Nemo jested.

Sara retrieved her phone from her pocket and displayed it to Viktoriya.

On the screen was the word "Trilence" in bold letters.

Viktoriya's expression remained unchanged as she swiftly checked the device, seemingly making sure everything was in order.

Satisfied, she nodded, signaling Sara to move on as she let the phone pass.

"La Voùglia!" Azzurra carried on.

"Blackquill!" Rafaèlla pursued.

When Sora's turn arrived, she seemed to be in a state of confusion. Still making an effort to avoid eye contact with Viktoriya, possibly feeling uncomfortable with the situation "U ̄ n..ittai nani ga okotte iru ndarou."

"Why does this sound like a scene from a Disney channel show.." Iris murmured to herself.

Observing the current state of affairs, Iris decided to take matters into her own hands "Oh right! You don't have a codename yet!"

"Viktoriy–!"

As Iris was on the verge of offering her assistance, a loud sound cut through the silence, momentarily distracting her from the current situation.

The sound, which was later revealed to be the landing of a helicopter nearby, interrupted her thought process, causing her to shift her attention toward the source of the noise.

The arrival of the helicopter, accompanied by the landing sound it emitted, served as a sign to Iris that her presence was required elsewhere.

"Viktoriya! Let's go!" With an authoritative wave of her hand, Iris signaled Viktoriya, who threw her clipboard away, to accompany her while leaving the other members to wait alone in the hallway.

__________________________________________________

A sudden gust of wind swept over Iris and Viktoriya once they went outside, causing their hair to blow in the breeze.

Iris's heart shaped sunglasses were even blown off of her face as the powerful wind forced its way between the two women.

However, Viktoriya was quick to react and managed to catch the glasses just in time, preventing them from falling to the ground and possibly breaking.

As they waited for the helicopter to land, the sound of its rotors filled the air, drowning out the other noises around them.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the helicopter touched down softly on the ground, its rotors slowly decreasing in speed.

Iris and Viktoriya approached the entrance of the helicopter as the doors opened, revealing several bodyguards awaiting the arrival of a prominent figure stepping out of the spacecraft.

The bodyguards, who had been waiting off to the sides of the entrance, quickly moved in on either side of the door as the lady inside prepared to exit.

The bodyguards reached out to offer their assistance as the woman stepped out of the helicopter.

The woman who stepped out of the helicopter was a sight to behold – she was dressed in a pristine fashion, from her head to toe, that commanded respect and admiration.

Her ginger hair, with bleached dyed bangs in a tight bun, complemented her tall stature, and her eyes, a fiery red, were like the embers of a fire, casting her features in an otherworldly light.

She appeared confident, with a strong will and an iron-clad determination.

Her outfit, although professional, was also stylish, with a black turtle-neck, a pearl necklace, reading glasses, and a blue suit jacket.

She completed her look with a pair of plain blue pants and black heels, adding a touch of class to her already sophisticated look.

The outfit she wore was quite particularly remarkable, but another person stepped out of the helicopter that came as a surprise for the two waiting for her.

The person who accompanied her had a fair complexion, with red hair that was styled in a Khaleesi-inspired twist. Her eyes were a light shade of violet, and she appeared to have a slim figure with slightly shorter stature than Viktoriya and Iris.

Her ensemble included a miniature orange peach top hat with a white rose attached to the rim. She had the hat secured sideways on her hair, and she applied light makeup, which she was using to accent her features.

In addition to the petite orange peach top hat, she wore a Georgia peach princess coat that was left unbuttoned, featuring several pink ribbons attached to the closure. What kept the coat together was a dark peach thick belt with a Clubs-shaped buckle in the center.

Underneath the peach princess coat, she wore a candlelight peach vest, complete with a light peach bow around her neck. The rest of her ensemble consisted of a simple white short pencil skirt, chic peach socks, and rosy pink doll shoes. Her outfit may come across as slightly be considered as overdressing for the occasion, judging by the disapproving look Viktoriya gave her.

The main guest, known as the Secretary briefly thanked the bodyguards before finally turning their attention towards Iris and Viktoriya.

Upon exiting the helicopter, the lady's piercing gaze scanned Iris and Viktoriya from head to toe, analyzing every aspect of their appearances.

After taking a moment to consider her findings, the lady whispered something at her companion's ears as her companion reached for a clipboard and jotted down a few short notes on it.

The lady turned her gaze back towards Iris and Viktoriya, breaking her concentration for a brief moment.

As she did so, she broke the silence with a greeting, addressing Viktoriya first. "Kveðja, umboðsmaður Mazikeen" she said, her voice firm but respectful.

Viktoriya nodded in reply, "Kveðja til þín líka, Minsky framkvæmdastjóri" a hint of gratitude in her expression for being recognized first.

When the lady turned to Iris, her demeanor was just cold "Greetings, Agent Petronova. We've met again I see."

The change was sudden but expected, leaving Iris shuddered by the thought, still keeping a straight face "Yup..! Greetings to you too, Secretary Minsky, and I see you brought along someone with you, may i know..why?"

"Ah yes, you're finally becoming observing for once, this is Leala Quesada, she came all the way from France, I'm taking her under my wing so once I retire she'll be taking my place as the President's Secretary" Minsky said briefly and coldly.

"Bonjour Mademoiselle, It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Ms. Mikhail, I've heard so much about your wonderful work from my teacher and I'm excited to take this opportunity for the both us to get to know each other" Leala greeted Vikotrya with a well-composed yet appealing tone, presenting her with a rose that she had seemingly pulled from who knows where.

Her smile was her finest attempt to win over the other woman.

Nonetheless, Viktoriya found the gesture rather odd, given the disconnect between Leala's appearance and demeanor.

Iris watched the entire interaction, feeling a tinge of bitterness within her as she did.

"Well then since introductions are over. Mazikeen, care to show us around?" She turned to Viktoriya as she just replied instantly with, "Yes, right this way Secretary"

Viktoriya and Iris guided the lady inside the agency building, with Viktoriya taking lead and guiding the way.

Iris followed close behind, trying to keep pace with the lady as she tried to keep up with the situation.

With every step, the tension and uncertainty of the situation grew, leaving Iris feeling uneasy and unsure of what was to come.

Nevertheless, she remained professional and tried her best to present a calm and collected demeanor, ready for whatever was to come next.

__________________________________________________

The commotion in the hallway died down as the sound of footsteps rang out, causing the group to immediately snap to attention.

Each individual straightened their backs and took on a more professional demeanor as the footsteps drew closer.

"And here, we have each and every member of our agency perfectly aligned as we trained them very well" Iris, despite her efforts, had yet to master the art of professionalism with her words and tone coming across as informal, it was clear that she was still learning the ropes.

Secretary Minsky seemed to become increasingly bothered by Iris's lack of professionalism.

Her bothersome expression showed in her mannerisms, such as squinting her and telling Leala to write some things on the clipboard which she jotted down notes on it.

Viktoriya cleared her throat, "As Agent Petronova mentioned, each member of our organization possesses unique skills that are perfectly suited to their respective positions" She continued which made quite the Secretary satisfied "To further demonstrate our capabilities, I would like to invite our distinguished tour guide to lead you on a tour of our facility, Agent Aquama—!"

"No."

"Sorry?"

Without warning, Secretary Minsky interrupted Viktoriya mid-sentence, holding up her hands in a dismissive gesture.

"No, where is she?" She asked briefly.

"Who you may be talking about, Secretary?" Viktoriya queried back.

"The troublemaker that got me here in the first place." She stated which made Viktoriya and Iris turn white as they looked back at each other.

As soon as the statement was made, Sora immediately recognized that the conversation pertained directly to her.

While the others close by looked Sora at the side, they did so with concern written across their expressions.

With some hesitation, she still stepped forward, visibly anxious with fear of the unknown.

Leala eyed Sora with a fierce, attentive watch, exhibiting a combination of surprise yet astonished.

Despite her anxiety, she managed to summon the courage to take her place in front of the lady, ready to face whatever consequences she was going to receive.

"Hmm, so your the 'child' Ms. Petronova here picked up, tell me, what's your agency name?" Secretary Minsky, clearly aware of the gravity of the situation, began to speak.

Sora, caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, was at a loss for words.

She stared at Minsky in disbelief, unsure of what to say. Viktoriya, sensing her friend's inner turmoil, quickly mouthed the words 'Just say anything' to her, hoping to provide some guidance in this perilous moment.

Sora, determined to do what was necessary, took a deep breath and attempted to gather her thoughts "Uh..U~intākurusu..?"

"Hmm, I see, you haven't been trained to speak English, as expected, this level of incompetence is inexcusable, even for..this" Secretary Minsky appeared to be visibly annoyed with Iris's incapability, she directed her frustration towards Iris with a look of spite.

The look was not lost on Viktoriya, who felt a surge of anger at the injustice being shown to her close friend.

Despite wanting to stand up for Iris, she knew that doing so could potentially cause more trouble for the agency and for Iris, so she swallowed her anger and kept quiet.

"Anyways, carry on, I don't want to stay in this dump for the whole day, I hope at the end of the day you'll get a proper name." Secretary Minsky delivered her words with an unnerving lack of empathy, causing Sora to pale.

Without waiting, Minsky made her exit, striding ahead with urgency, she also snapped her fingers at Leala which she obediently followed her.

Sora followed closely behind, trying to match her pace, but struggling to keep up due to her slower speed.

Iris and Viktoriya trailed behind, trying to keep up, but also not wanting to fall too far behind.

As soon as the group left the hallway, the others all instinctively relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief.

Their collective tension dissolved as they were no longer under the gaze of the intimidating secretary.

However, there was also a sense of remorse among them as they realized that their comrades were still stuck with the secretary, facing her judgmental glare and potentially harsh words.

__________________________________________________

The first stop of their tour brought them to the meeting area.

The Secretary immediately assigned Leala the task of inspecting the room, which she began to do dutifully.

Meanwhile, Minsky took the opportunity to observe the space, silently evaluating its appearance.

With a critical eye, Minsky assessed the layout, furnishings, and general ambiance of the room, making a mental note of any improvements that could be made.

Leala, on the other hand, was meticulously examining every nook and cranny of the space, looking for any signs of wear and tear, or potential safety hazards.

"Soshite koko ga kaigijitsude–"

"When was the last time you fixed this place? The hologram is flickering." Minsky pointed out the flaw with a critical eye, while Sora stood by silently, clearly observing her every move.

Sora didn't want to be the center of attention, so she stepped back and let Minsky take full control of the situation.

"Oh don't worry, Vikto— Agent Mazikeen always makes sure to have maintainance over our technology once a week" Iris slides in, as she saved herself with a sigh of relief.

"Hm, Does she? Well looks like you have yourself a reliable and useful agent, other than does..idiots" Minsky murmured the last part although Iris have already heard it, she'll pretend she didn't.

"This hologram was quite one of my first works, actually" Viktoriya stepped in beside Minsky as she placed her hands behind her back, Iris watched the conversation from behind.

"Oh really? Quite impressive for when you were a beginner, I can tell you have potential" Minsky's eyes darted towards her, while Viktoriya's gaze remained fixed on the holographic display, seemingly ignoring everything going on around her "I have an offer to make to you"

That immediately grabbed Viktoriya's attention as she turned to her, meeting her gaze.

"My sister has an agency in Russia, I currently have a job there as a tech-conductor, Leals was also taught there for a few years before I took her in, ypu can have a brighter future ahead for you there..so please, don't sympathise with them and join us" She said.

Viktoriya spoke up, responding to Yutaka's offer with a genuine(¿) smile "I have to refuse, I'm willingly staying here to help build this agency, thank you for the offer but I'll have to decline"

Minsky let out a deep sigh, subtly showing signs of frustration, and Sora just happened to catch a glimpse of it.

With nothing to do, Sora found herself standing against the wall.

She couldn't help but observe her surroundings in silence, watching everyone on the room going about their work.

As the conversation between Minsky and Viktoriya carried on, she noticed Iris's smile slowly dropping, revealing the hidden insults directed towards her.

Sora could understand her frustration at being left out of the conversation, and she could see how it was starting to get to her.

Sora was left questioning why she was even invited in the first place if she wasn't going to have a tour.

She was just an extra in the scenario, nothing more.

Iris was being blamed for the whole situation, which made Sora feel guilty as it was her fault for getting in this mess.

But despite the guilt, she decided to stay quiet and observe the room, saving herself from insults while staying out of the spotlight.

"Hi there, I'm Leala Quesada, it's nice to meet you" Sora found herself caught off guard by Leala's sudden arrival.

She hadn't realized that Leala had finished inspecting the room, and the sudden interruption caught her by surprise.

"Sora Hoshino." Sora stated briefly as she took a step back and bowed down infront of her.

Leala found herself quite amused by this gesture, almost like she was discovering something new "Well Ms. Hoshino, what brought you here in this agency?"

Sora just looked at her for a few seconds, then shrugged it off, almost like she was trying to brush off the awkwardness of the moment.

"Not much of a talker, are you? Don't worry, me too" After Leala's sudden appearance, she stood beside Sora.

She noticed the look that Sora had on her face, almost as if she was analyzing something.

She looked over to see what it was that Sora was looking at, trying to figure out what made Sora react in that way.

"So, I heard you lost your memories, right?" Leala queried which quite triggered the hell out of Sora as its become a sensitive topic within her "Oh don't worry, my teacher heard it from Iris and she told me" Leala reassured her but Sora wasn't even in the slightest calmed down by this.

"Anyways, have you ever wondered what you liked or did before all this?" Leala asked.

Sora had already asked that question to herself on multiple occasions, yet somehow, she never seemed to come up with an answer.

She was constantly racking her brain, trying to make sense of the situation, but she felt like she was hitting a dead end.

Leala took Sora's silence as she carries on the conversation "Say, if you want, maybe one day you'll go the city, I've been there before and I'd accompany you if you'd like, y'know for old time's sake, maybe you'll remember something from the sights" She offered, although this was the first time they talked, Leala has taken the opportunity to be friendly with the local agent.

Sora had given Leala's offer some thought and was about to formulate an answer when she was suddenly interrupted by the sound of snapping fingers.

"C'mon now, let's get moving so I can get out of this place" Minsky announced as the others followed her, walking out of the room.

__________________________________________________

"Ā.., koko ga kurinikkuda to omoimasu" Sora, with a slight indication towards the room to the left, tried to point out something to the group.

However, the secretary's voice instantly cut through the air, drowning out Sora's words.

"Soshite kitchin ga arima—"

"Kitchen. Have you seriously not learned a single word on the English Language? Tch, how unreliable." Sora felt a surge of anger at the indirect insult, but she refused to let the secretary's comments get to her.

'Okay seriously, does this woman have the hobby to interrupt people?' Sora initially thought.

She tightened her fists and wanted to lash out, but she also knew she wasn't in the place to do so and couldn't let her emotions get the better of her.

With a nonchalant expression and a calm demeanor, she stood her ground, determined not to let her fury show.

"Meinu."

"Hm?"

"Nanimonai,-saki ni susumimashou ka?" Sora, although still bothered by the secretary's words, decided to take a different approach.

Instead of reacting negatively, she chose to be optimistic and lead the rest of the ladies towards the next room, unaware of what might await them.

As the lighting illuminated the room, the various electronics and technological paraphernalia within came into view, with Aiden's used, dirty cups still in plain sight. Despite the overall state of disarray, one of the computers in particular stood out, appearing entirely busted beyond repair.

They were at the Computer Lab.

A sense of panic gripped Sora as she tried to voice her concerns, but she quickly understood that the conversation was beyond her grasp.

With random hand gestures, she tried to convey her message, but the language barrier proved to be too great an obstacle.

"What the hell is this?" She asked gesturing at the mess "I can't believe you'd let this place get so disorganized, even after the time we gave you, its still like this?! This is completely unacceptable." The secretary uproared coldly.

Despite her desire to speak up, Sora knew that she was not in a position to do so.

Her words would likely fall on deaf ears, and her efforts would only serve to undermine her position further.

It was a difficult situation to be in, and she felt helpless as she watched the interaction unfold, unable to do anything to change the outcome.

She knew this was not the first time she had found herself in a situation where her opinion did not matter, and she wondered if it would ever change.

Resigning herself to her fate, Sora stood quietly, hoping that her blunder would not make too much of an impact on the tour.

"Secretary, we know but its just..we didn't have enough time, we'll clean it up right away" Iris tried to defend her case.

"Clean it up? That's not good enough. Do you have any idea how much time and effort it takes to keep this place in order? This is not the first time I've seen you let things get cluttered, yet everything stays the same, your still disappointing as ever." The secretary's gaze was cold and piercing as she fixed her sights on Iris instead, who was about to start her defense.

She did not even give Iris a chance to speak, instead immediately cutting her off and silencing her "You always say you'll be better everytime i go here, but your actions don't match your words. I can't continue to let you take control with these tasks if you're not going to take them seriously. Your getting desperate, Ms. Ailana and that makes you more of a pathetic person"

Iris was left feeling defenseless and powerless in the face of the secretary's dominance and complete disregard for her feelings or point of view.

"Secretary Minsky, I think we should continue the tour, that's what your here for aftera–"

"I'm not done" Minsky suddenly interrupted Viktoriya's movements, stopping her in her tracks with a stern look "Viktoriya, I know how it is here, so I really think you should consider joining my sisters agency in Russia. It would be a great opportunity for you to expand your skills and network, you know you could even work with Leala here" With those words, Minsky extended her hand in invitation to Viktoriya, clearly hoping to sway her to leave her current employment and join her sister's agency.

Viktoriya pulled away with a stern look "Why are you so interested in me joining your sister's agency? Are you trying to do me a favor?"

As the secretary's hand remained outstretched before her, Viktoriya eyed it warily, her expression was filling her up slowly but surely, it wasn't doubt, it wasn't fear but rather anger.

"Oh no, of course not. I just think it's the perfect place for someone like you to thrive. You can learn so much from my sister, she's a real visionary in the industry, you'll be so much better off than this failure of a place"

As Iris listened to the criticism being directed at her, she couldn't help but feel a profound sense of hurt and pain.

Despite knowing that she was not the best at everything and that she had room for improvement, hearing the words spoken directly to her still caused her emotions to stir.

She couldn't help but feel a sense of injustice, as if she had been singled out and targeted for criticism.

Despite her pain, she didn't allow herself to break down and cry, choosing instead to hold her emotions back and face the situation with a stoic resignation.

It was a difficult decision to make, but she knew that letting her emotions take control would only make the situation worse.

"And she's looking for someone to replace you?" As Viktoriya skeptically teased with spite in her voice, Minsky could feel the chill in the air.

Her words were spoken like an icy dagger, piercing through Minsky's attempt to lure her to her sister's agency.

It was clear that Viktoriya was not impressed with what Minsky had to offer, and her rejection was swift and decisive.

"Excuse me? I'm not going anywhere! I just thought...!"

"Don't think I dont know what you were trying to so, I know what this is. You're trying to manipulate me into joining your sister's agency so you can get something from me, that's low, even for you." Viktoriya's tone became more snarky, with clear insult evident in her voice.

It was clear that she was not taking her words well at all.

She glanced towards Minsky with a look of outrage on her face, her eyes narrowing as she spoke.

It was a dramatic change from her previous calm and composed demeanor.

Iris, on the other hand, seemed surprised by Viktoriya's boldness, her eyes widening as she observed the situation unfold, as she pressed a hand against her chest.

Sora was equally surprised, her eyes wide open as she watched her stand up to the secretary.

The group waited for the secretary's response, anticipation building as the seconds ticked by.

They had all anticipated her to be enraged or upset at Viktoriya's response, but instead, she simply gave her a cold, disappointed look.

"Oh, so that's how it is, is it? You think you're something special now, just because she isn't here to keep you in line? Well, if you think you can handle things on your own, then go ahead. But don't come running back here when everything falls apart without her keeping your head on straight!" Minsky's anger was clear, as she stormed off from Viktoriya and approached Iris with a fury in her eyes.

She was frustrated and felt disrespected, and that was made clear in her words and actions "Listen up, if you want this little agency of yours to survive I want that troublemaker in a mission the day after tomorrow."

"What?! But the others atleast had a month before their actual mission, she might di–!" Iris argued but was shushed up by Minsky.

"I don't care. That's your problem now, not mine. We'll see how well you do on your own with this one around. If this wasn't the only agency in this country, you all would be on the streets."

"..I expected better from you, Ms. Mikhail, looks like we're not meant to work together afterall" Leala spoken quickly as she also turned away after looking at Viktoriya, following right after Minsky.

"Hey Iris, you okay..?" Viktoriya rushed over to Iris, who was looking down at the floor, clearly defeated after her confrontation with the secretary.

With that, she walked out of the room, leaving the others to ponder her words.

Iris looked back up at Viktoriya with a bitter smile, a mix of sadness and frustration on her face "Yeah..! Hey, thank you for standing up to her, I'll be out on my office" Iris took a deep breath and said her words quickly, before darting away from the room.

Viktoriya reached out her arm towards Iris, seemingly trying to offer her support or comfort.

However, after a moment of hesitation, she decided to withdraw her arm and give Iris some space.

After her moment of hesitation, Viktoriya turned to Sora and saw that she had been watching the whole time.

Sora's eyes were filled with guilt, clearly showing her sorrow for the part she had played in the conflict.

"Gomen'nasai, koreijō meiwaku o kakete kanojo o koko ni tsurete iku tsumori wa arimasendeshita" Sora started to speak quickly, apologizing for the part she had played in the conflict.

"It's alright, you didn't know anyways.." Viktoriya said reassuringly "And hey I'm sorry, I know you were probably hurt what I told you yesterday, I just wanted you to realize your mistakes, I didn't think of how'd you feel.." Viktoriya looked guilty aswell despite that feeling a bit out of her character, she stood there.

Sora was taken aback by the sincerity of Viktoriya's apology.

She had not expected her to take some responsibility for what had happened, especially since she herself was at fault.

Despite the fact that they had only known each other for two days, Sora felt touched by Viktoriya's gesture.

"Hey, please let me make it up to you..I left some things in the library that might help you learn some English, I know I won't be personally teaching you but..I know you want some time alone." Viktoriya said with a genuine look and sincerity,

Sora was visibly moved by the gesture, but she tried to play it cool with a gentle chuckle "Anata ga ashi ga fujiyūda to wa shirimasendeshita" She faced away and tried to hide her feelings.

"Woww, okay well Excuse you, I'm not corny, thank you very much!" Viktoriya spoke in a light-hearted and slightly offended tone, punctuating her words with a gentle chuckle.

Sora laughed along with her, finally coming to a stop moments later "Wakatta, ima kara toshokan ni iku yo"

"Alright, goodluck on that, I'll go see Iris now, I'll see you later, Sora" Viktoriya turned towards Sora as she turned to leave, closing the door behind her.

Sora was left alone in the room, and she couldn't help but smile to herself.

It was a small gesture, but it meant a lot to her.

__________________________________________________

Sora wasted no time in heading to the library, the destination that Viktoriya had directed her to.

As she opened the door to the library, she was greeted by the warm glow of a fireplace on the left side of the room, which appeared to be the sole source of illumination.

The light cast long, dark shadows across the room, and her eyes quickly noticed the two Bargère sofa chairs and glass coffee table on either side of the fireplace.

The lack of a chimney made her wonder where the smoke went, but she quickly brushed the thought aside.

She strolled to one of the chairs and took a sitting position.

The chair, while soft, was not as comfortable as she expected.

Her gaze drifted down to the coffee table, where she saw a laptop and a USB drive sitting side by side.

Curious, she looked around the area, searching for any notes or instructions that might give her a clue as to what the items were for.

She did not notice any signs or notes in the vicinity of the items on the coffee table.

With caution, she opened the laptop and noticed a sticky note placed carefully in between the screen and keyboard.

She gently removed the note, it said:

'Hello, hey sorry if I didn't had the chance to teach you speak some English so I'm leaving you my spare laptop, I'm guessing you already saw the USB so plug that in and go watch the show, it's something an old friend of mine used to watch and I think you'll like it, By Viktoriya'

'P.S. Look under the table'

As Sora read the note, she began to question the sincerity of its contents. While the first half was warm and comforting, the last statement of the note raised her eyebrows.

Despite her growing suspicions, Sora succumbed to her curiosity and looked under the table.

She was rewarded with the sight of a pen with a sticky note attached to it.

She reached down and picked it up, feeling her heart race with anticipation as to what the note might say.

She read the note again, it said:

'Okay when someone else told you to look under the table, don't do that but on the bright side I'm glad you did, I made this pen just for you, custom made, I noticed during training that kept pushing back the knife, you might be stressed that's why your distracted by other things that might make you calm down and when I'm stressed I push the button on my pen so here it I, I made this pen for you, if you press it it's a knife, yeah I know I doesn't look much but trust me, it's reliable, my weapons never fail me, I hope you like it:D'

Sora's grip tightened on the pen as she cautiously folded the sticky note and slipped it into the pocket of her belt.

With a small smile on her face, she tried to push in her growing suspicions and refused to let her feelings get the better of her.

Despite the sweetness of the moment, she reminded herself that she couldn't fully trust them, and she needed to keep her guard up.

After sighing heavily, she leaned back and began booting up the laptop, inserting the USB drive.

She sat back and watched the show, trying to let go of her worries and relax.

The day had been a whirlwind of activity and Sora was feeling exhausted by it all.

The secretary's sudden arrival, Leala's strange conversation, and the secretary's unexpected outburst, it was all too much for Sora to handle.

She tried her best to hang on and make sense of everything that was happening, but she was so tired that she just wanted to get some sleep and hope for a tamer day tomorrow.

[arickaandherfictionalothers]

DWTS interlude; they fall in love

(Aricka x Bradley Bradshaw)

(@astralshipper @rosieshipper @hyperionshipping @yeehawselfshipping @letsgofoletsgo @tsundere-selfship @callsign-revenge )

*after the Disney night performance *

Brad-Brad 🙃: you up?

Princess 👑: can’t sleep. You?

Brad-Brad🙃; look outside your window.

Princess 👑: that’s not at all creepy or scary.

Brad-Brad🙃: do you trust me?

Princess 👑: of course.

Aricka gets up and looks out her window to see- “oh my goodness he’s here,” she whispers. Her dad walks over to see what she was looking at. “So he’s serious then.”

“He’s an actor, dad. He can be serious when he wants to,” she says. “Can I-?”

“Just be careful, sunshine. I don’t want you to get hurt during your debut season.” Aricka nods and hugs her dad before grabbing her shoes and running outside to the waiting actor.

“Are you CRAZY?” She laughs and hugs him. “Oh my goodness.”

“I want to talk about us,” he says, hands on her hips, a serious but gentle look on his face. “Can we-?”

Aricka nods and slips her arms around him assuredly. “I’m always here to talk to you,” she promises. “How did you get here without any paparazzi following you? I know you said that was a struggle.”

He shrugs. “They must all be busy elsewhere. I’m not too worried about them right now. I’m just focusing on us. That okay?”

Aricka nods, and he helps her into the car behind him before shutting the door, walking around to climb in the drivers side. Aricka slips her shoes on her feet and Bradley drives off somewhere private. “Where are you taking me?” She asks.

“It’s a secret,” he says. “But I promise you you’re going to love it. You can pick the music if you want, so we don’t have to sit in silence.”

Aricka hums. “Why don’t we talk?” He takes her hand and holds it over the gearshift,

“Because I want you to see my favorite sport in Hollywood when we talk.”

~~~~~~~ 26 minutes later ~~~~~~~~

“Bradley- why are we standing in front of the Hollywood sign? Can’t we get in trouble for this?”

“Because I come here when I get overwhelmed. Being an actor- it’s loud and stuffy most days. I feel like I can’t breathe most the time. Until I started Dancing With the Stars- and I met you.”he turns to face her, his hands resting on her hips like every time they begin practicing a dance. “When I’m with you, I can breathe. My mind goes quiet in a good way, and I can just focus on you and the music.”

Aricka puts her hands on his biceps, arms resting on his. “Bradley- I- I feel the same- I-,” she hesitates. “I know I talk about how I want to make my family proud and everything but- it’s a huge legacy to live up to- but when I’m with you- I don’t have to worry about that. I can just be-,”

“Myself,” they say at the same time. They look down, away from each other for a moment. A cool breeze swept past them; and Bradley pulled her closer.

“Should’ve brought you a jacket,” he says absently. Aricka looks up at him.

“Bradley- if we do this- if we become an “us”- I can’t lose your friendship- promise me that.”

“Hey- hey sweetheart- you won’t ever lose me- not again,” he says. “I’m in this for life if you are.”

Aricka softens, leans back against the warmth of his hold. “Count me in,” she whispered, so soft Bradley almost didn’t hear her. The actor tightened his grip on her and swung her around as he was accustomed to doing now; and when he set her down, the air seemed to shift.

Aricka stood on tiptoes, arms sliding up to wrap around his neck as he leaned down-

Aricka knew that old saying of “sparks flying” when you kissed someone for the first time- she just never knew what they were talking about.

But now she did. Her left hand slid down to cup his cheek as he lifted her back up, her legs wrapping around his waist.

When they came up for air, they bumped foreheads gently. “I’ve never met anyone like you before,” Bradley says.

“Ditto,” she whispers back.

~~~~~~~~~ later ~~~~~~~~~

“Can I take you out to dinner sometime next week?” Bradley asks, offering her his hand as she exited the car.

Aricka nods, squeezing his hand as he walks her up to the door. “I’m free Wednesday.”

“I’ll pick you up at 8, that okay?” He asks.

“Sounds perfect,” Aricka whispers, as he kisses her hand affectionately.

“I’ll see you at rehearsal tomorrow,” Bradley says, and walks back down to his car.

Aricka waits until he’s gone, walks in the house, and slides down until she’s sitting on the floor.

She had SO MANY ideas for their next dance together.

[phoenixrisesoncemore]

Tolkien Index

Sauron Meta

The Nameless Enemy (Deep dive into the name "Mairon," why Mairon may have been considered an exemplar of his order, and why being "Admirable" makes it hard to be alone)

Why Is Sauron's Original Name In Quenya If Sauron Was Never In Valinor? (Extrapolating from thoughts in "The Nameless Enemy," why might the Elves have translated The Admirable's Valarin name into Quenya?)

Tolkien the Horror Writer (How Tolkien uses the magnetic power of Sauron's ability to subvert, capture, and direct his image and the image characters have of each other as a horror device)

The Inverted Mountain (On the only moment in LotR where we get a look into Sauron's perspective)

Reckoning Nothing of Wizardry or War (My favorite LotR passage—and a bit about the things that Sauron can't control)

How to Destroy Your Enemies and Influence People (What was Sauron really doing in Numenor? Was it really just about revenge? Or was he "Making a Point"?)

Whom Morgoth Made (On the first appearance of Thu-Sauron in the Primary World and what Tolkien might have meant by calling him one "whom Morgoth made.")

Fixation and Attachment Can Lead to Missing Fingers (On why Sauron seems to have trouble fixing injuries to his physical form even when he can still shape-shift and rebuild a body)

Ordering Reality (On Sauron the conlanger, or how Sauron and Tolkien shared a hobby that allowed them to conceptually organize existence)

Quote: "The Necromancer Is Not Child's Play" Sauron and The Panopticon [r+] Sauron Doesn't Use "Sauron" [r+] Methods of Forging the Rings in Visual Adaptations [r+] Sauron's Villainy as Parody [r+] Quick Thoughts on PE17 Sauron's Numenorean Misinformation Campaign Sauron's Canonically Pretty Handwriting [r+] Babel Builders A Little Sauron Crack More Sauron Crack Evolution of Depictions: When Sauron Became Sexy Excerpts from "Moral Vision in The Lord of the Rings" Bombadil and The Ring Gollum's Song or Sauron's Song Ar-Pharazon the "Besotted"

Metaphysics and Eucatastrophe Meta

The Whole Damn Thing Is Fallen (Some dark and at times personal thoughts on theodicy, the nature of Nature, and Arda (un)Marred vs Arda Healed)

The Whole Damn Thing Is Fallen II (Continuation and elaboration of the previous thoughts on theodicy, the nature of Nature, Arda (un)Marred vs Arda Healed, and Tolkien's Felix Culpa)

Is Eucatastrophe Inherently Teleological? (Questions about whether Tolkien's idea of eucatastrophe requires a universe that is understood to be teleological and differences in reader engagement based on differences in metaphysical viewpoint)

Perspective and Scale [r+] (Adding thoughts about the way Gandalf and Aragorn are able to interact with Middle-earth due to their unique experiences of the extremes of scale)

The Ainur and Subcreation [r+] (Thoughts on The Exploration of Potential Things (imagining/fantasy) > The Invocation of Potential Things (envisioning with a clear purpose/planning) > The Evocation of Potential Things (making))

The Imagining and the Making (Follow up to "The Ainur and Subcreation")

Emergent Properties of Ea (Thoughts on Vaire and Story and whether story can be said to be an emergent property of Ea)

Balancing Myth and Metaphysics [r+] (On Tolkien's struggle between the "legends/mythos" conceptualization—flat world—of the Legendarium and the "theological/scientific"—round world—conceptualization)

They Shaped and Wrought, and Light They Caught (Art as it relates to light imagery in gems and elsewhere in Tolkien's work; light as a material constituent of Ea)

Quote: Tolkien Coins Eucatastrophe Is the Ending of Disney's Hunchback Eucatastrophe or Deus Ex Machina? Justice is Not Healing Tessellating a Feanorean Star

Primary and Secondary World Meta

Valie Evolution [r+] (How Nienna and Varda become more passive but more metaphysically and theologically important, and how they trade the Marian trait of listening back and forth)

The Poet of Prague (Comparing the lives of Prague photographer Joseph Sudek and Tolkien, who both produced work that investigated faerie, light, and story)

Tolkien and Final Fantasy (On what Tolkien might have meant about realist or representational visual media being unfit for Fairy-stories and whether this is why I engaged differently with earlier Final Fantasy games whose graphics were iconographic rather than realist)

The Road Goes Ever On and On (On journeying through the Fall and the perilous call of nature in decay)

How to Make a Flat World Round? [r+] (Thoughts on possible ways to present the physical change of Arda from flat to round in adaptations)

Tolkien and the Far Tree (Letter 96 and Tolkien's thoughts on the power of untold stories like Celebrimbor's)

When the Far Tree Becomes Near [r+] (How The Silmarillion reveals the machinery behind LotR)

Thuringwethil [r+] (Thoughts on the different iterations of Thuringwethil)

Christopher's Work on Maps Tolkien's Elves are Ancient Aliens Christopher and the Tear Tolkien and George MacDonald Tolkien Blames Bilbo for Plot Holes Barahir's Snake Ring [r+] Heraldry Development [r+] How Perspective Makes Aragorn a Better King [r+] Tolkien, Language, and the Construction of Reality The Cauldron of Story and Fanfiction Tolkien Wanted The Hobbit to Be An AU [r+] Owen Barfield on Julian Jaynes American Numenor My Leftist Propaganda Is Tolkien Was the "Atlantis Haunting" Sleep Apnea?

Events, Talks, and Media Meta

Art of the Manuscript (review of the Marquette Exhibition)

The Magic Ring (On my favorite piece at the Maker of Middle-earth exhibit, the original LotR title page)

The Little House of Lost Play (Adele McAllister's performance of Mar Vanwa Tyaliéva among other adaptations)

Tolkien Biopic (Thoughts on the missing Silmarillion in Tolkien)

Thoughts on Project Northmore [r+] (On why I personally have reservations about the project)

Collecting Namárië Performances [r+] Paul Kocher and The Road Goes Ever On Signum Symposium on Christopher Tolkien John Garth on the Catholic Culture Podcast Shaun Gunner on TEP Oxonmoot 2021 Post 1 Oxonmoot 2021 Post 2 Oxonmoot 2021 Post 3 Marquette's The Art of the Manuscript The Nature of Middle-earth American Numenor My Leftist Propaganda Is Tolkien

Read and Reread Liveblogs

The Flame Imperishable: Post 1 | Post 2 | Post 3 | Post 4 | Post 5 | Post 6 | Post 7

The Lord of the Rings: Post 1 |

The Rings of Power Meta

Tom Shippey Discusses the Show Announcement of Writers Main Cast Announcement Some Thoughts on the Nudity Issue Official Summary is Released/Lindon Questions First Image With Two Trees of Valinor Title Announcement and Logo Feature Thoughts on the Celebrimbor Infodump Teaser Trailer "Sauron" Trailer No Annatar?

Tolkien Art and Fic

Go HERE

[twh-news]

We spoke to Tom Hiddleston about Loki, PowerPoint presentations and the nature of free will

Despite a decade of playing Loki in several Marvel movies and now a TV show, Tom Hiddleston isn’t tired of the role. “There is always something new to be found,” he says The edge.

This week is the premiere of Loki on Disney Plus, a six-episode series that marks the character’s first lead role. It is a story of time travel and branched timelines as Loki is captured by an organization called the Time Variance Authority (TVA). It combines action, humor and some old-fashioned detective work, while tackling serious topics such as the nature of free will. There are also some new faces on board as Hiddleston is joined by Marvel newcomers Owen Wilson, who plays a TVA agent named Mobius, and director Kate Herron, best known for her work on the first season of Sex education.

Prior to the show’s premiere, I had the chance to talk to Hiddleston about his time as a character, a presentation that made him feel like an “amateur academic giving a thesis on Loki,” working with Wilson and Herron, and whether our lives are predetermined. Typical Marvel stuff.

The following interview has been edited and abbreviated for clarity.

We are now at a decade where you play Loki. How have your feelings about the character changed or grown over that time?

I’m honestly just thankful that I’m still here. I find that I am always surprised and happy that I get another chance in it. Long before I was cast, Loki was just the most fascinating and complex character with such depth and range, and he’s been in Marvel comics in several iterations for 60 years, and he’s been in our thoughts, in stories we tell as humans, for hundreds, if not thousands of years. I find that even though it has been 10 years, every time I come back, there is always more to discover. There is always more to dig because these impostors are kind of mercurial and shape-shifting. So there is always something new to be found.

"“Loki is out of control. He’s a man on the run.”"

Now that you’ve focused this six-episode series on Loki, what were you looking forward to exploring with this? What were you hoping to dive into?

I think he’s really opening up and bringing out his many different identities and facets. In my preparation to play the character, I’ve always seen him have so many different and seemingly contradictory characteristics. You think, “How can all these characteristics exist in one person, in one being?” And yet they do.

Loki has always been a character in all MCU movies that seems to be very controlled. He seems to know what cards he has in his hand and how he is going to play them. And Loki, in the TVA – this organization that rules time – has gotten out of hand. He’s a man on the run. And he is motivated by a desire to understand. Suddenly he discovers that there is all this information that he does not have, and he has to get his hands on it. And that actually gives the series great momentum. Loki is on the back foot, everyone knows more than him, and seeing how he adapts, seeing how he improvises after that – if improvisation is possible in the TVA. That’s a question we’re trying to raise, whether you have free will.

I read about the Loki school you led to prepare the team for the character’s history. How did you prepare for that? Did you actually know it all, or did you have to do a lot of research?

I wish it wouldn’t be 10 hours long. I knew I had to summarize what I found useful to tell the crew. It came about thanks to Kate Herron, our director who has done an extraordinary job on this whole series, and he thought maybe it would be a good idea to get everyone together because there were so many department heads, different crew members – production design, costume design, cinematography, camera, sound, stunts – and wanting to make sure everyone had the same information about Loki, and it might be helpful to listen to my experience. I was trying to explain how we constructed Loki’s arc across the six movies he’s in the MCU and figure out what was useful in that arc and what we could leave behind.

I suddenly felt extremely nervous, as if I were an amateur academic writing a thesis on Loki. You’ll have to ask the others if it was helpful at all. But at least we synchronized the watches and we started from the same place.

"“If I were tall enough to use PowerPoint, I could retire and become a full-time professor.”"

So is there a PowerPoint file out there somewhere that will leak out one day?

If I was highly skilled enough to use PowerPoint, I could retire and become a full-time professor.

I did have a few clips. I thought there were some clips from the movies that could be helpful. It was interesting, even though it was about how the costume had changed over the years and why. And when does Loki wear the horns? Are the horns a casual thing? Are they a ceremonial thing like a crown? Is it an extension of an inner intention? Do the horns come out if he’s particularly evil? Why is her hair different? Sometimes he wears a cape, sometimes not. Sometimes he uses magic, sometimes he uses his own body to fight in combat. All questions that people were curious about.

I know this was meant for the rest of the crew, but was it helpful for you to go through this again as you prepared to jump back into the role?

Oh yes, absolutely, just to refresh myself about certain decisions we had made and why certain things were changed… sometimes you try to bring very elaborate and beautifully illustrated comic book panels into a physical reality on a movie set and figure out how to merge these two worlds. It was interesting. I got some great questions about how he moves the way he does and where certain things showed up in stunts, especially hair, makeup and wardrobe, how the clothes changed and why we made those choices.

It was interesting to refresh myself on the extraordinary input, because I carry the inspiration of great people with me. [Thor director] Kenneth Branagh and Alexandra Byrne, our costume designer; Bo Welch who designed the first Thor movie; Charlie Wood who was production designer on The dark world; the whole crew of Ragnarok; Mayes Rubeo, the costume designer of Ragnarok; and people like Douglas Noe, who has been doing makeup on Loki for a long time. So there was a lot to unpack.

Both Kate Herron and Owen Wilson are newcomers to the Marvel machine. Is it helpful to have such an external perspective?

Absolutely. Both Kate and Owen came in with so many questions because they hadn’t lived in Loki’s head for 10 years. They have a fresh take on it. Kate was so well prepared and so well researched; she even brought in new Marvel Publishing material that I’d never seen before, about Loki’s inner world. Owen came in and asked me a lot of questions about my experience. I remember him saying, “Tom, why should I?” you do you like to play Loki?” And I found myself saying, “Well, he’s just got this whole range. He can play the light keys, but he can also play the heavy keys in the bass clef. And somehow the character has both.” And he loved that way of thinking about it, he said, “I think I could say that on the show.” And so it was really his very intelligent question that took us elsewhere in the story.

Given the themes of the first two episodes, I have to ask: do you believe in free will?

I hope so. Free will is such an interesting, eternal question. I think people have asked to what extent we have the power of self-determination, self-realization, choice about our actions and whether we can control the course of our lives. It goes back to evolutionary or psychological arguments about nature and nurture and why we are who we are. Maybe it’s the journey of a lifetime to find out, to really take the wheel of your own life. Because we are set on a path in childhood, I think, often by accident – the misfortune of birth, where we were born and when – and we are propelled in many ways by the unconscious.

That’s a complicated answer. It’s a complex question. So I hope so. I hope true free will is possible. But for all of us, I think it can be a long journey of self-discovery.

[theladyofdeath]

Tempting the Fates {Chapter 6}

Summary: It’s the final semester of Aelin Galathynius’ collegiate career and she is so beyond ready to be done. Her schedule is packed full of nursing classes and labs designed to test her knowledge and hone her skills for the real world and her “big girl” job. However, she needs one last elective to graduate, so she decides to study a subject she’s always been fascinated by: Mythology. Who would have thought that a class about gods and goddesses living complicated lives would end up complicating her own in such an unexpected way?

A @snelbz x @tacmc collaboration.

Word Count: 3080

** N S F W **

Chapters will be posted every Wednesday.

Tempting the Fates Masterlist

Shelby’s Masterlist

Tara’s Masterlist

Aphrodite

– Goddess of love, beauty, and desire

The second Aelin stepped into Rowan’s apartment, silence ensued. With the door shut behind them, Aelin felt like his apartment had significantly shrunk in size since the last time she had been there. 

Granted, everything looked the same. The blanket that was draped across his leather sectional in his living room still laid in the same spot, his television was still quietly playing a hockey game, and his laptop sat on his coffee table. Only, this time, there wasn’t a mug of coffee next to it but a nearly-empty bottle of beer. 

“So,” Aelin began, just as Rowan said, “Sorry, it’s a mess.”

Aelin blinked, looking around at his pristine apartment. “This is what you consider a mess?”

Rowan looked around before chuckling, nervously. “Yeah, well, there’s….dust.” 

Aelin nodded, slowly, continuing to look around. “Well, here’s your clothes,” she said, at last, holding out the bag.

“Thanks,” Rowan muttered, taking the bag from her outstretched hand before tossing it aside. “Do you…want a drink or something? I was just doing some grading.”

“Grading and drinking?” Aelin asked. “Quite the combination.” 

Rowan shrugged. “Only makes the shitty papers a little bit better to read.”

“Have you read mine yet?” Aelin asked, before she could think better of it. Rowan hesitated, and Aelin shook her head. “Wow, that was an inappropriate question. Sorry.” 

“No, it’s fine,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “You could have asked me that in class and I’d have answered it. I have.”

When he didn’t go on, Aelin cleared her throat awkwardly. “I’ve never taken a mythology course, so I don’t know much about it, save for what Disney taught me. Which apparently was all wrong, anyways.” She tucked a loose hair behind her ear and cleared her throat again. Maybe coming here was a bad idea. “But music, I do know a lot about, so Apollo seemed like a safe bet. Even if I’m sure I sounded stupid and-.”

“You didn’t,” he interrupted, leaning against the counter. “Your essay is the only one I’ve read that seemed like a real opinion piece, and not like you’re trying to blow smoke up my ass and impress me with your knowledge. This is an introduction class, remember? You aren’t supposed to be a scholar of mythology yet. I liked how honest it was.” 

Aelin blinked. “Really?”

Rowan nodded, his eyes remaining on hers. It made Aelin’s heart beat a little bit faster. “Yeah, it was great. I love to hear your thoughts, and I’m excited to hear more of them.”

Aelin nodded and took a deep breath. She should have turned and walked out, told him goodbye, but she couldn’t. Her feet were glued to the floor, her heart nearly ready to beat out of her chest. Her thoughts trailed to the last time she was here, when she’d met the most abundant amount of pleasure she had ever received, and left smitten and wanting more. 

From the way the light in his eyes shifted, Aelin knew that Rowan was thinking the same thing. 

“I should go,” Aelin said, quietly. 

“Yeah,” Rowan agreed.

Neither of them moved. 

“You could’ve kept the clothes,” Rowan continued, swallowing. “You didn’t have to come all the way here.”

“I thought you’d want them back,” Aelin said, even though she wasn’t really sure that she even truly believed that. 

Every second more that Rowan stared at her, and she stared back, a throbbing formed between her thighs. Rowan said, “You look better in them than I do.” 

Aelin swallowed. “I should go,” she repeated.

“Do you want to go?” Rowan asked, hardly more than a whisper.

Aelin remained where she was, watching him, her chest rising and falling, rapidly, with each heavy breath she took. 

She slowly shook her head, and before she could form an intelligible thought, Rowan was coming toward her, taking her waist into his hands, and claiming her mouth with his.

She melted into his touch, her hands diving into his hair, holding her against him. He wasted no time, lifting her and setting her on the counter behind her, and stepping between her legs. Aelin gently nibbled on his lip and he opened for her, his tongue sweeping into her mouth just as hers did the same. His hands were still sitting on her waist, but hers were less than idle.

Finding the hem of his shirt, her fingers ran over the abdomen muscles she couldn’t get out of her head. He pulled his lips from hers as a shudder wracked through him and he let out a shaking breath.

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you,” he admitted, pulling her to the edge of the counter and grinding against her.

Aelin’s lashes fluttered as she let out a soft moan. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you, either.”

His lips were on hers again, hungrily, longingly, and all conversation faded away as Aelin pulled off Rowan’s shirt and ran her hands through his messy, short silvery hair. 

Rowan muttered a curse against Aelin’s mouth, and she felt a fire ignite within her core. She wanted it. Gods, she wanted it, wanted him. She knew it was wrong, knew there were boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed, knew the schools had rules, knew employers had rules, but as his mouth trailed from her lips to her neck, just beneath her jaw, Aelin had a really, really hard time caring about any of that. 

His hands slid beneath her top, feeling cool and needy against her skin. 

“Tell me to stop and I’ll stop,” he murmured between the kisses that trailed down her neck. She knew he would, too. One word, and it was done, over.

But, despite the rules, she begged, “Don’t fucking stop.” 

That was all Rowan needed to hear. He pulled her shirt over her head, his lips immediately finding her skin again. His kisses trailed from her neck to her shoulder and he pushed the strap of her bra down. His hand did the same with the other and as soon as the straps were free, he reached behind her and unclasped it.

Dropping his head, his mouth closed around her nipple and his tongue circled the sensitive peak. Aelin’s moan was louder than she meant for it to be, but Rowan didn’t try to stifle it. Instead his hand found her breast, rolling her other nipple between his fingers.

Aelin swore, and it had Rowan moaning, muffled, palming her breast as his teeth tugged on her nipple as his free hand made its way into the back of her leggings. 

When he realized that she wore no panties, he was about to combust. 

Aelin’s hands dove into his hair and she pulled his head back. “I need you. Now.”

Rowan’s only response was finding Aelin’s mouth again with his own, and shoving his sweatpants down onto the kitchen floor. His hard length was on perfect display inside of his boxer-briefs. When Aelin palmed him, he grabbed her off of the counter and carried her into the living room, dropping her down onto the couch. Before he covered his body with hers, he yanked off her leggings and tossed them aside. 

He groaned as she continued to rub him through his underwear until he finally couldn’t take it anymore, needing to feel her skin on his. He intended to take them off, but only got as far as freeing his length before she wrapped her hand around him and stroked once, twice. His head fell into the crook of her neck and he did his best not to look like an inexperienced teenager, but he bucked his hips into her hands, groaning again.

This was all he’d been able to think of for the past few days, ever since he saw her in his classroom. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t thought of taking her against every free surface in the hall, as well as in his office. He didn’t have a chance to explain that to her though, as she shifted beneath him and lined him up at her entrance.

She was all slick skin and warm, soft wetness and he pushed into her. With a breathy sigh, her head fell back, eyes rolling back, and he took advantage of her attention elsewhere to look down at where they were joined. Watching as his hips rocked into hers, he breathed her name, gripping her hip and fighting the urge to press her down into the cushions with his weight.

Aelin’s hands snaked around the back of Rowan’s neck and she pulled him against her, kissing him, urgently. Rowan pulled out slowly before thrusting himself back into her, over and over and over again, relentlessly. It felt so good, so right. He kept his pace, pushing into her harder each time, until she was screaming, his name falling from her lips continuously. 

Rowan’s moan became muffled against her neck as her knees began to quiver around him. As he felt her come, he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer.

When he came, Aelin was clinging to him, still coming down from her high.

Rowan’s body fell against hers, and her body remained wrapped around his as they caught their breaths. 

She was unable to stop herself from running her fingers up and down his back, even going so far as to brush them through the short hair at the nap of his neck. There was no question what he would say after he pulled out and cleaned her up.

This was a mistake.

We shouldn’t have done that.

You need to go.

Aelin wasn’t sure which it would be or if it would be some mixture of the three. All she knew is that it would hurt.

Seeing him in class every day, knowing that this connection existed between them, aside from just sex, was going to hurt.

Pulling back, his green eyes found hers and she braced herself for him to ask her to leave.

But then he kissed her again.

“I was going to order dinner,” he said, lips still brushing hers. “If you want to stay.”

Aelin hesitated, but not because she didn’t want to stay. 

Rowan picked up on it, though. “Or, if you don’t want to…” he began, pushing himself up off of her.

Aelin shook her head and held onto him, pulling him back down on top of her. “No, it’s not that, it’s the opposite.” She laughed, quietly. “I was just…preparing myself for you to say…anything but that.”

Rowan’s eyes softened as he nodded, slowly. “So…you do want to stay, then?”

Aelin brushed his damp hair off of his forehead. “Am I allowed to stay?”

“Right now, what we’re allowed to do is the last thing on my mind,” Rowan breathed, leaning down to kiss her softly. “Right now, all I’m thinking about is ordering dinner and having you here with me.”

She nodded, smiling softly. “That sounds nice.”

“Okay,” he replied, returning her smile. “Stay here. I’ll be back.”

“Okay.”

Just as he did the last time, he returned with a warm rag, wiping her off and cleaning her up. He also returned with his shirt, the one she’d intended to return, rather than her clothes.

“I’m on the pill, by the way,” she said, glancing over at him as he pulled his own sweatpants back on.

He blinked once, as if he’d just realized they hadn’t used a condom.

And he’d come inside her.

“I…really should have asked before I just assumed.” He rubbed at the back of his neck again. “I’m sorry.”

Aelin chuckled, quietly. “Don’t worry. If I wasn’t prepared, I wouldn’t have let you inside of me to begin with.”

“Fair enough,” Rowan said, sitting next to her on the couch. “In my defense, our last…encounter is still a little fuzzy when it comes to the little details.”

When they’d been together last, there had been a lot of alcohol…and Rowan couldn’t remember if he’d used a condom then, but he couldn’t imagine that he had.

He sent up a quick thank you to the gods for the creation of birth control.

Now, he put his arm around Aelin as he pulled up the menu to a little local Mexican restaurant a block down the road. “What’re you in the mood for?”

Aelin hummed and looked through the menu as Rowan scrolled through it. “Chimichanga. And a taco. Make it two. With a side of rice. And a bowl of queso.”

Rowan gave her an amused glance as he entered all of her requests into the cart.

“What?” She asked, huffing a laugh. “You’re the reason I worked up an appetite.” 

“Fair enough,” he laughed and pressed a kiss to her temple. He ordered their food, thankful that his favorite restaurant down the road was still serving margaritas to-go, and then set his phone aside.

It was quiet for a minute and when he glanced over at Aelin, she was brushing the end of a lock of her hair over her lips.

He loosened it from her fingers and she looked over at him. “What’s on your mind?”

She shrugged. “I’m trying to figure out where we’re going from here, what we’re doing…”

She was still only wearing his shirt, her leggings and own shirt still strewn somewhere around his kitchen. He turned to face her, brushing his thumb across her cheekbone. “It’s been less than a week and I can’t get you off my mind. I’ve tried, but… I don’t want to.”

Aelin hesitated. “I feel the same way. But….your job-.”

“I’ll keep my job-.”

“And my future-.”

“I won’t ask you to do this if you don’t want to do this,” Rowan said. “I’m more than willing to keep us a secret. I just want to be with you.”

“I want to be with you, too,” Aelin breathed. “But is it really a relationship if we have to hide all the time?”

“You won’t be in school forever,” he said, taking her face into his hands. “Soon, you’ll graduate and then we won’t have to hide anymore.”

She was quiet for another moment, so he added, “You wanted to date me before you found out who I was. If you’re not interested anymore because of that, I get it—.”

“It’s not that,” she replied, leaning into his palm. “I just worry about the consequences.”

“Damn the consequences,” he murmured, leaning in to kiss her. “And we’ll be careful, to make sure nobody knows. Not a soul.”

She made a face and for a second, he got worried, but she said, “I may have gotten wine drunk on Tuesday and told my roommate. But she’s my best friend, and she wouldn’t tell anyone.”

Chuckling, he nodded. “I got whiskey drunk and told mine. So we’re even.”

That made her laugh and the sight and sound loosened the strain in his chest,

“How do we do this?” She asked, covering one of his hands with hers.

“Carefully,” he said, and kissed her, slowly. “And one day at a time.”

“I can do that,” she said, and climbed into his lap, straddling his waist.

“Me too,” he promised.

“We’ll have to lay down some ground rules,” he replied, his hands immediately finding her ass. He hadn’t forgotten she wasn’t wearing underwear. “Like minimal contact in class. We can’t seem too…familiar.”

She nodded. “That’s reasonable. And no special treatment from you. I’m still your student, whether we’re having sex or not.”

“Special treatment?” He chuckled, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, like you can’t grade my papers or exams easier because we’re sleeping together.” She was running her hands over his bare chest, following the lines of his tattoo. Her eyes met his and went wide. “Or harder. Not unless you’re willing to give extra tutor sessions.”

Rowan rolled his eyes, but leaned up, capturing her lips in a kiss. “I promise, I’ll treat you just like every other student I have. Except for the fact that we’re having sex. That is just for you.”

“So,” she mumbled, acting shy all of a sudden. Rowan thought it was adorable. “You’re saying we’re exclusive?”

Rowan’s eyes softened. “I sure as hell don’t want to be seeing anyone else.”

“Pretty sure that’s the definition of exclusive,” she said.

Rowan huffed a laugh, his fingers gripping her ass a little tighter. “Then yes, smart ass.”

Aelin’s grin widened. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

Rowan pulled her closer into him before kissing her, yet again.

He liked kissing Aelin.

He didn’t think he would ever grow tired of kissing Aelin.

“So what excuse should I give to women when they throw themselves at me?” Rowan asked. “You know, since I can’t tell anyone that you’re my girlfriend.”

She snorted. “Do women throw themselves at you often?” His raised eyebrow was enough of an answer. That and Aelin was living proof that, yes, women did throw themselves at him. Chuckling, she said, “Right. Maybe the old, generic excuse of I’m working on myself right now. Don’t really have time for a girlfriend.”

She dropped her voice an octave when she said it, doing a horrible impression of Rowan’s deep voice, but he laughed. “I guess that would work. And you’re obviously so focused on your studies, 

since it’s your last semester, that you don’t even have time to think about dating.”

“I do take my studies seriously,” Aelin said, and though her tone was stark, her eyes were playful.

“I can tell you do.” Rowan was leaning in to kiss her again when there was a knock on the front door.

They both jumped, Aelin going so far as to climb off of his lap, when Rowan realized it was their dinner.

She blushed as he went to retrieve it, grabbing two glasses for the margaritas.

“Are you going to jump every time we order food?” Rowan asked, sitting next to her with a pile of to-go boxes. He handed her a margarita.

Aelin chuckled as she took it. “Are you?”

Rowan sipped from his glass as he grinned. When he set it on the coffee table, he said, “I guess this will just take some getting used to.”

“I guess it will,” Aelin agreed, pulling her knees up on the couch as she began to flip open the boxes. “But I’m okay with that.”

Rowan leaned over to kiss her, softly, as he said, “Me too.”

[pascalpanic]

Blood, Sweat, and Tears (Javier Peña x f!Reader)- Chapter Three

Summary: You meet Javier for the third time. Additionally, you both begin to discover how much the Murphys love to meddle.

W/C: 2.3k 

Warnings: language, innuendo

A/N: This is where things start to get interesting! I’m so in love with this fic and can’t wait for all of you to hopefully love these two like I do! This chapter was really fun to write (Steve and Javi are so much fun) and from here, it’s the interesting stuff!

p.s. this gif makes me WEAK... do you know how badly I want to make Javi smile 🥺

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You’ve known Javier Peña for a total of five days now, have met him twice, but he’s still all you can think about. Lorena catches on easily that something has put you in a dreamy and lovely mood as you hum and smile to yourself, folding the linens for beds. 

“¿Quiubo, Ana?” She asks, bumping into your side and teasingly asking you what’s up in Colombian slang. Your name is not Ana, no, but the girls around here love to call you it; they derived the nickname from americana. As much as it bugs you, it’s better than gringa, your original name around here.

You shake your head, ponytail swinging lightly behind you. “It’s nothing,” you shrug, but you’re smiling, and Lorena giggles a little. 

“Nothing my ass. Tell me, who is it? It’s gotta be someone, right?” She asks, and you smile a little wider, shaking your head again. “No one smiles while doing the goddamn sheets, chica.”

Shrugging, you wrap up a blanket and giggle. “Well, there’s a guy, yes,” you finally admit, biting your lip as you think about him. His face, his handsome face, the way you made him laugh. That seemed rare from a man like him. 

Lorena squeals and bounces, her dark and curly ponytail following her movements. “Tell me everything. Come on, I’m your best friend, you know you can,” she whines, grabbing your arm.

You yank your arm away to continue folding the sheets, but you still have a dreamy smile as you think about him. “Well, I met him at the gym. The night that woman died,” you tell her, and both of you droop softly at the memory, though the excitement returns as you think of Javier again. “His name is Javier. Oh my god, he’s so handsome,” you laugh as you picture him. “He’s got this mustache, right? It looks so 70s but it’s so hot on him.”

Wiggling her eyebrows, Lorena laughs and picks up some sheets, helping you fold them. “All the better when his mouth is between-“

“Lori!” You squeal and push her teasingly, laughing at her terrible thoughts. “Jesus Christ,” you groan, but the smile remains plastered on your face. 

“Estás tragada, Ana,” she practically sings as she sees the look on your face. It’s another slang term around here- literally, it means you’ve been swallowed; figuratively, that you’re head over heels. 

Rolling your eyes, you toss a folded sheet down on the table. “I’ve known him for five days.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t be completely in love with him,” she teases. Lorena is young, only 19, full of dreams and hope. She’s similar to the Disney princesses you grew up on, you think, huge brown eyes gleaming and dark waves bouncing along with her. 

You shake your head. “Don’t you have a catheter or something to go do?” You tease her, chuckling as her expression sours. “Go on, ¡ábrase!”

Lorena rolls her eyes and leaves the room. “Tragada!” She shouts before closing the door, leaving you to your folding. 

-

Javier lights a cigarette, watching the smoke trail from the end of it. It’s hypnotic for a moment, exactly what he needs to keep his mind off of the two most pressing matters in his head right now: the paperwork in front of him, and you. He takes a drag from the cigarette and exhales for a moment before sipping the coffee in front of him, expression dropping from completely neutral to a frown when Steve sits down in front of him.

“Mornin’, Javi,” the blonde man grumbles as he plops down in his office chair, taking a long swig from the large coffee mug he holds. Javi raises his eyebrows quickly in greeting before turning back to his paperwork, but Steve is in a chatty mood today. Unsurprising, Javier thinks, as Murphy starts talking again. “Spare one?” He asks, nodding to the cigarette.

Groaning, Javier nods and hands him one and his lighter. “You owe me around $30 in spares now,” he says teasingly, his mind elsewhere. 

Steve rolls his eyes as he brings it to his lips and lights it. “Real friends don’t keep running tabs.” “We’re not friends, we’re partners,” Javier says, trying to sound threatening, but they both know it’s a lie. Steve is Javier’s best, if not only, friend. 

“Speakin’ of friends, heard from Connie that you’ve got a new one. One that does more than fuck you,” he asks, raising an eyebrow. “You wanna tell me ‘bout her?”

The cigarette returns to Javier’s lips for another long and slow drag before he bothers responding. “No.”

Murphy laughs a little at that, sipping his own mug of coffee. “Good news for you then. You don’t have to. The word around the hospital is that she’s completely smitten with you,” he informs the man across from him, the coffee mug covering the lower half of his face.

That finally grabs Javier’s attention, causing him to lift a brow in curiosity. Steve grins. “So you do like her as more than something warm at night,” he chuckles a little, setting down his mug. “And you haven’t even kissed her yet, wow,” he nods, observing Javier’s reactions and reading them. 

Javier rolls his eyes and Steve laughs again. “I’ll have to tell Connie all about how you feel. Maybe that girl’ll get the nerve before you and make the first move.” “Don’t you fucking dare, Murphy,” Javier practically hisses at him, leaning across his desk. 

“Wow,” Steve chuckles and leans back in his seat, dragging out the vowel of the word. “You’re really into her.” “I am not some teenage boy you can poke and prod and call chicken, Stephen,” Javier threatens, annoyance clearly growing. “What I do with my love life is none of your fucking business, unlike you and Connie seem to think,” he says with force, sitting back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest.

“Jesus, Jav. Just trying to help,” he shakes his head and drinks the last of his coffee, standing. He takes Javier’s mug too, heading for the coffee machine in the break room. “One last thing: Connie told me that the girl gets off at 6 tonight, and she’s going to the gym after.” Steve smirks a little and turns away.

“Fuck you, Murphy!” Javier shouts after the man, who’s walking to the break room with a little more pep in his step. 

Murphy flips Javi the bird over his shoulder. 

-

As you walk to the gym, the sweltering heat of Colombia doesn’t annoy you as much as normal. You’re already about to be sweating your ass off, it’s fine. The sun is slowly slipping down the horizon, not quite at sunset yet, casting a golden glow over the crowded streets. 

Someone in the street is singing, and it fills the warm air just the way the humidity does. He’s talented, playing a guitar too, and you toss a 50 peso coin in his case as you pass. You hum along, the song familiar to you thanks to the radio, even murmuring the words to yourself. It’s an absolutely beautiful evening, and the only thing that could make it more beautiful would be encountering the beautiful DEA agent who has occupied a corner of your mind for the past week

Turning the corner, you spot the entrance to the gym, and notice that the door is being opened by a man with slightly wavy brown hair and a neat mustache- Javier, you grin to yourself. You jog a little to catch up, calling his name, and his eyes seem to glimmer a little as he hears you. 

You’ve never seen the man in the daylight, and it’s truly a sight to behold. The light accentuates the hills and valleys of his skin, the slight hook of his nose, and most importantly his stunning eyes. The light catches them just right, showing the depth in those shimmering brown rings around his irises. His hair is lighter than you thought, when it hasn’t been dampened by sweat, and shines in the sunlight just like the rest of him does. “Fancy seeing you in the daylight,” you tease, an easy smile crossing your face. 

Javier is noticing the exact same things about you. His lips tug up in one corner at the way your ponytail bounces and swings with your steps, your beautiful skin in the golden-hour sun, the way your smile lightly crinkles your nose. He opens the door for you and follows you inside. “It is different, I agree. So no graveyard shift tonight?” He asks you.

Nodding, there’s a genuinely excited smile on your face. “Yep. For the next two weeks, I only work days. I can’t wait, oh my god,” you sigh, tightening your ponytail and shoving your bag into a locker. “How about you? This is an odd hour for a man with your job,” you ask. 

The man simply shrugs. “Believe it or not, I get off at about 5:30 every night. I usually end up at the office for much longer, considering the workload.”

That surprises you. “Holy fuck, you’re kidding,” you laugh, unable to believe it, but Javier simply shakes his head, confirming it to be true. “Do you at least get paid overtime or something?”

“It’s not manual labor or anything, so no. It’s just expected of you when you’re on this kind of job,” Javier shrugs, walking to the boombox before you can and turning on a station of lively Colombian music. 

“I’d die. I’d literally die,” you laugh, adjusting your tank top and making your way to an elliptical. 

“You save people for a living. I deal with a lot of blood, and I can barely handle it; meanwhile, it’s your literal job to deal with that stuff,” he shakes his head and gets on a treadmill, a couple of yards away from you and facing the same wall.

“Different people are suited for different work, I suppose,” you shrug as you begin moving, enjoying the relaxation that comes with the moment. 

The two of you continue on your respective cardio machines for a while, before you break the silence and pause the machine to take a swig of water. “Where’s your water bottle, huh?” You ask him. 

Javier stops his machine as well, amusement in his eyes. “You know, I don’t seem to be able to get as hard of a workout in when you’re around. Too much chatter,” he teases, raising an eyebrow. 

You’ve been known to babble, too much sometimes, and that makes a little bubble of anxiety pop inside your stomach. “Shit, I’m sorry Javier,”’ you shake your head and turn back to the machine. “I’ll stop-”

“I never said I don’t enjoy it,” he says, the deadpan cracking and a small smile tugging across his face. It makes the anxiety dissipate as easily as it formed, the way he smiles at you and those beautiful eyes meet yours. “Like you said when we met. It’s nice to talk to an American,” he shrugs simply, crossing his arms for a moment before letting them drop again. “Especially one like you.”

You giggle softly at that, biting down on your lip and looking down. When you look up, Javier has turned the machine back on and is holding a comfortable jog. Fine, so that’s how he wants to play it. You bite down harder on your lip to hold back a stupidly lovestruck grin from crossing your face, instead turning back to your machine and getting moving again. 

A while later, a few snarky comments from each of you, the 30-minute period the cardio machines run comes to an end. You both sigh, panting and regaining your breath, as you try your hardest to keep your eyes off the man in the large mirrored wall. He’s handsome when he’s working out too, you’ve known that since the first time you met him, his tan skin flushed and tinged with pink. The sweat coats his forehead and you wonder if it’s uncomfortable to have that mustache when he’s exercising- maybe you should ask, you consider, but immediately change your mind. He already finds you nosy, you’re sure, you don’t need to push it more. 

The man turns to you, hands on his waist. “Weightlifting competition?” He asks, a smirk on his face as he breathes heavily.

“Oh, you’re fucking on, Peña,” you laugh, grabbing your water bottle and taking a long swig from it. You set it down on a weightlifting bench a few moments later after you find your way to a squat rack. “Let’s do squats, huh?” You ask, already moving to put your preferred weight on the bar. 

Javier tries to hold back his discontent when he sees the weights you’re loading onto it. “I was really hoping for maybe a bench press or something, but I guess I never specified,” he murmurs, sitting on the bench and waiting for you. 

When you’re all set, you get under the bar and lift it on your shoulders, walking forward and doing a couple of squats. You make eye contact with Javier and shoot him a wink, earning a little chuckle and a twitch of the top lip, hidden beneath his mustache. You walk it back and set the bar down, then crack your back softly and look at him. “Go for it,” you say, gesturing to the rack. 

“I suppose I can’t back out now,” he nods, getting under the bar in a similar way to you and letting out a grunt. “Fuck, you’re strong,” he grits out as he stands up, the bar resting on his traps. He does one squat, with effort, then returns it to the holding spot. “Okay, you win.”

You whoop happily, throwing your hands in the air and laughing. “Jesus, maybe it’s a good thing you’re coming here more often,” you tease, moving to take the weights off the bar. 

“Maybe it is,” he chuckles to himself as he removes the weights from the other side of the bar, thinking about it. It is good for him; he gets to see you. 

tag list:

@diogodxlot

[kyoomiii]

♡ Rainy days [hcs]

- ✎ characters ❝ kuroo, nishinoya, akaashi, and yamaguchi❞

- [ trigger warning(s): none ]

- ⚘ genre ❝ fluff, crack ❞

 ❝ ngl akaashi’s did hit a little different, but nonetheless they’re all sickeningly cute ♡〜٩(^▿^)۶〜♡ ❞

-kyo  ♡

The gentle stream of water coming from the opposing side of the door draws to a stop. A trail of steam emerges from Kuroo’s bathroom as he steps out, a plain t-shirt, a pair of shorts hugging his waist, and a towel slung over his shoulders. His usual bedhead is droopy, dripping with water from his shower.

And despite his display of pure beauty, your mind is trailed elsewhere, eyes stuck staring out the window as dark clouds gather in the late afternoon sky.

“Look Tetsu… It looks like it might rain.”

“Wouldn’t be surprised, it’s been cloudy all day. Cold too, we should stalk up on blankets.”

With that, the two of you spend the next 10 minutes picking out the most comfortable blankets Kuroo owns, settling on one that Lev ‘s sister Alisa had made and another that Kuroo has had for god knows how long.

He even brings out this mini projector that he had bought specially for movie nights as the two of you cuddle under the blankets, deciding which movie you should watch (most likely a disney/pixar movie because I think they’d be a huge guilty pleasure for him- his favorite is probably monster’s inc)

“I bet our baby would be cuter…”

“Oh my god Tetsurou.”

“Ow-What? I’m just speaking the truth.”

It’s in the middle of the movie when the pattering of rain finally begins, the droplets falling onto the window and streaming in tiny trails.

However, you don’t really seem to notice as Kuroo shifts his weight, his head laying on your abdomen, arms wrapped around your torso as your fingers comb through his slightly damp hair. He’s warm to the touch, his body heat cancelling out the chill that’s brought with the stormy weather.

The overall atmosphere is soothing, even when the rain begins to get heavy as Kuroo’s hands wander over your body. His fingers eventually find your own with gentle caresses and the occasional kiss to your knuckles. 

Your eyes trail down to look at Kuroo who no longer seems preoccupied with the movie, instead he watches as the droplets fall.

“Hey y/n, you see that drop?”

“Yeah why?”

“I bet it could fall to the bottom of the window faster than all the others.”

“Bet!”

Somehow he’s right, even after the second, third and fourth round of the droplet race. And each time he wins he gets more and more smug, shooting you a sly grin that’s just begging for a slap.

“I guess I just can’t help that I’m such a winner- even if it’s something as frivolous as this.”

But as the night draws on, the rain makes something click in Kuroo, and suddenly he feels so soft. Maybe it’s the way you run your hands through his untamable hair, or the gentle touches you leave against his skin, but he feels unbelievably warm.

In this moment the rain nor the movie that has yet to end piques his interest. Instead his eyes focus on you.

He observes your features and the little things you do which in turn cause his heart to swell with the utmost adoration. He snuggles closer, his grip getting tighter ever so slightly.

“y/n… I love you.”

“Ehhh, who are you and what did you do with my Tetsu.”

“Hey- I’m being serious, I really do love you. With all my heart”

“I love you too Tetsu, don’t you ever forget that.”

Your finger’s lace themselves together with Nishinoya’s as you walk back home, the school day is finally over and for once he didn’t have practice on the count of the gym being used for other purposes today. 

However about halfway there, the sky begins to grow gray. Your conversation halts, a frown forming on your features.

“Well that can’t be good. I think it’s about to rain… And I didn’t bring my umbrella.”

“It’s okay y/n, I think we’ll be just fine!”

And despite the threat of rainfall, the reassuring grin on Nishinoya’s face sets you at ease, his presence immediately enough to cheer you up. 

So with hurried steps the two of you rush home (well it’s kinda more like he’s dragging you and you try to keep up because he’s pretty fast).

But despite your efforts at escaping the rain, they end up being pretty fruitless as the rain begins to fall before the two of you can get to your destination, resulting in both of you crowding together under the rooftop of a small family shop.

“Aw… Great, at this rate we’ll be stuck here forever.”

“Well- y/n I guess if you’re willing to take a risk we could get home in no time.”

At the mention of this said risk you’ve grown immediately suspicious. Nishinoya has always been what some may call a “wild child”. But he’s also someone who's trustworthy, and you have no doubt that he wouldn’t put you in a situation that would be dangerous.

“Okay Yuu, I guess whatever you have planned can’t be awful.”

“Let’s run through the rain. Your house is closer so we should be able to make it there in no time.”

At his suggestion you can only stare at him. It’s crazy but he does have a point- Neither of you know when the rain will stop anyway.

“...Fine”

So with your confirmation he takes off his jacket wrapping it around you as he grabs your hand, and drags you out into the rain, the widest grin on his face as the water begins to seep through his clothes and hair. His laugh fills the air as the two of you run through the empty streets.

By the time you get home you’re soaking wet, but even so you don’t go inside. Instead you stay out with him, jumping in puddles and playing games of chase through the streets like young children.

Your laughter can be heard throughout the neighborhood, as Nishinoya dashes through a series of puddles to get to you.

“Hey y/n!”

“Yes Yuu?”

“I love you!”

“-I love you too!”

And by the time the two of you finally decide to go inside, sopping wet, but wide happy grins on your faces, he pulls you into a hug.

“You make me the happiest y/n, I hope you know that.”

Needless to say the rest of the storm is spent cuddling close together trying to get warm.

“Hey Yuu- you make me the happiest too.”

Akaashi is well aware of the forecast for today. It’s a part of his morning ritual to check the weather before he starts the day- just in case. And as a result he is always prepared.

So after school and practice, when the clouds begin to roll in, he immediately pulls out his umbrella. And though he’s not a particularly touchy person he keeps you close, not wanting you to catch an illness from the cold weather. 

As the driver pulls up because in my head Akaashi is from a well off family he guides you into the car, making sure to keep you warm because he likes to show his affection and care through simple gestures.

Once the two of you get to his home, Akaashi makes sure to take care of you first before going to freshen up. He’ll brew you a warm cup of tea and set you up with a lot of blankets and pillows on his bed, maybe even put on a movie or a show if you want. 

And when he does come back from his shower, he’s immediately under the covers with you, his eyes catching the falling droplets of water. 

He’s always liked the rain, even as a child. There was something so calming and peaceful about the scent that came with it, and the gentle patter of it on the window panes. He wasn’t messy when he was young, but he did love walking in puddles, and despite having grown out of it by high school, his admiration for storms never truly ceased even with age.

So even if you aren’t paying attention to the way it falls like he is, he’s glad that he gets to share this moment with you, huddled under a shared blanket basking in each other’s warmth.

He’ll even go as far as grasping your hand under the blankets, bringing to his lips in a gentle kiss.

We all know Akaashi isn’t really one for words, so sweet moments like this are often quiet and peaceful, filled with small and soft touches along one another’s skin.

Eventually though, you two do end up snuggled together, bodies tangled and fingers intertwined as you listen to the sound of the rainfall, he’ll press kisses to the crown of your head as his fingers wander along the small of your back.

“Thank you for sharing this rainy day with me y/n.”

“Of course Keiji, I love you.”

“I love you too.”

It’s moments like this he cherishes the most. Where it’s tranquil, and just the two of you, there are no words that need to be said to convey how much he loves and appreciates you. Only little tentative touches of affection.

For him it’s the little things that count the most.

The gentle patter of rain begins in the middle of your study session with Yamaguchi.  The water trickling harshly against the windows as the night gets later indicating that the end of this storm is nowhere in sight.

“Getting home is going to be difficult…”

“- Ah, don’t be silly y/n, I couldn’t possibly let you leave in weather like this. Why don’t you stay the night?”

His words send a flare to your cheeks. It hasn’t been long since the two of you have made it official, and while you’re both comfortable with one another, this was a new step in your relationship. 

And while Yamaguchi is just as shy about the whole ordeal, he also doesn’t want you to catch a cold in this harsh weather.

“Okay Tadashi, I’ll stay.”

The night progresses slowly, a gentle calming atmosphere as you snuggle closely into one of Yamaguchi’s old sweaters that he had lent you. 

He thinks you look cute, cuddling close to his clothes. Yamaguchi is someone with a soft heart, and little things like this turn him to mush, especially if it’s in regards to you.

If you’re still cold he’ll  bring you a cup of tea or some other warm beverage to keep you from freezing, even offering his favorite blanket and fuzzy socks because I don’t doubt that he has a collection

His touches are a little shy and unsure, but throughout the night he does eventually find his way into your arms, holding you close as you talk, the rain falling into the back of your minds as white noise.

“And then Hinata threw up in Tanaka’s lap.”

“Poor Hinata…”

When it comes to people he cares about Yamaguchi is someone who’ll be very observant, he’ll pick up on the slightest of changes and learn that person like the back of his hand. 

So as he watches every expression you make, every little gesture, and quirk, he begins to realize that this is it. This is where he wants to be for the rest of your lives. In your arms nestled close together through the calm and the storms. He realizes that he’s truly and deeply in love with you.

And the mere thought makes his heart pound in his chest at a rate of 100mph. The sound thundering in his ears so loudly and dauntingly that it makes his stomach churn, and his mind drift away.

“Tadashi?”

The sound of your voice breaks his trance, and he looks at you with the most nervous smile, only to be met with your much more reassuring one. And with his cheeks the brightest shade of red, he’ll blurt three magical words for the first time.

“I love you y/n!”

“... I love you too Tadashi.”

[nightshade-minho]

Nightmare (1)

Warnings: Angst/Fluff/Smut.

Suggestiveness, making out, eventual smut.

fake dating!au, college!au, roommates!au, best-friends to lovers!au.

(There are 13 parts to this fic, and they're all linked in my masterlist.)

You’d known Lee Minho since the two of you were in kindergarten.

The story of how you met involves macaroni necklaces, messy finger paint and the teacher scolding you for getting Minho covered in glue and sequins...something which Minho took the blame for almost immediately.

Ever since then, you’d known Minho would always be there for you, the light in your life when everything else felt wrong or unsafe. He was there for you when you fell sick, sitting by your bed and reading you Harry Potter fanfiction. He was there for you when you had your first kiss with a guy named Matt who told the whole school you were a tramp...and he was there for you when your first boyfriend of eight months dumped you for a blonde with daddy issues.

He was the one constant in your life. The one thing you knew would never change, the one person you knew you could trust with your life.

Which is why right now, you almost wanted to throw up. Cause there he was, pressing a redhead against the wall, the two of them heavily making out. His hands were on her ass, hers were slung around his neck. The sounds of the partying college students around you became nothing more than a buzzing sound in your ear, as you tried to blink the tears back. So...this was why he had texted you to say he couldn’t make it for Movie Night.

It wasn’t quite the fact that your best friend was currently sticking his tongue down some random girl’s throat....no. It’s the fact that he’d blown you off to attend this sleazy frat party. Perhaps the Minho you thought you knew was just a figment of your imagination. Maybe this was what he had been all along.

You turn around, pushing through the crowd as you search for the exit. If you had to stay there for one more second, you would probably puke.

As you finally managed to get to your bicycle and get back to the apartment you shared with him, you sighed.

Minho had always had a lot of things in common with you. It was why your friendship worked so well. All throughout high school, he’d been the perfect best friend. The two of you were in your own little impenetrable bubble, spending time with only each other. Afternoons consisted of dance parties, sing-offs and Disney movies. Halfway through high school though, you started noticing the slight changes in his behavior. How he actually seemed to enjoy the girls ogling him when he was dancing in the practice room, even though he wouldn’t admit it. How he started attending parties, and how he liked being the center of attention. Afternoons now consisted of booze and getting ready for parties, where there would be more booze.

And that’s when you realized that you and Lee Minho had one fundamental difference, and that was his confidence.

He was so self-assured, unfazed by opinions. You on the other hand, succumbed to criticism a lot more easily.

Of course people started talking about you too when Minho got popular.

“Who’s that girl he hangs out with all the time? I don’t think I even know her name.”

“Do you think they’re dating?”

“Hah! He’s way out of her league. They’re childhood friends or some shit. But you girls don’t need to worry, she isn’t a threat or anything.”

“Yeah. He would never go for someone so...mundane.”

There was the word. Mundane. That’s what people thought you were. The truth is, you had a lot to offer...a lot to show the world. However, living in Minho’s shadow made that difficult.

And now, as you cycled along, the image of him making out with that girl played over and over in your head. When did it all go wrong? When did Minho turn from your loyal best friend to a popular fuckboy who only hung out with you for old times’ sake?

When college rolled around, you two decided to get an apartment together, since all the dorms were full and there was no one else you trusted enough to live with. And for a while, things felt like old times. Living with Minho...sharing a home? It all felt right somehow. And that...that’s probably when you realized you were in love with him.

In between all the partying and fucking that Minho did, he would spend time with you. You’d watch movies together, bake, he’d dance and you’d watch, you’d play guitar and he would listen intently, his eyes closed...unaware that every song you wrote was meant for him.

•••

You’d been living with him for 2 years now. Approximately 730 days of knowing you were in love with your best friend, while being painfully aware of your unreciprocated feelings at the same time.

Could anyone blame you? Yes, he was handsome. The hordes of girls following him around proved that to be accurate. Yet none of them knew about his little quirks and habits- like the way he stayed up till 3 AM...meaning you had to kick him awake every morning. His habit of excessive blinking, his weird laugh and unhealthy obsession with anything feline...all of them did nothing but make you fall for him deeper.

You put your bike in the shed, making your way to the apartment.

You knew he was a little bit of a player ever since he hit puberty, but you’d never actually seen him with another girl. None of his sexual escapades took place in the apartment you shared with him. This place was yours and Minho’s only- no one else was allowed to encroach the space.

You unlocked the door, greeted with a sad, empty apartment. You removed your jacket, throwing it on the sofa and making your way to your room.

You wanted to take a shower, feeling filthy after all the things you’d witnessed at the party. So you stripped, and stepped under the scalding hot water...washing away the sweat and tears...and wishing you could wash away your feelings.

Once you were done, you went through your drawers to find an oversized shirt, only to see a big, black spider make an appearance.

The scream you let out was embarrassingly shrill, and you were glad no one was around to hear it. Minho was the one who usually took care of bugs, but he was, unfortunately, elsewhere.

You gathered the shirt, your underwear and your puppy plushie Gyu before quickly running out of your door and locking it. You leaned against the wall and tried to regain your breathing.

The only choice you had right now was to sleep on the sofa...but then you remembered how Minho’s room was currently unused.

Fuck it. By the looks of the way he was groping the girl back at the party, he was most definitely not coming back tonight.

You opened Minho’s bedroom door carefully, surprised at how clean it was. You lowered yourself onto his bed and wrapped yourself in the blankets, hugging Gyu close to you, imagining for a minute that it was your annoyingly charismatic best friend...and slapping yourself for that immediately.

Sleep overtook you quickly, your dreams plagued with him.

•••

Meanwhile...a certain Lee Minho happened to recall his appointment with his best friend just as the redhead kneeling in front of him was about to unzip his jeans.

He stepped back just as she leaned forward, frowning.

“What the fuck are you doing?” She asked, eyes narrowed.

“I’m sorry, but I just remembered I have this other thing I really have to be at...uh, what’s your name again?”

“It’s Rina, asshole! And fuck you.”

Minho smirked, before opening the door and leaving. “Right back at you, sweetheart.”

Yes, he was aware that this was a total asshole move, but at the same time he knew how disappointed and hurt you would be if he left you hanging...and that’s something he didn’t want to deal with.

And that’s how he ended up back home, sighing as he found the front door unlocked. One of these days, your carelessness would probably be the reason for an untimely death.

He pushed open the door and locked it behind him, surprised to find the living room dark and empty. The sofa was illuminated by the faint moonlight streaming in through the window, a lone jacket resting on top of it. He groaned as he noted the stack of DVDs and untouched snacks laid across the coffee table.

Carefully he made his way to your room and knocked on it. As seconds of silence stretched by, he pushed the door open slowly, only to find it as empty as the living room. Weird. Were you not home?

Confused, Minho shrugged and turned around to go to his room. Maybe you’d gone out for an evening walk or something, and would be back soon.

Of course, when he opened his bedroom door, he quickly realized that wasn’t the case. Cause there you were, cuddled up in his blankets with your plushie, softly snoring. He wrinkled his nose.

Fuck, she’s cute.

He shook his head with a smile, turning around to pull his shirt off, his jeans following suit. He rummaged around in his drawers for sweatpants and pulled those on, choosing not to bother with a shirt.

He quietly got onto the bed, and carefully lifted the blankets back so he could get in too...however, nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.

You were wearing his shirt. That was the first thing he noticed. The second thing he noticed was how far up it had ridden, exposing your entire bottom half to him.

When he lifted that blanket, catching a glimpse of his best friend’s ass wasn’t what he had expected. It didn’t help that the panties you had on were exactly the kind he liked- grey and lacy, accentuating the curve of your butt perfectly.

Minho gulped. He tried reminding himself that this was his best friend, whom he wasn’t supposed to view in such a light...but he was a man, regardless. And there was a half-naked girl lying in his bed. The fact that he still had half a boner from his previous activities at the party only made things worse.

Fuck it.

Throwing all caution to the wind, Minho lowered himself so he was lying comfortably, wrapping the blanket around him as well. He wondered if he should keep his distance, but now that you were covered up he felt more at ease. He scooted closer to the warmth of your body and shifted you so that you were closer...his heart clenching when you snuggled up to him in your sleep, resting your head on his bare chest.

Minho was the kind of person who had no idea what he was feeling at any given time. Emotions were something that he had plenty of, but rarely acknowledged- and why would he? It was just unnecessary and only made him feel convoluted. Running through life without giving any fucks wasn’t probably a good idea in the wrong run, but it worked for now.

He sighed for about the millionth time that day. Everything was puzzling to him...and at this point, trying to unpackage all of the emotions he’d amassed and ignored over the years would be impossible. Being the kind of guy who fucked random nameless girls wasn’t what 10 year old Minho had thought he would grow up to be...but life had a way of surprising you.

He snapped out of his reverie when you nuzzled your face into his chest and let out a tiny whimper. Minho looked down at you, noticing that you were starting to shake. He knew you used to get nightmares frequently, so he stroked your hair, and you calmed down gradually, falling silent once again.

As he patted your back, he thought about how he could have been on top of that redhead by now, had he stayed. But it didn’t matter...cause one thing’s for sure, he would choose you over pussy any day.

He fell asleep with that thought etched securely into his mind.

[pixie-lated]

Apparently the flavor of my current Star Wars fixation today is “Satine Kryze: Reformer or Tyrant?” and I have some Thoughts™.

To me the ‘evidence’ is inconclusive either way, and can depend a lot on how willing you are to fold in material from legends. On the page, so to speak, I think it's pretty clear she’s intended to be a total white hat with mildly antagonistic qualities, but if you extend past hard-confirmed Disney canon, the implications get very dubious.

(for the record, I’m aware that a particular author who provided a lot of our Mando-Lore is A Problem, but I also have no idea what she invented and what came from elsewhere. I tend to assume most of her stuff is what provides the ‘but imperial warrior classes are so cool!’ vibes. Either way, I’m not really interested in defending Mandalorian warrior traditions so much as recognizing that there are ways to get rid of cultural practices that are toxic and destructive while instituting new ones that pay respect to the positive foundational values, arts, and needs of the community they have played a part in defining.)

Satine was native to the Mandalore sector, but her background was Kalevalan, which had been culturally distinct from the rest of Mandalore for centuries by the time she was born. Her title, Duchess of Mandalore, was a Kalevalan import, and she fully shifted the capital on the planet Mandalore from Keldabe to the more New Mandalorian-friendly Sundari when her government took over. And Sundari itself is a more engineered, sterile environment than the few glimpses we have of other Mandalorian cities and towns (though those are few and far between, mostly pre-civil war, and, critically, non-canon as far as I know), which tend toward a vaguely complementary organic hodgepodge of structure, style, and layout.

I tend to be a bit uncharitable in my read on her because of how she came across to me in Clone Wars. It felt like she didn’t just have a strict code of pacifism for herself, but a condescending evangelism that cast people who didn’t comply with her views on the subject as ‘unworthy’. It smacked of Ghandi’s, frankly, shitty opinions about what European Jews should have done when faced with annihilation. This is entirely a tonal and contextual interpretation, not clear intent, but it flavors my read on just about everything about the New Mandalorian policies.

I certainly agree that no amount of Cultural Heritage entitles you to own a weapon of mass murder or engage in rampant imperialism, but between the background noise of Satine’s complete political overhaul, what I see as a universally applied and absolute philosophy, the ACTUAL EXILE of all Mandalore's remaining warriors, and the completely homogenous Kalevala-flavored anti-culture we see her framed by, I’m not sure she’s earned the benefit of the doubt. Maybe somewhere off in the background, beskar smiths were crafting jewelry and equipment inspired by the armor they once forged but suited to the new mandalorian way of life, military resources were liquidated to establish a robust communication, promotion, and support system to make it easy and safe for communities to engage with and adopt children in need of a family, and combat training was being carefully transitioned into a performance art to display the traditional weapons and martial artistry of Mandalorian fighters, decontextualized from militarism and conflict. It doesn't seem likely, though.

So, basically, I can see both sides of the argument, and, actually, I like both versions of the story. Either Satine was a young idealist with the steel nerves to stare down all of Mandalorian history to reject the glorification of violence and conquest and rebuild her people's way of life in the wake of a catastrophic civil war, OR she was a teenager radicalized by the violence and trauma of living as a fugitive in a war zone, hunted by the same people who had already done their best to fully annihilate her entire family, causing her to turn the philosophy of strength in peace which she held dear into a tool of oppression and control. Both stories are compelling and even sympathetic in their own way, and I suspect that if she were a real-life political figure, both would turn up in historians’ interpretations of her life.

[dweemeister]

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953)

Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, remains best-known for his children’s books. The Cat in the Hat; Green Eggs and Ham; and Oh, the Places You’ll Go! are household names in English-language literature. Seuss’ bibliography overshadows his work in films, beginning with the adapted screenplay of his own book, The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (1943) – directed by George Pal as part of the Puppetoons series. During WWII, Seuss was heavily involved in propaganda films and the Private Snafu (1943-1946) military training films. After the war’s end, Seuss returned to writing children’s books, but also continued to write for movies. The Academy Award-winning animated short film Gerald McBoing-Boing (1950) benefitted from Seuss’ story work, and Seuss’ success there inspired him to write a screenplay for a live-action fantasy film. That screenplay – the unwieldy rough draft coming in at over 1,200 pages – was The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. The eventual movie, produced by Stanley Kramer (1960’s Inherit the Wind, 1961’s Judgment at Nuremberg) and directed by Roy Rowland (1945’s Our Vines Have Tender Grapes, 1956’s Meet Me in Las Vegas) for Columbia Pictures, would be Seuss’ only involvement in a non-documentary feature film.

Like many who speak English as their first language, Dr. Seuss’ books graced my early childhood. So integral to numerous children’s youth is Seuss that his whimsy, wordplay, and authorial stamps are easily recognizable. In that spirit, the cinematic record of live-action Seuss adaptations consists of the scatological Jim Carrey in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) and the visual nightmare that is Mike Myers as The Cat in the Hat (2003). Compared to the original works, both films are ungainly, casually cruel, and overcomplicated. Not promising company for Dr. T. But even taking into account the three animated feature adaptations of Seuss – Horton Hears a Who! (2008), The Lorax (2012), and The Grinch (2018) – and the fact that Columbia forced wholesale deletions from the rough draft script of Dr. T to achieve a feasible runtime, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T is arguably the most faithful feature adaptation to Dr. Seuss’ authorial intent and signature aesthetic.

In other words, this is one of the strangest films you may ever encounter. No synopsis I could write in one paragraph will ever capture the film’s bizarreries.

Little Bart Collins (Tommy Rettig) is asleep during piano practice and his teacher, Dr. Terwilliker (Hans Conried), is furious. His overworked, widowed mother Heloise (Mary Healey) intuits Terwilliker’s unrealistic expectations (Terwilliker wants to teach the next Paderewski) towards Bart’s piano skills and inability to concentrate. Heloise also appears to be quietly eyeing the plumber August Zabladowski (Peter Lind Hayes) and his wrench. With the lesson done for the day, Bart falls asleep again. This time, he dreams that Terwilliker is now the leader of the Terwilliker Institute, a pianist supremacy mini-state which is built upon five hundred young pianist slave boys (hence, 5,000 fingers) forcibly playing Terwilliker’s latest compositions. His mother is Terwilliker’s unwilling, hypnotized assistant and plumber August Zabladowski (Hayes is essentially playing the same character, but in a different world) is Bart’s only ally around. Together, Bart and Mr. Zabladowski must evade the Institute’s guards as they attempt to undermine Terwilliker’s plans for his next concert.

In its final form, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T is a muddled mess of a story. The analogues between Bart’s reality and his dreams are inconsistent, several would-be subplots never resolve (or at the very least develop beyond a basic idea), and the film’s initial lightness is subject to rapid mood swings that make this picture feel disjointed. Indeed, Seuss’ sprawling social commentary in his first draft – including allegories and themes of post-WWII totalitarianism, anti-communism, and atomic annihilation – is in tatters in this final product. The viewer will witness brief fragments of those ideas, remaining in this movie as the barest of hints of the contents of the original screenplay’s rough draft. Even now, Dr. T inspires psychiatric analyses and accusations that Bart’s relationship with his mother reveals signs of an Oedipal complex (to yours truly, the latter is too much of a reach). The grim nature of Terwilliker Institute renders Dr. T unsuitable for the youngest children. For older children and adults, try going into this movie without expectations of narrative logic and embrace the grotesque aspects that only Seuss could imagine.

If my attempts to describe this movie’s preposterousness through its narrative and screenwriting approach have failed, perhaps I can capture that for you by writing on its technical features.

For its sheer narrative inventiveness – inconsistencies, abrupt tonal shifts, nonsense, and Rowland’s uninspired direction aside – The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T is nevertheless an ambitious film, and Columbia bequeathed a hefty budget to match that ambition. Much of that budget went to the film’s visuals. This is an extravagantly-staged motion picture, as nothing could do Dr. Seuss’ illustrations justice without fully committing to his geometric impossibilities: skyward ladders and improbable connections between rooms, an eschewal of right angles and straight lines, and architecture bound to raise the ire of physics teachers. One could compare this to German Expressionism, but Dr. T’s sets tend not to dictate the film’s mood nor are they subject to high-contrast lighting. Seuss went uncredited as the concept artist on Dr. T, and it was up to Clem Beauchamp (1935’s The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, 1952’s High Noon) and the uncredited matte artists to commit those visuals to the real world. Outside of animated film, Beauchamp and the matte artists succeed in creating twisted sets that seem to leap off the pages of Seuss’ most artistically interesting books. Some of the sets appear too stagebound, but the production design accomplishes its need to resemble a world borne from a fever dream (or, at least, a young pianist’s nightmare).

This movie’s outrageous costume design (other than Jean Louis’ gowns for Mary Healey, the costume designer/s for this film are uncredited) comprises absurd uniforms and two of the most ludicrous hats – the “happy fingers” cap (see photo at the top of this write-up) and whatever the hell Terwilliker dons in the film’s climax – one might ever see in a film. Most of the costumes are laughably impractical and ridiculous to even those without fashion sense. In what might be the tamest example, while working under Terwilliker, Bart’s mother wears a suit that is all business formal on the left-hand side and bare-shouldered, sleeveless, and nightclub-y on the right. The delineation of real life – which barely features in the film’s eighty-nine minutes – and this world of Bart’s dreams could not be any more unambiguous thanks to the combination of the production and costume design work.

The disappointing musical score by Fredrich Hollaender (1930’s The Blue Angel, 1948’s A Foreign Affair) and song lyrics by Seuss rarely connects to the larger narrative unfolding. Seven songs make the final print, with nine (yikes!) Hollaender-Seuss songs ending up on the cutting room floor. Seuss’ wordplay is evident, as are Hollaender’s melodic flourishes. Columbia, a studio not known for its musicals, assembled a 98-piece orchestra – the largest musical ensemble to work on a Columbia film at the time – for The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T alone. That lush sound is apparent throughout for the numerous nonsense songs that color the score in addition to the incidental score. It is unusual to listen to a collection of novelty songs orchestrated so fully. Listen to “Dressing Song: Do-Mi-Do Duds” and its complicated, seeming unsingable lines:

Come on and dress me, dress me, dress me In my peek-a-boo blouse With the lovely inner lining made of Chesapeake mouse! I want my polka-dotted dickie with the crinoline fringe For I'm going doe-me-doe-ing on a doe-me-doe binge!

The rich orchestration seems to hail from a more lavish film. But too many of these songs are scene-specific, and rarely does Hollaender utilize musical quotations from these songs into his score. “Get Together Weather” is delightful, but it seems so isolated from the rest of the film; elsewhere, “The Dungeon Song” exemplifies a macabre side to Seuss seldom appearing in his books. Nevertheless, Hollaender is able to demonstrate his playfulness across the entire film, none moreso during any scene with the bearded, roller-skating twins and the “Dungeon Ballet”, in which the music complements stunning choreography and fascinating props that recall the jingtinglers, floofloovers, tartookas, whohoopers, slooslunkas, and whowonkas from the Christmas television special How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966). Yet, Hollaender’s film score and the soundtrack with Seuss seems to demand something – anything – to tie the entire compositional effort together. Perhaps a song or some cue like that was cut from the film, which is ultimately to its detriment.

Hans Conried (who starred as Captain Hook in Disney’s Peter Pan several months prior to Dr. T’s release) stands out from a decidedly average Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healey – Hayes and Healey, in a sort of in-joke, were married. Conried’s performance as the sadistic, torture- and imprisonment-happy music teacher can be considered camp, but this is anything but “bad” camp. He throws himself completely into this cartoonish role, sans shame, complete with mid-Atlantic accent, and topped off with exaggerated facial and physical acting that fits this fantasy. As Bart, child actor Tommy Rettig (best known as Jeff Miller on the CBS television series Lassie) seems more assured in his performance than most child performers his age during the 1950s. His fourth wall-breaking asides seem more appropriate in a Bugs Bunny cartoon, but Rettig makes it work, and inhabits Bart’s flaws wonderfully.

Columbia demanded numerous reworkings of Seuss’ script, leading to several reshoots – most notably the opening scene (Seuss opposed the conceit of Bart’s dream framing the film) – and a ballooning budget. Upon its release in the summer of 1953, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T bombed at the box office and was assailed by critics. A crestfallen Seuss, who could not stand the production difficulties that beset the film from the start of shooting, would never work in feature films again. He would dedicate himself almost entirely to writing and illustrating children’s books, with many of his most popular titles (including The Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, and Green Eggs and Ham) published within a decade of Dr. T’s critical and commercial failure. His hesitance to participate in filmmaking informed his reluctance to allow Chuck Jones to adapt How the Grinch Stole Christmas! thirteen years later. Animation suited his books, Seuss thought, and he would never again pay any consideration to live-action filmmaking.

The reevaluation of The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T has seen a rehabilitation of the film’s image in recent decades. Home media releases and television showings have introduced the film to viewers not influenced by the hyperbolic negativity of the film critics working in 1953. This is not a sterling example of Old Hollywood fantasy filmmaking, due to a heavily gutted screenplay, scattershot thematic development, and incongruent musical score. Yet, the movie’s surrealistic charms and Seussian chaos know no peers, even in the present day.

My rating: 7/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

[pixelatedrose]

Hey i wanted to write something.

So.

Uh...

Here.

Platonic prinxiety (or romantic if you want)

Takes place after POF.

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

"We still love you." Patton's soft kind voice cut through Roman's trance.

Roman looked between Janus, Thomas, and Patton, hurt running rampant in his eyes.

"Sure." He said, voice cracking as he sunk out, silent and somber.

As Roman appeared in his room, unable to hold it together anymore, he started to sob. They weren't listening. They didn't care. They took his side. How could they?! They should know by now that Janus was bad news!!

Nothing good was happening. He thought, he thought, that maybe Patton was starting to listen to him, that maybe if he could get one, one, other aspect on his side, maybe he could finally get one or two ideas out and listened to.

Roman sobbed harder. "So much for that..." He thought Patton was on his side. He thought he was Thomas' hero.

As it turned out...no one wanted him.

Roman heard a soft knocking on his door. Panic struck him and he wiped desperately at his eyes before hearing Patton's voice. "Kiddo? Are you doing okay?"

Roman stopped his attempts to hide his tears, instead hot anger gripped him. Patton had taken Janus' side over his. Patton had betrayed him.

He didn't want to talk. Not to Patton. Not after what he did.

"Listen, Roman...I-" Roman teleported away before he could hear the rest of what Patton was saying. He didn't even know where he was going. He was too angry- too upset- to try and pick a destination.

So when he found himself in Virgil's room, he guesses he should have been surprised.

"Roman, what's-?" Virgil started, concerned pain flittering across his mismatched eyes. He had gotten up from his desk, what he had been doing before left abandoned, and had made it only a few steps before a tired and sobbing Roman fell into his arms.

"He- he-!! A-and I-!!" Roman tried to speak, his words choked with tears and hiccups. God he felt so pathetic.

Virgil quietly sunk to the ground with Roman in his arms, stroking the creative side's hair. "Shh...shh...hey, it's okay...just...just cry for now...its alright to cry..."

And so Roman did. He sat there and cried. He let his emotions wash over him and he cried in Virgil's arms.

And Virgil let him. He didn't tease him like he usually would. He just sat there, softly stroking Roman's hair and thinking of what he could possibly say next to help his friend.

Finally Roman's sobs died down to soft sniffles as he let himself lay in Virgil's arms.

"Better...?" Virgil asked tentatively. He wasn't quite sure if he was doing the right thing, but he'd be damned if he was going to let his friend suffer like that.

Roman sniffed and sat up, rubbing slightly at one of his eyes. "Better..." he said quietly.

"...do you want to talk about it?"

"No..."

"Alright...do you want me to go?"

"No..."

"...do you want to watch a movie? I think i still have Moana in here from the last time i stole it from you."

"...sure."

Virgil got up from the ground, only to have Roman grab at the hem of his jeans.

"Don't worry, I'll...I'll come back." Virgil said. Though he wasn't sure how convincing he sounded.

He returned to the same spot on the floor with his laptop and Moana. An idea struck him and hee turned to Roman. "Hey, I'll be right back, I promise, okay? I'm gonna go grab some more blankets from your room, alright?"

Roman nodded and Virgil sunk out.

When he popped back up in the creative side's room, he had to stifle a gasp.

It had always been a bright place all the other times Virgil had been there. Now, the once red walls were closer to more of a grey, cracked in many places and even falling apart. The room was a disastrous mess and papers with the words, "Betrayal, Wrong, Empty, and Evil" scrawled over them in red and black ink, messy and reminiscent of terrifyingly sharp thorns.

Virgil's anxiety spiked as he took in the room. He quickly grabbed three or four blankets from off the edge of the deteriorating bed and sunk out of the slowly aching room.

When he got back to his room, Roman was curled up on the floor. Not asleep, but Virgil wasn't sure he was awake, per se. He seemed unconsciously conscious, his once bright green eyes now dulled and misty as they stared at nothing but time and dust, both silently drifting like unseen soot around him.

Virgil neared him and found Roman had already put the disk in, having paused it, waiting for Virgil. As he neared, Roman seemed to finally see him. He sat up and watched as Virgil made a blanket nest of sorts around them.

Silently, once he was done, Virgil laid down next to Roman and asked if he was comfortable and ready to start the movie. In response, the taller side shifted closer to Virgil and made a noise that sounded like a yes in another- happier- time.

Virgil pressed play and the two watched the intro. While Roman might have been engaged in the film, Virgil's mind was far off elsewhere. The room was utterly silent, save for the Disney film playing on the small black laptop. And when the movie had finally come to a close, Roman was asleep.

Virgil moved carefully away from his friend and placed a blanket with black and silver spider webs over his sleeping form. He then got up and stalked out of the room, having thought all the while the movie had been playing.

Virgil may not be a dark side any longer, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to raise hell over this.

Tag list:

@iwillsithereandtrytocontribute @gattonero17 @soupgromlin @chaotic-nonbinary

[5-falsehoods-phonated]

(Prompts with boxes have been taken, highlighted have been written)

Requests for this card are closed, thank you to anyone who sent in requests! Completed stories are planned to be posted all through December and most likely into January, so if you don’t want to see them you can block the tag #false bthb. As always shoot me an ask if you wanna be tagged in future stories!

I received this request from @atlasistryingherbest​, I hope you like it!

All Dolled Up

Summary: Fearing Roman’s newfound obsessions after the events of SvS Redux, Patton decides to break things off with him before they can get worse. If only he realized just how bad it could be. Written as a request from tumblr.

Warnings: bruises, forced confinement, threatening with a weapon, unsympathetic -if there are more let me know

Ships: Royality, Roman x Patton

Prompt: Defeated and Trophified

“You can’t-!”

“Roman!” Patton reached out to him with a desperate plea, trying to scramble to find the right words that would make all of this okay. “Everything’s gonna be okay, kiddo.’

Mentally berating himself as hurt flashed in Roman’s eyes he nevertheless held his gaze in earnest. “We love you.”

“Right.” Thoroughly dejected Patton watched as Roman sunk out, shame tinting his cheeks as he tried to make it seem like he had everything together, despite the lesson he had just learned not ten minutes before. He was grateful as Janus and Thomas reassured him but  he couldn’t keep his thoughts from drifting to the image of Roman alone in his room, having to ride out his conflicting emotions on his own and the miserable expression never leaving his face as he did so. That wasn’t the way to leave things with the prince, that wasn’t the way to leave things with anyone but especially someone he cared so deeply for and shared so much with.

Mind made up after he was sure Thomas would be alright with Janus he quickly sunk out to the regular common room, seeing no sign of anyone let alone Roman he made his way up the stairs and towards the door he had walked to so many times it was muscle memory at this point. All the sides had different kinds of relationships with each other, whether it  was familial, platonic or romantic and Patton and Roman were certainly no exception. With their shared enthusiasm fo the things they were interested, their strong urge to take care of the members of their family and Thomas and their passion to make other happy no matter what it was never really a stretch to imagine the two of them together; so it came as a surprise to know one when just that ended up happening. 

The mindscape had certainly been a brighter, happier place since they had made their relationship official, even if Virgil did cringe and scoff teasingly while Logan simply rolled his eyes and requested if they they were going to engage in public displays of affection then to please do it elsewhere or at least warn him so he could leave the room. Hand holding, hugs from behind, cheesy musical numbers, forehead touches, cuddles at movie night- nothing was below them when it came to showing their love for one another. But everything started to change when Janus began to come around, especially since Patton was the first one he had impersonated.It had hit Roman hard that he hadn’t recognized the deceitful side until later on ,and no amount of Patton telling him that that’s what he did and was supposed to do and he wouldn't be Deceit if he wasn’t good at well...deceiving could convince Roman of anything other than Janus was a horrible person from that day forward. A villain meant to be shunned and punished like any other Disney villain should be. At first Patton had somewhat agreed with him but as time passed he began to doubt that notion more and more...until today he realized he needed to take a step back and really evaluate what it was that Janus contributed to their family as a whole.

He lamented his mistakes of how he handled Janus’ situation- all of the “dark sides” situations really. All they were doing was their jobs how they knew how to do them, and maybe their methods were a bit misguided but so were his own to an extent. He needed to learn how to adapt and let go of past misconceptions- and that came with getting Roman to understand that as well.

He stopped short of knocking on the Prince’s door to listen for any sound coming through, from his or any of the other doors. He figured Logan wouldn’t be particularly happy to have been dismissed and replaced yet again but that was something to unpack and fix on another day. So Logan and Virgil would most likely be boiled up in their respective rooms waiting for the figurative fire to die down before venturing out again. Remus was most likely preoccupied with something Janus had left him to keep him busy and away from making Thomas’ mental state even more scattered than it already was and Janus himself was going to be occupied with their manifestor for at least a couple more hours after everything that had happened. He and Roman would have plenty of time to themselves then to work out what needed worked out for them to hopefully be okay again. 

Taking a deep breath he tentatively knocked on the door and, hearing no answer, knocked a bit more firmly before easing it open and glancing quickly around the room before his gaze landed on Roman. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, still in his rumpled prince costume with his hands folded between his knees and his eyes shining with unshed tears as he made stubborn, steady eye contact with the floor. Patton sighed quietly as he stepped inside, shutting the door behind him and carefully stepping over to sit beside the other. 

“Roman-”

“Am I-”

They both stopped as they started at the same time, Roman ducking his head down further and angrily swiping tears off his cheeks. Patton was thankful when the hand he placed on the others knee was left there, looking back up at Roman’s face and smiling kindly. “Go on Roman, I wanted to hear your thoughts.”

“You’re about the only one.” Roman muttered, looking away and towards the door as if debating how quickly he could run and hide somewhere else before his shoulders dropped as he resigned himself to his fate. “Patton, am I..am I still needed?”

Patton gasped quietly, squeezing his knee tightly. “Of course, why would you think-”

“Because if Deciet is coming around, being accepted...if he’s going to be a part of things now...I don’t know what that means for us. For Thomas.” Roman finally turned to face him, his eyes shining earnestly. “I always thought him the villain, someone to vanquish when his deceitful means seeped into the mindspace too much, someone to wave my sword at to defend my and everyone else's honor. But if he isn’t the villain...and I was in the wrong...doesn’t that then make me-”

“Please don’t finish that sentence.” Patton gently took Roma’s face in his hands and leaned closer, making sure to capture his eyes. “You are not the villain Roamn, you never could be. Sometimes...well sometimes there doesn’t even have to be one and that’s okay. Things are changing and that’s okay.”

Roman scoffed quietly. “Patton, you’re the one who likes change the least out of all of us.”

“Which is why I’m the one that needs it the most.” Roman was quiet at that, closing his eyes and leaning his forehead against Patton’s softly, making him small and moving his hands from Roman’s cheeks to loop around the back of his neck gently. It was comforting and quiet, neither of them wanting to move and speak again in fear of ruining the temporary standstill they had come to. Eventually Patton shifted, pressing his lips softly to the prince’s nose and smiling when he was rewarded with a soft laugh. 

“It’ll be okay, Roman you’ll see. Everything always works itself out.”

“But what if something happens? We can’t just leave him with Thomas.”

Patton grinned at him sheepishly. “Well...he’s already with Thoams and has been since I left. Nothing bad has happened yet has it?”

Roman’s lips thinned as he looked down at his lap, twisting his fingers in an uncharacteristically nervous way. “What does that mean for me? I- I don’t know what I’m doing anymore.” He looked up imploringly. “You- Patton you need to be there when I mess up. I still trust you to know right from wrong and if you’re there to keep me in check I’ll be their hero again!”

“That’s not quite how-”

“No it’s perfect; I’ll just tell you everything I’ll do before I do it and you can say yes or no and then I won’t mess up again!”

“Sweetheart I can’t do that.”

“Patton no you have to! Everyone already hates me, I have to do better, I can’t just- not be better.”

Patton grasped his hands and squeezed, hoping to distract Roman from his spiraling thoughts. “Nobody hates you honey, I swear on my honor as a side of Thomas. But I can’t be there all the time. We’re going to make mistakes going forward, and the ones we’ve already made are still going to hurt, but all we can do is try our best and let that be enough. I wasn’t lying when I said we still love you.”

He brought Roman’s hands up to his lips and planted a chaste kiss on the knuckles. “And I will never lie when I say I still love you, Roman. We aren’t our mistakes, we are the growth that comes from them. It’s going to be okay.”

Patton wasn’t sure if Roman truly understood but accepted the other nodding his head anyway, even if Roman did look incredibly deep in thought. It had been a long day for all of them, they both just needed some rest and hope that the next day would be a better one. Nodding to himself, Patton stood and gently ran his fingers through Roman's hair. “It’s getting late. Wanna watch a movie and cuddle before bed?”

Roman leaned into the gesture and moved to reach for his laptop; Patton, taking that as an agreement, snapped them both into their pajamas and summoned a fluffier blanket for them to snuggle under. Any more conversation could wait for tomorrow, now was the time to wind down with his favorite person in the mindscape.

-----

The next few days...weeks...worries Patton to say the least.

Roman could never be found less than a few feet from his side, and although he’d usually find it sweet and endearing the way his every movement was tracked like he was small prey being hunted had begun to make him twitchy. If the others noticed they didn’t say anything, which made Patton feel as if he was simply overreacting and just more jumpy than usual from the frog incident. He giggled at the thought- that would certainly make sense.

But it wasn't just that. Despite their heart to heart Roman was consulting him before nearly every decision he made, down to whether he put creamer in his coffee since that might be taking away from the others. Patton had hoped this phase would only last a couple of days and then they could move on but it honestly didn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. He was loath to speak to the others about it since everyone was still a bit touchy and Roman couldn’t be shaken long enough to talk to anyone else in private anyway. Which left talking to Roam about it himself.

Which Patton...also didn’t want to do. He loved Roman with his entire being, and their relationship had always been a steady, even give and take. They had pretty good communication considering their individual track records and always made sure to set and respect boundaries, but with Roman being a bit testier...to say the least. More demandant for answers that Patton simply didn’t want or feel the need to give. Picking what T.V. show to watch, especially if it was just the two of them was not an entire dilemma that needed solving before they could move on!

And yet...when he didn’t answer, Roman had started to get more and more demandant. Throughout their relationship Roman had never once raised his voice at him, but it was becoming more and more a constant occurrence. He needed constant reassurance that he was doing fine and no one hated him and Patton still loved him which he would normally be happy to give, but it was so much. It was too much for any side alone to undertake upholding an entire sides’ mental health. To the point where he could feel his own slipping, and still he said nothing. For the first time in his existence Patton was almost...afraid of Roman. He had so many outbursts now and his movements towards Patton were always so jerky and it made him twitch away which only meant Roamn needed more reassurance and so the cycle continued. But enough was enough.

Breaking things off with Roman was surprisingly easy for how much his stomach was twisting with the nerves. Roman remained passive through it, expression so neutral you could pretend they were discussing the weather or what tp have for breakfast the next day. He was so afraid, so ready to have to call on another side for help, but he shouldn't have and he immediately felt incredibly silly for even having the thoughts. This was Roman, and Roman would never hurt him no matter how much he was spiraling right now. He’d wait a little longer for everything to cool off and then they’d have a meeting and discuss how to move forward. Simple. Then maybe when both he and Roman gained more solid ground to stand on they could try again and everything would fall perfectly back into place.

-----

That night Patton crawled into bed alone for the first time in years, missing the warmth of strong arms wrapped around his middle and holding him close until morning. He consoled himself with the thought that things weren’t completely over between them; it was just a small break. Everybody needed those from time to time and Roman had understood completely. He had just settled in to sleep for the night when his eyes snapped open suddenly. What was that?

He sat up in bed and listened carefully, sure he hadn’t been imagining the sound. Just as he was about to shrug it off and lay back down he heard it again faintly.

“Patton.”

The voice was so faint but now that he had heard it there was no mistaking it. Ripping off the bed sheets he hurried to his door and swung it open, listening carefully to hear the voice again.

“Patton.”

Moving to the stairs and rushing down them he turned into the living room and gasped at what he saw before him.

“Patton.” Janus’ voice was relieved but pained, tugging at the restraints that held him fast to the back of the rather small cage he was being held in. Dark bruises littered his face and his eyes blinked slowly as he struggled to focus on Patton. Rushing to the door of the cage Patton fiddled with lock as he looked desperately around for a key, his mind whirling too fast to form a coherent thought.

“Janus who did this? How can I get you out?”

“Patton you need to leave me.”

“I- what?” But you called me down, he wanted to say, shaking the thought away. Janus was clearly in no position to voice coherent thoughts. “No. We need to get you out. Do you know where the key is? We can start there.”

“You need to leave, I deserve this. I’m the villain- I deserve to be punished.”

Patton’s eyes widened, shaking his head vehemently. “No. No, you don’t, don’t talk like that. You deserve just as much as any other side and right now that means not being locked in a cage.”

Janus coughed out a laugh weakly. “Are you sure about that?”

“Of course, honey. Let me just-” Frustrated Patton shook the bars of the cage, pausing when Janus locked eyes with him, a steady glare boring into his very being.

“Wrong choice, love.”

-----

Patton cowered in the far corner of the cage, eyes tracking Roman’s pacing fearfully as his wrists rubbed raw above his head. He still couldn’t dispel the image of Janus’ face melting into Roman’s, the cage falling apart only to wrap around and trap him instead as Roamn had straightened in front of him, eyes filled with nothing but passive disdain as Patton had pleaded desperately, mind confusingly fuzzy and still trying to comprehend what had happened. The had sunk out into Roman’s room, where he had been pulled to the far side of the cage and tied to the bars so that there was no chance of jiggling the lock on the far side to escape, leaving him trapped and scared and at the mercy of whatever it was Roman had become in the face of his perceived rejection.

Suddenly a knock was heard at the door, Patton tensing as the tip of Roman’s sword was thrust in front of his face.

“Roman? Patton? It’s after 9, Lo made breakfast.” Virgil’s voice came through the door. Roman nodded his head, an unspoken warning in his eyes as he gestured for Patton to go ahead. 

Swallowing hard, Patton called out. “We’re both in here kiddo! Just- finishing up a project; might take a bit though.” He struggled to contain himself, to contain the anxiety rolling off him in waves so Virgil wouldn’t sense it and god forbid become suspicious. He needed to keep everyone safe, even at his own cost. 

There was a pause, and then: “Are you guys sure? I can bring something up.”

“No need hun, thank you though. We’ll get something in a bit.”

“Okay.” They both listened as the footsteps faded away before Roman turned to face Patton, grinning wickedly.

“So, my heart; what is it that we’re doing today?”

Patton swallowed against, tears pricking at his eyes. “Getting rid of Jan- Deceit.”

“Good.” Roman moved the sword to gently caress his cheek. “And you’re going to do exactly as I say. I’d hate for this beautiful face to become just as deformed as that snake’s.”

He snapped his fingers and Patton’s pajamas were changed out for his regular attire, albeit a nicer variation of it. He could feel makeup cake his face thinly and he knew from the weight in his hair that his favorite barrettes had been pinned in neatly. Roman smiled and reached in to cup his cheek gently and Patton felt himself leaning into the touch despite the spike of fear he felt. 

“There,” The prince crooned. “A sweet little doll to puppet as I please. Deceit never could resist coming too close to what was out of his league now could he?”

Stifling a sob by biting his lip Patton could only watch as Roman moved away to begin concocting another illusion that would draw in Janus later that day. Hanging his head in shame, he sagged against his confines, feeling the ropes dig into his wrists and the cage run painfully against his spine. A useless doll thrown to a corner, forgotten in its disuse after its purpose was met.

This work is also available on AO3!

[phantom-le6]

Episode Reviews - Batman: The Animated Series Season 1 (4 of 10)

Carrying on our look at the first season of Batman: The Animated Series, we present a fourth round of episode reviews, this time starting with a two-parter that introduced one of Batman’s stranger foes to the series.

Episode 20: Feat of Clay (Part 1)

Plot (as given by me):

Lucius Fox of Wayne Enterprises is lured to a secret meeting with a man who claims to be Bruce Wayne, who wants evidence the company has gathered about businessman Roland Daggett trying to take over Wayne Enterprises through insider trading.  The meeting turns out to be a set-up, but Batman’s interference ensures Fox manages to live.  However, the men escape and the injured Fox identifies Wayne as being complicit in the set-up.

 In reality, the man who set Fox up is Matt Hagan, an actor who is forced to carry out errands for Daggett in order to ensure a supply of an experimental chemical compound called “Renuyu”.  The compound makes skin highly malleable, enabling Hagan or any other user to rearrange their features as they choose.  However, the compound is also highly addictive, and Hagan needs it to cover facial disfigurements following an accident he had years ago.  Daggett insists that his men, Raymond Bell and ‘Germs’, eliminate Hagan for his incompetence, relying on Hagan’s addition to draw him to them rather than try to find Hagan, who was a noted master of disguise even before using the compound.

 As predicted, Hagan breaks into Daggett Pharmaceuticals and is caught by Bell and Germs.  They expose him to an overdose of the compound and then leave him in his car, where the compound begins to alter Hagan.  Meanwhile, Batman has learned his alter ego of Bruce Wayne was impersonated for the attack on Fox, and has remembered Bell, who is distinguished by the radio headset he wears to monitor police radio frequencies.  Batman uses this to flush Bell out by pretending to be a police radio operator.  Cornering Bell with the Batwing, Batman interrogates him about the impersonation of Wayne.  Bell confirms Wayne was impersonated, but passes out before confirming the identity of the imposter.  The arrival of the police forces Batman to abandon his efforts with Bell.

 Later, Bruce sneaks into Fox’s room at the hospital, but Fox panics and alerts the police officers outside his room, resulting in Bruce’s arrest.  Meanwhile, Hagan’s friend and stand-in Teddy Lupus tracks Hagan to Daggett’s factory, where he finds the overdose has transformed Hagan into a clay-like monster. Seeing himself in the rear-view mirror of his car, Hagan roars in horror.

Review:

Apparently, there have been several villains who have taken the name of Clayface over the course of Batman’s history in the comics, of which four had already made appearances in comics by the time this series came round.  What the series does is combine the occupation of the original Clayface Basil Karlo, namely being an actor, with the name of the second Clayface Matt Hagan, and then throws in an original origin story for the character.  Well, for the character it’s original, but for the show as a whole it’s not very original.  As the DC Animated Universe wiki rightly points out, this two-part episode shares a lot of common plot points with the ‘Two-Face’ two-part episode. Even the structure is roughly similar in that part 1 is set-up for a transformation that the principal villain then seeks retribution for in part 2.

 However, Hagan isn’t as easy to empathise with and root for compared to Harvey Dent.  While Dent was a crusading crime-fighter who was normally a good guy, and who was also friends with Bruce Wayne, Hagan comes off as someone who was probably a bit of a jerk to begin with, and who would probably be working for a creep like Daggett even if the chemicals that ultimately transform him weren’t addictive.  In essence, Hagan’s arc is like one big warning about the dangers of getting too caught up in one’s looks too much.  That said, he is well-voiced by actor Ron Perlman (yes, I mean the first cinematic Hellboy and Blade II villain Ron Perlman).  Other notable actors who have guest roles across this two-parter are Ed Begley Jr. (too many credits to name, but guest appearances in the West Wing, CSI Miami and Star Trek: Voyager number among them), and the now-late Ed Asner voicing Roland Daggett (Asner being most notable in voice acting outside of this series for Carl in Disney & Pixar’s Up!).

 Overall, it’s a decent part 1 with some very good guest talent alongside the show’s regulars.  It just lacks a bit in originality, and for that it’s only able to score 8 out of 10.

Episode 21: Feat of Clay (Part 2)

Plot (as given by me):

In his trailer at the film studio, Hagan wallows in self-pity and despair as he recalls how after his accident, Daggett conned him into being a test subject for his experimental compound.  Walking past posters on his wall, Hagan’s face changes to mimic the posters without him being aware of it.  Teddy points this out, and Hagan realises he can now make himself look like anyone, even simulating clothing out of his body. However, doing this requires intense concentration, and when Teddy disturbs Hagan, the disfigured actor lashes out, realising his career cannot be salvaged.

 Meanwhile, Wayne is released on bail, enabling him to continue his investigation as Batman, and Daggett insists that Germs kill Fox, despite the fact that Fox is in hospital and Germs earned his nickname by being a germophobe.  Hagan also deduces Daggett will try to have Fox killed, and plans to kill the assassin so he can take their place, the better to then kill Daggett.  As a result, all three men end up at the hospital. Batman intercepts Germs and manages to corner him in a room where viral and bacterial cultures are being stored for analysis, and uses this to coax Germs into revealing it was Matt Hagan who impersonated Bruce Wayne during the original ambush on Fox.

 Before Germs can reveal how Hagan pulled off the deception, a police officer appears to apparently arrest Germs.  However, it swiftly turns out the office is Hagan in disguise; he abducts Germs and takes him to the roof, intent on throwing him to his death.  Batman pursues and saves Germs, and the dark knight is startled when he sees Hagan’s face change on reflex to try and mirror his own.  Hagan uses his shape-shifting powers to try and kill Batman, but the effort soon exhausts him and he is forced to flee.  Elsewhere, Hagan finalises his plans to kill Daggett, and knocks out Teddy when he tries to talk him out of it.

 Later, Roland Daggett appears on a talk show hosted by TV journalist Summer Gleeson to promote “Renuyu” to the public.  When Summer takes questions from the audience, an overweight woman in the audience storms the stage, grilling Daggett about the chemical’s side-effects and addictive properties.  The woman then transforms, revealing it is actually Hagan in disguise, and the audience flees in terror.  Hagan, now calling himself “Clayface”, attacks Daggett, but Batman intervenes.  A fight ensues between the two that moves from the stage to the control room, Batman subduing Daggett along the way.

 In the control room, Batman activates videos of Hagan’s films, causing him to shape-shift out of control as his body tries to emulate all the varying and conflicting characters at once.  The police arrive as Hagan’s out-of-control changing continues, and they see his face briefly become that of Bruce Wayne. Hagan then smashes the control consoles, electrocuting himself.  He laments that he never got a death scene this good when he was still an actor, and won’t be around to read the notices.  While Wayne is cleared of all wrong-doing, Batman experiments on a piece of Clayface left behind and realises electricity has no effect on it. Combined with the actor’s choice of words, Batman realises Hagan gave them all a fake death; his body at the police morgue turns out to be an empty shell, and elsewhere a disguised Clayface laughs at his seeming triumph.

Review:

As I noted with part 1, the whole Clayface intro two-part story is quite derivative in its plot structure, having so many parallels to the Two-Face intro episodes that to a casual glance, they could appear identical.  However, part 2 does compensate for this with more than just a great cast of guest voices like part 1 did.  In part 2, we see Clayface show off his powers, and that’s where this episode comes to really stand out.  Unlike some DC heroes, Batman faces a rogues’ gallery composed almost entirely of otherwise normal people who are either just insane human beings or some form of professional criminal.  As a result, he’s often challenged more by their insanity or something technical they’ve done.

 Clayface, on the other hand, opens our animated Batman up to facing a foe who presents a challenge because he has a physical super-power that the caper crusader has to contend with.  Metahumans aren’t the norm for Batman solo adventures, but it’s fun to see them because they serve as evidence for why someone like Batman ultimately ends up as a member of the Justice League.  It’s his ability to get through the initial clash, learn from it and be prepared the next time around that ensures Batman can win even against a super-powered adversary.  However, even with this we’re not quite up to top marks, but we’re close.  I’d give this episode 9 out of 10.

Episode 22: Joker’s Favour

Plot (as given by me):

Average Gothamite Charlie Collins is coming home from a bad day at work when he is cut off on the freeway by multiple drivers, including Batman and officers of the GCPD.  However, the one that compels Charlie to return the favour complete with a string of abuse turns out to be the Joker.  Horrified at his mistake, Charlie then tries to flee, but the clown prince of crime pursues him.  Charlie, in the heat of the moment, states he’ll do anything to make amends, and the Joker agrees, stating that at some future time, he’ll ask a favour of Charlie.

 Two years later, Commissioner Gordon is to be honoured with a testimonial, something that sits ill with the Joker, and he plans to crash the festivities.  Despite having two henchmen and a right-hand woman in the form of one Harley Quinn, Joker decides to call in the favour owed to him by Charlie Collins. Charlie has moved cities and changed names, but the Joker has managed to keep track of the man, and insists Charlie return to Gotham if he doesn’t want his wife and son hurt.  At Gordon’s testimonial, which is being held at the Gotham Peregrinators Club, Charlie’s favour for the Joker is open the door for Harley while she pushes a giant cake in.  However, Charlie decides to try and warn Batman, and uses a club exhibit to make an improvised bat-signal.

 Charlie performs his task as Harley brings the cake in, disguised as a uniform cop.  However, Charlie finds his hand is now glued to the handle, and the cake emits a gas that paralyses everyone not involved in the Joker’s scheme (the Joker’s men, Harley and Charlie all wear gas-masks while Joker springs up from inside the cake).  The Joker pins a bomb to Commissioner Gordon’s suit and leaves with Harley and his men, planning to kill Charlie along with the assembled officers. However, Batman arrives, having spotted the improvised bat-signal as he’d been leaving the club as Bruce Wayne. At Charlie’s warning, he uses his grapnel gun to shoot the bomb outside, which results in the destruction of the Joker’s getaway van, after which he frees Charlie from the door, telling him to stay with the recovering police officers while he tackles the Joker.

 Batman is quick to take down Joker’s henchmen and Harley while Joker gets outside.  There, he is confronted by Charlie, who in mad desperation threatens the Joker with one of his own bombs that was thrown clear of the van.  Joker pleads for Batman to save him, and the dark knight appears in time to apparently talk Charlie down.  However, Charlie soon tosses the device to the ground, where it turns out to be a gag bomb instead of a real one.  While an amused Batman takes the Joker into custody, Charlie looks forward to returning to his normal life.

Review:

This episode has quite a lot going for it. For starters, it’s another Joker episode, which are generally sure bets to be interesting once any Batman show knows what they’re doing with the character.  Second, it’s a Joker episode with a very interesting premise of putting an everyman kind of character in the middle of everything.  That alone helps the episode to stand out as something different, and that’s before we consider that the everyman character is being voiced by Ed Begley Jr.  In and of itself, that last point might not seem like much, but if you compare Charlie Collins to the character Begley was voicing in the ‘Feat of Clay’ two-part episode, it shows this chap has an impressive range for voice-acting.

 However, all of this is relative pre-amble to the fact that this is the episode that first featured the show’s major break-out original character of Harley Quinn.  From the simple act of episode writer Paul Dini creating Harley as a guest character for this episode, her character has taken Batman’s original medium of comics and all other Batman mediums by storm.  It’s hard to believe given the episode isn’t giving her a proper intro with origin story and all the rest, but luckily the show would later address that. However, I think that just goes to show how strong the character was, or possibly just how much Batman lore must have needed that character without maybe realising it.  Factoring all this in, I’d say this episode is another top scorer; 10 out of 10.

Episode 23: Vendetta

Plot (as given by me):

Convict “Spider” Conway is being transported from Stonegate to give evidence against crime lord Rupert Thorne, but the transport boat is blown up by a bomb mid-transport.  The officers on board spotted the bomb and got off in time, but Conway is missing and everyone begins to assume the worst.  When Batman finds a toothpick like those used by Detective Harvey Bullock at the Stonegate Penitentiary docks, and later learns Bullock was once suspected of taking bribes from Thorne, he assumes something even worse; that Bullock planted the bomb himself.

 Bullock is taken off the Thorne/Conway case because of this unsavoury history, while Batman goes to interrogate Thorne.  The crime lord claims he wasn’t involved and that Conway’s testimony won’t damage him at all.  This seems to confirm Batman’s theory that Bullock blew up the boat to prevent anything come to light about his own past with Thorne, but Commissioner Gordon is adamant Bullock is clean.  However, when someone dressed like Bullock abducts another criminal, Joey “The Snail” Martin, from his police cell, Bullock is arrested.

 Batman examines another piece of evidence found at the docks, a scale which looks reptilian but has human cellular structure. A chance phrase of Alfred’s combined with the scale gives Batman an idea.  He eventually discovers Joey and Spider have been hidden in a cave with an underwater access and confronts their abductor, who identifies himself as a former professional wrestler named Killer Croc.  Croc was apparently born part-crocodile, which gives him a massive strength advantage.  Despite this, Batman is able to tie Croc up long enough to capture Joey and Spider and leave.

 Back at the Batcave, Batman is able to trace Croc’s past; he became a pro-wrestler after a stint as a side-show attraction, then turned to crime when he came to Gotham.  Initially penny-ante, Croc was later arrested by Bullock and convicted based on the testimony of Spidey and Joey.  Realising this, Batman intercepts Croc when he tries to corner Bullock in the detective’s car, after Bullock has been released on bail.  Batman and Croc take their battle into the sewers, where Batman ultimately wins, bringing Croc back to the surface for Bullock to take in. Bullock soon returns to duty with all charges against him formally dropped.

Review:

Here we get a fairly simple, but nonetheless decent, intro episode for another of the metahuman monsters that occasionally get a spot in the Batman rogues’ gallery.  This time it’s Killer Croc, who has a fairly simple backstory and doesn’t require the kind of introductions we’ve seen for many of Batman’s other foes. The backstory for Croc is so simple, in fact, that it doesn’t lose anything from being worked into a Bullock frame-up plot that allows us to also see a major supporting character in Batman lore developed further.  My only criticism would be that Croc’s proper name of Waylon Jones from the comics isn’t used, and that right at the end he gets identified as ‘Killer Croc Morgan’ by the news reporter.  It might seem like a minor niggle to some, but between that and the frame-up seeming a bit advanced for the simplistic Croc, I give this episode just 8 out of 10.

Episode 24: Fear of Victory

Plot (as given by me):

Amidst reports of star athletes having panic attacks that cause them to lose, Dick Grayson’s college room-mate and American football player Brian Rogers is on the verge of being signed into the professional American football leagues.  As they discuss this, Brian receives a strange telegram wishing him luck, but also reminding him that only a fool knows no fear.  Later at a crucial game, Brian suffers a panic attack of his own, and later when Dick is out as Robin assisting Batman, he has a panic attack while scaling the side of a skyscraper to tackle two thieves.

 Investigating Dick’s college dorm, Batman discovers the telegram is coated in a substance that is blocked by their gloves. Performing an experiment back at the Batcave, Batman deduces that the chemical is activated by adrenalin, causing major panic during moments of major excitement such as high-pressure sporting contests.  The nature of the chemical clearly indicates the Scarecrow, but Robin contends that Scarecrow is supposed to be locked up at Arkham Asylum.  A visit there swiftly reveals, however, that Scarecrow has escaped and somehow terrorised an orderly into keeping the escape a secret.

 Elsewhere, a man identifying himself only as ‘Lucky’ collects another big win from Leon the Bookie, who sends his enforcer after the man to find out how he is managing to win so many bets.  Lucky turns out to be the Scarecrow, and uses another drugged telegram to cow the enforcer into submission.  Batman explains to Commissioner Gordon that in order to finance his fear experiments, Scarecrow is drugging top athletes and then betting against them or their teams, depending on the sport in question.  That knight, Gotham’s professional American football team the Gotham Knights have a game that Scarecrow is likely to target, so Batman goes to intervene, Robin going along despite not yet having recovered from the fear chemical himself.

 At the game, Robin spots the disguised Scarecrow entering and follows, quickly deducing that this time, Scarecrow has tampered with a player’s helmet rather than going for the telegram trick again. Watching the game from the lighting scaffold in the stadium roof, Scarecrow is puzzled as the targeted player doesn’t have a panic attack, and is then surprised when Batman confronts him. Scarecrow threatens to drop a vial of fear toxin on the crowd if Batman doesn’t back off, but then opts to drop it to keep Batman too busy to follow him.  However, the vial lands on a lower platform instead.

 A scuffle ensues that causes the vial to fall towards the crowd, but Robin arrives in time to swing out and catch the vial, overcoming his panic attacks and saving the day.  He also reveals he was the one who swapped out the dosed helmet for a safe one.  Scarecrow is swiftly returned to Arkham and Brian Rodgers is signed up to play professional American football.

Review:

Quick bit of house-keeping; as a Brit, I cannot stand how Americans call actual football ‘soccer’ and their version of football, well, football.  After all, football is supposed to be played, as the name implies, with one’s feet.  Why the Americans apply this name to their version when they almost never use their feet to move the ball is just silly to me. Also, given the shape of the ball, I’d say what they’re really playing is rugby, albeit with a better set-up in terms of ensuring player protection and, hopefully, no stupid rules prohibiting passes in the direction players are meant to run.  So, for anyone wondering why I’ve insisted on using the term ‘American football’ all through the plot outline above, that’s why.

 So, that having now been explained, let’s consider the episode proper.  While this was the first episode to be aired featuring Robin, it’s the second from a production stand-point, and in all honesty it’s one episode that might have been better going ahead of the earlier Robin episode ‘Christmas with the Joker’.  The fact that Dick is at college, and thus less available to act as Robin, is more directly shown here, so really this should have been made as well as aired first, then the Christmas episode done later on both counts.  Robin’s arc in the story about overcoming fears is a decent, albeit highly cliché one that at times slightly undercuts the episode’s quality.

 To some degree, the return of Scarecrow with a more terrifying appearance helps compensate for this, but then also undercutting the episode is the obviousness that the Scarecrow is the culprit.  Between the episode title (and title card), not to mention the series of fear-related incidents with top athletes, it’s somewhat painful having to wait for Batman to make the connection the audience made five minutes earlier at least.  It’s like watching any episode of Columbo, where the audience gets to see what actually happened first and then has to wait ages for the detective to work it out.

 That way of presenting mysteries is almost as daft as calling a sport football if it’s not going to involve primarily foot-on-ball contact.  The audience should always be in sync with or behind the detective, and if you get there ahead of them, it should be from your own deduction, not because the book, TV episode or film spoils the solution for you while making the detective work for it.  Overall, this isn’t the best episode of the series by any means, and I give it just 5 out of 10.

Episode 25: The Clock King

Plot (as given by me):

Hamilton Hill, the future Mayor of Gotham, catches a subway to work at his law firm, and finds himself sitting opposite businessman and efficiency expert Temple Fugate, who is preparing for a hearing regarding a judgement of $20 million dollars against his company.  Hill warns Fugate that he needs to unwind a bit before the court hearing or the judge may rule against him by misreading his tension as guilt. Taking Hill’s advice, Fugate takes his coffee break 15 minutes later than normal and goes to the park instead of staying in the office.  This leads to mishaps that result in him appearing late and dishevelled, prompting the judge to rule summarily against Fugate, causing the demise of his business.

 Seven years later, Hill is now mayor of Gotham and in the process of starting a re-election campaign.  On his way to a fund-raiser for the campaign, Hill is detained when traffic lights at an intersection are tampered with, and at the same time a poster mocking Hill is unveiled on the side of a building.  Bruce Wayne is also caught in the traffic mishap, and spies the culprit on a nearby rooftop. He attempts to interfere as Batman, but the culprit (Fugate now lightly disguised as the timing-obsessed Clock King) manages to escape through his expert use of timing.

 Batman’s investigations of the traffic incident soon give him Fugate’s name, and when a bank is the subject of a targeted black-out to disable its time locks, the dark knight deduces this to also be Fugate’s work. At the bank’s vault, Batman is trapped inside by Fugate, who reveals via audio recording that he has left a high-speed vacuum pump to drain the vault’s air.  The pump will take less time than Batman’s cutting torch, and it’s rigged with a vibration-sensitive explosive to prevent Batman tampering with it.  However, Batman is able to break open the audio cassette and use the magnetic ribbon to rig up a pulley system; using this, he moves the pump to the vault door and then sets it off by hitting it with a batarang.

 The bank vault, however, was ultimately successful in that while Batman is getting free, Fugate sabotages the opening of a Gotham subway station by making two subway trains crash at the station.  Only minor injuries are reported, but in the confusion the mayor has gone missing.  Batman, hearing of this and recalling Fugate having a lot of plans of a clock tower, swiftly realises Fugate has kidnapped Hill and taken him to the tower.

 At the clock tower, Fugate has tied Hill to the clock hands, which will crush Hill at 3:15; the time Hill suggested Fugate take his coffee break at seven years earlier.  As Hill’s law firm represented the plaintiffs in the case against Fugate, the timing-obsessed criminal has become convinced Hill’s advice was deliberate sabotage, and thus he various crimes throughout the day have been about exacting revenge on Hill. Batman arrives and engages Fugate in combat inside the workings of the giant clock, until Fugate’s clock-hand sword jams the gears, causing a catastrophic collapse.  Batman and Hill escape, and while there is no sign of Fugate in the aftermath, Batman believes that a man with Fugate’s use of timing could easily have escaped as well.

Review:

While the main antagonist of this episode shares his codename and use of timing with a DC Comics villain that was mainly a foe of Green Arrow, this show puts a different person behind the name and modus operandi, complete with a different origin story.  It’s a decent story, and one that certainly breaks a major convention of the series by having Batman operate in the daytime instead of being a strictly night-time crime fighter.  However, that sort of change is good because it adds somewhat to the variety of the show while also taking the main character out of his comfort zone a bit. On a personal note, I also enjoy this episode because what happens to Fugate illustrates why if you’re someone who is worried about being somewhere on time, you should never listen to any advice that might put you behind schedule.

 Hill might think what he’s suggesting will help Fugate, but it’s clear he’s not really engaged with Fugate and doesn’t understand the man.  Anyone who is this good with timing clearly needs everything to run like, well, clockwork in order to be relaxed.  I know because I’m often the same way and can’t stand the idea of being late to anything even where it might be the social norm.  If being late is going to cause someone anxiety, don’t try to suggest that they do anything that’s going to risk making them late.  Don’t tell them to have their break at another time or to get out of their routine; let them stay in their routine because odds are they need that routine just to keep calm.

 As much as Fugate goes overboard on the revenge, Hill deserves the opening salvo of the traffic incident and poster graffiti, and so does anyone who tries to advise others on how to calm down without knowing them.  Also, changes in routine and getting outside won’t help if the source of anxiety still exists.  Anxiety, like every problem in existence, has only solution; deal with the problem at its source.  Got an illness?  Go for whatever treatment wipes it out or lets your immune system do so.  Don’t like the current government?  Vote to change who runs it and get everyone you can to vote the same way?  Want to stop discrimination of any kind?  Fight every kind actively, aggressively and never, ever just say ‘I’m not that kind of bigot’ and then do nothing else.  Problems are only ever solved by action, not evasion.

 So overall, this is a good episode with an interesting premise and a story that highlights the folly of giving well-meant advice if you don’t really know the person you’re advising.  It’s not one of the highlights of the series, but I’d be hard-pressed to consider it a flop of any kind.  I’d say about 8 out of 10 for this one.

Episode 26: Appointment in Crime Alley

Plot (as given by me):

Roland Daggett wants to buy up and redevelop Gotham’s Park Row, a formerly nice area of the city that has now become a slum so infested with crime that it is better known as Crime Alley.  However, most of the residents of the area cannot afford to live anywhere else, so they are resisting Daggett’s plans.  To that end, Daggett hires an arsonist known as Nitro to destroy the slum and make it look like a faulty gas main ruptured.  Daggett asks that the explosion occur that evening at 9pm, which is when Daggett will be otherwise occupied giving his speech to the Gotham Better Business Council.

 Bruce Wayne deduces Daggett is up to something as he watches news commentary on the Park Row situation, but he has his own appointment to keep in the area an hour prior to Daggett’s deadline, one he has apparently never failed to make.  Bruce heads to the area as Batman, but is delayed when a girl comes running out of an apartment building screaming for help.  Batman enters the apartment to find three crooks trying to terrorise the girl’s mother out of the place.  The dark knight swiftly defeats the crooks and learns they’ve been strong-arming everyone in Crime Alley to leave, suggesting they may be working for Daggett.

 Meanwhile, Crime Alley resident and physician Dr Leslie Thompkins realises Batman is running late and sets out to look for him, insisting to her friend Maggie that she’ll be alright, having lived in the area for 30 years.  However, Leslie is abducted and tied up by Nitro and Daggett’s henchman Crocker when she discovers them rigging explosives in a condemned building.  When Batman learns Leslie has gone out in search of him after he was delayed, he begins to search for her.  He is then delayed when a desperate Crime Alley resident holds a clerk from Daggett Industries hostage for serving him eviction papers.  Batman manages to diffuse the situation and resumes his search for Leslie.

 A check of Leslie’s apartment reveals nothing, apart from a scrapbook that explains the nature of her relationship to Batman; Crime Alley was where Bruce’s parents were shot and killed, and Leslie was there to comfort the grieving Bruce, being a colleague of Bruce’s father as well as a local resident.  Seeing a homeless man staring through the window, Batman confronts him and learns of Leslie’s abduction.  He is delayed getting to her by having to stop an out-of-control tram trolley, which forces him to abandon the Batmobile and finish his journey on foot.

 Finding Crocker and Nitro in the midst of completing their work, Batman locks them inside their own van and diffuses the bombs Leslie is tied up next to.  Leslie urges Batman to forget her and get everyone out of a nearby hotel that has become a sanctuary for many people with nowhere else to live.  As Daggett gives his speech, sections of Crime Alley explode, but when Daggett later appears on the scene, it turns out all the residents and most of the buildings are still ok.  Only a few condemned buildings are taken out by the blasts, and Daggett’s men are under arrest.  However, Daggett denies any involvement and pins the blame on the neighbourhood’s high crime rate.

 As Daggett leaves, Leslie urges Batman to let it go, and the pair walk away to keep their appointment, each laying a rose at the place where Bruce’s parents were murdered years before.

Review:

When it comes to adapting Batman’s supporting cast from the comics, there are a few characters who get over-looked in most versions, and Dr Leslie Thompkins is a major oversight in most incarnations. While Alfred’s place as Batman’s butler and Bruce Wayne’s surrogate father figure is generally ensured in every iteration of the character, the surrogate mother role played by Leslie is less featured.  The fact that this series actually bothered to include her at all, and does so with such accuracy to the source material, is another example of why this show remains so iconic and definitive in terms of Batman adaptations.

 Of course, the key to making this work is two-fold.  First, the episode is apparently based on a specific comic-book story, which wasn’t something this series or later DC animated universe productions did very often. Second, they had Diana Muldaur, better known to Trek audiences as Dr Kate Polaski from season two of Star Trek: TNG, voicing Leslie, and while I didn’t generally care for her TNG character, she brings the right warmth and kindliness to her role in this episode. We also get Ed Asner back as Roland Daggett, which helps to ensure Rupert Thorne isn’t the only animated series original criminal that’s getting repeat appearances.  It also gives the episode a suitably notable antagonist to keep it interesting.  Overall, I’m inclined to put this one in the top-scorers club for this series; 10 out of 10.

[actingonimpulse]

Snow and Roses

This is my one-shot for @vp102 “Gift of Fanfiction”. I recommend you check their YouTube channel out where they do a variety of things, including Wattpad Read Alouds, and they are really cool. Their YouTube channel is VideoPresident 102, or this link https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmOYRxICUMSiLoYDX_BTZiw.

Summary: Its Christmas time in the mindscape, when it starts to snow that's when things pick up the little on excitement.

Wordcount: 4240

Janus (mentioned 15 times) and Remus (mentioned 16 times) Are there but I didn’t incorporate them enough for me to feel the need to tag them.

3rd person POV

Virgil was just settling down onto his soft bed, the sheets shifted with the pressure of his body weight going down on it. Staring at the ever-shining digital clock. The blocky letters in red illuminating their way into his eyes. 6:30 AM. ‘Perfect time to sleep’ the tired side thought. Drifting slowly into sleep.

/a little tad later/

Virgil very, unfortunately, got woken up by a sound. It wasn’t his alarm clock. It only really set it if there was something going on. Virgil grudgingly sat up, taking the opportunity up to stretch his arms. His head turned towards his nightstand, it was holding four things, his phone, a bottle of water, a lamp and the alarm. Glancing at the alarm it read 6:47 AM. whole 17 minutes of sleep. His thoughts drifted off the clock and he looked at the wall. The sound was music blasting from the hallway, the tired side deduced. Footsteps rang through the hall, Virgil could tell it was Roman based on the pattern of steps. The song was now interpretable. It was Mariah Carey.

“l don't care about the presents~” a voice echoed from the hall. It was the voice of the fellow Prince and Mariah Carey’s top song. A fearsome duo in his opinion.

“Underneath the Christmas tree” A different voice continued, it was very energetic. It was Patton. A less fearsome trio.

After a twist of his door handle Roman burst through his door. Virgil jumped and accidentally bumped his head into the wall. “Merry Christmas Kiddo!” Patton cheered. “We can’t open gifts until everyone else is downstairs.” The father figure informed. Virgil nodded and watched as they left him in his room, Patton closing the door behind himself pushing Roman out. Virgil slid out of bed. Virgil was in black sweatpants, so he didn’t think it was necessary to change out of them. Virgil slipped his fuzzy slippers on and then switched his pajama shirt to a loose purple t-shirt then slipped his hoodie on. Virgil was staring at the door then saw a light illuminate from his nightstand. Virgil grabbed his phone, it was a basic notification. Virgil quickly checked the time, 6:56, Shoving the device into his pocket stepping outside his room, continuing his journey down the hallway. Virgil was dragging himself through the hall without having the real chance of waking up.

 Stepping down the stairs Virgil noticed Logan in one of the leather seats, reading a book while his phone laid face down next to him on the arm of the chair he was occupying. Logan glanced up, he was in his everyday attire. “Merry Christmas Virgil. I hope your sleep was ideal.” His tone was mainly his normal voice, but there was a glint of something else there, possible excitement or happiness. Patton and Roman turned to look at him as Virgil made his way over. Patton was in his Cat onesie next to Logan. Roman was in red and yellow plaid pajamas with his Christmas sweater over it.

“Do you like it, Lo?” Patton chirped.

“Merry Christmas Logan.” Virgil muttered in response as he sat next to Roman in an open spot. Logan gave a small nod of acknowledgement. Roman shifted away from him and Patton stood up”

“Kiddos let’s open presents now! I’ll go first for the Secret Santa. I had Logan!” Patton excitedly cheered walking over to the tree. He picked up a box, wrapped in dark blue wrapping paper, and a silver bow adorning the top. Passing it to the intellectual side, who took it. Taking off the bow and the paper in a fashion that wasn't just ripping it apart. Logan took Patton’s gift out. It was a Collection of H.P. Lovecraft, the intellectual observing the cover.

“Yes. It’s indeed a great choice.” Logan replied excitedly Patton looked extremely pleased with his statement.

“I know you like Sherlock, so I wanted to find something close enough to it,” He explained. 

“Well thank you. I will start reading this soon. It's clear you thought of me when getting it.” The logical trait placed the book to his side. “I will make room to start this as soon as I can.” Logan picked up a gift wrapped in light pastel colors. “It seems I had you also.” He passed the box to the father figure. Who took it out, ripping the paper to shreds. He took out a stuffed dog, with a grey cardigan around the animal’s shoulders. The stuffed animal had glasses on their brown eyes. Patton gave the gift a strong squeeze.

“It’s so cute!” Patton squealed. “It looks so much like me! Thank you, Logan!” Patton stared at it. His eyes were bright with excitement. The father figure then turned “Wait, who will go next”

Janus raised his hand. “I totally don’t want to go next in the gift exchange.” Patton gave a small nod and Janus walked over to the tree. Picking up a box with green paper on it. 

Janus handed the green box to Remus who quickly ripped it apart. Remus opened the box and held up a few things that could be used for pranks. Remus looked at a vial of what Virgil thought was Disappearing Ink. Roman gave a sigh in a way that said ‘oh boy.’

“Ooooo! These things could be fun~” Remus smirked while speaking out to everyone. After a second he skipped over to the tree. Picking up a small red box, passing it to his brother.

Roman hesitantly grabbed the box and unwrapped it. He slid something out then gave a small squeal. “Is this. The complete Disney song collection?” Remus nodded. Roman examined the perfectly sealed CD with a small smile. Eventually Roman picked up something from under the tree. He passed it to Virgil who could tell he was nervous.

Virgil took the box as Roman sat back down next to me. Virgil looked at the box. It adorned the top of the lid. Virgil gently took the lid off, it held a small key. Virgil looked at him confused as he picked up a silver key. “A key?” Virgil asked him. 

Roman scoffed “I wouldn’t just give a silly old key!”

Virgil sighed. “Princey if you have some crazy adventure plan would you mind waiting for me to give my gift?” Roman nodded as Virgil put the key in his pocket. Virgil walked to the remaining present and picked up the yellow and green box. Virgil handed it to Janus. Who took it and looked at me.

”What’s this? Is it gonna jump out at me?” Janus teased Virgil, who brushed it off and sat down. Janus looked back at the box. Taking the paper off and opening the box. He took out a yellow snake plush with a hat on. “This was totally expected,” Janus spoke, almost to the plushie. He looked in awe at the snake, eventually booping it in the nose.

“Are we done now?” Roman asked. Patton gave a half shrug. “Come on.” Before Virgil knew it Roman grabbed his wrist and dragged the darker one elsewhere.

“I feel like you're plotting something,” Virgil muttered looking behind himself to see Logan and Patton following. They both seemed to be equally confused. After Roman dragged him outside. He handed Virgil a blindfold. “What are you even doing? I really do think you're gonna do something.”

“You’ll see,” Roman replied as Virgil put it on.

“Your gonna kill me aren’t you?”

Roman let out an offended gasp to his question. “I would never!” He shot back starting to guide him. Virgil could hear the footsteps of the others. 

He eventually slowed down “Watch your step” Roman warned as there was a sudden step-up. Virgil gave an unsure nod. Virgil llet Roman guide him . It was cold, almost too cold for the Emo.

“Ok, you can stop now.” Virgil heard the Prince character’s voice. Virgil did so as Roman took the blindfold off Virgil. The four of them were in the garden, in front of a gate. 

“The gardens have been here forever. What's so different about it?” Virgil inquired.

“Where's the key?” Roman asked back. Virgil stuck his hand in his pocket pulling it out onto his palm, showing the prince as he waved Virgil over. Patton and Logan were close behind.

“Did we leave Remus and Janus alone?” Virgil realized they weren't with us. 

“They did not wish to follow,” Logan responded. 

Roman looked at both of them. “Virgil, unlock the gate.”

“Oh yeah.” Virgil quickly countered. Virgil put the key into the lock, twisting to the side then pushing the gate open. “Should we go inside?” Roman nodded eagerly. Virgil walked in Roman on his heels. Patton and Logan right behind. 

“It’s beautiful,” Virgil replied. Before turning his gaze back to the garden. Virgil reached out to touch one of the flowers. “How did you do this?” Virgil asked after a moment. his hand was cupping the side of the flower.

It seemed to be a simple garden, for the prince at least, but yet beautiful. It was roughly the size of a small room. There were tall hedges in place of walls, his feet took himself to the center as Virgil looked around. There were roses, not any though. They were purple with dark leaves, the bushes appeared thorn less. As Patton and Logan trailed in they both looked around.

Roman must’ve noticed his reaction. “Do you like it Stormcloud?” Virgil looked at him.

Roman couldn’t answer before Patton shouted. “Guys look!” he pointed to the sky. Virgil complied. Seeing as white speckles could be seen in the sky, floating down in a graceful fashion. “I think it’s snowing!” the dad figure excitedly cheered. Virgil watched as snowflakes started hitting the ground. The brick started to dot in white. Patton stuck his tongue out trying to get one.

Virgil stuck out his hand as one landed on him. As it melted Virgil felt a shiver gently graze his skin from the cold. Virgil pulled his jacket closer onto himself. “Can we go inside, where it’s warmer?” Virgil spoke the last part in a whisper. 

Logan nodded. “I think it’s in everyone’s interest so we don’t get sick.” Patton sighed as a form of complaint. But eventually started out, Virgil followed as Logan left. Roman followed them but stopped at the gate.

“Hot topic lock the gate.”

Virgil nodded and grabbed the key. Turning it until he heard the click of it locking. Virgil pushed the gate to double-check it was closed. Walking back to the group as the snow kept gently falling on the ground and us. By the time we walked to the door, we could start seeing the shapes of the soles of our shoes on the ground.

After we all walked in Roman being the last one closed the door. Patton looked out the window. “Let’s all get ready to play in the snow!”

Logan looked at the parental trait. “Patton there isn’t nearly enough snow to ‘Play’ in it.” Logan did air quotes around the word play. He pushed up his glasses and headed off to a different room.

“Where are you going, Lo?” Patton questioned.

“I am going to pour myself a cup of coffee. It’s nearly 8 am” Logan replied. That’s when Virgil remembered the fact he’s running on barely any sleep. Logan left and Patton followed the logical side. Virgil started heading off to his room.

“What are you up to emo?” Roman asked right after Virgil turned his back. 

“Not a ton,” Virgil replied, still not turning to face him.

“Then where are you going?” Roman asked, grabbing his arm, “Everyone else is here. Even Janus and Remus for some reason.” He gestured to the two others sitting in the living room, they were playing cards and they were getting louder. Someone was obviously starting to win. It was oddly calming everyone getting along for once.

“To the void of space.” Virgil flatly responded. Roman let his arm go. Virgil walked away to the safety of his bedroom. Once there Virgil switched to black jeans, combat boots, then a thick hoodie on top of his shirt.

After about 20 minutes of hanging around in his room Virgil walked downstairs. Going over to the kitchen Virgil grabbed a cup pouring himself some coffee. Then ventured over to the main area and sat down on the seat next to Roman. Patton and Logan were sharing the other sofa, Janus and Remus were sitting across each other at the coffee table still playing cards. Virgil took a swig of his coffee. A glance out the window could show the snow piling up rather quickly. The living room fell into comfortable silence besides Janus and Remus. A few minutes passed before Patton whispered something to Logan. Logan nodded as Patton stood up. “Let's all go outside!” The father figure excitedly urged them. “Get some boots and warm clothes.” He added. 

Roman snapped his fingers and he was wearing a thick red trench coat over his Christmas sweater and sweatpants. He was also wearing red boots with golden accents and a pair of matching gloves. Virgil ran upstairs to grab a beanie and gloves. After returning Virgil noticed Logan walking down the stairs. Logan had on, from what Virgil could see, had a heavy jacket, jeans, and some snow boots. The teacher character was sliding on gloves as Patton walked in. He had a light blue jacket over his shirt, he also had jeans and grey boots. The dad character was placing a beanie with cat ears on his head. “Let’s go kiddos!”

Janus and Remus looked up from their game. “Stay warm” Janus joked watching Patton walk out the door. The others followed him. Patton laid down in the thin white sheet covering the ground, it looked like more or less an inch. Virgil was walking around in the snow, enjoying the grace of the snowfall. Then ‘thud’. Virgil felt something hit his back and turned around. Roman was preparing another snowball to toss at him.

Virgil grabbed a handful of the plush snow and pressed it together, tossing it towards the prince. It didn’t hit him but it started a snowball fight. It went on for some time, some hits, most misses. Virgil slipped and hit the snow. Each time they grabbed snow Virgil always ended up grazing the grass while taking it. The current fall quickly replenished anything that they took. Roman stood over him, placing his boot on his chest.

“Any last words Hot Topic?” Roman smugly asked. A snowball was in his hand and he was gonna throw it at him.

“Hakuna Matata” Virgil replied

He leaned forward being careful not to hurt Virgil. “It means no worries” As his face was close Virgil grabbed some snow and hit him in the face with it. Roman backed up confused and Virgil took the opportunity to run. “HEY, NO FAIR!” He laughed and ran after the darker persona. Who ran behind Patton.

Roman tried to toss a snowball at him but hit the father figure instead. Patton joined in our little fight and eventually, Logan did too. Teams were formed over time. Patton and Virgil vs Roman and Logan. Patton was busy piling snow and Virgil was out to scope out where the other team was making their hideout.  They were near the bushes. Virgil got hit in the side, Logan was behind a mound of snow. Virgil tossed some back and heard Roman. ‘Found it’ Virgil thought to himself. Virgil looped around the house and went to Patton. “I found their hideaway,” Virgil whispered. 

“Good. Now we plan.” Patton whispered. Taking 5 or 6 minutes Virgil looked around the front while Patton took a long way around. Virgil was in the trees, near the front. Then stepping out, staying in the open. 

Roman looked at Logan. “Virgil is out in the open, Lets gather enough snowballs for an ambush.” He whispered. They spent time collecting a small amount of snowballs. “CHARGE!” The prince shouted. Logan opened fire. Throwing them at Virgil before grabbing one from his teammate. Roman suddenly tumbled over feeling a chilling sensation over his neck. He shrieked. As a reaction

Virgil heard Roman’s Voice and noticed Logan started tossing at me. Virgil played along, getting hit a few and tossing others. Virgil heard a roar from Roman then Patton’s voice. “Are you alright kiddo?” It echoed through the open area they were in.

“Yeah, I’m fine Patton.” Virgil heard Roman say. Virgil sat in the snow for a second. Banter starting from the other sides. After a few minutes, Virgil laid down staring at the sky above with the snowfall, hearing a crunch beside him. “What are you doing.” Roman was above him again. Virgil gave a half attempted shrug. He laid down next to Virgil and shivered before sitting up. “The snow is a tad cold.” He looked at the other one. “Are you ok Virgil?” Virgil was surprised he asked that. He must’ve noticed the surprise in his expression “You look tired.”

“I’m fine,” Virgil muttered back to him

“It's close to two in the afternoon. I think we should all go inside.” Logan yelled out in an informative way. He walked off probably to Patton.

“5 hours?” Virgil asked, it felt much shorter to him.

“Time flies when you're having fun, huh emo?” Roman spoke, turning around and walking back, halfway back he turned and faced the tree Virgil was at. “You coming?” Virgil nodded walking over to him as they walked together to the house.

Walking inside Patton walked up to them. “Since most of our clothes are wet Logan said we should change into something dry and warmer.” Virgil nodded walking off to his room. After reaching it Virgil changed into sweatpants, a t-shirt, and an oversized hoodie. Virgil changed his socks into Nightmare Before Christmas socks. Hanging out in his room for a while before deciding to adventure out. Virgil walked down to the living room and everyone else already there. Remus and Roman were arguing about the movie they wanted to watch. Patton was making Hot Chocolate for everyone.

“Virgil, choose. The Santa Clause with Tim Allen, or How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” Roman was seeking an answer.

“The Santa Clause I guess.” Virgil hesitantly replied before sitting on one of the empty sofas still warming up from the cold.

“Told you Remus it's better!” Roman grabbed a disk. Remus growled. He inserted the disk in as Patton walked in. Passing a mug to Janus and one to Remus.

“Do you need help, Pat?” Virgil asked, He shook his head assuring Virgil he was fine. Virgil leaned into the sofa, Roman sat down next to him. Patton was somehow holding four cups. Placing two in front of Roman and Virgil. He handed one to Logan and sat down. The movie played in the background as Virgil started falling asleep. Virgil leaned against his hand before falling asleep.

“Don’t you dare wake him” Virgil heard a voice tell someone off.

“Patton, he slept through the movie. I think we should continue the day. It’s been over one and a half hours.” 

Virgil yawned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Kiddo did we wake you?” Patton directed his attention to him. Virgil shook his head. “Ok! Sorry, your hot cocoa got cold, you fell asleep right as the movie started.” Patton turned around “Roman get off the table!”

Roman was standing on the coffee table “Guys we’re having an Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest!” He announced. “A few rules. 1, nothing inappropriate. 2, everyone has to participate. 3, No sabotaging or stealing other people’s ideas. 4, Use the sweaters provided so it's fair. We are all gonna gather in 2 hours wearing our sweaters.”

“Two hours seems a little excessive,” Logan spoke up.

“You're not making the rules. I am. Now everyone, let the challenge begin!” Roman proudly hopped off after finishing his sentence. He summoned and passed out each a red and green sweater. Virgil sunk down to his room right after he got his sweater. Virgil looked around his room, finding an idea. Grabbing his sewing kit then heading to work. 20 minutes later Virgil walked downstairs without the sweater. Plopping down on the couch, starting to scroll through his phone.

“Finished the quest already?” Roman asked smugly. Virgil didn't reply, and continued to scroll. The prince scoffed at his lack of response and walked off. 

About an hour later everyone was downstairs waiting around. Everyone was done, Logan was right, again. Roman spoke up after realizing some of them were running short on patience. Patton was sitting on the couch humming Christmas songs wearing a sweater, ornaments carefully sewn on. Virgil was still sprawled out on the couch. Janus didn't want to wear a sweater and shut the door in Roman’s face, and Remus. He honestly just didn't care what Remus was up to. “Everyone should have their sweaters on.” Roman gestured to Virgil who sighed and walked towards his room. He returned back and his dark jacket tightly pulled around him. After Virgil sat back down Roman announced. “Alrighty, let’s start!” He placed his phone down. It was playing Christmas music. 

“What are we doing again with the ‘ugly’ Christmas sweaters?” Logan put finger quotes around the word ‘ugly’. The logical trait’s sweater had a tinsel garland wrapping around him in stripes.

“A contest! We will vote on whose sweater is best. And they get bragging rights.” The prince’s sweater was blinking with the Christmas lights that were woven into the fabric. “So I will pass out the voting paper and each pen, I want the pens back.” Roman placed a slip and a pen in front of Patton and gave Logan his own set. Once he reached Virgil. “What's on the sweater Virgil?” Virgil looked a little flustered.

“Its stupid.” Virgil nervously replied. Pulling his jacket even more on to cover what he put on it “I don’t think it's a good idea any-” he got cut off by Patton. 

“Come on kiddo! What’s the worst thing, you don't win?” Patton gently encouraged.

“Most of us will in fact lose if not everyone.”  Logan stated

“F-fine.” Virgil loosened the jacket. It just barely showed a round reflective disk on the center which was tightly sewn onto the sweater. Roman just sighed in defeat and gave him the slip and pen. 

“Also so we don’t waste our creations we will keep them on for now.” Roman added.

“But it’s like 5:30.” Virgil complained glancing out the window at the golden sun meeting his eyeline. He squinted away. He laid himself on the couch. His jacket adjusting to him shifting.

“Wait.” Roman said in an attempt to hold off a laugh. “Did you put a mirror on your sweater?”

“Lets just vote so we can all stop talking about this!” The paler one urged. Roman nodded, everyone wrote down a name. Roman won, and everyone went to do their own stuff. Logan and Patton decided to just watch another few movies. Roman went to his room. Virgil went to his own room.

Virgil tugged the hoodie back over the sweater. “No?”

“Wait kiddo really! Why didn't I think of that?” Patton chuckled looking at the side on the couch.

--later on--

Virgil was done with this. It was about 9. So for the past few hours it's been christmas music. Virgil doesn’t hate the music. But it’s been well over 3 hours of non-stop music, and Roman’s singing. He tried the headphones it got a few years ago. But he still heard what was being blasted through his own playlist. He heard knocking from the next room over. The music stopped then footsteps. Virgil changed into a different christmas sweater, it was the first thing he did getting to his room. It was black with a basic pattern on it.

“Hey kiddo! We are all gonna spend time together. Can you join us?” Patton called out through his still closed door. Virgil walked over opening the door. 

With a sigh the darker one replied “Sure, why not.” With a squeal the bright father figure dragged Virgil to the living room. They were already playing Christmas music from a small speaker. He sat on the floor leaning against the couch. Im Dreaming of a White Christmas started to serenade the living room. 

Logan walked over to Patton and nervously questioned. “Can I have this dance?” He held out his hand. Patton excitedly gasped taking the hand as Logan pulled him up. 

“Of course Logie!” Patton responded. Logan wrapped an arm around Patton’s waist, Patton adjusting a hand softly onto the smarter trait’s shoulder. They danced around the room semi-gracefully. Logan with a soft smile, and Patton with a smile so bright the sun would be jealous. The song guiding them through its soft melodies and rhythm. 

Virgil and Roman shared a glance. Virgil sighed as Roman stood up. “I feel like I am indebted, aren’t I stormcloud?” Roman held out his hand. Shall we dance? Virgil took the offered hand being dragged to his feet.

“I’m never accepting a bet again.” The darker trait informed. 

“You know you like it.” The prince defended himself and started guiding the anxious one into a slow waltz gently humming along to the music.

~end~

Thank you yet again VideoPresident 102 and if you haven't checked them out please do! They even have a live channel if your interested in that. 

Link to their main: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmOYRxICUMSiLoYDX_BTZiw

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