#but i heard a few clips from the vas other works

[8aji]

when i tell u a single tear rolled down my cheek instead of my usual fangirly screech when shin appeared on screen AND talked?? Wow

[blade-liger-4ever]

@edgar-allan-possum @princessallura052

I am terribly sorry to have caused this response, I swear I wasn't trying to pick on anyone or diss the film. I'm sure it came out sounding like that, and I apologize. The only reasons I made this post are because 1 I have had my hopes for the franchise slowly crushed over the years with news I've heard from the voice actors and my own observations on how the stories have deteriorated (look no further than the Netflix Trilogy and EarthSpark to understand what I mean), 2 I tried giving TF One a chance when a close real life associate was freaking out over the spoilers that said person had discovered, and 3, while I honestly enjoy what the plot is, including a fair bit of the dialogue, it doesn't resonate with me, most likely because of how jaded I've become. If I let those jaded feelings color my statements, I deeply apologize for how I came across. That's on me.

Regarding the casting choices for the Unicron Trilogy, I confess I have no issue with them. However, that is because the cast for the Unicron Trilogy was filled with professional voice actors who knew the business and could actually voice act (like the beloved G1 cast, including Peter Cullen and Frank Welker.) Hence why, while Garry Chalk became a poor choice for Optimus over the Trilogy's run, I respect his effort and work in the shows and appreciate his steady role in it for three years (including having to put up with being told throughout Armada's run, "do Peter Cullen's Optimus" without ever getting to hear clips of the man.) Lately, though, mainstream voice actors have been getting swept aside for VAs outside of the SAG so Hasbro doesn't have to pay Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, and the rest because they're more interested in making a profit than doing a good show with good acting. Therefore - and I confess this was poorly constructed on my part - I am not just offended on their behalf, but on ALL of the SAG voice actors' behalf.

As for the film getting yanked, I had never hoped for that. And while I admit that I was gushing over the spoiled 8 minute fight between Optimus and Megatron and a select few other scenes, I just, ultimately, had too much attachment to the original voice cast and was too hurt to watch it myself. I never meant to imply that it should not be watched (I even recommended it to @princessallura052 for "fallen hero" [Megatron] characterization done right), it is just something that I personally cannot watch, nor muster any true feelings of pleasure for.

Does it have potential? Absolutely. Is it something I can watch, as sensitive as I am to Peter Cullen and Frank Welker's current situations? Unfortunately no.

I never wanted to start a fight. I just had a bleeding heart that, while it likely should have been put elsewhere, I needed to pour out rather than let it rot me away inside.

@edgar-allan-possum I am sorry for upsetting you, I did not intend for that, and when we've all calmed down, I hope you can find it in you to forgive me.

@princessallura052 thank you so much for defending me, and I am sorry for starting this. I will try to handle this better in the future, since a lot of this was miscommunication on my part.

I just need to let this out

The new film, Transformers One, from what I've seen of spoilers taken straight from the theaters and what I've read up on Wikipedia, is a good show. It's got plot threads and characterizations taken across practically every medium of the franchise, and even utilizes the Transformers: Prime theme music twice in the film. It's honestly, all things considered, the best TF film since Age of Extinction in 2014.

But....The only one whose acting I actually enjoy is Brian Tyree Henry, the guy playing a young Megatron.

And that's great; he's a fan, and his love for the Transformers comes through crystal clear in his performance. I fully admit he doesn't tonally sound like Frank Welker's Megatron, but he sounds like Megatron: his vocal range hits every emotional beat you'd expect/are familiar with Megatron having in the various cartoons and comics, and he practically swallowed the source material and became Megatron, all while making use of verbal tics Frank Welker has employed for the character and making it his own while still being Megatron in his own right without stepping on what Frank Welker has done with Megatron.

And I love that. Heck, I 100% expected him to walk away from this production with all the awards, and he'd have earned them all in my eyes.

But....listening to Chris Hemsworth as Orion/Optimus....there's, there's a kind of lacking and restraint there.

Don't get me wrong, he's admitted to going to Peter Cullen himself for advice/guidance in playing Orion/Optimus and to make sure he doesn't goof up his portrayal of the character. But, there's not nearly as much range in his emotions as there is with Brian Tyree Henry. Maybe he's leaning into Orion/Optimus being the more controlled of the two, maybe he's leaning into the immaturity too much, or maybe he just feels like a bull in a china shop with all the pressure on him.

But...he could've done more. He could've - could've tried harder to be emotionally present, like Brian.

And I just - I just can't feel anything from his performance, save one line - and even then, that one line is, essentially, Orion's last words before dying and being reborn as Optimus Prime. I will give him this, he made me believe Orion was seconds away from death.

But everything else....there's not quite as much effort in it, most likely for fear of losing a balance between honoring Mr. Cullen's work and staying in his own lane. And when he speaks, it's....not that impactful.

There's not...how do I explain this....He just, he just doesn't have a vocal presence. He doesn't stand on his own in this movie; if anything, he sounds like a walking anomaly and just hearing him talk makes my suspension of disbelief for the movie shatter.

Scarlett Johanssen, I'm just gonna be blunt: she was a mistake to cast as Elita One.

Elita is one of my favorite females in Transformers of all time, and Johanssen - every time she speaks in this movie, my brain just registers the moody, teenage porcupine she voiced in Sing and Sing 2. She doesn't fit as Elita. There's too much youth in her voice (says something that she has the voice of a teenager), too much strictness/harshness, and not enough warmth and feminine strength in her voice like there was in G1. That's the whole point of Elita: she's the feminine counterpart that complements Optimus' masculinity.

And they took it from her. They took it, from me.

Yes, Elita doesn't have as much memory/love held to her as Optimus does, and I understand that people are gonna mischaracterize her. But that doesn't make it okay; it doesn't make it okay that she's modernized while having attempts at making her nice/still partially given feminine qualities to - this version of her.

And I hate how she fights in this movie. She moves like Black Widow - all slip 'n slide, using confusion and up-close-tactics with kick/leg-grappling-thing techniques.

Elita, in the original, from what we saw, was both a distance fighter (read: she shot a space gun), and capable of close quarters combat that was both feminine and practical. Heck, she was even more bad-aft than the movie portrays her: she literally caught a missile in her debut and threw it back at the Decepticons.

Why is a fighting style like THAT so hard to emulate?

Bumblebee, I don't care. His appeal has become lost on me for almost two, maybe years now. But dear Lord in Heaven, he is so annoying in TF One. No joke, Megatron would be in the rights for ripping his voice box out in this continuity.

That said....the guy doing him, somehow, manages to convey the seemingly eternal sugar rush this version is on. And he gets a small nod of approval from me for being physically active behind the mic in order to sell his performance.

(Despite that, something about the actor rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it's that both he and Bee never shut up, I don't know. I do know that I never wanna be in the same room as him.)

Shockwave....is too emotive, but it gets a pass from me because so far as I can see, all his emoting in this film is a direct result from hearing Bee yap non-stop, including in an unconscious state. That's passable for me. A tic, yes, but passable.

Soundwave still sounds monotonous, but the ones in charge get an 'X' in my eyes for not getting Frank Welker back for the character.

Starscream is done interestingly, and although I don't yet know how to rank Steve Buscemi's delivery of the character's lines, I'll let Buscemi slide because he's had experience in voice acting - little bits, but the experience counts. I'll also let him slide because he returned to volunteer firefighter duty when 9/11 happened, and he stayed there all three days of search and rescue. So, while I can't rate his performance fully, he has my respect and I will not take on his portrayal negatively because of that.

Sentinel....I'll give the VA this, he pulls off the airy, self-aggrandising theatrics well. Beyond that, to be decided.

Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion....I'm not sold. His voice is too deep, and while I have many issues with George Takei, he did, indeed, nail Alpha Trion's performance post G1. Takei's experience, plus his voice, allows him to sell Trion as an old, yet still physically capable, former Prime whose wisdom is sound and collected from eons of experience.

All I get from Fishburne's portrayal is "old but still tough", and that's not enough for this character, in my book.

That's...more or less it. I'm just, really tired of consistently getting new Transformers media that has potential, but without Peter Cullen and Frank Welker even being approached for the projects. Yes, there's a possibility that they both tell/told these people to pound sand, but they've said repeatedly that they're getting pushed aside by the higher ups. And they've been so vocal about wanting to play the characters, but are constantly being given the boot by Hasbro.

They deserve better than that. The fans deserve better than that, and even I deserve better than that.

Peter Cullen and Frank Welker are the reason I and so many others had such golden childhoods. It's painful to see them getting disrespected like this, and I hate that more new TF media is being made without them, especially since they aren't getting any younger.

I'm not scared, exactly, about them dying.

I'm just scared they won't be able to have any more rodeos in Transformers media together before their time comes.

And that is why, ultimately, I can't bring myself to enjoy or watch Transformers: One. Why I don't care that it's failing like this.

Because Hasbro had their chance many times, and they've failed me. They keep failing me, Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, and all of us.

I'm just done caring for new shows from Transformers unless it's got our childhood heroes voicing our favorite characters with the good writing they had up until Transformers: Robots in Disguise 2015. And given this commercial blowout, I won't be getting satisfied anytime soon.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. I hope you don't mind the release of my pain, but I've held it in for a month, more or less. I just needed to make it public.

[spell-cleaver]

Au where Cylo gets ahold of a young luke and eager to have a force sensitive, he experiments on him, moulding him to become one of his "creations." All the while he knows who exactly he is. Eventually, when Vader eventually come across Cylo and his creations, he is suprised how one of them holds his own against him and that the boy is force sensitive. (Angst, drama and good old "how dare you touch my son" Ensues )

Whumptober No. 4 DEAD ON YOUR FEET Hidden Injury | Waking Up Disoriented | Can’t Pass Out

Read it on AO3 or on FFN instead!

Cylo's final, secret lair was almost insultingly easy to get into—at least, Vader had thought so before something had clocked him on the head, and he'd woken up in an entirely new area. The laboratory hidden behind a row of dingy offices in the depths of Coruscant apparently went even deeper into the planet's unknown depths than he had anticipated, if the massive transparisteel wall was anything to go by.

It was the first thing he saw when his eyes peeled open, even before he noticed the warnings blaring in his lenses about his suit being compromised, some blunt trauma done to the chest box. He could feel it in his heart: the pacemaker was erratic, his heart spasming painfully without its steady presence. His strength would be in question for the fight ahead, then.

But the transparisteel wall was a window onto a deep grey lake. He'd heard rumours that the toxic sludge of Coruscant dribbled down into what had once been the planet's freshwater reserves, creating a poisonous, radioactive cocktail many kilometres beneath the vaunted starscrapers, with only a few brutal, twisted creatures managing to survive such a hellish environment. Even as a Jedi he had never gone deep enough to see it for himself. Now, it appeared he was below it.

Something swam past the window. Something massive.

"Lord Vader," Cylo's clipped, condescending voice rang out. "You are persistent, aren't you? You have already killed so many of my children."

"Your creations were hardly a challenge." Vader hauled himself to his feet, reaching for his lightsaber—but it wasn't at his side. "I am here to end you."

"Again?" He sounded tired, but in a mockingly false way.

"I know this is where you keep your clones. I will destroy you, then I will destroy them."

"What makes you so certain I have no other secret foundries, sequestered across the galaxy?"

"I have found them," Vader informed him. "And I have destroyed them. None of the pitiful guards you posted there could have stopped me."

Cylo sighed. "The death of the Astarte twins was disappointing. Them, in particular, I had high hopes for."

"They did not have the Force. Whatever effort they provided was pathetic."

"The Force is obsolete. Technology is the future. Have you heard of Grand Moff Tarkin's Project Stardust? That is the weapon that will keep the galaxy in check—my creations are designed to serve alongside it, not against it."

Vader scoffed, but took Cylo's preposterous chattiness and used it to scan the rest of the room he was being held in. It was definitely a laboratory, but that was confined to the edges, with work benches and observation rooms littered around the rim of the floor. The floor itself… it looked like a training or sparring room, shaped in a semicircle that ended at the transparisteel wall. "The Death Star is a myopic travesty. It is insignificant compared to the power—"

"Perhaps." Cylo smiled, then stepped back into one of the observation rooms. A shield flickered into place before him. "Your prowess over my other creations has been persuasive. But there is still much to be done to the Force. It can be improved."

"You blaspheme—"

"Luke," Cylo said. "Take your revenge."

Warning almost flashed too late. Vader spun around and barely missed being skewered by a figure who leapt at him out of nowhere—from one of the benches, the rooms, he didn't know. The person who had ambushed him when he was approaching the entrance. A trembling teenager, slight and underfed, his muscles trembling on his thin frame like jogans in a sack.

But more importantly, he had Vader's lightsaber.

The boy landed with a roll right where Vader had been and didn't waste time spinning around to stalk towards him again, teeth bared. Vader backed away, his painful heart palpitating in a way that made his flesh tremble, but his hands were not flesh. He reached one out—

But his lightsaber did not fly towards him. There was another tug, an opposing tug, and it stayed firmly in the boy's grip.

Then the boy—Luke—raised his hand and fire blared to life.

Fire was the nightmare of a Force-user. Too unpredictable to control, too intangible to deflect, impossible to block with a lightsaber. It caught his cloak and raced upwards; Vader stamped it out, almost tripping, but the Force caught him and put him back on his feet.

The boy swung again, and this time, inches from Vader's torso, the lightsaber switched off and tumbled into Vader's hand.

"I had thought I killed all the Astartes," he mused. They had been the ones with rocket boosters in their feet and flamethrowers in their hands. "Triplets?"

"No," the boy—Luke—spat back. "I'm not an Astarte. You killed my father."

Vader levelled his lightsaber at the boy's throat. He could tell why Cylo had kept this one cloistered here, instead of sending him out to meet Vader before. There was little point in fighting such a talentless wretch. "That is what I do."

Luke screamed, the incandescent rage trapped in his slight form igniting like a mushroom cloud. Before Vader could skewer him, he threw up a hand and a rack of weapons slid out of the wall. He ran for it, grabbed something, and pivoted to face Vader again. A magna staff settled in his hand; it blocked Vader's blow smoothly, with the punch of a charging bantha.

That strength could not have come from him. He was small, malnourished. And the pike—

"You are Force-sensitive," Vader observed, twisting his lightsaber out of the lock and stalking around him in circles. Luke turned to keep him in sight.

"The Emperor was always proud of you, Vader," Cylo said. "An unholy blend of magic and technology."

Luke was patiently waiting for his creator to finish rambling, so Vader took the initiative. He drove his lightsaber towards his head; only Luke's Force-enhanced skills kept his brains inside his skull, as he caught the blow and spun out of the way. He stared at Vader, panting, and lunged at him—

"But you have ultimately been a disappointment."

The boy was a decent, by-the-book duellist, but other than the passive uses he employed, he did not touch the Force. His rocket boosters took him over Vader; Vader slashed with the same move Obi-Wan had dismembered him with so many years ago, just missing the brat as he zoomed out of the way. His fire kept Vader at a distance that served him well, as a smaller and faster target who did poorly in close range against Vader's awesome strength. But he was beaten back, and back, and back, unable to read Vader, anticipate his moves, truly use the power that tingled in his muscles.

Pathetic.

This was the type of Force user that a heretic such as Cylo would raise. He should not have expected more. Was this what Palpatine would have him replaced by?

Vader swerved to avoid a stab of the staff, but electricity still crackled against the fabric of his half-burnt cape. The motion jerked something inside him; it shot through him to his heart, his pacemaker, which suddenly stumbled. A tight agony speared his chest, but he kept a handle on it, watching Luke's reaction. There was nothing in his face to indicate he knew that he had almost struck a killing blow by sheer luck.

His heart was still a staccato thrum, the muscles yanking around his prosthetics pained and starving, but he swung to meet the boy's next blow. He was still on the retreat. Vader would still win, kill this wretch, and—

"Imagine a servant for the Emperor with your raw power and technological advancements who won't die at the push of a button?"

Before Vader could react to that, his limbs ceased working.

He hit the floor, frozen on his knees. His lightsaber rolled away. His pacemaker, working so, so hard, collapsed altogether, and silence spread through his chest. The rasp of his respirator vanished, and the hearing aids in his ears; a tinny quiet spread through his helmet. He felt like he had been thrown into that toxic lake outside, the silent water choking awareness away.

He heard Cylo distantly, his words ringing the Force like a bell.

"There, Luke. I told you there was nothing to fear."

The boy was circling his still form, magna staff crackling idly. The light stretched and elongated at the corners of Vader's lenses as he went around, and around, and around. "He could have killed me. Would have."

"He was not strong enough to."

"He was. If you hadn't—"

"But I did. Now, revenge for your father is yours to take."

Luke stopped right in front of Vader, poising his staff ready to strike. He looked uncertain. He looked incredibly young, especially with the thin wires Vader could now see in his face, his wrists, bulging like veins under his skin. Was there a kill switch in his suit, too?

"It doesn't seem right," he said. Foolish boy. Weak, sentimental boy. Vader felt through the Force but couldn't grasp it, not quite in possession of himself. He could feel Cylo's glee, the boy's guilt and fury, his own impending doom. His heart, stagnant, as the rest of his organic body began to rot without oxygen.

Perhaps this was it, after all. He despised the idea of validating Cylo, but the Force was not helping him in the face of this technological terror. The death trap they had made of his body, born of his own arrogance, would defeat him.

After several long moments of waiting, Cylo walked out of his observation room. He calmly put a hand on Luke's shoulder; Luke turned his face towards him instantly, like a child to its father, seeking reassurance.

Cylo backhanded him. Luke fell to his knees alongside Vader, naked wires gleaming amongst the blood on his face.

"He is dying anyway," Cylo informed him. "If you do not kill him, his own body will. And your father will never have justice." There was a soft, terrible glee in how he coaxed Luke with those last words; they worked. Luke sucked in a long breath and steadied his shoulders.

He picked up his staff again. "Yes, master," he said, and turned to Vader. "This is for my father."

It sounded almost like an apology to himself.

He raised the staff. Vader could not move his eyes, but he watched that pitiful boy's face as he teetered with his weakness.

Then, his mouth set. "This is for Anakin Skywalker," he said, and plunged the magna staff into Vader's chest panel.

Cylo laughed—"Excellent!"—but it faded into white noise. Vader keeled backwards. He landed on his side, staring out at the ancient mess beyond the great window, watching white-bellied shadows swirl through it.

His suit wasn't just silent, now: it was shutting down. The destroyed panel sent nonsensical signals coursing through his limbs, his head; his helmet flashed warnings, brighter and brighter, until they abruptly cut off.

So much background noise cut out. Peace was an alien concept for a Sith, and it was disturbing to be exposed to it, even in death. The background chatter of signals, noises, lights, information streaming through him… it vanished. Replaced by…

The Force.

He closed his eyes. Luke, his son, sparkled above him, proud and distraught, held in the warm, manipulative arms of the man who had raised him so cruelly. Cylo himself was a dim light in a blinding galaxy. Even the monsters who roamed the toxic deeps were brighter than him. Him, and his many, many clones, stored in racks and racks above and below them, their hearts beating as one.

Vader's heart wasn't beating at all.

"You are the last one left," Cylo informed Luke silkily. "You are the Emperor's new apprentice."

Luke was his replacement. In every sense of the word—in power, in prosthetics, in position. He would receive all that his father did. And Vader had tried to kill him.

Palpatine would try to kill him, too. In so many ways. He would toy with him, test him, and discard him whenever he felt like it. There was nothing Vader could do to stop it.

That thought was unacceptable.

The Force was his ally. It was, despite doubts, despite betrayals, despite pain, the most powerful ally he had. It wrapped around him in his final moments, bringing him the fabled Jedi peace, but he did not want peace. He wanted justice.

His heart, slow and painful, began to beat. His lungs, slow and painful, began to expand.

He could not live without his suit. That was undeniable. But his suit was his, and he was the Force, and no one else would control it.

The wires in the control panel twitched, under the sheer force of his will. His limbs reconnected with his nerves, whirring to life. The display in his mask flashed, blinding as the suns. No matter. He did not need to see.

He stood.

Cylo turned, a hand on Luke's shoulder. His mouth dropped open in slack-jawed horror as Vader rose, a behemoth from the deeps, his cape sagging off his shoulders. He took a step back, but Luke did not move, frozen.

"You wish to avenge your father, Luke Skywalker?" he boomed, louder than he'd known his vocoder could go.

Luke flinched. "You—"

"I," Vader said, "am your father."

Passive, untrained use of the Force or not: Luke could not ignore the thunderous bells of truth that rang through his bones.

Cylo stumbled back farther. "He lies, Luke," he said. "That is what Vader does. See? He cannot even be put down; like these radioactive beasts outside, he refuses to die—"

Vader lifted his groaning up. Cylo's neck flew into his fist. He squeezed.

"Luke!" Cylo shouted. "Luke, save—"

His neck cracked. Vader threw him aside and stared at his son. Luke stared back, wide-eyed. An eternity passed between them.

Vader said, "You—"

That eternity had been too long.

"Luke."

Vader looked up. Cylo's respawned clone stood on the mezzanine level above them, still dripping in fluid and gruesomely naked. He glared at Vader, but his eyes searched the room.

"Flee," Cylo ordered. Luke stared up at him, starting to hyperventilate. "Flee, before he kills you. I will meet you—"

Vader yanked this Cylo towards him as well. He slammed him into the floor, screaming, scrambling away as Vader lit his lightsaber.

"Luke!" Cylo shouted. "Do something! He will kill—"

"My son need do nothing for you," Vader told him, stalking ever closer, "ever again."

"Luke!"

Luke shook his head. "Is it true?" he demanded. "Is he my father!?"

Vader paused at the devastation in his voice, turning to look at him. He looked ready to vomit.

"I am your creator," Cylo told him. "I persuaded the Emperor to spare your life, I trained you, I gave you all the power you enjoy. He is nothing to you. The only father you have ever known is me."

"You have not shown him," Vader hissed, "a fraction of the power he wields."

"Then let him decide!" Cylo shrieked. "Luke, if you care for this beast and his lies over me, I give you the honour of killing me. If not, flee. We will recover from this."

Vader smirked behind his mask. Cylo would not recover from this. Whatever Luke chose, there would be no safe haven in the galaxy for either of them, ever again.

He stepped back, nonetheless, so that Luke could claim this honour for himself.

Luke looked from Vader to Cylo and back again.

He was so frightened. Vader took a fragment of that peace that had been foisted on him and wrapped it around his son, piercing it with his roaring desire to protect. Luke's eyes began to water.

"Is it true?" he asked again. But Cylo would not give him an answer.

He reached for his magna staff then hesitated. Cast it away, where it hit the floor, sparking. Vader tensed. Then Luke raised his hands. "Father," he said. "Run."

The transparisteel wall began to creak and groan.

"Run," Luke said again, and this time Vader obeyed. He scooped Luke up first—his arms fell to his sides as if he'd been holding up the sky—and sprinted for the exit as cracks spiderwebbed across the transparisteel wall behind them. Great tugs in the Force saw those irradiated beasts come sniffing the drama in the water, as the window cracked—and cracked—and cracked—

The roar of water crashed against the turbolift doors just as they closed, and the lift shot to the surface. Vader clung to Luke as he bent over double and hurled, splattering the controls with bile. He used his cape to wipe it away from Luke's mouth.

The toxic waters flooded the laboratory far below them. They brought a new type of death for each Cylo clone: drowning, poisoning, being eaten alive. But their heartbeats continued to thump in perfect synchrony until they petered out, one by one by one.

[hanoella]

Affettuoso- With Feeling (Part 3)

Pairing: Bucky x Pianist!Reader

Set after the events of TFATWS: In an effort to start over and make a home in Louisiana, Bucky meets a friend of Sam’s who ends up being his landlord. With only a driveway to separate them, he finds that he’s not the only one looking for a fresh start.

Series tags/warnings: Slow Burn, Eventual Bucky x Reader, Mentions of Domestic Abuse, Canon Level Violence

Part 3 Word Count: 3k

A/N: Can you tell I don't really have a posting schedule? lol. I also introduced links to the specific pieces I had in mind. I'm using soundcloud because I don't think everyone has access to spotify. Trying to be reader friendly! This can be read with or without the audio, as I do my best to still convey the thought in the fic. Though if you can, I highly recommend :)

Thanks again for all your support! Every heart and comment motivates me and is just so wonderful

Read Part 1; Masterlist

---

A few days had passed since the night that Bucky had overheard your troubles. It had been quiet since, and you hadn’t left the house. The curtains were opened during the day and closed at night, the only telltale signs that you existed.

Doesn’t she have to work? Bucky thought to himself. He speculated all the different possibilities as he used the riding mower around the property. Maybe you were an heiress? You seemed pretty down to earth though. Or maybe you sold a patented idea for a ton of money. All this land had to have been expensive. And to not request actual money from him?

He eyed up the width of the gate for your fence. The riding mower couldn’t fit so he would have to use a push mower for your fenced off yard. He hadn’t seen one in the garage. Maybe the old shed at the back of your yard had one? Bucky parked the mower in the garage, taking a moment to make a mental list of everything. Depending on if he found anything in the shed, he might need to buy a few basic tools and a chainsaw for that fallen tree.

He walked out of the garage and over to the shed. The leaves were changing color and it brought a whole new atmosphere to the secluded forest area. Opening the gate of the weathered white fence, he looked around to see if you were out. No signs of life. Entering the yard and closing the gate behind him, he started walking to the back. Halfway through, he stopped at the fire pit. The grey stone blocks were starting to crumble, with a few of the bricks having fallen off. It would probably be really nice if he got a little bit of cement mix and filled in the gaps. Bucky made another mental note.

The shed had no padlock so he was able to open it with no problem. Amongst the cobwebs and bags of soil, was an older green push mower that looked like it might work. He gave the gas a pull and got no response back. Looking underneath, Bucky saw what might be the problem. He’d have to take a closer look later. Putting the lawn mower back onto its wheels, he pushed it across the yard, pausing when he saw movement though the glass doors of the back patio.

Craning his neck to avoid the glare, he saw you sitting at your fancy full keyboard. The way the piano was against the opposite wall, your back was to him. You had big over-ear headphones plugged into it, so he couldn’t hear the sound but he saw the flurry of keys being pressed down. Whatever you were playing, you played passionately. Hands and arms gracefully moved despite the speed at which they were moving. Enhanced hearing coming into play, he heard the muffled clicks of the fluttering keys. Suddenly, you pressed down forcefully, holding whatever chord you had struck as your shoulders gently relaxed. A deep breath. Arm creating a graceful arc as if you had studied ballet, you pressed gently on another chord. And another. Bucky counted three more times you did this before you let your hands gently fall from the keys to your lap. Several moments passed before slid the headphones off of your ears to sit wrapped around your neck. Another deep breath. This time as the breath escaped you, you stayed slouched, head tilting up to stare at nothing on the wall.

A buzz broke Bucky from his trance.

“Call me, new mission” The text from Sam on his home screen said.

He pocketed his phone, glancing through the glass one more time. There you still sat.

Unmoving.

---

The roar of the plane’s engine was just loud enough to drown out Bucky’s thoughts without being annoying. If it weren’t for the adrenaline of the recovery mission under the cover of nightfall, he probably would’ve been lulled to sleep. Beside him sat Sam, looking on his phone for the exact coordinates of the politician they had been sent to rescue.

“Here it is. I’m assuming there’s some sort of underground base since there are no heat signatures anywhere within the radius where he was taken. It should take us about ten more minutes before we’re directly over it.”

Bucky hummed in acknowledgement.

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Earth to Bucky.”

“What does your friend do?” Bucky asked suddenly, sitting up straighter and turning towards him.

“… What?”

“What does she do? I’ve never seen her leave the house. Is she okay?”

“If you’re asking why she doesn’t leave the house, it’s because her contract doesn’t start for a while. She’s technically still supposed to be in physical therapy but she hasn’t found a place yet. You know, your whole routine gets messed up when you move.”

“For her shoulder?”

Now it was Sam’s turn to look at Bucky, trying to decipher the motive behind these questions. Bucky shifted his weight in the chair, antsy under the scrutiny.

“Never mind, I-”

“Yes, for her shoulder.” Sam said, cutting him off. He stopped himself from asking why Bucky wanted to know. There was an awkward pause before Bucky explained himself.

“I just wanted to know. I’m not used to seeing people so…”

“Similar to yourself?”

“I was gonna say isolated but fair point.” Bucky admitted. Sam leaned back in his chair, looking straight forward.

“She’s been through a lot… I know you heard some of it.”

Bucky blinked in surprise.

“I realized the window was open when I could hear you drive off.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s alright, it’s good that you know.” Sam said as he held up his hand to cut Bucky off.

“She’s just trying to get a fresh start. She’s in a raw emotional space and in the meantime is a little skittish. Just like someone else I know.” Sam jabbed his elbow into Bucky’s side as he enunciated the last sentence.

“Okay, okay, I get it. I’m trying!” He shouted as he held one hand up defensively and using the other to block the second jab Sam was trying to get in. Sam chuckled and then stood up, grabbing a parachute pack and tossing it at Bucky, who caught it without even looking.

“Figured you might wanna try an actual chute this time.”

Bucky rolled his eyes and mouthed Sam’s words mockingly with a grimace as he put the backpack on. Clipping it into place, he joined Sam at the side door of the plane.

“She used to play in an orchestra you know.” Sam said wistfully. “The piano. That’s actually how we met. She had volunteered to play a small concert before the dinner. It really helped raise a lot of money for the VA.”

Bucky stayed silent, prompting him to continue.

“Then that bastard she was engaged to beat her and then shoved her down a set of concrete steps when she tried to leave him. It was like a month after we all came back. She was in the hospital for a while. Broken ribs, broken shoulder, and a nasty concussion to boot. Neighbor saw the whole thing and called the cops but the courts were so backed up and the case fell through the cracks. Wouldn’t leave her alone after he got out. So, I pulled some strings and helped her move down here on the fly.”

“… That’s terrible.”

Bucky didn’t know what to say or how to react. They stood in silence, taking a moment to pay a respect of sorts to the trials you have been through. Then Sam broke the silence.

“She just needs time to heal in more ways than one. But she’s strong. Resilient.”

Putting a hand on Bucky’s shoulder, he squeezed it lightly with reassurance.

“Reminds me of someone else I know.” Sam said, finishing the conversation and pulling his goggles over his eyes, giving Bucky the opportunity to take the compliment without feeling too on the spot.

Pulling the door open, Sam shouted over the wind.

“Ready?”

Bucky nodded. Sam jumped from the plane and deployed the wings, the shield shining in the moonlight. Bucky jumped right behind him, using the glint of the silver star to guide his descent as he followed the man that gave the shield its meaning.

---

You laid with your head down on the kitchen table, letting the last golden rays of sun warm the side of your face. You were exhausted from going to physical therapy, especially since today had been the first appointment. All the measurements, all the exercises, all the stretching.

All the questions.

“So, how did you break your shoulder?” the young blonde physical therapist asked.

“Ah, I… fell down some stairs.” You said, looking down at your hands in your lap.

She didn’t look up from the papers, instead just raising an eyebrow.

“You also cracked some ribs and had a concussion?”

“… They were concrete.”

She looked up from the papers at you, analyzing. Her gaze softened and she asked no further questions on how these serious injuries had been obtained.

“Let’s look at your range of motion.”

You had practically stumbled into the house, kicking off your sneakers and plopping down at the kitchen table. Minutes passed by as you regained your breath, heartbeat steadying. The house was slightly cold since you had turned the heat down this morning. As your sweat cooled, you wrapped your arms around your legs in an attempt to keep you warm without getting up.

The sun feels so warm… You thought to yourself drowsily, feeling slightly less lonely. The sun was a cheap substitute for the warmth of a partner…

---

You jolted upright, the kitchen dark and cold. Neck and shoulder stiff from the awkward position you had dozed off in. Feeling the dryness of your mouth, you got up, stretching your neck gently while you walked to the fridge to get water. Chugging about half the bottle, you squinted at the clock. You had been asleep for about forty-five minutes. Groaning, you put the bottle down on the counter and walked into the living room to close the curtains. Grabbing one in each hand, you went to pull them together when you hesitated, noticing that Bucky’s apartment was dark for the third day in a row. The sleek motorbike that was usually parked under the slight overhang of the garage was missing as well.

He was probably on a mission, right? Not that it was any of your business. You shut the curtains and turned off the lights before lightly padded down the hall, stopping to adjust the thermostat. The heat kicked on, sending a puff of cold air your way. You shivered as you walked with a quickened pace to your room, shutting the door and heading into the master bathroom, turning the hot water on with just a tad of cold.

Waiting for the shower to warm up, you leaned over the sink and looked into the mirror. Dark circles under your eyes. Small scar on the bridge of your nose. Running your hand through the roots of your hair, you felt for the scar where the stitches had been. When was the last time you had a haircut? Or put on some makeup?

Some higher being must’ve felt pity for you since the steam from the shower fogged the glass, preventing you from tearing yourself apart any further. Stepping underneath the warm stream, you let the warmth seep into your muscles, then bones, filling every fracture and break with a temporary sense of wholeness until the emptiness of your heart and home caused it slowly to drip out until it, along with you, was gone.

---

The next morning, you weren’t motivated to do anything. You lounged around the house, sipping on coffee and browsing on your phone for furniture, clothes, even sneaking a peak at some pianos. Wanting to invest in one you’d use for the next several decades, you had put off buying one until the money from your contract with the orchestra started in a month. You were still well off, nowhere near struggling and probably wouldn’t ever be unless you decided to buy a mansion (which was a no). You just wanted to be careful.

In the afternoon, you popped a pain killer and muscle relaxer in preparation for the few hours you wanted to practice. Thirty minutes went by and the ever-present ache in your shoulder calmed enough to let you practice with relative peace. Sitting on the bench in front of the keyboard, you pondered what you might play to warm up.

Hmm, maybe a Chopin prelude? Short, emotional, familiar.

Your left hand held the soft deep chords as your right hand softly flitted around the higher notes. Breathing in and out with the music, you tried to ignore the ache that start to surround your shoulder.

Playing the last few notes, you paused before reaching over to the bottle of painkillers.

---

Shortly after finishing up, you dragged a small table outside next to the wooden bench swing that was hanging on the porch. Bundled up in a soft sweatshirt, long-sleeve shirt, wool lined leggings, fuzzy socks and slippers, you brought out your hot tea, several blankets, a pillow, and a book you had been meaning to read for months. You were determined to do something besides practice, watch TV, and scroll on your phone.

You settled onto the bench, wrapping the blanket around you, nice and toasty from the layers trapping in the heat of a thorough practice session. The extra medication had really helped keep the pain at bay. Tentatively sipping the steaming cup, you closed your eyes to further appreciate the sweet tones of peach and honey. Setting the cup in your lap with one hand, you used your other hand to flip open to the first page.

---

Bucky hadn’t expected the mission to get so complicated. Finding the base was one thing, navigating in and out of the expansive maze was another. It took a few days to successfully get the target out and back to the embassy. He hadn’t properly slept during that time due to taking shifts with Sam. Not that it was any different from how he slept at home.

The sun was letting its last few rays bless the earth when he turned onto the driveway. Taking it easy on the gravel, he eased his posture and slowed the bike. He put pressure on the brakes as he made it past the final wall of trees that hid the water that was reflecting the last bit of color left in the sky. Rolling casually into a stop, he parked and let out a deep breath, shoulders sinking.

A stray bird calling out turned his attention in the direction of your house. The porch light was on. That’s new, he thought. Squinting his eyes, he saw a bundle on the porch swing. Was that you? Quietly walking over while taking his leather gloves off, he confirmed his suspicions. There you were, lying on your side propped up by a large fuzzy pillow. Eyes closed and breathing rhythmically. Scanning the scene, he noticed the mug on the side table, empty except for the used teabag. Your book was closed, the page you were on marked by one of your fingers. You must’ve fallen asleep while reading.

“Hey…” Bucky said gently. No response besides a small nose scrunch.

He repeated himself a little louder, squatting to be at eye level while gently setting his hand on your arm and shaking you lightly. You groaned this time, eyes fluttering open, taking a moment to focus. You squinted and pushed yourself up into a sitting position, losing your place in the book and attempting to blink the heavy drowsiness from your eyes.

“Bucky?” You questioned hoarsely as you met his eyes. He was still crouching so you were looking slightly down at him. Brow furrowed, you searched the blue of his eyes before looking around to see how dark it had gotten. As you turned your head back to him, he stood back up, scratching the back of his neck just to occupy his hands.

“It’s starting to get cold. I didn’t want you to spend the rest of the night out here.” He explained, choosing to look out at the water, now dark. When he turned his head back, you had also turned your head to look at the water, exposing the side of your neck, the tendons and clavicle accentuated by the strain. Bucky swallowed and your eyes met his, oblivious.

“Ah, thank you. I must’ve fallen asleep reading. I just started going back to physical therapy so I’ve just been so wiped… Anyway,” you said, dismissing yourself mid-thought. He didn’t want to hear about all that. “…did you just come back from a mission?” You eyed the diagonal cuts of leather on his jacket, noting the missing sleeve that exposed the glint of the metal.

“Yeah. I was gone for a few days.”

“Okay. I’m glad you’re home safe.” You mindlessly said, picking up the book and other various items strewn about.

Home safe. What an unfamiliar phrase.

As the words echoed in his mind, you had opened the door and stepped in, turning your head slightly to look back at him.

“Thanks again… Good night.”

“Good night.” Bucky replied, watching as you shut the door softly behind you.

Slowly walking down the porch steps, he crossed the driveway to the garage. Turning his head just in time to see the last light turn off in your house, he stood with his hand on the knob, meditating on the effect that one short sentence had on him.

Glad you’re home safe. Was this what it was like when you had someone waiting on you at home? The tired eyes and gentle smile. Would that be what it was like when he came home in the middle of a night from a mission when he had someone to share a bed with? Gently shaking them to let them know he was home? Or would he try to sneak into bed without waking them? He tried to imagine what that sort of intimacy would be like as he entered his apartment and then his room. Unzipping his jacket and tossing it over a chair, he stripped down to his boxer briefs and climbed into bed, wondering what it would be like if it was already warm.

[pointandshooter]

Photo: David Castenson

"WIZZARD CLIP" (Wizard Clip)

by W. S. Laidley

West Virginia Historical Magazine Quarterly January 1904

From the "Eastern Pan-Handle" we take the following ancient ghost story.

“The earliest record of the story was written by Rev. Demetius A. Galletzen, whose memoirs were prepared in 1797, and about the same time, Mrs. Annella McSherry, wrote letters containing about the same facts, and since then there have been other papers written, all giving about the same facts, and the further fact that for fifty years the original name of the place was lost and it was only known as "Wizzard's Clipp," shows that the people there had no doubt of the facts related. The story gathered from the various publications is as follows:

Adam Livingston, becoming dissatisfied with his residence in Lancaster county, Penn., determined to remove to the State of Virginia, and carried his purpose into effect by the purchase of a house and lot in Smithfield, Va., and seventy acres contiguous thereto. This was about the year 1790. He had the reputation of being an honest and industrious farmer, of fair intelligence, and brought with him his wife and a family of three sons and four daughters, of whom Eve and Catherine are the only daughters and John and Henry the only sons who are referred to in any of these memoirs. Livingston continued to reside there without attracting any particular notice, until 1794, when a stranger, of middle age and of respectable appearance, made a visit to the place and was received as a boarder in his house. In a few days after the arrival of this traveler he was taken sick and as his illness became more threatening he called Livingston to his bedside, informed him that he was a Catholic, and inquired of him if there was not a priest somewhere in his neighborhood whose services he could procure, should his malady prove fatal, which he had reason to then fear it would. Livingston, who was an intensely bigoted member of the Lutheran church, very gruffly replied to him "that he knew of no priest in that neighborhood, and if there was one, he should never pass the threshold of his door.' The dying man repeated his entreaties for the spiritual aid of a Catholic priest, but Livingston was inexorable and refused to countenance his request. The stranger died, his name being unknown to his host, and there being nothing among his papers to throw any light upon his history.

On the night of his death Livingston employed a man by the name of Jacob Foster to sit up with the corpse. But so soon as the candles were lighted in the chamber of the dead, after giving a weak and flickering light, they went out and the room was left in darkness. They were relighted several times, supposing it to result from some remedial defect in the cradle, but with the same result. Livingston then brought two candles into the room which he had been using in his own family room, which were about one-third burnt down and which he knew to be good. But so soon as they were placed in the room with the corpse they became immediately extinguished. This so alarmed Foster that he abandoned his vigils and left the house. Fifty years ago the grave of the stranger could be distinctly pointed out.

On the night succeeding the burial the peace of Livingston was much disturbed by the apparent sound of horses galloping round his house. He frequently rose during the night - which was a beautiful moon-light night - to satisfy his mind. While he could distinctly hear the tramp of steeds, he could see nothing to assure him that it was anything more than a figment of his own imagination. In about a week afterward his barn was burnt and his cattle all died, the crockeryware in his house, without any visible agency, was thrown upon the floor and broken; his money disappeared; the heads of his turkeys and chickens dropped off; and chunks of burning wood would leap from the fireplace several feet out into the floor, endangering the building unless promptly replaced. Soon the annoyances, which were then destroying his peace, assumed a new form. The sound of a. large pair of shears could be distinctly heard in his house, clipping in the form of half moons and other curious figures, his blankets, sheets and counterpanes, boots and shoes, clothing, etc. This was all in one night, but the operation of clipping continued for upwards of three months, a small portion of it only being done at a time, but the inexorable shears never being silent twenty-four hours at a time. By this time the news of these strange proceedings was spread through the country for thirty miles around, and attracted in an especial manner the curiosity of the citizens of Smithfield. An old Presbyterian lady of Martinsburg, hearing of the clipping that was going on at Livingston's to satisfy her curiosity, she went to Livingston's house. Before entering the door she took from her head her new silk cap, wrapped it up in her silk handkerchief and put it in her pocket to save it from being clipped. After awhile she stepped out again to go home, and having drawn the handkerchief out of her pocket and opened it, found the cap cut in narrow ribbons.

Many other phenomena are stated and testified to by many witnesses. The long continuance of this mysterious clipping had now aroused the country for many miles around. Three daring and adventurous young men from Winchester came to Smithfield declaring their utter unbelief in the reports and offered to sleep in the house all night and to face the devil himself, if he were the author of these doings. But as soon as they became comfortably seated in the house, a large stone was seen to proceed from the fireplace and to whirl around the floor with great velocity, when they took to their heels and made their escape.

The condition of poor Livingston had become deplorable, he had lost much rest, and his imagination was so worked upon by his nocturnal visitor that his health began visibly to fail. He applied to three professed conjurers, but their incantations were all in vain. Shortly after this Livingston had a dream. He thought he was climbing a high mountain and had great difficulty in the ascent. He had to labor hard, catching at roots and bushes, and moving forward slowly by their aid. Reaching the summit, he saw an imposing personage, "dressed in robes," as he described it. After contemplating for some time the person in view, he heard a voice saying: "This is the man who can relieve you." His wife heard him groaning in his sleep and she waked him, thereupon he communicated to her his dream and said he did not know of any minister who wore robes, but he would make inquiry in the morning. The result of the inquiries led him to visit an Episcopal minister, who then resided in Winchester, but he derived little satisfaction from this visit, and returned home much disappointed. He was then advised to see the MeSherry family, who were Roman Catholics, and who resided in a very fine estate called "Releivement," about on mile each of Leetown, at which place the priest was often in the habit of stopping while discharging his spiritual functions in that neighborhood. Late in the evening of the same day Mrs. MeSherry saw a man coming to her home, she met him at the gate when he told her he wanted "to see the priest." She informed him that the priest was not at her house, but there would be church in Shepherdstown the following Sunday, when he would have an opportunity of seeing him. Mr. and Mrs. McSherry, in company with Mr. Minghini, went to church on the appointed day, and there they saw the man who had inquired for the priest, and who proved to be Livingston. As the priest appeared at the altar, dressed in commicles, Livingston seemed to be perfectly overcome. He wept bitterly, and exclaimed loud enough to be heard by the small congregation: "This is the very man I saw in my dream; he is the one that the voice told me would relieve me from my troubles." When the service was over, he promptly called on the priest and told him his sad story; but the priest, the Rev. Dennis Cahill, laughed at him and told him it must be some of his neighbors who were plaguing him, and that he must go home and keep a strict watch for them. Richard McSherry and Joseph Minghini, who were present at the interview, were much moved by the old man's tears and tried to comfort him. After much urgent persuasion. Father Cahill accompanied by Mr. McSherry and Mr. Minghini, agreed to visit Livingston's house and to inquire into the strange transactions which he had related. They found his story corroborated not only by the family, but by most of the people with whom they conversed in Smithfield. Father Cahill resorted to the remedy of sprinkling the house with holy writer, which did not, however, expel the troublesome visitor from the house, but it was followed by a deposit of the money, which had previously been taken away, on the doorsill. The strange clipping still continuing after that time it was determined by Father Cahill to have mass celebrated in the house, which was done, and Livingston was relieved from all annoyances of his ghostly visitor. From that time until he left Virginia he had frequent communications with the Spiritual world, and many facts are related where those communications were realized in a striking manner; but as these throw no light upon the simple historical fact which it is the purpose of this article to elucidate no further reference need be made to them.”

Note: This region of Virginia is now West Virginia, and the village is now named Middleway. 

online book: https://archive.org/details/mysteryofwizardc00fino/page/n13/mode/2up

[henrycavell]

homecoming part 2

summary: Syverson has been medically discharged from the army after a suicide attempt. He’d been able to hide his deteriorating mental health for years from the men around him, but now he has to face it head on. Hopefully not alone.

word count: 1,899

pairing: Syverson x OFC warnings: none

authors note: this is another slow/kind of boring chapter!! sorry, i don’t want to make these chapters very long because i know when i read fanfics i prefer shorter chapters soooo, but i promise next chapter is gonna be sad and probably hurt your feelings <3

taglist;  @littlefreya​ @mary-ann84​ @wondersofdreaming​ @forthebrokenheartedthings​ @geralt-of-baevia​ @asylummara​ @dearlybelovedluke​ @promptandpros​ @mansaaay​ @daddys-littlewhitegirl​ @vacant-writings​ ​ @80scavill​ @kaatelyyynn

PART 1 | PART 2

So the first meeting with Syverson could've gone better. Penelope had better first impressions with Aika than the with the former captain, but she was determined to turn things around. Returning to his home the next weekend, Penelope knocked before letting herself in, multiple grocery bags hanging from her arms. "Hey!" Her voice echoed quietly in the hall, the only response she was given besides the sound of Aika's nails hitting the wooden floors as she came running down the stairs. Making a mental note to schedule her an appointment with the groomers', Penelope brought the groceries into the kitchen, setting them down on the table. 

Syverson's pick-up hadn't been in the drive today, but Penelope didn't think on it too much. Beginning to take the groceries out of the first bag, Aika went running up to the back door, placing her paw up near the door knob and whining. "Need out, girl?" Penelope asked, setting down the coffee she held in her hands. Before letting Aika run free in the backyard, Penelope checked to make sure the gate was secure and then disappeared back inside to continue putting up all the groceries she'd bought. Every few minutes, Penelope would raise her head to look out the window to make sure Aika was still in sight. She couldn't help but feel on edge, she was still in a complete stranger's home and it was even worse when she knew he was out. 

Her gaze moved around the kitchen, noticing a thin layer of dust on the window sills and in the back edges of the counters. The floors looked like they could've used a decent mopping and there was a small pile of dishes in the sink too. Checking on Aika once more, Penelope moved to open the back door and decided to leave it open, allowing the dog to decide when she wanted to come back in. Placing her phone on the kitchen table, Penelope played her favorite band as she moved around the kitchen, starting with wiping down the counters and sweeping, before making her way to other rooms in the house. 

♫ We get colder As we grow older We will walk So much slower ♫

Making her way down the stairs after cleaning in every room upstairs, Penelope held a basket of dirty clothes on her hip with the intention of taking them to the laundry. Aika sat at the foot of the step, with her leash in her mouth, her head cocking to the side when the two made eye contact. "What's up, Aika?" Penelope asked, stepping off the last step before reaching down to take the leash from the dog. "You wanna go on a walk, huh?" Dropping the basket by her feet, Penelope knelt and clipped the leash to the dog's collar, holding it tightly in her hand as she opened the front door. "Okay girl, c'mon!"

Syverson had been gone most of that morning and afternoon to a psych appointment. He hated Friday mornings for that exact reason, twice a month a doctor sat across from him and tried picking his brain apart. And then by the end of the appointment, usually his meds were switched around, doses were changed. It was all such a big headache. Shutting the door behind him, he let himself slump against it, his shoulders drooping as he waited to hear the sound of Aika's paws hitting the floor.

Except he didn't. And the air around him had a slight scent of lemons to it. Pulling his brow together, Syverson stood up straight again and looked down seeing a laundry basket that he surely hadn't left there. "Aika?" No answer. Even though he was telling himself not to panic, Syverson could feel his heart start to pound heavy in his chest. Moving through the house, he stepped into the kitchen and saw things had been moved around, the dishes had been washed and new things sat on the counter like a fresh loaf of bread and a new box of cereal.

"Penelope?"

Still no answer. Sliding the back door open, Syverson stepped out onto the porch and called once more for his dog before his hands started to shake. Panic ran through every vein as he turned on his heel and returned back into the kitchen. If he could've just paused, taken a deep breath and just thought logically for just a second, he would've realized there was nothing to worry about. That it was obvious the volunteer from the VA had been here, that Aika's collar was missing from next to the front door, that they were just on a walk. But the only thought running through his head was that Aika was gone. Just gone.

Just breathe, he told himself, forcing his feet to carry him into the living room where he sank down on the couch. He let his head fall back, staring up at the ceiling as he took in deep breaths through his nose, trying to focus on how his chest would rise and fall. Closing his eyes, Sy told himself to wait, to try and relax before he spiraled out of control.

Penelope had only taken Aika for a short walk around the block. It had only been about ten minutes after Syverson arrived back home that they came in through the front door. The door shut behind Penelope and Syverson rocketed up off of the couch in the living room, no longer able to listen to the voice in his head trying to calm him down. Penelope unlatched the leash off of Aika’s collar, and the second she was free, she darted straight up to Syverson, whose entire body was tense and rigid. She licked his hand, but he didn't respond, instead, glaring a hole into the side of Penelope's head, waiting for her to give him her attention. When her eyes lifted to meet his, he launched straight into screaming. "You don't take my dog anywhere!" He stepped forward, backing Penelope up against the door. Aika whined, laying down in the floor on her belly, hiding her eyes behind her paws.

Caught off guard, Penelope pressed her back up against the door, lifting her hands up by instinct, her eyes widening in fear as Syverson seemed to grow in size, bulking up on her. "What’s the matter? I just took her for a walk-"

"I don't care!" Syverson shouted, feeling like his face was on fire, sure that it was blistering red. He didn't trust Aika with anyone, certainly not a weak looking thing like Penelope. Syverson only knew Aika to listen to him and he didn't even want to think about half of the horrible scenarios running through his mind had she broken loose from the girl. Aika was more than just a dog to him. Hell, Aika was the only thing keeping him alive, especially on his bad days. His hands tightened into fists by his sides, veins popping out and running up his arm. Penelope could feel her heart hit her stomach, watching the anger on the man's face as his chest swelled. "Get out," he growled.

"W-what?" Penelope frowned, pulling her brow together as she looked down at his fists. She could feel her heart in her throat, wondering briefly to herself if he was the type to hit a woman. His fist alone seemed like it was the size of her head and she didn't really want to think too hard on how it might feel to be hit by a man his size. Aika was getting back to her feet, coming up behind Sy's legs, nudging her head against his knees in an attempt to comfort him, hoping it would help him to cool down.

"Get. Out." His voice had lowered now, though Penelope could still hear the exasperation in his voice. The man took a step back, his hand reaching down to scratch behind Aika's ears, trying his damnedest to get himself under control. Penelope felt frozen, her feet glued to the floor as she felt hot, burning tears in her eyes. For the last few hours she had worked hard around his home, nearly finished with everything besides his laundry. "Don't make me tell you again, girl!" Syverson stepped back towards her, feeling his anger spike once more. The sharp gaze he gave her was enough to startle her into jumping forward, slinging the front door open.

He slammed the door closed behind her and she heard the locks falling into place. Her hands were trembling as she looked over her shoulder towards the front door, slowly moving off of the porch. This time, Penelope had no intention of coming back. There had been plenty of times where she found herself in arguments or uncomfortable situations with other veterans she helped, but never had she felt directly threatened. Penelope kept her head down as she hurried to her car, not taking a second glance back.

That evening, Penelope had been quick to submit a report on Syverson, detailing his sizable outburst and how she had felt threatened. One of her counselors had asked if she felt comfortable continuing to see the former captain and she had answered no. 

"I'm sorry this happened," he sighed, closing Syverson's file and pointing towards the door, seeing Penelope out. "I'll have you a new client on Monday morning." 

It didn't feel good giving up on someone, but she told herself that she had to put herself first, her safety first. Penelope had never found herself in a situation with a man where she felt in danger, but now when she closed her eyes, her brain was just sending her into what if circumstances, the image of his tightened fists and clenched jaw permanently etched into her mind. Penelope just nodded, trying to keep her head held up as she left the counselor's office.

Out in the hall, she was having a hard time shaking this sinking feeling she had, like guilt was already beginning to eat her alive and she had only made her decision mere moments ago. Heading out into the lobby, Penelope stopped by the front desk, leaning her elbow against it and letting out a heavy sigh. The receptionist, a girl named Katherine, looked up at her and gave a confused look. "You alright? Ready to sign out, girly?" At the same time, a psychiatrist came walking up to the desk to check back in from their lunch hour. 

"Not really-" Penelope sighed, hearing her phone ding in her pocket, but for the moment, she ignored it. "When do you get off today? Wanna go get drinks?" she asked, picking up the pen to scribble her name on the sign-out sheet. 

Outside, the sun was already beginning to hide behind the horizon and storm clouds were rolling in. There was a heavy scent in the air, like the smell right before it rains. Penelope had been disappointed to hear that Katherine was pulling a double shift as she sank into the driver seat of her car. It seemed like she was heading to the bar alone.

Ding! Her phone went off a second time, reminding her of the message she had ignored only a few minutes prior. Her eyebrows raised slightly when she saw the the name that popped up on the small screen.

𝚃𝚎𝚡𝚝: 𝟽:𝟸𝟹𝚙𝚖 𝚂𝚢𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙸'𝚖 𝚜𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚛.

[littlemisssquiggles]

Have u ever watch other anime related things oscars VA works on I saw an anime he was in last year and all I could here is oscar XD

Hello there anon-chan. As of recently, yes and no---kind of? Outside of RWBY, the only other series that Aaron worked on that I watched in full was the ole original Fullmetal Alchemist series before Brotherhood.

Other than that I haven’t really watched anything else from Aaron. While I’ve seen a couple of clips of him as Tamaki in the MHA English Dub and Senku in Doctor Stone, that’s pretty much it.

I did, however, watch a couple of episodes of this one anime he voiced acted in though. I think it was called Teasing Master Takagi-san. I thought that show was pretty cute but I fell out of touch with it after a few episodes and haven’t watched it since I first heard of it years ago.

So yeah, RWBY is primarily the main work of Aaron’s that I actually watch and follow continuously.

~ LittleMissSquiggles (2021)

[beevean]

I miss Jason Griffith as Shadow. I didn't play Sonic 06 until late 2013, so my only reference for his Shadow voice up until that point was from Sonic X and STH. I think he strikes a good balance between Humphrey and Thornton. The thing about Kirk Thornton is it sounds like he's playing a caricature of Shadow instead, which is why it only really worked in Boom. I'm convinced it's bad voice direction because he's done a good job with every other character he's voiced so far in the franchise.

I've never watched Sonic X in English but from the few clips I've heard he sounds bad, like Sonic with a sore throat lmao. By ShTH he found a much better voice and I'm glad it stuck (although it sounded to me like he was a bit rougher in '06? I know it had different and lackluster voice direction). When I heard David Humphrey voicing Knuckles in Sonic and Tails R, I was immediately hyped because, if Humphrey is Knuckles, could Shadow be voiced by...? And lo and behold, he was <3 and what a treat to hear Drummond and Griffith in the same scene! My dream of the three Sonic voices goofing around together got a little more real.

Yeah, exactly, 99% of the time when Thornton voices Shadow I don't hear Shadow, I hear someone making a Shadow parody. And again, for whatever reason, the only game where he nailed it was Forces... and then he dropped it again! Why! Yeah I love his Orbot, he's a good VA, but what's with the Shadow direction in particular? (also, it may not be a coincidence that Forces' Shadow is by far the best portrayal he ever had since '06)

[its-a-branwen-thing]

r/RWBY AMA Highlights

For those who weren’t aware, r/RWBY did an AMA with the voice actors of the Ace Ops early this morning :) I wanted to share some of their answers here for ya’ll in case people didn’t feel like trekking through the thread. Here are some of the Q&As that I found fun/the most interesting! These are just my personal highlights, by the way! :)

First, some introductions (I put the character next to the name but...just in case I mess up):

And now, for some of the Q/As!

Q: FancyDancyMaho: For Mick - so who is the Goodest Boy and why is it Marrow? If you had to take a guess, is Marrow a mix of insecure and overcompensating because he's the Rookie?

ricepiratemick (Marrow): Absolutely. The thing is, he's a Rookie to the team, but not a rookie in general experience.  The AceOps don't just hire anyone.It's like being a senior in high school: you're the upperclass. Then going to college and starting back down at the bottom of the food chain.Plus he's young, AND a little "different" from the rest. He's got a lot to prove. But unfortunately, "needing to prove something" can sometimes get in your way.

Q: JazzRen47 asked: Hi! This is a general question for all of you. I know voice acting is different from stage work, but was there anything in particular that helped you get into character for your recordings? I'm currently a University theatre student so I'm beyond curious about getting insight wherever I can haha! It was an absolute joy to get to hear your performances this Volume (and an aside for Dawn: you are a wonderful singer, ma'am). Thank you so much for taking the time to come do this.

ricepiratemick (Marrow): Some VA's sit while they work. Focusing all that energy and nuance directly into their voice. I've never been able to that. I gotta stand up and move around (which is sometimes a problem, but I've been able to reign it in and keep it more manageable).

But I'm still flailing my arms around and pointing at imaginary people lol

Q: silent-film asked: Clover’s tone in his scenes with Qrow is noticeably different from his tone when speaking to the Ace Ops or the kids. Can you say anything about that or what your thoughts were on their interactions as a whole?

ChristopherWehkampVA (Clover): I approached Clover as a guarded leader type character, who rarely allowed others into his mind on a personal level. So you see that reflected in how he treats most people, keeping a professional but kind distance.

Q: CapitalStory4 asked: Anairis, what is the best part about being the female Flash?

anairisq (Harriet): At this point? The memes.

Q: Mpatrick23 asked: Hey y'all! I wanna thank you five for taking the time to do this AMA! Now down to the questions:

To all: What was it like in your own perspectives to be a part of the ride with the RWBY cast and who were your favorite VAs to just hang with when not recording? And do you guys have spare time hobbies? Also, just throwing a compliment out there: Dawn, you did beautifully in War!! That was bloody amazing. I loved Harriet up until the "It's not excessive if it's necessary" line as well. I hope you guys make convention appearances soon and possibly see the rest of you in V8!

One of the many loyal fans, -Mitch

DawnMBennettVA (Elm): Hey Mitch! Thank you so much!!! :'D

We generally don't get to see each other a lot when we're not recording, as actors have the most unpredictable schedules. However, I did get to see Anairis before we were able to announce our roles, and we totally geeked out and got excited about each others' performances since we hadn't heard them yet.

I think I'd say my hobby is cooking and baking! I love trying to make new dishes I've never made and see what works. My last favorite food I made was lavender tea bread with a honey lavender glaze. My kitchen smelled fantastic.

Q: MrZissman asked: Hi Dawn! Question - who wins in an arm wrestling contest: Nora or Elm?

DawnMBennettVA (Elm): I think Elm would win at first, but then Nora would probably keep challenging her for rematches until she won. And then Elm would do the same back to Nora until it became an infinite loop of flexing.

Q: BiFross asked: Anairis, the beginning of the season's Harriet is much different than the end's Harriet. How did you make that distinction between friendly threats to actual threats?

anairisq (Harriet): Oh, definitely. Harriet was really serious and angry by the end, so there was no room to play games. You don't see her confidence manifest as playfulness as much as it manifests in frustration by the end, and that's the distinction I made in my head.

Q: Firegirl15639 asked: For Chris, A lot of people's favorite scene you were in was the one in the truck with Qrow. What can you tell us about getting into character for that scene?

ChristopherWehkampVA (Clover): Thanks, I loved that scene. It’s a good glimpse of how professional and capable Clover is while also still having a warm hearted side. I remember wanting to show that warm hearted side with my reads and have it contrast to how all-business he would be later in the scene

Q: threefoldthrowaway asked: Chris, I absolutely loved you as Clover and I’m gutted to see you leave. Clover had most of his screen time shared with Qrow so I just want to ask: How do you think Clover and Qrow’s relationship changed over the course of the volume?

ChristopherWehkampVA (Clover): Thanks, it was so cool to play with their dynamic. By the end of the volume Clovers pain at feeling he had to arrest Qrow was so genuine. He was dealing with the very real pain of having to choose sworn duty over what was becoming an important relationship to him

Q: BrokenLevel asked: Why do you suppose each of your characters are so steadfastly loyal to Ironwood? No need to be canon, personal conjecture is also fine.

ricepiratemick (Marrow): For Marrow, he's a faunus, and there's clearly social tensions that come with that. Having been brought into THE most elite group of huntsmen in the Atlesian military, I can't help but think Marrow (despite being a bit cocky) is hugely appreciative and humbled. He knows how difficult and rare it is for those of his kind to be placed in a such an important role.

That said, of all the AceOps... I think he'd be the first to question his "steadfastly loyal" position on Ironwood.

toddwo (Vine): I think it's the military thing. It's chain of command. He's in charge. The RWBY kids can use their hearts more as a guide because they're not military-first like I think the Ace ops are.

Q: ArmoftheSpoonFiend asked: What would you guys rather fight, 100 duck-sized horses or 1 horse-sized duck?

DawnMBennettVA (Elm): 1 horse-sized duck. Gonna need a giant oven, though.

ricepiratemick (Marrow): Marrow prefers a single target :]

anairisq (Harriet): 1 horse-sized duck. Easier to run away. :') I know if it was Harriet, she'd take on all 100 the duck-sized horses just to show off.

Q: OutcastMunkee asked: Quite a few (mainly because a few from my friend who is at work so can't make it!) questions here for everyone...From me, I gotta ask what you think about the Ace Ops vs RWBY fight and why do you think RWBY came out victorious?

As for questions from my friend, he wants to know:

Did any of you know of/watch RWBY before you were cast?

How did you end up auditioning for the roles?

Was working on RWBY any different to other voice acting jobs you've done in the past?

Thanks for doing this AMA folks! <3

toddwo (Vine): Firstly, RWBY team cheats in battle, so that's why they beat us ;)

I actually produced two seasons of the broadcast show RWBY rewind about RWBY, so I had seen nearly all of it by the time these auditions came around, and programmed entire episodes of that show around episodes, characters, and events of RWBY.

I usually submit every time there's a call for voice actors. I've been voicing various things in videos for a decade, animated characters, puppets, Reggae Shark. So I just love leaving the headspace of being at a desk at work and going to imagination land and recording voices.

I think I answered this in a different post, but I'd say the difference is being close to the show - I work at Rooster Teeth - and knowing the directors personally. It makes it way easy to ask questions, get feedback, and just be loose, as compared to skypeing in to some jerk director in L.A. lol.

ricepiratemick (Marrow): I've seen the debates about the fight results on twitter and reddit and I think it's fairly simple (and that many folks got it): AceOps were not on the same page and down a leader + RWBY were fighting for their lives and the lives of the people they were trying to save. It's as simple as that. Sure "team work" and "friends" and all that, but for those who were disapproving of that being the sole reason... I think it was clear that there were many legit reasons why RWBY came out on top.

Before getting cast, I knew of RWBY, especially some of the folks on the team, but wasn't an avid follower of the series before. Since being cast...gotta say, I love it. And will continue to watch no matter what happens to Marrow.

Audition was sent by the magic of electronic mail.

One main difference (compared to other acting jobs) is the time they take to nail down a line. In many VO jobs, yer on the clock and they roll through the script at a clip. With RWBY, it wasn't like there was a 100 takes of each line, but they knew what they wanted while still wanting the actor to explore. Just super positive, organic, and overall great experience recording with them every time.

anairisq (Harriet):

1) Yup! From the beginning. :)

2) I had received the audition online while living in FL! Submitted it pretty much the same day and tried not to think about it. I was so, so excited when I heard I booked.

3) It was for me! It was my first time doing prelay work in the booth. I was a little nervous about how it'd be like, but each session was really fun.

Q: patrizl001 asked: Todd, did you ever notice your character never used their weapon throughout the volume? Why do you think that is?

toddwo (Vine): This is totally a guess, but I feel like it's Vine's "nuclear option." He's all zen normally, so I tend to think he wants to solve things organically, and not just go nuts and use some metal blades to do the job of stretchy-ness and tactics. I could be wrong tho! Maybe it's just a fashion accessory!

Q: Eldi13 asked: For everyone: Where do you hope to see your characters go in Volume 8?

ricepiratemick (Marrow): Obviously, I have no official say in what happens to Marrow and his place in the story. But I can't help feeling he's gonna get a lot of heat from Ironwood and company after Harriet rats him out for not fighting, especially in light of Clover's death.

Personally, I'd love to see him help/side/join the RWBY gang, even if he's not a mainstay. But no matter what, he's definitely been built up to be the most conflicted of the Ops and I'm curious/excited to see where they leads.

DawnMBennettVA (Elm): Like Mick said, I have no say in the story, but I'd also love to see Elm's growth after Clover's death and the possible events to come (like what's gonna happen to her team after losing its leader, y'know?). She really does seem like a team mom at times, and I'd love to see her give Team RWBY another chance.

Q: Eldi13 asked: For Dawn, (if you make it by later!) what was the recording process like for the song in episode 12? Did Jeff and Casey arrange the whole thing, or did all the vocalists have input as well?

DawnMBennettVA (Elm): Hey there! I believe Jeff and Casey did indeed arrange the whole thing. (Obviously, someone from production please correct me if I'm wrong)! :'D

I was approached by Jeff during the process to be a guest singer, which absolutely blew my mind!!! He and Casey are such crazy talented musicians and it was an honor to be able to perform with them.

Then Christopher Sabat (voice of Arthur Watts) kindly let me use his recording studio to track my vocals, Briana Villarreal engineered me, my cousin Kaitlyn Fae coached and directed me, and I sent my vocals off to Jeff!

Jeff had asked me to sing whichever lines I liked best and he'd pick which ones to use from those. You can imagine how happy I was to hear myself singing when Elm appeared on the screen. :')

Q: SentientHam asked: Thoughts and opinions on each of your character's sembalances and weapons?

ricepiratemick (Marrow): It's fetching. Despite not seeing it's full potential, I think it's got a lot of staying power.

Q: AylaPazza asked: For all VAs, do you have any particular headcanons for your characters? Like hobbies or ways to relax, things like that! Also you all did a fantastic job this volume! I hope we see more of all of you in volume 8!

ricepiratemick (Marrow): Marrow uses his semblance to hack speed-runs of difficult games.

toddwo (Vine): I try to channel Paul Bettany's Vision character and make a lot of resonating noise in my head and relax at the same time. My voice is really high naturally so I spend a few minutes just humming low to myself to get someplace different.

Q: galaxyseal asked: To any of them: have you guys gotten to meet any of your fellow cast members in person?

DawnMBennettVA (Elm): Yes! From the Ace-Ops, I already knew Chris Wehkamp, and I met Anairis not too long after recording! I also met Lindsay and Michael Jones years ago when I started working on Fairy Tail, and Elizabeth Maxwell when we were working on Dragon Ball Super.

Actually, now that I think about it, I've met way more of the RWBY cast than I thought... The voice acting world is smaller than you think! :D

anairisq (Harriet): I met Dawn! She's just as much of a sweetie as Elm is <3

ricepiratemick (Marrow): I haven't!!!! >:[

Buuu~t I've gotten to meet/hang/know some of the team members :D

All solid, passionate, hard-working peeps

Q: brendans1989 asked: For anyone to answer - what is the most powerful advice you would give to anyone aspiring to become a voice actor?

DawnMBennettVA (Elm): Know that rejection is just part of the job. You're not going to book everything you audition for. Learn to let things go. Also, your friends' progress is not a measure of your own.

Even when you're at your lowest and you think you might be the worst, don't give up. Talk to a private coach, take classes, do everything you can to improve yourself. Keep pushing, keep trying, keep moving forward.

------

I hope this is fun for everyone to read through! I tried to balance out answers on character questions and misc. ones, as I bet some folks are interested in hearing about their journey as VAs! If anyone wants to check out the full AMA, it’s here.

r/RWBY seems like a cool crew of people, this seemed like a lot of fun, and the mods did a good job curating! Hope I gave credit where it’s due for question askers--this was all their hard work!

Happy Saturday everyone~

[riskeith]

happy weekend dearest!

other than the snow angels, i haven’t done much.,, just been cozying it up with coffee and blankets at home hehe. 30 degrees... amazing. ideal feeling like a rotisserie chicken weather. 😌 bc of global warming we’ve been having some great summers these past few years. it even gets to 30 degrees as well which was unheard of tbh.

you’re so cute for caring ilysm <3 and aaa! a walk! do you have any perticular place you enjoy walking to or does the winds guide you, hehe? EDITING A FIC... 👀 i’m looking respectfully...... 👀 wait did the event open up for you already? i tried to play it earlier today but it wasn’t there yet... the lost riches one right?

bennett is best boy i still can’t believe it either!!! he’s seriously the cutest he just makes me so happy. when i need to explore and run around i always run with him bc i love his lines so much. what a bebie. you should go for it there are still some days left! + he’s a four star so he’s easier to get. GUOBA IS SO FUNNY he’s just.... a little fucking bear i can’t stop laughing... tbh the little creatures like amber’s bunny too just 😭 have you seen those yt clips of them dancing? obsession..

i need to ask you this bc when i found out i lost my mind: did you know that the japanese va for razor is also the va for tsukishima (haikyuu) and shigaraki (bnha)???? insane!!! it made me consider switch to japanese dub tbh.. which dub do you use?

maybe i’ll send you a little part and you can read or something shdkdhskdjdjf help 😳 it’s not edited or anything so it might take a while plus i’m super into writing bnha these days so.... but hey if You have any prompts you want to read maybe i’ll write a drabble for you. i don’t mind at all! <33333 ask for anything!!

(FIC-COLLAB!!:!/$:)!:&//&/!$:’sidnd HELP.... omg what kind of fic would we write....?)

exactly! i think when you realize that there’s nothing keeping you there anymore that brings you joy, that’s when you need to step back. social media is a bit fucked up that way imo. like you want to be there to be informed and to have fun but it takes so much.. hm. also you always tell me this but i wanna tell you to that YOU are the reason i enjoy social media these days so.. thank you <3

you relate to bakugou and lance? that’s super hot of you.. 🥵 my wifey is a self assured, super intense and talented person.. couldn’t ask for better tbh. i think out of them both i’m pretty much like todoroki.. we’re super similar in so many ways now that i think about it shsjdhdhdj.. how about we just stay c.r and m.a our dynamic is perfect as is LMAO

DOUBLE VENTI! I’D LOOOOVE THAT FOR US. bow users are difficult indeed but venti is one of the easier bow users it feels like... idk watching others game play he doesn’t have as much pushback as say amber for example. 12K PRIMOGEMS..... babe you’re getting your xiao!!!!!! how long have you been saving? also i seriously don’t mind if it comes down to it hakshddkhd i can be your genshin sugar mommy... ;) imagine a c6 venti though that seems insane. literal insanity.

SPEAKING OF SHIPPING.... THE POST YOU POSTED... THEY STOLE OUR IDEA AND IT LOOKS SO CUTE AND ITS CHONGYUN AND XINGYUN WHICH IS EVEN BETTER... THEY LOOK SOOOOO CUTE TOGETHER I’M OBSESSEDDDDD!!!! <3333 dude idk how but we are doing that co-op date somehow i’m super inspired i want that for us so badly... (also i need to say smth... my love language is when people say ‘i thought of you when i...’ and the fact that you said that just hsjdfhjdjdksk shit)

actually you’re right.. the only way we’d get a sequel is if they did something with the mfe fighters.. like kinkade james veronica nadia and ina. idk how attractive that would be tho...

i’m a lady, my dearest *dips* no but my pronouns are she/her!! sorry i didn’t mention it before i thought i made it clear shsjsjdkdj. ty for asking tho ♥️ super sweet!

AAA!!!!!!!!!! EEE!! i’m super super excited. if it’s like,, too public and you don’t just wanna post it i might think about exposing myself or smth... if that would make you more comfy. no matter what you do i’m just gonna be here buzzing, *hinata voice* one more one more one more.

oh!! i listen to everything but kpop sjdjdkdhdk i did have a semi-phase around like 2014-19 ish but dropped it pretty hard . now i have no clue what goes on there anymore i mostly enjoy rnb indie n rap/hip.. my gay ass was considering making a little playlist or smth for u but i want to make it with songs You’d like so i might pull up my old kpop faves hehe..

guess chilling is out of the question then, heh. hope you slept well!! i’m gonna try to wake up earlier so we’ll have a chance to send more messages during the weekend perhaps... mwah!!

YOURS, m.a. <3

happy weekend!!!! hope you can ease up a bit since there’s no school hehe

“feeling like a rotisserie chicken weather” FHSKFHKSDF yes!! but it honestly sucks when it gets any hotter bc we don’t have central cooling in our house so rip... and my laptop fan goes crazy ahaha. 30 degrees being unheard of.. can’t relate! fsdfjs. have you guys had to adjust to those changing temperatures? rip climate change tho :’(

<333 i do!! i usually walk to the local park and then the streets around that.. omg speaking of... do you play pokemon go? DHAFKHSDKFHSKDFHKSDH i got back into it again recently ahaha. it’s for a free bakudeku zine!! hehehe it’s out at the end of jan so 👀

i just checked and the event is open !!!!!!!!! good luck hehe !

yup lost riches!! and the event opens at 4am server time, so since i’m in asia i get it earlier hehe which colour seelie are you gonna go for tho omg i was debating it with my friend last night.. i’m gonna pick gold!!

baby bennett!! that’s true but i can’t risk getting a 5 star otherwise my pity will reset for xiao fhdskfhskjfhkjshkfj next time :(((( but albedo /is/ super pretty and i see a lot of people saying they like him... NO !!! xiao only >:( no omg i don’t think i’ve seen those clips ? is it mmd where they like dance to other songs and stuff ahah

yes i did!!!! and the VA for diluc is giorno from jjba and kuroko from knb!! omg wait and venti’s VA is hinata did you know that? fun fact i guessed it was him when i first heard his voice LOL that’s my secret talent 😩 and i use japanese dub!! i’ve considered using chinese too bc i can understand it but i just like the japanese voice actors tbh and also i can excuse it as “listening practice” AHAH

yes pls!! sending something bnha is fine too, or legit anything else lmao i’m open arms over here~~ 🤗👐 and ooft... it’s hard thinking of prompts that’s why i always ask others HSDKFJHSDKFHSD but i’ll let you know if i think of something!!!

(no clue!!!! but we could each write from a character’s POV so hopefully it’s more consistent 🤪🤪 idk i have no clue how fic collabs work AHAHA)

yeahhh one of my mutuals said “social media is a curse” and honestly hard agree.. we’re all kinda trapped in a way LMAO. and no pls don’t thank me.. you’re the one who found me first 😩💘 ily..

FSDHKJFS pls you’re making me blush come on 😳😳 but yes i love that for us... m.a. x c.r. the only valid ship 😩

woooo!!!! yeah you’re probably right, like given the fact he’s a 5 star his mechanics are probably different.. i know that diluc’s charged attack is different to the other claymore users so! IM GETTING MY XIAO!!!! and hm i’ve been saving since the middle of zhongli banner! so december 10 ish around then? dragonspine was a blessing tbh i reckon i got sooo many primogems from that. FGJKSHFKJSDHFKSDHSHKJFH my genshin sugar mummy 🥵🥵 c6 venti unstoppable..

AHAHAHA YEAH THEY LOOK /SO/ CUTE TOGETHER!!! i wonder how they got so many of the images tho like they must’ve been so in sync?!?!? ugh that could be us but no cross-server co-op be playin’.. (fhdskjfhdskjfhs um!! noted for future reference 🤪)

omg them.. i always forget about them LMAOOOOOOOOO ugh. actually i wouldn’t be mad if we got a prequel of like when keith was in the garrison... or even when shiro was with adam... ugh so much they could’ve given us and they chose not to

*waggles eyebrows* well hello there, m’lady ;) and it’s fine fhdskjf i had some inklings but didn’t wanna assume ya know? ahah :p

no!! it’s all g, i’ve thought about posting it before anyway. like, just releasing all of my WIPs and letting people do what they want with them HAAHA. (i could also just put the link under a read more and less people would see it, so it’s no biggie!) fkdshfkjs the hinata impression omg precious <33

FJHFDSKJ awks ahah which groups were you into tho! if it’s not like scarring for you to think back to LOL. and oooo i like indie too! i think.. or is it alt? honestly i don’t even know, tbh my music taste is pretty diverse and a mess, i can usually listen to a lot of things. except slow songs i don’t really like those hfdskj. and i don’t like rap too much either FHSDKJS whenever my friend gives me a rec i’m just like “oh i liked the singing parts in that” FDSKJF. a playlist tho huh 😳🥺

and pls!! if the weekend is your only chance to sleep in then do it.. for me 😩 i’ve been legit waking up at 12pm these past few days FKJHSKDF idek why like i’m sleeping 10 hours?? yikes. but as always i shall be waiting for your response <3 💌

[animatedminds]

Scoob! Review

Apologies: I watched the movie  two weeks ago, but forgot to write this because I was so busy doing the Dragonball FighterZ thing. But, with that out of the way...

An interesting ride. As a longtime Scooby Doo fan, it was pretty much a given that I would watch this installment by the Warner Animation Group as soon as possible, and I had a pretty good time - albeit with some issue. It’s a fun Scooby adventure, mostly focusing on Scooby and Shaggy, as they go on a new kind of adventure. It’s full of fun references, super charmingly animated action scenes, and lots of humor that actually nails the characters’ goofball antics without diminishing them as the butt of the joke - which is something the previous theatrical series was hit or miss about - which which is also hampered by the fact that it doesn’t really give itself enough time or space to really make any of those things shine.

Spoilers, but only a couple.

The first thing we ever heard about this movie years ago was that it was conceived as a dramatic retool of Scooby Doo into a out-and-out spy series, in order to set up a Hanna Barbera cinematic universe a la the MCU (which, given that they already had a shared universe they could adapt in Future Quest, hit a little hard), giving the impression that Scooby was going to be a pastiche of James Bond. It’s very obvious from the finished product that this concept was since heavily changed, but you still see it in the film. The gang is still the same-old gang - a bunch of kooky teen mystery solvers - but plotwise it’s very much “what if instead of solving a mystery, the gang just fought a supervillain?” Which, let’s be clear, is not unheard of for the franchise: see Scooby Doo and the Cyber Chase for another story that’s mostly just “fight a cool bad guy, with a tacked on mystery,” or the other Shaggy and Scooby-centric stuff like Ghoul School or Reluctant Werewolf for other movies that just plain eschew their usual setting entirely - this is a lot like those. It’s centered around the two characters’ relationship, like pretty much every theatrical Scooby release it seems, as this new challenge almost breaks their union, and the group as usual does very well in that kind of action. Faced with an army of dimwitted robots that can go from silly to terrifying multiple times in the same scene, Scoob and Shag’s typical mix of silly bumbling with surprisingly - and destructively - clever antics make for some great scenes, my favorite being a madcap chase through an amusement park that ends with them getting away on a ferris wheel that’s been knocked of its hinges.

This is very much a movie that wants to be a Hanna Barbera crossover, but is trying hard to restrain itself. As a kid Shaggy was a fan of the Impossibles (who, iirc, were once intended to get a movie as part of this universe) with models and posters that the camera never completely focuses on, you see Laff-a-Lympics on an arcade machine, references to classic Scooby writers and actors as location names (I laughed at Messick Mountain, and the Takamoto Bowl outright went over my head at first), even little things like Scooby bowling like Fred Flintstone or the blink and you’ll miss it appearance of Yankee Doodle Pigeon - and yes, Captain Caveman shows up, fully voiced by Tracy Morgan and kicking butt for a very short scene, with one of his show’s supporting characters (Dee Dee Skyes) as a prominent in this movie’s plot. There’s even musical references in addition to visible ones: at one point, the movie even orchestrates one of the classic bits of Scooby Doo background music. I was hoping for a reference to the classic Scooby Doo / Blue Falcon theme, but alas that was one nod we didn’t get.

However, this approach does work especially well with Blue Falcon - who was originally built up through Scooby Doo, sharing a timeslot, advertisement and technically a theme song, and in time has more or less become to Scooby Doo what Donkey Kong is to Mario: technically a supporting character, but able to do his own stuff every once in a while. There have been several Blue Falcon Scooby Doo crossovers in the last few years (though in terms of sheer number of references this movie’s got nothing on Mask of the Blue Falcon), and they’ve all been very fun as each show, movie or comic reinterpreted the character to fit their specific world - and this movie’s novice Blue Falcon who is kind of an egoistical loser, but turns out to have a lot to learn even from Scooby and Shaggy’s brand of cowardly bravery, grows on you even if he has kind of a rough initial landing.

Unfortunately, this is also a movie that very much wants that rigid hour and a half timeslot, and has absolutely no interest in a going a second longer - and that’s where it’s problems come in. I’ve said before that animated films have become more and more written with expediency in mind: plot points are rushed, denouements are minimized, side or even main characters might not get much utilization, and sometimes things come of as just kind of happening to the protagonists without much set-up. Even the best or the best animation companies fall into these traps at times, and this movie is a good example of what it looks like if you fall into that too much. Take the Scooby gang - Velma, Daphne, and Fred. They’re not really fleshed out that much in this movie, even if they were tweaked a bit with their new VAs - but that’s not necessarily a problem in itself, given the heavy focus on Scooby and Shaggy. What’s more noticeable is where this intersects the plot: for example - one of the better examples of what I’m talking about - the scene that kicks off the whole story. Fred, Velma and Daphne want to expand Mystery Inc, and call Simon Cowell to invest in them. Cowell decides Scooby and Shaggy are incompetent because reasons, and the two storm off. This is later framed as the gang abandoning the duo, that’s not really what happens. Once Cowell hits the scene, beyond one or two lines the rest of the gang essentially ceases to exist, and barely reacts to anything: there’s no moments with them where they seem to buy into what Cowell is saying, there’s nothing beforehand that implies that they’re dissatisfied with Scooby and Shaggy, there’s isn’t even really a status quo for what their dynamic is like. We cut straight from them meeting as kids to them having a supposed fight as adults - this is something that wouldn’t have taken a lot of time, but would have strengthened pretty much everything, from Scooby and Shaggy’s reaction to the trio’s guilt later, but is skipped over entirely. The others get very little beyond being summed up as “the muscle” (Fred), “the face” (Daphne) and “the brains” (Velma), and it feels less like expediency and more like we missed a scene somewhere.

Granted, this particular thing also runs a unique problem that the Scooby gang face. As characters who just turned fifty and who are well entrenched in pop culture, adaptations often assume you know who they already - and this movie definitely assumes you can do its work for it and establish a baseline for the Scooby gang on your own... and on that front, I suppose it does better than the previous film series, which based a lot of its humor on fandom in-jokes they poorly assumed everyone agreed with. But... there’s a degree to which every film needs to establish a baseline for that it itself to trying to do, and I think skipping this hurt the film more than it should have. And it’s hardly the only point where the need for speed cuts out the flow of the film. Scooby and Shaggy get abducted by Blue Falcon, whose assistant then promptly exposits on everything the audience doesn’t know yet about the plot so that they can just skip straight to more action - basically setting up a question and then answering it immediately without set-up. This essentially robs Dick Dastardy - definitely the best thing about the movie - of a strong introduction, in favor of, again, expediency, and it’s kind of baffling given that there’s later scenes where the rest follows the mystery and so repeats that exposition anyway. I mentioned that Blue Falcon himself got a rough initial landing, and that’s because his intro scene is just a lot of new element popping in with exposition, interspersed with pop culture references - and that exposition just stops the whole thing cold for a while. We hit again the “expects you to know” angle with Falcon himself, who is a legacy character of the original Falcon - who we never see, which raises the question of why they bothered to make him a legacy and not just a novice hero in the first place. I’ve always been a strong believer that you can introduce elements without needless explanation unless who introduce concepts that suggest explanation: Scoob and Shag being a fan of the original Blue Falcon, Dynomutt constantly reminiscing about him, and there being a full Falcon organization around which the movie pivots, along with lots of reference, suggest the need for at least a little more than we got - even if it’s just a thirty clip of the way Blue Falcon worked before Brian (the new Falcon) came along - but the movie just wants to rush past it. The entire quest on which the plot is centered it halfway through when we first encounter it, and doesn’t get any explanation at all until halfway through the movie. And then there’s little things like  Captain Caveman cameo, which just leave you wanting more.

This happens again and again, with plot points, characters, all sorts - things introduced halfway and then brushed past as though they’re not. People don’t expect much from animated movies, and stuff like this is one of the reasons why - this movie feels sometimes like it was written for tv, which is ironic given how it ended up being released. But the movies that were themselves DTV or released to TV, like Shaggy’s Showdown or Legend of the Phantasaur, the aforementioned Mask of the Blue Falcon or - my perosnal favorite - Moon Monster Madness, even tend to not have these problems themselves, because they’re more measured and precise about what they want to introduce and why. It’s great to be childish, as long you do childish well.

But now that the criticism portion of the review is done, I will say that this doesn’t hamper the movie’s desire to be fun and easy to follow, it just makes it not as much so as it clearly could have been. If you wanted more Falcon, or more Scooby and Shaggy, more Mystery Inc shenangians, more Dastardly, more adventure, more of a certain gag or humor, more of really any of the movie’s best points, you weren’t getting them that much because the movie was trying to do all of them all at once. But one the movie starts getting traction, about halfway through, that starts to fade as everything coalesces. All the characters meet, we finally know what the heck is going on, and it’s just a straight shot to the end with lots of what this movie does best: cool visuals, silly characters doing silly things, and brave characters doing brave things. Much as I wish there was more to the Captain Caveman segment, it’s one of the most visually hilarious parts of the movie, with the stark contrast of these hi-tech, modern character colliding with these explicitly more cartoony prehistoric designs and antics, and its just wonderful. Everything about Dick Dastardly’s story is great - though I was wishing for a Penelope Pitstop reference - and he even gets a heartwarming conclusion to the whole thing.

I don’t know where the series is going after this - whether they do indeed intend to make more Hanna Barbera movies in this vein. The credits teased Johnny Quest, Frankenstein Jr, Grape Ape (who according to concept art was supposed to be in this one), Atom Ant, and even a bit of Wacky Races, and it’s clear they have the love for classic Hanna Barbera to make it happen. I just hope that if they do, they go with a series who can expand this in a more concise way, with a little better character introduction. I’ve still got my fingers crossed for Future Quest.

The film is still very recommended by me. I loved it, I watched it twice, and it a heck of a lot of fun even with its hang-ups. If you haven’t seen it, there are worse ways for a parent, a kid, or just a big ol’ child at heart to spend an afternoon.

[lee-rambles-about-rwby]

Non-plot things i loved about Volume 7 (since i’ve yelled about the story a lot but there’s so much more i loved): a rambly, bullet-point list

I may think of more if I get around to rewatching the volume, but this is off the top of my head I’ll throw it below a cut just because it’s getting really long (as usual) and I don’t want to clog people’s dash. 

TL;DR i love a lot about this volume lol

Let’s get this one out of the way: M U S I C

like not just how hype I am for the vocal tracks but I didn’t think any score would top my faves from last volume and damn almost every episode had something in the score that literally caught my attention over the drama because it was so good

also so many additional vocalists!! like that’s so cool, I lost my shit when I heard Caleb Hyles IN a rwby episode

On that note (pun intended), sound design in general, yes, hell yes. War abruptly ending with a thud as Harriet runs into the ice? The dramatic shift in tone after Weiss says “Who are you?” and it hard-cuts to Watts with an ominous thunderclap?? The screeching sound over the shots of Summer??? Too much to list

SPLIT SCREENS, like I’m so glad the couple uses of it from last volume became a more regular thing, it’s so cool

The sheer amount of times the voice acting alone could have sold a scene. Like wow the amount of improvement so many of the VAs have had throughout the series is beautiful. Cinder’s desperation and screams in the finale? Top. Ironwood’s increasingly chilling demeanor?? Hell yeah. Willow sounding so realistically broken?? My fuckin’ heart. Oscar, Nora, Ruby, Ren, Qrow, so on and so forth. Again, too many to list

Literally anyone’s outbursts felt so real. I could go on and on with just how many of the especially emotional or tense scenes were made so much more by the VAs, kudos to all of them

The new(?) animation effects!!

Yang and Neo’s semblances are the first thing I think of. This is another thing from last volume, in The Lost Fable and later during the mech fight, I loved how the 2D smoke animation (when the castle is destroyed) and the mech fight explosions looked. Yang’s effect especially reminds me of that. 

Same with just general fire and explosion effects. Someone said they thought it was hand-drawn and tbh it kinda looks it

If this isn’t new I’m just dense as hell, but the flickering of aura in fights instead of it just breaking after a while. I love that we see it flicker when they take hard hits. Tbh it makes more sense for it to do that. Then the little particle effect when aura finally does break! If you’ve ever played the mobile puzzle game Two Dots, it reminds me of the fireflies animation and i love that

OH also that Yang’s eyes seem to glow a bit now when she uses her semblance instead of just turning straight red. It’s so pretty

This is almost plot-related but I’m including it anyway. The general pacing of the volume felt nice. Like a lot of things were happening but it didn’t feel like a clusterfuck trying to keep track of it. Even just in individual episodes. The last few episodes were a lot of fights cutting back and forth and it never really felt messy or annoying (frustration because you want to see the end of the fight sooner doesn’t count lol). I wanna assume that’s in the writing/directing but either way it worked well

CINEMATOGRAPHY! Damn there was some solid camera work. Long tracking shots were so cool (Ruby’s in chapter 1, the one following the grimm invasion, so on), the framing of things for subtly foreshadow things (the political posters and poll numbers, having several seemingly inconspicuous shots of Watt’s bag, etc etc). 

the wide shots in any scene by the vault were beautiful but so were like most of the wide shots in any scene. I know i’m forgetting so many camera shots that probably caught my eye when I watched but there were a lot

OH a specific thing I wanted to mention is the Ironwood vs Watts fight. That wide, rotating shot when Ironwood launched them both off the platform back into normal gravity was so good I had to rewatch just that clip a couple times

Also the fight choreo was fucking great. This isn’t exclusive to this volume, but wow there were some cool moments. The RWBY vs AceOps has to be my favorite, but it’s only barely above Ironwood vs Watts or Cinder vs Winter and Penny, and even still, all the other fights are so close behind that it’s less a ranking and more a “If I had to choose one..”

Lightning round of some other animation things I really loved because this post is too long already:

the gravity in the Ironwood vs Watts fight, but also in Cinder vs Penny and Winter. Like any time a character was flying (or falling) it never felt too floaty or unnatural. Like they still had a realistic weight to them, as much as they can for unrealistically flying lol

being able to really really see how hefty the mammoths were just by how they moved. Grimm animation in general tbh

Honestly the weight of everything felt very realistic; characters, grimm, etc alike

Ruby’s semblance animation looks improved too

Neo, who doesn’t talk at all, still conveying so much in every scene she was in

not technically animation, but the matte paintings used and just a lot of the background designs were beautiful

probably more i’m forgetting 

OH the beautiful use of the whole “Show, don’t tell” concept. Like telling is fine, but this volume did so well with showing things through the animation that foreshadowed other things. Off the top of my head: like how they made sure to show how exhausted Oscar was from fighting Neo, or during several of the scenes in Ironwood’s office being able to just gauge a tone of a scene purely through silent, background facial expressions

Last thing, out-of-show thing: the amount of concept art and behind the scenes stuff crwby has been sharing!! Like i love so much getting to see early designs for character’s redesigns, or concept art for settings, concept paintings for scenes, etc etc. That video going from storyboard, to mocap, to playblast, to final render of Ironwood vs Watts was so fucking cool to watch

[rockmiyabideusexmachina]

Are you playing Rockman X Dive? What do you think about the game? What do you think about the introduction of Classic Megaman, Zero (Megaman Zero) and Leviathan? What do you think about the Iris' New VA (Aya Endo) ? Do you think that Rockman X Dive would be better than Rockman Xover? Tell your thoughts.

Why yes, I am. Add me to your friend lists if you would like.

I started a bit late, and didn’t try to access it for the first month, thinking I couldn’t with the restrictions based on the original launch countries, and them not including America. Then when I saw people were still able to get in, I was so busy with work during Covid panic, I didn’t make time.  But for being a month behind, somehow I’m already up to being ranked the 557th most powerful player as of earlier today! For what it’s worth. 

I’ll catch you one day deep log error not my AKANE... Just won Levi in the gatcha tonight, and working on the event to gain Zero, but it’s fun to have a large assortment of playable characters, as they continue to get released. The problem is having the luck to get or unlock them all. I’m lucky to have all the powerful X armors, but still missing out on a lot of characters.

I compare it in a way to another mobile game of a famous franchise that I love playing, which is Final Fantasy Record Keeper. Except in FFRK, characters are easier to unlock, and pulling weapons in gatcha unlock more bonus moves for the characters. In DiVE, I’m not as much a fan of the characters being dumb gatcha luck, and the weapons in all honesty not being all that different or unique from each other in what they do. Some have been cute or creative, but in many ways, it’s like, a sword is a sword, a buster is a buster, you know? It’s cosmetic, moreso. Where as your chips and raising your character rank is what unlocks unique powers. However, leveling up those things to use those neater powers feels like it will take fooooreeeever, with the materials needed and how hard it is to get them, sometimes. 

Then you have glitchy problems like lag in Co-Op or getting stuck in walls, spinny sword spammers instant killing you in the battle arena, matching being terrible at times. 

But it is still early, and as the developers have shown, they are listening to fan feedback. The game will continue to adapt and change. But for now, I do appreciate the efforts they are putting into it, despite the flaws here and there. 

I don’t have Iris, so I don’t have much of an opinion on her VA. I heard a few clips, she sounded fine. But don’t have much to say other than that.  DiVE certainly is more fun than XOver, in that you actually play DiVE like a Mega Man game! As opposed to auto run and limited stage design. Where as there is much more effort behind the stages, graphics, and gameplay, there really is no comparison. I bought a controller for my phone so that I can play as I normally would a Mega Man game, so that makes it easier for me. With touchscreen controls, I might not be having quite as much fun or comfort with it, however. 

Grinding isn’t necessarily the most fun through these events, but I do enjoy these sort of remixed and re-imagined stages for a few runs through, before it gets tedious. But Mega Man games have always been trial and error, and replay after replay, so that’s always been part of the normal formula. That’s where Skip Dive tickets come in handy, even if the rewards are often worse using them. But I do skip often enough, when I don’t have time to spend hours on this game, but still want to collect daily rewards. 

[whitleyschn33]

RWBY 7 Trailer Thoughts

So, I said I would share my thoughts on the trailer, so here they are! I’m going to start at the beginning and write down what comes to mind for each little section, but since I have seen the entire trailer a couple times now, I may jump forward to connect whatever I’m addressing to something later in the trailer. This might make things seem a bit erratic, so I apologize in advance if this comes out like a lot of rambling nonsense. That said, let’s begin!

1. We open with Ironwood narrating that these are “uncertain times” over a montage of the Kaiju Grimm attack Argus, then cuts to Ruby saying that she’s trying to do what’s best, but doesn’t know if what’s best is what’s right as we see her use her Silver eyes on the Kaiju.

I’m hoping that this line about Ruby not being sure about what’s best being what’s right implies that we’ll get some kind of fallout for the events of Argus. One of my major gripes with the V6 finale is just how dangerous their plan was for the civilians in Argus, and how the narrative so far hasn’t really acknowledged that. The first step of their plan was cutting communications in Argus – something that would have caused mass panic even if they had succeeded and got away without the military noticing in time to send out forces. That panic can and did draw Grimm, and very easily would have killed dozens to hundreds of people. They’re huntsmen and huntresses – even if what’s “best” may be getting the Relic to Atlas, that doesn’t make what they did to do so (putting the civilians of Argus in unnecessary danger) “right”. Anyway, moving on.

2. Next, we get the gang flying into Atlas, whose airspace is completely full of military airships, with Weiss saying that this isn’t right. It then transitions to a shot of Atlas above Mantle, which seems to be on fire, then to the city, then the streets, where we see Atlesian knights patrolling, and only a handful of civilians walking outside, while Blake says the city just seems awful. We see a man throwing a trashcan at a TV screen (which as far as I can tell was showing the “Atlas Broadcasting(?) Network”) while a voice asks “what can we do?” (Can someone tell me who that is? It doesn’t really sound like Oscar or Jaune, and Qrow’s new VA pulls off a much more convincing performance at the end of the trailer, so I don’t think it’s him). Cut to Ruby saying that they didn’t come this far to fail now.

So, from Weiss’s line, we know that this is not how things usually are. The military is on high alert, showing off how strong their defenses are to match the closed off borders. I would guess that this also means troops roaming the city on patrol isn’t how things used to be either. Now, from what I’ve seen, most people seem to be taking this as a sign of martial law, and that theory certainly seems likely – the man throwing the trashcan and the fires we see are all potential signs of rioting, which could be a cause and/or effect of martial law being enacted. I have to wonder if that’s only part of the story, though. Later in the trailer, we see the gang fighting Grimm on the city streets (so I assume that’s what Ruby’s line is directed at), which we know from the leaked storyboards and their clothes happens immediately after they enter Atlas. The only time we’ve seen Grimm inside kingdom walls is during the Fall, so why are they there? What if this is a recent occurrence – a sudden influx of Grimm making it past the defenses and into the city proper? That’s another explanation (or even just another reason in addition to rioting) for troops to be patrolling, and I could very easily see that becoming a vicious cycle. Grimm get in, people panic, drawing more Grimm to the area and making it more likely for them to get it, causing more attacks and more panic, and making the soldiers seem less like protectors and more like ineffective “peacekeepers”. There’s a lot more I could say about this, but let’s keep going.

3. We go back to Ironwood’s voice overlaying what seem to be two/three different fights – the fight in the city streets against the sabertooth Grimm and two different fights in a mineshaft (and yes, they’re mines, the warning signs on the walls warn of deep mineshafts) against a new type of Grimm that I’ve heard are called Centinels and later an Ice Geist. He says, “Until now, I believed it was impossible to truly turn the tides against Salem. We find ourselves in the position of needing…. A new approach. She will keep returning stronger and stronger –“ cut to the new model for Ironwood “- unless we destroy her.” Cut to Ruby saying “Tell us how we can help.”

So, the main thing of interest to me here is Ironwood. We can see from the shot of his new appearance that he’s no longer taking care of his appearance like he did in the first few volumes – the stubble from V4 has become a full grown beard, and his hair doesn’t look like it’s been combed in weeks. The guilt and paranoia that we saw budding in V4 has fully come into bloom, as evident by his lines here, the heightened defenses we saw around Atlas, and the troops patrolling the city. In V4 E11, Jacques accuses Ironwood of never trusting anyone but himself, to which Ironwood responds to “For good reason,” then immediately says, “If Oz had just listened to me from the start…” Ironwood clearly believes that the Fall of Beacon would not have happened had Oz listened to him – used his strategies. Oz’s strategies “failed”, so this reaffirmed Ironwood in thinking that he’d had the right ideas – that if he had been able to control what was happening in Beacon, he could have stopped it. So, now, he’s not taking any risks with Atlas. He’s doing everything he thinks is right to protect the kingdom, no matter how paranoid or insane it seems – closing the borders, dust embargos, potential martial law, whatever it takes to keep the kingdom “safe”. 

Now, this seems to be extending to Salem herself. If Oz was flawed about Beacon, he may be reasoning, why can’t he be wrong about Salem? Maybe there is a way – maybe the strength of Atlas *can* destroy Salem. Salem always seems to come back, maybe she’s just never been completely destroyed, and that’s what we need to try to do to fully get rid of her. Now, we know that this isn’t true, that Salem can’t be killed, can’t be destroyed, but even if Ironwood knows this (from his “believed it was impossible to turn the tides” line), he’s clearly no longer thinking straight. He no longer trusts Oz for having reasons for not simply going after her with an army, since Oz has been knocked down from his pedestal of “all-wise and powerful” with his “death”, so now he’s going to try to go about things his own way… which, from the state of Mantle? Doesn’t seem to be working amazingly well. More on that when I try to summarize my thoughts into a cohesive TLDR.

4. Cue Team RWBY jumping out of a plane into some kind of complex (my guess would be the mines/refineries at the mine site), interspersed with them fighting either the Sabertooths or the Cenitals, and title card.

So, “final” (I say that, but I’ll probably talk about them again) take on the new outfits. Ruby is still my favorite – it still looks really good, the hair is far tamer than I or anyone else thought it would be and I’m glad (though in some places, particularly the concept art that went around like a week ago, it really looks like Cinder, and I’m not sure how to feel about that), since this just gives her hair a more stylized look.

Blake is sitting at my second favorite – I think it’s a look that comes together pretty well, and the hair looks fine (I’ve seen some people complaining about how flat it looks, and I’m just here like, yeah, that happens a lot when you cut it that short, it can lose the volume it used to have). 

Now Weiss and Yang… are now kinda tied. Yang’s outfit looks better than it did in the original art for me, and I think that’s mainly because the belt breaks up the khaki a bit better in 3D, so it’s not just a great expanse of bleh (still think the jumpsuit itself is ugly as hell, but I’ll take what I can get). 

Weiss’s… is still a case where I like the aesthetic they were going for, but it doesn’t come together right. The big poofy skirt looks okay when she’s on her own (sometimes), but next to the rest of RWBY just looks so out of place and in the way and honestly a bit bland. The top half with the sleeves and gloves look… fine, but again, I wish they didn’t poof out the arms so much. The braid… still gives me really mixed feelings because it’s shorter than the concept art, but it’s still looks so thick and heavy, and adds to this unbalanced feeling I get. If it was in the back completely, instead of the side, I would be perfectly fine with it, but as it is, just throws me off. I can see what they were going for, particularly in the clip where she’s fighting a Cenital since that’s where the outfit as a whole looks best to me, but as a whole, there are too many little details that throw me off for me to really like it. Again, that might change when the first episode hits, but for now… eh. 

The title card is pretty, though.

5. Back in the city streets – Qrow comments that he was expecting things to go a lot rougher, Blake and Yang are walking away when suddenly – captured by bolos! We see Blake, Qrow, then Ruby go down, the Relic falling off on to the pavement. A man approaches, while another standing of to the side, and then picks up the Relic. End trailer.

So, first off, major kudos to the new Qrow VA – his performance is outstanding. I was worried that the transition would be jarring, but if I hadn’t known they’d put someone new in, I honestly wouldn’t have noticed. His mimicry of Qrow’s voice is exceptional.

Second, I’m fairly certain that the people that captured the team are Atlas personnel. While we can’t see much, the man in frame wears white and blue, Atlas colors, and has a fairly militaristic haircut. The other figure is either wearing white boots, has a model that hasn’t been completely rendered yet, or seems to be an android, looking at the odd pattern and shape of his feet. I’ve seen some people throwing out the idea that this is Ironwood trying to take the Relic, or Atlas trying to steal the Relic, since the man picks it up, but – guys. Really? We see Ruby talking to Ironwood earlier in this trailer. They’re still in their old clothes, this is episode one. The more likely explanation is that these guys captured them because RWBY and Co attacked a military base, stole an airship, arrived in said stolen airship, and clearly are not supposed to be here if they just suddenly appeared without the border officials being informed, and so are clearly criminals in the eyes of Atlas. So, yeah, my 5 lien are on them spending, like, 5 minutes in jail before they can get to Ironwood, where he (hopefully) reams them out a bit.

So, yeah, that’s the trailer!  No sign of Whitley, which, disappointed by not surprised. I’m gonna hold out hope for him to be in the intro, like in Volume 4. As for what I think may be happening this volume from the trailers, I expect we’ll have a heavy focus on Ironwood, his paranoia, and his relationship with Oz, and how that extends to how the inner circle has operated for the part 10/20/?? years. I also feel like the first big thing to be tackled will be the Grimm in the city. The fact that Grimm are getting in points to a huge breakdown in the kingdom’s defenses, despite the fact Ironwood seems to have ramped them up to 11. So, the question is, where are they coming from, and how are they getting in? Considering that the Centinals break out from the ground, and RWBY and Co are fighting in a mineshaft, I would say that it’s coming from a subterranean pocket of Grimm, like the ones that people of Mountain Glenn broke in on. Since we know Salem is experimenting more with Grimm, it’s possible that this Grimm outbreak is being caused by her seeing how viable it would be to launch an attack on Atlas from underground, where their defenses are at their weakest, and this is showing most prominently in the mines and the city around them/on the ground. Otherwise, it could be possible the SDC, while mining, broke into a cavern full of them. This doesn’t seem as likely, though, with the dust embargo. If the SDC isn’t able to sell overseas, then mining operations were most likely shut down temporarily. No use wasting money trying to get product that you can’t sell. It could be an old mine, though – one that had been boarded up cause Grimm, but that broke loose due to all the negativity caused by Ironwood’s new measures.

But ultimately, we’ll just have to wait and see! Once again, I’m sorry if this is a bit rambling – I have to leave any minute now, so I haven’t given this a through reread, but I want to get my thoughts out there in a timely manner for once, so I’m going to post anyway. Thank you for reading this far! What’re your thoughts on the trailer, the outfits, the potential plot? Feel free to comment below or send an ask, and I’ll talk to you all soon! Have a good day!

[lovemesomerafael]

El Amor Todo Lo Puede            Chapter 49:  What Has To Be Done

Source:  @fortheloveofbarba

Chapters 1-45  Chapter 46  Chapter 47  Chapter 48

A young man brought a large bouquet of flowers through the door to the squad room.  

“Oh, no,” Amanda warned, catching Laura’s attention.

“I got flowers for a Laura Parker?”  The delivery man called out, looking around.

Laura rolled her eyes and indicated the chair next to her desk.  “Have a seat,” she said to the delivery man.  “This is gonna take longer than you expected.  Hope you’re not double-parked.”

When Olivia returned from ComStat, she saw the flowers and knew immediately that Parker had received another gift from Simmons.  Catching Rollins’ eye, she pointed to the bouquet and raised an eyebrow.

“Yep.  Him again. Parker and Fin are at the flower shop right now.”

“Is there a card?”  

“Yeah, he’s escalating.  This one is an out-and-out threat.”  Rollins handed Olivia an evidence bag with a florist’s card inside.

I love you.  Don’t make me hurt you like you’re hurting me.

Olivia scowled.  “They should’ve checked with me first.  This isn’t something Parker can be investigating anymore.  What if he’s waiting for her at the flower shop?”

“Fin’s there.”

“That’s something.  But you’re right, he’s escalating.  So this is the last time.”

“I don’t envy you telling Parker that.”

“Yeah.”

 **********

The package delivered to Laura three days later was the size of a shoebox, but heavy.  That, in itself, had been enough to prompt the evacuation of the station house and investigation by the bomb squad.  But it wasn’t a bomb.  It was worse.

Laura felt sick.  The poor cat appeared to have been healthy and well cared for, with a collar that included an ID tag.  Until the sick bastard had decapitated and disemboweled it.  

“Fuck,” she whispered.  She looked up at Olivia, her face pale and her eyes wide.  “I don’t suppose we can keep this from my husband.”

“I don’t see how.”

“Awesome.  Cue the ‘we’re leaving town until they catch this creep’ speech.”

“He’s got a point.”

“Oh, not you, too.”

“Yes.  Me, too.”

“Is that an order?

“Not yet.  But Simmons is out of control.  You need to let us take it from here.”  

“I’m working other cases!  I’ve got work to do.  If he comes for me, Fin and I will deal with him.  Please, Liv.  As long as I’m around, he’ll keep doing this stuff, and every time he does, he’s exposed. That gives us the chance to catch him. I split, he goes to ground until I’m back.  Or worse, he starts on someone else.”

“All right.  For now.  But you stay far away from this investigation.  Understood?”

“Understood, Lieu.”

 Rafael was livid.  The moment he heard about the cat, he was on the phone to Laura, telling her to stay at the station house until he could come get her and take her out of town.  Laura closed her eyes, shook her head, and went into the crib, from which the squad expected to hear arguing from behind the closed door.  There was no yelling, but they could hear the clipped words and exaggerated pronunciation of a very tense discussion.  

“Rafael, I love you.  I know you’re worried about me, and I appreciate it.  But this is not. your. call.”

“¡Joder![1]  

“Look, Liv’s OK with me staying on.  If you won’t trust my judgment, trust hers.”

“It’s not your judgment I question, it’s this maniac’s. We’re not done talking about this. In the meantime, you be careful.”

“Always.  Now go back to work.”

The following day, as Laura and Fin drove across town working a case, they noticed a car tailing them.  

“You think it’s him?”  Fin asked.

“Let’s check it out.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Give him what he wants.”

“You sure?”  Fin squinted at Laura.

“You got me, right?”  She shrugged, grinning at him.

“If Barba asks, I was against this from the beginning,” Fin said, pulling into a parking lot.  

The blue Hyundai compact pulled into a parking stall near them, but across the aisle.  No one got out.  Fin and Laura decided to push it by getting out of their car and heading to either side of the Hyundai.  As soon as they did, though, the Hyundai pulled back out of the stall and squealed off, nearly clipping Laura in the process.  She jumped and rolled just in time to avoid being hit.

Fin ran to her side and helped her up from the pavement. “You all right?”

“Yeah,” she told him, disgusted.  “Damn, that was him.  We almost had him.”

Laura’s phone rang.  She didn’t recognize the number, but that wasn’t unusual.  Just after she answered, her expression went hard and she pushed the speaker button.

“- and I don’t like that.  You really hurt my feelings, Laura.  Why won’t you love me?”

“Hey, Art, I know you’re upset.  Why don’t you come back here?  Maybe we can talk about it.”

“Get rid of that other guy.”

“I can do that,” she said.  Fin tilted his head and raised his eyebrows, but didn’t interfere.

“You- you will?”  Simmons stammered.  

“Yeah, Art.  I don’t want to hurt your feelings.  Let’s talk.”

“You’re trying to trick me.”

“I’m trying to fix things between us, Art.  That’s all.”  

“You’re a liar!  You bitch, you’re trying to trick me!  Why are you such a bitch?”  At first, he had been shouting furiously into the phone.  Now, Fin and Laura could hear him begin to sob.  “All I ever did is love you!  Why won’t you love me back?”

“Come on, Art, please don’t cry.  Just come back and talk to me.”  

“Yeah, I’m gonna come back, you filthy whore, and I’m gonna rip you apart!”  He was screaming, almost incoherent before the call ended abruptly.  

Laura and Fin looked at eachother, stunned.  

“Next mood swing in 3…2…1…”  Fin murmured.

“Holy crap.  He’s completely unhinged.”

“Yeah.  I think it might be time for you to bow out.”

“Screw that.  We’ve got him, Partner.  All I gotta do now is stay put and let him come to me.”

Squealing tires drew their attention to the end of the row of cars where a blue compact was tearing around the corner.  

“Go!”  Fin yelled, pushing Laura toward one row of cars while he sprang for the other.  

As soon as Simmons cleared the corner of the row of cars, he aimed his car directly at Laura.  She could see his red face, distorted with rage, teeth bared, as he bore down on her. She ran between two cars to avoid being crushed between Simmons’s Hyundai and their squad car.  He aimed at the space Laura had entered, his compact ramming violently into the cars on either side.  He immediately jammed the Hyundai into reverse, pulled back a few feet and, ramming the gearshift again, shot out the other end of the aisle before either Laura or Fin could get off an effective shot.

Laura slammed her hand down hard on the hood of a car and swore as Fin reached her.  

“You OK?”  He asked, putting a hand on her shoulder and looking her over.  

“Yeah, yeah.  How is that car still drivable?  Just my luck, I get the stalker with the indestructible Hyundai.”

“Let’s call it in.”

 Rafael was stiff and quiet when he arrived at the station that evening to take Laura home. She knew without asking that someone had told him about the incident in the parking lot, which meant he was going to be implacable about making her leave town until Simmons was caught.  

It had been over a week that Laura hadn’t been allowed to work late or to go anywhere alone.  It drove her crazy, but even she had to admit it was necessary.  It would have been nice, working normal hours and going home with Rafael in time for dinner, if it hadn’t been for the reason. At first, they had enjoyed it and taken advantage of the opportunity to spend the long evenings in bed together. But as time had gone by, and Simmons had become more aggressive about stalking Laura, romance had given way to tension as Rafael had become more anxious for her safety, and Laura more determined to stay in New York and live her life as normally as possible.  With each incident, the strain got worse.  

As if by agreement, they didn’t discuss the situation on the drive home, or as they made dinner together, he dressed in jeans and a sweater, she dressed in sweats and a long-sleeved T-shirt.  They both knew the situation had turned a corner.  

Rafael tried to be calm.  He knew they were going to have to have a very difficult conversation, but, for now, he just wanted to enjoy being with Laura.  He looked across the kitchen at her, looking cuter than anyone should look in their most casual clothes; hair in low pigtails, barefoot, cutting up vegetables for a salad.  As gorgeous as she looked in an evening gown with her hair and makeup perfect, as beautiful as she was in the street clothes she wore to work, he found her most irresistible like this; no makeup, hair haphazard, in grubby clothes that only incidentally revealed her curves.  This was a Laura that belonged only to him.  

“You’re staring at me,” she said, giving him a tentative grin.  

“Hard not to.  You’re pretty cute.”

Her smile became more genuine.  “I’m cute?  Have you seen you?”

Rafael took the few steps across the kitchen to where she was.  She turned to him, putting her arms around his neck as she drew her to him.  

“Te amo,”[2] he whispered into her hair.

“Me, too.”  

They stood there, simply holding one another, for quite some time.  They didn’t say anything out loud; there was no reason.  That evening, they flirted throughout dinner, talking about everything but Simmons.  By the time dinner was over, they weren’t in the mood to bother doing more than toss the dirty dishes in the sink before they hurried, kissing and removing clothes as they went, to their bedroom.  

The next morning, as she pulled on a leather jacket, Laura continued the conversation they’d finally begun shortly after waking. She did everything she could to try to convince Rafael that she needed to join her team in the hunt for the creep who was stalking her.  

“Why are we even talking about this?  This is my job.  It’s dangerous.  That’s just how it is.“

“Te amo, Laura, pero lo juro vas a ser mi muerte,”[3] Rafael muttered, shaking his head.

She tried another tack.  “I’m the one he’s looking for, Rafael.  They need me to…”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass what they need.  You are not leaving this house.”  Laura had never heard the steel growl Rafael used.  She blinked in surprise.

“So, what?  I’m a prisoner now?”  She asked.

“If that’s what it takes.”  He looked her straight in the eyes.

“What?”

Rafael stepped closer to her.  He spoke in his usual rapid-fire manner, his voice low and serious.  “Laura, you are my wife.  Your life is more important to me than my own, and I am going to protect you, no matter how angry you get at me.  I will charge you with a crime if I have to, get you locked up where every cop in the city can watch out for you.  If you turn this into a battle of wills, you’ll find out you aren’t actually the stubborn one in this marriage.”  

Laura stared.  She’d seen him in this mood before, although it wasn’t usually directed at her.  It was useless to argue.  She’d seen the best defense lawyers in New York try.  She sighed and took her jacket back off.  

He started to say something, but Laura did not want to hear “Good girl.”  Or anything like it.  She cut him off.

“If you speak, I will taze you,” she said. Rafael stifled a smile.  

She was restless and hated what felt to her like making the rest of the team fight her battles.  But there was something deeply sexy about Rafael’s masculine protectiveness. His absolute demand that she stay safe made her feel loved and precious to him.  Even in this lousy situation, he managed to give her new reasons to love him.

Laura paced around the apartment, checking her phone every minute.  She knew Rafael was only pretending to work, watching and waiting to see if she would try to leave the apartment.  As she was looking at her phone for the millionth time that morning, there was a knock on the door.  

She stood at the end of the short hall, gun in hand, as Rafael looked out the peephole.

“It’s Liv,” he said, opening the door.

Olivia stepped in while Laura holstered her gun.

“Something’s happened.”  Rafael said.

“Yeah.  You guys are gonna want to pack.”

“What’s he done?”  Laura asked, moving a step closer.  

“His car’s outside.  With a body in it.”

“Outside.”  Rafael looked at Laura, then back to Olivia.  “Outside here?  This building?”

“Yeah.”

Laura gasped.  “How the hell does he know where we live?”

“Come on,  He knows everything about you.  And now he’s killed a woman.”

“What woman?”  Rafael’s voice was hard.

“One that looks enough like your wife to be her twin.”

“Fuck packing.  We’re out of here now.”  

“Rafa,” Olivia said, “You might as well take the time to pack.  Right now there’s just me and Fin.  In two minutes, there’s gonna be a hundred cops outside.  Take your time.  Call me when you’re ready, and we’ll get you to your car.”

An hour later, the CSU techs had checked Rafael and Laura’s car and found no sign of incendiary devices or tampering with the engine or brakes.  With their luggage hastily tossed in the back, Rafael drove out of the parking garage, out of the neighborhood, and out of the city.  With each mile, they both felt better.  Laura wanted to be working with her squad to catch Simmons, but she could feel Rafael’s anxiety melting away, which mattered more to her.  

“Any idea where we’re going?”  She asked as they emerged from the Lincoln Tunnel into the New Jersey sunshine.

“Where would you like to go, mi amor?[4]  The beach? The mountains?  North?  South?”

“Trenton.”

“Trenton!?”  

“Yeah.  Trenton. That way, there’s no reason to go out. We’ll just stay in our hotel room and I can have my way with you 24/7 until they catch Simmons.”

Laura enjoyed the first real laugh she’d heard from Rafael in a long time.  “Tell you what,” he said.  “Let’s go somewhere wonderful.  We can still just stay in our hotel room and you can have your way with me 24/7.  For as long as you want.”  The look he gave her shot jolts of electricity through her.

“Deal.  You do realize you’re hot as hell, right?”

Rafael just smiled.  

That evening, Rafael and Laura lay on the floor of a small but luxurious cabin in the Poconos, not far from where they’d spent their honeymoon.  They cuddled together in a nest of blankets and pillows they’d made in front of the fireplace.  

“You know the cliché about a bearskin rug in front of the fire?  No one ever tells you the bearskin rug is to cushion your spine from the floor,” Rafael mumbled.  His voice made a pleasant rumble in his bare chest where her head rested on it. 

“Pro tip.  When your wife rocks your world in front of a roaring fire, it’s very unromantic to complain about how hard the floor is.”  

“Sorry.”  

“But as long as we’re being honest, it is a little cold down here.  How about we get in bed and you can rock my world?”  

“Again?  If I’d known you were so demanding, I’d never have married you.”

“Oh, there is so much wrong with that statement. First, you did know how demanding I am. Second, you love how demanding I am. Third, you would still have married me, because you’re hopelessly in love with me.”

“Guilty.  On all counts.”  He tightened his arms around her and kissed her on top of her head, then stood up and helped her to her feet.  

 They were awakened somewhere near dawn by a muted crash. Both Rafael and Laura immediately woke, even from their sated, exhausted sleep.  They sprang apart, leapt from bed and hastily pulled on the closest clothes. Laura signaled Rafael for quiet. Taking her Glock from the bedside table, she flipped off the safety and stepped to him, whispering in his ear.  

“Go in the bathroom and lock the door.  Call for help.  Don’t open the door, no matter what you hear,” she hissed.  

“I’m not gonna let you-“

“Hazlo!”[5]  She whispered harshly.  “I need to know you’re safe, so I can concentrate on him.”  She stepped, barefoot and silent, toward the other room of the cabin, pulling the door nearly closed behind her.

She peered around the cabin’s greatroom, but didn’t see anything out of place.  She slid her back along the wall toward the door as quietly as she could, intending to surprise Simmons when he tried to get in.  She guessed that the sound that had awakened them was Simmons breaking a pane on the front door of the cabin, so she looked for movement there.  She didn’t see any.  When she was as close as she intended to get to the door, she stopped moving and waited.  

She didn’t wait long.  As she stood against the wall, weapon aimed at the floor, looking toward the door, she heard a sound to her left and turned to see Art Simmons swinging a baseball bat at her.  She had just enough time to turn to the side and put her arm up, which prevented the bat from hitting her head, but she was still knocked off her feet by the force of the blow.  She uttered a loud grunt as her impact with the floor struck the Glock from her hand, It went skittering along the pine flooring.  

Simmons roared as he lifted the bat over his head and brought it crashing down on the spot where Laura had been the instant before. She rolled toward him, using her weight against his ankles to unbalance him.  He moved his feet to regain his balance, giving her the opportunity to grab his left leg as he shifted his weight to his right.  He slammed to the ground with a yell.  

“You fucking bitch!”

Simmons rolled to his knees as Laura scuttled away from him.  He pulled a jagged hunting knife from a sheath on his belt.  

“I told you I was gonna rip you apart!  I loved you!”  

He threw himself at her, knife held in his fist, and there wasn’t enough room between him and the wall to evade him completely. He landed on her right leg, which still left her able to kick viciously at his face with her left.  He twisted his neck to avoid most of the force, and grabbed her ankle to pull her toward him, using his knife hand on the floor to lift himself further onto her.  Again he raised the knife, this time able to use his weight to keep her from pulling away from him.  She reached up, grabbing his forearm with both hands to hold the knife away from her.  She screamed wordlessly with the effort of pushing with all the strength she had in both arms to keep him from burying the knife in her chest.

“I know that man is here, you cheating whore.  I don’t care about him.  He’s nothing to us.  It’s you!  You just won’t love me!  Why are you so cold?”  He began to cry as he continued to pull down on his arm, trying to stab her with the wicked blade.  

She tried to twist the knife out of his hand, but he was much stronger than she was, with wrists as thick as her forearms.  The knife moved ever closer to her chest as she tried to kick her legs free from under him.  

“He can’t have you!”  Simmons sobbed.  “You’re making me kill you!  It’s the only way to make you mine forever!  And then I’ll do myself, and we can be together.” 

He suddenly yanked his knife arm up, hard, pulling it out of Laura’s hands.  She was surprised, but used his movement to pull her left leg out from under him, bending her knee and pushing as hard as she could against his abdomen with her foot to get him off of her.  As he was reared up, preparing to thrust the knife down into her chest, a blast thundered through the room and he went still.

For a split second, Laura couldn’t figure out what was happening, but when he began to fall toward her, she used her leg and her arms to shove him away from her with all her strength.  He fell to the floor, limp and heavy, and didn’t move.  In the dim light, she first saw the pool of blood begin to spread beneath his head, then focused on the ragged hole above his left eyebrow.  

She rolled over onto her elbows, gasping from exertion, and looked back toward the bedroom door to see Rafael standing there, still holding her Glock aimed at Simmons.  For a long moment, they simply stared, openmouthed, at one another, both panting.  

“¿Estas bien?”[6] He asked quietly.

“Sí. ¿Tú?”[7]  

“No se.”[8]

Laura got to her feet as Rafael flipped on the safety of the gun and set it quickly onto the heavy oak table in the kitchen area of the room as though he couldn’t get rid of it fast enough.  They rushed to clasp each other, beginning to dimly hear sirens in the distance.  

“He was going to kill you.”

“Not with you around.”

“Laura…”  Rafael crushed her to him, burying his face in her hair.  

“It’s OK, mi amor, it’s OK…”

They were both beginning to shake now that the surges of adrenaline had stopped.  They stood holding one another, waiting for whoever belonged to the approaching sirens.

“I had to shoot him.”  Rafael murmured.

“Yes.  You did. He would’ve killed me.”

“We’re messing up the evidence, you know.  I’m getting gunshot residue on you.”

“Hold me anyway,” she whispered, tightening her arms around him.  “You saved my life.  Thank you.”

“It was my turn.”

Soon, the crunch of tires on the gravel and flashes of red and white light announced the arrival of at least two police cruisers. Still holding Laura’s hand, Rafael led her around Simmons’s body to the door, and turned on the lights.  He opened the door, but they didn’t step out.

“Nobody’s armed,” he called.  “We’re coming out.”

Slowly, hands first, Rafael and then Laura stepped out onto the porch to see three Pocono Mountain Regional Police cruisers and six officers, guns drawn, fanned across the front of the cabin.  

“Is the intruder still inside?”  One of the officers called to them.

“Yes,” Laura called back, “But he’s dead.”

All six officers stood up from their defensive positions behind cars and car doors, holstering their weapons.  The one who had spoken stepped around the front of his cruiser and up onto the porch.  He looked Rafael and Laura over, noting a few smears of blood on her.

“Weapon’s on the table,” Rafael told him.  

“All right, you two step over here while we take a look.” The officer indicated the end of the porch, away from the door.  “You sure he’s dead?”

“We’re sure,” Rafael answered.  

They moved to the side of the porch, putting an arm around one another where they stood.  As several of the officers entered the house, Rafael noticed that the planks of the porch were cold on his bare feet, and the night air raised goosflesh on his bare chest.  Laura was also barefoot, wearing only his T-shirt over a pair of flannel pants.  Two of the officers stepped over to them as the others began their work inside.

“Are we waiting for a crime scene unit?”  Rafael asked.  “It’s cold out here and we could use some more clothes if you need us to stay outside.”

“Let’s give the Sarge a minute inside, and we’ll see what we can do.  So, what happened here tonight?”  

So began a long process that lasted well into the morning. Olivia and Fin arrived shortly after sunrise to find Rafael, now fully dressed, being questioned on the couch in the greatroom of the cabin.  Laura, still barefoot, but now wearing jeans and a sweater that obviously belonged to Rafael, was sitting in a rocking chair in the bedroom giving her statement.  Both looked composed, although Rafael’s mouth was set in a grim line and he was slouched down.  Olivia wasn’t surprised.  Rafael had never had to kill anyone before.  She knew well the feelings that came with even the most righteous of shootings.  She made a mental note to make sure he took the necessary steps to work through it.

Simmons’s body was still there, undisturbed since the shooting.  They were still waiting for a Pennsylvania state crime scene team to arrive.  Olivia guessed that the paper bags sealed with evidence tape on the table contained the clothes Laura and Rafael had been wearing when the shooting occurred.

Olivia quickly identified the officer in charge of the scene and introduced herself and Fin, explaining that this was the culmination of a case her unit had been working.  Once the introductions were accomplished, Fin went into the bedroom to Laura, who hugged him long and hard.  He knew she and Rafael couldn’t be questioned together, and he also knew she would be needing some support right now.  He knew better than most what lay beneath her tough façade.  In her place, he would have appreciated her silent presence, too.  So he simply stood next to her as a local detective continued to take her statement.

“So what was this guy’s beef with you?”

“I arrested him on suspicion of a rape about six months ago.  He wasn’t our doer, but he became fixated on me.  I started to see him, hanging around the station house and the courthouse. For the last two months, he’s been outside the station almost every day.  He’s also been in the courtroom every time I’ve had to testify.  I have no idea how he knew when that would be, but there he was.”

“Did he talk to you?”

“Not at first.  But about a month and a half ago, he started sending me things.  Flowers, with creepy messages about how he loved me. The next time I saw him outside the station, I confronted him.  He acted like he was terrified of me, and ran away.  But he didn’t stop.  He started sending more presents to the station; candy, balloons, jewelry; always with a creepy message, but not threatening until the last couple of weeks. The messages started to be accusatory. ‘You’re cheating on me’, ‘why won’t you love me’, that kind of thing.  And then, last week, he went completely off the rails.”

She explained the last few incidents.

“How did he find you here?”  The detective asked.

“Good question.  We figure he must’ve put a GPS tracker on our car.  He’s a weird mix of crazy and smart.  He’s no criminal mastermind, but he had some surprisingly good stalker skills.”  

“Our crime scene team will check your car when they get here.  If there’s a tracking device, we’ll need to impound it.”

 “You said the lights weren’t on.”  The officer in charge asked Rafael.  “How’d you drill the guy with a perfect head shot in the dark?”

“Look around.  This cabin is tiny.  I was standing in the doorway of the bedroom.  Look where the body is.  That’s, what? Five feet?  Not much of a shot.”

“You have firearms training?”

“Depends how you define training.  I’m married to a cop who keeps a firearm.  Our jobs, we make enemies.  So we joined a gun club and I learned to shoot.  We have a standing date once a month when we go for target practice.”

 Eventually, the crime scene van arrived and did the expected tests and examinations of Rafael and Laura.  They photographed Laura’s minor injuries and tested their hands for gunshot residue.   At last, they were free to go, although the police impounded Rafael and Laura’s car which had, in fact, been fit with a GPS tracker.  

The four New Yorkers wearily piled into the squad car Olivia and Fin had arrived in.  None of them expected any trouble to come out of the shooting.  

Rafael lay at an angle across the back seat, with Laura lying against him, their arms around each other.  She looked up at him.

“You OK?”

He frowned.  “I think so. I guess we’ll see.  Life with you isn’t going to be boring, is it?”

“Right this minute, I could use a little boring.” With that, she laid her head back down on his chest.

Fin, who usually drove because he was a terrible passenger, was the only one still awake when they reached the New Jersey border.  

[1] Fuck!

[2] I love you.

[3] I love you, Laura, but I swear you’re going to be the death of me.

[4] My love

[5] Do it!

[6] Are you OK?

[7] Yes.  You?

[8] I don’t know.

[sandstonesunspear]

Storm

Mass Effect!AU Director Sanvers

Found a prompt chart for Pride Month and figured I’d try my hand at it. I’m extremely behind and just filling them out as my schedule permits at this point. Parings are random.

Thanks to @nerdsbianhokie, @avidreaderffn, and @syllabicacronyms for looking it over.

AO3

2181 Desponia

Alex stared out to the stormy seas that surrounded her. Rain lashed at her armour. She reached up and wiped rain of her face.

“Vasquez, how long until the shuttle repairs are completed?” she asked over her shoulder.

There was some clanging, followed by a loud pop. She closed her eyes when Vasquez immediately started swearing up a storm.

“It’s gonna be a bit, Commander,” they said. “Whatever that pulse was, it fried a few systems.”

Alex pinched the bridge of her nose. Thunder rumbled up above, as if the sky itself was expressing an annoyance similar to what she was feeling.

“Can you fix it?” she asked.

She heard Vasquez scoff. “Have you met me?” they asked. “Of course I can, I’m just gonna need like an hour or two.”

The sky rumbled again. It sounded different than before, catching Alex’s attention. She glanced up to see fireballs falling from the sky. Her jaw clenched. She knew exactly what those were.

“You have 30 minutes,” she said.

-

Alex charged into another Brute and quickly rolled back as the sound of a biotic explosion reached her ears. It was accompanied by a thunder crack from the sky half a second later.

She heard the moan of a Husk behind her. Before she could even take half a step back to regroup, a streak of red whizzed right past her and connected with the Husk, sending it flying back.

“A little too close for comfort, Luce!” she yelled over her shoulder.

“Quit your bitching and move, then!” the sniper shouted back.

Alex did just that. She saw another blue projectile hit a Cannibal. She took off towards it, setting off another explosion when she connected.

“Vas, how are those repairs coming!” she shouted over her shoulder.

“I’M STILL WORKING ON IT!”

Alex unloaded her clip into an unlucky Cannibal who had come up to feast on its fallen friend.

“Is contacting the Normandy an option?” Alex heard Maggie ask over their shared radio.

Even though she was halfway across the battlefield, Alex still heard Vasquez scoff.

Vasquez’s voice crackled through, “Are you kidding, Sawyer? The same thing would happen to her, but the landing wouldn’t be nearly as pretty as ours was.”

Alex looked at the giant skid mark that marred the surface of the Ballard-class ship they were currently fighting on. If Vasquez considered that landing pretty, she didn’t want to know what they thought an ugly landing would look like.

A small mob of Husks started groaning. They didn’t make it very far before a Singularity, courtesy of Maggie, had them airborne. Alex brought her fist up and leapt, unleashing a furious Nova that shredded the Husks.

She wrinkled her nose as Husk guts splattered against her armour. She could already see herself down in the cargo bay for hours cleaning her armour. That was, of course, assuming she and her squad ever got off this godforsaken rig and planet.

“Commander, might want to pull back!”

Alex glanced at the Reaper forces that were gathering at the far end of the ship. She raised her gauntlet to her lips.

“On my way.”

She was gone in a flash of blue.

-

Alex wiped rain water off her face. “Alright, talk to me Vas, any improvements in our situation?” she asked.

Vasquez shook their head. “Unfortunately no. The shuttle’s still a no go. We’re not going anywhere,” they said grimly.

Lucy glanced over the small barricade that they were all crouched behind for cover. Alex saw her grimace.

“We sure that we can’t just call the Normandy down?” Lucy asked.

Alex looked at the shuttle that had brought them onto this stormy planet. Said storm was growing worse. She knew that the Normandy has flown in some pretty rough conditions before, but this storm and this planet were something else. Even if they didn’t have the pulse to worry about, something told her that the Normandy entering the atmosphere wouldn’t end well.

“I’m not going to risk it,” she ultimately said. “I’ve already lost the Normandy once. I’m not losing her again.”

I’m not putting you and Maggie at risk again, either. Not like that.

“Vas, I need a new plan,” Alex said.

Vasquez looked to their right. Alex followed their gaze to see another mech.

“You use that thing, Commander,” they said. “It’s pretty outdated compared to what the Alliance normally uses, but if the seawater hasn’t completely corroded the seals on it, you should be able to use it to get down to where the last signal pinged.”

Alex stared at them. “Go underwater. In that thing?” she asked, incredulous.

Vasquez shrugged. “From what I can tell, it’s an old Triton model. Old as it is, it can handle the depths. It won’t be easy, but there’s really no other option here, Commander.”

From Alex remembered, older diving mechs had one major flaw: their clunky nature meant they were only really supposed to be deployed when the seas were calm. These seas were anything but calm. Still, it was better than nothing. The way home was through Leviathan, and they weren’t getting off this planet unless they found it.

Alex stood. “Well, if that’s what we have to do, I’m in,” she said. “Let’s get started.”

She heard Lucy make a noise of alarm.

“Wait a minute here, are we actually seriously considering…” Lucy started.

Vasquez hopped onto the platform where the shuttle was. “First, we’ll need to restore power to get those cargo doors open.”

“I guess we are,” Maggie muttered.

Alex ignored both of her lovers. “How?” she asked.

“These old Ballard-class ships have exterior power sockets for emergency repairs,” Vasquez said. “We can strip the backup cells from the shuttle and use them for juice. Give me a sec to grab a set.”

They disappeared into the shuttle, leaving Alex standing alone with Lucy and Maggie.

“Alex, are you sure about this?” Maggie asked.

Vasquez emerged with two large power cells. “Here you go, Commander.” They handed the cells to Alex.

Alex quickly holstered her shotgun and grabbed them. “Not really, but at this point, I don’t see another option,” she said.

She turned on her heel and flashed away in a streak of blue to the nearest power socket before either Maggie or Lucy could say anything else.

-

“Alex, you know I’m all for crazy ideas but this one’s off the charts!” Lucy shouted over the sound of her Lancer ripping through Husks.

Alex climbed into the mech. “I know!” she shouted back. “But there’s no other choice!”

Reaper forces were falling faster and faster. If there really was a Reaper killer beneath the waves, she had to find it. Now. Otherwise, they were all as good as dead and the war would all but lost.

She pulled the cockpit shut. She didn’t miss the helpless look Lucy and Maggie shared. It made her stomach clench. She hated that she was the reason for that look. She remembered the last time she had seen that look: right before she had died the first time.

She clicked the comms to sync back up with Maggie’s and Lucy’s. “I’ll be okay,” she said.

Maggie threw up a barrier to keep a swarm of Husks from closing in and looked back at her. “Come back to us,” she said.

Alex nodded, even though neither woman would be able to see it through the reinforced glass.

“I will.”

Then she was gone beneath the waves.

-

Alex had to remind herself to breathe as she sank down into the depths. She grit her teeth the mech shuddered around her due to the storm raging above.

“How’s it holding up, Commander?” Vasquez’s voice crackled through the comms.

“Good so far.” She had to fight to keep her voice even. She had grown up on the beaches of Midvale and surfed in weather that most people would pale at, but that wasn’t enough to stop her stomach from rising to her throat.

“I’m getting some comm interference on this end. Hang on.”

Alex frowned. “Copy that,” she said.

“Commander, can you read me? We’re losing your signal. Something’s blocking your comm. Please respond.”

“I can read you, but it’s getting harder by the minute, over,” she said.

“Alex? Alex can you hear us? Alex can you respond?” Lucy’s voice this time. There was a note of desperation in it that Alex hadn’t heard since the Battle of the Citadel.

“Yeah, I read you, Luce. Do you read me?”

“Alex! A--ex, res--d!” Maggie’s voice was just as desperate as Lucy’s was.

Alex’s frown deepened. She tried to clear up the interference but to no avail. The static grew worse and worse until there was nothing but silence.

-

With nothing but silence and dark ocean water for company, Alex had no idea how long it took for her to reach the bottom. She grunted when the mech’s legs touched the ground. Right around the same time, she heard one of the light’s on the mech crack from the pressure.

She sighed and fired a flare. Her eyes widened at the sight before her. Giant, bioluminescent jellyfish floated in the distance. A giant piece of something was just a little further away. The xenobiologist in her was in awe, but quickly tamped down by the soldier in her. She was on a mission. She needed to get it done before she, and by extent Maggie and Lucy, were dead.

She queued up her omni-tool while also reopening her comm channels. She might be on a mission, but she was sure as hell going to record this for posterity.

Alex slowly started walking forward. “Not sure if you can read me up there, but it looks like I’ve finished the major descent. There appear to be some large bioluminescent organisms down here, but the visuals aren’t that great,” she said. “The suit’s...holding up.”

It wasn’t a complete lie. It had survived the descent down, though whether it would stay that way with the way the pressure gage was starting to creep into its upper limits was beyond her.

“Emergency systems have come online. Life support is operational.”

She tapped away on the on-screen display and frowned. That couldn’t be right.

“Scanner’s indicating that the probe is...below my position. I’m gonna look for a way down.”

Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to go much deeper. She doubted the mech would be able to handle it.

She came to a small ledge. She took a breath and leapt down. She exhaled harshly as the mech connected with the ocean floor.

Alarms started to beep.

She glanced at the depth indicator and winced.

3100 m.

“Shutting down all noncritical systems to preserve remaining power for the emergency thrusters.” She tapped her gauntlet. “Also redirecting armour systems for emergency life support.”

She figured that, in the event the mech did crack, the move would give her at least an extra 30 seconds before the ocean’s pressure crushed her and her armour like a soda can. She couldn’t worry about it now, though. Right now, she had to keep moving.

Alex did her best to ignore the depth gage as she continued her way down. She only had so much oxygen. She wouldn’t be doing herself any favours hyperventilating because of how deep she was going.

“Getting some strange readings from the probe. There’s something definitely down there.” She hoped it was Leviathan. “Mags, Luce, I really wish y’all were with me right now.”

She would give anything just to be able to hear their voices right now.

It wasn’t long before Alex came to yet another ledge. She rechecked her scanner readings, then let out a frustrated breath.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she grumbled. “All right, readings are putting the probe directly beneath me. Looks like I’ve got one more drop before I get there. Wish me luck.”

There was no response, not that she expected one.

She maneuvered the mech and slipped down into the chasm. Even though the descent was slower than the first one she had made, Alex still had to resist the urge to use her thrusters to slow it even further. She needed every ounce of energy she could get in order to make it back up.

She grunted again when the mech landed. The alarms sounded again, louder this time.

She heard a small little echo, almost like a whale cry. She looked up to see the probe.

“Found the probe. Looks relatively intact.” A surprising fact, given the depth she and it were at. “I’m gonna keep moving, though. See if I can--”

A thunderous rumble cut her off. She looked up to see bubbles rising.

“The hell is that?”

Alex made her way forward about three steps, before she froze. There, emerging from the cracks, was something huge.

God, please let this be Leviathan.

She watched as not one, but three, figures rose up before her.

‘You have come too far.’

It took Alex a moment to realise their voices weren’t coming from her comms. They were coming from her mind. Before she could react, she found herself standing in an endless void.

The fuck?

She closed her eyes in an attempt to focus. When she reopened them, she was back in the cockpit of the mech.

“I had to find you,” she said.

‘This is not your domain. You have breached the darkness.’

Alex glared at it. “You killed a Reaper! I need to know why!”

‘They are the enemy. One that seeks our extermination.’

“Yeah, that’s kind of their whole shtick. It’s in the name,” Alex said. Then what Leviathan said registered fully with her brain. “Wait, I thought you were a Reaper.”

After all, what else could kill a Reaper, other than another Reaper?

‘They are only echoes. We existed long before.’

“Then what are you?” she asked.

‘Something more.’

A massive pressure inside her skull was the only warning she had before she found herself back in the void. This time, she was knee deep in dark stormy waters.

Alex crumpled to her knees and retched.

“Your mind belongs to me,” Leviathan's voice thundered. “Now breathe.”

She looked up blearily to see Lena walking towards her.

Alex swayed as she rose to her feet. “Lena?” she slurred out. “What’s going on?”

Lena opened her mouth, but the voice that came out was entirely Leviathan’s. “Your memories give voice to our words. Your nature will be revealed to us. Accept this.”

Alex didn’t have time for this. She shook her head to clear it. “The galaxy’s at war with the Reapers,” she said. “You defeated one, so why aren’t you fighting back?”

Leviathan shook its head. “There is no war, only the harvest,” it said.

“Then help us stop it!”

“None have possessed the strength in past cycles.” Alex turned around to see Winn coming up behind her. “Your own species could be destroyed with a single thought.”

Leviathan changed into the man who had been impersonating her father. “But you are different,” it said. “I have witnessed your actions in this cycle: the destruction of Sovereign, the fall of the Collectors. The Reapers perceive you as a threat.”

Fake-Jeremiah turned back into Lena and looked into a microscope. “I must understand why.”

Alex grit her teeth and pushed back against the force in her mind. She wasn’t going to be trapped in her own mind, communicating with cheap imitations derived from her memories. She had come down here to speak with Leviathan itself and she was going to do just that.

A few moments later, she gasped. Her vision swam as she looked around the cockpit. She felt something trail down from her nose. She had a feeling it was blood.

She looked up at Leviathan for half a second before the pressure returned and forced her back into the void.

She and Leviathan had moved from knee deep waters to a beach with pitch black sand, surrounded by the same dark waters as before. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

Leviathan, back in Winn’s form, sat next to her. “Before the cycles, our kind was the apex of life in the galaxy,” it said, staring out at the ocean. “The lesser species were our thralls, serving our needs.”

The cliffside from Namakli took shape.

“We grew more powerful,” it continued, “and they were cared for. But we could not protect them from themselves. Over time, the species built machines that then destroyed them.”

“And that’s a problem,” Alex said.

Leviathan nodded. “Yes, tribute does not flow from a dead race,” it said. “To solve that problem, we created an intelligence with the mandate to preserve life at any cost.”

“Well that backfired spectacularly.”

Leviathan shifted into Lena’s form right before her eyes. It was unnerving, having Lena’s gaze bore into hers while knowing that the woman before her wasn’t the same scientist she had saved just weeks earlier.

“The intelligence evolved,” it said simply. “It studied the development of civilisations, and it’s understanding grew until it found a solution.”

“I can guess what solution was.”

Lena-Leviathan stopped and morphed into real-Jeremiah this time. It turned around. The grief in its face was so much like her father’s, it made Alex take a step back.

“Yes, in that instant, it betrayed us,” it said. “It chose our kind as the first harvest and from our essence, the first Reaper was created. You call it Harbinger.”

Alex couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing. “Let me get this straight, you built a machine to solve your problems despite what you saw happen to the other races,” she said. “Why?”

If Leviathan was really “more” as it claimed to be, how could it not have seen such a betrayal coming?

Lena-Leviathan looked up. Alex followed its gaze to see countless planets descending from the storm clouds above them.

“You cannot conceive of a galaxy that bends to your will,” it said. “Every creature, every nation, every planet we discovered became our tools. We were above the concerns of lesser species. As such, the Intelligence was simply another tool.”

Now Alex could see where Sovereign and the other Reapers got their dismissive attitude from.

She scoffed. “And now we’re all paying the price for your fucking mistake.”

“There was no mistake. It still serves its purpose.”

“You consider the slaughter of trillions of people over countless millennia as it fulfilling its purpose?” Alex demanded. “Are you kidding me?”

“Each harvest ends with the birth of something new, something that represents the endless search for a solution to that slaughter.”

“You mean a Reaper,” Alex said.

“Yes. It is perfect in its design, each formed in Harbinger’s image. Our image.” Lena-Leviathan tapped the side of its head. “Each has the power to influence organics. Over countless cycles, this ability was refined, perfected, and gave rise to what you call indoctrination.”

“You made the Intelligence, so there has to be a way to stop it, a way to stop these cycles,” Alex said.

“We do not know. The Intelligence has one purpose: preserve life. Until it finds a way to do that, the harvest will continue,” it said.

Alex ran a hand through her hair. “Will you at least help us try to stop it?” she asked.

It’s lips twitched into something resembling a small, grim smile. “I have searched your mind. You are an anomaly, yet that is not enough.”

It started to walk away, but Alex reached out and gripped its arm tightly, forcing it to stop.

“Wait!”

It’s head snapped back to look at her. “The cycle will continue,” it said coldly.

Alex thought about Lucy and Maggie and how hard the two of them had fought. How hard they were fighting, just to make sure that they could all see the end of this damned war. If the women she loved were going to fight that hard, then she refused to accept Leviathan’s own refusal to join the conflict.

“No,” she growled. “You’ve had to have been watching this cycle. You know that this cycle is different.”

“We will survive. You will remain here as a servant to our needs. The Reapers will harvest the rest.”

Like hell.

Alex’s grip tightened around its arm. “You release me, and no one else has to be harvested,” she said.

“Nothing will change.”

Thunder rumbled above them.

“The Reaper forces know where you are,” Alex said. “You can’t just keep watching anymore, you have to fight!”

Seeing no reaction from it, she tried a different angle, “The Reapers are your mess! The destruction of your race, that’s on you, but you can help us fix it. You can help us fight. You can help us stop the cycle from progressing.”

There was still no reaction from Leviathan.

Alex clenched her jaw. “Even if you survive the battle today, the Reapers won’t stop. Ever. Release me, and we have a chance to stop this once and for all,” she said.

More silence from Leviathan. It turned away from her, then it vanished.

Alex blinked. She looked up when even more thunder started to rumble. She flinched and instinctively closed her eyes when a crack of lightning ripped through the air.

“Your confidence is singular,” Leviathan’s voice echoed from behind her.

Alex opened her eyes. “I’ve earned it out there fighting, where you should be,” she shot back.

Warm laughter rang out.

Alex turned to see a memory of her with Maggie and Lucy. Maggie and Lucy were both smiling, eyes warm. The smile she was giving them was equally as warm. Despite the storm she found herself standing in the middle of, Alex found herself smiling right alongside her memory.

The memory shifted to her at the end of the Charge, colliding with a hapless Cannibal caught up in one of Maggie’s Singularities. Out of the corner of her eye, Alex saw Leviathan nod.

“It is clear why the Reapers perceive you as a threat. Your victories are more than a product of chance,” it said. “We see that there is more to you than most of your species. We will fight, but not for you or any lesser race. We were the first, the apex race. We will survive.”

“And the Reapers?” she asked.

“Those who trespass on this world will understand our power. They will become our slaves.” Its eyes started to glow. “Today, they pay their tribute in blood.”

Leviathan reached up and touched Alex’s face. She grit her teeth to fight back a cry of agony as pain raced through her skull.

Everything went mercifully black moments later.

-

Alex came to with a gasp to the sound of alarms going mad. She blinked twice before quickly tapping away at the onscreen display. It was time to get back to the surface, back to Lucy and Maggie.

She fired up the emergency thrusters, ignoring the way her biotics wisped across her armour. She would worry about it later.

‘You will be the storm that heralds our arrival.’

Alex had no time to process just what that meant before she was shooting up towards the surface.

-

Every shot Lucy’s Black Widow rifle cracked out seemed to echo right alongside the bursts of thunder in the sky.

“How long has Alex been down there?” she shouted.

Maggie threw a Warp at her Singularity, setting off an explosion that staggered the Brute. “Too long!” she yelled back. “Vasquez!”

“Still working on it!”

“You said that five minutes ago!” Maggie shouted.

“AND I’M STILL WORKING ON IT!!”

The loudest crack of thunder yet shook the entire ship right as the sound of something emerging from the sea caught both Maggie and Lucy’s attentions. Maggie turned to see the Triton mech slowly shambling its way across the deck. It took two steps before coming to a halt. The cockpit cracked open and out slipped Alex.

Maggie and Lucy both watched in horror as Alex tried and failed to get back on to her feet.

“Shit, Sawyer!” she heard Vasquez call out.

“I see it! I see it!” Alex’s return had caught the attention of the horde of Brutes, and she was in no condition to fight back. “Lucy!”

Lucy primed her rifle. “Go get our girl, Mags, I’ll cover you!”

Maggie was off like a shot. The driving rain stung her eyes but she did her best to ignore it. Alex was her priority right now. She might not have been a Vanguard like Alex was, but she had enough control over her biotics to zip around the battlefield almost as fast. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the mech go crashing backwards into the sea. She felt her stomach drop at the sight; if Alex had been in that, there would have been no way she or Lucy could get to Alex in time.

“Mags, on your right!”

Maggie swung her hand and threw up a barrier that sent a Cannibal flying across the deck, into the raging sea. She slid the last few paces to get to Alex’s side and put up another barrier around the two of them just in time for a Brute’s claw to slam into it.

The Brute stumbled back. To Maggie’s dismay, though, it recovered faster than she would have liked it to. Before she knew it, the Brute’s claw was raised again, ready to strike.

Maggie grit her teeth and poured everything she had into her barrier. It wasn’t going to get Alex, not if she had anything to say about it.

The Brute swung down again. Maggie braced herself for the impact, only for the Brute to freeze in its place. The Brute behind it paused too, as if it was confused about why its fellow had stopped. The next thing Maggie knew, the Brute in front of her swung around and slammed into the one behind it.

Maggie blinked. It was an unexpected turn of events, but not unwelcome. She glanced back at Alex, who was by now had made it to her knees, but was otherwise still very much unfit for combat. She quickly dropped her barrier and picked Alex up. She wasn’t going to stick around while the Brutes fought, especially not when Alex needed to get back on to the Normandy.

“I’ve got Alex! Vas, status?” she yelled into her comm.

“We’re good to go!” Maggie looked up to see the shuttle up in the air and coming back around for a pick up. “Dunno what the Commander did, but the pulse is offline!”

The warring Brutes came crashing down in front of Maggie. She threw a biotic barrier around her and Alex and used the rest of her biotics to quickly slide them across the deck.

She skid right past Lucy just as the shuttle came down. She dropped Alex inside while Lucy continued to provide covering fire.

“Lucy! C’mon!”

Lucy fired off three more shots then jumped into the shuttle. “Vasquez, get us out of here!” she ordered.

“Yes, ma’am!”

Maggie braced herself as Vasquez punched it. She reached out and used her biotics to keep Lucy from falling over.

Lucy crouched down next to Maggie. “What’s Alex’s status?” she asked.

Maggie quickly waved her omni-tool over Alex. “Fuck, she’s freezing,” she said.

Lucy nodded. “She’s likely hypothermic. Get her out of her armour.” She looked towards the cockpit. “Vas, are there any blankets in this thing?”

“Yeah, check the bulkhead!” the pilot called back.

Maggie worked fast to get Alex out of her armour while Lucy went to grab blankets. She flinched at how cold Alex’s skin and armour were to the touch. She pressed Alex’s seals as quickly as she could to pull off Alex’s armour.

By the time Lucy was back at her side, Maggie had managed to strip Alex down. She drew up her biotics as Lucy wrapped Alex in a blanket.

“What’re the biotics for, Maggie?” Lucy asked.

“Biotics are energy, and energy means heat. If I can get a barrier around Alex, it should promote heat generation for her,” she said.

Lucy nodded. “That’s a smart idea.”

Alex suddenly sat up coughing. Blood dripped down her nose.

“Get her in the recovery position so she doesn’t choke!” Maggie ordered.

Lucy quickly rolled Alex onto her side.

Alex retched, but nothing came up. She continued to cough and dry heave while Lucy rubbed her back.

“Alex, can you hear us?” Lucy asked. “It’s okay, you’re on the shuttle, we’re headed back to the Normandy now.”

Alex slurred out something incomprehensible.

Maggie and Lucy traded looks. That wasn’t a good sign.

“Vasquez, radio the Normandy and let Henderson know that we have a hypothermic patient inbound, and have her prepare for a possible barometric emergency,” Lucy said.

“Aye, aye, ma’am.” The fact that Vasquez was all business right now instead of their usual dry, sarcastic self, was a sign of just how worried they were as well.

“SSV Normandy, this is Lieutenant Vasquez, we are returning with Commander Danvers, inbound ETA five minutes, have the medbay prepare for a hypothermic patient with a possible barometric emergency…”

Maggie ran her fingers through Alex’s hair. “She’s gonna be okay,” she said.

She didn’t know who she was trying to convince: herself, Lucy, or the both of them.

Lucy held Alex tighter. “She damn well better be.”

Neither of them could handle losing Alex. Not again.

-

Alex noticed three things when she came to. First, she was laying on something much more comfortable than the medbay tables. Second, she was warmer than normal. And third, something was tickling her face.

She wrinkled her nose. “Mmmph,” she grumbled. “The fuck hit me?”

The tickling sensation vanished almost immediately. She felt the surface she was laying on shift as someone, or someones, quickly got up.

“Alex!” Lucy’s voice.

“Oh, thank god!” Maggie’s voice.

As much as she loved hearing the both of them, Alex still winced at the volume. She blearily opened her eyes to see her lovers on either side of her, but quickly regretted the move as pain lanced through her skull.

“Mmph...too loud,” she mumbled. “Bright.”

The beeping of fingers across an omni-tool signaled that someone was turning the lights down. She counted to three then cautiously reopened her eyes.

“Better?” Lucy asked, voice soft.

“Yeah.” Alex looked left, then right. “Why are we in my cabin?”

The bed shifted again as Maggie sat back down next to her. “Because it’s the only area of the ship that could be pressurised in excess without impacting the crew,” she said.

So they had turned her cabin into an improvised barometric chamber. Nice.

“Guessing it’s since been pressurised back to normal?” Alex asked.

She saw Lucy nod. The bed dipped as Lucy came to sit on the other side of her.

“Yeah,” Lucy said. “Brainy and Henderson started yesterday. They took it slow because they weren’t 100% sure how your body would react given...everything.”

Maggie started to run her fingers through Alex’s hair. “Speaking of which, how’re you feeling?” she asked.

Alex closed her eyes at the feel of Maggie’s fingers carding through her short-cropped hair. “‘M fine,” she mumbled. “Hell of a headache, though.”

She found Lucy’s lips on hers moments later. She made a small noise of surprise at how hard Lucy kissed her, but she kissed back nonetheless.

Lucy ended the kiss far sooner than Alex would have liked. Before she could voice her displeasure, Maggie was kissing her. If she thought Lucy’s kiss had been hard, Maggie’s was bruising, almost desperate.

This time, Alex was the one to pull away first when she tasted salt on her lips. She looked up to see tears starting to roll down Maggie’s face. She reached up to wipe them away while Lucy reached out and took Maggie’s hand.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Maggie whispered.

The sheer pain in her voice made Alex’s voice clench. It reminded her of the first time she had seen Maggie following her revival. She hated knowing that she was the cause of that pain. She and Maggie were the same kind of people: scientists turned soldiers. The only difference was that Alex had been a soldier far longer than Maggie had.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“What happened down there, Alex?” Lucy asked.

She looked at Lucy. “We found it,” she said.

“Leviathan?” Lucy asked.

Alex nodded. “Yeah. It’s real, and it’s a lot more than we ever imagined.”

She glanced back at Maggie when she heard her swallow.

She watched Maggie wipe her eyes. “Was, was it worth almost dying for?” Maggie asked.

Alex’s jaw clenched. “Yeah, it was,” she said truthfully. She didn’t miss how Lucy’s grip tightened. “We exposed it, pushed it into the light. Whether it likes it or not, it’s part of the war now.”

“You think it’ll help?” Maggie asked.

“Yeah. They don’t have a choice. This war is everywhere,” she said.

The Reapers were in just about every system now. Every species was fighting for their very existence. They were giving it their all just so that they could see another day.

“That’s amazing,” Lucy said.

Alex’s lips twitched into a small grin. “It’s definitely gonna be one for the history books.”

Maggie sighed. She laid down next to Alex and wrapped an arm around her waist. Half a beat later, Lucy did the same thing. Alex closed her eyes at the feel of the two of them around her.

She felt Lucy start to rub small circles on the back of her hand. “We’re so glad you made it back, Alex,” Lucy whispered.

“I am too. Being down there by myself was…” Alex trailed off.

Maggie kissed her shoulder. “You’re back up here now, with us,” she said. “You’re back.”

Alex smiled a full smile this time. “Yeah, I am.” She yawned. “God, I’m tired.”

Her head was still killing her and her body felt like she had been hit by a Mako.

Lucy brought her hand up to play with Alex’s hair. “You should get some more sleep,” she said.

Sleep was the last thing Alex wanted right now. It wasn’t because she had spent what appeared to be the past several days asleep, but rather because she was afraid of the inevitable nightmares.

Her face must have said as much, because Maggie came up and kissed the side of her head while Lucy gave her hand a squeeze.

“We’re right here, Alex. We’ve got you,” Maggie whispered.

Alex nodded. She could already feel the exhaustion starting to reassert itself. “Love…’ou,” she mumbled.

Twin kisses to either side of her head.

“We love you too, babe.”

Alex’s eyes slipped shut.  

For the first time in ages, her sleep was uninterrupted by nightmares.