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ficretus · 10 months ago

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Observing Cinder's backstory as Cinderella story

Cinder's backstory is probably one of the clearest Cinderella references of her story. I this post I wanted to dissect it for all the Cinderella references I could find and try to find the point of story's subversion. I will mostly focus on Perrault and especially Grimm version of the story for parallels.

BEGINNING OF ABUSE:

First interesting subversion is changing Cinderella's background before her father remarried. In both versions it is either directly stated or heavily implied Cinderella's father was very affluent man. Grimm version outright calls him rich man. While I do believe Cinderella's father is represented in Cinder's backstory, he is not her biological parent. Instead, they decided to make Cinder an orphan. So that's already one big subversion. Cinderella went from relatively carefree life of luxury to being reduced to servant after her father remarried while Cinder just continued her life at the bottom, going from being abused in orphanage to being abused by her adoptive family.

Next subversion ties back to the first one, and that is removal of Cinderella's mother from Cinder's story. And unlike Cinderella's father, which I feel has an equivalent, this character is completely omitted. Cinderella's mother has relatively limited characterization, after all, it's a character that dies in first two sentences. However, she is described as almost saint like figure, being loving mother to Cinderella and instilling good values in her. This is seemingly minor change that adds a lot later on. Cinderella had positive role model that unconditionally loved her which also plays major role in Grimm version, while Cinder was just continuously abused with no saving grace.

GLASS UNICORN:

Looking at Cinder's stepfamily and their relationship, it becomes quite clear primary influence for this portion of story was Grimm version of Cinderella. Treatment of Cinderella by her stepfamily differs between the versions, with Perrault version being significantly milder. Don't get me wrong, it's still abusive, but it doesn't get to the level of Grimm version or Cinder's backstory.

For example, trope that emerged from Perrault version is Cinderella having one more sympathetic stepsister as opposed to both being equally abusive like in Grimm version. In Perrault version she is of course forced to do chores for her stepsisters and they verbally abuse her, but on top of that in Grimm version they actively sabotage her so she has to do even more chores.

Besides this, the sisters did everything imaginable to hurt her. They made fun of her, scattered peas and lentils into the ashes for her, so that she had to sit and pick them out again

This matches what we see in the show with stepsisters dirtying the floor on purpose to get Cinder in trouble with Madame.

"Why should that stupid goose sit in the parlor with us?" they said. "If she wants to eat bread, then she will have to earn it. Out with this kitchen maid!"

This matches the brief bit of Cinder trying to taste strawberry cake and her stepsister stopping her.

Cinder's outfit in her backstory is another thing that matches the Grimm version. In Perrault version her outfit is not described besides being unsightly and coarse. In Grimm version it's described as:

They took her beautiful clothes away from her, dressed her in an old gray smock, and gave her wooden shoes.

While Cinder is not wearing wooden shoes, color scheme and design do match gray smock Cinderella is described to wear.

Comparison between Cinder's outfit and common work smock.

Additionally, interesting change between Cinderella story and Cinder's backstory is lack of reasonable motive behind her stepfamily's abuse. Don't get me wrong, Cinderella's stepfamily weren't nice, but their motives were reasonable for family of that era. Stepmother viewed Cinderella as a competition to her daughters who couldn't compare to her beauty and manners. There is also financial motivation. Having a daughter meant needing to pay a dowry when she got married, being able to pay bigger dowry meant better marriage prospect. By removing Cinderella, Stepmother ensured money that would have been reserved for her dowry would be split between dowries of her daughters, ensuring them better marriage. Very unscrupulous behavior, but ultimately for betterment of her daughters.

Meanwhile, you have Madame, who abuses Cinder beyond any reasonable measure. Of course there is some logic behind it, she basically bought a slave so she doesn't have to employ workers for her hotel (do we ever see any staff in Glass Unicorn?). If it stopped at that, it would have been unscrupulous but logical behavior if you are cheap hotel owner. However, her treatment of Cinder is almost comically evil. She put shock collar on child that at most was 10 at the time and made her repeat mantra to instill worthlessness. This is borderline psychopathic behavior. Unlike Cinderella to her stepsisters, Cinder is not competition to her stepfamily in any way nor does she want to assert herself. This is abuse for the sake of abuse and stepsisters' involvement in it makes them almost irredeemably evil.

RHODES:

I've seen Rhodes read as both Prince and Fairy Godmother in various analyses. I partially disagree with Fairy Godmother one and completely with Prince one, which I will tackle first. And no, I am not even gonna go for easy option of "middle aged man being Prince to girl that is 10-15 years old is fucking creepy" because I don't think Prince has to be romantically involved with Cinderella.

First of all, what was Cinderella's goal? Common misconception is that Cinderella's motivation is Prince, which is completely wrong. She just wanted to go to ball and by sheer coincidence she met Prince there.

"I wish I could. I wish I could." She was not able to speak the rest, being interrupted by her tears and sobbing.

This godmother of hers, who was a fairy, said to her, "You wish that you could go to the ball; is it not so?"

"Yes," cried Cinderella, with a great sigh.

Cinder states her goal to Rhodes, she wants to become Huntress because she perceives that to be the most free one can be. So Cinder wants to be free. Since Cinder's goal of becoming a Huntress never gets achieved it means she metaphorically never went to the ball. Since she never went to the ball, she never met Prince, therefore Rhodes is not Prince. Role of a Prince is completely absent in Cinder's backstory and seems to be filled by characters like Jaune and Ruby later on.

Ok, but since lot of aspects of Cinderella story were subverted, maybe this is one of them. Let's look at it from another angle: Prince saves Cinderella. Once again, this doesn't work with Rhodes. He had plans for Cinder, but his way of freeing her was basically "train and you'll be able to free yourself". If Rhodes was Prince, he would have attempted to save her directly in some way.

Only other Prince like thing I can see with Rhodes is the fact he met Cinder after midnight in their final encounter. This is parallel to Prince seeing Cinderella in her usual outfit after midnight and not recognizing her. Rhodes symbolically doesn't recognize Cinder. But I don't think that's quite it, and midnight angle also works with different roles.

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Now onto Fairy Godmother. Rhodes actually fits the role of Fairy Godmother quite well, albeit very shitty Fairy Godmother. I'd say to fill this role, person has to assist Cinderella in reaching her wish, which he does fit. He gave Cinder his sword and trained her to become a Huntress. Midnight encounter in this case is Fairy Godmother's magic running out and snapping back Cinderella to reality. Rhodes appearing after she killed her stepfamily kills any hope Cinder had. This is good and all, but there is a better role for Rhodes to fill.

To me, Rhodes best fills the role of Cinderella's father, especially Grimm version. First of all, while not literally her father, Rhodes is the only father figure Cinder had throughout her story. His gestures towards her like head pats do seem to lean in that direction. Cinderella's father is someone who is aware of abuse Cinderella is enduring yet doesn't seem to care enough to stop it.

The poor girl bore it all patiently, and dared not tell her father, who would have scolded her

This does match Rhodes, who notices Cinder getting abused several times yet does nothing about it. Just like Rhodes, Father is also relatively absent character in the story.

In Grimm version of the story, there is no Fairy Godmother, instead there is a magic hazel tree planted on the grave of Cinderella's mother. Cinderella planted the tree herself after she asked her father to give her hazel branch. Cinderella cultivated that tree for unspecified amount of time (according to quick google search, hazel grows 40-60cm each year which would imply it took years for it to grow into something that can be considered a tree), watering it every day.

"And you, Cinderella," he said, "what do you want?"

"Father, break off for me the first twig that brushes against your hat on your way home."

(...)

Cinderella thanked him, went to her mother's grave, and planted the branch on it, and she wept so much that her tears fell upon it and watered it. It grew and became a beautiful tree.

Cinderella went to this tree three times every day, and beneath it she wept and prayed. A white bird came to the tree every time, and whenever she expressed a wish, the bird would throw down to her what she had wished for.

This to me is parallel to Cinder's training with Rhodes and her being given his sword. Unlike Fairy Godmother who works miracles instantly, magic hazel tree was a reward for years of Cinderella's hard work. And since this is the magical element that replaces Fairy Godmother, it should serve the same purpose. Hazel tree gives Cinderella tools she needs to get to the ball just like Cinder's hard work gave her tools she needed to become a Huntress.

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What about Cinder and Rhodes' midnight encounter, how does this fit Father's role? Cinderella running away from the ball at midnight sequence plays differently in Grimm version, hell, concept of her running away at midnight is not present at all. Cinderella simply decided to leave the ball at some point during the evening and go home. Every time she did so, Prince attempted to follow her all the way to her home, forcing her to hide first in pigeon coop, then on the peach tree. Each time she hid, Prince made commotion which made Cinderella's father come out.

However, she eluded him and jumped into the pigeon coop. The prince waited until her father came, and then he told him that the unknown girl had jumped into the pigeon coop.

The old man thought, "Could it be Cinderella?"

He had them bring him an ax and a pick so that he could break the pigeon coop apart, but no one was inside.

So this is the parallel to Rhodes' midnight encounter with Cinder. Father arms himself and attempts to capture a woman that hid in his yard. Both times Cinderella evaded him and slipped back inside. This is just like Rhodes unsuccessfull attempt to capture Cinder.

Story essentially skipped the ball sequence since Cinder never gets to her ball. Instead story goes from Cinderella's stepfamily forbidding her to go to the ball to her father attempting to catch her when she hides in the yard.

WHY?

Interesting thing with Cinder's Cinderella story is that all good aspects (loving mother, ball sequence) got taken out in favor of making her life even more miserable. I have a speculation on why she never got a ball sequence in her backstory. Unlike Cinderella, Cinder is never truly loved by anyone in her backstory (whatever Rhodes felt for her clearly wasn't enough for him to go against the system). While never explicitly stated, it is implied that wish granting hazel tree in Grimm Cinderella is influenced by Cinderella's mother. Not only is the tree planted on her grave, there is also this quote at the beginning of the story:

"Dear child, remain pious and good, and then our dear God will always protect you, and I will look down on you from heaven and be near you."

Since nobody ever loved Cinder, her "hazel tree" is complete dud incapable of granting wishes, therefore she was unable to go to the ball. If someone like Rhodes truly loved her, he would have found a way to help her beyond "nah it will be fine". It is tragedy born out of lovelessness.

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So what now? How does her backstory influence her actions going forward. I believe they might redeem Cinder by the end of the story. Not saying it because "she had big sad, therefore not bad". Way her backstory is presented makes everyone around her almost completely unlikable. Between her stepfamily that has no redeeming features and has hobby of torturing children to Rhodes who seems fine with child slavery but draws a line at murder. Redeeming Cinder serves to highlight that both Huntsman and Kingdom system fucked up. Keeping Cinder as a villain without giving her any chance to redeem herself simply restores status quo (just clean up fuck ups of the system every so often and it works just fine). Of course I am not saying good guys should be forced to redeem her. Adam is an example of villain with tragic backstory that refuses to stand down. However I would at least like to see some character make an attempt to extend a hand towards her.

Counter argument I can see being thrown is that she is based on Cinderella, therefore her backstory had to be abusive no matter what. I disagree with that sentiment. It's not that hard to write Cinderella story and make it so Cinderella is not purely just a victim in it. They could have for example given Cinder Prince like figure that tried to save her, but she squandered it all by tunneling on getting revenge on her stepfamily. Or make her ambitious character that clashes with her stepfamily. Or make it complete subversion of Cinderella story where Cinderella is abusing goodwill of her stepfamily for her sinister goals (Dio Brando from Jojo's comes to mind as almost inverted Cinderella). My point is that her backstory could have easily been framed to make it clear Cinder was in the wrong.

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What are your thoughts? Feel free to comment if I missed anything or you have your own interpretations.

#rwby cinder fall #cinder fall #rwby volume 8 #rwby rhodes

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padawansuggest · 4 years ago

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Some of you seem to be lost in Pedro’s facial expressions this episode (I don’t blame you, even Mayfield was like ‘oh no he pretty’ and I feel that) so let me break down to y’all WHY that scene was so important from the imperial generals POV (I don’t remember his name and he’s worth so little to me I don’t care to look it up).

Mayfield: *makes to go into mess hall, sees general, about faces and turns back around*

General: *suspicious because that means either he knows that guy or the guy is doing something bad*

Din: *goes in instead of him, looks super nervous, doesn’t reply to calls, fumbles with the computer in a very noob move, stutters and can’t make eye contact when confronted*

Mayfield: *comes in to rescue him, says Din is mostly deaf, and heavily implies that he’s more than a little bit slow as well*

General: *recognizes MF, assumes MF sent a slow man in to do what he was supposed to do cause he didn’t want to see the general but it backfired cause the man he sent in had no idea how to use a terminal, happy to have a mouse to play with and drags them off to subtly interrogate him on where he knows MF from*

Y’all seem to be focusing so hard on Mayfield handing him back the helmet and Din’s adorable face, that not a lot of you are picking up on the fact that this ruse was actually the PERFECT move. The mess hall might have gotten shot up later, which means the generals opinion didn’t matter in the end, but that was actually perfectly accidental. Mayfield basically set them up perfectly to make it look like he’s just avoiding a past superior that he didn’t like (which is mostly true) to the point where the General didn’t even expect a second layer of them getting information they weren’t supposed to. He just assumed they were picking up info for a next assignment or an update or whatever. No ruse here other than avoiding an officer he didn’t like. Why would the general expect the co-pilot to be anything but the man’s cute, if slow friend???

Idk why but that’s my fave part of this episode. Din just sat back and looked pretty and stupid. He was born for this role.

#star wars #the mandalorian #mayfield #din djaren #the mandalorion spoilers

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inevitably-johnlocked · 5 years ago

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Weird q..but i really dont understand why most fans hate season 4, especially the last episode. Why? I think it gave us a deeper look on both sherlock and mycroft! I felt it tells a lot about mycroft how he had to step in and take control of things ever since he was a kid himself. Also he is not a robot or a killer. Also redbeard thing. It was an appropriate deep psychological trauma (cause most shows usually disappoint in that area). I am not trying to impose my opinion. Just want to understand

Hey Nonny!

It’s all good, and I totally respect your opinion and how you enjoyed S4! It’s totally okay! I know that there are quite a few who got a lot of of S4, and who genuinely enjoyed it.

Sadly, I am not one of those people, and I’ll try to be as diplomatic a possible in my response, but PLEASE know that I don’t think you’re “terrible” or “stupid” for liking S4 because I DO get passionate sometimes in my responses, and I’m just merely speaking as someone who studied the series very closely for quite a long time before S4 aired, and as someone who knows Day-One-ers (ie., people who watched Sherlock on its day one airdate) who also are a large majority of the people who did not like S4. This is just me simply stating why I didn’t like it, but it’s different for everyone.

Stating what I DO like: The acting and cinematography of the first two episodes were brilliant for what they had to work with, and I’ve never faulted any of the actors for the flaws of S4. And for TFP, they did the best with what they had to work with.

That’s… pretty much all I really liked about S4.

Now, here’s my problems with S4:

Nothing made a LICK of sense to the narrative that they were telling in Seasons prior.

This series was always based a bit in reality, and suddenly everything became comic-book rules: X-Men villains, shitty “redemption” arc, destroying favourite characters just for drama, ludicrous physics, explosions that only destroyed one small room in an apt where in previous episodes one explosion destroyed an entire block, etc.

Sherlock was OOC.

Mary was being built up to be a fantastic villain? Ah, nope, here’s the lacklustre twist where tee hee Mary’s just an assassin with a heart of gold that still emotionally abuses Sherlock and John and just won’t fucking stay dead.

And speaking of this, the DVD’s make NO LOGICAL SENSE unless she was planning to kill herself

AND she tries to make her death equatable to Sherlock’s??

Everyone was RIDICULOUSLY out of character in TFP, I’m so sorry: Mycroft is a bumbling coward for the most part, Sherlock disregards John when he gives the Vatican Cameos warning, the Holmes Parents are assholes because Mycroft COULDN’T SOLVE A PROBLEM WHEN HE WAS 12?? ARE YOU SERIOUS???? And that creepy Moriarty / Eurus thing, and LITERALLY they’re implying that EVERYTHING HAPPENED BECAUSE EURUS DIDN’T GET A HUG. Like, I’m so sorry, but that’s lazy writing.

And don’t even get me started on the ridiculousness of the entire character of Eurus. She LITERALLY had X-Men powers, and like… just nothing made sense. Her involvement in the entirety of S4 MADE NO SENSE. Why go back to prison if you can get out?? WHAT IS THE POINT?? AND I repeat: She did all this because she didn’t get a hug. Yes. I’m oversimplifying, but at the base level, that’s what it was, because she wanted Sherlock’s attention. Welcome to the club, kid, stand in line, everyone on the SHOW wants his attention.

The ENTIRE plot of the first 2 seasons got wiped out all because it wasn’t Moriarty who was interested in Sherlock, but Eurus?? What… What about Carl Powers?? Like…. the ENTIRETY of season one and TGG makes no sense now, because of that one 5 minute scene where Eurus “enlists” Moriarty. I… ugh.

The SUDDEN tonal switch from kind-of Sherlock to James Bond, for some fucking reason.

And on that note, how terribly lazy and cheap TFP looks in comparison to the other two episodes. The whole episode looks like it was filmed in a small house with 4 identical rooms.

EVERYTHING that was etablished in 2 episodes prior were COMPLETELY forgotten when Mary was “shot”.

The complete character assassination of one loyal blogger John H Watson in favour of Mary for some fucked up reason, even though AT HIS OWN WEDDING HE COULDN’T STAND BEING AROUND MARY. I’m sorry, but I don’t believe for one damned second that John would EVER forgive Mary for murdering his best friend after seeing what it did to him. That’s not love from her, and that’s NOT John’s character EVER in the ENTIRETY of the series.

And speaking of character assassinations, Molly’s character being devolved to S1E1 Molly, where instead of giving her agency like they were doing with her the ENTIRE series, so much so that Sherlock picked up on her dominance enough to give her a big role in his mind palace in HLV and TAB, only to make her a sad little self-insert Mary Sue pining for the main character, and in turn made Sherlock a TERRIBLE human being for MAKING HER say what she did. It’s gross.

AND speaking of Molly’s character, they’ve been setting up Mollstrade since as early as ASiB, but I guess that plot line got shafted. Look I LOVE Hopkins, and I am ANGRY they didn’t give her more than 3 fucking lines in the entirety of ONE episode after HEAVILY promoting her actress and character, but they essentially reduced her to a piece of ass for Lestrade to chase. AND THAT’S NOT HIS CHARACTER EITHER. EW GROSS.

The constant plot holes being gaped wide open, and the Chekov’s gun moments where they bring up shit but do nothing with it!!

TD-12? Nope, just a lame reference to a story we like.

John got shot at the end of TLD with a VERY REAL FUCKING GUN? Nope, it was a dart gun.

John not suddenly knowing how to be a doctor.

The TGG one I mentioned up above.

What was in the letter? And who was Anyone??

Moriarty essentially being erased as anything other than a hired thug and had no part whatsoever in Sherlock’s history.

Eurus… Just all of her character is asinine.

Everyone in T6T suddenly not knowing John’s the blogger, which is in direct contradiction to literally the entire series.

The AGRA plotline was ridiculous, in the end.

Baby? What baby? It was only there when convenient.

They dropped whatever plotline they were going to do for Mycroft: He was being set up as either dying, or the villain.

Redbeard. I’m sorry, I disagree with you on that. Mofftiss is trying to tell me that a little boy fell down a well and went missing, and that WASN’T the first place searchers / the police wouldn’t have looked? Sorry, no. And then. AND THEN his parents just… go along with this thing where Sherlock shuts down and they DON’T get him therapy? Yes, I agree the mind is a funny thing, and we can be traumatised into forgetting or dissociating from traumatic events. I GET IT. But… like I don’t believe the Holmes are so heartless as to just never grieve or have memories around about their supposedly dead daughter. It’s another OCC thing for me.

John’s cheating.

Disappearing and reappearing characters, like this scene, and the entirety of the aquarium scene.

Mary and John being terrible parents

OH GOD THIS FUCKING SCENE. That bomb SHOULD HAVE DESTROYED THE ENTIRE BUILDING.

What… who was this girl on the plane? What? Like I know WHO, but if she’s supposed to be Eurus talking to Sherlock, why don’t we see Eurus… talking to Sherlock? I … Ugh.

NORBURY.

The glass SUPER SECRET GOVERNMENT ROOM THAT NO ONE SHOULD SEE INTO in T6T.

Sloppy camera work that some believe was intentional, but if it wasn’t, jesus c’mon.

The RIDICULOUS amount of 4th Wall Breaking. Like… even the actors didn’t give a shit.

Essentially, everything on this list here and in this blog tag here.

And everything mentioned on these three posts:

T6T: 10 Revealing Things That Haunt You Late at Night

TLD: 10 Revealing Things That Haunt You Late at Night

TFP: 10 Revealing Things That Haunt You Late at Night

There’s SO much more I can go into, but please go through my “something’s fucky” tag in that last link.

Notice how probably 90% of that has NOTHING to do with “johnlock not becoming canon” because the Johnlockers get MONSTROUS accusations as to THAT being why we didn’t like S4, even though it was, like critically panned by the GENERAL AUDIENCE who have NO investment in the series other than “I liked it in the past”.

Two of my fave YouTubers have interesting (not perfect, but still good) takes coming at the series as casual viewers:

‘The Day Sherlock Died’ by The Closer Look

‘Sherlock is Garbage, and Here’s Why’ by hbomberguy

So it’s NOT just Johnlockers. I’ve talked to Sher1011ies at 221B con who didn’t like S4 either, because most of them realized how shitty Molly was treated in the last episode. So yeah, a big middle finger to those who think I dislike S4 because of “no Johnlock”. No, I disliked it because I need my stories to make logical narrative sense. I disliked it because I love John and they ruined his character all for the sake of drama and because Moffat has a “hurting Ben” kink. I disliked it because Mary should NOT have been “redeemed” because she was an abuser. I disliked it because Moriarty was turned into a cartoon villain, even though he was already overused in the series. I disliked it because the core of the show – the FRIENDSHIP of Sherlock and John, and their solving mysteries together – did not exist at all. I disliked it because John got sidelined. I disliked it because TFP was a ridiculous episode that, if you replace ANY of the characters, it wouldn’t make a difference, because it didn’t feel like an episode of Sherlock. I disliked it because everyone was OOC.

Anyway. Sorry. One too many accusations my way over the past 1100+ days LOL.

As for your assessment of TFP, I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with you. There was no growth and actually it implies something far more sinister: That the Holmes are and were terrible parents that gave no shits about their daughter, their traumatized son, and expected their eldest to essentially be a parent. It implies that Mycroft, at 12 years old, orchestrated the ENTIRE Sherrinford thing… Look I can suspend my disbelief, but there’s limits, and this is one of them. A LITERAL CHILD. Perhaps Uncle Rudy had a hand in it somehow, but then why not shit on Uncle Rudy? Why is Mycroft blamed for it all?

Look, I don’t doubt Sherlock had a traumatic experience regarding “Redbeard”. But then why play into the fact that he was a dog? Why bring another character into the series just to have a gotcha moment? Because Mofftiss wanted a “Shyamalan twist”, that’s why. They threw EVERYTHING away for a twist ending either because they GENUINELY thought it was good, or they got tired of doing Sherlock. ALL of TFP is LITERALLY a really bad plot twist because reasons. TFP makes no sense to the ENTIRE narrative structure of the previous 12 episodes. It erased EVERYTHING from the previous episodes, and coated it with a gross closing by a character no one wanted in the series, and then tried to convince us that it’s a new beginning – “a journey they had to go through” – but it SOLVED NOTHING.

Anyway. I have big feels about S4, and the only way I can enjoy it is to watch it subtextually, but even then, I cannot sit through TFP without cringing.

That said, Lovelies, please do not attack Nonny for enjoying S4! I know you guys won’t, but Nonny came out with an olive branch and they just want to understand why the fandom is passionate about S4′s… whatever it was. We can have a civil discussion about it, and point out – without attacking – why S4 is universally panned. It’s okay to like things no one else does, and Nonny was respectful to me in this ask!

So with that, feel free, lovelies, to express why YOU didn’t enjoy the series, or why you did! I’m interested in both “sides” / pov’s whatever :)

#steph replies #long post #sherlock s4 #s4 shitposting #mofftiss #something's fucky #the mary problem #my thoughts #my meta #shitposting steph #sorry gang if you like the season #it's easier for me to enjoy it if i tinhat

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shirophantomvox · 4 years ago

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Lotor's Nanny

Hello y’all! I am back yet again with another Voltron short fiction! I got this prompt from @vld-prompts and this one is great! Some dialogue in this are mixed quotes from the show. The prompt is: “Dayak comes to Galra HQ unexpectedly.” The link shows the reference I used in this story. Its somewhat the same, I changed some elements and dialogue. I mentioned the Code of Ethics because some companies do not allow in-dating. That means you cannot date one of your coworkers. This story has been on my mind for a while and it came out better than I expected! I hope you all like it. Be sure to follow me for more writing content!

Team Voltron slowly walked across the bridge of Galra HQ formerly known as Zarkon’s ship. Chills ran down their spines as they approached the now Emperor Lotor and his staff. Right above them were tapestries filled with light purple, white, and yellow; the same colors the paladins of old had. The expression on Lotor’s face was the complete opposite of his new comrades. The paladins had been through enough; their lives could end at this very moment and to think they blindly walked into Galra HQ? Thank God, Lotor didn’t have any tricks up his sleeve...or did he?

Lotor approached the Paladins with open arms aimed at Princess Allura; hoping she’d give him a hug and not leave him looking like a fool. Reluctantly, she embraced him softly, barely placing her arms fully around his back. That was good enough, for now. She backed up quite smoothly, lifted her head, and looked at the tapestries that hung above her head. They all gasped and at the beauty and detail of them. The yellow had thin lines of dark yellow as the outline. They glistened in the spotlights because of the white glitter that was in its place. Lotor smiled large, folded his arms, and lifted his head. This was his time to shine and he was ready to do so.

“The colors you see before you are the same ones that our fathers used while battling. These colors represent friendship, leadership, and an emphasis on an unbreakable bond. Although the unbreakable bond didn’t workout well the first time, I’m certain it will now.”

Lotor’s smile slowly faded as he glanced directly in between Allura and Shiro. “Lover Boy” Lance McClain came storming between the two, stood toe to toe with him, and pointed his lengthy index finger in his face.

“Lance, that’s rude! What are you doing?!” Allura’s tone wasn’t her usual sweet, calm reflection but instead more like an irritated mother. She had been used to Lance’s irrational fears but this was TOO FAR for her. She developed feelings for Lotor, she is one of the leaders of Voltron, and having him misbehave insulted her leadership skills.

“Don’t worry, princess. I just want to make sure he doesn’t have any tricks up his sleeve.”

Lotor arrogantly chuckled quietly to himself. Although Lance appeared to be the airhead surfer boy, he took his role as paladin and valued his team seriously. They had been ambushed several times by Zarkon, his father. They have every right to be paranoid even if Allura didn’t think so. One thing that irked the team was her sense of trustworthiness. She hated Lotor simply because he was truly a threat and was Zarkon’s son but once she found out he was half Altean, it appeared as if she did anything he said. She fell for him; hard and that isn’t always good.

“I assure you, I am not here to play games or have any “tricks up my sleeve”. Trust me, if I did, you would know about it already. I am more skilled than you. There’s no need to lie.”

“As much as I would love to believe you Lotor, the Galra aren’t the ones to ‘turn the other cheek’. They keep fighting and fighting until they die.” Hunk began to sweat a little as his nerves began to run amuck.

“Hunk has a point. Why all of a sudden are we teaming up with Zarkon’s son to fight against his own empire that your the head of? It doesn’t sound right.”

“If Pidge agrees with me, it must be a set up.” Lance turned around and allied himself with the rest of the team. They were not pleased at all. Could it be a possibility that they were being paranoid? Is it wrong that they haven’t given him a chance to prove himself? Lotor released an irritated sigh, closed his eyes, and opened them again.

“I assure you, I have nothing to hide.” He snapped his fingers and two robots came at his side quickly. “If you all don’t mind, we are going to HQ and we will have a chat about what our next steps are going to be.”

The centurions led the way to HQ. On the way there, it was quiet and awkward; the only ones that were talking were Allura and Lotor. He had a large binder open with pages and pages of scientific research that Honerva had been using to figure out information regarding the creatures from the rift. Both were so intrigued by the findings that they began to pick up speed next to the centurions, leaving the team a bit behind. Allura took hold of the binder to find something specifically related to Oriande relating to “life givers”. Lotor began to close the space between the two placing his arm around her waist and gently placing his hand around her thigh. Lance was about to blow his fuse! Pidge and Hunk reassured him that Allura has stated several times before that she is not interested in dating him. It would be unprofessional; Lotor and Allura were considered to be allies. If they dated they’d be violating the Code of Ethics...somewhere.

“If she wouldn’t be interested in dating him, why isn’t she throwing his arm off her?”

“Lance, I haven’t dated yet but I know something about girls.” She pushed her glasses closer to her face and pointed in the air. “Some girls just entertain the behavior in the moment so the guy doesn’t flip out. They also do it so the man’s ego won’t get hurt. Both reasons are stupid and unhealthy but that is why. I have no idea why a man’s ego is so easily destroyed just because a girl rejected his passes.”

“Good question. It makes the good guys look bad.” Hunk stuck his finger in the air and smiled. “I’ll always treat my woman like a queen!”

The team had finally reached HQ. Lotor suddenly became quiet and stood still. He squinted his eyes, frowned, and slowly moved away from them. Once he approached his subject, his eyes widened. There was a tall woman dressed in long black clothing, her head covered, with her back turned. She had two blue binders that said “memories” on the binding side and an old cloth blanket. The emperor face palmed himself quietly backing away instructing the team to leave HQ quickly without making a sound. As soon as the robots began to move, the woman turned around, gasped and yelled his name.

“Lotor!”

“Goodness gracious,” he replied quickly under his breath.

The woman came walking towards him with a smile of endearment. He could now see the front of the binders and nearly lost his mind. He blushed at the sight and glanced back at her. She laughed, assuring him that she was moving his belongings to another part of the ship.

“Oh, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“Embarrassed about what?”

Lotor changed his expression and turned around. Still blushing, he managed to smile.

“This is Dayak, my governess. She raised me when I was a child, trained me, and helped me become the man I am today.”

“Barely,” Lance blurted out. He snapped his head and smiled oddly at Lotor. Lance was able to put two and two together and realized what he was embarrassed about.

“Wait, wait, wait. She raised you from a child? As in your nanny?!”

“Governess!” The emperor face palmed again, not able to look in Allura’s direction.

Why would ANYONE want their old photos to be shown to anyone they liked?!

“Oh boy, you had a nanny! Oh my goodness, I didn’t have one!”

“That’s why you're lacking in so many areas. Can’t you tell?” He began to flex his arm, showing the implied muscles through his shirt.

“That’s all you’ve got? At least mine are real!”

“Mine are too! You look like you’ve been using steroids!”

“Steroids? How do you know what those are? You’re an alien.”

“Ok, Lance, that’s enough. Dayak was going to speak,” Shiro said, somehow not irritated. Given the chaotic life he has, this was nothing but pure entertainment.

“Thank you. True enough I am this young emperor’s governess and I did far more than nanny duties. Lotor underwent intense training at the age of 6 years old. Many doubted his abilities but I knew he had it in him.”

“Thank you, Dayak.”

“Lotor, don’t hate me for this. Dayak, what are in the books that you are holding?” Hunk was generally curious and had no ill intent in asking unlike Lance. Still, Lotor was pained to see what was in those books. His style would have definitely been cramped.

“I’ll show you if it’s ok with the emperor.”

Lotor sighed heavily and threw his hand in the air.

“Yes, it's ok.”

Everyone gathered around his governess as she opened one of the books. The font read “Memorable Moments” and God knows what was in them. The team released a number of “awws”, “wows”, and “oohs” . Dayak, the nanny--governess, smiled as she turned each page remembering how cute the emperor looked in his formal clothing and how hot she looked when she was younger. This stage in his life would have happened matter what; Honerva would have done the same thing.

“This picture was taken after Lotor learned the Galran alphabet, vowel sounds, and numbers.”

“Wow! Lotor used to take a stuffed animal to class?” Hunk laughed. “Ha!”

“I was afraid, ok? I was all by myself.”

“And no one is shaming you for it buddy! Well, maybe Lance, but we aren’t.”

“This picture was taken during PE class. He loved to play buckets. I thought he was going to pursue somewhat of an athletic career!”

“I have to admit, he gets his muscles from Zarkon.”

“Aw. Thank you Princess.”

“That’s not a compliment dude.”

The emperor realized that the old photos of him weren’t so bad after all. They were milestones; it showed how well he has progressed and how he will continue. These were his allies after all. It was important for them to see him during his softer moments to know that they could talk to him about anything.

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rubydollchaos · 3 years ago

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Mum was burning some papers in the back garden when my brother came over. All I heard through my closed window was what sounded like "are you mental?". Apparently we're in a smoke free zone and we're not allowed to burn stuff in daylight.

Except the only smoke free zones in our council area are on the A5. The council website basically says don't be inconsiderate of your neighbours or affect visibility on roads, there's no rules governing when you can or can't have a fire.

I emailed links to what I'd found to mum because I don't expect her to take my word for it, she can read for herself and make her own mind up. Maybe it was a genuine mistake on his part but it's not the first time he's presented something as a solid fact when, actually, it's not. And he's so forceful with his opinion that you find yourself questioning the evidence of your own eyes. He will jump on any opportunity to police other people's actions - and I used to hate telling him I did something because it would always be wrong or he had a better way and wasn't I do stupid for doing it how I thought best? So glad I don't interact with him any more.

He actually hesitated to open the back door the other day because I was in the room. what's he scared of? That I'll continue to not pay him any attention? That I'll say something mean to him and he'll have to lash out? Or that I'll speak to him and be reasonable and he won't be able to maintain the victim role and how does he get me back under his control now I know what he's really like? Because as awesome as the latter sounds it would be too exhausting to actually maintain. I think we're both caught up in simultaneously believing we have all the power but at the same time we're the helpless victim. But if he's just a mean old bully and I could crush him with a snap of my tongue, why haven't I done it? Am I buying so heavily into his implied narrative that he is the victim that I feel I should have power that I don't actually have? Like if I were physically punching him but not really hurting him because he's stronger while he's wailing that it's so bad I might start to think that maybe I have the upper hand, that I am more powerful and what a dick I am for picking on the weak and helpless. I should apologise, be nicer. And forget all the times he flattened me with one fist because obviously he was just defending himself from mean old me!

I tell myself off for ruminating about this when I know it's not going to translate into any action. It just makes me angry and full of spite and frustrated so I want to buy liquid ass and spray it on his pillow for all the times he's filled the house with the miasma of his Lynx body spray. Or clean up the beard trimmings all over the windowsill with his toothbrush. Which is petty and I don't want to be that person *clears throat* right? But I actually feel better for this ramble.

Damn. While tagging this a message came up about his it's been ages since I've used my donut maker and damn now I want donuts...XD

#the arsehole saga #personal #long ramble

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laundryandtaxes · 4 years ago

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I get where you're coming from, but I think in this instance with Elliot Page it's more about the specific accomplishments/actions/statements made before transition and the rush to erase them and/or remold in terms of the new identity. I think people in the public eye have a bit of a different circumstance surrounding them since people/society have this weird thing with public figures where we consider them sorta authority/important figures above regular people and emulate or idolize them, so it's not quite the same as an average person living through the same situation. I feel like I wouldn't even bat an eye at an acquaintance or local person I've met before transitioning and I certainly wouldn't bother a stranger, but a celebrity is putting a certain message out there with their actions and how they handle their lives. It comes with being famous, and this whole thing with abandoning the past, changing the nature of past roles and works, and disavowing any statements made before transition as associated with womanhood or lesbianism is not exactly a good look. I also think that by becoming famous and choosing to live in the public eye, you open yourself up to public critique and you don't (and shouldn't) have the ability to fully control that. Honestly I think this situation could have been handled better or something if this is them living their truth, but it's not like you can change things that already happened anyway so 🤷‍♀️ it is what it is.

This is probably the only time I’ll address this because I honestly don’t care all that much BUT I do want to respond because I think you’re being honest and normal here instead of dishonest and weird, and I appreciate that, but there are several points where I disagree. I’m gonna pull and highlight different parts because I’ve been spending a lot of time on reddit and it seems the easiest to me.

it's more about the specific accomplishments/actions/statements made before transition and the rush to erase them and/or remold in terms of the new identity

That may very well be the case with SOME reactions, but I’m very much referring to people who, within a few hours of that social media post, were whining in public about someone they don’t know using a new name and pronouns.

I think people in the public eye have a bit of a different circumstance surrounding them since people/society have this weird thing with public figures where we consider them sorta authority/important figures above regular people and emulate or idolize them

I totally agree with you here, but if people are doing that then frankly they are acting stupid and that is their own fault. Celebrity culture is stupid. Buying into it is stupid. As grown adults it is stupid to be invested in what strangers do because they’re decent actors, or because they’re famous and gay or famous and black or whatever. If someone is engaging with celebrities in this way, that is their own fault, and it is a poor decision and it is honestly just...stupid. And I say that having been on the other side of that weird relationship on tumblr on a scale that is obviously about a million times smaller, where people will just assume because they’ve followed you for a long time that they can talk to you in ways that are disrespectful if you’re not a friend, or have the right to have input on your life, or place stock in you being a certain kind of way.

a celebrity is putting a certain message out there with their actions and how they handle their lives

Again, the issue here is that you THINK they are putting a certain message out there when in reality they’re just living a life, with good decisions and bad decisions like everybody else. They are literally just people, just like the other 7 billionish people on the planet. Was Paul Walker putting a certain message into the world when he crashed his sports car into a tree in a residential neighborhood and died? No, he was just being stupid and making a stupid decision and doing something to have fun. It truly is not that deep. Celebrities are nothing except human beings that some people choose to keep up with. They’re literally not even special. There are musicians as talented as all your favorites who you’ll never have the opportunity to listen to. There are actors as talented as whoever won the last big acting awards (I get them mixed up) at your local theater, I guarantee it.

this whole thing with abandoning the past, changing the nature of past roles and works, and disavowing any statements made before transition as associated with womanhood or lesbianism is not exactly a good look

I haven’t seen any of that, and if it is happening then yeah I agree it is stupid but also people say and do stupid things literally every single day and I shrug and move on. But even if it IS the case, it is not what the people I’m referencing here were bothered by. They were bothered by someone transitioning because they had an investment in that person (who again, is only special in the way that any other random human being you pull of the street would be special) not transitioning, and it is stupid to have that kind of investment in a straight up stranger. It is one thing when you have a buddy that you think is transitioning for the wrong reasons or with unrealistic expectations, and it is one thing to look at the rates of masculine female people who transition and just scratch your head because the rates of us who can only find dysphoria mitigation through transition cannot possibly be this high- both super reasonable imo. It is another to find out some random person is transitioning and whine about it on the internet and expect people not to regard that behavior as ridiculous when it is, in fact, ridiculous.

by becoming famous and choosing to live in the public eye, you open yourself up to public critique and you don't (and shouldn't) have the ability to fully control that

Agreed here. I also think that if you believed you were x and millions of people made fun of you for it, since again celebrities are literally just random people, you’d be upset by it. But agreed, at the end of the day you cannot and should not get invested heavily in attempts to control the way people look at you.

Honestly I think this situation could have been handled better or something if this is them living their truth

All due respect, I think the kinds of people complaining that I was referencing agree with you that the whole thing could have been handled better, but I think that “handled better” in their opinion means not coming out. Which, fair enough, but you have to own up to that and just cop to the fact that you generally oppose transition- it is much more reasonable to say that than it is to say you don’t generally oppose transition but every time you hear about it you assume it is coming from self hatred.

I’ve been pretty open about what I think about nonbinary identity (and, while I try to stay very uninformed on celebs in general, it is my understanding so far that that’s how they are identifying) AS it is expressed and discussed by the majority of people I’ve seen fully embracing it- I think the majority of the time it implies really antifeminist things about what men and women can do and like and look like and be like, I think it very often appeals to women because it sucks to know that the world hates women and to be one, let alone to be one who doesn’t fit the image of what women are supposed to be, I think it very often solidly reinforces gender roles by insinuating that people who do not fit the prescribed gender role for their sex are in fact a whole different entity because real women are straight and pretty or whatever, I think it very often hinges on this idea that the majority of people in the world are walking around with a gender identity when the vast majority are absolutely not- like I am not coming at this from the position that all kinds of identities are good and valid and reasonable and that there is NOTHING TO SEE HERE when it comes to the politics of how nonbinary identity is most often presented. I’m just saying that, if a random person who happens to be a celebrity picking a new name and pronouns really deeply shakes you then that probably indicates that 1) you have a baseline issue with transition in and of itself, which, okay but don’t pretend that that isn’t the case, and 2) you have a problem with celebrity worship and that is nobody’s fault but your own if you’re a grown adult.

#Anonymous

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spaceskam · 4 years ago

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for @alexmanesairstream! I told you I would finish this up for you a couple days ago (or maybe yesterday? my days blur) and completely forgot until right now! So here it is and I hope you enjoy it!

ao3

Michael knocked lazily on Alex's door. He was just drunk enough to think going to see him was a good idea, but not drunk enough to be out of it. He just wanted to see him and curl up beside him if he was allowed.

Except, when Alex opened the door, Michael saw that something had already taken that role.

"What is that?" Michael asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he started at the small human on Alex's chest.

Alex rolled his eyes as if this was normal. Michael couldn't stop staring. The baby was tiny and wrinkly, so it had to be super young, and it was just sound asleep on Alex's chest. He was holding the baby up with one hand and the other was reaching for the crutch he'd clearly leaned against the wall so he could open the door.

"This is my godson," he said, "And, even though I wasn't explicitly instructed to keep drunk people away from him, I'm pretty sure it was implied."

Something twisted in Michael's gut as he continued to stare at Alex holding a little tiny baby. It seemed to hit a part of him that he hadn't actually acknowledged before. It brewed a deep ache in his heart for this image to never go away.

"Can I come in?" Michael asked. Alex's eyes widened slightly in disbelief, his head tilting and his chin jutting out.

"I just said I don't want some drunk guy around my godson."

Michael breathed heavily. "I'm not drunk."

"Right," Alex said, "I'll see you later, Guerin."

"Wait," Michael begged, eyes still tied to the strong hand splayed across the baby's entire back, "Please?"

"You do anything I don't deem appropriate, I'm kicking you out," Alex threatened. Michael held up his hands and smiled.

"Fair enough."

Alex let him in and they walked towards the living room. Michael collapsed onto the love seat, watching Alex carefully sit on the couch and lean back with the baby still firmly on his chest.

The night went by like that. They watched movies as Alex held the baby, fed the baby, hummed to the baby. Michael watched him more than he watched the movies.

It was strange, honestly, seeing this. It stirred feelings in Michael he’d long buried. He'd never actually entertained the idea of kids. Sure, he'd been around them a lot and took care of a lot going through foster care. The older kids got stuck with the younger kids. Then, after he met Alex in high school, he was basically prepared to start fucking nesting. That was ruined quickly, though, and he’d locked those feelings away for a decade.

But now he was rethinking it.

"You look really good with a baby," Michael admitted as Alex stood to put him in the little bassinet, "Like I'm always attracted to you, but... Damn."

Alex snorted, "You have serious Mommy issues. Or Daddy issues. Or both. That's the only reason you think that."

"Maybe," Michael said, sitting up as Alex stood up straight. He watched him for a minute before turning to Michael. "Doesn't make it any less true."

"Yeah, well, you can stop talking about it because there’s a baby in the room,” Alex told him, giving a no-nonsense smile that had chills raking down Michael’s spine.

Alex sat back down on the couch and Michael seriously considered crawling over to him and taking over the spot on his chest that the baby had left vacant. Alex clearly saw him staring because he wiped a hand over his chest as if making sure there wasn’t anything on his shirt. Michael gave a small smile.

“Why are you even here anyway?” Alex asked. Michael licked his lips.

“I dunno,” he said, despite the fact he did know, “Just wanted to see you.”

Alex huffed a laugh and rolled his eyes, pulling his good leg up on the couch. He rested his chin on his knee and stared at Michael. Michael stared right back. God, he just wanted to touch him. To hold him. To be held by him. Was that so much to ask? Except it was.

On a logical level, Michael had no fucking clue where Alex stood when it came to them. A month prior, he was singing in a bar and kissing Forrest in front of everyone (he wasn’t there to see it, but everyone was sure to tell him). Michael didn’t know if that was still a thing. He didn’t know where he fit or if he was good enough or if anything was actually going in the right direction.

He just knew he wanted to touch him.

“Can I have a hug?” Michael asked, the alcohol in his system making him feel confident enough to ask.

Most of the time he’d felt so desperate to be touched, Alex was far away and he could substitute him with random bodies from the bar that didn’t quite do the trick, but held him over. Now, though, he was well aware the only way he was going to prove anything to Alex was if he wasn’t being stupid. But, still.

Alex almost looked concerned when he heard the question. His eyebrows tugged together and he was quiet as he stared at him.

“Yeah,” he said softly, nodding as he dropped his foot back to the floor, “Yeah, okay.”

Michael pushed himself off the love seat and went towards the couch, pushing away any semblance of pride as he just laid against Alex. He laid his cheek against his shoulder and Alex wrapped his arms around around his shoulders. Once the normal hug-length came, Alex gave him a squeeze and then loosened his arms to let him up. But Michael didn’t want to move. He closed his eyes and bowed his head a little more into his shoulder. Alex tightened his arms again, his hand slowly rubbing over his back as the other went into Michael’s hair and cradled his head.

So they sat there for awhile, holding onto each other and slowly but surely making it known that they weren’t over. They never would be. Maybe this could be a new normal...

Unfortunately, though, it was all too soon, even though it’d probably been at least an hour, that the baby a few feet away in the bassinet started to stir and whine. Alex patted Michael on the back and kissed the top of his head, quietly urging him to get up. Michael very reluctantly listened.

He watched with tired eyes as Alex picked the baby up and held him to his chest, cradling the back of his head like he’d done to Michael. It was a small thing, a little action of ‘I’ve got you’ and ‘you’re safe’ and Michael found it impossible to let go of.

This is what he wanted. He wanted him and he wanted Alex and he wanted a family with him, no matter what that meant. It’s what he needed.

He was determined to make it happen.

#malex fic #malex #michael guerin #alex manes #roswell new mexico #my fic

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hellzyeahwebwielingessays · 5 years ago

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The Not-So-Amazing Mary Jane Part 29: AMJ #4.1

Previous Part

Next Part

Master Post

I don’t have any preamble. Let’s just get on with this.

Thankfully the recap page isn’t as bad as in prior issues.

First of all, we get yet more information not introduced in the earlier issues. Admittedly this is a minor point, but Ken Gullapalli’s last name is first revealed here. Additionally, we get the title of the movie repeated her, even though it has yet to be mentioned in-story.

More significantly, the recap ascribes additional motivations to the Savage Six. It claims that they took umbrage with Mysterio’s life being dramatized at all, whereas prior issues never implied that. Isn’t it great that part of the motivation for the villains is being explained in the recap page.

Another minor point worth noting is that the recap mixes up the sequence of events. It claims Sonny Diperna joined the movie and then the Savage Six attacked. It was actually the other way around. Also, the recap claims the movie lost all but one investor. Depending upon how you wish to interpret that line, it might also be called inaccurate. The investor they found in issue #2 was never one of the original investors. The movie lost all of it’s investors but then found a new one.

Neither of these are that big of a deal. But those are pretty basic thing for a recap to screw up. It’s another example to the shoddy production of this comic (outside the art).

The story proper picks up immediately where the last issue left off. Charlie (the actor playing Spider-Man) quits, claiming the production is cursed. He points out everything has gone wrong, even before the crew were attacked by actual super villains.

MJ counters that things have been looking up since they found a new secure location. Charlie though points out this ‘secure location’ is an abandoned zoo too horrible for anyone to even want to attack them. Charlie accuses MJ of being delusional for believing in the movie.

You know I never had anything to say about Charlie up until now, but in this moment he is the single most relatable character in the whole story.

What’s ambiguous is Williams’ own perception of the character. He’s clearly been framed in an unsympathetic light (and will be again in consequent pages) so the audience isn’t supposed to like him. And yet he is keeping it real, he is pointing out every danger and problem with the production and why it isn’t safe.

I don’t know if he’s intended to be an audience avatar, and author avatar or both. But he’s certainly my avatar right now.

Charlie’s rant continues by claiming people are going to laugh at Sonny Diperna and MJ for participating in this disaster of a movie. ‘McKnight’ then gets up in Charlie’s personal space and grabs him by the shirt. He yells that speaking to MJ the way he did would have gotten him fired anyway. With Mallorie’s prompting, ‘McKnight’ tells Charlie that he’ll be returning the advance he was given for the scene he’s left unfinished.

Charlie though has other ideas.

Charlie wasn’t exactly being rude. The worst thing he said was that MJ was being delusional. Putting aside how she genuinely has been, in context it’s a perfectly valid thing to say. MJ has been pushing and backing an extremely troubled production that has genuinely intimidated Charlie and jeopardised his wellbeing. Last issue alone confirmed several cast and crewmembers had quite the production after the Six’s attack.

Even if it wasn’t fair to call MJ delusional (which it absolutely is), in context Charlie’s outburst is totally sympathetic, it’s something the cast and crew should be able to excuse given the situation. Not to mention, he’s outright warning MJ. He’s informing her she is endangering her career and public image by participating in the film. I’m not saying this is outright concern, but on balance his dialogue to MJ is not exactly rude. He’s justifiably upset and is pointing out the dangers to MJ.

Beck in this scene is problematic. I’m not going to say he assaulted Charlie, but he was way out of line for grabbing him the way he did. That should b the umpteenth warning sign to MJ (who noticeably does nothing) that Beck is bad news and dangerous.

I also detest the framing of Beck in this page. He’s framed as someone defending MJ’s honour, or at the very least a loyal friend. It’s yet more of this messed up sympathetic/friendship portrayal of Beck and his relationship with Mary Jane.

Finally, notice how no one is considering how Charlie’s departure seriously jeopardises the crew. He is now someone constantly off set who knows exactly where the crew are. Do they consider changing location? No. Do they consider that the Six will target Charlie for information no. It’s stupid enough that they aren’t involving the authorities at all. But if you accept that then it’s really stupid for them to not consider Charlie a liability.

On the next page Charlie tries to blackmail ‘McKnight’. He threatens to call his guild rep and report unsafe working conditions; citing the Six’s attack. That is unless he’s allowed to keep his advance. ‘McKnight’ literally tosses cash at Charlie and tells him to leave.

I have nothing really to say about this page. It’s just kind of screwed up that Williams has chosen to make the one character who’s talking some sense unsympathetic.

On the next page MJ proposes that she will play (a fully masked) Spider-Man in the final scene. She suggests Beck use his skills to ‘heavily edit’ the footage to make her look convincing.

Okay, so this is a double-edged sword.

On the plus side we’re finally dealing more with MJ actually acting in a mini-series set up to be about that very premise. Having her pretend to be her lover is also a brilliant set up for character exploration. Have MJ, in an abstract way, see Peter in a new light by pretending to be him. But the potential for interesting commentary goes deeper, because she’s acting out Mysterio’s vision for Spider-Man. It’s an opportunity for Williams to explore MJ and Mysterio’s contrasting views of Spidey. That in turn could say a lot about MJ and Beck, as well as Peter himself.

But on the other hand…isn’t this pretty dumb?

Peter and Mary Jane have completely different body builds. According to official stats, Peter is 2 inches taller than her and weights nearly 50 pounds more than her. Then of course you have the fact that Spider-MAN has a MALE body shape and Mary Jane has a FEMALE body shape. And what about the dialogue? How is MJ supposed to convincingly pull off Charlie’s voice?

Oh, sure Beck’s skills are more than capable of faking the difference. But what is the point?

Why use Mary Jane when you could just use any of the actual men on set?

Master Matrix is in that very scene. His body build might not be identical to Spider-Man’s, but it looks similar enough. Or at the very least it looks far more similar than MJ’s body build does.

In fairness, I don’t know much about Master Matrix, so maybe he’s not capable of the physical movements necessary for the job; he is a robot after all. But there are definitely, other male crewmembers on set. The Kangaroo for example is an actual super villain, he’s literally battled Spider-Man and he also has a far similar body build to Spidey than MJ does.

One might argue that it’s not all about the body type though, they need someone who can act the part, deliver the dialogue. Except if that’s the case, why get MJ? She’s a talented actress but she’ll be wearing a mask, her facial acting will be moot. This means it will just boil down to her ability to voice act, but she is neither trained VA nor would she believably sound like Charlie/Spider-Man. Realistically ‘McKnight’ would have to use technical wizardry to distort MJ’s voice into sounding like Charlie’s. That’s more than likely within his abilities (especially with master Matrix and HERBIE’s help). But you know what would be much easier? Having someone else dub over the footage!

That’d be a lot cheaper, easier and more dramatically effective than altering the vocal performance of the actor in the suit. In fact, given how the mask is realistically going to muffle the voice of the wearer, ADR would likely be employed anyway. If memory serves I think they have done that in every real life Spider-Man film since 2002. Hell, Darth Vader was brought to life with a suit and a voice performance.

The point is Beck wouldn’t need someone in the suit who can deliver dialogue great, so why not get someone with a closer body build?

Shit, if he’s employed so much of his illusionary skills anyway, why not just fake Spider-Man himself? Jesus, Christ he could just make a Spider-Man robot if he wanted or dress up one of the X-Men robots from issue #1.

Or he could play Spider-Man himself. He literally did that in his first ever appearance!

No matter how you slice it, this is yet another interesting idea Williams fails to sufficiently justify.

Moving on, remember how the worst thing Charlie did was call MJ delusional? Remember how Beck took this as an immense insult? Yeah, well he immediately does the same thing on the next page.

Beck explains he’s very uncomfortable with MJ playing that role. MJ retorts that it’s just one scene and since audiences would be none the wiser it wouldn’t affect her character’s arc. She starts to suggest Beck use his illusions to affect the change but Beck interjects that that’d be cheating and would ruin the authenticity of his work. MJ counters that she’s the most ‘authentic connection to Spidey’ Beck will find.

Beck accepts MJ’s offer. He reminisces that MJ was supposed to play his love interest, a version of someone he wanted to exalt. He then acknowledges MJ has become the saving grace of the movie, making her the second woman who had the ‘misfortune’ of believing in him. He further elaborates that they’ve strayed so far from his original vision for the film, he sometimes questions if it’s even the same movie. MJ reassures him that he’s just pivoted.

While this conversation is happening, Mallorie is dealing with another issue. Sonny Diperna has been running late because the paparazzi were tipped off about his inclusion. As a result he can’t get close to the set’s location without revealing it’s location. Mallorie turns to Screwball who launches several remote controlled drones.

A few things to unpack from these pages.

The first is that MJ has it in mind for Beck to use his illusions to finish the scene; something Beck ultimately agrees to. If they were just going to use illusions anyway why do they need MJ specifically to finish the scene? Again they could just get any of the male actors, extras or staff members to fill in.

Shit, they could get Screwball to do it. These pages depict her acrobatic prowess; and weren’t the first to do so. Additionally she’s actually faced off against Spider-Man herself. Between the two of them Screwball is far more qualified than MJ in recreating Spider-Man’s movements and physical prowess. Her on set job also isn’t something necessary to film a scene. If she were in charge of lighting or the cameraperson then that’d be one thing. But she could almost do her job between takes or hand over her responsibilities to someone else temporarily.

MJ’s justification that she is the most authentic connection to Spider-Man is a moot point. Yeah, she has more of a connection to Spider-Man than anyone on set…and? Charlie had 0 connection to the real Spider-Man, and yet he was cast in the role and ideally would be finishing the movie. What on Earth does MJ’s personal connection to Spider-Man have to do with anything?

It can’t be some nonsense about her being able to act well in the scene. Again, realistically she’d be dubbed over and/or her voice would be distorted affecting any vocal performance she��d give. Not to mention her job wouldn’t be to draw upon her personal knowledge of Peter. It’d be to do what Beck would want of her, to bring his vision of Spider-Man to life. At the same time her job would be to synch up as best as she could with Charlie’s performance in all the other scenes. She isn’t creating her take on Spider-Man from the ground up, therefore her ‘authentic connection’ is meaningless.

Also isn’t MJ smart to be hinting to the incredibly clever trickster that she’s got a personal connection to Spider-Man. It’s not like he could research her, learn she’s has (and has had in the past) long-term relationships with Peter Parker.

You know, that guy who famously took Spider-Man’s pictures for the longest time and created Spider-Man’s tech and had Spider-Man as his bodyguard when he ran Parker Industries. If you accept the (BS) post-OMD explanation that everything happened the same way but Pete and MJ just weren’t married then that means Beck could learnt his stuff with Google. This is evidenced by Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #1, wherein literal school children were able to look up Peter and learn about his relationship with Mary Jane.

Mary Jane realistically should already be wary of Beck handpicking her for the movie anyway. She should already suspect that that had something to do with her connection to Spidey. Not only did Williams ignore that, but now she’s just having MJ outright wink to Beck that she has a connection to Spider-Man. That’s not endangering herself, her family, her friends or Spidey’s identity now is it?

Let’s talk about Mysterio. So his dream was to make this biopic about himself. He’s got only a little time to make it before he is literally dragged back to Hell. He envisions it as his magnum opus. A chance to be forgiven by the masses and to make amends to his old flame Betsy. And he’s you know…super egotistical and selfish. His history reveals that to us. His original origin entails him wanting to steal Spider-Man’s limelight by framing him. A revised origin entails him feeling pushed aside in spite of his talent.

So is he really going to compromise this much? Is he really going to so drastically revise the role of the one woman he arguably ever loved to this extent?

The answer is Hell no.

Remember when Beck assaulted someone in the first issue because they insulted his ego?

Remember when he delivered a grand speech about the meaning of art in issue #2?

Is he really going to allow something so important to him be distorted this much? Is he really going to just meekly accept questioning if it’s even his vision anymore?

Again, Hell no, that’s not in character.

And MJ’s rationale is totally nonsensical from Beck’s POV. The whole point of MJ’s character was wrapped up in Beck’s affections for the real life woman she was playing. But now her role is totally unrecognizable from how he began. That’s not a pivot, it’s a wholesale change. Or at least, that’s how Beck would view it.

In the best-case scenario, we could interpret his attitude as evidence of insincerity. As in, he wasn’t actually all that hung up on ‘exalting’ Betsy. At which point MJ should be on her toes and concerned about how genuine he’s been about anything else. Then again she should’ve been at least wary long before now.

As for the other story thread in these pages, we’ll get to that in a little while.

On the next age, Diperna is confused as to who Screwball is. The paparazzi are following his car in several cars. That’s when Screwball’s drones show up and dazzle them with some flashing lights of their own.

Sonny’s confusion over Screwball is itself confusing because he was literally in the same scene as her in the last issue.

Additionally, it’s incredibly dangerous to blind any drivers with flashing lights under any circumstances. Shit, when I was learning to drive it was drilled into me how dangerous it would be to be dazzled by another car and how to avoid accidentally dazzling them myself. Here Screwball is deliberately dazzling three cars. Some of them have open tops and people practically hanging out of them unbuckled.

And on top of that they are clearly moving at speed, around a bend on some kind of upward slope. Accidentally dazzling them with regular car headlights would be a recipe for disaster. Here though, Screwball is using at least six drones to deliberately dazzle them. You can tell from the art and sound effects that one of the cars had to make an abrupt stop. We don’t know if the riders incurred any injuries from that alone but it would’ve been all too easy. Frankly it was really lucky no one was seriously hurt.

I guess you could justify this in a case of self-defence, but the paparazzi were not endangering Sonny’s life. Not unless you argue their cameras were themselves dazzling his driver. But it’s not clear that that was happening and even if it was, that’s not a justification for what Screwball did. Not to mention he could have ended any jeopardy the paparazzi posed by simply stopping the car, getting out and answering their questions. Sure he’d be late, but it’s a lot safer than the alternative. Besides he was already late and it’s publicity for the film.

I’m not suggesting this was out of character for Screwball. But I am saying MJ has just seen a criminal do something extremely dangerous for no justifiable reason. Bu rights her judgement should no longer be reserved about Screwball as it was last issue. Not that it ever should have been. She should be telling Beck to get rid of her or at least try to keep her under control somehow.

Somehow I doubt that will happen.

By the way, the paparazzi are yelling at Diperna during the car chase…why? Neither he nor they could possibly hear one another in that situation.

I am going to leave it there for now as the next few pages are so bad I’ve decided to dedicate a whole post just to them before continuing onto the rest of the issue.

Previous Part

Next Part

Master Post

#Leah Williams #amazing mary jane #mjwatsonedit #Mysterio #mary jane watson #Mary Jane Watson Parker #MJ Watson #Spider-Man #Vulture #the vulture #Quentin Beck #Adrian Toomes #Savage Six #The Savage Six #S.H.I.E.L.D.#Peter Parker #Carlos Gomez

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nadziejastar · 5 years ago

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It's funny that Organization Rehash was somehow more treacherous than the first one when part of the idea behind Xehanort putting his heart into all of them was to get around that problem

I know! The way the Seekers of Darkness were handled pissed me off so much! Most of them were ruined. The whole point of Xemnas completing Kingdom Hearts was to put Xehanort’s heart and mind into all the original members so that they had no free will. They would literally become another Xehanort. Being a Nobody was not enough to Nort someone. KH3 got around this in the most lazy way possible by saying that they all just joined the True Organization by choice. How lucky for Xehanort, right? This is a relevant post I’ve done about this subject. I’m actually surprised I haven’t seen more people complaining about this egregious plot hole. I brought it up before on a different forum and some fans would just make the dumbest excuses, I swear. “Saïx only had a small piece of Xehanort’s heart in him!” (LOL.)

Ok, so what difference did it even make then? Why did it even matter that he, along with Xigbar, had yellow eyes and pointy ears all along? Weren’t they supposed to be different from the other members? Also, what’s the point of vessels being “raw material” for the X-Blade? Why was Xehanort conducting mind control experiments? Why go to such lengths to show Axel grieving about how much his best friend had changed, if Xehanort’s heart had literally no significant influence on him? God, even Xemnas was treated more respectfully than Saïx was because of this. I actually liked his dialogue at the end about how being human must take incredible strength. It was one of the most memorable lines in the game for me.

How did Xion ever become a Seeker of Darkness? Her switching sides was laughably easy. Roxas and Xion’s dialogue was just so atrocious. I was embarrassed while watching all the scenes with them. Also, if Saïx was supposed to be the one who brought back Roxas and Xion, why are we supposed to take pleasure in his boss fight again? It was treated like Roxas and Xion were getting revenge and it was supposed to be enjoyable to clobber him. Then Roxas and Xion felt pity for him afterwards. And Roxas even acknowledged that he knew Saïx helped to bring him back before their fight. How did he even know that? Well, because his dialogue was written so that the audience could know. Since all of this was shoehorned in at the last minute, Saïx’s redemption happened off-screen. So Roxas had to fill us in on why he was there. It was all so forced, just like the Subject X info dump.

The game totally wanted to have its cake and eat it, too. They wanted Saïx to betray Xehanort so he could be Lea’s innocent ice cream-loving childhood friend in the epilogue (which was his intended role in the ending all along). But they still wanted to treat him like a villain for Roxas and Xion to clobber. The problem is that both of those things clash very badly. They’re not compatible with each other in the slightest. You can’t do both. His redemption didn’t feel convincing at all because of this. And his scene at the clock tower just made it seem like he had no excuse for his actions from the previous games. Why the hell is he all friendly NOW when he was previously trying to kill Axel?

I did see a lot of complaints about how all the villains got “redeemed” at the end. They spent the whole game being evil, then they act all nice to Sora after they’re beaten? Why? Well, it was extremely obvious to me that they were supposed to be possessed.

Their actions would have made perfect sense if Xehanort had simply been controlling them the whole time. Then of course they’d be grateful to Sora for releasing them. A big pillar of darkness gets expelled from them after they’re defeated, then they act totally different. Gee, I wonder why? Larxene actually acted confused after she was beaten. She did NOT act like she was in control of herself prior to this.

Furthermore, once she became aware of herself, she was horrified. She looked like she felt violated. Like she had something done to her without her knowledge or consent. I don’t think for a second that Larxene signed up to be a Seeker of Darkness.

I also found it interesting that she spoke as if she weren’t already that geezer’s heart tank. Once Xehanort’s heart is implanted, it’s supposed to gradually take over the person’s heart. Maybe Sora just needed to defeat members like Larxene, Marluxia, and Luxord. They’d go back to normal afterwards because they were not Norted for that long. They had yellow eyes, but their ears weren’t even pointy.

I also think they became vessels by being turned into Nobodies again, so it made sense that they faded away after their battle. They’d be recompleted. But Terra and Isa were supposed to be different. They needed to have the power of waking used on them because their hearts were lost like a decade ago. And neither of them were Norted as Nobodies, either. Saïx shouldn’t have faded away after his battle.

Marluxia also did not act like he was aware of himself beforehand.

He also said his heart was remembering how to feel. I’m sure he was supposed to have a different backstory than what he has now to explain this.

He was all grateful to Sora after being defeated. This makes absolutely NO sense whatsoever unless he was being totally controlled.

Luxord and Sora were acting like old pals after their battle. Luxord never seemed like a bad guy, anyways. He gave Sora a wild card and then said he’d like to play a game with him. I think Marluxia, Larxene, and Luxord were done a tremendous disservice by making it so that they were self-aware for the whole game. But Isa by far came out the worst because of this. He was utterly decimated beyond repair. His whole character revolved around being possessed. That was THE most important thing about him. It was the ONLY thing that could excuse his actions and allow Lea and Isa to go back to being inseparable right after the final battle. Since he was possessed, they didn’t hold back making him as nasty as possible. Now it’s biting them in the ass.

Braig joined Xehanort to wield a Keyblade. And he actually doesn’t fade away after his defeat like the others. I don’t think that was a coincidence. It’s probably because he became Norted as a human. He wasn’t a Nobody during his boss battle.

I’m also 100% sure it wasn’t a coincidence that he just happened to “pretend” to commit suicide after his defeat. That was no doubt the original end planned for Braig ever since Days and BBS. He was always haunted by the things he did. I think he was especially haunted by what he did to Isa, which was why he always had such a bone to pick with Saïx. If he was a Nobody, then his suicide wouldn’t have even mattered because he’d just be recompleted afterwards, anyways. Sora and Riku’s reaction only made sense if he was fully human when he fell off that ledge.

I will never ever forgive KH3 for its treatment of Isa (and Lea, since Isa was a HUGE part of his character). I’m still heartbroken and angry over it. Isa was treated like a plot device—he only mattered because he brought Lea’s REAL best friends Roxas and Xion back. He wasn’t treated like he mattered as an individual character. He didn’t get a real backstory that showed his pain, how he became Norted or his close relationship with Lea. All this did was make me hate Roxas and Xion in KH3, even though I really liked them in 358/2 Days. It was just so unfair that they got ALL the spotlight at Isa’s expense.

It was always, always implied that Axel had a VERY sad backstory. He was NEVER EVER comic relief. Not at all. He was the most serious character. His canon backstory was a joke for how poorly it explains his behavior in Days and KH2. He was actually an apprentice all along? And suddenly the only thing that mattered to him was two kids that the story went out if its way to show never even came CLOSE to understanding him?

Not his REAL best friend who became an organization member alongside him and who would understand his suffering? It was heavily implied they were both lab rats. I couldn’t believe Lea even blamed Isa for getting Norted. And apparently all Saïx had to do was admit he was jealous and things are instantly patched up between them? God, it was such a slap in the face as a fan. I felt personally insulted by Isa’s “redemption”.

Now, it was obvious that they tried to limit the amount of physical contact Lea showed Saïx after his defeat. And they also tried to limit the amount of genuine emotion they were allowed to show at all times. This happened on the clock tower, too. Lea wasn’t allowed to cry for his friend. And even when Saïx admitted he was jealous, he HAD to follow it up with something snarky. He wasn’t allowed to bond with Lea in a genuine manner. I noticed all of this right away. It made me laugh to see how stilted their interactions were.

Apparently Saïx was putting on an “act” the whole time because he was afraid to show his true feelings, I guess? They’re just gonna write off all of his past deeds that way, instead of him being ya know…Norted? Wow. And to top it all off, they tried to make Lea and Isa’s whole relationship revolve around some stupid random girl, which pissed me off so freaking much. It definitely came across like KH3 was extremely paranoid that they might seem gay. So they did everything possible to make their relationship lack genuine emotion and intimacy, destroying it in the process. The handling of their subplot went against all the most important themes of the series. It was utterly pathetic.

And yet Lea was still holding Saïx in his arms. And it was still pretty intimate from a physical perspective. In fact, Lea shows more intimacy with Saïx in this one single scene than Axel had with Roxas in all of their moments put together. Guess that’s why they had to throw in all the other stuff. To “balance out” more tender moments like this.

The way Lea smiled at him is how I always imagined he would look once he finally rescued Isa. They said “See you” (”Mata na” in Japanese) to each other in a pretty intense and personal way. Especially in the Japanese version. Saïx said it so softly he almost whispered it to Lea. This was obviously something pertaining to their original backstory.

Roxas said “Mata na” to Axel when he was going back to Sora in KH2FM. This made Axel cry. “Mata na” had a LOOOOT more meaning to Axel than it did to Roxas. You see, Roxas was saying it in a casual way, like most would say it. See you later. It was as simple as that. But I think “Mata na” was Lea and Isa’s way of saying they’d see each other again in the next life. Just more evidence that Axel was really crying because he wanted to see Isa and was remembering their promise. Roxas really couldn’t fill the void of Isa. That was the impression I got from that scene.

People probably would have been very accepting of Lea having strong feelings for Isa. But I think Square/Disney were terrified people would be grossed out if Axel had those same feelings for Saïx. KH3 just sent very conflicting messages due to this identity crisis. Lea was holding his arms out like he could still feel him there after he faded away. It looked VERY similar to when Xion faded away in Roxas’s arms. This demonstrated that Lea had extremely powerful feelings for Isa. The thing is, this was never properly SHOWN in the story. There was all of this implied intimacy between them, but it wasn’t able to be explored in-depth after BBSV2 got axed. And so, KH3 wasn’t allowed to show them being too close because there wasn’t enough time to properly differentiate Isa from Saïx.

And this ruined their relationship. We saw almost nothing to understand why Lea would feel so attached to Saïx or why Isa changed so much since they were kids. All we saw was Saïx being evil and a very short scene of them as kids in BBS trying to sneak into the castle. The audience has little reason to care about this relationship or empathize with Lea’s affections for Isa. They didn’t get enough development. There was no way that Saïx was written as Axel’s best friend if THIS was how the resolution was going to be handled. Their story was incomplete. The way it was handled in KH3 was a complete and utter joke.

#kingdom hearts #KH #KH3 #kh larxene #kh marluxia #kh luxord #kh saïx #kh isa #kh axel #kh lea

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peerless-soshi · 6 years ago

Text

Final thoughts about Nie HuaiSang...

...and how he never lied, and became the mother of WangXian. Twice.

CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 109 AND CHAPTER 110. DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE SPOILED.

I find it really interesting how, in the end, MXTX decided to not expose NHS as a mastermind behind JGY’s fall. It was heavily implied that he was the person who sent the letters, and the final scene with NHS picking JGY’s hat seems to be a closing wink for the reader. But even so, it was never confirmed and WWX specially points how they have no evidence. NHS’s role could be just a misunderstanding. Maybe MXTX didn’t want us to be sure and we are supposed to wonder what is true and what is false? Or maybe the whole reason lies in showing who is the perfect liar? A hint: not JGY.

As WWX said and I’m going to repeat, it’s nothing more than a speculation. My opinion. But I'm having second thoughts about NHS being the cruel mastermind and even more, the perfect liar. At least not in the way that JGY suspected it. Right before his death, JGY screams “HuaiSang, you’re truly impressive. How unexpected for me to fall in your hands like this…“ and I feel this line tricked a lot of readers into thinking that NHS’s fear and timidity was nothing but a facade, a part of the plan. Personally, I don’t think it was the case? NHS’s style of lying seems to be based on something completely different than JGY’s lies, and his finale mistake was to judge NHS with his own standards.

First of all, to assume that NHS only pretended to be good-for-nothing in order to avoid suspicion would mean that his plan started long time ago - too long time ago, when his brother was still alive. Back then, NHS had no reason to play dumb. When we meet him in the Gusu school, he’s truly cowardly and lacks ability and will to learn. If he has no reason to lie, my conclusion is: the NHS we saw in the school was the true NHS. Because what would he gain? Nothing. Still, we got a bunch of very useful (in the light of recent events) information.

First, WWX never, even once, treated NHS like an idiot. Of course, he wasn’t a good student. But I think it was clear that NHS was stubborn and put efforts only in things he was passionate about, ignoring things that bored him. WWX says “It wasn’t that he was not clever, but that his heart was set somewhere else and used his smarts on other areas, such as painting on fans, searching for birds, skipping classes, and catching fish". WWX says it - NHS was clever! His talents were just too different from proper cultivaton talents; thus he was considered stupid, a head-shaker. I now wonder... let me ask you, how did someone like NHS found out about JGY’s murder? We know JGY was extremely careful, he left almost no hints. And seeing something off in qi deprivation? NHS, who did so poor in cultivation? It’s impossible. Unless he found truth by looking at things he was good at - for example, at the music. And music is a very interesting topic since it plays a big role in MDZS. LWJ and his brother are praised for their musical knowledge and WWX realizes that he can use a flute to control evil energy. Then JGY uses music to kill NMJ. It’s the key word: uses. For all those characters music is a weapon they can use in their cultivation and for this reason they are admired, while in NHS’s case, the art of any kind was separated from cultivation and fighting, and because of that totally useless. I think it is very interesting to wonder whether this whole ‘being lazy’ turned out to be NHS’s most powerful weapon. If NHS learned about music, he could hear something smoothing in LXC’s playing and then something strange in JGY’s music. Connect the dots. But it’s just a theory.

Then, NHS is described as a coward and pretty much... every scene with him proves it. Almost. It depends on what we consider to be cowardly. For sure NHS didn’t have enough courage to stand face to face with his brother and tell him openly that he doesn’t want to practice, but it didn’t stop him from not learning and skipping classes. Let me tell you, I find it a type of bravery, though a very specific one. It’s hard to say if NMJ was truly cruel to NHS - we know that JC’s ‘I’ll break your legs’ is more of a catchphrase than an actual threat, and NHS is a chicken contrasting with NMJ’s explosive personality, what gives us a poor picture - but even if he wasn’t beating his brother, NMJ was still frightening in NHS’s eyes. Shouldn’t NHS put twice as much effort in learning to escape from his brother’s anger? Yes. And here we are - he didn’t! Never! Even when he was afraid! Instead, he was doing whatever he could to trick his brother into thinking he’s trying to learn. Meanwhile, NHS was avoiding classes. He brought porn to the Cloud Recess although he knew about the rules and punishments. Would a coward do it? I doubt. But it’s all about being caught. Nothing more. In all this, we see NHS’s philosophy - it’s scary, but only if done openly. Nobody is dangerous if they don’t know about your faults. And this is how MXTX introduces NHS to us; he’s a master of escaping from responsibilities, pretending to care and making the stronger one believe he care. Even if NHS started with classes and finished on plotting a murder, I think his personality is very consistent and that’s why I don’t think he was lying, JGY misinterprets his intentions - NHS didn’t just pretend to be scared, rather he was scared to death... and that’s what he did the only thing he could. Made sure nobody knows the truth.

NHS was not only good at avoiding responsibilities and running from his brother (the stronger one). MXTX also made sure to show us that NHS knows how to use people. When he was in school, he was painfully aware that he wouldn’t win alone, thus searching for help in WWX. It’s another thing we know about NHS - he has no problem with pushing his duties onto others, and even more, leaving others to do it for him. His friendship with WWX was build on little lies - WWX was supposed to help NHS with tests and in return, NHS copied texts for WWX. As you see, they both knew how to slip between the rules and lie here and there. Now, hear me and look how it goes with WWX and LWJ’s relationship: though the met on the wall of the Gusu Cloud Recess, back then they didn’t know much about each other. LWj noticed WWX but he wasn’t a type to approach strangers while WWX tried to befriend LWJ, but still didn’t drag him by force. If it continued like that, they would never fall for each other. But then something happened. NHS couldn’t do something alone. He asked WWX for help. He got caught. WWX was punished and forced to copy in the library. LWJ was monitoring him. The punishment was the first opportunity to spend more time together and get to know each other. And now we have the present times, and NHS who has no idea how to deal with his brother’s corpse. A plan appears in his mind. He needs WWX’s help. He can use him and make him do it. WWX is also aware that it couldn’t be a coincidence for the Lan Sect to be present in the same place he was reborn, yet he doesn’t list any reasons... And what if NHS knew? Leaving WWX all along in the world full of enemies could be dangerous for the mission NHS planned, but if he was one of few people who actually noticed something deeper in WWX and LWj’s relationship, deceiving LWJ to go to the Mo village and find WWX was only an insurance.

Maybe I’m like WWX and add more than it’s necessary? But I truly think that NHS was scared and good-for-nothing, so in his fear he used dirty methods his brother would hate, used people to achieve his goal. Still, NHS was the reason WWX and LWJ got together. Twice. And still, JGY was afraid only of NMJ, in the end dying because of NHS. I think it’s all a very good parallel.

#mo dao zu shi #mdzs #my analysis #nie huaisang #I started excited but then became sleepy

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having-a-freddie-time · 6 years ago

Text

save me

summary: Y/N is trying her hardest to get out of an abusive relationship without telling anyone. However, she can’t always hide the bruises, especially from her best friend since childhood, Ben Hardy. Once he finds out, he tries his best to help her out without her getting hurt.

A/N: A N G S T Y. kinda left yall out on the edge of the cliff here with this one. i hope y’all enjoy disssss.

warning: angst, cussing, implied abuse, (no descriptive mentions of abuse, just that she was hurt)

word count: 1.4k

__________________________________

Ben looked at you, waiting for you spill your guts. This caused you to draw in a sharp breath, exhaling slowly. This was it, you were finally going to tell him.

“Your suspicions are correct. It was Trevor, always him. I lied to you each time you had asked because I was so afraid of what you might have done or that you would’ve left me or something…”

Ben inhaled sharply at the revelation he had just heard. Tears pricked your eyes as Ben looked at you through sad eyes. You could see the betrayal in his orbs. You closed your eyes and gnawed on your lip as tears slid down your face.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me, Y/N. I’m your best friend; you know you can always trust me.” He croaked out between silent sobs which caused you to wince. Sure, you’ve seen him cry before, but that was because he was either crying in pain when he broke his arm, or when he was crying because of how happy he was, getting the role in Bohemian Rhapsody. But never because he felt betrayed by you.

“Ben I-, I’m so sorry. I knew I could trust you but I don’t know. I was so afraid of what you would have done to him or what he would have done to me if he found out I told someone…” You whispered as you opened your eyes, only to be met with the back of his head.

He couldn’t look at you not because he was mad, no, because he just couldn’t believe that someone was hurting you.

“How long has this been happening, Y/N?” He asked as he finally made eye contact with you, hot tears streaming down his cheek. “How long has he been hurting you?”

“Almost a year…”

“A YEAR?!”

Him yelling caused you to flinch and hide your face. A natural instinct for you. He noticed this and softened up, turning towards you and reaching his arms out slowly to you. You stared at him for a second before leaning into him and releasing the ugliest sobs known to man.

He didn’t say anything; he just held you and ran his fingers through your soft hair. You sobbed into his chest, your hand having the tightest grip on his shirt. You held onto his shirt as if you were afraid of him leaving.

“I’m here, love. I’m still here.” He reassured you quietly, planting a soft kiss on the top of your head.

He held you there for what felt like a light year, just making you feel safe and calming you down. Finally you had finished your sob fest; you released your grip on his shirt and slowly escaped his embrace. Your mascara and tears were very prominent on his blue shirt. “I’m sorry about that.” You gestured towards his shirt. He shrugged it off and looked at you.

“S’not my biggest worry at the moment.” He murmured and ran a hand through his blonde locks. He sighed heavily and coughed awkwardly. You can tell he wanted you to tell you more, but was too afraid to ask.

“It all started after like, the sixth month mark. I don’t what I did to trigger him; he just started getting aggressive towards me. It started off with just raising a hand at me, and then slowly progressed to actually making contact with me.”

Ben shook his head as he listened. He was disgusted that someone would treat you such a way.

“The bruise on my arm was from last night when I tried getting away from him. I kneed him in the groin and left.” You closed your eyes to calm yourself down. Calming yourself down from the anger that bubbled inside you.

“I have tried quite a few times to end things with him, but I supposed you can suspect how that ended…”

“I wish you would have told me earlier. You know we can call the police, Y/N, they’ll get him.”

“Trevor has this was of lying to people and manipulating people. It’s like he’s a fucking hypnotist. He’s got people thinking that I fucking problems. That I’ve drinking too much and I’m too dumb to when to stop. They don’t know that he’s egging me on to drink more. He hands me a drink and I drink it only because I’m afraid of what might happen if I don’t.”

“I want to leave him so bad, get away from him. I want to see him rot in hell, but I just don’t know how. I don’t know how to leave him , I mean I do but I don’t know at the same time.”

Ben didn’t say anything; just listened closely to what you had to say. He knew better than to interrupt you while you were in the middle of a rant. He just watched and listened until you were finished.

“Please don’t tell anyone. Please, Ben.” You croaked out, looking at him through your glossy vision. He stood and walked towards you and pulled you into his embrace. You wrapped your arms around his torso, feeling secure in his arms.

The moment was ruined by your phone ringing. “I’m sure it’s just work, probably asking why I didn’t come in today. I’ll have Jordan cover for me.” Ben shrugged and held you as your phone continued to buzz. You pulled away from Ben and grabbed your phone. You muted it without even checking the text messages that erupted on your screen.

“Wanna watch some movies?”

“I’d love to.” **************************************** You didn't realize how long Ben had stayed over until you looked out your patio window, noticing that the sun was setting. You looked down at Ben who had fallen asleep in your lap. You smiled gently and ran your fingers through his hair. The light beaming from your phone had caught your eye. Furrowing your brows, you picked up your phone and your eyes blew wide out of your head.

Trevor: why aren't you answering my damn calls?? Trevor: fucking answer me y/n!!!! Trevor: if you don't fucking answer me Trevor: you never fucking listen Trevor: i'm coming over if you don't fucking answer me!!!

You nearly dropped your phone at the sight of the messages. You gently woke up Ben, gentle but quickly. "Ben wake up. Please wake up." You started panicking. What were you going to do? You started hyperventilating and freaking out. "Ben wake up!"

You shot up from the couch, causing Ben to groan as his head landed on the cushions of your couch. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. "What is going on?. Holy shit was time is it?"

"Doesn't matter! Trevor texted me!" You threw your phone at him and started pacing around the living room, hands on your head. "What the fuck am I going to do? He's going to hurt me so bad I-"

"Stay with me for the rest of the night. Say you're with your parents. I'm sure they'll cover for you."

"I can't. He thinks that I want nothing to do with my parent. I don't know what to do Ben!"

"Calm down, love. We'll figure something out!" Ben chewed at his lip as he tried to think of something to make up for you. Your phone buzzed again, causing you to look at the caller I.D. Both you and Ben eye contact when you saw Trevor's name pop up. "I have to answer it, he's already pissed as it is. I don't know what to say."

Ben furrowed his brows as he licked his lips. "Say you lost service?" You took and deep breath and brought the phone to your ear.

"Why the fuck haven't you been answering me?!"

"I'm so sorry, I lost service for some reason and tried contacting you but it never went through." You cried to him, tears flooded your eyes. Ben got up and paced around the living room. All he wanted to do was beat the shit out of Trevor. Beat him for hurting you for so long. Ben's fists clenched as he tried listening to your conversation.

"You think I'm fucking stupid?!" Trevor hissed at you through the phone. You could tell his was drunk and angry, obviously. You flinched slightly at his tone of voice.

"I'm so sorry, please don't get mad!" You yelled at him, wanting to throw your phone across the world. You were starting to get livid. "You know what, I don't have to fucking answer you all the damn time!"

You and him spit back and forth on the phone before you finally hung up. You threw your phone harshly against the couch and groaned out loudly. Someone would have thought you were getting off.

"Should I leave? Will you be okay if I do?"

"Yes I'll be fine. I promise to call you if anything goes wrong."

And with that Ben hugged you tightly and left.

Leaving you alone.

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

Tag list: @benhardyisdaddy @monochromedeacon @queenbbarnes @haileylansley @shesakillerquueennn @onexlittlespark

perm tag list: @benhardyisdaddy @haileylansley @queenbbarnes

#ben x reader #ben hardy #having a freddie time #angst #borhap #bran writes

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acrobaticcatfeline · 6 years ago

Text

Logan Alastair and the Slytherin Curse (the Hogwarts AU)!!!

Word Count: 3391

TW: Oof, ok so, bullying, violence, blood mention, bruises, um, its implied that Patton can see through invisibility spells and has more understanding of things than he should which might be a squick(is that the right term?), IDK Patton just knows... a lot more than he should. I think that’s it? let me know if there’s anything else!

Notes: Here it is!!! God I swear the headcannon had like thirty notes up until a few days ago and then it exploded!!! It’s at 206 notes now heck I’m glad this is something yaller excited for! I hope you enjoy reading this as much is I enjoyed writing it!!! This is the first half of the “intros”, once I’m finished introducing at least Virgil, we will be up into the 3rd year and we’ll have some shenanigans of the boys just being boys!

Pairings: nothing... yet. some slight slight hints at logince at the end? eventual logince and moxiety and maybe more, IDK yet if I’m adding more characters.

Summary: “you are a disgrace to this house. The sorting hat has made its first ever mistake it seems, good to know.” Logan Alastair didn’t choose to be a wizard, are you kidding me? He wants to be back at home with his dogs and parents and dealing with normal bullies, not ones that could kill you with the wave of a hand! This is all way too much at once, but maybe things will get better with a few friends...

“you are a disgrace to this house. The sorting hat has made its first ever mistake it seems, good to know.”

The snarling replies from every person at his house table caused the boy to cast an invisibility charm and run to his common room. He felt the gazes still, likely from the house ghost, as he hid on the other side of the stone wall. He was lucky to have overheard a Slytherin mention the password, otherwise he would have probably flung himself into the lake. He flicked his wand and his belongings appeared on his bed. He sat on the floor, casting an illusion spell that lasted much longer, pulled out his spell book, and picked up his new owl, affectionately named merlin. He held the bird close as he read through his book, practicing different spells he saw as simple enough that any pure blood would know. He had always been a bright kid with a passion and speed for learning. On the train here he had hidden in an empty carriage and been practicing different spells that could be used for defense and very simple attack spells.

He had no disillusionment that this new school would be free of bullies, and after getting sorted he already wanted to leave and sleep in his own bed and hug his dog. He should have pulled a “harry potter” and asked the sorting hat to keep him out of Slytherin, but he had hidden and saw no need until he had already gotten sorted.

Now, Logan Alastair sat hidden in a veil of illusions so he could read his books in silence. He traded focus from his spell book over to his history book. He enchanted it quickly to search for passages about Slytherin. The first bit of information he got was about Salazar, telling stories of his hatred of muggles and ‘mud bloods’ as they called them. After a quick search he realized just why his housemates shouted this at him. He brushed it off soon after, looking at the dark tinting of his skin and grimacing, didn’t seem far off from what people at home said about him. It seemed much less hurtful than what some muggles had called him before. Regardless, he continued through the book, smiling fondly at the fact that merlin, the famous wizard merlin, was a Slytherin true of heart. He read about Severus Snape, and while he seemed like less of a genuinely good person and more like a selfish jerk that just so happened to not be the absolute worst, it was nice to see instances of not evil cruel Slytherin’s. He then traded focus yet again to a recent history of Hogwarts, and the battle of Hogwarts told by survivors. He did the same spell, getting far more positives than before. It told of less well known Slytherin’s that did good in the end. Regulus Black, Andromeda Tonks, Draco Malfoy, Astoria Malfoy, so many that had shady roots that redeemed themselves in more ways than one during the battle and onwards. He read a small bit on Isolt Sayre who had a short blip saying they were a direct descendant of Slytherin but had fled to the new world after escaping her murderous relative.

This of course led him down a rabbit hole, searching for the name in any other book, and after a few minutes he found that she had been the one to institute the school of Ilvermorny and had broken the pure bloodline by marrying a muggle. Well he had a new role model geez… he made it to the magical beast’s textbook and smiled as he recognized the authors name as a famous Hufflepuff who was known for defeating Grindelwald, a terrifying purest the likes of Voldemort but you know, he had a nose and skin pigment. He had always read exceptionally fast, it was the thing that occupied his time in his youth, as he couldn’t make friends very easily. He thought it had been hours when the rest of the Slytherin students made it up, however he had only been there for approximately half an hour. He quickly stashed his things and sat on his bed, drawing an illusion of him sleeping as a curtain on his bed. He looked through and saw people actively find a bed as far from his as possible, and he had no problem with that. He sat watching closely as everyone set their bags down and luckily for everyone, everyone ended up 2 beds away from him at least. Logan felt his stomach grumble and cast disillusionment on himself and dashed out of the common room quickly. He made it up to the kitchen area soon, knowing that he would be able to get past the house elves easily. He went to grab food only to get swatted by… something. He turned over and saw a boy who looked his age with big round glasses nearly falling off his face. The boy has curly red hair and his eyes are ocean blue behind the red frames he wore. He wore a yellow and black jumper over a pair of black sweatpants with the Hufflepuff mascot across its leg. Another look at their face and he saw freckles scattered everywhere and he was surprised he hadn’t noticed them sooner. However, he seemed to have taken a while to respond as the boy crossed his arms and pouted at him.

“uhm… you can… see me?”

The boy rolled his eyes somewhat playfully and gave a grin at him. He changed his posture to a more relaxed one, putting his thumbs in his pockets as he answered.

“well of course I can silly! You’re just slightly glittery! Why, am I not supposed to see you?”

“well, no? no you’re not, this is a chameleon spell I'm supposed to be blended in with the environment no one should be able to see me!” he got grumpy and shed the charm, glaring at the annoyingly taller student.

“oh well geez I dunno! Oh, hey you’re not glittery anymore!!!”

“did I do the spell wrong? Does this spell only make me less corporeal? Oh gosh I need another cloaking spell oh god my housemates will see me, and they’ll kill me what was I thinking? Maybe, maybe there's another train out? I can just go home to my dog and I wont have to do this magic stuff it’s not worth it I didn’t want this I wanted to grow up like a normal kid and see my parents everyday and go to school with normal bullies, not ones with literal death machines the size of a pen why did I come this is stupid I bet this isn’t even real maybe if I just go to sleep Ill be back at home-”

“hey kiddo, calm down! I uh, I don’t know how to help you out, uhhh, here, let’s get you some food and get you sitting down somewhere so you can breathe. Come on kiddo lets get you some food.”

After stacking a plate sky high with food, the boy hands Logan the plate and pulls out his wand, tapping on some barrels then causing one of them to fly open. The boy looks towards Logan again waving his wand at the plate and chants ‘ebublio’ to which the plate gets surrounded in a bubble. He grabs it from him and beckons Logan as he hops into the barrel. Logan, who now has his food on the line follows, somewhat hesitantly. They reach the end of the passage and the boy turns yet again and waves his wand this time at Logan, chanting the word ‘colovaria’ and when Logan looked back at his robes, he was shocked to see he wore Hufflepuff colors.

“sorry, it’s a precaution. No one from another house has ever come inside the Hufflepuff common room and if word got out that some year one kid let one in, I would be done for. Anyways, sit on down kiddo, anywhere you feel like it, though, the couches are super-duper comfy.”

Logan honestly had no idea what to do with the last few minutes, so he did as instructed, and giggled softly as the boy dramatically popped the bubble. He grabbed a piece of bread off the top and takes a bite, eyes widening in awe at the good taste. After getting over the initial shock he looks at the boy curiously.

“what's your name?”

The boy giggled heavily and smiled a big toothy grin. Logan felt slightly bad about the fact that he automatically noticed the slight gap in his teeth. He fiddled with his bright red frames and bowed dramatically.

“where are my manners!!! Hello Logan, I am Patton Scamander!!! The one and only!!! Pfft I sound silly, don’t I? anyways yup yup I'm the 4th generation of Scamander hufflefluffs!!!”

Logan stared at him blankly for a good few seconds before his eyes finally widened in realization.

“wait, you’re related to Newt Scamander? Isn’t he the one who”

“yup! He wrote fantastic beasts! And apprehended Grindelwald!!! Oh, and my mom is Luna Lovegood! She’s a hoot and a holler let me tell you, she thinks I'm quirky!!!”

Logan was in disbelief. This kid was the son of famous Ravenclaw wizard Luna Lovegood. And the great grandson of newt Scamander the magizooligist. Granted he literally only learned all of this information today, but he had a general idea that Grindelwald was a magical Hitler and thus made anyone involved in his capture war heroes and at least back home he was told to respect war heroes for defending their freedoms and yada yada, Logan was rambling.

“wait, that means your mom knew Albus Dumbledore!!! I uh, I only found out about him today, I only found out a lot of stuff today, but wasn’t he like”

Logan wasn’t able to form words for what he had been trying to convey and started vaguely gesturing and Patton just nodded and agreed. After finishing his food, he got up and poked at the entrance, trying to figure out how to leave.

“aw, leaving so soon Lolo? We were just beginning to become friends!!!”

“uh, well its late and we do have class tomorrow and I should probably sleep…”

“well can’t you sleep over? We have plenty of time to get our books between breakfast and our first class! Speaking of which, what's your first class?”

“uhm, well I guess I can? I dunno… um, when did we get our schedules?”

“oh, we don’t get them until tomorrow technically, but I have a pretty general idea of what I have, I guess. Was just wondering if you did too!”

“oh, no I uh, I don’t even know what classes there are. I didn’t know magic existed until today.”

“oh!!! Oh… oh you poor muggle born got sorted into Slytherin I'm so sorry!”

“speaking of which, what is the differences between each of the houses?”

“oh geez, uh how do I explain this… ok so my house is Hufflepuff! Hufflepuffs are in general, hard workers, who are dedicated patient and loyal! We are known for being just and true and our motto is ‘do what is nice’! We’re also great finders! Ravenclaws are smarty pants!!! Wisdom, intelligence, creativity, cleverness and knowledge, that’s them basically, they value brains over brawn! Their motto is ‘do what is wise’. Gryffindors are brave, adventurous, loyal, courageous, daring and chivalrous, they’re the storybook heroes! Their motto is ‘do what is right’. And Slytherin’s… well they have good qualities! Not all of them are bad! Obviously, because you’re really nice!!! Ok so they’re generally cunning, resourceful, ambitious, intelligent, and determined and they’re natural born leaders! They love being in charge, but they’re often arrogant and prideful, their motto is ‘do what is necessary’. The reason they get a bad rep is because many dark wizards are alumni from that house. It’s also a stereotype that all Slytherin’s are pure bloods. Its not far from the truth but anyone can be a Slytherin. I mean even harry potter fit into the house! The only reason he was a Gryffindor was because he begged the hat for anything else because Draco Malfoy made a bad impression on him. Slytherins are not bad, I feel a need to emphasize this. I feel bad for you because the current members of the house are less than savory. They aren’t evil, but they’re certainly not very nice. And it sucks that your first experience with wizards is them calling you names and hiding under the covers until the sun goes away.”

“heh that was very specific…”

“you’re a rather easy read Logan, you’re very interesting nonetheless!”

“um. Ok? Thanks, I think?”

“you’re positively welcome!!!”

Months pass, and Logan has picked up the habit of spending nights with Patton in the Hufflepuff commons. At this point in the year, late April, he’s already gone home for visits twice, and he’s contentedly walking back to the Hufflepuff commons after a walk through the library.

Of course, him being who he is, he notices a fight in the corridor. All he can see at his vantage point is green and red, a punch to the face and the greens laughing. Of course, the Slytherin’s were torturing innocent students again. He ran towards them and yelled, waving his wand and shouting ‘stupefy’ leading the two Slytherin boys to fall over. He swished his wand at the Gryffindor in front of him, saying ‘wingardium leviosa’ before booking it to Hufflepuff quarters.

He’s surprised to make it all the way there without getting caught, though the pictures on the walls can talk and… he might’ve passed Severus Snape and he did not want to be in the open when headmaster McGonagall heard about it. She’s a Gryffindor after all, she might get the wrong idea.

No no, he would say, no I wasn’t the one to knock him out I swear, it was two of my housemates who I don’t know because I'm terrified of them and that’s why I took the Gryffindor kid to my friend who knows healing magic and no its not a Hufflepuff, sorry I don’t know there house of course not because I didn’t go into the Hufflepuff commons, no ones been in the Hufflepuff commons, of course it was a um Ravenclaw yeah it was a Ravenclaw cuz they’re smart and would know healing magic, I mean they do know healing magic, of course I wouldn’t make a bet on maybe heheh yeah so in conclusion I'm sorry please don’t expel me miss McGonagall I did nothing wrong!

Yeah that wouldn’t work in the slightest. Hopefully he was fast enough that Snape didn’t see his face. Or maybe he wouldn’t tell because he was biased toward Slytherin’s. Let’s hope. Either way at the moment Logan had to enter the code for the Hufflepuff dorms as quick as possible because he did not want this Gryffindor to wake up and panic. He wordlessly changed the color of both their robes before jumping in the barrel.

“Patton? Patton there might have been an incident?”

“Comin Logi-bear!!! Ooh geez what happened!!! Logi you know fighting’s bad, how’d you end up in this situation?!?!?! Oh, give him here, oh I know him the poor thing looks half dead!!! Come on kiddo we’ll fix you right up!”

Patton grabbed the floating boy and carried him to the couch. He ran back and forth, grabbing bandages, ointments, elixirs, ice, anything and everything to make the boy less in pain. He set a bag of ice on his face, the spot Logan saw him get punched, put ointment on a cut on his lips and one on his eyebrow, and poured a little bit of the elixir in the boys’ mouth. He then rolled up his sleeves and checked out his arms, finding quite a few breaks of skin and bruises, indicating possible fractures. Patton looked over at Logan before looking back towards the arm he was bandaging.

“so, what happened lo? He’s a wreck, I doubt you could’ve done this if you wanted to!”

“why do you always assume the worst in me?”

“I don’t! I usually assume the best in you, but I prepare for the worst. Worst case scenario isn’t you getting grumpy this time! You’re not this strong, and you usually realize your mistakes sooner, you wouldn’t have caused this much damage before your conscious weighed back in. Really lo, it’s obvious.”

“I'm going to ignore your oddly astute conclusion in favor of defending myself. A couple of other Slytherin’s were ganging up on him and I was on my way back from the library when I bumped into them. I unfortunately have a moral compass-”

“that’s me!!!”

“-and I stupefied the lot of them, and grabbed this one who was knocked out, likely due to the impact on his cranium, the only actual hit I saw thrown. I imagine the two were cruel enough to continue attacking him even if he was unconscious on the ground. So, I brought him to you. If its of any importance, he’s from Gryffindor.”

“oh yeah, no I know who he is Logan, he’s a friend of mine, Roman Weasley. With the Weasley name I wouldn’t doubt any of it. The same people in your house that hate you hate him for the same reasons. Weasleys are blood traitors, willingly involving themselves with muggles, muggle borns, half-bloods, the whole nine yards. Cedrella black was disowned for marrying a Weasley, to put it in perspective. Their family is part of the sacred 28, the list of all currently completely pure-blooded families. For the most part all the families are Slytherin predominant but there's still the Weasley’s and Longbottom’s, as well as some others I can’t list off the top of my head, that defy that rule. Of course, the Slytherin’s make the biggest deal out of it, but anyways. Its good you brought him he is worse for wear the poor thing.”

Patton waved his wand over the boy, Roman’s, face. Soon after, his eyes slowly opened, and soon after that he was flailing upward in panic, falling off the couch in attempt to escape a perceived threat. Once he fully recognized the situation, he let out a deep sigh and laid on the floor.

“Patton you really mustn’t do this to me I have enough nightmares of people in my face without waking up to it! Where am I even, I don’t recognize this part of Hogwarts.”

“sorry bout that Ro! Was just worried about you! You’re in the Hufflepuff common room!”

“huh. You know when you said it was next to the kitchen, I expected it to smell more like food.”

“I expected it to smell like weed but apparently wizards get high in other ways…”

Roman turned to look at Logan with an odd stare.

“what weed? Gillyweed? Snakeweed? Also, why? I mean I know the best herbology students are usually Hufflepuff but-”

“no not- ugh how do I say this, its, it’s a hum-mor-muggle thing. Its actual name is something different, but it’s a… it’s a bad thing that people can eat and smoke, but it makes them really hungry afterwards. It doesn’t matter.”

“that sounds weird. You’re weird, who are you? How do you know Patton?”

“I know everybody!!!”

“precisely that. I have become friends with Patton. It’s also why you’re here instead of having my housemates still attacking you like big jerks.”

Roman stares blankly at Logan and Logan questions why the boy’s cheeks redden.

“oh. Uh, thanks then. Uh, I should probably be going I have class, but um, what's your name?”

“Logan. It was a pleasure meeting you Roman”

“uh yeah, you too-”

“hold on Ro drink this! It’s a painkiller, it’ll help make sure the bruises and cuts don’t hurt.”

“oh, thanks popstar! Quite nice of you!”

He drank the elixir and gave Logan an odd look before absconding to class. Logan didn’t understand this, and he also didn’t understand the warm feeling in his own cheeks, or the smug look Patton had on his face. He didn’t quite understand what was going on, but he knew enough to know that he didn’t want to know more. At least, not right now…

Taglist: @fivebyfive-finebyfive @fandoms-winkitywonk @thennevermind @the-shipper189 @confinesofpersonalknowledge @bruntriceballs @creativity-killed-thekitten @crookedlyoptimisticdestiny

Let me know if you want to be tagged in my writing!!! Or if you want to be taken off my list!!!

Thank you for reading I will see you later ladies lords and nonbinary royalty!!!

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mysteli · 6 years ago

Text

es in vegas (choices crack-series) part 3

A/N: i finally got this chapter out! yay! this took me so goddamn long to get out and i honestly can’t tell you why. this story is a slow build up and i honestly feel like this chapter isn’t as funny as the other ones but i hope you still like it anyway

Warning: the best way to describe this is probably… mature? mainly of the content in it because if it’s just clean then it ain’t really Vegas. this series will feature implied nsfw but not really anything descriptive (mostly just mentions), exaggerations on use of alcohol, strong language and… crazy behaviour? It’s just weird and I’d proceed with caution…

P.S: this is probably the weirdest one yet and if it feels a little rushed im sorry

ALSO, anything in italic is a flashback from the night before

Disclaimer: most of the plot belongs to the Hangover and the characters belong to Pixelberry. I’m just mashing the two together.

Pairings: Jake X MC, Craig X Zahra, Diego X Vaaryn, Aleister X Grace - just the OG pairings for now but things could change ;) -

Tag list: @brightpinkpeppercorn@likethetailofacomet@xo-endlessmayhem-xo@sceptilemasterr@indiacater @chyeahboy@candychoices@zaffrenotes @nicknameking@bailey-choices@szeherezada @whatsernamerps@aries-light@endlessly-searching-for-you@justboredtrash@beckettsattunement@gerrysacushla @mind-reader1@sweet-honeybird@allykrane @seraxa@violarobics @princessstellaris @mechaspirit

extra tag for @abbiebishops

I tagged everyone who liked the post just in case! If you wanna be removed, just let me know!

Let me know if you wanna be tagged! 💗and let me know if the tags work because Tumblr is acting up.

Masterlist

Summary: Before the gang can go out searching for their missing friend, they must retrace their steps in order to fix the problems caused by Nevada.

Words: 8821

ENDLESS SUMMER IN VEGAS PART 3 - RING ON IT

Grace was right. They’re in deep shit. Truly. Really. They’re in a ditch they need to climb out of and that ditch is the aftermath of a night in Vegas. Trust when said that they definitely won’t be doing this again. Not after all this happened. Michelle and Sean getting married. Logan and Jake engaging in a threesome. Finding a tiger in the damn bathroom. And Vaaryn being missing.

The gang have formed a promise to find Vaaryn, otherwise Diego will not be happy. Maybe this could even be a misunderstanding and Vaaryn just left early to get food or something. Probably not though, judging by the luck of this group in the past. The worst of all luck. They always get the short end of the straw and now they have to fix all their problems and get the hell out of Vegas. Forever.

All of them have planned to get breakfast first before setting out to find Vaaryn. They even attempted to call him but were only welcomed by a questionable voicemail.

“This is the Vaanti King... I’m not human. I’m an alien, as Jake would say... I’m also drunk as Diego would say. And... we wasted!”

Guessing that was from last night. Yet another clue but it didn’t have much to give so the group just brushed past it.

Now there are things that need to be taken care of first and they could also help retrace the group’s steps in order to find Vaaryn. Jake needs to visit the nearest prison to see if he can get his handcuffs removed and Sean and Michelle need to first a chapel in order to get their marriage annulled. It’s been decided that half the group will visit the prison and the other half will visit the chapel. Fun times.

With everyone gathered around the breakfast table, food is being devoured and hangovers are spreading like wildfire.

“I still can’t believe this happened to us of all people.” Michelle points out, spreading butter on a piece of toast and rolling her hazel eyes while she complains.

“Are you kidding, Meech? Of course it would happen to us... it’s us.” Zahra corrects, her mouth full of food while she speaks.

Throughout her words, some of her food is spat out accidentally, scattering over to Quinn who is sat opposite Zahra. “Ew, Zahra. Don’t speak with your damn mouth full.”

“Whatever.” Zahra mutters, food still in her mouth.

“Seriously though guys... this is so fucking annoying. It’s harder when you can’t remember shit as well.” Sean mentions, facepalming hard and that leads to Jake scoffing mockingly.

“You can keep complaining all you want, Steve Rogers but just be thankful that you actually have the ability to eat right now.” Jake points out, lifting his hands and revealing the handcuffs as he attempts to pick up a piece of bacon, only to fail dramatically.

Logan can’t help but giggle, covering her mouth to contain her laughs. But Jake notices, shooting her a questioning look. “Oh you find that funny, Princess?” Jake enquires, raising an eyebrow at his cackling wife.

“Obviously. But you can’t say it’s more embarrassing for you since I’ve had to feed you for the last five minutes.” Logan reminds him, throwing her hands on her hips and sighing heavily. She tilts her head to find more people staring at her and she shakes her head out of shame.

“Speaking of, can you pass me another piece of bacon?” Jake teases, a smirk slapped on his expression.

“Ugh. These people can just tell we’re hungover. I spent a half hour trying to cover the bags under my eyes but no... they’re there forever.” Michelle complains once more, running her hands through her ombré hair and she pauses when she finds Sean eyeing her with suspicion. “What the fuck are you looking at, Sean?”

Caught, Sean flicks his gaze to the food in front of him, releasing a low chuckle. “Nothing. It’s just funny how I managed to wanna marry you, even when I’m drunk.” He admits, catching sight of Michelle’s eyes narrowing in offence.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“All you’ve done is fucking complain. You’re so pretentious, Michelle.” Sean retorts, seeming weirdly confident for once.

Michelle scoffs. “Pretentious? All you’ve done is act all high and mighty because you think you’re so good since you got drunk and did stupid things in Vegas. Well trust me when I say Sean that you don’t have to be drunk to do stupid things.” Michelle counters, folding her arms in a solemn manor. Meanwhile, everyone else watches the scene with curiosity and disbelief.

“Seriously, can you guys calm down? This isn’t gonna solve anything.” Grace points out, remaining ignored by Sean and Michelle.

“Ha. I’m sure marrying you is at the top of the list of stupid things I did last night.” Sean mocks, a scowl crossing his face.

“Dude! Burn!” Craig exclaims suddenly, only earning a strong elbow from Zahra. “Why do you always do that, Z?”

“Maybe because that’s the only thing you fucking remember!” Michelle snaps, a death glare reaching her and you can practically see the steam bursting out of her ears.

“Damn, you guys fight like a married couple.” Jake points out and rightfully so. But it attracts everyone in the group’s attention. He’s rewarded with many looks of disbelief and others of pure amusement. He simply shrugs his shoulders. “You’re fitting with the theme so congrats on that.”

Logan leans in and pats Jake shoulder idly. “You might wanna shut up.” She advises and Jake nods along in agreement.

“Good call, Princess. Because they won’t stop staring at me.”

The breakfast hour goes by, with the group discussing what action they will choose to take, in order to regain their friend and solve the problems they brought upon themselves the night before. They end up making an agreement for half the group to go to the prison with Jake and Logan and the other half to attend the annulment session at the chapel with Sean and Michelle. Jake and Logan decided to take Estela, Diego, Craig and Zahra. Also, Furball because he really wants to go to a prison for some reason. While the others, including Sean, Michelle, Grace, Aleister, Raj and Quinn, will make their way to the chapel to try and get the annulment resolved as quickly as possible.

We can only hope this goes well and the arguing stays to a minimum amount.

Once Jake and the others eventually make it to the nearest prison, they stand outside to see if their memory matches with it in anyway or not. There’s really no correct way to tell but this is probably the best they can do.

“It’s a prison. Either way, they can take the cuffs off right?” Logan assumes, folding her arms and surveying the prison carefully. It’s pretty quaint and the most likely one where someone was arrested.

“Well, we don’t just want the cuffs off. We wanna see if we can find out if we were here or not last night.” Estela corrects.

“Right, Katniss. Still, my main concern is having my hands back. I wanna be able to eat food on my own again.” Jake clarifies, once again struggling against the cuffs.

“Mmmmmrff!” Furball curls up on Logan’s shoulder, nuzzling into her platinum and she responds by stroking under his chin.

“You wanna see the criminals? Yes you do, don’t you?” Logan speaks to Furball in a pitchy tone and he responds with a wide smile.

“Ooh! If they refuse, can we use a taser on them?” Craig suddenly requests, throwing his hands in the air and letting a wide smile take over his features.

“I’m still confused as to why you still have that moustache on your face, Craig.” Diego points out, poking the ink on Craig’s face and shooting him a bewildered look.

“Because it looks cool, ok? I’ve always wanted to look like a Super Mario Brother.” Craig points out, slapping away Craig’s hands and appreciating the fake moustache above his lips. “Besides, I can’t really get it off anyway.”

“Still don’t understand why you would ever do that but ok.” Logan responds, face palming hard at this whole situation.

“Craig, you look more botched than anything.”

“I’m trying out a new look! Maybe I’ll make this permanent. I call it the Bond!” Craig announces, posing for the group and they all just role their eyes, the only one amused is Zahra.

“Craig... can’t you at least try and say something smart.” Zahra pleads, slapping Craig’s head violently and he winces at the impact.

“Ok... Albert Einstein was the 13th President of the United States.” Craig blurts out, causing everyone to eye him with complete and utter bewilderment.

“Did that really just come out of your mouth? Did I really just hear that?” Logan is in complete disbelief, facepalming so damn hard out of disappointment.

“Oh my god... Craig, why?” Diego reacts, matching everyone else’s level of shame in Craig.

“Say something else, Craiggers.” Zahra requests, seeming the only one that is amused by this.

Unfazed, Craig shrugs his shoulders and thinks of something else definitely ‘smart’ to say. “Hm... the Earth is flat.”

Zahra is almost tempted to bang her head against a nearby wall. She’s laughing her goddamn head off. “Dude... this is unbearable.”

“Can we just go before I beat the brain cells out of him?” Jake urges and everyone agrees, following him into the station.

Meanwhile, as Michelle and the others finally drive their way into the chapel’s parking lot, using Grace’s mother’s limo to get there. The car ride was mostly with Michelle and Sean squabbling and pestering each other. Also Aleister and Grace arguing about the tattoo on her face. Grace isn’t thrilled about having to spend her wedding with a tattoo. She can’t live with everyone seeing her like that. Then there’s Quinn and Raj who are jamming to music in the back seat. They’re the only ones that are really upbeat even after, seeing that tiger in the bathroom. No one has figured out what to do about that yet. So far the plan is pretend it isn’t there.

Everyone climbs out the car and makes their way towards the chapel, a million thought boggling their minds and messing with their heads. So much is going on and it’s all so impossible to process.

“Can I just clarify that I’m only here because I’d rather not be in a prison or be spending any more time with Jake?” Aleister pipes up suddenly and Grace just rolls her eyes at his unnecessary comment.

“Aleister, please stop. All you’ve done is be negative ever since we got here. Chill out and we’ll be home before you know it.” Grace assures, rubbing his shoulder in a comforting manor but he shakes off her grasp defiantly.

“No, Grace. Chilling out is what got us into this pathetic mess and I never wanted any part of it.” Aleister bites back, folding his arms like that of a sulky manor.

“Stop complaining, Aleister! If you didn’t wanna be here, you didn’t have to be but if you wanna leave now, you can fucking walk because I’m not dealing with your bullshit.” Michelle suddenly snaps, throwing her hands on her hips and storming off towards the chapel. Clearly she’s the most stressed out of everyone, especially with the way Sean spoke to her earlier.

“Michelle. This isn’t gonna solve anything.” Raj points out, following behind her, his expression plastered with worry.

“You’re all being pathetic so can you just calm down so we can sort this out in a civil way.” Quinn requests, looking Grace, Aleister and Sean dead in the way, pleading with them to stop being so feisty.

All three of them share uneven looks before Grace and Sean move to give one another a hug, with Aleister remaining sulky and annoyed by everything he sees.

“I’m sorry, Grace.” Sean apologises, that natural smile returning to his face.

“Me too, Sean. Now lets get this marriage annulled. But please be nice to Michelle. She isn’t taking this so well.”

“Trust me I know.”

Aleister scoffs mockingly, interrupting the apologetic moment. “Aw, how touching. Why don’t you two get together?”

“But Aleister, I’m engaged to—“ Grace tries to ease Aleister’s sudden jealousy but he cuts her off with a nasty scowl.

“No need. Just go. I shall wait in the car.”

Sean simply rolls his eyes and starts up to the chapel with Quinn following after him. Grace eyes her fiancé with sadness and sympathy before trailing after them like a lost puppy. They don’t even get a chance to catch onto Aleister’s guilt as they wander away.

“Goddamn! This is so cool!” Craig exclaims as they wander into the police station and he admires his surroundings with an eager glint in his eyes.

“Let me bet you five bucks right now, Craig, that one day you will end up here.” Zahra bets, a smirk crossing her lips. Her comment was harsh but she doesn’t seem to care and Craig doesn’t seem to understand what her original intentions were.

“You mean... like on a class trip or something?”

Shameful, Zahra shakes her head out of disappointment. “Craig... we should get you a tutor or a doctor or literally anyone who can help you.”

Craig nods along but still hasn’t gained the slightest understanding of the conversation topic. “...I have been having trouble growing a beard.”

“What?”

“Sean can grow them so quickly but me... my jaw is forever alone.” Craig points out, stroking his jaw idly and grieving the lack of facial hair.

Zahra simply scoffs, lost for words. “...Say that again.”

Everyone ventures further into the standard station, with Jake leading up to the front desk with Logan close by his side. The receptionist looks up at them with expectancy as they approach and she doesn’t seem to have noticed cuffs attached to Jake’s hands. It seems like he’s trying to hide them from sight.

“Hello. How can I help you?” The receptionist meets eyes like Logan and Jake, smiling at them as politely as her tone remains. However, her smile immediately dies when she takes the time to skim over their exteriors. It’s almost like she recognises them. This is a good thing. “It’s... um...”

Jake notices how the receptionist is constantly stuttering and tilts his head at her bewilderedly. “You ok there, office... desk... lady?” He asks and Logan reacts by elbowing him at the stupid way he referred to her. Jake winces and narrows his eyes at his wife. “Fuck... being wasted made you stronger.”

“You need to learn how to talk to people, Jake.” Logan points out, shaking her head at him.

“Oh no... is Princess disappointed in me?”

“Remember you’re the one in cuffs. Not me.”

“...For now.” Jake mutters under his breath and Logan’s eyes widen at the insinuation mixed into his words. He avoids eye contact with her and ends their conversation, turning back to the receptionist. “Anyway... I kinda need to ask some questions.”

The receptionist clears her throat and finally relaxes, exhaling softly. “I’m not sure how I can help you, Mr Mckenzie.”

At the sound of his surname, Jake’s cerulean gaze snaps back towards the receptionist and a feeling of relief washes over me. “Holy shit... you know me. You know me, right?”

“Of course. How could I forget the man who danced around the police station like a maniac and asked me if I was pregnant?” The receptionist shoots Jake a deadly glare and he flinches a little. Logan scoffs at the revelation and attempts too hard to hold back her laughter.

“Uh... sorry about that?”

Ignoring Jake’s loose and uneven apology, the receptionist continues. “And after I said that I wasn’t, you poked my stomach and told me I needed to stop hitting up all the Burger Kings or they will soon run out of food.” The receptionist shudders as she recalls the vile insults and Jake really must have crossed a line there.

Logan leans over to Jake and releases a heavy sigh. “You deserve to be elbowed now, don’t you think?”

Jake simply nods, feeling so awkward and embarrassed. “Good call.”

With that Logan elbows her husband more violently than she ever has attempted to before. Jake grits his teeth at the impact and nods along, proud of his hard-hitting wife.

“Seriously... I said that. Well I’m very sorry about that.”

Once again, Jake is ignored and the receptionist just rolls her eyes out of annoyance. “Do you even remember anything because you’re looking clueless and like you crawled out of a barrel of whiskey?”

“Uh... no... lady?”

“The name’s Linda.” She corrects, her eyes leaving daggers wherever she dares to look. “And I suppose you’re here to get those cuffs taken off since you ran out with them as soon as the police said you could go free.”

“Wait I was the one who was arrested?” Jake reacts, not sure what to say.

Logan leans against the desk and buries her face in her hands. “Jake... of course you were. It’s... drunk you.”

The receptionist flicks her gaze over to Logan and eyes her with suspicion. “You were with him last night. Yes... you made out with the officer who said Jake could go. I remember the officer reminding you about your husband but you simply came back at him with ‘jake and I have an understanding’.” The receptionist explains with a look of disgust and Logan’s ocean eyes widen a little more as each word is spoken. She can’t believe she did that. Did she really do that? Would she do that? Drunk Lo might do that.

Jake can’t believe it either but he also can’t hold back his heavy chuckles. “You made out with an officer... well that’s just great, darlin’.”

“Wow, nice, Lo!” Craig applauds, extremely proud of Logan for some unknown reason.

“I actually feel like I might be sick. I had a threesome and made out with an officer all in the same night.” Logan points out, a little louder than intended and people begin to strangely look her way. Even more embarrassed, she hides her face and Jake rests his head on hers comfortingly.

“Lo, it’s ok. I’m not mad.”

The receptionist simply scoffs, interrupting the moment. “I can let you talk to the officer she kissed if you would like. He could talk you through what happened last night and the details of Jake’s arrest.” She offers, pointing towards an interrogation room in the far corner. “I can only allow you two to go through though.”

“That would be great.” Logan clamps a hand over while agreeing to this whole talking to the officer thing. But confronting this stranger she made out with last night while being married will be very awkward.

“Can he also take the cuffs off... you know... so I can punch him?” Jake questions, a slight scowl crossing his features. Wow he might be a little mad.

“If you punch him, we’ll arrest you again. Simple.”

Jake scoffs, raising his eyebrows out of amusement. “Oh... a man with a plan.”

The receptionist narrows her eyes to how she is referred to and Jake hangs his head in shame. “...Woman.”

“...Yeah. Once again... I am sorry.”

Michelle eyes the man at the counter with suspicion, having the slight feeling that she may recognise him. Of course she must have met him because she was here last night. She arches her eyebrows as her frustration starts to peek through and the man at the counter forms a wide smile when he spots Michelle.

“Ah, look who’s back! Mr and Mrs Eggplant!” The man exclaims in a raw Italian accent. At the way they are referred to, Michelle and Sean’s eyes widen with confusion.

“Eggplant?” Michelle reacts, a cringy expression starting to take over.

“Of course! Your crazy friend, Aleister, came up with it for your married name and you loved it!” The man is clearly excited, his smile increasing even more with every word that is spoken.

“I’m sorry but... who are you?” Grace asks.

“Haha! Always the joker, Raspberry!” The man responds with an obnoxious laugh, dragging Grace in for a friendly hug. She accepts it hesitantly, one eyebrows raised bewilderedly once he lets her go.

“Raspberry?”

“You are Raspberry. When good ol’ Al suggested Eggplant, you all wanted to be named after fruits. Let me see here...” The man searches the group around him, clapping his hands aloud when he spots Raj and Quinn with small smiles on their faces. “Ah, yes! You wanted to be Avacado.” The man explains, pointing to Quinn.

“Really? Out of all the pretty fruits there are in the world... I chose... an avacado?” Quinn says, obviously disappointed as she hangs her head in shame.

“And you, Ra-Ra! You were Pineapple!” The man points out, patting Raj on the back.

“Holy shit... like Spongebob?”

“Yes! Like the Bob sponge!”

Raj’s eyes light up with excitement and clearly he’s enjoying the company of the Italian man. “Wait! Did you have a fruit name?”

“Yes! I was the banana according to Aleister. Wow that one was the craziest out of all of you last night.” The man exclaims, laughs escaping him as he recalls the night before.

Everyone appears shocked to hear that Aleister could have been the most wasted out of all them. Then again... they all read the texts.

“Seriously? You’re talking about our Eggplant— I mean Aleister, right?” Michelle questions, in complete disbelief.

“Yes. Don’t you remember? He almost ruined the wedding when he vomited on the floor, barely missing poor Eggplant.” The man explains, flicking his gaze between Michelle and Sean.

“Sorry. But which one of us do you mean when you say Eggplant?” Sean questions, finding this entire situation confusing.

“The bride, of course. I remember she was wearing a trash bag she picked up from the gas station. It was very pretty.”

“Wait... just a trash bag?” Michelle reacts, in hope that isn’t true.

“Yes... Aleister tried to take it off you multiple times, claiming he needed to find his eggplant. You told me you have just come back from skinny dipping. Interesting information but it’s also something I didn’t need. Come on, you fools. You really don’t remember?”

“Well, last night is just kinda... fuzzy. But we are aware that Michelle and Sean got married last night and... we wanted to know if it’s possible we could it get annulled.” Quinn suggests, a hopeful glint in her eye and the man nods happily. He doesn’t appear like the kind of person who would never have a smile on his face.

“Of course. You know how Vegas is, tricking us into thinking that everything is a good idea.” A revelation suddenly dawns on the man and he drops the paperwork he’d picked up from the shelf in the desk. He flicks his gaze between the group and furrows his brows. “So if you have Vegas amnesia, that must mean you have forgotten my name.”

The whole group goes silent, their minds bouncing with ideas of what his name might be. “Ummm... no sorry.”

“Is it Pablo?” Quinn suddenly guesses and everyone is scared that he will get offended by her random and semi-stereotypical guess.

“Yes! Avacado, you were always my favourite.” The man, or Pablo, exclaims, high fiving Quinn before retrieving a pen from the desk.

“How the hell do you do that?” Grace questions, throwing her hands on her hips and raising her eyebrows.

“I don’t know. It’s like a gift.” Quinn responds, a bright smile crossing her lips. “...I’m his favourite.” She adds proudly.

“Both if you are already present so this should be quick and easy.” Pablo points out, jotting something down before looking up at the clearly unhappy couple.

“Good... I can’t stand being married to...” Michelle looks Sean up and down, narrowing her eyes at him. “...whatever this is any longer.”

“Ha... Ha.” Sean brews up a sarcastic laugh and folds his arms out of stress. “Hey, Banana.” Sean suddenly says, referring to Pablo.

“Yes, Eggplant?” Pablo answers, an expression of amusement fixed on his face at the fact that Sean used the nickname.

“Do you think you can talk us through this wedding while you annul it because I gotta know the full story?”

“Of course. There’s plenty to speak of. You were all pretty drunk, if you know what I’m saying.”

“We definitely know what you’re saying.” Raj points out as the hangover starts to take over again.

“Well... it all started when both Eggplants came rampaging in like animals...”

Michelle and Sean dive into the chapel, completely intoxicated and feeling as though their brains are about to explode with all the alcohol they have consumed. Their phones continue to buzz and vibrate as the group chat is corrupted with constant texts. They haven’t cared to answer though because they are about to do the craziest thing they’ve probably ever done.

Maybe it’s the alcohol in their system talking but it almost feels right in a way and Michelle and Sean only see the alcohol as liquid courage because they’d never have the will to do this if they were sober.

But it’s happening and they’re gonna make this damn night count. Sean and Michelle link as they stumble into the chapel, causing the owner Pablo to glance up from his desk and spot the clearly wasted two. He chuckles softly under his breath, as Michelle and Sean continue to laugh obnoxiously with each other. They’re almost completely naked, with Michelle dressed in nothing but a trash bag and Sean wearing nothing but what can only be described as a woman’s bathrobe. They’re carrying half empty bottles of vodka and Michelle’s makeup is smudged all over her face. They look absolutely disgusting but why should they care?

“Hello! What can I do for you today?” Pablo asks, waving his hands in the air as if he’s welcoming them.

“Duh. Marry us!” Michelle declares, hoisting her arm over Sean’s shoulder and clinging to him like a child would to a teddy bear. He responds by tugging her closer by her waist.

“Are you sure? You look like you just came back from the tequila factory.” Pablo counters, gesturing to their heavy appearances and they laugh along with his comment.

“Close. We just got back from skinny dipping at the beach down there. Then our clothes got robbed by these kids so we decided to look in the trash for some clothes. Meech found this sexy leather dress and I wanted to wear this because it smells nice.” Sean explains, sniffing the sleeve off the pink, floral bathrobe and Pablo is actually shell-shocked by the situation.

“Didn’t you say you found that in the trash?”

“Yeah... what’s your point?” Sean asks, furrowing his brows.

“Nothing. So that’s one marriage?” Pablo quickly distracts himself, shifting his gaze towards the paperwork before him. “Just wait here while I get this confirmed.”

“Cool!” Michelle calls out as Pablo wanders into the other room before turning her gaze to Sean and jumping up and down excitedly. “We’re gonna get married! We’re gonna married!”

“Yes we are! Yes we are!” Sean chants along with Michelle as they wave their vodka bottles about enthusiastically.

“Hey, we should invite our friends to come watch!” Michelle suggests and Sean nods along immediately.

After engaging in the group chat and telling their friends to come and attend the wedding, Michelle and Sean snap their eyes towards Pablo, who comes walking back into to the entrance of the chapel. He plasters a weak smile on his face and welcomes Michelle and Sean in for a private ceremony.

Michelle and Sean stand opposite each other with Pablo officiating between them, speaking to an empty audience. This could probably be classed as the weirdest wedding Pablo has ever had to host but nevertheless, it’s making him money.

“Before we begin, I need to clarify that you signed a contract that if you regret this when you are sober, you cannot blame/sue this chapel because we were just doing our jobs. Clear?” Pablo points out before the ceremony really begins.

Michelle and Sean nod along, the wonky smiles never leaving their expressions. “Crystal clear.”

“Ok so we are gathered here today...”

Before anything can go any further, the doors to the chapel swing open and all the rest of the group come parading in like a stampede of elephants. They look impossibly energised but so out of breath at the same time. Soon, they approach Michelle and Sean, excitement and uncertainty exploding in all of their eyes.

“We came to watch you get married!” Grace announces, clapping her hands as loudly as possible and the deafening sound echoes throughout the room.

“Cool! You’re about to watch our lives change...” Michelle responds, smoothing out the trash bag that is very big on her body and she’s lucky it hasn’t fallen off yet, exposing the parts she doesn’t want people to see.

“...for one night.” Jake adds, holding up his glass and tugging Logan close to his body, who leans into him before snatching the glass out of his hand and chugging the rest of the whiskey down herself. “Wow... it’s rude to steal, Princess.”

“It’s also rude to let a girl go thirsty.” Logan bites back, tugging at Jake’s lower lip with her finger and he responds by smirking widely.

“Heh. Maybe I like it when you’re thirsty.”

Zahra scoffs when she catches the sound of their inappropriate conversation. “Can you two just not for two seconds? We have more important matters to discuss!” She announces, moving so she’s standing on one of the chapel chairs, forcing everyone to look her way.

“And what’s that, Z?” Estela questions, hands on her hips.

“Duh. One of the most defining moments in all of history.” Zahra counters. “Craig got hit by a car!”

“Woah! What?” Grace reacts, jaw almost leaving her face out of shock. “Craig, are you ok?”

“I’m fine. It wasn’t really a car. It was a hot dog stand on wheels.” Craig corrects, chuckling under his breath and rubbing the light bruise on his head.

“Don’t ruin it, Craiggers. Car sounds better. That way I can imagine that you lost more brain cells than I wanna believe.” Zahra responds, patting Craig on his shoulder and he nods idly.

“How did you manage it?” Quinn asks, titling her head to the side.

“Oh yeah. The dude who was rolling it thought I was a traffic light on green because of the colours on my shirt.” Craig explains, laughing about it a little too much. “And maybe I did try to steal some of the hot dogs so he kinda had no problem with hitting me.” He adds, running a hand through his jet black hair. “But I really don’t think I deserved to be hit.”

“Sure because stealing someone’s food is definitely not a crime.” Diego states sarcastically.

“Not when it’s good.” Raj adds.

“I ran over someone once.” Estela suddenly points out and everyone turns to her with wide eyes. It’s almost like she never even meant to say it out loud.

“What? Who? Where? When? Why? How?” Grace bombards Estela with questions, suddenly panicky.

“Oh... just the other day. Aleister was annoying me so I hit him with my car.”

“Did that really happen? Because I don’t remember Al saying anything about that.” Grace points out, shrugging her shoulders.

“Ok fine. It was just a really cool dream.” Estela admits, sticking her tongue out at Grace in annoyance.

All of a sudden, another familiar face comes storming into the chapel. Aleister, of course, comes running in as energetic as possible, his platinum hair tousled and messy while the rest of his appearance looks like he’s also been through the tequila factory.

“Speak of the devil...”

“What is up, members of the human world!” Aleister announces, waving his arms around as a way to declare his presence to the group. His once presentable jacket is all creased, one side of the collar sticking up unnaturally. This is an Aleister no one has ever seen and sure as hell hopes to never see again.

“Aleister!” Grace is clearly happy to see him and Aleister stops short when he hears her voice. He wraps her in a tight hug, one can could easily stop her from breathing.

“You are my one and only, Grace! I love you so much! You are my world!” Aleister declares his love for Grace to the rest of the group and it’s literally something he would never do sober.

“Wow, Aleister. You’d really cheat on Jake like that?” Logan jokes, folding her arms and referring back to the group chat.

Jake just scoffs under his breath, deciding to go along with the joke. “Yeah, Malfoy. I’ve never felt so betrayed.”

“Speaking of, did you enjoy Jake’s eggplant, Logan?” Aleister questions and it sadly seems as though he’s talking genuinely.

Jake and Logan share a knowing look, actually feeling sympathy for Aleister. “In the bathroom of the strip club.” Jake suddenly points out with a deadly smirk, causing Logan’s ocean eyes to widen and she slaps Jake’s right peck as hard as she can. He just shrugs it off, grabbing her and kissing the inside of her wrist reassuringly. “Don’t worry, Princess. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Jake, seriously, shut the fuck up.” She urges, pointing at him sharply and Estela scoffs.

“Finally, someone said it. That was so damn overdue.” Estela points out and Jake shoots her the middle finger.

“Now, now, Jake. Play nice.” Logan tells him, tapping his chin playfully.

“So wait... was it a big eggplant because sometimes people can’t even get them in their mouth?” Aleister suddenly chimes in, causing both Logan and Jake to facepalm hard.

“Who hurt you, Al?”

“Um... can you guys not talk about eggplants? We’re trying to get married over here.” Michelle points out and everyone suddenly turns their attention to the very noticeable wedding outfits that Michelle and Sean have decided to get married in.

“Wow... you guys really look trash.” Craig jokes, seeming to be the only one laughing at his joke. Well, Jake seems to find it funny, giving Craig a high five.

Michelle simply rolls her eyes and turns back to Sean. “You guys can either leave or sit down and enjoy the show.”

“Oh I’m sure we would enjoy the show a lot more if the trash bag and bathrobe came off.” Jake chimes in, folding his arms in a casual manor. Everyone looks his way in disbelief and he remains unfazed. “What? That’s how Princess and i would be doing it.”

Logan shakes her head defiantly at the group. “No it’s not. I swear... go ahead. Please get married before I turn this into Jake’s funeral.”

Jake chuckles and shrugs his shoulders, grabbing Craig’s bottle of whiskey of him and chugging it down himself. He catches the offended look that Craig gives him. “I’m poor, Craigslist. Let me be.”

Pablo has been watching this situation unfold for the last few minutes and he is unsure what to make of it. “Shall I continue with the ceremony?”

“One moment.” Aleister interrupts, stepping in between Michelle and Sean, a forced smile plastered on his face. “I would quickly like to announce something.”

“Oh... this should be good.” Zahra mutters, retrieving her phone and filming the current situation.

“I know I’ll only have the courage to say this when I’m intoxicated but... I need to tell you all now.” Aleister begins, messing with his tousled hair as he speaks. “...I think I might be...”

“Gay?” Jake blurts out, clasping a hand over his mouth immediately.

Craig gasps aloud. “I freaking knew it!”

Aleister rolls his eyes but instantly shifts his expression back into a smile. “Oh you guys and... your ways. I meant I think I might be... allergic to eggplants.” Tears begin rising in Aleister’s eyes and he wipes them away with the sleeve of his jacket.

“...Uh, what?” Quinn reacts, sapphire eyes widening.

“After the group chat message, I tried to eat a load of eggplants and I... I...” Genuine sobs leave Aleister’s eyes and that’s the scary part about this situation. “...I had a reaction.”

“You’re... allergic to eggplants? That really came out of my fiancé’s mouth.” Grace looks up as if she’s pleading to the Gods.

“Oh no... I think it might still be... happeni—“ Before Aleister can finish his words, a sense of nausea runs through him and he paces around frantically looking for a place to let the feeling out. With no time, Aleister vomits directly in front of Michelle and she barely moves out of the way in time.

“Ew! Al, you could’ve killed me!” Michelle complains, clearly exaggerating as she smoothes out her trash bag dress and exhales sharply. “You’re disgusting.”

“Sorry, Michelle. I didn’t mean to... oh no. It’s happening again.”

With that, Aleister sprints outside and the only thing heard is the sound of him vomiting into the nearby bushes.

“Well shit... should we begin the ceremony now?” Pablo questions and if everyone was sober, they’d probably deny the idea and go home. But no they’re drunk and hopeless and they go straight back into the terrible idea of Michelle and Sean getting married.

Back at the police station, Jake and Logan are lead the receptionist, Linda, into an interrogation room where they’ve accepted the chance to hear about what happened the night before from the police officer that Logan supposedly made out with as a reaction to Jake being free. Considering the reasoning and intoxicated circumstances, Jake isn’t too mad about this but even so, there’s always gonna be that small part of him that is obviously riled up about by the thought of Logan kissing and touching someone else. Now he knows how she felt when they found out about the threesome. Clearly they only want each other and they’re sickened by the thought of other people being involved in their relationship. That proves their love is pretty powerful.

As they’re lead into the interrogation room, they spot an officer sat in one of the chairs, sipping on a cup of coffee. The name tag on his police uniform reads ‘Officer D. Hickey’... oh my god. His last name is Hickey?! Of all things, Hickey?! Who hurt this man? Better yet, his first name starts with D. Let’s not go down that road.

Jake and Logan eye the officer awkwardly, waiting for him to notice them. He only does when Linda raises her voice.

“Dave, you got company.” Linda announces before leaving the room and Dave glances up curiously, his eyes lighting up at the sight of Jake and Logan. Clearly he recognises them but it’s sad that they don’t recognise him.

“Oh wow! You’re back!” Dave exclaims, rising from his seat and giving Jake a friendly hug, which he can’t exactly respond to because he’s trapped in cuffs. “Good to see you, you crazy bastard.”

Jake scoffs at the way he’s referred to. “Gee, thanks for using my first name.” He says in a sarcastic tone and Dave takes it as a joke, throwing his head back and laughing aloud.

“Good one!” Then he turns to Logan and Jake is shocked by what the officer does next. “Ah, Logan... it’s more than great to see you.”

With that, Dave unexpectedly brings his lips to Logan’s and gives her a savoury kiss, one that she doesn’t accept but also doesn’t deny. She simply glances at Jake and shrugs her shoulders, too stunned to really do anything about. Anger rises in Jake and a fire starts in his hearts. Too bad he can’t actually punch the guy.

Finally Dave pulls away and smooths out Logan’s hair before stepping back. “So what can I do for you two?”

At that point, Jake can’t resist the urge to snap a little. “You can start by keeping you filthy hands off my wife.”

Dave raises his hands up in defence. “Hey hey, she’s the one who kissed me last night. Maybe I just got the wrong sign.”

“Still, don't fucking touch her!” Jake snaps, arching his eyebrows viciously and Dave folds his arms in casual manor, unsure what to make of Jake’s angered state.

“I don’t recommend you try and argue with me, especially after what happened to you last night.” Dave advises and that’s when Logan feels the need to chime in.

“Yes... that’s why we’re really here. We kinda don’t remember what happened last night and...” Logan stutters a little as she struggles to remember the receptionist’s name. “...the front desk lady sent us in here so you could tell us what happened.”

Dave appears bewildered, almost in disbelief. “You really have no idea what happened?”

“No. To top it off, I somehow ended up walking out with the handcuffs you trapped me in.” Jake adds, annoyance driving him over the edge.

“Yes... I told you many times to take those off but you kept saying you were a dog and licking the other officers. You even asked your own wife if she wanted to play fetch. It was pretty amusing!” Dave explains and Jake simply rolls his eyes, irritation building up like bricks. Logan rubs his shoulder comfortingly and it only calms him slightly.

“We’d really appreciate it if you could explain to us what happened and maybe if you can, take the cuffs off Jake.” Logan requests and Dave nods in agreement.

“Of course I can do that. In fact, I have the key right here.” Dave mentions before wandering over to Jake, slightly cautious, and gesturing for him to turn his hands over so he can unlock the cuffs. He completes the action with ease and Jake is finally able to move his hands freely.

“Yes, baby! I got my freedom!” Jake waves his hands about enthusiastically, doing the things he hasn’t been able to do for the last few years, one of them being grabbing Logan and kissing her full on the lips. The best part is that Dave has to watch as Jake caresses her body with his now free hands and leave her breathless by the time he leans away.

Dazed, Logan nods with satisfaction. “Damn, Mckenzie. I like you better when you have your hands.”

“You should.”

Dave scoffs, interrupting the private moment. “So... do you wanna know about your arrest or not?”

Jake rolls his eyes out of annoyance. “Sorry. Yeah.”

The police cars surround Jake and he’s forced to raise his hands and surrender. He releases a heavy sigh and rolls his eyes for letting this happen to him. The only thing he wanted to do was fetch his wife from the casino after he got kicked out himself. Turns out some asshole was flirting with his wife and he went to confront him. That’s when Sean came over asking what the commotion was. They ended up fighting those jerks together and getting kicked out at the same time. Sean told Jake not to go back in but the dumbass went back in anyway and now he’s gonna get arrested for what... wanting to see his wife? Damn... such a horrific crime.

Jake’s cerulean eyes widen when he recognises the police officer who steps out of one of the cars, followed by one he doesn’t know.

“Agh shit. Why now?” Jake curses under his breath as the familiar officer approaches him with nothing but an eye roll and an annoyed expression.

Would you believe it’s his sister Rebecca? Of course she has the Vegas shift on the one time Jake decides to do something stupid in Nevada. Damn, what kind of coincidence is this?

Sean stands beside Jake but he hasn’t be asked to raise his hands. Clearly he’s just moral support.

“What?” Sean reacts as Jake’s eyes widen because of how stunned he is.

“That’s my sister, Q.B.” Jake admits, hanging his head out of shame.

“Unlucky you.” Sean mocks with an amused smirk. He lets out a low whistle at the sight of Rebecca Mckenzie. “Fuck... she’s hot.”

“You better shut the fuck up before I beat the shit out of you.” Jake threatens and Sean takes the warning seriously, placing a hand over the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Geez, sorry dude.”

Rebecca finally reaches them, throwing her hands on her hips and smirking out of amusement. “Wow Jake. Thought you weren’t a criminal.”

“I’m not. This is just a misunderstanding.” Jake tries to explain, his voice slightly shaky considering the circumstances.

“Really? So you thought it was ok to reenter a casino after being told you couldn’t go back in?”

Jake forms a cocky smirk and shrugs his shoulders. “What can I say? I’m drunk. I do dumbass things when I’m drunk. You know this, sis.” Rebecca nods along, actually giving him that one. “Besides I only wanted to go fetch Logan so I could take her home.”

“You couldn’t just text her?” Rebecca questions, furrowing her brows.

“I could have but I guess I didn’t think of it.”

Rebecca rolls her eyes and retrieves some handcuffs from her belt. “You can tell it to a judge, Jake.”

“Wait... I have to face a fucking judge?!” Jake reacts, as Rebecca traps him in the handcuffs firmly and locks them on with a key.

“I don’t know yet. It’s just a really cool thing to say.” Rebecca mutters under her breath and Jake scoffs as he’s lead towards the police car. Logan is brought out of the casino and is allowed to go with him to the police station. Sean stays behind, saying he would meet up with the others wherever they were. Everyone kinda got scattered after the strip club.

After an unbearable drive, they arrive at the police station where Jake is instantly taken through to the interrogation room where his sister sits opposite him, eyeing him with caution. Also, there’s the other officer he didn’t recognise. The one with the name tag ‘Officer D. Hickey’

Jake is really struggling to contain his laughter. “That’s a really interesting name.” Jake decides to break the silence, gesturing to Dave’s name tag and he simply shrugs his shoulders while Rebecca rolls her eyes, knowing what he’s getting at.

“I get that a lot. But you should know it’s pronounced HIKE-y not hickey... that’s just how it’s spelt.” Dave corrects, folding his arms.

“Sure. Whatever you say, Mr Hickey.” Jake responds sarcastically, referring to Dave with the wrong pronunciation instead of the right one.

Dave scoffs. “It’s not Hickey. Stop saying it like that.”

“Like what?” Jake pretends to be oblivious, turning towards his sister. “Anyway, Becs, I gotta tell you that this is all really stupid. I’m drunk and misunderstood. You gotta me let go.”

“Why should I do that, Jake? You were basically trespassing.”

“How about because we’re Ohana?” Jake suddenly states, referring back to when Logan used the phrase when she made him watch Lilo and Stitch of all things, a movie he actually enjoyed.

Clearly Rebecca hasn’t seen it though. “Ohana? What is that?”

“Ohana means family and family means nobody gets left behind... or forgotten.” Jake always forgets that last part and Logan almost kills him every time he does.

Rebecca releases a heavy sigh when he realises what Jake is doing. “...Please don’t tell me you’re quoting Stitch.”

“Stitch is a smart blue alien ball of fluff. You should listen to him.” Jake advises. “And Stitch says let me go.”

“...I really hate you, Jake.” Rebecca mutters, rolling her eyes. “You did the crime so now you gotta do the time.”

“Is that really true or are you just saying that ‘cause it’s cool?”

“Both.” Rebecca leans forward and folds her arms across the table.

“Come on, Becs. I will do anything you want.” Jake pleads, shooting her the puppy dog eyes that never work on anyone.

“Not interested.”

“I’ll buy you a car.”

“I’m not sixteen. Besides what’s better than a cop car?” Rebecca scoffs mockingly at Jake’s absurdity.

“I’ll buy you a boyfriend. You can have Aleister if you want. I’m begging you please take him.” Jake offers and he wishes he wasn’t being serious.

“Who the fuck do you think I am?”

“Come on, Becs... please.” Jake attempts to plead one last time and that seems to be Rebecca’s breaking point. She rolls her eyes and finally relents.

“Fine... get the fuck out. But this is a one time thing. You got it?” Rebecca warms and Jake nods quickly, running out of the interrogation room happily, not even realising he’s still attached to the cuffs.

Logan is stood outside the interrogation room and her ocean eyes light up when he comes out. “Did they let you go?” She questions, a real hope in her eyes.

“Obviously.”

Dave exits the interrogation room after Jake, eyeing Logan with wariness. “Keep this one out of trouble. He’s an absolute idiot.”

“Hey! That’s my husband you’re talking about.” Logan points out and Dave shakes his head apologetically. “It’s ok though. Thank you for letting him go!” She exclaims and before you know it, she randomly attaches her lips to Dave’s and wraps her arms around his neck, expressing her gratitude in an abnormal way.

Jake simply watches, not sure what to do or what to say but a smirk stays on his lips. “Get some, Princess!” Damn he really is wasted.

Logan finally pulls away and Dave looks shocked, confused and satisfied. “I thought he was your husband.”

“He and I have an understanding.”

“That’s about it... then you both danced around the police station for god knows how long and Jake made that awful comment to Linda before running out with the cuffs still on.” Dave finally finished his story and both Jake and Logan are left stunned but somehow still unsurprised.

Logan facepalms hard. “I’m really sorry about kissing you. I was...”

“Drunk, I know. We get a lot of those. This is Vegas for god’s sake.”

Jake folds his arms and strokes his jaw thoughtfully for a moment. “So you really let me go?

“Not sure why but you know, Rebecca is your sister isn’t she?”

“Yeah. Speaking of, where is she?” Jake asks, genuinely curious.

“She left for Chicago early this morning. Her shifts go everywhere.” Dave states and Jake nods knowingly.

“Ok. We’ll be gone now.” Jake points out, helping Logan to her feet and leading her out of the interrogation room.

“Please don’t come back. Ever.” Dave pleads as they exit the police station and they also hope and pray that they never have to come back here

“So... did you get you marriage annulled?” Diego questions as the group finally reunite in the lobby of the hotel they’re staying at. Everything seems to be going according to the plan at the moment and let’s hope nothing goes wrong as the day goes on. Their mission to find Vaaryn is only just beginning.

“Yes. No more ring on this finger. Thank god.” Michelle lets out a sigh of relief and Sean just rolls his eyes in response, not bothering to bite back.

“If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it! If you like it then you should have put a ring on it!” Raj starts singing for no reason. Everyone stares at him strangely for a moment. “What? It just popped into my head.

“Best part is when Aleister decided to come back in to the chapel and Pablo slapped him in the face for being such a crazy person. His words.” Quinn explains, giggling aloud and everyone can’t help but laugh along.

“It actually wasn’t funny at all but think what you must.”

“Glad Jake has finally be saved from the cuffs. Too bad you grew out of them.” Estela jokes, patting Jake on the back and for once he laughs along.

“Whatever, Katniss. I simply can’t wait to revisit all the fucked up dumbass shit you did last night.”

“Good luck because it’ll never be as much as you, cabron.”

“So what now? Do we start searching for Vaaryn? Were they any clues at the places you went?” Grace questions, folding her arms idly.

“No. Pablo said Vaaryn wasn’t with us even when all of us were there.” Quinn states, shrugging her shoulders unsurely.

“And it was just Jake and I at the police station.” Logan adds.

“Well, I say we check the last place we saw the dude.” Zahra pipes up, hands on her hips and everyone seems to know what she’s getting at immediately, all except one.

“Disneyland?!” Craig reacts, clapping his hands energetically and everyone shakes their heads.

“No.... the strip club!”

hope it’s not too confusing. i feel like every chapter of this is a lot

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