#because i also used to accidentally say stuff that implied i thought i was smarter than absolutely everyone else

[schizosamwincester]

Dean: "Maybe? Maybe? What if you were wrong?"

Sam: "Huh. Honestly that thought hadn't occurred to me"

I love you so much Sam Winchester

[diyunho]

The Joker X Reader - “Ghost Driver”

When The Joker says you’re his, it means you’re essential to him because he needs your services for his own gain; it literally has zero affectionate connotations. Turbo is The King’s Ghost Driver and although she’s a legend, her life is far from perfect.

Part 2

“Where’s all your stuff?!” Frost asks since the apartment is pretty much empty.

“Gave it to Adam,” you sulk. “He wouldn’t sign the divorce papers so I gave in; I don’t even care… I’m glad he’s out of here.”

Jonny gazes at you in silence, a million words rushing through his mind and The Joker’s henchman can’t articulate anything close to what he would like to vociferate besides foolish small talk:

“How are you holding up?”

“Not sure… I don’t even know what the hell happened to us…It used to be so great and then he started making comments about my weight, gossiping with his friends behind my back, then cheated… I couldn’t handle it,” Y/N confesses although Frost is already acquainted with the dreadful story of her crumbled marriage.

“Not what the hell happened to us,” he decides to underline his personal opinion. “I think the question should be what the hell happened to him: you didn’t do anything wrong. And I believe you look perfect,” he mumbles the last sentence.

“What was that?” you search the fridge for his favorite soda.

“Nothing... nothing…”

“Here you go,” you offer the cold Fanta to a distraught companion.

“Thanks, Y/N. Here’s the money for tonight,” he gives you the envelope. “As usually, half now , half after the job is done.”

“OK,” you accept the terms without issues because it’s how The Clown Prince of Crime pays for your services. “Jonny, why is there an extra thousand dollars in here?!”

“Ummm…” the man tries to find a reasonable explanation yet Y/N can’t accept his strategy.

“Should I text Mister Joker and thank him for the bonus?”

“Nope,” he bites on his lip.

“I appreciate it,” you return the extra cash to Frost. ”I’m fine. Really.”

“Well…” he takes the bills and stashes them in his wallet, “… let me know if you need anything, alright?”

“I promise I will, “ you smile. “I swear on my Turbo honor,” the joke makes him smile also.

“Hey Y/N… I was thinking… maybe one of these days, if you feel like it, we could… and it’s entirely up to you, no pressure… maybe you would want to… ”

Frost’s phone keeps ringing and he retrieves from his suit’s pocket, annoyed about the interruption.

“It’s Audra,” he huffs while declining the call.

“Might be important,” you sort of urge him to answer.

“Meh, I doubt it. She will chew my ears off regarding our relationship that ended 3 months ago. I’m not interested,” he strolls towards the exit due to another pressing matter he has to attend. “I have to go, Mister Joker has a meeting soon; I’ll see you later, Y/N.”

“See you,” you wave and lock the door when your cell alerts of an incoming text from The Joker.

Downloading two pictures… Pictures?!

“Oh…my… God…!” you hold your breath when the first image depicts a totally naked King of Gotham reflected in the mirror at his gym and squeal when the second one shows a close up of his mid-section.

“Oh my God!” you burst out laughing as you admire the unexpected missive. “Heeeelllo Mister Joker,” you mutter and actual phrases pop up on your screen.

“I sent these to the wrong number, Y/N. Ignore and erase them!”

“Of course, sir!” you immediately reply with no intention of doing it for the moment.

Why?

The hilarious error shook you up from apathy and it’s worth saving those pics for a bit longer since you can’t remember the last time something got your attention after the messy divorce.

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

11:49 PM

The Joker is the first one to get in the car next to you, firmly clutching to his suitcase full of diamonds freshly stolen from “Diamond Emporium” store on Glissan Avenue. You notice the other goons sneaking to the cars deliberately positioned around nearby streets for tonight’s robbery. How come J doesn’t go with them?

The dilemma is simple:

The green haired menace typically arrives with his regular crew when he plans heists but has Y/N pick him up after the job is done.

“Hi Mister Joker,” you greet your employer.

“Hey,” he acknowledges your presence. “Did you delete the pictures?” The Joker gets straight to the point.

“Yes,” you lie and tell the truth in the same time: you erased the whole body image but kept the close up one for future reference.

“Good. What did you think?” the hasty interrogation prompts a careful chosen response.

“You look very…,” and you pause in order to find the correct term since a tiny mistake could set him off. “… Healthy, Mister Joker.”

“I do,” he huffs quite pleased with your statement.

You wish to add more but Frost and the new hire squeeze in the back seat awaiting orders.

“You’re in luck kid,” Jonny places a box filled with precious gems at his feet. “Your first assignment and you get to meet Turbo.”

The young man opens his mouth in amazement as you move the fingers from your right hand in the air instead of a proper introduction.

“You’re Turbo?! I thought you’re a guy!” Nick blurs out and Frost punches him in the head, displeased with the observation.

“Sounds empty,” you growl while The Clown snorts.

“My Ghost Driver A GUY??!! Ha-ha-ha-ha!” the unnerving, screechy noises make the newbie shrivel up. “Turbo, A GUY!” he continues to amuse himself before giving Nick a psychotic glare.

“I’m…I’m so sorry, I meant no disrespect,” he nervously stutters especially since J called you “his”.

The poor bastard’s oblivious about what the label implies in The Clown’s universe: when The Joker says you’re his, it means you’re essential to him because he needs your services for his own gain; it literally has zero affectionate connotations.

“Where the fuck did you find this buffoon?” you chew on your gum, irritated.

“He’s Richard’s nephew,” Jonny sucks on his teeth.

“Uncle Panda is infinitely smarter,” Y/N barks at the revelation.

“I’m truly sorry,” Nick apologizes again and you cut him off.

“Save it!... … I hear sirens,” you slowly inhale and The King calmly articulates:

“I forgot to mention I accidentally triggered the silent alarm.”

Translation: he did it on purpose.

You snicker at the first lights blinking in the distance, excited to have some fun after stressing so much in the past weeks. The vehicles belonging to the gang scatter in different directions as you step on the gas pedal, accelerating towards the numerous police cars answering to the 10-64 code.

“That’s my girl!” J cracks his neck, already hyped at the adrenaline rush burning his veins: The Ghost Driver is perfect to offer him what he craves and she always delivers.

That’s why Turbo is his.

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

4:37 AM

“Hi…Mister…Mister Joker…” you attempt to talk without slurring.

“It’s Ella,” his girlfriend snarls.

“Why…where is he?” you guzzle down half of glass of wine, adamant in having a chat with your boss.

“Well, after you two had a merry time being chased by cops all over town, he came home and now he’s sorting out the diamonds,” the woman bitterly reports.

“I wanna talk to him,” you sniffle and drink some more alcohol.

“You just saw him. I’m sure it can wait until tomorrow.”

“I’m sure it can’t!” you shout. “I just received important information he’d be i…interested in,” you finally make it through the whole sentence.

Ella stomps in the living room, vexed at your behavior.

“It’s Turbo,” she shoves the phone in his fingers. “The bitch is wasted!”

“What did you call me?!” the appalled Y/N is about to burst when The Joker’s deep voice resonates I her ear.  

“Yeah?”

“Sir,” you correct your bitter tone. “I h-have very important news!”

“I’m listening,” J ignores his woman as she cusses you out.

“I have to tell you in person, sir. Let’s go on a date and I’ll reveal the entire shocking...”

“Huh?!”

“I have crucial information…”

“Quit repeating yourself!” The Joker interrupts. “You’re not making any sense. Go to sleep and we’ll catch up after you sober up.”

“But I wanna go on date Mister Joker,” you gulp the rest of the wine and prepare for a fourth round.

“Why, because I look healthy?” J mocks and Ella sighs, not understanding the odd conversation she’s witnessing. “… …. … Hello?”

A loud thud, then dialing tone at the other end of the line.

“I think she passed out,” The King of Gotham concludes, not particularly worried at the sudden halt of your monologue.

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

3 Days Later

The late meeting is almost done: the buyers already purchased the diamonds J had for sale, among them your ex-husband Adam that has a small crowd gathered next to him; he’s supposedly famous for his crappy attitude enjoyed by jerks sharing the same ludicrous humor.

“You know I’m sensible when it comes to challenges and I couldn’t grasp why she doesn’t want my help in shedding a few pounds. What’s the harm in that?! I love curves but sometimes I don’t, ya’ know?” he winks and the group laughs.

The Joker is arranging money in duffle bags, his concentration diverted by the impromptu comedic performance. What the heck are they yapping about?

Frost is certainly in a foul mood: J can guess his trusted henchman is worked up since the usual chilled Jonny can’t control his anger.

“What’s wrong with being voluptuous, hm?” he addresses Adam and it clicks for The Joker: this is about Y/N.

“Nothing at all,” he smirks and the laughter around the room dies out because not too many dare screwing with Jonny Frost. “I was merely emphasizing that if a woman can’t lose weight, she’s doomed. Y/N lost me, how is she going to get another stud if she…”

“Perhaps she’s not interested in pieces of shit; definitely had her share!” Frost grumbles at the absurd remarks.

The Joker has no clue about what’s going on, yet he won’t deny today’s entertainment is far from boring.

“Give me a break!” Adam scoffs. “Who’d sniff her tail if she refuses to get skinnier? Ooohhh, wait a minute, we might have an admirer,” he arrogantly slides your cell out of his coat. “I was browsing her pictures and what do you know? A gentleman sent Y/N a picture of his junk three days ago. I am deeply sorry, my bad. She does have somebody sniffing her tail. What kind of loser sends images of his dangling goodies to another dude’s wife?!” 

“Ex-wife!” Jonny sneers whilst J’s calculation leads to an easy verdict: you kept one pic.

“Whose junk is this?! Is it yours?” your estranged spouse accuses Frost without any evidence.

“It’s my junk,” The Joker’s serene revelation makes everyone freeze: they have no idea how to react at the puzzling escalation of events.

Is he bluffing?!

“I wasn’t aware I require permission in order to text whatever I desire to whomever I want.”

Awkward silence and Frost approaches Adam, boiling with indignation.

“Why do you have Y/N’s phone?”

Your husband doesn’t have a chance to justify his action: Jonny’s punch throws him to the ground, immediately followed by his unsettling ultimatum.  

“You son of a bitch, what did you do to her?”

Your former husband gets on his elbow ready to attack when The King’s stern inquiry stops his motion:

“WHERE.IS.MY.TURBO?”

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

After 1 hour

Frost lifts you higher in his arms while you keep wheezing, trying to regain control.

“I’m sorry…I attacked you,” the weakened Y/N whispers. “I thought you were Adam...”

After being abducted and left to starve for the last 3 days, you had one clear purpose: to kill the guy that did it. Adam surely crossed the line with his despicable plan of making you lose weight: he creeped in your apartment, kidnapped you and took you to his home where you were chained in the cellar until Jonny found you. The basement was dark and you couldn’t see, that’s why you used whatever strength you had left in order to attack the individual responsible for your misfortune.

Turned out it was actually a rescue party although Frost is now the proud owner of a beautiful bump courtesy of Y/N.

“No problem,” Jonny takes you to his SUV, carefully laying you down in the passenger’s seat. “How’s your head?” he wipes the dried blood on your cheeks since Adam knocked you out unconscious while you were talking to The Joker after the heist.

“I’m OK,” you start crying, mostly mad at yourself for being such an easy prey, yet you didn’t see it coming.

“You know… It’s OK not to be OK,” Frost opens a bottle of water and gives it to you. “I’ll take you home, you can take a shower and I’ll have the doctor come for an emergency evaluation. Are you hungry?”

“I’m so hungry,” tears stream down your face and Jonny has a great proposal.

“I’ll order some food and if you want me to I can stay with you. After you feel better, we could… and it’s entirely up to you, no pressure… maybe you would want to…”

The Joker rolls his eyes, deciding to emerge from the shadows.

“Wow, this is painful to watch. Frost believes he’s still in high school: basically he’s asking you on a date. There, done. No need to beat around the bush. Jesus!” J scolds about a subject he shouldn’t mess with. “I have a heist next week, you better be good to go by then!” he gestures at the confused duo. “If you’ll excuse me, I have my own date to honor. We’re done here, yes?”

“Yes sir,” Jonny replies for both, unwilling to split hairs with The Joker and his obnoxious aberrations. “Here’s your cell,” he returns the item to you and you snatch it, relieved. You seem to have an outburst of energy as you unlock the secured folder.

“Where’s Adam?”

“I don’t know, we had an altercation at the warehouse then he scrammed,” Frost reports, ogling a strange looking Y/N typing on her phone.

“He won’t be able to hide,” you grin and send the attachment to The Joker.

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

“We’ll be late for dinner,” Ella kisses The Clown. “I’m not a 100% positive why we had to waste precious time and come for her,” she pouts and drags him after her towards their vehicle.

J’s phone chimes and he stops in his tracks, not expecting a message from you seconds after the encounter.

“Mister Joker, you were very generous to share pictures with me.

Allow me to do the same.

Your Turbo.”

Imagines downloading and he’s not sure what to do when pics appear one by one: frames taken by the private investigator you hired to follow Adam when you suspected he was cheating. The bastard was diligent, but he was eventually caught in the act three days ago.

Who’s the woman he’s with?

The Joker’s Queen.

“What’s wrong?” she frowns at the visible switch in his temper.

The Clown ruthlessly slams Ella against the hood while her cell also receives a text from Y/N:

“Who’s the bitch now?”

 Also read: MASTERLIST

You can also follow me on Wattpad and Ao3 under the same blog name: DiYunho.

[serenagaywaterford]

Who's the new commander/wife in s3? And yes, please give me s3 spoilers! Also, do you have any thoughts about mayday? How I wish we got to see more of it

OKAY ERRYBODY IN THE CLUB GET TIPSY. SPOILERS AHEAD.

EDIT: added in the Mayday stuff cos I forgot the first time around.

Like the actors? Christopher Meloni and Elizabeth Reaser, and they’re playing the Winslows who host the Waterfords in DC. (Which I’m not sure if you’ve seen all the hubbub about the DC trip but there are loads of pics of them shooting one of those scenes. You’ve probably seen them. Like with the Handmaids’ mouths stapled shut? Fred looking all Evil Supreme Leader-y with Serena and June alongside him.). Meloni is “powerful and magnetic” and Reaser is supposedly a “friend and inspiration” to Serena. Whatever the fuck all that means. It could be good, it could be bad. (Personally, I can’t stand either of those actors but meh. Maybe they’ll be okay.) And DC, not Boston, is Gilead central… and so Fred’s not really as important as he thinks. 

Off-topic: To be honest, I find this odd. We see frequently that all the dudes responsible for the rise/creation of Gilead are in Boston and it was formed IN Boston (Putnam, Pryce, Waterford, Cushing?, Lawrence, (Nick), etc.) so how there is a ANOTHER HIGHER level group of SOJ in DC is a little stupid, imo. It doesn’t make sense how that core group (the literal architects of the entire system) are off in Boston while the other guys (who we’ve literally never seen nor heard of before, even in flashbacks–bad storytelling, show) are top dogs in DC. Seems like yet another plot contrivance. Now, fair enough, that I think it’s sort of funny that Fred is still in Boston rather than with the big brass in DC cos he THINKS he’s so much smarter/better/etc than all these other guys but the fact he’s not there just shows that as much as he was one of the Gilead OGs, he’s too incompetent to be trusted at the highest level of government. HA HA FRED. Ya moron. I get that there’s never a guarantee that the evil people that come up with a totalitarian society are in charge of said society when it comes to fruition, but it’s a general trend throughout history. The fact all these guys would give up top billing of the SOJ to some punks from DC seems… a bit off. But then, hey, maybe said punks were the other part of the SOJ that Fred was talking about to Serena when he suggested bombing congress.

As for a few more, June flips out at one point, turning on other Handmaids (Brianna is holding her back.) It’s against a Handmaid who is a “true believer” in Gilead. I’m going to take an educated guess (based on where they’re filming) this is the lead up to the mass hanging. I guess I should mention: the Handmaids are gonna have to hang a bunch of people. Like a salvaging, but with hanging instead of stoning or beating.

June gets dressed up like a Martha.

June apparently works with Lawrence. It’s assumed she’ll be his Handmaid although the production, especially the DC scene, seem to imply she’s back with the Waterfords.

Serena’s mother shows up.

Luke & Moira are fighting against Gileadean ideology in Canada. Cos obviously it would come up here too. I always thought it was too happy-happy that Canada wasn’t experiencing ANY fallout from a worldwide birthrate crisis. Like, we may be more liberal than the US, but what happens there, spreads here fairly quickly. Like we have some Trumpian/Tea Party-esque politicians and racist/homophobic/xenophobic/misogynistic activist groups too, with a lot of power. And a lot of ignorant regular people to boot. The fact Canada was portrayed as like this utopia free from Gilead’s evilness just seemed unrealistic to me. While I do believe it would take a bit longer to take root here, the building blocks are already here and ripe for the pickin’. 

(I also have a huge issue with how unrealistically and healthy they portrayed the economy in Canada without their main US trading partner. We’d collapse if the US economy collapsed, at least for a time until we figured a way around it. Oil alone would go crazy. It wouldn’t be all life as normal. What Serena saw in 2x09 was literally what I see everyday here and I find it super hard to swallow that our lives would just go on as if nothing happened if the USA fell into massive civil war and was overthrown by a theocratic “republic”. 

And I also have a HUGE issue with how rosy they portrayed refugee and asylum seeking here. It’s just as bad as elsewhere, with all the same struggles that European countries (for example) are facing right now. Like if Gilead was an actual thing, Canada would be having a fucking mASSIVE humanitarian crisis along the border. We had a taste of it when Trump was elected and loads of people fled across the border. We could barely handle THAT, let alone hundreds of thousands of Americans swarming in to safety.) So, yeah, that’s a really long way of saying THANK FUCK the show is going to start to deal with some of the reality of the situation north of the border. They already showed Mexico breaking down and there’s no reason Canada wouldn’t too if the birthrate crisis is indeed as catastrophic as it’s presented by Serena/Fred/Gilead.

Emily makes it to Canada with Nichole. It’s all happy families. At least from the set photos the whole gang is there: Luke, Moira, Emily, Sylvia, Nichole. Not sure about Oliver or Erin. Now, the photo was likely taken when they weren’t filming which is why they’re all so fucking smiley and happy laughing together. That’s probably just the actors. But it could be shooting. I didn’t actually save the photos and I’m not sure where they are now. I think reddit?

Aunt Lydia is alive and will get some backstory and her character is gonna change. Somehow, somewhat, unclear how much. All cos of what Emily did to her.

Lots of stuff about Nichole, the whole Gilead vs. Canada thing, etc etc. 

____

I totally forgot to add about Mayday!

Personally… and first off: I much prefer the name “Mayday” to that weirdass co-opted “female railroad” or whatever shit they called it in the show when Moira was getting out. That was just in poor taste and completely uncreative. You don’t have to call it a railroad at all, tbh. It could be an extension of Mayday, or it could be called something entirely different. Sometimes the THT writers really drop the ball.

As for Mayday… I am not even convinced it exists as such? When I was reading the book, I liked the theory that Emily was sort of … not crazy, but misinformed or exaggerating. The only we really hear about Mayday in the book is through her and there’s no real evidence it exists as a cohesive organization. 

In the show, it’s like we’ve been fed this Mayday idea… but again, not seen anything particularly solid in terms of evidence it exists as a large organized resistance effort. 

We see Emily talk about it but she never seems to get anything from it and everything she does is through her own agency. Mayday never helps her.

We see June ask Alma about it. But Alma doesn’t really say much.

We see Nick, kind of doing his own thing and organizing shit for June, specifically. (We never see him do anything for any other woman except the one he’s banging. Snerk.) 

We see Lillie somehow get a complex explosive and blow shit up. Obviously that came from somewhere and it’s not the sort of thing a Handmaid can just make herself. There has to be a “terrorist cell” (as Gilead would consider it) within Gilead that siphons off weapons to a small rebel faction and passed it to her.

We know there’s a war still going on because Fred talks about the front so there are obviously large pockets that are actively and violently resisting Gilead within the continental US. IIRC the map they showed, the fighting tends to be along international borders and in the west and Florida? I can’t really remember the map exactly. There’s no real evidence that these people at war are also running an underground resistance network within Gilead strongholds like Boston. But other than sympathetic Guardians, Eyes, Angels, they could be the ones supplying weapons.

We see the butcher hand June the package from Moira. Somehow there is a network that passed this along.

We see the Guardian give June the way out of the hospital to the butcher’s truck. This could be Nick’s doing alone, not a network.

We see the butcher/delivery dude who brings June to the Globe. Again, this could solely be Nick as well, but we don’t know.

We see there’s Omar, who seems more like someone who accidentally fell into it rather than an active participant. We also learn that “Mayday” has supposedly safe houses within Gilead, but we never see them.

We see the pilot who helps people escape to Canada.

We hear of “Rachel” often, especially wrt Jezebels. I don’t think we ever see Rachel however. It could be code, it could be a person, it could be a group of people. Considering the gravity of the name Rachel in Gilead, I would put my money on this being a code name cos the writers don’t just throw little things like that around. Especially since Moira, who lived and worked at Jezebels, claims she doesn’t know a “Rachel”. Sure, she could just be protecting June or she could actually be telling the truth. I find it really interesting that the consulate worker in Toronto is called Rachel as well. While I don’t think the two are connected, I’m just surprised at all the references to Rachels in THT, esp with the story of Rachel & Leah (+ Bilhah, Zilpah, etc.) being such a massive cornerstone to the entire society.

We see the Marthas have a very complex network that is referenced multiple times and is known to Commanders, and they’ve done very little to address it for some reason.

We see Serena get both cigarettes and a pregnancy test, both of which are illegal technically although nobody seems to take issue with Serena’s smoking. I would assume this is unrelated to Mayday and more akin to Jezebels (and its sex trafficking) as the illegal underbelly of Gilead that everyone knows exists and everyone uses but nobody talks about. The black market likely has no connection. But it’s still something that requires a large chain of procurement and distribution, and secret knowledge of how to access it.

I’ve probably missed some other examples…

None of this really speaks to a larger web, imo. I can easily see these as individual cells, sometimes connected, rather than ruled by some grand master command somewhere nonspecific and so far unseen. Resistance usually doesn’t begin with a cohesive structure but small cells that see a need to rebel or at least protect/assist victims. It’s also MUCH safer that way and harder to dismantle the entire thing if cells are independent. (I used to be fascinated with the so-called “eco-terrorist” culture.) 

And I would say Mayday, if it exists, relies on Econopeople, specifically Economen and Guardians who have “normal” jobs and freedom of movement within Gilead. But we’ve been shown SO VERY LITTLE about the lives of Econopeople (the majority). I mean, it makes sense since this is the Handmaid’s Tale, not the Economan’s Tale… still, it’s very abrupt to build a giant resistance network suddenly and not have shown anything of real substance about it in 2 seasons.

Other than Lawrence, there’s no indication that any other Commanders or Wives are involved in any resistance but I think we’re supposed to believe some are. So it’ll be curious what side these new characters fall on, whether Mrs. Winslow is an “inspiration” in terms of resistance or compliance. I think we all assume she’ll be on the side of resistance and inspire Serena to take that path (although I think June and Nichole and her own awful husband should be inspo enough lol). I’m not so sure since this is THT and I am absolutely terrible at predicting anything, lol. I can see THT going the opposite direction just as easily. I hope not, but hey.

I think for simplicity within a TV show, they’ll flatten it to a single resistance organisation. 

Quite frankly, I wish we had already seen more of Mayday, if it exists. I feel a bit annoyed that it’s been 23 episodes and other than a few hints, we’ve never seen a significant exploration of any of it. Like how on earth June is supposed to just be a Martha…? I just… I don’t know. Who knows.

Since we know this season is going to be all about Team Resistance, obviously they’ll go into more detail. I just wish we had seen more ahead of time. Although to be perfectly frank, I also really enjoyed the “Emily is sorta crazy and Mayday doesn’t quite exist” theory too.

[wadebae]

some steven universe theories/speculation/thoughts

((SPOILERS UP TO “WANTED”))

Okay so, if Steven's tears literally transformed (dead) Lars into a pink-colored human with magical hair (and maybe other magical abilities similar to Lion's will be discovered in the future?)...

Then does this mean that something similar happened to Connie when she and Steven had an indirect kiss? He healed her eyesight and after that they were also able to fuse. People have been speculating for a long time about why Connie is able to fuse with Steven, whether it was solely because he is half human and they just vibe well together, or if Connie herself were somehow part gem. Does his now confirm the latter? Not because Connie has ~secret gem ancestry~ but because Steven literally imbued her with part of his magical gem abilities???

This kind of leads us into a bigger thing/problem that has low-key terrified me for a while. Remember the watermelon people Steven made? They were created accidentally just from Steven spitting seeds. What else could Steven imbue with magical powers, bring back from the dead, or permanently alter with his own genetics/magic, just by accident? Can he ever age naturally, or die? Can Connie? What about his kids? If he tried to eat sardines would they just come back to life in his mouth? I can’t even continue because there are way too many creepy possibilities to unpack. 

Pink Diamond's shattering

We just learned from Blue that Pink Diamond was shattered with a sword. Steven's lawyer had gone on about how Rose Quartz couldn't have been the one to shatter Pink Diamond, because she should have never gotten close enough to do it, but a member of her court must have done it (Yellow Diamond was actually implied, but I think that's too obvious)

There are two possibilities that I see right now:

1. Rose shattered Pink Diamond. But. It was a faked death. Steven guessed that his mom must have used the breaking point. It's the only weapon we know of that could get the job done. But Blue said that this isn't the case, and it was a sword that was used. This might throw out the suspicion fans have had, that Rose bubbled Bismouth and then still used the breaking point anyway, which would make Rose a huge hypocrite. But maybe she really isn't this dark awful gem that she's being set up to be. Maybe she still had to pretend she was in order to get things done. We know from Bismouth that Rose's sword was designed to cut through the physical form of a gem and poof it, but never injure the gem itself. I think if Rose did this, and used her sword, then it was literally impossible for her to actually shatter Pink Diamond. It had to be faked. 

Maybe Pink Diamond herself was in on it, or maybe not. But I think Rose knew the only answer was to shatter Pink, but she still didn't actually do it. We know for sure now, also, that all of the Rose Quartz soldiers had been shattered by this time. Rose was the only one left. My theory is that Rose cut through Pink's form, poofing her, and tossed pieces of quartz to fake the shattering, and kept Pink Diamond somewhere safe. So where is Pink Diamond really? My best guess is she is in the locked chest in Lion's mane, inside a bubble. It'd be the safest place for her to be, because even the Crystal Gems didn't know Lion existed, and it took Steven a while to figure out the mane trick, and he still hasn't unlocked that chest. Rose is the kind of gem that, even when she knows she can't ever defeat or help someone, she would still let them live, albeit in stasis forever. But not dead. There's still a chance for them. If this is true, I hope maybe Steven can unlock Pink and reason with her. I hope the same for Bismouth at the very least.

Some flaws with this theory: Where are the shattered remains of Pink? I actually can't recall if SU has shown this or even addressed this yet. If Rose faked her death, surely there'd be a noticable difference between Diamond shards and Quartz shards. But maybe nobody noticed if the shards somehow went missing. Also, the only eyewitness that was supposedly actually there when it happened is Eyeball, and while she seems smarter than some of the other Rubies, Rubies in general can be tricked and she was younger then so a faked death might have been accepted at face value.

However, I think this will be explained in due time.

Steven: How come nobody told me about Pink Diamond? Garnet: We all did what we had to during the war. Everything's different now. Steven: But did mom really do it? Did she really shatter her? Garnet: She had to. The earth belonged to Pink Diamond. Destroying her was the only way to save the planet. For Amethyst to be herself. For Pearl to be free. For me to be together. For you to exist. Steven: But I thought... At least she'd never... Garnet: She didn't always do what was best for her. But she always did what was best for earth. Steven: Even if it meant shattering someone? Garnet: Yes.

In this conversation from Bubbled, Garnet is fully behind Rose's choice, although if Rose faked this shattering, it's unclear if Garnet knew that or not. "She didn't always do what was best for her" could be Garnet (or just the writers) giving a nod to the fact that Rose had to FAKE killing a Diamond, the highest form of treason, something she would never actually DO, in order to end the war and save earth. It would have pained Rose a lot to have to carry that secret with her, to let other gems brand her as a murderer, something literally against her nature as a healer, for the better of the entire world.

2. Pearl shattered Pink Diamond. I've suspected this, as have other fans, since Pearl's initial reaction at hearing that Rose shattered Pink Diamond, when she burst into tears. To me it didn't seem like she couldn't believe Rose did that, or that she was upset for Pink, or anything of the above. It seemed like Pearl was upset because Rose was taking the blame. Maybe because she was the one who actually killed Pink Diamond? If this is the case, then I think the following is also true:

-Pearl would have shattered her for real, not a fake death. -Rose took the blame for Pearl's actions anyway

Remember that Steven's lawyer in the trial said that it must have been someone close to Pink, someone with power to cover it up.

It's still unclear who Pearl belonged to - White Diamond, Pink Diamond, or nobody? But Garnet said that Pink had to die so Pearl could be free. If Pearl is really an off-colored gem, then shouldn't she already have been free? And when Peridot was passing judgement on the gems, saying that Amethyst was overcooked, etc, she commented that Pearl is a really fancy Pearl. It's hard to tell who Pearl belonged to because she has multiple colors going on, but most notably her skin is white and her hair is a pinkish tone. However, we also see gems that come in some mixed colors when they are shared between courts (funny how Jasper is an orange color, and she went from Pink's court to Yellow's, and also funny how the other amethysts's went from Pink's court to Blue's). My theory right now is that Pearl may have been created by White Diamond to give to Pink Diamond. After all, Pink Diamond was the newest Diamond, most of her court was created there on earth, her mural depicts her bursting out of the ground, so I think she was just formed, maybe even formed on earth, and the earth was clearly her colony. Her first colony. Pearl may have been a gift to Pink, or may have been created for her.

If Pearl was Pink's pearl, would that give her some power to cover things up? It'd definitely let her get close enough to do the job.

Anyway, the hour long special gave us a lot of new stuff to think about. Personally I think it's more likely that Rose pretended to shatter Pink, but I'd like to know:

- What was Pink like? Was she sweet and caring like the Rose Quartz and Amethysts seem to be? Or was she monstrous? Remember the zigarath torture maze? Was that Pink's construction or maybe White Diamond's or someone else's? Is Pink really the one who created the human zoo to save some humans?

- Is Pink REALLY shattered? Where are her shattered pieces (whether real or fake)? Did Rose bubble and hide her somewhere? If so, did Pink consent to that in order to end the war and the destruction of the planet she loved, or was Pink cruel and had to be stopped? Where is her bubbled gem?

- Did the Crystal Gems actually see Rose fight Pink? How much does Garnet know about the truth? How much does Pearl know about the truth?

- Who the fuck did Pearl belong to? I can't accept the theory that Pearl didn't belong to anyone. Was she part of White's court? Was she created on earth for Pink?  ((But I'm not convinced she was... I seem to recall her implying that she came to earth and she did say "When I used to serve Homeworld". I think Amethyst is the only Crystal gem that was actually made on Earth. Which means Pearl has to be White's Pearl and was possibly gifted to Pink imo))

- Where is White Diamond??? I really want to see her and Pink now.

- Where does Corruption come from and how can it be cured? If it from a Diamond fusion, White Diamond's powers, or maybe a gem weapon? The leading theory I've seen is that it was originally transmitted via sound and could be cured with the right song, which would fit in beautifully with the strong musical motifs the crew has established in this universe.

- can Pearl get gay with the mystery girl yet???

- Is Lars a pink zombie now??????????????

- ALSO HOLY SHIT THAT FLUORITE FUSION WITH 6 GEMS

[jeneelestrange]

How Death Note *MIGHT* Still Pull This Off

*deep breath*

Okay.

Here’s the thing.

I think some of ya’ll discussing this in general are…..leaving some stuff out of the discussion, and I don’t know whether or not its intentional, but here it goes. Have any of you tried to translate anything? Because for any sufficiently complicated piece of work(what people would consider Literature™), a perfect translation does not exist. Period.

Death Note stopped being Authentically Japanese™ the minute your Western eyes saw it. A lot of the meaning a work has is brought there by the viewer. And I’m not even talking about the more nitty-gritty details, I’m talking about the very PREMISE. The idea of a teenage boy with a notebook that can kill people is just plain not going to have the same impact on an American that it does on a Japanese person. Japanese has a next-to-nonexistent crime rate. Americans are constantly surrounded by teenage boys with access to literal death machines. Every month, there’s a new random shooting in my country. I am CONSTANTLY SURROUNDED by teenage boys who could indiscriminately kill me and everyone I love, AT ALL TIMES. I live in an ENTIRE COUNTRY of Light Yagami’s. If it wasn’t for all the other squeeing weebs around me who gave me a recommendation, I would not be that interested in that premise. I LIVE that premise.

And some of ya’ll are not realizing that, by your logic, we shouldn’t translate anything ever. You may think I’m exaggerating, but muddle over the fact that JAPANESE TRANSLATIONS for SHAKESPEARE exist. HOW DO YOU EVEN HOPE TO DO THAT??? There are works for which the original meaning is UNSALVAGEABLE(a good example is in The Inferno with the famous “Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here” line. Italian has gender, and “hope” in Italian is gendered female–calling back to Beatrice in heaven in the first part. What do you do? Put in a note and interrupt the flow of the reader in the story? Try to cram in a reference to women somewhere else? There literally is no perfect solution). And NO, the solution is not to annotate every goddamn thing! They interrupt the flow of the story! Dyslexic people often can’t read them! And sometimes people just want to Enjoy A Thing, not take an entire course on a country’s culture(this is rich coming from me, but still)! Not to mention trying to translate a COMEDY word-for-word is the worst idea imaginable if you’ve ever had a joke explained to you–if you weebs don’t believe me, watch “Nerima Daikon Brothers” and read the essays upon essays on its jokes and tell me you find that shit funny.

So how can you make it actually have the same punch to someone who has never heard of Death Note? You’re either going to have to give up and make something shot for shot the same–which audiences AND fans don’t like because WHAT’S THE POINT–or you’re going to have to change something.

LET ME STOP HERE FOR A MOMENT TO SAY, that I *completely* agree that whitewashing is a problem. That we need more movies with characters of color. That it is simplistic and stupid and wrong what they did in Avatar, Gods of Egypt, Pan, Prince of Persia, Ghost In The Shell, basically everything else. But I am going to speak up and say it might be different for THIS MOVIE IN PARTICULAR. Why?

Because Light Yagami, from the eyes of an American like me, acts like every typical overprivileged white dude I know. I’m not even kidding, he reminds me of every single guy I went to school with in IB–full of himself, full of ennui, convinced with how smart and great he is just because he happens to get A’s with a stacked life deck. Then when he gets the Death Note, it takes him like a couple of seconds of thought to get to God Mode™ because he’s had everything come easy to him his whole life, right, so of course he must just be smarter and all around better than everyone else. Light is the dominant race in his country. He is not Ainu, he is not Ryukyu Island Native, he is not Burakumin, he is not one of the other Asian minorities in Japan. Remember, the Japanese do not have the same racial dichotomy that America does. The Japanese are the dominant race there.

If you tell me, “Imagine Death Note happened, but in America,” I would immediately switch Light to white. Because while yes, that character flaw and personality can technically happen to anyone, I see it faaaaar and away more commonly with white men. In basically all the other examples of movies I listed above? They didn’t have that issue. Their main characters didn’t act like a privileged white shit.

NOW AT THE SAME TIME, the writers have to confront that they must change SOMETHING about the narrative. It’s either going to seem like “who cares” to an American audience that is desensitized to everyone carrying around death machines, or it’s going to seem like the movie is making commentary directly on this fact–which it originally never meant to. And when a movie accidentally ignores an elephant in the room, that normally sinks the entire story because your audience can’t stop thinking about it. So as I see it, the show’s only possibility of it not sucking is to confront the problem head on. It will inevitably be compared to white terrorism. This is simply the life we’re living in the West, and it is not at all early 2000s Japan. It has to dig the knife deeper and make it a commentary directly on it, otherwise it will be guaranteed to be tonedeaf as all fuck.

“But I don’t want to watch a commentary on our shitty current events in this movie!” THAT’S TOTALLY FAIR. I would like to not be reminded of this shit either. But please acknowledge that deciding to release THIS PARTICULAR FRANCHISE in THIS PARTICULAR COUNTRY at THIS PARTICULAR MOMENT puts the writers between a rock and a hard place. There is NO WAY you can have the internet erupting in love for Kira like it does in the original and *NOT* think of how similar that is to life on the internet with the altright at this moment. It’s options are this, doing an exacting replica which will inevitably make it SUCK, or not doing it at all. And like I said, if not for people making transliterating compromises, we wouldn’t have Japanese Shakespeare. We wouldn’t have haiku in English. We wouldn’t have anime at all. So please don’t say the last option and not expect me to call you out on it. Stop implying that a fucking anime is Uniquely Untranslateable™ and we must treat it like a heavily indexed, dry-as-dirt work that we all study like goddamn Beowulf in a literature class, because that’s problematic as fuck.

Now, I didn’t think it would actually have the balls to do this possibility UNTIL I heard they had cast both Light and L. And L was played by a black man. That perfectly sets up the dichotomy for this–white terrorist shithead who thinks he should rule the world, black man protecting the good and the interests of everyone else. That could be why they were not accepting Asian actors for the two leads–they intentionally went with white for Light and black for L to make a point that specifically ties into the narrative(also this just so happens to both play into AND subvert the black-and-white aesthetic that Death Notes has going on).

That, and the fact that this is a Netflix series, NOT a movie. And not only does that give us more narrative room for depth than a movie, but Netflix can sometimes get it really right sometimes(and sometimes not, but like I said, I’m just giving it a shot–not saying it will be good).

This is important because relevant example: In the very back of my mind, I did admit to myself that it *might* be possible to make a Ghost In The Shell movie with a white actress work if you actually made the movie a critique of Whiteness and our technology–that she was originally Asian, but only white cyborg bodies exist because of the usual marketing speak that justifies racism in media, of just not testing and test-marketing on anyone who wasn’t white because they forgot other people exist, etc. But I didn’t even BOTHER to say that because I knew that the suits would rather strangle themselves with their own ties than allow precious run time in a big budget action movie to go to EMOTION and DEPTH and BACKSTORY. Ghost In The Shell was doomed the minute it was decided to be a big budget action movie–the suits won’t allow any risk to occur lest they lose money, so it inevitably ends up being a mediocre, paint-by-numbers story. Whitewashed!ScarJo was just adding dirt on top of the coffin. And SPOILER ALERT, Hollywood scrambled and got someone who actually knew what the fuck they were doing and ended up shoving JUST THAT TWIST into the movie, but because they had no run-time to actually devote to it and don’t actually give a damn about trying, it fell flat and failed, no shit. This interview with prominent Asian-American agrees–if Ghost went with its addition in a way that was genuine, it might have worked and been poignant, but it was the slapjob quickfix that would be expected so of course it wasn’t:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/ghost-shell-4-japanese-actresses-dissect-movie-whitewashing-twist-990956?utm_source=twitter Netflix has the ROOM and ABILITY to go to the depth it needs to in order to make an effective cultural critique. And taking the “exacting translation” path, as I earlier went into, will only end in failure.

Now, WHETHER IT’S ACTUALLY GOING TO DO THIS *AND* DO IT EFFECTIVELY, I have no idea. It could do it for the same ol’ moneymaking reasons that made all the others shitty. It could do it exactly as I’ve laid out but do it inexpertly and ham-fisted, and so I will hate it. I don’t know. But because I see the possibility of it actually trying to salvage new meaning out of the situation, I will actually give it a shot. Also, please give a little bit more thought to people whose job it is to actually translate a work into another culture for everyone, holy shit, some of ya’ll act like everyone should have access and ability to subtitles and cultural research and that’s just not true. And they have to take that into account when they write. You can make the movie work with a white lead *if* it ties into a movie’s specific critique of whiteness. But that takes the stars aligning in the right ways, and we have at least a couple of them actually doing so. All of the technical details that could stop it from doing so have been taken away, as far as an outsider like me can see. Now I just have to cross my fingers the writers know what they’re doing and pray.

ALSO, THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE IN THIS GENERAL DISCUSSION OF THIS MOVIE THAT I NEED TO CALL THE FUCK OUT: If Light’s actions suddenly become disgusting to you because “ew now he’s just like every other white fuckboy” whereas before he WASN’T, you just might be fetishizing Asian men!!!! Light was always an absolute horrible human being and swooning over him meant you have always been swooning over a serial killer! If changing someone’s race suddenly makes someone killing a bunch of people and playing god easy to ignore for you, HOLY SHIT, you’re a fetishistic piece of shit! I’ve seen so many things going around saying x Asian actor could play Light, and the only reasons listed were Asianness and “how hot they are!!!!!” And absolutely no mention of past roles, acting ability, ANYTHING ELSE. JEEEEEEEESUS. Examine your actions! Also, as an aside, I threw this idea out there with some POC friends of mine, who overall said, “Okay, good point actually.” But they know me personally and that I’m not a Total White Shithead™, so your mileage may vary. Still, I welcome polite points and critiques. If there’s something I have overlooked addressing, hey, let me know, I want to learn.

TL;DR - I finally get to use both my majors in Sociology and English AND my minor in East Asian Studies on an opinion, hooray! Edit: Shit, I almost forgot--YA’LL! STOP ACTING LIKE JAPAN DOESN’T HAVE RACE ISSUES. Yeah, Light’s actions look pretty eugenics-y in an American setting, but that’s because you’re FAMILIAR with Western history of eugenics and not Japan’s. PEEP THIS SHIT OKAY: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_Japan GUESS WHAT, THERE ARE MINORITY GROUPS IN JAPAN THAT ARE OFTEN ALSO FUNNELED INTO ORGANIZED CRIME BECAUSE OF RACIST LACK OF OPPORTUNITY ELSEWHERE AND POLICE PREJUDICE--THE YAKUZA ARE SERIOUSLY MOSTLY BURAKUMIN AND ETHNIC KOREANS AT THIS POINT! IT’S JUST THAT JAPAN DOESN’T LIKE TO ACKNOWLEDGE FUCKING ANYTHING EVER

[sucuretcannelle]

I'm just gonna compile a shit ton of lore

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

The bright blue and red lights flashed through the window, getting closer and closer to the house.

"Did they scream too loud?" I looked around the bloodied room for one last time and started running around the house to grab the leftovers of my belongings, "That's not the point now, is it?"

The last thing I took before I left was a little pin that was left on my mother's nightstand that had the number "6" on it. She never told me what it meant or why it was there, but she always left it on that one nightstand.

By the time I finished getting all my stuff, there was a knock on the door. Out of sheer panic, I jumped out the nearest window in my room and made a break for it.

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

Me: Clownery. Tomfoolery. Absolute fuckery, I am going to revoke your life privileges.

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

'Well shit, I clearly didn't think this through,' I thought as I ran in the complete opposite direction.

How was I running with a large suitcase? It was the backpack-type thing, and I'm strong as shit, don't ask.

I ran and I ran till my legs couldn't move too far without stumbling. I looked up at the building in front of me, and then I realized something.

I didn't comprehend where I was going at all, and I accidentally ended up at my friend's house. She wasn't the greatest person ever, but if I need to hide there, then I totally will. It's not as if I had a choice though. I climbed into her kitchen window (which she left open...for some reason), and saw her watching tv in the living room.

"Why didn't you just knock?" She asked, not even looking back to face me.

"I didn't think you would answer. It's literally midnight idk what you expected."

"Hey..." My heart sank when her words trailed off as she changed the channel, "What the fuck? Isn't this your house?"

I turned my back to open the fridge, just to pull out some orange juice, "yeah, what about it. Also, why do you only have orange juice? That's embarrassing."

"What would be embarrassing is if the police found out I was keeping a murderer in my house. Don't test me."

"Whatever," I take a swing of orange juice straight from the carton, "You'll keep me here till I book a flight, right?"

"I shouldn't even— look. Sure, I'll keep you here, but you have to be gone within 10 days. I barely have enough food here to feed the both of us."

"Got it. Your parents aren't here either, right?"

"No shit."

"Good."

"Bitch go take a shower, you probably left a fucking blood trail on the way here. You're barefoot."

I look out the window to see a very faint blood trail, but it was still far away from the house.

"I'm not cleaning that."

"And I didn't ask you to. I asked you to go take a shower."

So I pull out a pair of clothes from my suitcase and—

"Also, you're sleeping on the couch."

'NO.'

I head upstairs and finally take a shower.

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

Me: *seductively takes off glasses* Wow, you're... blurry.

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

After putting the red-stained clothes in a bucket with soap and water, I head downstairs, walk into the kitchen and grab 2 pop tarts. My friend was still sitting down on the couch, but she was watching a horror movie this time.

"You said you were taking a flight right?"

"Yeah."

"Where would you even be going to?"

"Don't know," I say as I pull my laptop out of my suitcase.

"I might be heading to d̷͎̱̰̳̲̭̩̗̹̭̻́͜ḯ̸̛͙̝͉̯̩͎̏̈́̓̓͆̚̕͜s̴̨̨͕͔̻̣̳͖̟̘̺͈̾̇͌̇́͗̀̄̈́̎͂̎͘ṭ̶̨͖̙̜͕̰̞̈́̊͛̿̄́̑̓̈́̇̅̏̿̚͠͠o̶͉͈͖͎̲͎͉͎͚̻̲̝͈̞̱̳͂̌͐̏̎͊͂r̸̡̡̼̘͙̳̳͊͛̅ţ̶̢̨̡̢̛̟̺͙͇͓̬̳̯̥͖̮̿̎̔̿̈́̀̈́͊͒̀̑̈́͒̚ͅȩ̷̛͈̞̤̠̞̬͈͇̮̤̩̅́̉͋̚͝ͅd̵̟͍̘̖̻̰̱͔̝͆̇̈̕]̵͊��̢̢͉͖̼̫̙̣̰̫̰̜̥̻͛̂̅̈́̍̇̉̐͘͠͝, I heard they had nice houses."

We looked at each other for a moment.

"How much money did you take from the vault?"

"How did you even know I took money—"

"You're smarter than you give yourself credit for."

"Finally, a compliment."

"Just shut up."

"Yes ma'am."

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

Friend: I have no respect for Santa. Don’t sneak in through the chimney and undermine my authority by bringing my family presents. Walk in through the front door and fight me like a man.

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

It was 4 a.m, most of the lights in the house were turned off, and I was sitting in the living room by myself. I still had no idea what house I was gonna get or anything that happens after that.

'Imagine if it was one of those situations where I stumbled upon an abandoned house in the woods— ayo what the fuck is that?'

I looked straight down the hall to see a figure standing there. It was tall, and it seemed to have horns.

"...Who?"

"̶W̸h̵a̷t̵ ̶i̴s̷ ̷a̷ ̴s̶m̷a̶l̶l̷ ̶c̸h̷i̷l̷d̵ ̷l̸i̷k̸e̸ ̸y̸o̸u̷ ̴d̸o̷i̸n̸g̶ ̵h̷e̶r̶e̵?̷"̸

I tilt my head in confusion, "something about....child? I'm not a child."

"̵t̴s̶k̶,̴ ̵t̸s̵k̵ ̵t̷s̴k̸.̴ ̶Y̷o̵u̷ ̸n̶e̷e̴d̶ ̵t̶o̸ ̴l̸e̵a̶r̵n̵ ̷s̶o̵m̶e̴ ̷m̶a̶n̵n̸e̴r̵s̷,̸ ̴c̵h̷i̵l̷d̵.̵"̶

'This...please tell me I'm dreaming,' I rub my eyes and squint at the tall figure.

It took a step forward, "̷D̴o̸ ̵y̵o̴u̸ ̵n̸e̶e̷d̷ ̷t̵o̸ ̴s̷e̴e̶ ̴m̶e̴ ̴c̸l̷e̶a̶r̷l̸y̴?̶" It's voice turned grainy at the end.

It continues, " ̶S̸c̴a̶r̷i̷n̶g̷ ̶y̴o̸u̴ ̴w̶o̷u̷l̶d̶ ̸n̴o̶t̶ ̷h̷e̸l̵p̸ ̵a̵n̶y̷o̵n̵e̵.̷"̴

"I don't think...I don't think I'm scared... Why are you even here?" I ask as I move closer to the edge of the couch— closer to it.

"̷I̵ ̸a̴s̷k̵e̴d̸ ̵y̶o̸u̶ ̶f̴i̴r̷s̴t̴.̷"

"T̵h̷o̵u̶g̶h̴ ̶t̶h̶a̵t̸ ̴i̷s̵ ̵n̸o̶t̵ ̵w̸h̵y̶ ̴I̷'̷m̶ ̶h̸e̶r̶e̴.̷"̵

'Is it speaking one sentence at a time so it can fit the screen?'

"̶T̷h̵e̶r̶e̸ ̴w̶a̵s̴ ̵a̷ ̸l̷o̸t̴ ̵o̶f̵ ̶e̷n̵e̸r̵g̷y̷ ̸c̷o̷m̴i̴n̵g̸ ̷f̴r̵o̷m̶ ̶t̶h̴i̷s̶ ̵h̵o̸u̴s̷e̶.̵"̸

"So, you came to check it out..."

"A̸n̸d̸ ̵a̵l̵l̸ ̴I̵ ̵f̶o̸u̵n̶d̶ ̸w̴a̶s̶ ̴a̵ ̷c̷h̷i̷l̷d̵.̷"̸

̴"̵A̸ ̸p̴e̸s̷t̶ ̴t̶h̸a̵t̶ ̶d̶o̷e̴s̷n̵'̴t̸ ̵k̴n̷o̸w̶ ̸t̵h̶e̵i̸r̸ ̸p̶u̷r̴p̸o̸s̶e̸"̷

"Well, if I'm such a pest, why don't you kill me?"

"̵Y̶o̸u̷ ̷s̴w̷e̵e̶t̵ ̷s̸u̴m̶m̸e̶r̵ ̵c̶h̶i̷l̸d̷.̸.̸.̵"̶ it paused.

"̷W̴h̸y̸ ̵w̶o̸u̴l̶d̶ ̴I̵ ̵l̴e̴t̴ ̵s̵u̶c̷h̴ ̵a̴ ̸p̶o̴w̵e̷r̵f̷u̷l̷ ̸a��u̵r̸a̶..."

"g̷o̷ ̵t̸o̵ ̵w̶a̷s̸t̷e̵?̴"̵ it's voice shook a bit

"Dunno," I said with a yawn, "'m tired"

The being's voice scratched my ears as it laughed, "̴C̶o̷m̵e̶ ̷w̷i̴t̵h̵ ̴m̵e̵,̸ ̵I̸'̶l̷l̷ ̷m̴a̸k̸e̷ ̸u̴s̸e̷ ̴o̷f̴ ̸y̴o̷u̵.̴"̸

"Isn't this how mortals die or something? Like they get forced to make a deal or some shit and they get their soul eaten?"

"W̴h̸o̶ ̸e̵v̶e̴r̴ ̵s̸a̸i̸d̶ ̵y̸o̷u̵ ̶w̶e̷r̴e̷ ̶a̸ ̴m̶o̸r̴t̴a̸l̵?̶"̴

"What are you implying? I've only met you a few minutes ago, who said you could label me as anything other than a mortal?" I ask jokingly.

It moved to the side and what looked like a portal showed up next to it.

"̷D̵o̸ ̸y̵o̸u̸ ̸w̷a̷n̴t̷ ̶t̸o̴ ̶d̶i̷e̴?̴"̷

"Are you planning to kill me?"

It sighed deeply, "̶N̶o̴.̸ ̴Y̴o̴u̷ ̸w̵i̸l̵l̵ ̴d̸i̸e̶ ̵i̷f̶ ̶y̶o̵u̴ ̸d̵o̵n̷'̸t̶ ̸c̵o̷m̷e̵ ̵w̶i̶t̸h̴ ̵m̵e̷.̴"̸

"̸Y̶o̵u̶ ̶a̵r̵e̶ ̵o̸n̵ ̴t̶h̴e̸ ̵r̶u̴n̵,̵ ̶y̷e̴s̸?̴"

" ̵I̴ ̴c̶a̶n̶ ̴b̴r̸i̴n̸g̸ ̸y̷o̴u̷ ̴s̷o̷m̷e̶w̶h̵e̶r̸e̴ ̵s̷a̷f̴e̷r̷.̴"̷

"Why should I even be trusting—"

There was a knock on the front door. This was followed by someone saying the name of the local police department.

"Okayletsgo," I whisper as I quickly stood up from the couch and grabbed it's hand. It was slimy and cold, a highly unpleasant feeling. It carefully pulled me into the portal after it. I closed my eyes and let the darkness surround me.

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

Me: Could you maybe just like… stab me… right in the gut. Just REALLY twist it in there. ‘Cause that honestly seems less painful than this conversation.

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

I only heard the sound of trees swishing in the wind when I opened my eyes. My eyes burned from the amount of brightness that flashed them.

The...thing was still holding my hand, but it looked completely different. He looked like a really pretty dude. It had dark blue skin, straight light purple hair, large red horns, strange-looking teeth, and a red tail. Either way, it looked more human-like structurally. He looked back at me when I stared, but he looked slightly annoyed.

"Are you going to stop looking at me?" He asked in a deep voice. It was no longer distorted.

"...You're really pretty?"

"... :|"

"... :)"

"Okay," he pointed at the huge mansion in front of us, "You live there now."

Why was he so blunt?

"...what exactly am I gonna do there?"

"You ask too many questions."

"Sorry, sir!"

He started dragging me towards the house, "this realm is empty. And empty realms are boring. So I'm gonna keep you here till someone else comes in."

"How long is that gonna take?"

"Don't know, don't care," he pushed the front door open for me.

It opens with a loud creak, and in front of us, there was what looked like a lobby.

"When someone does come in, you go sit at the front desk right there, alright?"

"Okay?"

"Now go explore, I don't care what you do now," he turned to leave.

"Will you be back?"

"When you want me to be, sure."

I waved goodbye to him before walking deeper into the mansion. It was really fricken cold, especially because I was still barefoot. I got lost at least 10 times but I eventually made it back to the lobby. I walked for so long, yet I didn't get tired at all. There were about 720 rooms, 235 bathrooms, 18 floors, and just a bunch of other rooms that could be filled with different things depending on what I wanted to do with them.

'Do I pick a room or—'

"Why are you shivering?"

I damn near screamed when I heard his voice behind me.

I looked up at him, "'tis cold."

He looked down at me again as if it was going to make me stop shivering. He hovered his hand over my shoulder and a cloud of pink went around my whole upper body. Then a warm pink sweater took its place.

"Thank you. Hey, do you care what room I take?"

"No, just preferably one on the upper floors."

"'Kay, thanks."

I walk upstairs and open the door to the room I picked. Automatically, it became decorated. And tbh, I'm not mad about it. It was just very...b l u e.

"Here, I brought you some clothes."

Hearing him still scares me, but I'm getting used to it. He walked in with 2 suitcases, one looked like the one I left at my friend's house, and the other kept the blue color scheme that the room had. He turned to leave, but I stopped him right before he did.

"Do you have a name?"

"And you didn't ask that before?"

"Why didn't you just give it to me?"

"I forgot my name."

I hate him so much.

"...Do you remember it now?"

"I think it was Orion or something. I don't care."

"..."

"..."

"Well, are you gonna ask me for mine?"

"No."

Right before he turned to leave for the second time, I hopped into my bed and patted the spot next to me.

"Come here."

"And what if I don't?"

I swear to—

"I have questions."

"You always have questions."

I get up and try pulling him over to me, just to realize that he's damn near the weight of a bull.

"Fine," he said as he slowly followed me.

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

Orion: I have met some of the most insufferable people. But they also met me.

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

"So you're telling me, that we're no longer in the outside world, and that we don't age in here?"

"Yes."

"So we're immortal?"

"I am either way, but now you are too."

"And I don't get to leave this place?"

"...Not really. Only on rare occasions, and only for a few hours"

'Well, that's one way to get away with murder. Thanks, Orion.'

I continue, "so now I own the universe. Specifically this one. So there's more?"

"Yes, and I keep track of those so you don't have to."

"So I just wait for people to roll in? How do I know when that's gonna happen?"

"You figure it out," he places his hand on my shoulder and a surge of energy rushes through me, "there. You can control the weather of this place now."

'It was that easy?'

He continues, "so if you wanted a certain thing to happen so you know when someone comes in, do it."

"Can I—"

"No, you don't get any more powers."

'FUCK'

I think for a minute, "Why did you change forms once you came out of the portal?"

"Would you rather have to look at the first one?"

"Not really."

"I'm truly wounded, Cinna."

'...I've heard that name before. That's not my legal name though. What is legal? Anything is legal now, right?"

So I asked, "what made you pick that name?"

"I dug into your memories a bit—"

'WHAT THE FUCK?'

I instinctively move away.

"—and you said you didn't like to be called by your legal name. At least in school that is. You always said you wanted to be called "Cinna."

"How did you—"

"I can only go through your memories when you're not thinking. And that was when you were looking through the rooms."

"And you can do that to anyone?"

"I don't know. I haven't tried. Also, you were a very ugly kid."

Ouch.

I ignored his statement, "how big is this universe?"

"Twice the size of the earth."

'WHY???'

"And so the real reason you want me here is just in case someone gets in here by accident? Because the universe isn't stable? And because you don't wanna talk to anyone else?"

"They have no value."

"Would you have killed me if I had no value?"

"Most likely."

O u c h.

"Why do I have value in the first place?"

"You'll find that out on your own. Anyway, I have to go now. Don't burn the mansion down. Or do, I don't care. Tell me when you decide your warning" he said before fading away.

'Warning?'

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

I sat down on the kitchen counter, munching on some chicken wings and fries. It was already an hour past my last interaction with Orion, but I was still thinking about what he said. But at least I found out I can summon food and shit, I don't think he knows that. There's food in the fridge anyway.

"Warning? Like, the sign for when people come through?" I scoff, "who said anyone was gonna come through anyway?"

'What if I just made a thunderstorm or something? I don't even like rain. Snow maybe? How loud is snow? What if I didn't hear it and someone just appears? Loud snow...'

"You sound stupid."

I look up from my plate to see Orion sitting across from me, stealing some fries from it.

"You didn't even ask before taking 😕?"

"You could just make more."

'Oh, so he does know'

"You said loud snow, right? Just make a blizzard. I'm convinced you didn't pass elementary school."

"Did you even go to school?"

"I'm not human."

"No? So shut up."

The plate floats off the table, "don't tell me what to do."

"...can I have my wings back?"

"Say sorry. Or beg. Pick your poison."

"..."

"Come on."

"Sorry."

"See now I want a written apology since you took so long."

I jump up to grab the plate, but he lifts it higher. A paper and pen spawn in front of me.

'So he wasn't joking?'

I pick up the pen and paper and start writing, "I want to apologize to you for what I did. It was very wrong and I am very sorry. I would just like to move on and live my normal life. And you know, get a job and a wife/husband/spouse and change my ways. And I hope this apology impresses you, even though you made me do it. And I don't really mean it," and hand it to him.

"Why did I even bring you here?"

"I don't know 😌 please give me my wings back."

The plate slams back down on the table.

"So, a blizzard? How would they not get lost?" I said as I chewed.

"You're about to spit your chicken at me— whatever, you figure it out. Again, I don't care."

I pretended to almost spit at him just to scare him.

"Exactly. I knew you wouldn't—"

I actually shot a piece of chicken at his face this time. The wet piece of chicken rolled down his cheek.

"Get out of my sight."

"Yessir," I said before sprinting away.

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

It's had been a few weeks since I last saw Orion. Which isn't bad, but isn't good either. I get bored way too quickly. I was looking out the window till I saw a snowflake fall. Slowly it started to snow.

'The snow never ceases to amaze me...wait—'

The snow for heavier and heavier and the wind started to blow the trees. Fallen snow flew off the ground, making it hard to see.

'...is someone here?'

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

Damn I'm done with the first part

There y'all go.

Also, take a drawing of Orion.