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casperfergy · 1 year ago

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Rosetta

Chapter 2: America, America, America

Hi! I'm Rosetta I've been in America for about 7 years now I really don't know much about my life before I still miss my family however I don't remember much anymore. I do know however I am a bit strange. And due to that fact I don't have really any friends except my bestie and my bro bestie. When Mrs Malfoy had brought me over to America she had introduced me to my new family said it was only going to be temporary until I found my own heritage and hopefully could become a part of my biologic family if possible. And she left me in the hands of a wonderful couple and family, even though there were quite a few secrets and was in fact temporary.

I had a lot of questions Beyond a lot of questions, however not a lot of them got answered. At first it started well everybody was so enthusiastic and helpful for me to find my family, until one day I'm assuming they got my results as far as blood work and possibly found out who my parents actually are. I only assume this because after this particular day the whole family started acting a little strange towards me and jumpy and scared and fearful for no apparent reason at every little thing I might do. I know things around me happen and I do know quite a bit of it is because of me although about 90% of it I have absolutely no idea why. And every single time I asked about the results they say it hasn't come in yet and change the subject. But they do so with a knowing look I'm guessing they think I'm stupid and can't see it.

Well eventually they make it quite obvious they're not trying anymore. And they send me off to another family they think will be "better suited for me". Well I ended up going through about three different families in the next year apparently scaring them half to death.

The last family, I had just become a true part of the family, when there was an incident in the back woods with me and my sub sisters. The older sister who was older than me, she was about 16 I had just turned 13, and my little sister was only five. But apparently we were both quite irritating to the oldest and was in her way she was the only biological child of the couple, next thing I know she bound us up and put us in ant hills almost armpit deep. Now I can handle pain just fine have always been able to do so I've been dealing with her Antics off and on just for the fact that I might have a chance to be part of the family, however this time having our sweet sister in the same situation as me who no way could handle this kind of pain with all these fire ants, I just go frantic! Trying to find something to get me out even just temporarily to get her out of that pit of ants.

I can't help it I have to ask, "why are you doing this to your own sister?"

She just laughs, "neither of you were ever my sister you're just in the way." Even with us there she got all the attention, so why did she think we were in the way? I look at her confused and confounded, looking around trying to find something to distract her while I am wiggling my way out of the bondage and in turn out of the hole she dug me in. Then in the distance behind her I see a creature moving through the reads and I asked it to bite her. She looked at me stupid and like I was crazy. I didn't know what the creature was I just asked it to bite her so she would be temporarily distracted with the pain instead of with us. And that my little friend obliges, and she is in fact distracted with the pain long enough for me to get out of my binds and to get to my sister and help her out of there.

She was covered in head to toe with bites from those ants. I immediately call Mom and Dad. There is no answer. So I called the hospital directly and 911 told them of the entire situation. And waited for them to come get my sisters, when we got to the hospital I have to tell them one more time two more time three more times what happened to the exact account including me to asking the creature behind my sister to bite her because of the situation she had put us in. My little sister recovered and got better fast however when our parents got there they swooned and coddled the oldest calling her their baby. The oldest blamed it all on us and called me a freak talking to a snake and telling it to bite her when she didn't do anything except bug us. Our parents didn't even want to listen to our side of the story, nor do they seem to care when the doctor came in telling them directly about all the ant bites and how the youngest could have died because of it.

All they cared about is when the doctor to the oldest daughter came in and told them what bit her was a very venomous fast-acting snake and she only had days if not hours to live. They looked at me with a disgust and an annoyance that I never want to see again. And just like the doctor foretold within 24 hours the oldest was gone although still not much of a sister. Since the papers had went through and I was officially a part of the family before the situation they could not take me back although you could see in their eyes they really wanted to. Blaming me for their baby's death, blaming the freak! But all I was trying to do was protect my little sister, my true sister.

Now they knew from sayings that I was different from the very beginning however no one really knew me well except my little sister and just like a true sister she loved me anyway I could talk to animals I loved to just get lost in the woods and just to scrounge and live sometimes, I would stay in there for hours or sometimes the weekend and not even be bothered by having no contact with the outside world even just for a few hours or a couple days. I had accepted myself even though I know no one else would besides that little five-year-old, so I would and will do anything to protect her. And I did just that.

Now it's been a few months from that unexpected death and for the first time ever getting my own mail. But what was strange is how it was delivered, it came by flight through the air in the claws of a hooting Brown barn owl so beautiful in its own right and it perfectly dropped it right into my hands hooted goodbye and then left, and of course I had to say thank you in Hoot. It almost fell through window from Surprise LOL.

It was my acceptance letter to a boarding school? Welcome to Hogwarts the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Witchcraft and Wizardry!? I don't know if I'm going nuts or if this is a practical joke. But either way I numbly go inside and go to my parents giving them my mail, honestly not knowing what to think. They looked at me like they knew it, although just be sure they did research and the next few weeks before I accept my letter as fact and not fiction. It also gave me an address to meet up with the groundskeeper of the establishment, known as Hagrid. Saying they would love to have a Riddle back in Hogwarts. All I wondered was a Riddle, So that was my original last name? How do they know that?

#draco malfoy × reader #part 2 #Rosetta

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mediocre-daydreams · 2 years ago

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I SAW UR MARVEL X FAMOUS READER THING and can i please req for a bucky x singer!reader or peter parker x singer!reader and the secret relationship trope where the avengers catch peter/bucky in a phone call and catching them acting all pouty and whiney and all cute and twirling their hair while giggling like school girls and the avengers being all shocked but not knowing who he was talking to + little scenes or bucky/peter smirking or looking proud whenever r is on tv + and the all the avengers going to some sort of concert or event where r is performing and r literally going down to the audience while performing to kiss bucky/peter and just social media freaking out !!

I LOVED WRITING THIS!! sorry it took so long to finish; i wanted it to be perfect for my tubmblr spouse ksjdfhd. anyways this was so so cute and i'm gonna do some extra drabbles + smau bonus posts because wow i loved this concept

𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐧

peter parker x singer! reader

notes: swearing, mentions of the birds and bees in a non-sexual way, so much fluff bro, the tiniest smidge of angst it's like a sprinkle of salt, a bit of insecure peter feeling like he's not enough, vague description of canon-level violence, lowkey breaking the fourth wall, the avengers are nosy as fuck and definition crack, clint is in his red (taylor's version) era

w/c: 5.2k

the songs used in the fic are by taylor swift + linked at the bottom of the post <3 (but also taylor canonically exists in this universe so she still has her music peter's a swiftie just go with it pls)

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

peter parker never failed to confound; and no, it wasn’t just the avengers that were confused by his… antics. may, mj, and ned were equally as surprised when they caught peter parker, their [overly] enthusiastic, nervous, forever-in-motion peter parker, casually laying in bed, propped against a pillow with one arm behind his head that made him look like some cookie-cutter male love interest in a cheesy romcom, nonchalantly talking to a female voice from his phone.

mj and ned were no idiots—they’d been the first to discover his spiderman identity so scoping out the identity of peter’s secret female friend was almost as easy as getting flash to talk about sports cars. peter eventually had to spill the beans to may after she confronted him about his ridiculously high monthly phone bill.

but the team of the world’s best spies, geniuses with multiple PhDs, highly trained super soldier assassins, and the man who singlehandedly made the “birds aren’t real, they’re government spies” conspiracy come true, still hadn’t managed to find the tea they so desperately wanted peter to spill. they were too prideful to ask peter to his face and admit defeat, so for weeks, they’d pulled out all their tricks only to fail miserably.

sam tried having redwing perch outside peter’s window to catch footage of any new visitors; there were none. clint, who’d snuck into the vents, and bucky, utilizing his super soldier hearing, had tried eavsdropping on one of his calls. all they heard was peter singing off key and then a yelp as he snapped one of his guitar strings. steve and bruce had tried to casually sit peter down and talk to him about the birds and the bees, hoping that peter would let something slip about any of his romantic or sexual relationships, but peter just groaned and said may had already told him this. natasha even tried hacking into peter’s internet and phone history, but once she found the spiderman tiktok edits and an obscene number of shirtless pictures, she had to stop.

after a lot of bribery and light extortion from tony (who was probably the most invested in revealing peter’s gal pal), wanda reluctantly tried to read peter’s mind, only to see flashes of who she presumed to be peter’s celebrity crush. the avengers had never pegged peter for a fanboy (actually, a good third of them thought he swung the other way and sam and bucky insisted he was on the path to incel-hood), but the fanatic squealing and giggling that emanated from peter’s room every night told a different story. it was clear: the boy had an unhealthy parasocial relationship with a girl who would never know of his existence.

“hey petey pie, d’you still have my artisanal hand lotion?” tony came up to peter as he tinkered with his web shooters.

“oh yeah, mr. stark! they’re in my room and on my desk. you can just go in, if you want.” peter had a spare room in the tower that he used after long missions or big lab projects; it was much more empty than his room at aunt may’s. as most teenagers did, peter considered his bedroom a personal, private sanctuary, but his tower room’s furnishings were pretty basic and he usually didn’t even bother to close the door.

peter’s desk was fairly empty sans tony’s lotion, but because of how barren it was, tony’s eye was automatically drawn to the papers at the corner of the table. no, not his illegible chemistry notes. there was a flyer advertising your upcoming tour dates and locations, and underneath it was an autographed vinyl of what tony assumed was one of your albums.

but tony was truly horrified when he found the bottle of half-used perfume from your brand sitting on peter’s nightstand, in front of a framed picture of him photoshopped next to you.

“peter, we need to have a chat.” tony gestured to the communal living room, where steve, bucky, sam, wanda, and natasha were sitting. steve was holding a sheet of printer paper that said “intervention.”

peter looked around the room, trying to figure out who the intervention was for. “you never call me peter,” he laughed nervously, “is something going on? are we throwing a surprise party?”

peter made the mistake of looking over at steve and he couldn’t help but cower under the nation’s most powerful I’m Not Mad, Just Disappointed Face™.

“kid, why don’t you take a seat?” steve sighed like a Disapointed Father™.

peter sat as far away from the rest of the avengers as he could, wary of how they’d all been looking at him. that was his second mistake, because he ended up across from a team of master interrogators who were staring him down like he was their next victim (because he was).

“we wanted to discuss- uh, the… internet with you,” bucky began.

“oh, mr. sergeant bucky sir, if you need help with the wifi router again, i can show you how to fix it yourself, it’s easy, ac-”

“no- no! that’s not… we’re not talking about that. so obviously your aunt may has already given you the se- safe reproductive activities talk, but we wanted you know, as tech experts-” bruce looked at tony and nat. “-to make sure you understood safe internect practices. safe and healthy internet practice.”

peter visibly relaxed. “oh, if that’s what you’re worried about, it’s all good! midtown has a mandatory seminar and i already know not to use omegle—i learned that the hard way, but i did learn; plus, i took a scratch lesson about html so i’m pretty like, tech proficient.”

“peter, have you ever heard of parasocial relationships?” the rest of the team shot wanda dirty looks at her slip up. they were supposed to ease into the whole thing so that peter didn’t get scared and run off.

“oh, like dating app parasites? yeah, ned was joking around on christian mingle and got this horrible-”

“let me put this into chronically online gen z words,” natasha grimaced. “do you know what the infinitive ‘to stan’ means?”

peter was puzzled. “oh yeah, of course! this guy flash from school has a huuuge obsession with sebastian stan; like, he stans sebastian stan. it’s kind of unhealthy. i’m pretty sure flash thinks he’s the y/n in a ‘my mom sold me to one direction for money’ ao3 fanfiction.”

“right…” sam’s face was all screwed up as he tried to steer the conversation away from 2000s boyband kidnapping aus. “and what about you, peter? do you stan anyone? any… attractive female celebrity who’s approximately your age?”

peter looked genuinely confused. “i mean, i’m a swiftie, if that counts. but not in an unhealthy way!” peter reassured. “i’m not one of those people who has a twitter account dedicated to analyzing the spray painted words on the wall she pisses on in the music video for the man to try and figure out the order of her next album releases, so don’t worry. i’m perfectly normal.” he laughed shrilly.

steve shuffled for something behind him. “i didn’t want to have to do this,” steve enunciated, holding up a picture of you. “we found your shrine and the pictures you’ve photoshopped yourself into and we know that you’ve deluded yourself into thinking that you have a relationship with her and we’re just worried, okay? look, i also enjoy her songs every once in a while, but this is too far. we can’t have an avenger with compromised judgement out on the field.”

peter’s mouth gaped and he stared at the picture steve had chosen, feeling himself blush. that was the picture you’d asked him for his opinion on it before posting it on instagram. and that was the night you’d sent him a voice memo of a song you’d written for him, in which you’d told him how you’d loved him for the first time.

“uh, come again?” peter’s voice turned up at the end in his confusion, but the other avengers took it as a sign that he was lying.

“okay, this is enough. we’re taking him to cho for an evaluation,” tony snapped, taking peter by the arm and dragging him down the hallway.

“hey- hey! wait! i’m not delusional, just let me-” peter scrambled for his phone, trying to pull out pictures of you and him together as proof, but he dropped it amidst the chaos of tony’s fussing and nat and bruce’s hushed whispering, and the exclamations of surprise in this unplanned step of the intervention.

peter watched as his phone clattered to the ground and he reached his free hand out for it cinematically, but it was to no avail. that stuff never worked in the movies either.

“jarvis!” peter yelled desperately.

“yes, young spiderling?” jarvis replied. tony must’ve reprogrammed eyerbody’s name in jarvis’ system.

“play voice memo! uh, the most recent one!”

“playing voice memo: this is peter with trial four- ahhhh! no, not that one!” crashing noises and a string of curses from a voice in the background that made steve flinch ensued. “oh my god, mr. stark’s going to kill me if he every finds out-”

“stop! no! jarvis, um, play the second most recent voice memo!”

peter looked at the ground to avoid tony’s withering glare. “we will be discussing this later,” tony warned.

“playing voice memo.” through tony’s newly installed surround sound speakers, your silvery voice reverberated around the high-ceilinged walls and silenced the other avengers’ jabbers.

“my thoughts will echo your name until i see you again, these are the words i held back as i was leaving too soon—i was enchanted to meet you.”

sam’s mouth dropped. “what the fuck? i didn’t peter say he learned to code on scratch? how did he work out this voice generator thing?”

bucky’s face contorted into the cute stupid expression he made every time he was confused. “relax, the kid probably recorded a live performance on the you-bee-too to feed into his whole hormonal teenage crisis fantasy.”

peter was outraged and opened his mouth to protest. steve cut him off. “kid, young people at your age will go through… ahem… changes. and perhaps that has manifested into a romantic yearning towards this lovely young woman, or uh,” steve blushed. “the desire to… fondue is very common as you develop into a man, and i myself-” steve choked and started coughing to avoid spilling any dangerous blackmail material. bucky patted his friend on the back knowingly.

“hey horndogs,” tony yelled from the front of the crowd, where he was still struggling to drag peter. “can someone turn off the damn music? i don’t want to know what the kid gets up to in his free time, like, at all. especially not in song form.”

“will you all stop calling me kid?” peter begged, finally freeing himself from tony’s *iron* hold. “look, that song’s unreleased, so i couldn’t have just recorded it off youtube. plus, tony already banned me from working with voice AIs after i accidentally broke karen and she wouldn’t stop screaming for like, six days straight.”

natasha raised her eyebrows, but nodded. “and we know the boy isn’t smart enough to come up with those lyrics on his own.”

“hey!” peter defended. “no, actually, yeah. you’re right.”

“what does this have to do with anything?” sam interrupted, throwing his hands in the air. “i personally find it creepier that he got access to the girl’s unreleased music. and don’t even get me started on the shrine-”

“she’s not some girl, she’s my girlfriend!” peter blurted.

steve scoffed. “sure she is. gorgeous, talented, multi-millionare singer-songwriter from brooklyn, mind you, is your girlfriend? what’s next, bucky and sam’s bickering is actually unresolved sexual tension?”

“yes?!” peter hissed incredulously. “you’re just jealous,” he huffed,” and don’t even lie, mr. captain rogers sir. i heard you crying to this is me trying last week. which, by the way, are you okay? anyways, yes, we’re dating.

“i didn’t ‘photoshop’ the pictures, i- how would i even-? it’s not like there’s conveniently a picture of her in a photo booth holding up a green prop mustache that i can edit myself into. my ‘shrine?’ she sends me previews of her merch and stuff, i’m not gonna throw it out. it’s not like i’m collecting strands of her hair to replicate her dna. we literally just call each other,” peter huffed.

“we call each other, and- and she teaches me to play guitar… she writes songs for me… she has the sweetest cats… and she’s so beautiful and i can’t believe she’s mine…” peter rambled on with glazed eyes and a dopey smile on his face.

steve scowled.

wanda sighed dreamily. “i can tell how much you like her… your thoughts are so bright every time you think about her…”

“excuse me?” peter raised his eyebrows defensively. “were you… reading my mind?”

“there are no secrets in this tower, underoo.” tony slung a heavy arm over peter. “what’s yours is ours.”

peter squinted. “i’m pretty sure that’s not how the saying- whatever.”

“secrets? please, we all remember when you tried to hide your baby photos. the vents were a stupid idea.” natasha snorted. “anyways, when do we get to meet her?”

“meet who?” peter lied innocently. if the avengers had been this zealous over a couple pictures of her, god knows what they’d do if they ever saw her in person? (and god knows what steve would do.)

“doesn’t matter. play dumb all you want kid, but we both know you’re smarter than that.” tony chattered absentmindedly, but peter went red at the casual compliment. “i saw the tour dates already; peter left ‘em in his room. second to last concert’s in new york, two weeks from now. i’ll pull a couple strings; easy.”

tony took off his yellow-tinted glasses and cleaned the lenses on his shirt. “right. jarvis, cancel all plans for the saturday two weeks from now. and reschedule that dry cleaners appointment to… uh, tuesday. gotta wash the merch before wearing it. oh yeah, and set a reminder for… tonight at 9, to shop for merch.”

tony looked smugly down at peter, who blinked a few times, dazed. “uh, thank you, i guess? thank you, mr. stark.”

in the two weeks leading up to the concert, peter was hearing your voice all over the compound. steve had officially indoctrinated bucky and sam into fans after he’d showed them his favorite album, and now the three of them would frequently squabble over which songs were the best lyrically, melodically, and emotionally.

peter had seen wanda comforting a crying clint, who’d been listening to all too well on repeat for three days straight. (peter wasn’t sure why. clint was happily married.)

he nearly had a heart attack when natasha cornered him murderously with a perfectly manicured finger pointed threateningly at his chest. (right then, peter tried to come to terms with the fact that in his eulogy, they would reveal that he had died from a fingernail impaling.) it turned out that natasha had come to interrogate peter on how he’d met you, confessing that she wanted girl tips. natasha had also sworn to make his death long and painful if he ever told anybody about it.

what delighted peter the most is when he’d heard tony listening to one of your songs in lieu of his hard metal while working in his lab. and he swore he’d tony humming one of your songs while making breakfast a few days before the concert.

peter didn’t think it was possible, but his high was only multiplied once your merch arrived. it was like a second civil war had broken out. tony had made sure to order multiple of each item, but overlooked the fact that all the avengers wanted the limited edition concert tour t-shirt and an autographed copy of your newest album. he watched from the sidelines as grown adults threw hissy fits over themed notebooks and guitar picks (even though none of them played guitar), knowing he was already supplied thanks to your gifts.

even may, mj, and ned had gotten into the spirit. they’d surprised him one evening, after a tiring mission, by showing him the short video you’d sent them along with 3 vip tickets.

“hi aunt may,” you smiled lovingly at the camera. “thank you so much for… everything, i guess. for raising peter. and letting him see me; i know that it’s not easy or typical, but peter’s job isn’t easy or typical either. i love your son so, so dearly, and i just wanted to let you know that i’d do almost anything for him—whatever his job entails and whatnot. i’ve been on tour, so haven’t seen peter in a while, but i would love to see him again and maybe meet you and peter’s friends as well, which is why i’ve sent you three tickets.”

may cooed and told peter what an angel you were, and ned and mj teased him relentlessly for how stupidly in love he looked when he saw your face in the video.

“you’re down bad, man,” ned laughed, pushing peter’s chest. mj punched peter’s arm, telling him he was “one lucky bastard,” and peter’s only reaction was to whine about how they were manhandling him.

the night before the concert, peter was panicking about what to wear. though tony had been the most annoying about peter’s relationship, he’d come to check on his mentee and tony’s heart panged as he saw the anxiety radiating off of peter.

“what’s wrong, spiderboy?” tony sat on the edge of peter’s bed as the boy examined himself in the mirror. tony patted the space beside him.

“n-nothing, mr. stark.”

tony looked at peter disbelievingly.

peter sighed. “i’m just- she’s a superstar, like, she’s got fans and front-page modeling contracts and everyone loves her. sometimes i just don’t believe that she’d actually love me, y’know? ‘cause she’s her, and i’m just peter. some kid from queens who got bitten by a spider.” peter looked at his feet, eyes burning. “i’m not rich, or famous, or popular—i still get picked on by flash!”

peter looked up at tony with red-rimmed eyes. “and i’m not like all the fancy celebrities that she’s around—she could have anyone. anyone. i’m pretty sure janelle monáe talked about her in an interview once. janelle. monáe. a-and jojo siwa danced to her music in a tiktok. and i can’t even tell you how many men say they have crushes on her in interviews and stuff… it’s like, i’m never there. we’re both busy, and she’s surrounded by people who are way cooler and smarter and famous-er than me, and it freaks me out, mr. stark.”

tony’s cool demeanor broke upon seeing how genuinely devastated peter was. “underoo, this girl wrote a song for you. hell, i think the most romantic thing i’ve done for pepper recently was eating lunch with her. jarvis? remind me to do something romantic for pepper. she talks to you almost every day, and trust me, i know, because we can hear you jabbering from the common room.

“kid, you work for me. that makes you pretty damn cool. you went to space—even though i said not to, but whatever—and you’re spiderboy. i passed by a street vendor selling knockoff spiderman masks the other day. people love you too. the team loves you. and i guess i think you’re pretty okay too. the girl loves you, spidey. jojo siwa has nothin’ on you.”

peter sniffed. “you really think so?”

“yeah, yeah. don’t push it.” tony went to leave peter’s room, but not before pointing to peter’s closet and winking. “it’s a secret.”

he opened the closet doors, shuffling through a couple of shirts you'd left behind and one of your cardigans. it was the same as always. but in his peripherally, peter caught sight of one of tony’s $200 smarthangers beholding the last limited edition tour shirt that had “mysteriously” gone missing. (bucky and sam were accusing each other for days.) he ran his hands over the cotton fabric, which was softer than he’d expected. tony must’ve dry-cleaned it for him beforehand. peter smiled, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.

peter fiddled with the hem of his shirt the entire ride to the venue. happy picked him, may, ned, and mj up in the limo a bit earlier than the rest of the team was planning on leaving so they could get settled into their vip seats.

the venue was smaller than he’d expected. you’d played in much larger spaces before, with huge audiences and grand stages with special effects, but tonight was almost intimate. peter’s heart was beating until he felt it in his throat and may squeezed his hand reassuringly. he’d heard you sing on facetime, or in the videos you’d sent to him, but never live. he thought he might’ve been more scared than you were.

as the venue filled, peter’s anxiety only increased. mj and ned were bubbling happily, and peter caught the avengers waving to him from a section just a bit further from the stage. he was secretly grateful that they weren’t up front with him. maybe it was selfish, but he wanted you to himself tonight.

when the lights dimmed and ambient music begin filling the air, peter watched as you slowly rose from a platform under the stage until you were fully revealed, holding a sleek black guitar, beaming so brightly that peter was pretty sure you wouldn’t need the stage lights.

the cheering of the crowd was dull in his ears. he was mesmerized by the way you moved, adjusting the vintage microphone in front of you. it was only you on stage, illuminated by a spotlight, standing in front of your microphone like you were at home on a stage in front of hundreds of people.

you needed no introduction before you began singing a song that peter hadn’t heard before.

vintage tee, brand new phone. high heels on cobblestones. when you are young they assume you know nothing…

it was your first date. peter had exchanged his science pun shirts for an old band tee, and you’d complimented him immediately, revealing that you were also a fan. you’d dropped and cracked your phone on the sidewalk that night, stumbling over a bump in the concrete and falling into peter. you’d made a stupid joke, “it looks like i’ve fallen for you,” and peter had laughed like you were the funniest person in the world.

but i knew you, dancing in your levi’s, drunk under a streetlight, i… i knew you, hand under my sweatshirt, baby kiss it better, i… and when i felt like i was an old cardigan under someone’s bed, you put me on and said i was your favorite.

it was the night you’d first kissed. it had started raining, both of your socks were all wet, and the sweatshirt peter had given you to wear after you’d gotten cold was soaked through. you’d pasted your hands under his shirt onto his chest, claiming you needed warmth. he did the same.

to kiss in cars and downtown bars was all we needed… you drew stars around my scars but now i’m bleedin’...

it was you and him, trying not to be seen. you and him, avoiding cameras and crowds—hiding behind tinted car windows and hole-in-the-wall restaurants. it was you and him: when he took you swinging right before you left to tour and you scraped your knees from the rough landing. you and him: peter kissing your cuts and apologizing profusely about giving you scars right before your concert. you and him, when you’d pulled him into your chest and told him you’d sacrifice anything to be under the stars with him.

‘cause i knew you, steppin’ on the last train, marked me like a bloodstain, i… i knew you, tried to change the ending, peter losing wendy, i…

you and him: when he’d hugged you goodbye in a quiet corner at the train station and wiped away your tears from under your sunglasses. you and him: when peter watched as the spiderman bandaids on your knees that he’d given you last night as you bled walked further and further away. you and him: when he’d called you and cried after a difficult mission, telling you how he thought he might have not made it and how the thought of losing you—his darling—was what kept him going. you and him: how you’d wanted to cancel your tour and see him again, but how he insisted that you keep going, that the both of you kept going.

i knew i’d curse you for the longest time, chasin’ shadows in the grocery line; i knew you’d miss me once the thrill expired, and you’d be standin’ in my front porch light…

you and him: how you’d fought halfway through your tour, when he didn’t understand why you didn’t want to go public with your relationship. you and him: how you’d gone grocery shopping with him but dropped his hand and left as soon as cameras appeared. you and him: how he’d told you that the secrecy of the relationship might be thrilling for you, but was hurting him. you and him: how he’d promised that no matter how difficult your relationship got, you’d always have a home at his and may’s apartment.

and i knew you’d come back to me, and you’d come back to me… and you’d come back…

next to peter, ned and mj hollered excitedly and jumped up and down; may screamed and clapped. peter hadn’t budged, staring up at you with awe and pride as your strumming faded out. he would’ve been content staring at you, glowing as you immersed in your element, until ned elbowed him.

you tapped the microphone a couple of times and the stage lights began to reveal the landscape behind you; a small band, a few background singers, and a simple, natural scene.

you cleared your throat. “thank you, new york!”

peter had never heard a sound sweeter than your giggle as you watched the audience cheer and wave their glowsticks.

“thank you! this is the second to last concert of my tour, and it’s been such a privilege to play for you. you guys are the first to hear my new single, cardigan, that i wrote while on tour.”

there was more screaming and your eyes scanned the audience for something that you evidently hadn’t found, given the nearly imperceptible frown on your face.

“uh, this song is really important to me, ‘cause it’s about someone i really love. i haven’t seen him in a while, and god, i miss him, and i hope he knows that i’d always come back to him…” you sniffled, and the audience cooed.

“y’know, sometimes you have those moments when you’re paralyzed or when you’re scared, so you keep trying to live in the past, where things are easy and you already know how everything ends. but if you take the easy route, trying to protect yourself from the unknown, you end up losing what could’ve been. all the new moments that you’ll never get to have because you’re too busy living in old memories. ‘cause when you stay behin, the people you love might want to move forward, take risks, and explore even better things. so you might lose them.”

your eyes searched the audience once more. “and i’ve learned so much from being on tour with you all. it’s very- if you don’t know, everything that goes on behind the scenes in the music industry is very… intentional. every word, action, public appearence—it’s all planned. but i met this boy; or rather, i fell in love with this boy, and he makes me want to say, ‘fuck the plans.’” the audience roared and you laughed jubiantly alongside them.

“i don’t know if i’m allowed to swear, actually. it’s fine,” you admitted. “anyways, he makes me want to take chances, even if that terrifies me. ‘cause honestly, it did; still does. i hope he’s here today. i can’t see him from here, but his name is peter. peter parker.”

there were cheers and murmurs, and peter heard heard thor somewhere in the back roar, “the spi- the small man is here!” thor pointed vigorously to the front, where peter was standing and blushing profusely. there was a bit of sweat beading on his forehead, and sure, the body heat from the crowd was pretty hot, but the fire in his cheeks had nothing to do with that.

peter watched as you walked towards the edge of the stage to where thor was pointing, shouting back at him with a quick banter that the audience seemed to love. peter cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, praying you could hear it from amidst the crowd, because he couldn’t even hear himself.

your eyes widened and you burst into a grin as you locked eyes with peter. “oh my god, is it- peter?”

peter nodded, face contorting into surprise and then adoration and then determination as the both of you rushed forward to try and touch each other. you fell to your knees and reached your hand out to peter, and he took is tightly between both of his. you mouthed his name so that nobody but him could see it, and under the harsh stage lights, peter could clearly see the watery tears collecting at the corner of your eyes that you carefully dabbed away as to not smudge any of your makeup.

“peter—this is peter, my boyfriend!” you announced to the crowd, holding his hand up. “is there any way you can come up-” you looked around for stairs.

peter smirked, slinging himself onto the stage with ease. he’d scaled buildings before. this was no challenge, especially because he had an incentive to work towards.

“oh, you’re just climbing- that works too!” you offered him your hands to pull him to his feet and enveloped him into a hug. you’d left him a bottle of your perfume before you’d left, but nothing could compare to actually holding you in your arms. you smelled like sweat and hairspray, but he could still catch hints of your perfume and the shampoo you loved.

when you let go of him, still keeping one of your hands in his, peter snuck a glance at the audience. from the stage, the venue seemed twice as large. he could see may, mj, and ned waving and screaming at him, and a bit further back, he could see thor waving his hands maniacally and tony, who had somehow managed to clear out a spot, actually smiling.

“what am i supposed to do?” peter hissed to you, smiling awkwardly at the audience as his heart pounded. fighting robot-alien-ancient-powerful-gods was so much easier than this.

“kiss me?” you whispered, eyes glittering. peter didn’t need to be told twice.

“so i’m peter? and you’re wendy darling?”

“mhm,” you sighed, brushing a strand of hair from his forehead.

“i’ll never lose you, darling. i’ll always come back to you.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

peter parker masterlist | main masterlist

taglist: (comment to be added)

@bambamwolf87 @yourallihave @im-a-slut-for-fluff

bonus:

flash’s fanfiction

the midtown group chat reacts to your relationship

#peter parker x you #peter parker x reader #peter parker imagine #peter parker x y/n #peter parker x famous! reader #peter parker x singer! reader #avengers x famous! reader #avengers x singer! reader #peter parker x reader fluff #peter parker x reader angst #peter parker angst #peter parker fluff #peter parker crackfic

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greekbros · 2 years ago

Text

"greek-Bros": moo.

*Heracles, Perseus and Achilles are lounging in Olympus trying to solve another fascinating problem*

Heracles: ...how about Jason? He clearly has the gumption to join our guild.

Perseus: nope, Zeus and Hera says due to his actions, he's forbidden from being pulled from Tartarus.

Heracles: hmm.....Caster and Pollux?

Achilles: no! Too similar!

Heracles: oh goodness why?

Perseus: Surprisingly Heric, he actually can't tell the difference between the two...plus considering his injuries I doubt he'll want to.

Achilles: *grumbles to himself on the confounding nature of two twins who wear completely different outfits*

Heracles: ........ Odysseus?

Achilles: :D ! *Hopeful*

Perseus: nope. Apparently he's enjoying his afterlife retirement. Can't say I blame him.

Dionysus: *walks by with a huge amphora of wine* hey what's up?

Heracles: oh greetings, Dionysus.

Perseus: Oh hey Dio, we were wondering....you know any other demigods willing to join me and the guys? We were planning on making a guild.

Dionysus: hmm...I heard Atalanta is available?

Perseus: uggggh would you believe she refused to join us? Said we would "cramp her style"...

Dionysus: ah women, sometimes they're just right about stuff hehe. Just the other day, Ariadne told me that she would teach her older brother, Asterion, how to do certain things with his horns so he didn't bump into things and she found out that on-

Perseus: wait hold on....your wife has a brother?

Achilles: horns? :L

Heracles: ....what a minute, who's Asterion?

Dionysus: yeah and you'll never guess who he is. Seriously when she told me I was like "NO WAY!" and she was like "Yes way and THATS just one of many reasons why I'll NEVER forgive Theseus -"

Achilles, Heracles and Perseus: *look at each other in confusion* you don't mean!?

Dionysus: oh but I do!

*later*

Hades: ....you want me to do what?

Heracles: *hands Hades a hand written appeal for Asterion 's release from Tartarus* please oh glorious one, he deserves a second chance at reaching his potential as one us.

Perseus: besides the guy got the short end of the shit stick on the first try it's not like it's going to kill anyone to give the guy a break.

Achilles: *gives his own appeal for Patorclus* ....paper.

Hades: *reads Achilles 's appeal* ...my sincerest apologies Achilles, Patorclus is serving his eternal sentence in Elysium as a guard. I'm afraid you'll have to pass on to join him.

Achilles: *slumps down and whines*

Hades: ....just to say I am not unfair, I shall release Asterion on the bases he has had a tumultuous starting life.

Heracles and Perseus: *hi-fives each other*

Achilles: *still understandably upset*

Perseus: By the way, how's Theseus? I heard he's gotten the royal treatment last time I heard?

Hades: ah yes, I'm not surprised his list of wrong doings out weighted his accomplishments...the life of governing and riches will do that to a soul.

*later*

Hera: *working on some needlework*

Heracles, Achilles and Perseus: *try to sneak a supremely confused Asterion to the baths to clean him up*

Asterion: *groans while bewildered at his ascendancy to Olympus* moo.

Perseus: shh.

Achilles: SHUT THE FUK UP!

Heracles and Perseus: D:< .... Achilles!

Hera: ? *Looks around* What's going there? And who sacrificed a cow? I hadn't heard of any recent ceremonies. *Stands up and turns the corner and sees the three heros and their hulking minotaur* oh my goodness!

Heracles: Lady Hera, I can explain.

Hera: No need. Looks like someone extra special needs to be taken good care of. *Goes up to Asterion and marvels at him* oh look at you, you poor thing. Oh look at you, what a sweet creature you are. *Loving gives Asterion a huge hug*

Asterion: *although not actually use to kind of affection, really does appreciate this considering he hasn't felt a mother's love in years* mmmmoo

Heracles: His name is Asterion, it has come to our attention that he is actually lady Ariadne's brother.

Perseus: Making him one very interesting in-law.

Hera: Well! I see she comes from good stock after all. I've always had a deep admiration for the Minoans and their culture anyway. Who's a sweet boy? *Gently holds Asterion's muzzle*

Perseus: so you're not mad?

Hera: oh Perseus you silly fool of course not, bovine are extremely special to me and the fact I was never told of him offends me. Speaking of which, where is Theseus? He told everyone that he killed a monster and yet all I see is simply a misunderstood soul.

Achilles: Theseus dead. He's in Tartarus now. C:<

Hera: good. Of all the demigods I've had the displeasure of talking to, I'm surprised Athena didn't smite him from the start.

Heracles: My lady, if I may, we planned on letting Asterion join us. We have your blessings I presume?

Hera: Oh of course. *Scratches Asterion behind his ears* all he needs is to freshen up and he'll be good as new.

Asterion: *wiggles his ears in joyful glee* fr-f--friends!

Perseus: Oh shit he talks?

Achilles: moo.

Heracles: No Achilles you can't trade speech patterns with Asterion.

Achilles: hehe

#greek mythology #hellenistic #greek gods #greek posts #greek bros #greek myth memes #Heracles #asterion #Perseus #Achilles #hera

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smells-like-mettaton · 3 years ago

Note

thick fog and papyrus? srsly tho what is up with his battle room lmao

Worth Fighting For

Rating: G Word Count: 1535 Read on AO3: here

---

“Are you sure you want to do this, brother?” Papyrus asked, even though he knew what the answer would be. Sans was the most stubborn monster Papyrus knew.

Sans would probably say the same about him. Their collective stubbornness led to month-long face offs over a discarded sock. Or to Papyrus cooking spaghetti three times a day, waiting for Sans to crack and tell him what was wrong with it.

Or to them standing at the edge of town, shrouded in thick fog.

“I’m sure.” Sans’s voice felt almost muffled by the mist.

That was part of the point. Anyone could train when they could hear and see their opponent. It would take a skilled fighter to battle under these conditions.

And Sans wanted to be skilled. Papyrus could hardly deny him that, after all the time he’d begged to train under Undyne.

“Right.” Papyrus gave a sharp nod, though Sans probably couldn’t see it. “Don’t expect me to go easy on you, br—”

A bone collided with his exposed spine. He yelped, though it was more from surprise than pain.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Through a gap in the fog, Papyrus caught his brother winking.

“Sans! That move is unsportsmanlike!” Papyrus rubbed his vertebrae. Of course, Sans could hardly injure him. Each of his attacks only shaved off one point of damage.

“Good thing fighting’s not a sport, huh?”

“Fighting is more than a sport! It is a way to express the hopes and dreams of your soul!!”

Sans sighed, disturbing the fog enough for Papyrus to see him again.

“Look, bro. I just want to be able to keep myself from getting dusted. I’ll save the dreams for when I’m sleeping.”

Papyrus’s brow pinched. Listening to Sans talk, you would think he never wanted to fight. But he did. Papyrus could see it in the darkness of his eyesockets, in the way his jaw set whenever something upset him.

Something had made Sans angry. Maybe even… frightened. None of Papyrus’s attempts to draw the truth from him succeeded, however.

Papyrus wanted to help Sans channel that anger into something more productive. Fighting could be productive! It could bring monsters together in ways nothing else could! But… not the way Sans went about it.

Maybe Papyrus just needed to show him.

A row of bones—carefully calibrated not to do damage—sprouted from the ground towards Sans. Papyrus couldn’t see him dodge, but he didn’t hear the telltale crack of bone on bone.

“I thought you said you wouldn’t go easy on me.”

A beam of light shot through the fog, and Papyrus sidestepped, his boots crunching in the thick snow. Several more beams followed it, but the pattern was easy to predict. The few times when Papyrus failed to dodge, the lasers barely tickled.

A muttered curse came from his left. Papyrus turned towards it, but didn’t ready another attack.

“Starting with your strongest attack is—”

“Bad sportsmanship?” Sans snapped.

“No. It’s just bad strategy.” Papyrus approached the sound of his voice. He bumped into a few of Sans’s blasters on the way and gave each of them a quick pet. “It’s safer to let your opponent underestimate you. Once you have them lulled into a false sense of security, you can secure your victory!”

“I don’t have time for that kind of strategy!” Sans sounded even angrier than Papyrus had expected. Maybe Papyrus was the one doing the underestimating. “I’m not like you! I don’t have hundreds of HP to spare! I’ve got one shot, and if I can’t—if I can’t win, then I’m…”

Papyrus’s eyesockets widened at Sans’s muffled sob.

“Oh, Sans.” He knelt down by his brother, feeling him rather than seeing him. He wrapped him in the tightest hug he could. Sans slumped in his arms, like all the fight had gone out of him.

“No one is going to hurt you. I promise,” Papyrus murmured. “I’ll protect you, brother.”

Sans tensed, and the moment shattered.

“You shouldn’t have to.” Sans pushed him back. His eyesockets had gone pitch black, two empty holes in the sea of white. “I’m—I was always supposed to take care of you, and I can’t—if I can’t stop the…”

Papyrus didn’t know what he was talking about, but expecting answers from Sans was like expecting Undyne to go a month without burning down her house. It wasn’t going to happen.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, ignoring the hurt that Sans’s shove had caused. Hurt that went deeper than any bone attack or laser.

Perhaps he deserved it. Even if he didn’t know everything, he knew he had messed up.

“You’re right,” Papyrus admitted, making Sans’s head tilt in confusion. “I want you to be strong and great, too! In fact, you're already very strong and great! But we’re safe here, brother. Undyne and the Royal Guard will protect us when a human comes.”

He didn’t bother saying that he would be joining the Royal Guard. It was a matter of when at this point, surely. But the thought wouldn’t comfort Sans at the moment.

“‘M not worried about humans,” he muttered.

“Then… what are you worried about?”

Silence. Like the fog had stolen away even the slight sound of Sans’s rattling bones.

“...Doesn’t matter.” Sans’s eyesockets closed. “Forget it.”

For once, Papyrus decided to face his brother head-on. The way Undyne would.

“I cannot just forget something that is bothering you, brother.”

“Heh. We already have, though. Over and over and over again…”

“Then this time, we should help each other remember!” Papyrus reached out and felt for Sans’s shoulder, then gave it a comforting squeeze.

“Nah. Too much effort.”

Papyrus felt Sans shrug. Annoyance bubbled up in him, but he forced himself to let it go. He should’ve known better than to expect Sans to face his problems head-on. He wasn’t Undyne.

Papyrus blinked. “You’re not Undyne.”

Sans’s sockets cracked open in a confused squint. “Uh, yeah? Did I hit you too hard earlier?”

“No!” He shook his head quickly. “I mean! You don’t have the stats that Undyne and I do!”

“You don’t gotta rub it in.”

“Ugh, brother!” Papyrus sprung to his feet, his hands on his hips. “I’m trying to say, we need to train you differently! I’ve been doing this all wrong!”

“Nah, I’ve just been making it hard on you.” Sans sounded guilty. “Sorry. I’m not a real good student.”

“False! I simply need to recalibrate your curriculum! Nyeh heh heh!!”

A short time later, they again faced off in the dense fog. But this time, Papyrus encouraged Sans to use every underhanded trick in his arsenal.

“Don’t forget your shortcuts!” Papyrus called into the white void as he hurled another wave of bones.

“No good,” Sans huffed, presumably while dodging. “Can’t use ‘em... while anyone’s looking. Magic’s weird... like that.”

“Well, I cannot look with all this fog in the way! And whoever has a bone to pick with you will surely blink at one point or another!”

“...Alright, I’ll give it a shot.”

And he did. Lasers blasted at Papyrus again. Blue attacks mixed with regular attacks mixed blue soul magic mixed with strange platforms that Papyrus discovered he could jump on without being harmed.

Until the platforms slid out from under him, dropping him into a spike-trap of bone attacks.

“Clever!” Papyrus called out, escaping with a blue magic-assisted leap. With that many attacks at once, his HP had actually taken a dent. “I bet you could create a maze with those! Any enemy would surely be confounded, then blasted to their senses!”

“Huh, that’s not a bad idea…”

Eventually Papyrus announced the end of the training session. He may have an abundance of HP, but Sans had kept him on his toes during the entire sparring match. There had been no time to sneak a bite of his cinnamon bun.

“So how’d I do? Think I’ll be joining you in the Guard any time soon?” Sans winked as they strode out of the fog.

“You want to join the Guard too?” Papyrus beamed until Sans looked away awkwardly.

“Nah, that was just a dumb joke. I’ve got enough to look out for with bein’ a sentry.”

Papyrus’s eyes narrowed. That was a pun, but at least it was of better quality than usual.

“Very well! It’s important to know your limits! If only so you can more effectively push them! Nyeh heh heh!” He clapped a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “And you certainly did so today! I’m very proud of you, brother.”

Sans’s head snapped up, his eyelights glowing brighter than Papyrus had seen in ages. He quickly schooled his expression into something less expressive, though.

“Geez, bro, all this sweet talk’s gonna go to my head.” He rapped on the side of his skull.

“Good! You need something to fill up all that empty space!”

Sans laughed out loud at that. “Thanks.”

Papyrus knew he wasn’t being thanked for the joke. Still, he played along.

“Of course! That’s what brothers are for!”

As long as Papyrus was around, Sans would never have to fight. But if Sans could feel more confident in himself…

That was something worth fighting for.

#fic tag #papyrus #sans #skelebros #tali writes #prompt requests #this was a fun one to do characterization wise

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seeds-of-the-garden · 4 years ago

Note

"Keith, if this is how I die, I leave you with this final thought. You suck." "Ok, firstly, screw you. Secondly, you're just asking Pidge out on a date. Stop being so melodramatic."

It confounded Keith how a ‘guys’ night out’ turned into a whole group of them sitting around Lance’s living room, playing truth or dare. It was supremely juvenile, and, though he wasn’t about to let anyone know, much more fun than going bar hopping. He wasn’t much for getting mindlessly drunk anyway.

He’d spent most of the night sitting nearer the shadows, artfully avoiding attention being drawn to him. This had worked out splendidly for several turns, and he was able to figure out that Dare would work a heck of a lot better than Truth for him. Shiro, Matt, James, and Kinkade, had been coerced to spill some really embarrassing secrets, some that shocked even Keith. Hunk’s truths had been boring, the man was a saint. A salty saint, but a saint nonetheless. Lance had avoided getting picked as well, but, Keith reckoned, all his embarrassing stories everyone knew about. He was definitely not the best at reigning in the mind-link the five of them still had.

Keith had zoned out while Shiro had been completing his most current dare, to call Slav and ask him how his day was. Quiznaking Matt was to blame for that one. Hunk had been next. Shiro dared him to point out his most favorite person in the room which turned into some sort of affirmation hour, where Hunk couldn’t decide, and instead told everyone why they were great. As far as Keith was concerned, Lance did seem to be Hunk’s favorite, but only because Pidge wasn’t around.

“Keith, truth or dare.”

Quiznak. He’d let his guard down, and now he was paying for it.

“Dare.”

“Buy me a large pizza.”

That was fast. This must have been something he was thinking about for a while.

“We already had pizza.”

“Yeah, but not ham, pineapple, mushroom, greenpepper, pizza.”

Everyone groaned. “Hunk, dude, whyyyyyy?”

Shiro exclaimed, “Nicely played.”

Keith shrugged, pulled up the app, and ordered Hunk’s pizza. “It’s on it’s way.” Then he slid back into the shadows.

“Thanks.” Hunk had a huge smile on his face. That made it worth it. “It’s your turn bro. Pick someone.”

Oh, Keith had forgotten about this part. Who should he pick? Who would give the group the most satisfaction through being embarrassed? He looked at each guy, his mind sizing up the potential for fun. Everything was a mission in his life, even this.

There was Lance, chilling in a folding chair, texting someone, only half paying attention to the goings on. He found his mark.

“Lance” He waited. It took a few seconds for it to register on Lance’s face.

Once they made eye contact Keith asked “Truth or Dare?”

It didn’t take long for Lance to decide, “Dare. I’m not spilling my secrets to any of you.”

“Like we don’t already all know everything Dude.” Kinkade laughed while James patted him on the back.

“He’s not wrong, man. You’re an open book.” Hunk softened his words with a side hug for one of his besties.

Keith had thought about generic dares earlier, like ‘steal Iverson’s rover’ or ‘call my mom and pretend you’re a knife salesman’, but none of those seemed right for Lance. He knew in an instant though.

“Ask Pidge out on a date.”

The room went completely quiet, various looks of shock or anger clouded the faces around him.

Then everyone spoke.

“Not cool dude.”

“What about her feelings?”

“I don’t think this is wise.”

“Hey! My sister isn’t a dare!”

“Yes. This is brilliant.”

And finally,

“WHAT THE CHEESE!? You can’t dare that kind of thing. I want a new dare.”

Keith was confused. He’d seen the way Lance had been acting around Pidge for over a year now. And he was positive she was who Lance had been texting all night. He thought Lance would jump at the chance.

Hunk spoke up, “No. This could work.” He turned to Lance, “You like Pidge, and you’ve been avoiding asking her out for months. Now you have to.” He nodded enthusiastically.

“First of all, how did you know I like Pidge!? Secondly, she’ll kill me. I cannot do this.”

Matt’s mouth hung open. “You like my sister?” He looked stunned and a little amused.

“You ‘like like’ Katie?” James had leaned forward in his seat. Kinkade laughed harder and slapped his back. “Bummer for you dude.” James elbowed him.

Keith could be patient, but this mission had kicked off and was in danger stalling quickly. “Nevermind any of that.” He narrowed his eyes at Lance, firing his next words like a pistol in a duel. “I double dog dare you.”

Lance’s shoulders slumped, but he pulled out his phone to dial. "Keith, if this is how I die, I leave you with this final thought. You suck."

"Ok, firstly, screw you. Secondly, you're just asking Pidge out on a date. Stop being so melodramatic."

Everyone watched with anticipation. Lance rolled his eyes and turned his back to them.

“Hey Pidge… Nothing much… Yeah, everyone’s still here. It’s a slumber party now… I mean, if you want to…. Um… So… Just, what I’m about to say isn’t because of a dare or anything…. I mean, it is, but...It isn’t, you know?....Uh-huh…. WILL YOU GO ON A DATE WITH ME!? ��

#plance #pidgance #flirtyrobot #mod fro #Can the guys really have a sleepover?#Lance #Pidge #Some Gen #VLD #Dastardly Dares

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steve0discusses · 4 years ago

Text

S4 Ep38: Awkward Hugs Episode

Remember how excited I was about the good storyboarder? Well this episode has the opposite of that. It looks a lot like they hit some sort of crunch and this entire episode got shipped to Singapore so that some other animation studio could deal with their problems. It’s got some jank.

And like listen, animation is hard, there’s a billion moving plates, there’s a lot of office politics and deadlines, this season in particular is very long and complicated, and I don’t know exactly what happened this episode, but it just...wow it’s a lot funny poorly animated moments and I was here for it.

So first off, Dartz died! I didn’t even cap it because it happened so quickly. He was standing there, a portal opened up, and then the Great Leviathan kind of munched him up in 3 frames of animation, and then dissolved away back into the portal. It was card shenanigans anyway, and I don’t go over card games here--just trust me he played cards, he lost, he died.

Once Dartz died, this happened, in the one place Roland thought he was safe.

Roland has spent a good amount of this time debating whether or not to go inside and now he’s got a situation. Is it safer in Soul Hut than...whatever this is?

I wouldn’t know either.

So he just decides to uh...look directly at it while everyone else deals with orb hell.

The three knights of Atlantis decide to revive the respective owners of their cards.

So Pegasus just has to sit back, relax, and find some other unsuspecting orb person to share his fanfiction deep cuts with.

PS, that was not an exaggeration on the lazy PowerPoint spiral-in transition--this episode was a marvel of “Oh crap we ran out of time!” last-ditch effort animation and I approve.

(read more under the cut)

And if you thought they were done being orbs now that we’re on a physical mortal plane--nah.

This is the closest Pharoah and Yugi have ever gotten to a physical hug. Just throwing it out there that this is the only time they’ve touched in any way as two separate entities. Also--I like that this is the same way Yugi holds his necklace when he’s talking to Pharaoh. Cute little parallel there.

And as I mentioned, there were a lot of people just hugging it out as if it’s the last episode of the season. First off, one of the most huggy people on this show, which I’m still surprised is the Kaibas.

(he did legitimately pretend to be asleep by the way, because as he was spiraling out of hell he was like “whaoooahahhh”)

So I guess if Mokuba, Tristan, and Tea woke up without being orbs first, then that really does mean they never died 2 episodes ago.

Fine. This is fine. I’ll append my headcanon.

...so Dartz really was just so tired of them that he decided to make them take a nap, huh? That Mokuba was so annoying he was just like “I’m turning them off ok? Not like OFF off, not killing them or anything, that would be rude--I just don’t like small one.”

Meanwhile Tea has a Yugi appreciation moment where she’s reunited with her very confusing relationship. Which is how she likes it best. Undefined in nearly every sort of way. A relationship made entirely out of subtext.

(and honestly, relationships made entirely out of subtext is like 75% of the teen dating experience, which I may have mentioned before, but I do not remember if I have because 2020 has wiped my memory of just so many things.)

I vocally, out-loud, went “Ahhhh!” at the screen because I FORGOT how big his eyes are. They are so wild usually, but with the animation B-team at the helm, I was just not ready for the eyes to return. Yugi’s eyes are just...an abomination in every way and I forget when I see them consistently. I get used to them, I get over it...But when I go an entire season without these hell eyes staring directly at me every five seconds, then it’s like I’ve seen them for the first time.

I’m glad he’s back but man his eyes.

Those eyes.

Anyway, on for some more awkward hugs. First off, Yugi’s visceral reaction to his pretty-much-a-wife-at-this-point giving him a...hug?

(she’s kneeling, by the way. Bro mentioned that it looks like she picked him up and held him entirely by the neck--that would have been great, and I would never doubt Tea’s strength, but she had the decency not to do that.)

And then to Yugi’s just overall confusion to whatever Joey Wheeler defines as a hug.

I am 5 feet 0 inches tall, much like Yugi, and can confirm that yes, some people do hug me like this.

This type of hug should be illegal, it’s very disorienting.

Then, Yugi got to do what he does best.

The FIRST THING he does from coming back from death is immediately hold back information. Mm. Yugi at his finest.

At the point that you’d assume that someone in this room would indicate that maybe this hell vortex is like...a situation...Roland comes in the room screaming for Kaiba to come outside and tell him what the hell to do with his life.

So they go outside and the city of Atlantis is popping out of the sea and flying directly into the air--which...sure, it doesn’t really go in the air usually...but I’ll take it.

And in case you’re like...wait, I thought Atlantis was in California, not in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, don’t worry, it’ll get even more confusing later on.

Also, this happened.

Most of the human race freakin died so like...not sure what we should be concerned about here. Gotta get that one last guy in Florida to board up his house, I guess.

I like that Tea is contractually obligated to beg Yugi to stay behind so she doesn’t have to live without him when...it’s like...Tea, your relationship is already a big ass question mark, and Yugi actually dying did not even mean you were living without him. He’s been around this whole season as Pharaoh, my dude. You have the only boyfriend who will not only never officially date you but will also officially never go away.

So like...earlier in the season it was mentioned that Florida had the pieces of Atlantis shoved in a museum so like...is Atlantis off of Florida now? Because the Battle of Atlantis was in the Bay Area, and Dartz lives in San Francisco, and they went on a helicopter and flew out to the sea so...

We GOTTA be in the Pacific, right?

Anyway, it could be that they’re worried it’ll hit the East Coast of Japan--which, yes--it would. That would also be way more pertinent to our cast of people who live in Japan, it’s just that if you’re doing a show in English that takes place in the USA and you say the “East Coast” it only means New York.

I don’t think the translation team got the memo, it was a very weird line.

Tea wishes Yugi luck instead of Pharaoh for once, and Yugi was like “I don’t know why you want to talk to me instead of the version of me with the fine ass.” and his confusion was kind of cute, but they didn’t actually go into any more deets than this.

Valon and Mai were almost making out with each other’s dead body like ten episodes ago, so maybe the team felt like they had enough practice to maybe almost approach something happening with their flagship couple? Almost.

But also...Yugi just has no idea that a few days ago Tea was trying to get Pharaoh to talk to her on a Caltrain by talking about wearing little swimsuits on a Florida beach date, and then Pharaoh got so upset he went to the tiny area between trains and started sobbing while punching a wall. Yugi doesn’t know this. I don’t think anyone will ever tell him.

And like...will anyone tell Yugi that Pharaoh woke up in Tea’s bed? Like no one, right? Like no one even knows that happened? The irony of how cautious Yugi is with this relationship after Pharaoh was just slicing and dicing for this entire season is great. It’s also probably unintentional, but I can still laugh at it.

Anyway, inside soul hut, Yugi got a little lost, and then his puzzle started glowing and brought him to the Macguffins from last season. Would have been really inconvenient if these got doused in the sea, honestly, and I don’t think the Ishtars would have appreciated it.

Also, this puzzle sensor would have been really, really useful in S2.

Meanwhile, I think Seto and Joey just stared at this glowy gate of hell thing being all “Do you know what this is, Kaiba? I was dead” and Kaiba being all “Hell if I know, I was also dead, I don’t know what this thing is.” And Joey being like “Well Yugi doesn’t know what it is, he was also dead.” and Kaiba being like “The only one of us alive was the dead guy who lives in Yugi’s imagination?”

And then Joey being like “Also, where the hell are we?”

So, frustrated that this obvious trap was simply too confounding, Dartz decides to explain to our dumb as hell cast what a “door” is.

Where we can then admire the sights of Atlantis! Which is mostly brick buildings and giant gates with snakes on them.

Also it would just be COVERED in dead fish but we’re gonna skip that and save it for what would be an extremely ill-fated Netflix live-action series that they will probably eventually make of Season 4. Netflix can’t help itself, you know it can’t. This is a spicy series. It would be terrible in gritty live action. Make it happen, Netflix.

I feel like the artist was trying desperately to fix Joey’s bangs and I feel that on an emotional level. We all want to fix Joey’s bangs. Why did they stop at Joey?

They find Dartz in some weird Gazebo which...OK. It was a whole lot of weird concept art that I didn’t cap because it’s like...nothing is terrifying about a Gazebo...

I straight up don’t understand Atlantis culture.

So, Dartz decided that he could just...use himself to raise the Great Leviathan. He had only one more soul he needed, and he was just as powerful as Yami--so lets just do it, lets just raise the snake!

MAN I just realized what a euphemism this season is.

Good job, Dartz.

Course this is how he spun his story to us, but he seemed pretty surprised when the Great Leviathan gobbled him up in the first 10 minutes of the episode.

But this is the story Dartz is sticking to. He, himself, will raise the Leviathan, himself, and he is very happy with his decision that he made all by himself. I mean, Dartz has been alive for 10,000 years, and maybe he got bored of immortality.

Dartz could have done this from day 1.

What’s up, Sephiroth? Nice little uh final fantasy thing we’re doing with this lizard’s face. I really can’t unsee these uneven man boobs (like what is that angle?) but it’s fine. Dartz doesn’t need hands or...legs...he’s a dragon now, like he can just bite stuff and fly around and stuff. Can’t be that bad.

But for reals, what is the dragon’s angle here?

what is it gonna DO?

Like after everyone’s dead. Is it just gonna...float around? Fly around outer space? Enjoy the sunrise?

Like what do dragons...DO?

Anyway, I’m sure we’ll never get the answer on why the Leviathan wanted to leave the core of the Earth so stinkin bad, but maybe--just maybe--this season might actually end next episode? Maybe?

Will I actually finish this season in 2020! I might! Y’all I MIGHT!

And for anyone reading these for the first time, here’s a link to read these in chrono order

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echodrops · 5 years ago

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The Promises I Made (2019 Edition)

For the past thirteen years, I’ve spent every New Year’s Eve compiling a list of fifty promises I intend to keep or fulfill over the next twelve months. The results have been truly amazing, and I have kept some promises I never thought I could. 2019 was… a nightmare that I can barely believe I survived, but I still kept some promises that I honestly did not expect I ever could.

This year, for New Year’s, there will be a new set of promises for to me keep, but here are the old ones, for review!

The Promises I Made (2019 Edition)

1) Be more proactive about tracking and following up with struggling students to decrease the number of students who drop from my class when they realize they cannot pass. Status: Somewhat broken? I tried really hard to be proactive with my students; however, there were some massive issues outside the classroom this year that made it extremely difficult to keep the focus on the students. When administration drags your attention away from the class, there is not a lot you can do…

2) Find a place to put in volunteer hours because uhhhh like this is actually important to my work evaluation and I definitely need something to write in that section… Yikes, this spring is my last chance to do this!! @_@ Status: Kept. I volunteered with the Utah Shakespeare Festival and it was super fun!

3) Install the fire escape window in the Utah house, no matter how much it might cost, because I can’t get a totally unrelated tenant in that basement without said window… Status: Somewhat kept. Okay. This one is a LONG story, but to be fair to me, I worked my ASS off to try and make this happen; just every single thing in the world prevented me from completing this promise, up to and including the city telling me I needed a permit AFTER I had already dug a massive hole in the ground for the window…

4) Buy sod to add grass to the front portion of the lawn so that it no longer looks like garbage. Status: Broken, but I did buy grass seed and put that out there. Unfortunately only some of it sprouted, but there is indeed SOME grass now growing there…

5) Fix the bricks near the windowsills on the Utah house to prevent long-term damage. Status: Broken. After dealing with the stupid window disaster, I had no time for this at all.

6) Get a watering system for my roses at the Utah house because I think my bro is probably killing them and that’s just not cool. Status: Broken, see above.

7) Work on the patio at the Utah house before it just flat out falls down. Status: Somewhat broken. Again, I tried to make progress on this—I called a patio guy to come out and assess how much it would cost to fix the patio—but the price I was quoted was so high that there was nothing I could do at the time.

8) Paint the stairwell so that there’s no chance of anything like lead paint or asbestos being exposed. Status: Broken. The leftover wallpaper glue continues to confound me…

9) Trim the backyard bushes so the neighbors don’t hate us anymore… Status: Broken. We trimmed a few bushes and at least got to the trees out front, but definitely a majority were left uncared for.

10) Move into a new house in Texas where I can get real internet, please for the love of god… Status: Kept. I moved into a very nice house with no scorpions!

11) Save money for my upcoming trip to Japan! 2020 baby! Status: Uhhh, broken. I’m not sure how I thought I’d be able to move into a new house AND save money for an international trip at the same time…

12) Get my wisdom tooth removed because it’s still there and still killing me, yikessss. Status: Broken. AUGH. I’m an idiot.

13) Make an appointment with an eye doctor for like the first time in years. Good job, Yehn, good job. Status: Kept. I got my glasses fixed and even got a new pair of glasses too!

14) Get my prescriptions refilled because I’m dwindling on asthma medicine and like… I could die from this… I should never have been left to care for myself; I’m not mature enough for this responsibility… Status: Kept, surprisingly. But I still need a new doctor because the last one I was going to wouldn’t give me any refills…

15) FINISH THE GIVEAWAY PRIZES I PROMISED LAST YEAR because holy shit I am incompetent and the worst and everyone has permission to hate me for starting things and never finishing them, fuck. Status: Broken. So broken. I am the worst.

16) Go dolphin watching in the Gulf for real this time. Seriously, it’s $10 Yehn, you can do this. Status: Kept, amazingly. It wasn’t as impressed as hoped; however, there was a lovely sunset.

17) Return to the Channel Islands to take better pictures. D; Status: Broken. T_T

18) Level all my classes to 70 in FFXIV before next expansion, please. Status: Somewhat broken. I didn’t have everything to 70 before the expansion, but I kind of feel like I should get credit for this one, because HEY, look at me now:

19) Organize and properly label all the photos on my computer so that I’m no longer desperately combing through folder and folder in blank confusion, looking for a single picture in a sea of thousands… Status: Kept. It took me like eight hours of work, but I actually did this.

20) Update Home and a Half more than once? PLEASE??? The guilt I feel over this currently is crushing. Status: Broken. And the guilt grows…

21) Complete the online American Literature class I am designing on time and with no corrections needed. Status: Kept. I’m counting this as kept even though TECHNICALLY there was one thing I forgot to finish and it came back and bit me in the ass; however, I was approved with no corrections needed.

22) Earn 100% completion for Kingdom Hearts III. So excited! Status: Broken. Um… This just didn’t happen.

23) Update my calendar with important dates—holidays, birthdays, etc.—and be productive about sending cards and well-wishes. Status: Somewhat kept. I wasn’t any better about sending cards really, but I did at least save all the birthdays in my phone so I remember them.

24) Get the garbage disposal in the Texas house fixed ASAP so I don’t have to wash the dishes by hand anymore because I absolutely hate that particular chore. Status: Kept. Then I moved, so it didn’t even matter.

25) Finish all the books my coworkers and friends bought for me recently so I can thank them for their recommendations! Status: Broken. So broken.

26) Actually move into my new place instead of leaving it completely undecorated and lifeless. Status: Remarkably, kept. Nothing has plastic on it, unlike at my old house where the nightstand didn’t get unwrapped even after two years of living there lol.

27) Try hard to get Creative Writing into a different area of the general ed. core so that more people will enroll in it. Status: Kept. I’m counting this because I did my darn best, but we are still waiting on the state to tell us whether or not the class will be accepted.

28) Get caught up on my Ebird reports, even the old, old, old ones I never put in because I was slacking. Status: Kept, actually. Whoo.

29) Throw away/return/sort all the stacks of old mail in the house (OMGGGG they’ve made me look like paper hoarder and I’m nootttt). Status: Broken. There’s just… a lot of papers to go through…

30) Clean up the garage before moving so that I don’t have to fight spiders to move when the time comes. Status: Broken, in that I did not clean up the garage in advance and did, in fact, have to fight spiders when it came time to move.

31) Find a way to boost grading productivity so that each class takes only two days to grade, maximum. Status: Somewhat kept. I was definitely better this year than last year; however, I really think the “two days per class” thing was too optimistic, so for the future semester, I allotted myself three days per class and I think it will work better.

32) Go to a totally new restaurant and try their food. Status: Kept. We went to a Mexican restaurant and I had trompo tacos (al pastor) which is probably not anything special to anyone else but it was my first time so lol.

33) Cancel old credit cards to make sure my credit is good before trying to buy a house (although I just checked my credit score and I’m in the great range already, so this is mostly for posterity’s sake). Status: Broken. But it didn’t affect my loan, so I guess it was okay. And it ended up being good I didn’t cancel my Best Buy card because I was able to get good financing on the new appliances I needed for my house.

34) Get official contracts from my tenants so I can use my rental income in my next loan calculation. Status: Broken, but I ended up not using that as part of the loan calculation anyway >_> so…

35) Talk to an HR rep about my retirement savings so that I can consolidate all my retirement accounts into one. (Man, look at all these ADULTING promises.) Status: Broken. Look at me failing all these adulting promises.

36) Really finish decorating my office so it looks super cute and all my students want to visit me. Status: Broken, but I think it sucks that I have to write this because it was really not my fault I couldn’t finish decorating my office. Our offices were all moved and disrupted by building remodels so I spent the entire year basically working out of a couple cardboard boxes.

37) Not sign up for ANY more new responsibilities at work in the spring semester. This is the biggest challenge. D; Status: Kept, by technicality. I was able to avoid signing up for anything new in SPRING… But fall… was a whole other story. XD

38) Migrate all the rest of my books to the new Texas house instead of leaving them in Utah… SOMEHOW. Status: Kept. I’m going to count this as kept. The only books left at the Utah house are my manga—I managed to bring literally every other book, which is very impressive considering I had only my small Camaro with its tiny truck space.

39) Use my twitter account more often to make it worth following. I will try!! Status: Kept… sorta? I mean, since I didn’t use the account AT ALL before, making even one Twitter post kind of counts as using it more, right? >_>

40) Keep my hair cut nicely so I look less like a mess (than I really am). Status: Somewhat broken. Although I think I got my hair cut more often this year than before, I don’t think I looked any less like a mess. XD

41) Successfully find a bridesmaid dress for my friend’s wedding that matches the rest of the wedding party. Status: Actually kept! It was incredible. The wedding I was in was even featured in a magazine because of how pretty it was!

42) Make sure my skin is in good condition for the wedding so I don’t look like a disturbing ghost… Status: Kept? I mean, in the end, looking like a ghost ended up being the whole point since it was a Halloween themed wedding so I kind of won either way.

43) Complete my BNHA manga collection. Since my bro bought me a bunch of the volumes for Christmas, I might as well. Status: Broken… I bought like… one volume. XD

44) See a groove-billed ani. (It’s another type of bird.) Status: Broken. Very illusive bird. T_T

45) Respond to messages, asks, and comments more quickly. I promise I’m not ignoring people… D; Status: Um, broken. I left many people on read this year, sorry.

46) Lose ten pounds so that I feel more fit and comfy. Status: Broken. I didn’t exercise at all this year, uff.

47) Pay down credit card debt by at least 1/3. Yikesssss, I really need to do this quick. Status: Broken. It’s hard to pay down a credit card when you pour all your money into buying a new house…

48) I will finally fucking finish that chapter 73 analysis of Noragami… I swear to god… Status: Broken. Uh yeah. This didn’t happen. V_V

49) Reach 1700 followers on Tumblr. You should follow me—I’m only marginally a waste of time and space! Status: Kept. Over 2500 followers now!

50) I will keep these promises. LOLLLLL. Status: Somewhat kept/somewhat broken. One year I really will keep them all…

Totals Kept promises: 18 Broken promises: 24 Somewhat kept/broken promises: 8

Well, there are more kept promises than last year at least… It was another really hard year, what with moving in the middle of the year, over-working, dealing with so much drama with the reaccreditation on our campus, and just EVERYTHING all at once this last year… I keep thinking things are going to calm down and then they never do. Please 2020… just let me rest…

My new set of promises will be up on the 1st!

#50 promises #new year's resolutions #IRL stuff #please 2020 #I need a break #it's not the roaring 20s #it's the snoring 20s #PLEASE

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thanksjro · 5 years ago

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Eugenesis, Part One, Scene Six: My OCs, Let Me Show You Them

Mirage fucked up, guys.

Because he fucked up, Mainframe- yeah, he’s here in the narrative now, don’t worry about it- has to do some digging in that data they nabbed from the Decepticon fortress. It takes a little doing, but he’s able to uncover a few files that haven’t been completely junked. Unfortunately, it doesn’t answer the question of where the flying fucks came from. Shockwave wasn’t even sure where they came from, just that they showed up in ‘86 with empty heads.

While Mainframe is busy doing that, Mirage gets a little aside, thinking about Nightbeat’s transfer, and wondering if Prowl and Perceptor actually told him what was up. He decides to not worry about things he can’t control- which is pretty much everything going on at present- and goes to find Ultra Magnus so they can have a little chat.

MEANWHILE, ON CYBERTRON, Nightbeat’s writing up his report on Longtooth’s disappearance. He adds a note about watching out for the victim’s friends, stating that grief may be confused for weakness in such a cramped, hectic space.

Nightbeat, my dear, you confound me so.

He decides to give his report to Rodimus personally, seeing as he’s right across the hall. He steps out his door to immediately find the Prime, being trailed by Prowl. Prowl asks how his flight was, but when Nightbeat tries to tell him about being attacked by Cyclonus and Scourge, Prowl cuts him off with an “excellent!”. IDW Prowl isn’t the only prickish one, it would seem. Actually, Prowl’s acting as an assistant to Rodimus here, complete with a clipboard. I’ll bet he prefers this go-around to the one where his superior was Grimlock.

Nightbeat asks Rodimus just why he’s here, and gets a bit of a runaround for his troubles. It takes a while to get a straight answer, but he eventually finds out that he’s wanted for a mission. No details as of yet- Rodimus doesn’t want to tell him, worried that knowing what’s going on beforehand might put the detective in danger. For all his faults, Rodders really does care. He invites Nightbeat to join him in visiting AMC1- Autobot Medical Center, I assume- and they jump into the sewers to start making their way over.

Rodimus hears something. He goes ahead to check it out.

...

Are you telling me these come off? Like, they’re supposed to? Has Rodimus Prime, chosen leader of the Autobots, matrix-bearer extraordinaire, been fighting a war in Ugg boots this entire time?

…Does that mean the Hooves™ come off too?

Eugenesis is making me question things, and it really wasn’t the things I was expecting to question.

Anyway, his sweet moves have been wasted, because what he heard wasn’t the enemy, but rather fellow Autobot and Original Character, Quark.

(No hate towards OCs, of course- I have a few myself.)

Quark is a nervous little fella, stuttering out an explanation of having found a previously-unknown route to get to the Autobase. Rodimus agonizes over this a bit, lamenting how he always seems to be the last to know about things on any given day.

MEANWHILE, ON CYBERTRON… AGAIN, Soundwave just got out of the shower and is on his way to Galvatron’s throne room. He enters the dark, dank depths, passing by busts of former Decepticon leaders as he does.

Turns out Galvatron isn’t actually comatose, but he is pretty introspective these days. He asks Soundwave if Sixshot can be trusted, then orders that his cassettes go and keep an eye on him. Soundwave asks if he’s looking for a reason to off Sixshot, and Galvatron fires back with what can be constituted as a “no u.”

BACK ON AQUARIA, The Quintessons are building ships, and Death’s Head wishes he had brought more ammo. Hearing voices behind him, he climbs up into the ceiling- characters do that a lot in Roberts’ stories- just in time to escape the notice of Lord Xenon, Imperial Majestrix, & Leader of the Quintessons, and his lackey Haxian. They’re joined by General Rodern, who’s ready to get a move on.

Death’s Head could just shoot them all right now. He sure wants to.

However, the plot is having other ideas, and his cloak decides that now is the perfect time to unfurl itself and make his location known. He’s pulled to the floor and gets put through step one of a tentacle hentai, then is tossed to his assumed death. Lord Xenon seems to be unaware that Death’s Head is a bad bitch and you can’t kill him. He demands that the body be brought to the interrogation room, just in case.

Haxian reports that a hyper shuttle has been spotted coming into orbit.

On the stolen Autobot shuttle, we get a scene devoted almost purely to dialogue, but it boils down to this, more or less:

It seems that our flying fucks do know a couple things after all- they’re aware of the Quintessons, and at least some of their battle tactics, and when to call it quits.

MEANWHILE back at the Autobase, Quark’s visiting with his buddy Rev-Tone in the medi-bay, where he’s still in a good deal of pain from getting his legs blown off in Helex. They’re still blown off, but that’s not important. What is important is that Rev-tone’s a huge gossip, and a little birdie told him that Throwback’s, well, back. Quark reacts with shock and awe.

I have no idea if this an appropriate response on Quark’s part, because Throwback doesn’t appear to be a character within the canon of The Transformers. As far as I can tell, he’s another OC.

Why do I have a feeling this character is poking fun at crossover events?

Quark goes over to talk to Throwback, who’s hooked up to some medical readouts across the way.

Okay, this is a bit. This character exists to do a bit.

Quark goes back to Rev-Tone and breaks martial law by sneaking him some Hypergrade- high grade or engex in other continuities- which Rev-Tone immediately starts slinging back, with a mouth I’m not totally convinced he actually has. We’ll get to that in a moment.

That’s kind of gay, Quark. Man, Roberts was really coming at us with the gay robots from the very start.

Rev-Tone asks if Quark’s going to the inspection, and Quark says he’s required to, seeing as he’s part of Kup’s squad. He says he’ll be back to visit as soon as the event’s over. Oh, Nightbeat was in this scene too, off reading the bulletin board. Rodimus was meeting with First Aid off in the office. They were busy doing their own things.

BACK on Earth, Centurion is getting his first tattoo- I mean, Autobrand.

I’m sorry, what?

This is canonically how this goes in the Marvel comics. All your robot-bros pour a little of their blood into a cup, and then you inject it into your bloodstream. Comics are friggin’ wild, man.

This is the happiest moment of Centurion’s life.

It lasts for about twenty seconds.

Mirage grabs Ultra Magnus, pulls him aside, and they have a very brief discussion, before Mirage storms away, Ratchet in tow. Ultra Magnus, all eyes now on him- Mirage knows how to make an exit- tells his fellow city-dwellers that he has some bad news.

A lot happened these last few pages. We got a hint at what Nightbeat’s Iacon transfer was about, saw Rodimus protect his boys, Death’s Head got thrown at a spaceship, the triad exploded, a robot indulged what might be a drinking problem, Centurion joined the Autobots, and Ultra Magnus delivered a cliff-hanger. We’re really gearing up for some stuff to go down.

Okay, so getting back to Rev-Tone...

Rev-Tone is a funny character. At the time of publication, he was just another OC. Unlike Quark, however, who just got his name recycled, he snuck into the story of MTMTE in issue #48, by way of being a prisoner in the Grindcore camp. He’s the guy who gets a mouth made via violence, and might have been in the “teleporter” later on. Still, he only had a speaking role, and was never actually shown. All we know about MTMTE Rev-Tone looks-wise is that he doesn’t have a mouth. Here, though, with the power of PDF downloads, I have the extensive collection of Rev-Tone reference images for all your fan-art needs.

Boom. Full body reference.

Look at that gorgeous face.

You’re welcome, artist’s community. Now get on those hot, steamy Rev-Tone pinups I know you’ve been dying to create.

#transformers #jro #eugenesis #part one #maccadam #Hannzreads #text post #long post #prose writing

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floggingink · 6 years ago

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Riverdale, “Chapter Forty-Seven: Bizarrodale”

Jughead eats: QUICK SHOT OF BRUNCH

the print on Josie’s bomber jacket? confounding

“If there’s no wedding reception, it means the Gargoyle King has won.”

Ms. McCoy in bright blue? confounding

have Moose’s eyebrows gotten thicker? he...he fine

Cheryl’s sheaths: like a true gay icon, Cheryl wears both a satiny demi-cup bustier and a flannel in bed with Toni, who’s rocking a sort of cottony Aerie bralette

Hermione’s earrings look like divining rods, which makes sense

“dangerously unhinged,” in this day and age? UNHINGED?

Cheryl is “legacy” in Riverdale’s version of Smith College

Cheryl’s pins: in her droopy 1920’s lady-reporter tie, Cheryl has a pin that is probably a bee but is POSSIBLY a giant frightening moth like in the Silence of the Lambs poster

Moose’s hair is longer or something and he’s like? I don’t know but I’m a gay boy all of a sudden, like let me at All That

I like how he pauses but goes in for more kisses after Kevin tells him he wants to ask him something

he’s like…..so tall….and he has this a little mole on his cheek….

(RIP Midge)

I’m writing a scene where it’s gay.: you look me in my pale astigmatic eyes and tell me the little snitch canary “told you they were in here sir” smug Malfoy stool pigeon ISN’T a pillow queen and I’ll give you this money RIGHT NOW. THAT thin-lipped smirk? with THAT cleft chin? he’s a gay, your honor

Sexy, aesthetic Southside: oh fuck!!!! Sweet Pea has a VERY vulnerable, soft-masculinity speech about his heartspace and emotional boundaries and he’s so fluffy-haired and trying to be gentle with himself……….SWEET PEA……..

Best costume bit: don’t miss the two-second shot of a Prostitute in a turquoise pencil skirt and red velvet blazer and pearls AND GLASSES leading a man by the tie down the Maple Club hallway

“Damn good coffee”: also this jazz music and Cheryl’s short pantsuit

WHERE CAN I GET CHERYL’S MINI BACKPACK

The Blossom spawn: I know Penelope Blossom is not out here suggesting there are no lesbians in what I assume is a women’s college. I remember when I got into My Women’s College one of the nuns at my church was like, Ha ha! Don’t let the drug-dealing lesbians get you! and I was like, How do you already know the plot of Riverdale season 3? but then I was also like, Ma’am why did you join this monastery?

Fifth period is AP English: “THIS IS THE PRICE OF SALT.”

Lawyer McCoy is right, Ex-Sheriff Keller IS a snack and this bitch’s blood sugar is low

I love Sierra and Whatsit playing Lawyers in bed because it happens to be my thing too and I want to be there with them

Certified pedigree: his name’s Tom right? he’s SO HANDSOME. everyone is so handsome right now!!!!!!! (I’m ovulating)

this is the same fancy hotel room Jughead and Betty stayed in when he sort of proposed to her? this is just the upscale version of the sex bunker

Kevin eats when he’s stressed, as you will recall from the drive-in S1 episode

“an epaulette to cry on”

Cheryl’s hair: and Cheryl’s sleeves!!!!!!!

Sixth period is Intro to Film: “looking like a community theater production of The Talented Mr. Ripley” is the SECOND time handsome bicurious Tom Ripley has been name-dropped (also the drive-in S1 episode)

“I can’t go back to Fox Forest” is like the most tragic thing. HE CAN’T GO CRUISING AGAIN

“Oh, sullen, tenderhearted Kevin.”

Cheryl’s a chaos angel from hell: “RAPTUROUS”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like that Cheryl continues to use words like “whilst” and “amongst”

is Moose wearing a denim Henley? MOOSE?

the closed captioning renders it “O shutterbug of my dreams.” “O,” LIKE CHERYL IS SHAKESPEARE

I absolutely buy that Cheryl would ask if this was their first fight mid-fight

only Toni among us could wear that many necklaces at once

I did get a little confused when Toni confronts Cheryl in the bathroom, like at first it was about how you shouldn’t out people but then it was about her not being in the Serpents? let’s focus, ladies

The 2001 Josie and the Pussycats movie was a masterpiece: Josie’s commitment to keeping her eyeshadow coordinated with her jackets over her commitment to boys is aspirational

Every triangle has three corners, every triangle has three sides: I LOVE ARCHIE’S SIDE-EYE, LIKE………“SWEET PEA?”

Reggie on kneecapping: “Does that really happen?”

Reggie’s voice cracks me up. he’s just a big gorgeous squeezable side hustle dummy bro, so down for the ride, remember when he slugged Jughead? neither does he

REGGIE HONESTLY HONEST-TO-GOD IS JUST LIKE….RONNIE YO YOU NEED SOME MONEY?

“You can be my Baby Driver” uuuuuugggghghhhhhkkhhhhhhhhh REggggeieiee

“JUST PLEASE DON’T SCRATCH MY CAR” has more sexual energy than I think Archie has ever manufactured with anyone EXCEPT BETTY when they kissed that one time you know?????

why do you think Reggie is such a good doofus boyfriend while Archie was such a bad doofus boyfriend? is it because Archie tried to think for himself? or has Reggie just not been given the chance to fuck something up yet

I like Penelope bringing up Sierra and Tom getting married not to shade them but to just be like, They should be happy if they want. I was like, Damn, Penelope! You’re right!

“He is a vicious and petty god.”

lol oh yeah Hiram got shot

Gay?!: as has been discussed, Veronica is reading some classic lesbian pulp fiction for no other reason than I suppose she fucking likes it, and that is BDE

Summer + Blair = Veronica: Veronica would wear those shoes to baby drive

SOMEONE TAKE ME ON A “MAD SAPPHIC CAPER”

Archie > Dawson: Archie is a hot-or-cold boyfriend but he is an EXCELLENT beard!!!! GOOD, ARCHIE

I’ve seen Brick like thirty times: Reggie takes the same positive attitude towards getting shot and surviving that I hope I would have, which is “at least I can say I got shot”

Moose is like, out and THEREFORE dtf, as if they couldn’t have secretly been having sex this whole time

Toni conceded to Highsmith’s business formal dress code insofar as she wears a black vest over a plaid tie and that’s it

“WHOEVER YOU ARE, PLEASE BE CHILL.”

Veronica’s blue plaid coat SHOCKS me

Veronica was rich: Gladys admires Veronica and Reggie’s gumption showing up with only half the money

is it a coat or is it a miniskirt with a matching jacket?????

God bless jingle-jangle Moose: Moose is so excited that he just absolutely tells Cheryl he’s finally going to have sex. I know the show needs him to say it so Cheryl can tell him to BYOS, but it’s still cute of him, himself. is Moose kind of precious?

remember when Moose got gunned down in that car? Christ

HE BROUGHT A LITTLE RED CANDLE!!!!!

I love when people take off their whole belt, as if you can’t just undo it and still take your jeans off

dope deer skull! plus: everyone’s fucking

Mädchen Amick, MÄDCHEN AMICK: I’ve lost track a little bit of whether or not Alice KNOWS Betty and Jughead are literally/colloquially sleeping together in Betty’s bedroom, or are they taking advantage of her being gone?

The female gaze: Reggie’s chest is the new Archie’s chest

“NIGHT HAG”

“KEEP YOUR BOW CLOSE.”

Moose is MASSIVE like, do you see those arms?

Fwoopy hair is the best hair: HIS BEAUTIFUL FLIPPY HAIR ON THE PILLOW

Dilton Doiley Ethel Muggs The Gargoyle Children: the RROTC guy is Chris Cooper in American Beauty???

Gay.: Sierra was halfway right about “the jealousy thing”

even FP, conducting his interview in his flannel, is like, bruh

These students are legally children: his “Man, the Sisters did a number on you” feels like Riverdale’s version of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s “The Catholics really fucked you up”

Jughead doubts it: Jughead makes a good point. is there one costumes everyone keeps using or is it that easy to DIY your own Gargoyle King?

“UR-KING,” JUGHEAD, PLEASE

oh I can see Jughead about to be disillusioned by his family coming a mile away

Archie’s soft soft sweater? confounding

at least Moose isn’t moving to Toledo, am I right

CHERYL’S SLEEVES?????????

What damn high school in America: Cheryl’s girl gang is 100% Teddy girls and I love them

THE WHITE STRIPE ON REGGIE’S SWEATER and the little black birds on Veronica’s shirt!

Gladys & JB are already a more powerful duo than FP & Jughead could ever hope to be

ARCHIE ASKS HER IF HE COULD KISS HER. THAT’S VERY SEXY OF YOU, ARCHIE. GOOD, ARCHIE

wait Moose is moving to Glendale? SABRINA-GLENDALE? MOOSE WAIT A SECOND?

NEXT WEEK: Gladys tells Veronica to pray, OH BOY

#riverdale #commentary #tropes #i say

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vex-bittys · 6 years ago

Text

Undertale Interactive Dating: Final Round (part 2)

You realize that you’ve been squinting suspiciously at Sans for quite a bit longer than could technically be considered polite, and he’s staring right back at you. His figurative ear-to-ear grin becomes increasingly unsettling as the seconds tick by.

[ You ask Sans what he means in hopes of getting some answers. ]

“aww, c’mon, buddy. Don’t you know how to greet an old friend?” The stocky skeleton extends his hand to you. Is he a friend? You don’t sense any dangerous intentions from either skeleton, but you don’t know them at all… or you don’t think you do… Do you?

You shake Sans’ outstretched hand. You never expect what happens next.

PHBBBBT!

“SANS!” scolds Papyrus. “THAT HAD BETTER NOT BE YOUR WHOOPIE CUSHION JAPE AGAIN!”

“it’s better than the alternative,” jokes Sans.

“SKELETONS DO NOT BREAK WIND, SANS!” howls Papyrus. You can’t help giggling. “DO YOU FIND MY BROTHER HUMERUS, HUMAN?” Papyrus asks you with a wink.

You smile at him. Something about his height, humor, and over-the-top personality resonates with familiarity, and you like it. Unfortunately, Sans interrupts the moment before you can respond to Papyrus with a pun of your own.

“hey bro, why don’t you go on ahead and make sure all of your puzzles are calibrated properly? me and the human here will catch up in a few minutes,” suggests Sans.

“AN EXCELLENT IDEA, BROTHER! I MUST MAKE SURE THE HUMAN IS PROPERLY PERPLEXED AND CONFOUNDED BY MY MASTERFUL PUZZLES! MAKE SURE THEY DO NOT ESCAPE IN MY ABSENCE!”

“I can’t wait to be both perplexed and confounded, possibly even befuddled,” you call after Papyrus as he dashes away. You hear a raucous “NYEH HEH HEH!” in response to your words though the speaker is already out of sight.

Once Papyrus has fully disappeared down the path, Sans turns to you, and his eyelights have vanished. Seeing his empty sockets is even more unnerving than the too-wide smile that is still stuck on his face.

“my brother is really excited to capture a human, so maybe keep pretending to be one?” he says cryptically.

“Excuse me?” You are so confused.

“i don’t know what you’ve done on the other timelines, but if you hurt-”

“Timelines?” The confusion intensifies.

“whatever happened before you RESET…” Sans explains, clarifying nothing.

“RESET?” You hate that you just keep parroting his words back at him. “I don’t know anything about that. I was hoping you could help me figure out why everything here is so familiar except that I can’t remember why it’s so familiar. I feel like I’ve met you before, but you were somehow different…”

“you don’t remember anything before you got here?” The short skeleton’s demeanor changes; he relaxes and becomes thoughtful, considering your words.

“I came here from a glaring white nothingness… and there was a portal… four portals? I really don’t remember anything.” You start to cry. Your head aches with the strain of trying to pull forth the information. Unconsciously, you run your fingers along the hem of your jacket.

“strange,” Sans comments, more to himself than to you. “i need to go to the lab and do more research…” He pats your shoulder. “We’ll figure it out.”

You scrub the tears from your eyes.

[ Ask to go to the lab with Sans to find answers (Stay with Sans ONLY) ][ Go see Papyrus’ puzzles while Sans goes to the lab (Go with Papyrus ONLY) ][ Tell Sans you will go to the lab with him after you do Papyrus’ puzzles (Stay with Sans and Papyrus) ]

(Leave an ask or comment, or reblog with your choice)

INDEX | Read on AO3

#undertale interactive dating #undertale dating sim #choose your own adventure #undertale #skelebros #undertale sans #ut!sans #undertale papyrus #ut!papyrus

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sparklyjojos · 6 years ago

Text

[THE CHILDISH DARKNESS Recaps, Chapter 7]

[tw: gore, child abuse, bad things happen to a dog again]

-------

SEVEN

Saburou never had to use his imagination to describe what violence would look like in his books. Personal experience was enough. He’d been living with the storm of violence called Jirou under one roof for years.

Once when Saburou and Jirou were on their way home from school, they were attacked by a gang of three boys. Jirou barely broke a sweat severely beating them up. Naturally, as someone who enjoyed playing with his victims he wouldn’t just let the three go. Instead he brought a small dog with him, some kind of a small brown terrier wearing a collar, and had one of the hapless attackers do an unspeakable act to it. This event resulted in serious injury to both the boy and the dog. Jirou didn’t even glance at the terrified group as he picked up the wounded animal and took it to a vet clinic, even if he’d been the one at fault. In the end, the dog survived, and Jirou returned home laughing that he should have used a horse instead.

Saburou was confused by the shape of violence in his house. After beating Jirou, Maruo would often cry alone, and Jirou always had tears in his eyes when lashing back. No doubt Jirou loved and hated his father at the same time, the father who wasn’t able to outwardly show his love towards Jirou.

When Jirou was in middle school, he once beat up another student so badly that his furious father drove to the Natsukawa house. But before he could even enter the house, Jirou immediately pounced upon him and beat him savagely while straddling his chest, the same manner of violence that Maruo always used. This time, Jirou wasn’t laughing at all. He only snapped out of it and stopped the assault once the man’s son arrived and desperately threw himself between the two. Maybe only at this moment did crying Jirou remember that this was someone else’s father, and not his own. After that, Jirou got into less fights, claiming that they were a bother.

What is love? Why does it give birth to violence? Why does it sometimes make us hurt the ones we love? Maybe Maruo and Jirou wouldn’t stop their conflict until one or both were killed or until someone else died.

Then again, Saburou had a thought that if he were to die, he’d just get instantly forgotten. Poor Mercutio in the middle of a greater tragedy.

By the time March came around Yurio seemed happier, even if she still sometimes had a spell of apologizing to her dead boyfriend, or stood by Saburou’s bed in the middle of the night telling him to die. Maybe it’d be better if she left this cursed house. That being said, when Saburou contacted her parents, they said that they’d rather have her go to a good institution than have her stay at their house in that condition. Saburou didn’t want to hear about that possibility. He wouldn’t give up on Yurio. Atena and Shirou had already been taking good medical care of her, and besides, Yurio surely wouldn’t feel good in an institution full of strangers.

Or maybe he was mistaken and really just pulling Yurio into the vortex of his own emotions instead of doing what would be the best for her.

Yurio would cry and say “I love you, Saburou” while beating him so badly Shirou and Atena had to restrain her. But Saburou felt as if it was his duty to get beaten up by her. After all, he was the one who kept dragging her into his own emotional turmoils. The crime and the punishment. Every punch sparked a little joy inside him.

Maybe he really shouldn’t be comforting her after each time she lashed out. Maybe he shouldn’t say that since he loved her, it was alright.

One night, she broke his finger while laughing and crying uncontrollably, but Saburou refused Shirou’s proposition to go get some rest in a calmer place for a few days. This was a punishment he had to take.

One day, Shirou said that Saburou really should try to catch whoever had killed Yurio’s boyfriend Hashimoto. No doubt the girl had been hoping all this time that Saburou would be able to bring the killer to justice. She was still thinking about poor Hashimoto, whose body had been found tied to a ping pong table in the middle of a school courtyard, his legs, arms, and head cut off, a note about the “Death God Jawakutora” attached.

Saburou retorted that there wasn’t anything he could do, to which Shirou told him to try, goddamit!, and that people often repeated they couldn’t do something that they just didn’t want to try. During the argument Shirou punched him so hard that he lost consciousness.

When Saburou woke up, Yurio had been in the middle of carving bloody letters into his chest:

LOV

“It’s alright,” he told her when she tried to run away in tears. “It’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright.”

Was it really alright? He had to start moving. He’d have to catch Hashimoto’s murderer before Yurio tried to pull out his still beating heart.

Shirou had already gathered useful data for him and spread it on the kitchen table.

“Before I share my thoughts about the case, I’d like you to look at the evidence and tell me what you think of it. Someone who wrote a bunch of stupid mystery novels can’t be that bad at figuring things out. Do your best, Ehimegawa Juuzou.”

The victims, all found naked and with a note saying ‘Death God Jawakutora’, all in Nishi Akatsuki or nearby towns:

-- Hashimoto Takashi – as mentioned, his body had arms, legs and head cut off. Marks of strong impact on the body. Cause of death: decapitation. The body parts were wet with tap water. Lack of blood suggested Hashimoto had been murdered in a place different than the schoolyard where he was found.

-- Ogata Shuuichi (43) who had been impaled from mouth to bottom with a wooden pole, which was then stood vertically by an elementary school near the victim’s house in Imadate. The body showed marks as if it had been tied with rope several times around the chest. Cause of death: impalement. Like with Hashimoto, the murder must have been commited in another place.

-- Amaya Yoshiaki (31) and Ogaya Masayuki (32) who were killed by hitting a concrete parking lot in Takefu many times in a row, each time landing face down. It was estimated that each time they had fallen from 10 m, probably from the window on the fourth floor of the elementary school the parking lot belonged to. The victims’ arms and legs bore rope marks.

-- Sakamoto Rio (27) -- found with most his bones broken, the resulting internal trauma being the cause of death. Once again found in Takefu by an elementary school (but a different one than the two victims above). Near the body stood two poles usually used to support the bar in high jump.

-- Nanbu Takahiro (18) – found next to a middle school in Imadate, impaled with a pole from bottom to top. His arms had been cut off, and investigation concluded that his severed head had been violently pushed onto the end of the pole several times. The cause of death was blood loss.

Saburou noticed that all the bodies were found near a school. The note “Death God Jawakutora” could come from its follower, maybe someone calling themselves Jawakutora, but it could also be a proclamation: “death TO God Jawakutora”. Saburou proposed that if Jirou really was connected to Jawakutora, then the murders could be his doing (Shirou was for now staying silent with his own judgment).

Next, Saburou wondered if there was mitate involved. Every murder scene could symbolize a different historical execution method. He couldn’t find any execution methods that would resemble exactly what happened to Hashimoto, however. The boy’s torso had been cut into several pieces like a squid tentacle cut into rings.

Thinking about Hashimoto, Saburou figured out the source of the water. The victim’s body had been frozen so that the body slices wouldn’t spill out their contents. The murderer must have wanted to keep those slices in shape for whatever reason.

Another confounding thing was the first impalement. The pole had been driven through the body in the other direction than in historical executions, with the sharp end stuck into the ground. And what about the unexplained rope marks? Saburou thought that maybe the rope was used on many victims to hide its significance in a single crime scene (“hide a tree in a forest”), but quickly dismissed it as a stupid concept from ridiculous mystery novels.

Next, the two victims who had been thrown out a window. Why do it more than once? Why have the victim always hit the ground face-down and never with their back or side? Maybe the murderer wanted to make sure the two would die, but then why not throw them from somewhere higher like the school’s easily accessible roof?

Then there was Sakamoto, also considered to have hit the ground many times in quick succession, but from relatively smaller height, almost as if somebody performed a wrestling move on him over and over again until all his bones were broken.

As for Nanbu, why would the murderer repeatedly push the head onto the pole?

Saburou didn’t get it at all, so he raised his head to ask Shirou, but Shirou had already fallen asleep on the couch.

“The hell, figure something out first before you wake me up!” he complained after being shaken awake.

“Why should I be the only one here who’s actually trying to think?!”

“Because Yurio wants you to think. Today at the therapy she said stuff like ‘Saburou isn’t serious about doing a single thing!’, ‘He won’t even face me properly!’. If a 13-year-old girl’s roasting you like this, then it’s over, bro! Wake me up when you find something, OK?”

Saburou tried, but couldn’t think of anything more. He went to the kitchen and sunk into the darkness of the storage again, thinking, thinking, thinking. Just like he had closed himself off in the darkness of the warehouse after Runbaba’s death.

Tired of thinking, Saburou fell asleep and had a dream.

Saburou and his three brothers were still children, playing outside the Nishi Akatsuki elementary school. Yurio showed up, somehow older than them, and proposed that they play jump rope. When they said they didn’t have any rope, she pulled out a knife and asked the kids to hold Saburou down. Saburou felt uneasy, but his brothers were all laughing cheerfully, so he smiled too. Yurio sliced his abdomen open and pulled out his instestines, and his brothers used them as their jump rope. It didn’t really hurt, although Saburou was a little concerned how they’d put everything back later. But his brothers and Yurio were all laughing, so he laughed too.

Saburou woke up and returned to the living room. Shirou didn’t appreciate being stirred awake once again, but Saburou was really at the end of his rope with the case. He related what little he had figured out.

“I think we should forget about the execution methods idea,” Shirou said. “Let’s try to look at it from a different point of view… hm?” Suddenly he brightened up. “I know! I know what the murderer did! Ha ha ha!” But he refused to tell Saburou anything before leaving. “I’ll swing by the crime scenes to make sure!”

“Wait, Shirou! Just give me a hint!”

“It’s a child! Children play! And children’s games are sometimes cruel!”

A few hours later Shirou stil hadn’t come back home and didn’t answer the phone, so Saburou decided to check the crime scenes and find him, taking Yurio along as it was better than leaving her all alone in the house. The two headed to the Nishi Akatsuki middle school. Saburou had Yurio wait outside and entered the staff room. Despite the late hour, three teachers were still there. They instantly recognized their former student Saburou – then again, it’s not like there was a single person in Nishi Akatsuki that didn’t know what the Natsukawas looked like, especially after the Nozaki case. According to the teachers, Shirou had shown up some time ago claiming to be looking for footprints.

When Saburou left the staff room, Yurio had disappeared. He quickly spotted her alone in the schoolyard, shaking all over. Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to take her to where her boyfriend had been killed. But as Saburou came closer, he realized it wasn’t Yurio.

The ghostly pale girl was standing there.

Saburou closed his eyes in fear.

“You’ll protect me, right, Saburou?”

He opened his eyes. Yurio was standing in front of him, crying, and he had a sudden feeling that she’s going to hurt him. He took a step back. She took a step forward.

“Saburou. Saburou. Saburou.”

Her face morphed into the ghostly pale girl, her eyes completely black.

“Don’t run away. Protect me.”

He tripped and fell together with her, closing his eyes on instinct. When he opened them again, it was Yurio looking down at him, crying in despair.

This time he found himself only able to embrace her after a long moment.

“I’m sorry, Saburou, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for being such a child.”

A child. Didn’t Shirou say…

Saburou realized just what Shirou meant. ‘Children’s games are sometimes cruel’. The murders didn’t symbolize execution methods, but different games. Now that he thought about it, didn’t he have a dream about a bloody edition of jump rope? It’s like his mind actually had figured the truth out and attempted to tell him! Just like his body in the dream, the victims’ bodies all served as toys for the murderer:

-- Hashimoto – daruma-otoshi, a game in which a daruma doll is placed on top of several round pieces of wood, and the player hits the pieces out with a hammer trying to get the doll to the ground without it falling off. That’s why the murderer had to freeze the body and make sure the round pieces wouldn’t fall apart. The limbs were cut off so they didn’t get in the way, and the severed head played the role of the daruma.

-- the reverse-impaled man – a spinning top. This explained why the sharp end of the pole had to face the ground. The victim was additionally tied to the pole with rope to keep balance while spinning.

-- the couple in the parking lot – menko, in which one player throws a card on the ground, and the other tries to throw his own card in such a way that it overturned the first one. The victims’ arms and legs were bound with rope so that they could be thrown flat on the ground like cards.

-- Sakamoto – served as a pachinko ball. He was sent flying multiple times like from a slingshot using a rubber tape stretched on the two poles. Repeatedly hitting the ground and other objects broke most his bones.

-- Nanbu – kendama, a variant of the cup-and-ball game in which the player tries to catch a ball onto a spike or into cups… or in this case, tries to catch a head onto the sharp end of the pole or the wounds where arms had once been.

There was no doubt that the murderer had used the victims as toys. But what child could play with toys that giant?

Shirou still didn’t answer his phone, and quick calls to all the other schools proved that he hadn’t showed up at any of them lately. Atena and Shirou’s various friends didn’t know where he had gone either. No way Shirou was just laying low trying to catch the murderer, he was the type of guy to go around loud and flashy at all times. Had he been the one to be caught instead this time? He’d said he would examine the crime scenes once more…

Saburou remembered a line from The Silence of the Lambs.

Clarice, does this random scattering of sites seem overdone to you? Doesn’t it seem desperately random? Random past all possible convenience? Does it suggest to you the elaborations of a bad liar?

Was it the case here too? Could this revelation lead Saburou to find the murderer’s hiding place?

What is the first and principal thing he does, Hannibal Lecter also said, what need does he serve by killing? He covets. (…) How do we begin to covet, Clarice? (…) We begin by coveting what we see every day.

Hashimoto had been killed first. A student of this school. Probably murdered somewhere in the school grounds. What person had had the ability to see him every day? The killer had to be someone living in Nishi Akatsuki, and since Shirou hadn’t gone to any other crime scene, it’s likely he and the murderer ran into each other somewhere near the school. Could a student be killing people?

Saburou along with Yurio returned to the staff room and asked for a list of all the people that had been at the school that day. Saburou’s former physics teacher Kamimura Tetsurou, who had only just entered the staff room too, quickly wrote down all the names for him, claiming he remembered them perfectly.

The list consisted of 38 people. None of them was Shirou’s. Maybe the old teacher just forgot about him, but how on earth do you miss someone so obnoxious?

“I think I’ll head to your house next, professor,” Saburou said.

Kamimura moved like lightning, but Saburou was faster. He wrenched the knife out of the teacher’s hand. Yurio picked the knife up from where it fell and before anyone realized what was happening stabbed it into Kamimura’s neck.

“I’m sorry, Saburou,” Yurio cried as they were escaping in his car, “I’m sorry, I thought he hurt you so I stabbed him, I thought you were hurt…”

Saburou was silent as he pulled up by Kamimura’s house. Never in his life would he think that it’d come to this. That he would kill his own teacher.

That he would kill?

Yes. Even if Yurio was the one holding the knife, things she did were things he did too. Her actions were his actions.

Shirou. Where’s Shirou? Was he still alive or already turned into some grotesque toy? To think Shirou could possibly be dead, this cursed and smart and obnoxious and always blunt and wonderful little brother of his, to think Shirou could never again criticize his books or tell him to go fucking die…

No. He couldn’t lose Shirou. He didn’t want to be left alone in the darkness.

He bolted out of the car. Shirou’s Bentz had still been parked by Kamimura’s house. The house itself was dark and quiet. Saburou entered it yelling Shirou’s name again and again.

“Dad?” came a quiet voice in response, in childish tone but an adult pitch.

Someone was in the storage under the kitchen floor. Who was that? Would Saburou open the trapdoor only to find himself there, curled in the darkness?

“Dad, let me out!”

Saburou opened the trapdoor and saw a long empty room with a ladder leading further underground.

“Dad!”

The voice came closer, but there had to be yet another wall between them, so Saburou felt safe going down the ladder. A sound of something hitting against something else echoed.

“Dad, let me out already!”

Saburou started climbing down another ladder.

“Dad, let’s go and play already!”

This room was empty too, but in the light of a few lamps Saburou could see another trapdoor surrounded by a puddle of fresh blood. If it belonged to Shirou, then Saburou was more than ready to enact a terrifying revenge upon whoever hid there further down. He opened the last trapdoor.

From the darkness climbed out a monster. A giant naked man – four meters tall and even more in width -- with his head big and round, skin as white as a snowman’s, and fingers as thick as Saburou’s wrists. The monstrous man was dragging Shirou’s bloody limp body behind him.

Saburou’s world turned on its head.

He moved back to the house, found an axe in the garage and wielding it returned underground. Shirou was now lying discarded and completely still on the floor.

“What are we going to play today, dad?” The giant was smiling.

“Let’s see -- a game of murder out of love!”

A moment of wild flailing with an axe later the giant became little more than a bloody pool, but before Saburou could completely pulverize the body, he heard a noise and turned around to find Shirou had regained consciousness. Axe forgotten, Saburou pulled his brother up all the way to the kitchen. His warm, living brother.

Shirou said later that the child from under the floor had grown so big because he had been raised in an ozone-rich atmosphere, much like vegetables that grow better in that condition. [Whatever you say, Maijo.] Kamimura must have experimented on the child for whatever reason.

When Saburou had used the axe, his chest was bursting with a feeling of love. For whom? Shirou, Yurio, someone else? He only realized this later, but with every swing of the axe he had been chanting ‘It’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright”. Who was he saying that to? Maybe to himself. To remember he was still alright.

Maybe that love he had felt was directed at that giant kid. Maybe, in a way, Saburou saved him by taking his life.

Wasn’t death the best option for someone who only hurt people, and didn’t really know anything, and spent his days alone in the darkness underground?

“I love you, Yurio,” he said. “I’ll protect you. Please finish writing what you started.”

Yurio hesitated, but after his reassurance took the knife and carved the rest of the phrase into his chest:

LOVE ME TENDER

[>>>NEXT>>>]

#sparkly reads tcd #maijo and jdc stuff

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