#but it hurts to think of all the episodes that were junked

[keepingitanonymous]

[stareaterau]

Chapter 1 episode 5

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(special thanks to @bucket-of-cheese for this episode cover art!, as well as @karkatwaddles @chip-the-dip @scrambledlikeeggs @kairamuwu with editing)

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Our favourites cross paths

CW: threats made with a weapon, mentions of injuries

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Time passes, though horribly slower in the desert heat.

Grian and Scar both spend their morning groggy and aching from the phantom fight the previous evening. Not to mention the little rest they were able to get during the relatively short night that this planet provides.

Now that they feel rested enough, Grian shoots up high above the canyon with a few strong beats of his wings. Scar watches him from the ground as he makes a few circles in the sky before he dives down back to join him. With a greater bearing on his surroundings, thanks to the high vantage point, Grian picks a direction that seems most prominent to head towards. He returns grumbling about how he could see something in the distance, but it looked like nothing more than a bunch of junk to him. Not much of the optimist it seems, but Scar prides himself on being able to make the most of any situation. He pats Grian's back, giving a small speech about how 'that a bunch of junk was better than nothing after all'. Grian blinks slowly, reluctantly agreeing. They have a destination now!

Grian consistently finds himself needing to catch up with Scar, occasionally mumbling about how the ground is too flat and something about bird feet. It’s obvious by how he’s fidgeting that he’d rather be flying, even though that option means either leaving Scar behind or carrying him there. And as much as Scar wants to ask, he’s also scared he might lose an eye as a result.

He leaves the slightly personal question unasked, the conversation instead being filled with Grian complaining about walking. He hesitates when their passage opens up to the blaring, exposed sun. Holding his hand up to shield himself from the harsh light, he scrunches his face, occasionally wincing when his hot metal limbs hit his skin with his heavy, tired steps.

Scar himself isn’t having much of a fun time either. The leg braces he uses aren’t meant to be put under a lot of strain for such a long time. It’s only a matter of time before they might snap. The grains of sand grating against them are probably hastening the unit's deterioration. He'll have to use Grian as support if they do break.. and go through the laborious task of requesting a new pair from the Vindicators.

Occasionally they have to take a break, with Scar trying to brush as much dust and sand from the joints of the braces, doing the most he can to slow down any decay it might have caused them. On the other hand, Grian uses the opportunity to rest, immediately slumping against the nearest wall and fanning himself with his tail.

Scar has long since taken off his jacket and tied it around his waist, relieved by the fact he'd been wearing a tank top underneath. The lack of sleeves feels like a world of difference in the heat, not that he wouldn't take it off completely if need be, despite his company. Every so often, he catches Grian's lingering looks when he thinks Scar isn't watching, his expression weirdly guarded and lost in thought. One time, when he notices he’s being examined, Scar flexes jokingly in response, receiving a roll of the eyes and quiet mutterings about indecency.

Despite how hot it is and how much his company seems to fidget and scratch at the uncomfortable feathers underneath, Grian seems insistent on keeping his layers on.

Finally, they reenter the shade, and the winged man groans, flinging around his stiff arms.

”What's wrong?” Scar turns around, watching as the strange man shakes out his feathers. Sand rains down as he does as if the sunlight has been caking him in the sand.

"I lost my helmet and, therefore, my visor. It sucks."

“Sucks how?"

"The light hurts my eyes." Grian rubs at his temples, scrunching his eyes closed.

Scar tilts his head in response, confused. It’s bright, not enough to be painful yet, but it’s clearly bothering Grian more somehow.

When he’s met with a lack of a retort, Grian glances up at Scar, quickly taking note of his confused expression. He rolls his eyes like he knows what Scar is thinking.

"I'm a glare," he says so simply, answering the unspoken question.

"Not… glare-leaning? Or an avian?" Scar, not so subtly, looks Grian up and down, the other tensing uncomfortably with a weird look to match.

"No."

"But…" Scar trails off, not quite being sure how to ask respectfully.

"I have wings?" Grian finishes for him, like he’s heard it all before. Tucking his wings behind his back on reflex, he takes in a deep breath, as if psyching himself up for a speech.

A series of looks flash across his face. Scar waits patiently, only for Grian to breathe out a quiet "Yeah," with no further elaboration.

"Glares can have wings?"

"This one can. It's complicated." Grian walks past Scar, losing eye contact deliberately as he strolls ahead. He doesn’t appear upset at least, bored is the closest to how Scar could describe it.

"But… How?" Scar asks cautiously, against his better judgment.

"Family curse from hitting a magical bird with a ship centuries ago." Grian holds his hands out, imitating piloting, before hitting his hands together with a metal clank. "BAM! Wings for all your firstborns."

"Wait, really?" Scar exclaims. Genuinely believing Grian’s story. He catches up to him with a quick jog, looking to the glare in an attempt to get a read of his face only to be met with a smirk. Oh.

"Nah-" Grian chuckles to himself, patting Scar on the shoulder.

Scar watches as he continues up ahead, looking at the feathered tail with a new perspective. A glare. That explains why his feathers look so real — they’re a feature all Glares possess to varying degrees – and his deep inky eyes that never seem to shrink, even in the harsh light. Maybe the wings are just artificial add-ons, but that doesn’t feel right — they’re far too realistic and fluid. He shakes the thought out of his head. It probably isn’t polite to dwell on it, the subject is obviously something Grian doesn’t want to talk about.

But no, Scar isn’t about to be done with this conversation completely.

"Prove you’re a glare, then."

Grian, who had walked slightly ahead, stops and turns around to give Scar an almost offended look before he shrugs, replacing it with an amused, yet tired one.

“Sure,” he says with a resigned sigh.

Without warning, everything in Scar’s sight goes dark, like an all-encompassing shadow out of nowhere, the murky nothingness only just reaching his toes. He sticks his hands out in front of him, looking at them as they become outlined by a dark void.

He knows what this is. Most glares possess this skill, it’s the baseline ability tied to their magic. ‘Darkness’ he thinks he remembers it being called. Scar has never experienced it first hand though, and he can’t help but ogle the slightly frightening power.

“Whoah-”

As quickly as it appeared, the gloom flees, leaving him with the less-than-friendly, hot reflective sands.

Grian looks at him curiously, his arms crossed.

“Okay, so believe me now?”

Scar smiles, nodding vigorously.

“That was sooo cool!!”

Grian very hesitantly smiles back, turning away before Scar can process it completely.

Despite his wary demeanour, he secretly revels in the reaction, not quite being able to help but grin to himself.

“Can you do illusion magic too?” Scar asks, making Grian's steps hesitate for just a second, the mood in the air changing quickly. His back is still facing Scar, but it doesn’t stop him from noticing the slight shudder in Grian’s shoulders, and the subtle flicks of his feathers.

“…No,” is all he says in slow response… too slowly.

Ah, so another sour subject, it feels like Scar is collecting them all. As much as he wants to pry, he feels like he has asked enough.

There’s a lapse in their conversation as Scar's eyes wander. They both continue walking, albeit slowly, probably due to Grian's obvious intent to savour the shade when passing through it.

"If the sun's bothering you that much, why don't you just do the darkness thing to yourself?" Scar inquires, filling the silence.

"That's not how it works. It's only a perception, I don't actually switch off the sun," Grian replies, his voice back with some light, the previous question forgotten.

"Oh."

"And trust me, oh how I want to switch off this sun." He holds his long claws up to the sky, imitating crushing the light that peeks from the shade touching the tips of his claws.

“I'll still get the painful headache even if I make everything dark for me.”

Scar glances down to his waist, where his own helmet has been clipped. He once again catches up to Grian, leg braces creaking slightly.

"… I could give you my helmet." He hands it to him.

Grian looks down at the poor thing with a gentle look on his face.

"It's got a huge crack in it, so it's pretty much useless. Sorry about that, by the way." He flicks a guilty look at Scar before settling back into stride ahead of him.

"I wouldn't call it useless-'' Scar looks down at it with a frown. He hopes he can repair it, it’s dear to him.

"Even if it wasn't, I would never put that thing on."

"What’s wrong with the cat ears?" Scar questions, a smile evident in his voice. He knows well that it isn’t his cute accessories that’s deterring Grian from putting the helmet on, he just thinks it’s amusing to indicate so.

He holds up the helmet up in front of Grian, closing one eye and envisioning him wearing it with a smirk.

Grian squawks out a laugh and pushes the helmet aside, "Hah. Ironically, I don’t have a problem with that, though I wouldn’t break the dress code just to put cat ears on a helmet."

"You know about the codes?"

"Sorta. I mean, I've unfortunately become very familiar with them – know your enemy or whatever."

"You really don't like vindicators, then," Scar says, with no malice in his voice. He’s more curious than anything.

"I feel like that much should be obvious."

Scar hops ahead of Grian, stepping slightly in front of him so that Grian has no choice but to look at him. "Well, I'm okay, right?" Scar smiles tilting his head.

He watches the bird’s gaze shift from the dust on Scar’s boots up to meet his eye, a brow raised.

And with a genuine smile and quiet laugh, Grian answers "Yeah, you're alright".

—

"Be careful they might be dangerous."

While navigating through a particularly maze-like part of the ravine. Grian had stopped abruptly, and grabbed Scar by the shirt mid-conversation, pulling him around a corner.

Scar attempted to ask what was wrong only for Grian to shush him, hissing about how he’d seen two figures deeper in.

Wiggling slightly out of Grian's hold, Scar popped his head around briefly, catching a glance at their new company.

There were, in fact, two figures who sat up against a stony wall as the passage opened up, connecting to another, larger passage. Scar and Grian had an advantage, as the corner shielded them from view. One figure had their back to them, their large silhouette obscuring the other figure from view. The only indication there was even two, being the distinct overlap of a conversation that could barely be heard from where Grian and Scar were hidden.

And that brings them to the present, with Scar tapping his chin, debating different ideas of how to approach them. Grian listens as he impatiently claws at the ground, grumbling at each suggestion that leaves the other's mouth.

There’s a quiet shift in the sand to Scar's side and he turns to watch as Grian shifts closer to him, his shoulders hunched slightly and wings puffed up.

Scar finds himself suppressing the urge to compare him to a pinecone.

"Why would they be dangerous?" Scar asks, tilting his head slightly. Confused about the other's comment.

Grian splutters, mouth working but not making noises aside from baffled squeaks before he eventually coughs.

"… I mean, I was a stranger a mere hours ago and I had a blade to your heart, dude." His voice pitches up at the end, causing him to flinch when it echoes slightly against the walls. He ducks as if that would stop the sound, scooting closer to Scar, further from the stranger's direction.

"….Well, you're not doing that right now." Scar smiles a wide grin, hushing his voice pointedly before shrugging.

Grian just stares at him, almost as if testing Scar’s smile, before he rolls his eyes and scoffs,

"… Can't argue with that logic."

Scar's smile grows slowly, bright and excited at Grian's agreement. He watches all of Grian's feathers stand up even more somehow, catching on to Scar's enthusiasm.

“Don't-”

"Glad you trust me!" Scar beams.

"I wouldn't go that far, trust is a strong word," Grian pulls a dubious look before grumbling and looking away. He shakes his shoulders as if trying to suppress the stress that’s putting him and his feathers on edge.

“I honestly don't think it's a good idea to even approach them– People are almost always bad news in these situations. We could just work our way around them…” he trails off mumbling to himself.

“But that's no fun!” Scar hums lightly, nudging the bird out of his strategizing. “Besides, they could help us!”

Grian doesn’t reply, just huffs with a scowl that squishes his face comically.

Scar absently scratches at his chin before he leans up against the wall pressing his forearm high above Grian, leaning over, the other doing a double take, clearly taken back by how much Scar is leaning over into his space. He'll have to put on his charm to try and convince the bird, his most effective tactic.

"You're nervous but I can assure you this, I can gain any advantage in a situation, just by talking" He gives him a cheesy lopsided grin.

"What- do you possess the ability to talk someone to death? Boredom? Into sleep, perhaps?" Grian replies in the most mocking and deadpan tone, meeting his energy.

"All of the above!!! Depending on the weather of course," He says, leaning in slightly with a whisper before bouncing back to that quietish tone of his, "and then I steal their stuff!!" Scar grins with more eagerness than Grian has seen in quite some time, causing the glare to let out a slight wheeze of laughter, raising an incredulous brow.

"Wow, you're really starting to sound more like a criminal." He veers his head to the side, grinning widely up at Scar, and bearing his sharp teeth.

Scar retracts his arm from the wall, an unsure look spoiling his smile. He can’t help darting his eyes to the side, almost taken aback by the former statement. "I mean … not if they're the bad guy, right?"

“That's a very rudimentary way of thinking.” Grian's grin falters slightly, that cold look flickering over him briefly, as his eyes narrow. He shakes away whatever thought he had, bringing the prior conversation back.

“Fine, you do you're talking thing then,” the bird swats at the air absently.

“And you'll be my hype man?” Scar bounces on his toes excitedly.

Grian gives too blank of an expression before pushing up his shoulders. “I'll do something,”

“AHA! Be amazed, small friend! At my infectious likeableness,” Scar stands up straighter and puffs out his chest, before moving to turn around the corner between them and the strangers only for sharp claws to gently grab his arm.

“Wait-”

“Oh oh! W-what?” Scar looks around shocked, but nothing is amiss, just the surprisingly warm touch of metal talons.

“You're intending to make a good impression, right?”

Scar splutters awkwardly as Grian doesn’t give him time to answer the obvious question.

“My advice? I'd hide that you're a Vindicator."

“…why?”

“Ah–” Grian awkwardly chuckles, retracting his grip and scratching at his head. “I thought I’d already established that the general public isn't too fond–” he loosely gestures Scar up and down.

Scar raises a brow, leaning on his hip and looking down at the bird. “Really? Are you the general public?” He smirks at his own witty remark.

“Just take my word for it, this definitely isn't Spawn, and I bet you haven't even travelled off planet before. You have that sparkly dumb innocent look in your eyes–”

Scar gasps and clutches his hand to his chest in false offence.

“I’m just saying, if you wanna do the whole friendly talking thing, I'd recommend not immediately making it known that you're a Vindicator.” Grian huffs.

Scar looks down dumbly at the bright blue jacket tied around his waist. Grian follows his line of sight and muffles a laugh, noticing Scar's mild panic at the glaring obvious beacon of his faction, taunting him along with a bright stitched ‘V’ clearly visible even with it tied at his waist.

“Just– turn it inside out or something–”

“Oh! Smart!” Scar claps his hands, wincing as the noise echoed against the walls. Grian glares at him.

He fumbles with the jacket, taking it off and turning it inside out before tying it back around his waist, and nodding with satisfaction. He looks back towards Grian, the glare watching him slightly amused. “Now, Bird friend, watch as I charm these members of the ‘general public’ with my insatiable charisma!”

“… You already said that. There's only so much ‘impressed’ I can hand out, I'm afraid.”

Scar ignores him as he brushes off as much dust as he can to look somewhat presentable. He leans forward with a step but stops as quickly as he started when his company doesn't make a move with him.

“You're not… coming with??”

“I am, I just want to linger back, for safety reasons– you know?” Grian still stands with his arms crossed but his face has morphed into something far more neutral, clawed feet firmly digging into their place in the sand.

“Oh! Smart!” Scar replies. He continues, but not before catching the faint flicker of a smile from his companion.

Scar confidently marches towards the strangers, too distracted by his plan to notice the quiet whoosh of feathers behind him.

“Why, hello there!”

“EEEEK!”

“OH MY GOSH–” both of the strangers scream at Scar, frantically scrambling back in the sand up to a stand.

The shorter one gawks at Scar, their left arm held stiffly as their right tugs on the other's sleeve pulling them both back further. They push themselves in front in an act that almost could have been intimidating if the other wasn't practically two times their size.

Now, up close, Scar takes the two in. The shorter one appears to be a blazeborn, fuzzy and yellow with clothes that looked like they weren't originally suited for the heat, evident by the thick winter coat tied around their waist, mirroring Scar’s, and the torn-off sleeves of their shirt. The other stands several heads taller, also strangely cradling their right arm. They’re far less identifiable, but the several neat feathers that frame their face and shoulders definitely imply that they’re probably at least glare adjacent, even with their height. They’re wearing what can be described as cowboy attire, sans a hat, and look far more in place in this setting.

“Oh, you're just a guy…” the taller one eventually speaks out after their initial panic.

“Yup, just a guy!” Scar stands up straighter, suppressing a wince as his leg braces squeak obnoxiously. “Sorry to cause a fright,” he smiles apologetically.

The two of them glance at each other, then back to Scar with bewildered expressions.

“I think I might be lost! And maybe you are too? We were wondering if you could help”.

“We?” One of them asks.

“OH! Well! I'm Scar and this here is my lackey.” He turns to look for Grian only to be met with the empty, dusty ground and no bird in sight.

“They're …not here?”

“Who-” Scar hears one of them ask. He doesn’t even have time to turn to identify who before a flurry of feathers swoops down and blocks his view.

The two figures scream for a second time as the taller one is pushed roughly aside by brown wings, falling clumsy in the sand and landing in a way that causes them to choke out a yelp.

“OW OW OW, I CAN'T SEE!” They sit up quickly with one arm hanging loosely over their chest, the other grasping and rubbing at their face and eyes in confusion. They continue to yell in panic, “WHAT HAPPENED I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING-”

“Drop whatever weapons you have,” Grian turns, holding the blaze in his grasp. He holds his wings wrapped around them, keeping their arms pinned. He uses one of his clawed hands to cover their mouth, the other holding a blue, glowing blade to their neck.

“What- what happened to the talking plan?” Scar sways on his feet. Too much is happening in such a brief moment, and all his plans for conversations are useless, blown to the wind.

“Too slow,” Grian replies bluntly.

The figure in Grian’s grasp desperately tries to muster out a muffled scream against Grian's hand, only causing the bird to tighten his hold and sword to their neck.

Scar feels lost. He looks to the other who is still on the ground, using one hand to touch the sand.

“I can't see!- It's all dark- Tango?!-”

The pure distress in their voices, mixed with the muffled yelping of the other, makes Scar falter, his mind short-circuiting in the chaos. He weirdly feels scared, that same fear of Grian and his cold look is all too familiar to barely a day ago. A fear that he apparently didn't realise still has a frightful hold on him, his shoulder pulsing passively with pain on cue with the memory.

Despite the fear, he can’t help but step forward, reaching out to diffuse the situation.

Strangely enough, Grian flinches back. He stares up at Scar like he had completely forgotten he was there, his confused look immediately being chased away as the trapped stranger shifts in his hold. His expression quickly returning to an unreadable one.

“Let them talk… maybe? Please?” Scar asks slowly. Grian looks up at him with those deep dark eyes, cold and empty before a nearly embarrassed look crosses his face. He lowers the hand that had held the stranger's mouth, but the blade, however, is still pinned to their throat.

Immediately the blaze gasps and begins yelling “Please we're injured, we mean no harm- please-”

“…. Huh,” Grian squeezes tighter subconsciously, as they kick in his grasp.

“Our arms- OW! QUIT IT- LET GO!”

They shove against Grian, his grip loosening just enough for them to push out as he moves his blade. All of a sudden the bird looks incredibly guilty.

“What the hell man!” The shorter man scrambles to their partner's side, leaning down and giving them their arm to grab onto. They keep their eyes on Grian, scowling as the other weakly uses their hold to stand up.

In an almost too cheery voice for the situation, the taller one speaks, “I can see again! What was that?”

Their gaze immediately lands on Grian, who tenses under it.

“You’re a bird?” They mutter dumbly after rubbing their eyes and squinting at him.

Grian steps back, still holding his weapon by his side. He gives the tall man a look up and down his expression twisting into something uncomfortable.

“Not one of yours,” he mumbles back.

“Sorry, sorry?” the taller coughs, completely confused, but Grian ignores them.

“You're hurt, both of you?” Grian hums, pointing the end of his sword in their direction as he makes a move to stand by Scar's side, who stands, silently wringing his hands, considering his next steps.

They both nod, fear and anger plain on their faces, each holding an arm tightly to their chests.

A quiet sort of relief washes over Grian as he puts away his sword. His expression morphing into amusement, with a tinge of sheepishness.

“Wow, that's inconvenient! You don't pose much of a threat then, huh?” He tries to joke and smile, the expression faulting only when their company makes no indication of finding that comment funny, at all.

Scar shifts awkwardly to his side, considering many different options on what to do next moves through his head before he steps in front of Grian, a goofy grin being plastered across his lips.

“So… maybe we should start over?”

“You think?” The blaze spits, their shimmering flame-like hair sparking in reaction.

“We were only taking precautions, there are dangerous people in this big universe, you know!” Scar tries to lessen the anger with that same cheesy grin.

“I'd argue, you're one of them! Or at least they are,” They point towards the bird, who does nothing but look away, crossing his arms.

“Just a common misunderstanding, we apologise. Let me reintroduce myself-” Scar tries to step forward with a handshake, but both of them move away from him pointedly. Instead, he retreats to Grian’s side, putting his hands up defensively, giving them more space to feel safe.

“Well, I'm Scar! Like I- already mentioned-” he nervously chuckles the last bit, then gestures to the glare. “-and this is Grian”

“Ah, so we're giving them our names- cool,” the other grumbles, his back practically turned to them, appearing like he’s given up on the exchange.

A tense atmosphere falls heavily on the four as awkward silence fills the air. Scar's eyes glance to the taller of the duo, who meets his gaze with a similar, nervous expression, unlike the blazeborn who stands next to them, festering with an anger that seems to almost crackle off of them in flames.

The tall one eventually finds the courage to speak, unsure and hesitant, without the anger and murderous look that their companion seems to have.

"Well, I'm Jimmy! And this is Tango!" Jimmy speaks with a similar cheer and charisma to Scar.

"Yup," the blaze, Tango, snaps with a slight snarl on his lips. His injured arm tightly held against his body, crossing over his chest as he stares daggers in the direction of Scar and Grian. There’s another pause of quiet that only causes the air to grow more uneasy, so thick with awkwardness that it can be cut with a knife. Tango and Grian stand their ground while Jimmy begins to kick at the sand absent-mindedly and an awkward cough escapes from Scar.

The former can't help but wring his hands once again, standing unsure in the moment before he decides to speak once again, "You seem tense,"

"YOU THINK?" Tango barks out, that snarl only growing angrier as he drops his hand to his side and balls it into raging fists.

Jimmy quickly tries to hop to some sort of defence, "We haven't seen anybody yet- we didn't really expect anyone to-" he’s cut off by Tango's eyes whipping over to look at him, the blazeborn pointing a finger to his neck,

"A KNIFE. TO MY THROAT." He speaks loud and clear making it obvious, if anyone can't tell, why he’s angry.

At that, Grian turns to the conversation, his tail flicking behind him. “Ah- Well, I didn't break your skin and, you know, I apologised.”

“Actually, you haven’t-” Jimmy points out, frowning.

“Oh… sorry?” Grian shrugs.

“I already dislike you-”

He ignores Jimmy turning to Scar with a neutral expression, “Right, Scar, ready to go?“

“What?”

“YOU'RE GOING TO JUST LEAVE US?” Jimmy shouts whilst Tango just looks unsurprised.

“Well, you're both injured so-” Grian says nonchalantly, not bothering to finish his sentence like it’s obvious.

“THAT'S CRIMINAL-” Jimmy squawkes.

Grian doesn’t reply, instead, lightly reaching for Scar, a weird sort of hesitance to his grasp, looking as if he’s going to grab Scar's arm, only to move to pull at his shirt. Scar doesn't move.

“We could- help them?”

Grian looks at him with a troubled look but doesn't say anything in response.

“You know?” He, in fact, makes no indication of knowing. “We have medical supplies, remember?”

Tango's eyebrow shoots up, his angry scowl morphing into intrigue. “Healing?”

“SCAR- Cool now they know our names and our resources-” the bird grumbles, Eying the two with a cold glare. He crunches up his nose, then looks back to Scar. “We're not giving them anything for free.”

“…Well I mean, we could always offer a trade.” Scar tries to smile, trying his best to appeal to Grian with a warm grin.

Grian takes in a deep breath, contemplating for a couple of seconds before he points at the strangers and clicks his tongue. “What do you two have to offer?”

“Do you have an ender chest?” Scar pipes in quickly.

“…No.”

“We don't really have anything-”

Grian hums in acknowledgement then smirks at Scar. “There you go, shall we leave then-”

Tango interrupts quickly as the winged man once again tries to pull Scar away. “We have some knowledge! You said you’re lost! I know some things to help! About this game-”

“Game?” Scar repeats.

“No thank you-” Grian now switches from pulling at Scar to pushing him.

“But aren't you curious? We have theories!”

“All good, we have our own plans, thank you.” He huffs in an effort to try and move Scar, but for once Scar has an advantage over him in height and strength. He barely moves.

“Okay! Deal!” Scar finally replies.

“SCAR!” Grian stops pushing Scar, instead staring at him like an angry feathered hedgehog. It takes all of Scar’s willpower not to laugh at him.

“We'll only tell you anything once you heal us,” Tango adds.

“Hah! As if that wasn't already a bad deal-” Grian mumbles mostly to himself.

“-What about during?”

“Okay, during.” Tango agrees to Scar.

Grian finally acknowledges the blaze, as he holds a hand to his chest and baps at Scar with the other. He scowles between them all. “Hey, hey. I'm the one with the supplies, you should be negotiating with me-”

He cuts himself off at the look Scar gives him. His lips press into a tight frown as he crosses his arms and taps his claws, the processing of his thoughts buried deep in his brow.

Scar tilts his head at him slightly.

“Ugh fine,” Grian finally relents, before huffing off to the side and making an upset display of sitting down and disrupting the dusty sand with a flap of his wings, the others coughing slightly.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Take a seat. Let me heal your stupid bones,” he finally spits when the others don’t make any motion, prompting the pair to finally move.

“Oh, it's really rich of you to think I'd let you get anywhere near to my arm again-” Tango replies, unamused.

“Well you're going to just have to deal with it,” Grian replies to Tango with a sardonic grin, “These are my supplies and I'd like to keep some autonomy in this situation.”

“If it makes you feel any better he healed me pretty well,” Scar chimes in, pulling his tank top aside, to show off the slightly bloody gauze. Tango scrutinises the wound, hissing sympathetically, looking towards Grian who’s trying and failing to look not guilty.

“… I suppose.” Jimmy hums, next to Tango.

Both he and Tango awkwardly shuffle towards the winged man, within arms reach of each other, they sit down in unison, Tango’s tail hooking onto Jimmy's ankle.

“You! Beanpole! Give me your arm” Grian moves closer, sitting up on his knees.

“Me?” Jimmy replies confused.

“Yes you, I don't see any actual bean poles around here do you? I'm talking to your daft mug.”

“You don't have to insult me so much, man-” Jimmy grumbles as he complies, as Grian makes a start on assessing his injuries.

There’s a couple of minutes of uncomfortable quiet, occasionally interrupted by grumbles and yelps. Scar stands, watching his company. He looks towards Tango, who it keeping a calculated watch on what Grian is doing.

“You didn't expect to be here…” Scar slowly sits in front of Tango. His eyes bright with intrigue.

Tango just turns to look at him confused. “What?”

“Those clothes-” Scar points at the thick coat, cushioning the blaze as he sits crossed-legged.

“Oh! OH, that's actually pretty intuitive.” He smiles at Scar and scoots closer indicating for him to listen.

“Yeah I'm not from here, I was working on a pretty cold planet, before …uh.”

“Waking up with no memories of how you got here?” Scar finishes, beaming.

Tango leans back, his grin faltering slightly. “…Yeah.”

“How'd you know that!?” Jimmy asks from behind them, apparently having been listening in.

“We're the same! Actually! We don't remember at all how we got here.”

“Even him?” Tango gestures coldly over his shoulders, not even looking in Grian's direction.

“Even him!”

“Interesting,” Tango appears to drift into his thoughts before Grian coughs loudly.

“Alright then, if you want me to do this, well, you better start to tell your story.”

Tango shoots him an angry look, then dusts off his trousers before sitting up straight, getting comfortable. He looks at Scar, coughs, and smiles.

“Well, first you gotta know some of my history.”

Scar watches Grian roll his eyes from over Tango's shoulder.

“I worked as… hmmm sorta freelance. I'm an architect, redstoner- weird lil’ guy with a nac for bizarre contraptions. I take all and any kind of jobs I can find across the universe, a travelling mechanic if you will,” Tango grins, pleased. “I'm actually- saving up so I can own a hermit settlement, start a small self-sustaining industry, build all kinds of wacky farms! Just work for me, you know?”

He pauses, waiting for a response only to be met with puzzled looks.

“Uhhh that's beside the point. What I’m getting at is that owning the land to make a hermit settlement is a lot of money and prep. And as it goes, the jobs that pay the most tend to be the most…. questionable. I like to believe I'm a good judge of character when it comes to my clients, I know when the people who are giving me a tempting offer are bad news, and I usually decline. I'm not about putting myself in trouble for a pretty price.”

Tango inhales, his thumb worrying over his knuckle, and continues.

“But there was this one job- These very mysterious individuals offered me a job to create a game! It honestly was a very tempting offer, because they were giving me so much free range with what I built. The only requirement was that any number of people could enter the game and there could only be one winner. And they offered me a lot of money for it.”

Scar clocks Grian making a small sneer.

“So I took it, I took the deal and started designing my game. I uhhh- I sort of made, think like… dungeon crawler type deal.”

“Wait but you said you didn't make dungeons,” Jimmy interrupts.

“Going to be honest, I didn't expect you to hit that nail on the head.” Tango turns to Jimmy, giving him a small smile, before patting him gently on his shoulder. “Pretty impressive.”

Jimmy splutters, his expressions flip flopping between being offended and proud.

“Anyway… as I was saying, the more I worked for them, the more I started to suspect a few things. They kept insisting on things in my design to be more…”

He swirled his hand around “Let's say lethal. And that was before I started noticing how much resources and wealth my employer owned. They kept giving me things with ease, I started even asking for stuff I knew was hard to find like enchantments and whatnot. And they didn't even sweat.”

He cuts himself off, a conflicted look shadowing his face.

“When I put my energy into a project, I put my whole heart in. This dungeon was my… my child! I’d been working on it for months! Almost years! I didn't like how they were twisting it. They kept taking away the things I included to make the game fair. And that was my last straw.”

“I ran, and I tried to take all the important endgame design prints with me. I couldn't let them use my work to hurt people in the gruesome ways that they so clearly wanted to do. And now I'm here.”

“…Oh, that's rough,” Scar replies.

Nodding Tango stares down at his lap, rubbing at the worn pads of his hands. He looks genuinely sad for a minute before he shakes that look away and carries on.

“Yeah, so what I'm saying is- I got to see enough of the kind of work these people were doing to notice a pattern.”

“The people I worked for were definitely Enders, and I believe they're probably pretty high up considering rather than taking planets and trading pearls, they were employing people to take their enemies and put them into ‘games' for their entertainment.”

“And I think we're in one of those games right now,”

Tango grins wildly, holding a finger up to emphasise his conclusion.

“WHOA, what really?”

“Ugh,” Grian grumbles.

“And if my assumption is correct, I think we've all wronged an Ender before, right?”

He shuffles so that all four of them were sat in a circle.

“I mean- me! Clearly, with leaving the job.” He points to himself and then to Jimmy. “You said something about Enders secretly operating in the town you were sheriffing.”

Grian’s gloomy expression immediately gets replaced with intrigue as he looks up from his lap for the first time during the conversation with Jimmy.

“You're a sheriff?” Scar asks.

“YES, I am for a matter of fact, from a small town on the Nether.” Jimmy smiles widely, adjusting his hair confidently.

“Now that's surprising…” Grian remarks to himself.

Jimmy either doesn't hear or ignores him as he continues. “Well it's more a self-proclaimed title, not much goes on in my town and I mostly just… give directions to the elderly and get bullied by local kids,”

“Nevermind.”

Jimmy shoots Grian a dirty look, the latter smirking back before he goes back to working on the supplies in his lap.

“But yes! Recently I tried to uncover a mystery and encountered Enders,”

“And that's the last thing you remember doing right?” Tango inquires.

“… Yeah, actually.”

He looks towards Scar “And you… what about you?”

“Oh.”

Everyone looks at Scar with intrigue. Grian has his head dipped down still, his gaze, though, points, staring straight at him.

Ah, right, not-a-Vindicator time.

“Well, I'm a mayor, as a matter of fact.”

Everyone looks at him like it was the last thing they expected him to say, including Grian.

Scar coughs, chasing off the nervous wobble in his voice and he sits up straight ready to prove his charm.

“For a pretty unknown-” Scar awkwardly trails off, not really familiar enough with space life for his own lie. “…hermit settlement! A beloved staple of the community, birds and children sing when I roam the streets.”

The others look at him speechless, he can feel them doubting him. Alright then, maybe he should learn to be more believable.

“The last thing I remember doing, actually, was chasing a criminal down an alley!” He settles on. He sees Grian go still. “It was epic and had glorious explosions and everything, a truly action-filled adventure-”

He stops when he feels Grian subtly thump him with his tail. Hiding the movement by sitting up, done with dressing Jimmy's wounds and moving on to Tango.

Tango ignores him, too interested in Scar’s story. “Was this criminal an Ender by chance?”

“Oh! Yes!” He very almost forgot that was what Tango was asking to begin with.

Tango sits up straighter with a look of triumph and excitement on his face.“That makes three out of four.”

“…Not a chance,” Grian says coldly.

Tango finally turns to him, Grian looking up whilst sorting out the supplies he has left.

“What?”

“I'm not telling you my story like we're all sat around a campfire-”

“We're trying to help, isn't that what you asked for?” Tango argues.

“This isn't helpful information, it's just a lot of assumptions and guesses.”

“Calculated guesses! And besides, what else could you possibly know about what's going on? Enlighten me,” Tango challenges him.

“I don't… but I also don't see how knowing all this even helps us in our current situation.”

Grian leans back from where he had been hunched over, closes his eyes, and flings his hand around in an almost smug way. “Yada yada, scary rich people put a bunch of losers into a death game. That doesn't help me whilst we're supposedly in one.”

“You find yourself in a lot of death games then?” Tango grins bitterly.

“I- '' Somehow that waveres Grian’s response briefly, he clears his throat before resuming. “I like information that helps. This doesn't- this doesn't fix a broken arm or get us any closer to escaping.”

“Well maybe it can- we can go ahead knowing that there's probably traps or trials set for us.” Scar says. The two look at Jimmy and Scar who had been quietly observing their conversation.

“Like the beeping!” Jimmy responds.

“Yeah-”

“OH, THE PHANTOMS!” Scar exclaims.

“Phantoms?”

Scar wiggles in the dust with delight. “Yeah! We encountered phantoms on our journey, which is a pretty odd place to find them,”

“Stole my helmet,” Grian grumbles, less happy.

“Yeah… they were definitely placed here intentionally, we almost got killed by them!” Scar exclaims. He sits up straighter and puffs out his chest. “But I fought them off valiantly.”

Tango and Jimmy share a doubtful look.

“And what about you two- did you guys encounter anything strange?” Scar claps his hands together, intrigued.

Grian rests on his arm and gestures loosely to them. “Strange enough to break both your arms?”

At that both Jimmy and Tango look at each other, coming to a realisation that makes them both grin wildly at each other.

“OH and THAT'S another thing,” Jimmy says far too gleefully.

“The game makers must have included this other mechanic to make it difficult for us!” Tango injects, matching his energy. He and Jimmy talk in slightly hushed yet excited voices to one another, Tango playfully pushing at Jimmy and whispering something about how it all made sense now.

Scar and Grian just blink blankly, clearly missing something. When neither of the two gives them context, instead excitedly making noises at each other over a discovery, Scar coughs.

“What mechanic?” He leans closer, curiously.

“We are linked! Somehow!” Jimmy exclaims loudly.

“It's probably a curse and enchantment related. But we feel and suffer the same wounds, hence… broken arms'' Tango adds.

“So you both broke your arm?” Scar hums still confused.

“No no just Jimmy, he fell.”

“Gracefully!” Jimmy interrupts with too much enthusiasm.

“Gracefully… from the top of the ravine. I was just walking nearby and received the injury too,” Tango sits back a little and loosely holds up his injured arm.

Scar hums to himself, gaze jumping between his company and their injuries. “So it's a proximity thing?”

Tango sits up fast with a gasp of excitement. “That's a good point! I don't know.”

He leans forward cautiously, still holding his bad arm to his chest as he beckons Scar to come closer.

Both Jimmy and Grian look at each other confused before Tango flicks Scar hard on the nose. Causing him to make a startled yelp noise.

With how they lean over, neither manages to notice as Grian also flinches, hand briefly touching his own nose, before he notices Jimmy watching him and stops.

“Nope didn't feel that,” Tango says, veering back to his previously comfortable position.

Scar reclines back too, leg braces creaking slightly as he rubs his nose and makes a small sad noise.

“Did you?” Tango turns to Jimmy who’s looking weirdly at Grian.

Tango nudges him, the taller shaking out of whatever thought he was having.

“Oh- no I didn't.”

He looks back to Grian who’s in the process of not so subtly shifting further from the others.

“Maybe… Are you two together?” Jimmy prompts, pinning Grian specifically with a look.

Obliviously, Scar says, “We just met,” still holding his nose.

“No, he meant the weird pain link thing,” Tango responds with a slight laugh.

“Oh!! Hold on-” Scar excitedly lifts his head up, his sore nose quickly forgotten. He turns to Grian who had been trying his best to not be noticed the whole exchange.

Moving too fast and suddenly, Scar goes to pinch his arm, only to hit his hand against metal. The realisation hits him dumbly, but not before he watches Grian cry out and pull back fearfully with an expression Scar doesn’t think he's ever seen on the man's face before.

Grian regains his composure quicker than Scar. He shakes off the scared look on his face but keeps his arms held close to his chest protectively.

Scar goes to apologise but Grian's voice interprets him. His attention directed away from Scar.

“No, we're not linked.”

Tango shrugs, titling his head at Jimmy and smiling.

“Well, maybe it's a thing specific to us,”

Jimmy pulls a slightly unconvinced face before agreeing. “Yeah probably.”

Grian finishes patching up Tango, ignoring the three as they descend into rambles and theories about it all.

He packs away his remaining supplies, looking pleased with his two patients' bandaged and slung arms, even as they pay him no mind.

He stands up, Scar is the first to look at him with a questioning expression.

“Welp! Considering I'm done… and you've given your less-than-useful information, I think it's our time to leave,” Grian brushes the dust off his trousers and holds out a hand for Scar.

“Scar?”

Scar doesn't move, he looks at the others and back to Grian, a guilty look on his face. “I actually think we should all stick together–”

Grian doesn't respond, instead pulling his hand away slowly. Scar continues.

“There’s clearly something much bigger going on here and I think teaming up is a safer option,”

The bird remains silent, his feathers betraying his blank face as they all pin. He blinks at Scar.

“I agree,” Jimmy speaks up awkwardly after a prolonged quiet.

Tango grins. “You're more than free to go off on your own,” he says snidely.

“Ah, well…” Scar splutters, standing up and holding his hands out, that's not what he meant at all, but Grian beats him to a response.

“No.”

“Wow… what a change of heart, you're scared of being alone?” Tango teases.

Grian pays no mind to the comments, his hurt look settling on Scar instead.

“Scar please, I can protect us both we don't need…” he loses his confidence, the end of his sentence teetering off.

Scar lets his arms hang at his side, as he looks at Tango and Jimmy, still sitting by each other's side. Now with both their arms in slings and, despite Tango's intimating expression, looking slightly pathetic in the hot sun.

“… they're hurting, Grian, I need to help,” he gives Grian a pleading look.

The glare stares at Scar, he seems to take in all of him, annoyed and confused. When suddenly, a brief flicker of understanding fills his features.

“… Grian?” Grian doesn’t look at him, instead, he stares at the dust to his side. Tail flicking at his side in frustration.

“I'm not leaving you,” he says simply. Refusing to elaborate.

A small part of Scar is surprised by Grian's response, his weird protectiveness over Scar, especially in context to how he’d acted towards the others. Scar can’t help but smile softly, even if Grian isn’t looking at him.

“So you'll agree to be a group?”

The bird turns to him with a hard look on his face, a disruption on his tongue before he cuts himself off, face flushing red when he realises Scar is smiling at him with a completely different energy. He bows his head slightly. “I'm staying with you, but I do not trust them.”

—

Scar sits down, explaining their travel plan, which honestly wasn't much since all they had done was travel in the direction of supposed man-made structures that had been spotted, hoping to not die in the process.

Grian positions himself slightly behind Scar as they all start laying out all their possessions. Comparing their resources with each other.

Out of everyone, Jimmy still has the most on him, carrying one container of water, which he apparently had forgotten about, he lets Grian and Scar take a swig, Tango insisting he doesn’t need it as much with being a blaze. They also have Grian's healing supplies, which at this point aren't very much, just a few alcohol wipes and gauze. Then also some dried meat Jimmy had and one package of dried cat treats that Scar had been carrying, and no one seems stoked about potentially eating.

Besides that, all they have is some random useless items in people’s pockets, all laid out in front of them. Anxious, taking in the unfortunate sight of what they have to survive on. Scar sits on his knees, ignoring how the braces creak as he leans on them.

Tango is watching Grian closely, mumbling under his voice like he’s trying to get Grian's attention, but the latter knows and deliberately ignores him.

Tango finally clears his throat and speaks up, tapping the sand in front of Grian to ensure he has his attention. “You have your weapon with you,” he says like it isn’t a question.

“Yes.” Grian doesn’t look at him, instead rewrapping a rope they had found in one of Jimmy's pockets. The rope rings slightly against his metal digits as he pulls the thread between them.

“So we all have our comms, storage, and defensive tools missing except for you,” Tango states snarkily.

“Well, I also have my comms and other stuff missing. Guess they accidentally skipped out on the knife.”

“How convenient for you,”

Grian deliberately disregards Tango's biting word, looking up at the other two. “We might have enough for a day or two more of travel? Could even hunt along the way… if there are even any animals.”

“The knife will be handy then.” Scar tries, looking at Tango with a cheery smile.

“Could also… maybe… find plants?” Jimmy says, They all look around at the dry, sandy landscape, only occupied by the occasional dead shrub, with dismay.

“How much collective knowledge do we have with foraging?”

“I used to be a baker!” Scar interjects excitedly.

“Cool!- But I don't see any flour or water, don't know how that's going to help us in this situation, bud,” Grian pats Scar on the back.

“Unless you are secretly an enderian and can just … teleport bread to us or something,” Tango adds jokingly.

“I'm not-”

“Are you?” Grian cuts in, the others realising quickly that he’s addressing Jimmy with a weird look.

Jimmy looks up confused, apparently not paying attention to where the conversation had drifted. “What?”

“You’re very tall… thought maybe-”

“Oh no, I'm a glare!” he replies.

Grian goes strangely still, that cold look filling his face. He looks like he wants to say something, but chooses against it, going back to meaninglessly fiddling with a rope.

“Well, it would have been super convenient to be an enderian with y’know …the lack of water,” Tango hums next to Jimmy.

“It might rain!” Jimmy notes gleefully.

“Rain? Here?”

“I mean maybe? These kinds of canyons get formed by water, so there's a real chance a flash flood might happen!” At the last statement, he looks nervous. ”Which depending on where we are, could help us or … be bad.”

“How do you know that?” Tango looks up at Jimmy with a gleam of curiosity.

“Well I get bored, and there's this neat little library in the Nether with a lot of unique landscapes and… “

Jimmy and Tango titter off into their own conversation about various formations of rocks and caverns in desert-like terrain. Scar's mind drifts aside as he watches billows of sand blow above them on the top of the ravine. He catches movement out the sides of his eye as Grian shifts.

The sun has moved more in the sky, the shade they had hidden in changing direction. The hot sun finally reaching them, first hitting the feathers on the Grian tail. He must have just noticed as he pushes himself away from it, a scowl on his face while he creeps away and bumps into Scar in the process.

They look up at each other, Grian jumping slightly when he notices he’s being watched, his ears pulling back as he looks away.

“We should get going. You guys rested enough?” He cuts the other two off, Tango drawing in the sand with his claws with Jimmy instructing him.

“Oh sure-” Jimmy replies. He stands, using his large tail to help push him up, before lending a hand to Tango.

Grian stumbles up into a stand on the sandy ground, hissing to himself and mumbling something along the lines of “dumb bird feet”. He looks at Scar who changed to sit with his legs in front of him, inspecting his leg braces and sighing.

“Those aren't meant for the desert, are they?” He holds out a hand which Scar takes, pulling himself to stand.

“Nope! Not really, more like indoor use.”

Grian frowns, opening his mouth to say something, but Tango cuts him off.

“Actually…” The blaze moves towards them, holding a hand behind his back, a snarky look crossing his face.

His gaze is glued directly on Grian as he pulls his uninjured hand out, holding it towards them. Grian's hands are still in Scar’s, he feels Grian's grip tighten subconsciously before he pulls his hand away in favour of crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Tango.

“You want this temporary alliance to go well right?”

“I mean… it would be convenient,” Grian frowns, confused about where Tango is going with this.

“Give me your knife,” Tango flicks his claws beckoning.

“… What?”

“I feel like it's very justified.”

“I'm not giving you my weapon,” Grian snaps, his hand moving to his side subconsciously.

Tango pulls his arm back, crossing it over with the other. “I still don't trust you, our minds would be more at ease if you didn't have that.” He looks up to Jimmy who’s looking over his shoulder, nodding slightly.

Scar looks at Grian whose back is turned to him, but regardless he can see the anger physically welling up, as his feathers stand up and his tail starts to flick back and forth. His claws hovering right above where the blade sits, ready.

“HAH, what do you think I care, there is no way I'd give it to you.” Grian spits.

Scar hears him take in a deep breath, sensing the start of something terrible happening. He takes a slightly stumbling step between them.

“I could take it,” Scar says simply. Both of them look up at him.

“I mean- you both seem to trust me more, so maybe I could carry it for now?” Scar tries, putting on his most easygoing smile. Tango's frown softens slightly, but that isn't who Scar is worried about most. The bird is now looking at him, a lot less spiked up with his mouth slightly open, his eyes searching Scar for something. He looks back to Tango, who just nods to Scar.

“Fine.”

Almost everyone lets out a breath of relief.

Grian pulls out his weapon, quickly, and grins to himself as he watches Jimmy and Tango flinch.

He hands it to Scar and gives him a weird look only he can see before his face morphs into a generally upset pout. Striding past them all, he barks “Follow,” and doesn't wait for them to catch up.

Scar looks at the weapon in his hands, remembering its hold before wedging it into his belt.

—

They continue with their walking, Grian at the front out of frustration over the loss of his weapons. Tango's prying eyes watch him from behind, insisting on being on the lookout for any funny behaviour.

The mood is off. Tango and Grian holding their weird rivalry and Jimmy and Scar lagging behind, looking at each other confused but not quite wanting to start small talk out of fear of getting on the other two nerves. They both opt instead to stare at the ground and savour as much of the shade as they can.

Tango is the first to break the silence.

“I don't think I trust you.”

He has his head facing forward, the anger in his voice enough to indicate he’s talking to Grian.

“I bet you’re one of them.”

“Them?” Grian almost laughs.

“Explains why you have your weapon and not us, why you're so reluctant to share why you might be here. And don't even think I forgot about your oh-so-welcoming greeting,” Tango responds with no amusement in his voice.

“What is your problem with me?”

“I think you're an Ender, a man from the inside sent down to watch us.” He says simply, pushing up his shoulders.

Grian snorts, drawing out his words. “Literally all you have against me is that I have a weapon and I’m a bit of an introvert, that's barely anything,”

“That's not all I have. What about your wings?”

The mood changes instantly, from bickering to an icy, quiet cold.

With that Scar finally looks up at the conversation, they have since all slowed down from walking to a standstill. Grian being the one to stop first as he scowls in Tango's direction.

He doesn't say a word. Tango continues with a malicious look on his face.

“And the arms, they're enchanted, right? I can basically smell it from here. You don't come across enchantments like that in the wild. And that's not even mentioning the level of skill that must have gone into those base robotics, for some random stranger– You'd have to be a part of a pretty powerful faction to get robotics like those and I definitely doubt you're a Vindicator.”

Scar watches Grian flash him a very brief glance at that name. Tango continues unaware.

“I've been around Ender technology enough to recognize its signatures, I used to work with it-”

“You don't know what you're talking about,” Grian cuts in coldly with a flat tone.

“I think I do.” Tango challenges, bearing his sharp teeth.

“Hey, hey, what about we uhh, calm down a bit?” Scar interrupts, shrugging his shoulders slightly with an open demeanour.

Tango's wild gaze jumps to him and sticks.

“I think you guys might have all come off on the wrong foot! Ahah,” Scar laughs painedly.

He stalls slightly, almost feeling the heat from Tango start to concentrate on him instead.

“I promise you, Grian is not as stabby as he seems.”

“Oh yeah?” Tango responds incredulously. “Is that why you have a stab wound on your shoulder?” He jabs his finger in the direction of Scar's shoulder, the gauze and tank top stained lightly red.

Scar shoots Grian a look, the other's eyes blown slightly more wide knowingly.

“…Unrelated circumstances,” Scar says simply.

Tango steps closer to Scar, causing him to stumble back slightly, Jimmy awkwardly drifting over his shoulder placing a hesitant hand on his shoulder briefly. “Why are you even sticking up for this guy? Didn't you say you only just met?” Tango all but growls at Scar.

“Well… We're friends.”

“No, there's something else. Something you're not telling us,”

Scar's mouth finds itself ajar, as he tries to think of what to say. Grian is painfully quiet over his shoulder.

Tango takes another step towards Scar, his mind spinning trying to figure out a believable story.

“…We made a deal!” He settles on.

“A deal?” That seems to genuinely take Tango by surprise, his imposing façade faltering.

“Yeah.”

Tango pulls a weird expression before it changes quickly as if struck by an idea. “If you made a deal maybe we could fulfil it instead, then we won't need this guy. I have the contacts, I know my loopholes. If this deal is so much more important, that you'd associate with this guy then choose what I can offer you instead. What even would it be? to you to find yourself associated with someone like him? What was it?”

“I-…” Scar hesitates and turns his gaze to where Grian is standing. The three of them have moved a considerable distance away from him during their argument, but he still stands within audible range, watching quietly.

The bird looks uncomfortable and small, he thinks. His feathers pinning and fingers flicking at his side, right where his blade would have been.

His expression looks complicated, Scar observes, like he’s expecting this situation but still feels a sense of hurt or pain. Weirdly, his gaze is fixed on the blaze rather than Scar, but he can see him fidget and glare as if he knows he’s being looked at, trying his best to avoid eye contact.

Tango coughs shuffling forward in the sand to bring Scar's attention back to him.

Scar had almost forgotten what they had asked. The deal. He wants to know what their deal was. Technically the deal wasn't even that specific, it’s just protection. That's all Grian had promised and even with a weapon, which he no longer had, in comparison to both Tango and Jimmy his usefulness might be matched.

Grian's expression makes sense now, he’s fully expecting Scar to take this deal.

Scar looks back at Grian, catching him looking at Scar before he darts his eyes away.

He doesn’t like this. He doesn’t understand why Tango is so hostile, it feels unjustified. Like he’s missing something, which is impossible. He's known Grian longer than Tango. Grian is barely a threat, yeah awkward, maybe a little impulsive and snide. But Scar doesn’t believe that justifies leaving him behind. Why is there so much bitterness between his newly acquainted companions? Why is Tango so insistent on Grian being a bad person? These questions circle around in Scar's head as he tries to think of some way he can defend Grian.

“We were going to start up a very specific business.” Scar grins.

“… What?”

“Trading goods. See, I need him because he’s got those fancy wings,” he gestures towards Grian, who’s badly concealing his bewilderment, his mouth hanging open ever so slightly, no sound escaping.

“What are you trading?”

Scar mulls it over before looking at the ground and shrugging. “….sand.”

Despite everything, Grian laughs at that. Coughing and suppressing giggles when the blazeborn shoots him a look.

“Sand?” Jimmy almost yells.

Tango taps at his chin in thought. “I- I mean I could maybe…”

Scar interrupts him. “No no no, I'm a dignified salesman. I made a deal and stayed true to my word. I'm sorry but I'll have to decline the offer,” he replies with an easy-going demeanour.

“We're now a package deal now,” he walks up to stand by Grian's side, patting his shoulder roughly.

Grian's only response is to make an awkward noise and to lean away from Scar, but not enough to actually break the space they share.

Tango looks at them both, an angry look directed at the two. Suddenly, Jimmy places a hand on his shoulder.

“I think we should just play along, even if we're suspicious of someone. I think we need all the help we can get.” The taller man says down to him, smiling slightly.

Tango takes in Jimmy's look, his frown smoothing out for a brief second before he looks back at Scar.

“Maybe I don't trust you now Scar, you've clearly also got secrets you're not telling us,”

“You're getting too caught up on secrets and mysteries, and supposed ‘them’s,” Scar puts on a wide smile, waving at the air with a nonchalant attitude.

“How about… G!” He slings his arm around Grian and pushes him in closer to the other two, while the bird sputters slightly at the new nickname.

“Promise you won't stab any of us in the back until we're free from this …game?” Scar holds him by his shoulders. Grian flinches slightly as he tries to look up at Scar only to get a face full of sun. The glare looks back at the other two, not saying a word, his ears flicking absently.

“Grian!” Scar nudges him.

“Yes, sure,” he says flatly. He crosses his arms. “I promise.”

Scar beams, looking at Tango and Jimmy. “Annddddd do you guys promise not to belittle my friend here for being a bit creepy?”

The both of them hesitate, looking up at each other, exchanging looks.

“I feel creepy is an understatement…” Tango scoffs.

“We promise,” Jimmy says at the same time.

Scar claps his hands together, Grian flinching and holding his ears at the noise. “See! Solved! We're now a team!”

No one celebrates, they all look at each other with uncomfortable hesitation, not at all meeting Scar's enthusiasm. He hops on his toes, ushering the others forward, getting them to start walking again.

“Team��� yellow.” Scar looks around at his company, all pulling different forms of confused faces. “Why are you all blond?”

—

After several hours of walking, the sun had begun to dip over the horizon. They were all able to confirm the revelation that this planet has a pretty short day cycle.

The journey had been painfully awkward. Tango and Jimmy spent most of it talking between themselves, sometimes hushed, which Grian pretended not to notice. He’d closed off slightly despite Scar trying to start a conversation with him several times. It was a stark contrast to how they were in the morning. Scar missed their smallest interactions deeply.

At one point Tango had instructed Scar not to walk so close to Grian, mumbling that he could take his weapon back so easily with how close they were walking. Scar tried to argue, but Grian complied, closing himself off even more as he walked ahead of them.

They’re now settling in for sleep, taking turns in pairs, Tango not trusting Grian to be lookout alone.

Tango and Jimmy lay backed up into the shelter of an overhang, while Scar and Grian sit at the entrance, a considerable distance away.

“Wow- it got dark quicker. Darker than yesterday even,” Scar hums. The sky’s a deep, dark blue rather than the red of last night. Scar shivers, it’s also considerably colder.

“Yeah,” Grian murmurs.

“I bet this is really comforting for you, gloomy dim light,” Scar leans back looking towards where he assumes Grian is sitting, it’s pretty hard to tell.

“Yeah.”

Scar turns back and frowns to himself. It seems Grian is still acting distant, even with Tango and Jimmy snoring peacefully behind them.

“Hmm … wish I could see in the dark though, can't find-”

With far too much force Scar reaches forward, ramming his wrist into a rock wall. He winces. “Ow…”

“Are you okay?” Grian asks from his side, genuine concern lacing his voice.

“Yeah… just, there's a wall there.”

Scar continues to blindly stumble in the dark, searching for his jacket. Suddenly there’s a warm glow, illuminating his surroundings. Scar's mind is slow to process as small flickers of light drift into his peripheral vision, like some combination of fire embers and little lightning bugs.

He jumps backwards, his knee slipping out from under him. “Oh oh oh– what is that!?”

He looks around in shock at the small fiery creatures, before his eyes make contact with Grian who looks completely unconcerned about them. Scar then realises the glare is actually slightly amused at Scars' fright.

“Oh, are you doing that?”

“Yeah… lights to see what you're doing,” Grian mutters somewhat shyly, looking at the space between them. Scar sits back down, reaching for his jacket now that the dim glow has lit up the area.

“Oh! Thanks!” He puts the jacket on, grumbling about the discovery that it isn’t as comfortable inside out. But at least it still keeps the cold at bay so he isn’t about to complain too much.

He watches the tiny lights float in the air. They spin and twirl into themselves, dancing around one another. Scar slowly recognizes the shapes of tiny phantoms, just like the ones from yesterday but smaller and made out of sunlight.

“… Aren't these technically illusion magic?” Scar thinks, not even realising he’s saying it out loud.

He looks to Grian when he hears a shuddered breath, “…oh I guess so,” Grian wraps his arms around his knees, pressing his face into them with a soulful expression.

Unlike the tired apathy he has been carrying, this look is pained and hurt, the little illusions dimming as if in response.

Scar holds his hand out catching one between his fingers. It flutters and whirls in his palm, never quite touching his skin. Scar can swear he can feel its warmth, even though he knows he’s most likely imagining it.

“Well …I like them. They're very cute,” Scar smiles, looking at Grian as he holds one of the tiny beasts in between his hands.

Grian looks up at him, half his face obscured, and that sad look still in his eyes.

“You’re very talented,” Scar pokes at the illusion in his hand, feeling nothing as his finger phases through it. The illusion still dancing and spinning as if it was affected by the force.

“…Thanks,” Grian responds, muffled. A small smile creeps into his features at Scar's compliment.

They fall back into a still quiet state. Scar pushes the illusion back into the air with the others, leaning against the wall as he watches them dance.

“A game huh? I wonder why I'm here…” He muses. Not really expecting an answer from the glare, more filling the air.

“Tango said that we all must have wronged an Ender in our past… But I don't think I have- aside from being a Vindicator… I wonder…” He mulls over ideas in his mind, but there honestly isn't much he can think of. He's never been that involved in the field, and he barely even knows if he'd recognize an Ender if he saw one.

Naturally, Scar's gaze drifts to his company. Grian seems to be as deep in thought as him, his brows deep and ears pinned back, upset.

“Are you… okay?” Scar asks.

Grian looks up at him, his eyes following each line on Scar's face before responding. “Have you decided if I'm a good guy or bad guy yet?”

Scar tilts his head, that’s a very particular kind of question. He leans his head back, taking in the sandy walls striped with different warm shades of colour.

“I don't…” he sighs. “I think I'm starting to realise it's a lot more complex than I thought it all was.”

“Yeah,” Grian mumbles.

“What do you think you are?”

That oh-so-familiar quiet rears its head again. Scar starts to think he isn't going to answer him until, finally, he’s proven wrong.

“… I don't think I'm either, I don't think there really are good guys and bad guys, at least that it's not so black and white most of the time.”

Scar tilts his head down to look at Grian. The bird has now wrapped his tail around his feet, he's almost perfectly wound, aside from his wings that lay out behind him, tired. He's not looking at Scar, but instead at his own illusions that continue to float in the space between them.

Scar looks at them as well. “… I think you're good.”

Grian shifts uncomfortably, raising his head high enough that Scar can see the pained grin he wears.

“Haha god–” he pulls one arm out from being wrapped around his leg and pushes it hard into one side of his face. “You really need to pick better alliances, you really don't know me…”

Scar tilts his head from side to side.

“Well then tell me… do you think you're bad?” He asks simply.

Grian doesn't answer straight away. Instead, he digs his nails slightly into his scalp and looks to his side, very quietly hissing in a breath.

“… I’m trying to be a better person than I was,” he says, almost below a whisper.

“Well, that's something! Bad people don't tend to want to change,” Scar smiles reassuringly. Catching Grian’s eyes and putting on the most friendly expression he can muster.

Grian doesn't seem to buy it though, he pushes his head back into his knees. This time leaning his face away from Scar.

They both sit there, not uttering another word for a few minutes. Scar looks again at the illusions. He wonders what it was like to summon them, and then to keep concentrating on them. Grian doesn't even seem to be paying them much mind, his head buried in his metal limbs. Yet they still dance softly in the air. Maybe it was a soothing thing to conjure and maintain. Grian's feathers certainly imply he's a lot less stressed compared to how they’ve been most of the day.

Scar watches as Grian taps his long taloned fingers against his arm in boredom, the sound resonating in their small space. Metal against metal. Scar stares absently at them, Grian’s head is turned away, so he doesn't feel so bad about picking up on the smaller details he can see now he's this close.

They look slightly scratched, the deep black of the metal is scuffed in places, turning a dark grey. Up this close Scar notices how the robotics look, unfinished. Like they’re just a frame, the mechanisms, and wires open to the world, no protective shell. He can see some of the wires have tape around them, stuck haphazardly to the inside as if they had been snagged and pushed in deeper to avoid being torn again. It strikes Scar as odd. They look incomplete, yet when Grian taps his fingers they move with the fluidity of an organic limb, the small mechanisms barely even make a sound.

“Is it true what he said about enchanted robotics?” Scar asks spontaneously.

Grian lifts his head, that cold look returning once again. He pulls his arms from being wrapped around his legs into his lap, still curled up in his position.

“So, you do think I'm an Ender,” he says plainly.

“Well– I mean– You're not doing much to refute being one,” Scar tries, chuckling under his breath.

“I'm not an Ender,” Grian responds coldly, the least bit amused.

Moving uncomfortably, Scar breaths in, dropping his smile for a genuine look. “And I choose to believe you.”

Grian looks unconvinced. “But you still think I am,” he says slowly.

“… I don't think anything.” Scar argues, interrupted by a surprising chuckle.

“Well, I knew that much already.”

“I– hey!”

Grian giggles to himself, it lays bittersweet on his face when he falls off into silence.

Scar finishes what he’d been saying. “I don't like to assume things.”

With that Grian looks at Scar, really looks at him. The deep dark pools of his eyes squint and scrutinise him. Scar thinks the reflections of the illusions in his eyes look like stars.

“You liked to assume I'm a good person.”

“That's different, I have evidence,” Scar responds cheerfully.

“And what Tango stated wasn't?” He squeaks, baffled, unwinding from his ball more to throw his arms out.

“It didn't feel fair.”

“Fair–” Grian parrots back in disbelief, almost sneering to himself.

“Besides, I feel like it might be hypocritical of me to be upset that you're hiding who you are.”

Grian folds his arms back over himself looking away. “But that's different, I know what you're hiding– I was the one to even suggest it–” He says bitterly.

“Well– maybe I also have my own secrets,” Scar winks.

With a slightly more light in his voice, Grian leans his chin on his knees. “I doubt that– you like talking too much.”

Scar laughs at that, then sits forward holding a finger up as the little illusions swim around him. “You truly underestimate the power of talking, my friend. You can know anything and be given anything by talking, whereas violence enlists the opposite. It cuts you off from ever knowing more. People love talking, and I love secrets. It's an art, really.”

“Why did you become a Vindicator then? If anything they're very for violence and anti-information,” Grian mumbles, looking up at him with a raised brow.

Scar winks again, but this time taps his nose, “For secrets,” he says simply.

Grian rolls his eyes and laughs. “Ah,” He smiles, slipping slightly at the edges. He taps at his arm again. “You sort of concern me,” he huffs. “I don't get you.”

“Well I mean secrets—” Scar starts.

Grian cuts him off, waving a hand. “No no, that's not what I'm talking about…” He rests his hand back down onto his knee looking straight at Scar. “You have this inexplicable blind faith in me and I don't understand why,” his nose scrunches up. “Now, either you're really dumb or …”

Scar splutters trying to defend himself, but Grian continues, closing his eyes.

“I don't know…” He titters.

“I'm just very curious.”

“… about me?”

“Yeah! If you're not going to tell me who you are, then I guess I'll have to get to know you,” Scar grins.

“Usually when people are investigating someone, they don't straight up tell them to their face,” Grian bobs his head smirking.

“And I'm not investigating you,” Scar argues, “it's called companionship— becoming friends. You do have those don't you?” Scar tilts his head.

Grian grins up at him. “Well, you see—” Leaning forward, beckons Scar to follow his movement, before pulling back suddenly.

“That! Was obviously an investigation,” he laughs unfooled.

“Worth a try,” Scar shrugs, also leaning back.

They both become quiet. A cool breeze blows at the feathers on Grian's tail. The little light illusions move through the air slowly, unbothered by the physical realm. Grian holds his hands out, as they all drift over to him, curling up neatly in his hands.

He looks at Scar who’s watching, intrigued, and flashes his teeth in a smile, before closing his hands together, extinguishing the light. Only slight shimmers make it out past his fingers, as Scar watches him push his palms hard against each other still looking at him.

He opens his hands to reveal one creature, slightly bigger than the ones from earlier curled up in his hands. Its form is slightly more detailed, its warm light shimmering with blues and pink at the tips. It bares its tiny teeth as if yawning, and stretches out from its sleepy curl. Grian pushes it up into the air, the small creature imitating catching air in its wings and drifting off into the space in front of them.

“I uh—” Grian interrupts nervously, pulling Scars' gaze away from the illusion. “Thank you! For sticking up for me back there.” He holds a small smile, pained at the edges.

“I honestly wouldn't have held it against you if you took their offer and ran… but—” He coughs and shakes his head. “I guess what I'm saying is it was nice, very foolish… we literally have so many lies to navigate now, it’s a walking nightmare… but it was very kind of you.”

Scar beams, almost wiggling in excitement. “Hey! We're a package deal now!”

The bird rolls his eyes but keeps his smile. “Ugh.”

He pulls his legs out in front of him, his wings lifting off the dusty floor. He shakes them off from the dust before folding them behind his back neatly. He gives Scar a tired look.

Scar shuffles forward waving his hands out, not done with the conversation just yet.

“Seriously! I like you!” Grian flicks him a nervous look, making a confused noise that almost sounds like a chirp. Scar itches his head and elaborates. “I'm glad we've gotten to meet each other again. Under different circumstances.”

Grian's wide grin falters. His eyes drift to the left side of Scar's face, darting away and looking at the ground instead.

“And let’s hope we leave this one better then, aye?” His hesitant grimaces switch to a small but genuine smile.

“I owe at least that to you,” he adds.

Scar nods.

It never occurred to him that they’ll have to part ways at some point, for some reason that thought never crossed his mind, and it makes him sad. He’s a Vindicator and Grian was, probably still is, a criminal. It would be hard to meet up with someone actively imprisoned, and that’s even if Grian cares enough to risk that. Considering he said the words leave, he must have assumed they'll likely never meet again.

It makes Scar feel a little sour, he was having the most fun time here, even with the lingering death and tense energy directed at his new friend. He'd had more fun being kidnapped and disregarded on some random planet than he ever had on a shift.

Scar watches the illusion spin, he doesn't need to dwell on it too much, this adventure is starting to appear long and treacherous, he should just enjoy what he has left of it and Grian’s company.

Scar puts light into his voice, eyes still set on the glowing creature.

“Now shall we discuss at length about our sand trader backstory?”

Grian snorts.

He looks at him to watch Grian fake an obvious yawn. “Wow! I'm suddenly very tired.”

Scar smiles more genuinely this time.

“I’ll be called ‘Scorn’ and you'll be my faithful lackey ‘Giran’”

“They already know our names why-” Grian wheezes, before holding his palms up. ”You know what- nah, actually I'm asleep right now- and actively not engaging” He lays down closing his eyes.

“Best friends,” Scar continues. “Found abandoned as children together in a sandbox, oh that could be where the trading started!”

Grian rolls over away from Scar, pulling his wings pointedly over his head.

“I'M SLEEPING! Can't hear you over how loudly I'm sleeping right now-” he says slightly muffled, starting to laugh. Before he chuckles loudly to himself.

He suddenly sits up quickly and holds his hands tight over his mouth, Scar noticing the noise of someone grumbling tiredly.

He sees a shadow of Tango toss in his sleep before settling again.

Scar and Grian both exchange a look, Grian trying his hardest to hold onto a laugh before he coughs one into his hands, hushing him. Scar joins in wheezing.

They both sit, in a warm glow, laughing quietly between themselves as the night continues.

[cerastes]

I still think it's really cool how Amuro starts as the shittiest pilot alive (because he's a 15-year old) that only gets carried because he's in the biggest, fattest stat stick in-universe at the time (a few retroactive additions made in the future notwithstanding), enough that even its crappy vulcan guns are tearing Zaku IIs apart, and when he starts getting a bit too cocky, Char and Ramba Ral show up in objectively inferior pieces of junk and absolutely deliver his pizza, they just drag his face across every available surface in Planet Earth like he's a Yakuza mook, all because they are simply that much better at piloting, and the thing is, Amuro takes that very seriously.

He goes from shitass kid in an unfortunate situation that doesn't want to get in the robot to the most unwell child soldier in the war, which is really saying something, but most importantly, becomes so good at piloting the Gundam that the Gundam physically cannot handle Amuro's piloting. They need to apply "Magnetic Coating" to its joints so they don't fucking snap away from the main frame because Amuro, one, moves too damn well but also in too extreme a way for the frame to handle it, two, despite being equipped with two sabers, a shield, a beam rifle and vulcan guns, Amuro is a stern believer in introducing most everyone in thagomizer range to his Rated Z for Zeon hands, the single most official pair of hands in the business, tax free. He KEEP going Ip Man on these dudes, he does NOT need to do a Jamestown on these mother fuckers but he INSISTS. Somehow even the Gundam Hammer, which is a giant Hannah Barbera cartoon flail-- Ok, look at this thing, words do not do it justice

Even this god damn Tom and Jerry prop is less savage that whatever Amuro decides to do the moment he's done throwing his shield to get a free kill on someone and it officially becomes bed time forever for the unfortunate sap at the business end of his ten-finger weapons of mass destruction.

The RX-78-2, "Gundam" for its friends and family, even has a top of the line cutting edge Learning Computer that 'learns' alongside the pilot and their habits. This data extracted from it was so absolutely fucked up that it completely revolutionized Mobile Suit combat afterwards, which is a wholesome thing to think about when The Best Combat Data Ever came from a really angry, really stressed 15 year old that doesn't even like piloting. He was 15! He made Haro with his own hands! Amuro literally just wanted to make funny cute spherical robofriends! Amuro was out there trying to make Kirby real, but fate had other plans for him. His cloned brain put in a pilot seat is one of the setting's strongest 'pilots'.

They made fucking Shadow the Hedgehog with his brain, god damn.

By the end, Zeon is rolling out Gelgoogs out of its mass production lines. These things are in the Gundam's ballpark in terms of overall specs (or "power level"). Amuro is bodying them as if they were episode 1 Zaku IIs.

AND THEN HE GETS FUCKING PSYCHIC SPACE POWERS. Not that he needed them, he bodied a couple Space Psychics without any of those powers before awakening to them. But heaven's most violent child was not done evolving, whether he liked it or not.

Char bodied him in a souped up Zaku II at the start, a machine objectively inferior to the Gundam. Amuro more or less one-sidedly beats the shit out of Char when he's in a custom Commander-type Gelgoog that you could consider to be equal spec-wise to the Gundam. Amuro is the embodiment of Finding Out. He is Consequences. You tell him he better make it hurt, better make it count, better kill you in one shot, buddy, he needs half a fucking shot. The complete transformation. One could consider the central 75% of the show as long drawn out training montage turning a kid into the Geese Howard of giant robots.

[darylsfavoritegirl]

hey pookies

Summary: Yall remember that episode where Daryl and Beth stay in this cabin after losing the prison (season 4, ep 12 to be exact) and thet play games like i have never.... and spend such a quality time and it's one of my fav episodes EVER! so it's fem!reader and Daryl but they play truth and dare and sort of open up about their feeling towards eachother because they're again friends with benefits lmao but it gets tense somehow👀😭😭 they find themselves in the midst of an argument etc etc and it goes on

This was requested by @duffmckagansbandana but ive also been fantasizing about this idea forever!! kalp kalbe karsiymis eheheheh

Warnings: Daryl being a dick because he is drunk and kinda slutshames the reader. Daryl grips the reader's wrists and it kinda hurts (?) a little bit of suggestive content. mentions of domestic violence/abuse

You held a glass of moonshine that Daryl found when you entered the wooden cabin. You were observing him securing the cabin incase something would occur.

"Looks secured enough to me." You mumbled spiritlessly. You took a sip of your moonshine as Daryl turned to you with a weary gaze.

"Ya really think dis the best time to get hammered?" He uttered in an evident blaséd tone. You ignored his question as he went back to securing the walls, windows. You wanted him to join you, drink booze with you, speak with you. The glass in your hand got warm before you could even consider to drink one more.

You observed his biceps flexing as he was fixing a hole on the wall. He was finally done. He turned to you, took a deep breath. You could see the sweat droplets on his forehead. His sleeveles black tshirt had damp spots around the neckline.

"You went the extra mile there." You said, failing to hide the waggish smirk bearing your face. He didn't respond to your statement but you saw the curls of his lips going upward.

He sat across you on the floor. His eyes were glossy, faint. You smiled softly as you poured him some moonshine. He gaped at you, anticipating you to stop. It was moonshine after all, God knows how long it had been sitting in this junk.

"Hey slow down." He uttered thinking you were gonna gulp down it yourself.

You saw his eyes following your motions when you passed the glass of moonshine to him.

"What? It's for you."

He didn't look at the glass once, his eyes were fixated on you

"Someone's got to keep watch." He spoke

You rolled your eyes in a cheeky way.

"No harm in drinking one glass."

"Go on." you added. Your eyes were pointing the dusty glass that was infront of him.

He gave in. He put the glass near his nostrils, sniffing the drink before taking a sip.

"That's a real drink right there." You said in a jolly tone.

" 's warm." He grumbled. He enjoyed drinking with you. The way you looked so content only made him cheer inside.

"Meh tha's a drawback." You said. You were popeyed. He couldn't deduce the basis of your zeal, yet he didn't question it furtherly.

You two spent a few minutes there, studying the cabin, studying each other when you decided to come up with something.

"You up for playing truth or dare?" You said in a hush that only left Daryl with a confounded face.

"What? Like kids?" He tittered lightly.

"You got a better idea?" You said with a significance of rebelliousness in your voice. You glared at him, waiting for a response.

"I'm worried about the others too but we can't spend this time just stressing one another." You muttered, avoiding an eye contact with him as you looked down at your drink and tapped the glass with your index and middle fingers. It was the reality. You were worried about the others, maybe even too much. However the best thing you could do at the moment was to hope for their well-being until you and Daryl started looking for them. He must've read your mind, he always did.

"Fine. Yea go first." He mouthed. Your mood shifted into a cheerful one by with just 4 words coming from him. You leaned forward slightly.

"Truth or dare." You queried. He leered at you in a gloomy way. You knew he was gonna end up savoring the game, one way or another in spite of feeling childhish at that moment.

"Truth.'' His tone barely above whisper.

You both took a sip from your drinks consecutively whilst you went on a ride in your head to come up with something to ask.

"What was your first impression about me?" You asked, not being able to hide the eagerness in your voice.

His eyes watched you cautiously. His gaze shifted somewhere else, trying to reckon the first day you met. A subtle smirk appeared on his face.

"Thought yea wer' cocky. Too cocky, even." He scoffed softly. You both stayed in quietude to remember the very first day you encountered with eachother. You chuckled.

"That was my coping mechanism. Confidence."

"Cocky." He opposed you in a childish manner, his eyebrows furrowed lightly at you.

You leered at him for a minute. You knew he was also thinking the first days when they took you in. You were drawing too much attention to yourself, pretty much everyone thought you'd be dead in a fortnight, though you didn't.

You sighed. Neither of you enjoyed thinking about any day in prison, it ached you in deep down. Neither of you could envision what your next move should be, spending this time in a wooden cabin in the middle of the woods didn't make it any better. You were in the midst of a chaos and it felt as if all your efforts were in the aim of lightening your agony.

Daryl reached for the moonshine jar that was sitting near you. He started pouring himself another drink. He almost filled the glass to the brim, peeking at you clandestinely incase you'd tried to stop him. You caught his leer and softly shrugged your shoulders indicating that you didn't mind.

He leaned against the wall of the cabin as he grunted. He took a big sip from his drink. You heard his gulp, the booze going down from his gullet. You couldn't help but chuckle at the sound, maybe you chuckled a little more than necessary. Gosh, you were getting lit; you thought to yourself.

Daryl guzzled up his second drink in less than a minute and poured himself another.

"Easy." You managed to say between your slowly-fading chuckles.

"And it's your turn." You hinted.

"Truth." You uttered without him having to ask.

He clattered an "Ahh." sound between his sips to imply he was notioning for a question. His eyes were locked on the ceiling, thinking, you glimpsed at his narrow, blue eyes. His gaze met with yours.

" 'S there sumthing ya didn't tell me 'bout the person ya wer'?" You looked dumbfounded, not catching what he could've meant by that. He must've read you like an open book. He scoffed " 'Fore all dis. 'Fore the world went to shit."

You couldn't fathom his question. He knew so much about you. He knew about your family that you stopped seeing after you moved to USA. He knew about your favorite childhood cartoons. He knew about your days as a school girl. He knew how you ended up in Georgia. He knew so much about you. Although he had never been the type to corner you with your life before the apocalpyse, you acknowledged that there must've been a lot of things you didn't tell him whether it was due to your choice or you never felt the need to do so.

"Yes." You said in cynicism. He remained silent. It was rather explicit that he wanted to investigate more; that he wanted you to elaborate.

Yet, you didn't. If he wanted to know more about you, he should've asked you more bluntly. You didn't avoid his piercing gaze. You could feel your nerves and brain going number with your increasing sips from the moonshine.

"I'm pretty sure there are atleast dozens of things I haven't told you about the person I once were."

He echoed a nonchalant glare. You, once again remained silent. You knew he'd always turn into an impossible and preposterous person to read whenever drunk. You questioned yourself. You questioned if this was a good idea after all.

He sighed. His eyes were narrower than before. He is getting wasted, you thought to yourself. You shifted your position wretchedly, grabbing your drink with both hands. You tried to put a constrained smile on your face.

The silence was unbearable so you spoke up. Your voice was raucity.

"So truth or dare?" You asked.

He gazed at you with a piercing look. You played the game not more than 5 minutes and the air had already started to feel stuffy due to intensity between you two. You couldn't understand why.

"Truth." He grunted involuntarily. He was only playing the game to pass time, to investigate and even corner you. His gaze was stern. Your smile faded away lightly. You thought of asking something private, asking something that was just about you two. Before you could even debate on that idea, you uttered

"Have you ever seen me as someone more than this?" You got hot. The alcohol was hitting you. You couldn't think clear, you spoke before giving it a second thought. You could feel your cheeks blushing. Your cheeks would never blush out of embarrassment nor humiliation. They would always blush when you did something extra, futile, stupid.

You didn't need to elaborate it. He knew exactly what you meant. He knew you had been wondering if he ever thought of you more than an appealing teammate whom he'd share a warm bed now and then. He had asked similiar questions to himself, always leaving them unsettled. He didn't want to give in, ever. He had to have a demenour where he wouldn't let anyone get too close. That was Daryl. Those were the obstacles he'd build towards anybody. You lifted your head only to meet his blue eyes. Daryl spoke the second he locked his eyes on yours.

"Ain't much of a world to keep your mind busy with that kinda stuff." He grunted. You got even hotter inside of your head.

"So, no?" You gawked.

"Didn't say dat." He looked at you with blank eyes. He didn't even get defensive whilst you were going nuts and trying your hardest to not make it plain. It was the intoxication. You were never like this. It was safe to say you did care about his feelings but you weren't a fool. You knew exactly how he'd close up, how well he'd hide in his shell.

"OK. It's your turn." You huffed as you darted away your eyes. Your temper highly depended on booze at the moment. You didn't need him to think that your mind was way too preoccupied with his words, the words that came out of his mouth with such ease. You hated the power he had on you sometimes.

He grunted with vexation as he shifted his position and leaned against the wall a bit more. Daryl rested his elbows on his knees, swinging his glass that had a little drink left in it in a motion. He kept eyeing you, so did you.

It was apparent that you both were bored to death, yet no one put forward the idea to stop it.

"Ya ever think 'bout the old world?" He grunted.

You raised your head, his eyes were squinting right at you.

"Didn't say truth." You hissed.

"Ya ain't gon' say dare neither."

"Right." You mumbled. He was biting on his pinky's nail out of lack of interest.

"Don't do that." You said as you grimaced.

"Ya gon' answer?" He insisted, his brows were slightly furrowed as he, not surprisingly, kept biting on his finger nails.

This game was all about you two finding something to bicker. You sighed. You were not looking at him but you could feel his eyes roaming all over you.

"Sometimes."

"Wish I could go back to those times." You whispered looking at the floor. Daryl's face darkened. You knew his life before the fall wasn't the greatest and perhaps this new world of silence, isolation was a jackpot for him. You caught his leer. Both of you remained in serenity.

You took a sip from the moonshine and asked the first thing that came to your mind.

"OK Daryl. Have you ever stolen something? like something big?" You begged with wide eyes. Only his eyes made you question yourself and your foolish question.

He kept swinging the glass in a slow motion as he narrowed his eyes at you. He wasn't offended. He wasn't angry.

"Ya know I didn't." He remarked. You sensed a sense of sorrow in his eyes yet you didn't step back, you never could when you were drunk.

"That's what you told me." You spoke, emphasizing the word "told" as if you were making it obvious that you didn't believe him. You kept your wide-eyed gaze. An undertone of exhilaration was on the surface of your voice.

"And after all, we barely knew eachother when we talked about this, right?" Stupid you, still couldn't make out what his gaze could've meant.

"Maybe you weren't being honest." You uttered.

"Come on. You must've done something with Merle." You insisted.

His gaze never left yours. You drank too much, you lost your basic human decency. Yet he responded spiritlessly.

"Was bein' honest." You could perceive that was the moment he lost all his interest in the game.

"Ain't no reason not to be, Merle was an ass."

He sighed. Great, now you reminded him his dead brother; at a time like this, in a place like this. Your smile and exhilaration vanished. Drunk you was never stable, you sighed as you looked down at your drink.

You lifted your head only to see him getting up, throwing his glass to the floor only for it to shatter in pieces. You flinched and leered at the pieces. You couldn't dare to look to his side. He grabbed his crossbow on the broken wooden table, slunged it over his shoulder.

"Imma take the first watch. Rest." He demanded. He breathed out before he left the cabin. You stayed there, not being able to move an inch. It was like you froze. You leered at the pieces of glass on the floor once again

"Fuck me." You groaned. You exhaled audibly, looking around the cabin. That was the moment when it hit you, he was drunk; way too drunk. God knows how he was holding up outside.

You immediatly got up, going out of kilter. You had been sitting for a long time, your body was cramping and you kept hitting to the dusty tables and chairs that were sitting in the middle of the cabin. Your head was spinning. You sauntered towards the door, grabbed the door handle. It made a squeaking sound that left you scrunching your nose.

"Come inside." You quaked, not looking at him. You were exhausted, maybe from the moonshine or maybe you were just, exhausted.

" 'm fine." He grunted. His back was facing you.

"Your drunk as much as me." You huffed with withered eyes. You were leaning against the door frame, your hand still gripping the door handle lightly.

Daryl scoffed.

"Your actin' like a child." You muttered under your breath. The alcohol was getting the best of you. His back was still facing you.

You leered at his messy hair, his vest, his arms gripping the crossbow. He was swaying in a slow motion, resting his weight on his right leg now and then.

"Just hate tha' ya still think 'm sum kinda redneck asshole." He muttered. He sounded rather disappointed, fed up with this whole situation.

"I don't." You whispered. Your eyes were wide, you couldn't process his words. He remained silent, typical Daryl.

"Daryl, I don't." You hissed as you grabbed the side of his vest, forcing him to face you.

He looked at your face with blank, stern eyes. You couldn't recognize the Daryl you knew in him. He didn't change his position, gripping the crossbow firmly as ever.

You were getting sentimental at his demenour. Your eyes were getting watery, you couldn't find words to utter. Nothing changed in him, in his cold stern stare that would make you hate yourself. He could never hurt you, that's what you told yourself but even a gaze of his could make you shatter inside. He got too close to you to a point where you could smell the booze from his breath. Deliberately, he rested all of his weight on you, cornering you against the door frame. You couldn't breath. He leered at your eyes with his blue piercing eyes for a hot minute when he spoke

"Ya'd be crumblin' 'n all if I spoke to ya 'bout your past." He hissed.

His glare was fixated on you as he got inside of the cabin. You breathed out quickly and wiped a tear that was to fall down on your cheek and looked at the woods.

"What the hell does that supposed to mean Daryl?" You turned to him. He was going through his backpack.

"Think ya kno' what I mean." He mumbled under his breath.

He grabbed a canned food and sat on the edge of small ladder. He wasn't looking at you but your gaze was at his fingers trying to get the canned food open.

"What if I don't?" You said calmly but at alert, waiting for his respond.

"I dun' kno'. Sellin' yer body for attention. Ring any bell?" He snapped, lifting his head to meet with your gaze. You stood there with complete silence, trying to process his words. His voice was pretty tall, which made you flinch.

"That's really low Daryl." You scoffed. You weren't offended, you were just astonished that he'd bring up your past as a barmaiden to hurt you.

"Right." He mocked. He was still on the small ladder, trying to open the canned food. He sighed as he threw it to the floor. He got up, completely ignoring you.

"Atleast I wasn't drifting behind Merle's ass, doing whatever he'd told me to do." You barked. You had lost yourself. You didn't care what your words would mean to him.

He turned to you, his arms flexing due to his firm grip on his crossbow. He got closer to you, his face was reddening. You could see his vein on his neck throbbing, he wasn't taking his eyes off of you. He clenched his jaw, lowering his eyebrows and leering at you with narrowed eyes.

" 'S tha' what'ca think?" He fumed.

"That's what I know." You uttered as you pout your face. You ran your hands through your hair to take a deep breath.

"Ya know nothing." He barked. He wasn't blinking.

"You were nothing." You whispered. Your eyes were getting red. You could feel them sting. Your vision blurred. Yet his rage was full of spitefullness. He gritted his teeth

"Pickin' up lonely dudes to get 'em pay ya was sumthin'?"

"Sumthin' yer dam' proud." He shouted as he pointed his index finger right at you.

You swallowed slowly. You were not looking at him.

"Just leave me be." You managed to mumble between your shaky, shallow breaths.

"No, I ain't gon' do dat." He boomed. He threw his crossbow on the mattres you two incompetently tried to turn into a cozy bed. He got closer to you, immediatly grabbing your wrists with his hands.

You looked at his hands grabbing both of your wrists quakingly. You weren't sorrowful nor furious. You were affronted at his grip on your wrists that left you in discomfort and almost, pain. You raised your head to meet with his hard-nosed gaze. You shook your forearms fiercely several times, hoping he would free you but he didn't. How could he do this do to you? Out of all the things out there, he chose to grip both your wrists. That was something you'd always highlight when you'd talk about the abuse you had to go through back when you lived with your family. How your father would grip your wrists and squeeze them thightly until you'd feel like passing out. You always told him how small it made you feel, how worthless. Didn't he say "What a dick" referring to your father. Now there he was, doing the exact same thing. You wouldn't believe it.

"Can't run yer mouth now, can yea?" He spat out. His voice was growing taller and taller. You tried to get to your other wrist with one hand only he would not let you;

"Daryl, you're hurting me." You panted, quickly exhaling. Your chest was going up and down rapidly, leaving you all panicked and crumbling under his brawny, firm grip. You looked directly into his eyes, looking for mercy; hoping this night would end without either one of you dying. His hard-nosed gaze not shifting into a softer manner at all.

You were still numb from the moonshine, so many thoughts pondering your head. You wanted to kiss him, end whatever this was. You were highly influenced by booze. You didn't care. You wanted to kiss him. You didn't know what the outcome would be.

So you did, you got on your tiptoes; your bodies were already too close. You closed your eyes and kissed him harshly on the lips. His grip on your wrists loosened, you almost toppled onto him which he didn't let it happen.

His strong hands grabbed the both sides of your face, pressing his lips onto yours like he pleaded for more of you. It all happened so swiftly that he shoved you on the wall harshly. He waited for a split second, his lips brushing yours. You could smell the pungent odour of alcohol mingled with the smell of cigarattes you smoked earlier that day. You didn't care. You wanted all of him. He panted rapidly against your lips. You stayed like that for a moment, his hands flawlessly placed on the temples of your head; the only thing you could hear was eachother's shaky breaths. You pressed your lips onto him once again. A tear that you had been holding so long fell down your cheek, you didn't mind. It was a joyful tear. You were both taking eachother breaths away that left your heart ponding like crazy. He rested all of his body weight on you, which you didn't complain this time. You could feel him growing under his jeans.

Your hands reached the collar of his vest and helped him take it off. You grabbed his bare shoulders and digged your fingernails into them. His hands shifted to your waist from the sides of your face. There was that void feeling in your stomach once again. How small you were compared to him, how you were like an insect which he could've crashed with his fingertips seconds ago.

You gasped when his hands went under your t-shirt, grabbing your hips and waist and stroking your skin. It became a sloppy kiss but you both liked it. Your whole body curved into his body, small moans escaping your mouth. He started going down on your neck from your plumpy lips. Your grabbed a fistful of his hair gently with your right hand, softly pushing his head down on your neck as he kept pecking on your soft skin.

You made up.

FOOTNOTE

Why is it actually so awkward do write even a basic kissing scene. it was painful. idk much about this fanfic it was way better in my mind but idc

@duffmckagansbandana deserves some credits too!! we exchanged so many thoughts during this :))

[missadangel]

Little Bird in a Cage (Javier Peña x Reader)

Part 10: Pregnancy Test

Gifs by erensbich - ilovejavierpena

---------------------------- All episodes here ------------------------

Dios Mio! What's this smell?

Dolores' rather loud voice woke you from your sleep. You had an incredible headache, you barely opened your eyelids and looked at her.

'Have you been smoking?'

She also realized the bottles of liquor on the floor. 

"And drinking?"

You lifted your head and sat up in bed.

'I couldn't, actually.'

It was true, you insisted on trying many ways to get rid of your worries lately. Yesterday you'd gone to the last fitting of the wedding dress and on the way home, when you were alone again, still avoiding Felipe, you'd decided to buy a cigarette.

‘I mean I drank much but not smoking thing. I tried, but I was almost choking.’

‘Oh, you need a shower, cariño. Big day tomorrow.’

She was right, the day had finally come.

Even though you can't smoke, the smell of cigarettes was all over you. You got out of bed to take a shower.

‘I threw the cigarette pack in that bag, can you please throw the bag in the bin?’

You took off your clothes and went into the bathroom.

‘With the contents?’

Dolores looked inside the bag and saw a lot of junk food, mostly chocolate and...

‘Oh, my sweet, merciful, Jesus!’

A pregnancy test.

‘What now?’

She picked up the test with a shaking hand, when you looked at her you rolled your eyes.

‘Calm down, it's not mine.’

She opened her eyes widely, you decided to explain.

‘I saw a woman at a dress fitting, crying, or rather she must have been a bride-to-be. She asked me to put it away before her future husband comes, so I tossed it in my bag quickly. The poor girl was crying and crying, it was obviously an unwanted pregnancy. But I forgot to throw it away, now please do that before anyone sees it.’

Dolores breathed a sigh of relief and pressed her hand to her chest.

‘Oh, thank you Jesus.’

'And Dolores, please wash your hands.’

'Oh,' she said as she tossed the test back into the bag in disgust.

You turned on the tap and waited for the hot water to come on.

'One more thing,' Dolores said.

'Yes?'

'You and Felipe never...'

'No! Never! Get out!'

'Okay, okay, just to be sure,' she said, closing the door.

As she walked down the stairs all she could think about was getting rid of this filthy bag and then washing her hands until they get hurt.

'Hey Dolores, where's our bride-to-be?'

Caroline was just arrived.

'Oh don't even ask Miss Reyes. She's very nervous and there's a lot to do. First we have to get her ready, don't mind if she scolds you, by the way, that's what I'm doing. Then we have to go to the hotel and make sure everything is in order. And I have to get rid of this garbage.

‘Calm down, give it to me, I'll throw it away for you,' said Caroline.

‘Thank you very much, please be there to calm Y/N down after.’

‘Of course, that's what I'm here for.’ Caroline went out to throw the bag in the bin, and just as she was about to do, the bag shook and the contents flew out. Her eyes almost popped out of their sockets when she saw the pregnancy test.

‘Oh my God!’

She understood why Dolores wanted to get rid of this bag immediately. But she was wrong.

So wrong.

----

You were getting dressed when Caroline came into the room, but all that booze you had last night was attacking your stomach. You felt sick, so you ran to the toilet. Caroline's perfect timing made her sure you were well and truly pregnant.

‘Sorry, Caz,’ you said as you left the bathroom.

‘It's nothing, it's quite normal actually,’ she said, looking at you strangely.

‘Dolores told you too?’

‘Yeah, kinda.’

‘Okay, I'll get rid of it, and it won't happen again, just don't let Dad hear it.’

Caroline continued to get it completely wrong as you talked about drinking and smoking.

‘Get rid of it? You didn't tell him?’

‘Told who?’

Caroline paused for a moment, of course the chances of you sleeping with Felipe were as impossible as the sun rising in the west, but she had to be sure.

‘I meant Felipe.’

‘What's he got to do with it?’

‘Then Javi-’

Your whole body almost froze when you heard his name.

‘Do you want to make me suffer? I can hardly stand it already, and why should I tell him? He must have heard I'm getting married tomorrow by now, he'd come if he wanted to.’

When you started crying, Caroline gave a hug.

‘I'm sorry, forgive me, I just, he has a right to know.’

‘It doesn't matter, I have to get married whether he knows or not, all my father's acquaintances, protocol guests will be at the wedding, even the president himself.’

‘But this situation is very different.’

Suddenly Dolores opened the door, flustered.

‘The ride is here ladies, we should get going now.’

-----

As soon as the wedding date was set, invitations were printed and the diplomatic and politic circle were informed. Some newspapers even carried the wedding announcement in their pages. So Steve heard the wedding announcement from the news from Colombia and got angry. He realized that what you and Javi had was no ordinary crush. He was worried about Javi, so he was a little nervous when he arrived in Texas.

‘Steve?’

‘How you doing, Jav?’

He approached the porch.

‘Good,’ Javi said, sweating profusely from carrying wood for hours. ‘Come on, I'll get you a drink, I needed a break anyway..’

‘Sure.’

They went inside, Javi took a beer from the fridge and handed it to him, then another, pressing his own bottle to his neck to cool off.

‘What brings you here? You look tense,’ he said, taking a sip of his beer.

‘Jav, have you heard about the wedding?’

A flash of anger flashed in Javi's eyes.

He knew.

‘And? You're not gonna do anything?’

‘Like what? Should I object to the priest and drag her away like we’re in a fucking movie?’

‘You love her! I know you hate the thought of her being with someone else!’

Javi didn't react. Steve spoke in a calm tone this time.

‘Look, I'll arrange a jet tomorrow, and if they ask why, I'll make something up, but I'll take you there anyway, man. Don't let her marry someone else.’

‘Even the President will be there, she wouldn't want to embarrass his father neither I can ask her to do that.’

‘Oh come on. Fuck his reputation. She loves you. I saw it in her eyes, don’t lose your true love. If Connie married anyone else but me, I'd probably be fucking ruined.’

‘He's right, Javi,’ Chucho said suddenly. He has overheard them.

‘Come on, pop,’ he whined. ‘Tomorrow she'll be somebody else's bride.’

‘Then go over there and get the bride for yourself.’

Steve smirked at him. But Javi was still having trouble making up his mind.

Until Steve's phone rang.

Steve stood up, it was a call from work.

“Yes?”

“Agent Murphy, you have a call from Colombia, the lady said she's Caroline Reyes and it's urgent.”

Javi looked at him, got worried when Steve’s expression changed.

“Is something wrong?”

--------

You were about to faint in the hotel lobby when your future mother-in-law wouldn't shut up. Talking about tomorrow as if she's getting married, not you. Caroline was gone for an hour, and it looked like she wasn't coming back.

Luckily, when you ran away from her to go to the bathroom, you rushed to the hotel bar. You needed a stiff drink, in fact it seemed like a good idea to get drunk. That way you could watch all the bullshit going on around you, with a peaceful smile.

You had just picked up the glass when someone hit your hand hard, almost spilling your drink.

"How could you?"

"Caroline? What the hell, are you crazy?"

She really was acting crazy.

"How can you come to the bar, like that?"

"Let me have a drink and relax, come on."

"No, come with me right now." She pulled you by arm. "If you want to relax, rest in your room, you must be tired."

"I mean yes, but..."

She kept pulling you and you went up to the room together. You were angry, and really needed a drink, but for some reason she was being overly cautious. Maybe she was afraid that your father would find out that you had recently become addicted to alcohol.

Dolores and Caroline stayed in the room with you for a while. In the evening, when everyone have retired to their rooms to get ready for the big day, you went down to the lobby wanted to sneak into the bar, but you noticed Felipe, looks upset. He looked like he needed a drink as well.

Wasn't he the one who was dying to get married?

The last thing you wanted was to argue with him, or worse, have him talk to you about wedding. So you came up with a brilliant idea.

You were the bride, whatever you wanted would be done immediately today and tomorrow.

You went down to the hall where the wedding was to take place, fortunately it was late and only the staff were there, working non-stop for tomorrow. One of them noticed you and approached you.

"Do you need something, señorita?"

"What is your name?"

"I'm Andrea, ma'am."

"Look Andrea, tomorrow I'm going to be extremely stressed, so I want you to bring me a drink every hour, but not in a normal glass, okay? A juice cup or a coke cup or whatever it is, as long as no one can see through it. Do you understand?"

She did, but also confused.

"My family is afraid I'll get drunk and ruin the wedding, you know what I mean."

"Oh, I see, don't worry, I'll mix it with real juice," she said.

"Smart girl. Thank you."

-----

Wedding day….

The wedding takes place on the beach in Santa Marta, in one of the most luxurious hotels. It was probably every woman's dream place to get married.

To the man she loved.

Not for you, obviously, you were feeling like holding up your end of the bargain.

That's all you thought about when your hair and makeup were getting done. You wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible and worry about the rest later.

"It's perfect, you look so pretty," Caroline said. She touched your hair, her eyes filled with tears.

"Don't you dare to cry, that's the last thing I need," you scolded her. She nodded.

Soon there was a knock at the door and Andrea came in.

"Cool pineapple juice for the bride?"

"Great, thanks," you said and grabbed it. Andrea giggled and left. It was pineapple vodka, you drank it immediately, it felt good. For a moment you felt your nose freezing because you drank it so fast. Caroline frowned.

"You must be very thirsty."

"Yes, it's hotter here than in Cali."

"Yeah, I'm sweating all the time," she said nervously, looking at her watch. It was like she was the bride and not you, but you didn't care because the vodka made you feel super relaxed.

Two hours later, when it was time for you to put wedding dress on, you realized there is no turning back now.

While everyone complimented you, you just stared at the mirror, at the beautiful girl in the mirror. You didn't try to hold back the tears anymore because everyone kept telling you that this was normal on your wedding day.

They had no idea what made the tears flow.

You'd already had more than one drink, so you were a little high, and unfortunately something happened that you couldn't have predicted.

You had to pee.

"How could I not have thought of that?" you said to yourself as you realized that no one was in the room. You had to pee and they were all gone, great. You tried to lift up the bottom of your wedding dress, but it was impossible to sit on the toilet, so you just took it off.

But it was much harder to put on by yourself.

When it came to the buttons on your back, no matter how much you stretched your hands back, you couldn't button up.

Then you heard the sound of the door closing, it had to be Caroline.

“Caz! Help me please? I can’t button up my dress.”

If you go out with your dress’ back open, you could fall so you walked backwards. You were sure it was Caroline behind you, even though you couldn't see her face.

But you were surprised when you felt the fingers on your back because they weren't like Caroline's thin fingers, they were bigger, longer, strong, warm...

It was like his fingers.

Your heart started beating like crazy. You were dying to turn around and look at his face, but you couldn't, you just stood there.

After buttoning the last one, he pulled his hands away.

Since you didn't turn around, he stood in front of you and looked at you.

And there he was, with all his charm.

His warm brown eyes were as beautiful as ever. He wiped the tears flowing from your cheeks with his long fingers, his warm smile almost making you forget where you are and what you are about to do.

“You are so beautiful,” he said, his voice music to your ears.

But then it made you angry that you realized he did nothing all this time and appearing all of sudden.

“Why are you here?”

Suddenly the door opened and Andrea walked in, steadily doing her duty.

“Here's your drink - I mean your juice, señorita,” she said and left the cup on the table.

“Just when I need it,” you said and picked up, took out the straw and took a quick sip.

Javi frowned but seemed to understand, taking the cup from your hand and smelling.

“Vodka? Are you crazy?” 

“I'm sorry, but I'm having a hard day,” you hissed.

“How can you be so irresponsible?”

“I'm already doing the most irresponsible thing I've ever done. Besides, I don't remember inviting you to the wedding,” you grumbled.

But he got angry, as you reached for another sip, he picked up the glass and throwing it in the trash.

“From now on you are my responsibility,” he said and grabbed your arm.

“What does that mean?”

Just as he was on his way out the door with you, Caroline came in.

“Guys, the ceremony is about to begin and they will announce the bride in a moment. President almost finishes his speech, be quick.”

You were trying to get out of Javi's grasp but he wouldn't let you.

“Javi, let go, it's too late.”

“I won't let you marry him,” he said, for some reason very angrily.

“If you'd be so angry about this, why didn't you come earlier?”

“He didn't know, I had to tell him,” Caroline interrupted.

“Tell him what?”

It was impossible that he didn't know about the wedding, you got the idea she meant something else.

“The baby of course,” she whispered.

“I'm sorry, what?”

“You're pregnant,” she said.

You froze.

Was it because of this?

“What, pregnant, are you fuckin crazy?” you yelled.

Javi frowned and Caroline was confused.

“But, when Dolores told me to throw that bag in the trash yesterday morning, I found the test and-”

“Damn, Caroline, you've got it all wrong. That wasn't mine.”

“What?”

“You're not pregnant?” Javi looked disappointed.

Which really pissed you off.

“You came all this way because you thought I was pregnant? Not because you love me, not to prevent me to marry another man?”

Felipe heard half the conversation, so it was his turn to misunderstand.

“Are you carrying his child?”

You let out a loud sigh.

“Felipe, it's not what you think-”

“I asked you a question!”

He was about to walk up to you angrily but Javi grabbed his arm and pushed him away.

‘Watch your tone, man.’

Then he grabbed Javi by his collar, but Javi was a well-trained agent, he grabbed his arms back like about to arrest him and push him hard almost made him fall.

He was surprised as hell, ran out of door.

‘Felipe, wait!’

‘I think he’s offended,” Javi smirked.

You wanted to go after him because you were afraid he'd tell your dad. As you were about to go out the door, Javi grabbed your arm.

‘Let him go, come with me.’

‘Don't you think it's too late to say this?’

Suddenly there was a gunshot, followed by screams from the crowd.

‘What the fuck?’

Javi quickly pulled you near to the wall. Caroline was standing right behind you.

He opened the door to see what was going on, squinting at the crowd.

‘What's going on,’ you asked curiously.

‘Who knows what trouble you've got yourself into again,’ he said, smiling mischievously at you, but continuing to stare outside. You rolled your eyes.

‘I didn't really do anything this time.’

So it was true that you'd done nothing but become an alcoholic.

‘Fuck,’ he muttered. ‘I think there’s an assault to the president.’

‘What?’

Then Steve walked through the door.

‘Javi, the president's been attacked, I think he's shot.’

‘Who could it be?

‘I have no idea,’ he said, then looked at you. ‘How are you Y/N, you look pretty.'

‘Hi Steve, thanks,’ you said in low tone.

‘Looks like the wedding's cancelled,’ he said, grinning at Javi, then his expression turned to serious. ‘I mean, it's too bad the president got shot, of course.’

‘Is he dead?’ you asked, scared.

‘I don't know yet, apparently leaving our gun in the car was a bad idea.’

‘I think the attackers also thought that the cops inside would be unarmed,’ Javi said.

‘Maybe, the president only had two bodyguards with him so.’

‘Fuck man, look what happened the day we got here.’

‘And you blaming me,’ you said squinting.

‘It's your wedding day, trouble always finds you.’

Steve smiled. ‘I guess you two haven't made up yet that you're bickering again, huh?’

‘It's my fault, I apologize, both of you,’ Caroline said, embarrassed.

Steve looked at Caroline and then you, confused.

‘False alarm,’ Javi explained to him.

------

The President has indeed been shot but not dead, and although you felt sad, you actually felt grateful for it. And then you hated yourself for it.

At the end of the night you took off your wedding dress -finally- and as you were sitting in your room with Caroline listening to her endless apologies, Felipe's mother came by.

She said they could still have the wedding, they could just postpone it.

‘Fuck, señora, what's wrong with you?’

 You were already exhausted  and a burst of anger took over your whole body. Caroline patted your shoulder, trying to calm you down.

‘Look, I don't want to marry your son, please let's call it off.’

‘All the preparations, the house, the furniture-’

‘I'm willing to pay the all the loss, but I have no intention of spending the rest of my life with your pretentious son, I almost put my ass on the line there, you're an intelligent woman, you'd understand if I loved him, wouldn't you?’

You felt like a great weight had been lifted off your shoulders when she left the room in a hurry, muttering.

‘You were marvellous, well said,’ Caroline smiled big.

‘I was, wasn't I? Dad's going to kill me though, but I don't care anymore.’

You laughed at each other.

‘Let's celebrate with a drink, I hate this room,’ you said.

‘You’re officially an alcoholic!”

You shrugged, walked out the door together to go down to the hotel bar.

-----

The bar wasn't crowded, maybe because it was late. After a few drinks Caroline suddenly stood up.

‘Well, I'm sleepy, so I gotta go.’

‘Suddenly?’

Caroline was looking away, smiling mischievously. You turned your head round and saw Javi coming towards you.

You squinted at Caroline, she smirked. ‘Don't hate me, see ya.’

You sighed and get back to drinking.

Javi sat in the chair next to you.

‘Rough day, I guess?’

‘Did you book a room at this hotel?’

‘Yeah, it's on the ninth floor, would you like to come and check?’

He grinned wickedly at you. Then he ordered himself a whisky.

‘I'm still kind of on the verge of getting married.’

‘Hm, I don't think so.’

‘You don't? But my mother-in-law won't let me go easy.’

You took a sip of your drink. ‘I wish I was really pregnant, maybe then they'd give up for sure.’

Javi licked his lips.

‘I can help you with that.’

You blushed, biting your lip. You avoided making eye contact with him, but he put his hand under your chin and turned your face to his.

‘I won't let you marry someone else, even if I have to kidnap you again.’

Then he pressed his lips to yours.

You realized how much you have missed his kiss, also missed the feeling that your own lips burning with passion beneath his.

You almost fell off the chair when Javi pulled himself back, he grabbed your waist with his hand, chuckling as he see the emotion on your face.

You'd almost forgotten you were in public, you were embarrassed.

‘Are you sure you don't want to visit my room?’ he asked as he finished his whisky and looked at you with desire. ‘The view is breathtaking.’

You put your elbow on the bar counter and started playing with your hair.

‘I'm so curious now. Why don't you go first, I don't want to get caught by others, everyone here knows I'm the bride. Very famous I am.’

Javi got closer, whispered in your ear.

‘257. Don't make me wait too long, hermosa.’

[saltygilmores]

Thoughts While Watching Gilmore Girls, 3x10-The Winter Carnival Episode-Pt 3

Where have I heard an ever so slight variation of this brilliant pick up line before?

I see he's refining his moves. Adding some tweaks. It takes years of practice to turn into the Super Slutbag MegaWhore he will eventually become.

Oh. She actually believes he was talking about homework-homework and not Strip Homework.

Yes, dear. Upstairs. A place that one typically arrives at after ascending a set of stairs.

Maybe she's catching on. Time to bring back my favorite imaginary narrators, the two sports announcers, one is named Bob and one is named Bill. Take it away, fellas. Bill : Bob, I do believe Miss Gilmore thinks Mr.Mariano actually wants to help her with her calculus homework. Bob: Yet, we both know that Mr Mariano here is only thinking about division and subtraction. Bill: Subtracting clothes? Bob: Indeed Bill. But it's going to take alllllll day to remove all those layers! Can they beat the Cockblock?! Bill: Oh mercy! Here she comes barreling through the door! Will they make it upstairs in time?!

Bob: Looks like there will be no Closet Checkers for Jess and Rory today. Bill: His balls have gotta hurt, Bob. Bob: Neon blue, Bill.

You still can't make up your mind, can you? And yes they were until you came along. You ruin everything, you ruiner. Someone secured a day pass to leave The Bubble and went to the mall to buy ol Richard some junk for his birthday. A bathroom scale, a coin sorter, and a tie. A Happy Walgreens Christmas to all! Rory totally one ups her Mommy by revealing that she purchased a much more thoughtful gift for Grandpa. Take the small wins where you can get em, girl.

Here comes a gift that its parents wished they could return to customer service after its birth.

When have you ever been sorry about jack squat, you withered pine cone?

"I could have been doing HOMEWORK with Jess but now I'm here. I really like homework."

Well, you do live in a town of like, 46 people, so.

Mr "I casually strolled into your mother's kitchen unannounced at night to try and fufill my dreams of awkwardly nailing her for 15 seconds before you could catch us" here talking about how awkward it was to discover Rory was home at her own house.

"Getting coffee with Dean" is just a gateway drug to "Agreeing to talk to Dean alone at night in a dark alleyway" I'm afraid there's little hope for her.

How about Rory sits in a chair and you sit on a railroad spike?

Maybe Rory isn't neuro-different and this is just a defense mechanism to weird Dean out and get him to leave.

Sure, why not.

Well, you do kill women's appetites, buddy. (Except Lorelai's). Dean: You look incredibly uncomfortable. Rory: Oh, it's not you, it's just The Situation.

Yeah, it's never Dean, it's always just The Situation. That's a big word for Dean.

I can't be mad at Dean for aiming somewhere in the middle and trying to do something with his life. College, good for you Dean. I'm in favor of anything that will get him out of Stars Hollow.

Seeing he is a 6'4 blob with no personality and a rotating range of interests that come and go with the breeze, I'd be curious what he wants to major in. I mean, softball, reading, the motorcycle, and building cars have all gone by the wayside already, now it's going to be hockey? Mr McKellan writing to the college: Dear Sir: Get this fucknugget out of my class. He's your problem now. Please take him for the love of god.

Rory reacts with mild surprise upon hearing Dean’s four year college aspirations, especially since she thought he was aiming even lower (the two dirtiest words on Gilmore Girls unless it's Lorelai going there and then it's fine are: "community college") You lay off him! Doubting Dean’s academic and sexual capabilities is my job.

Wow Dean, you got to read a brochure? I heard that Rory once tried to read a Yale brochure and Lorelai grabbed it and threw in the trash while screaming SHES GOING TO HARVARD! It was weird. Also, you can read? R; What happened to community college? D: I changed my mind Rory:

The Gilmore Girlies really seem to have a hard time understanding this concept of "changing one's mind".

And he continues, "And all that talk about "you can do more". Jess would never describe Rory giving him books to read as "pushing all those crazy books on him". Dean makes it sound like "books" are some crazy foriegn concept to him, like not being human tree fungus. And she "pushed them" on him. Did she hold a gun to your head? (I mean, he was acting like she had a gun to his head when she tried to get him enthusiastic about visiting the book fair) And because of "all those crazy books" she forced him to read and her lukewarm "you can do more" encouragement, he's suddenly an Educated Dean now, now he wants to go to a four year college. Oh that Rory Gilmore, she's such a miracle worker. Meanwhile Jess is praying for a Miracle Handjob. Rory describes herself as "The Rain Man" of college application requirements and wants to help Dean apply to college, which is funny to me, because she had only just begun the process of applying to more than one college in the last episode because Lorelai had her in the Harvard Chokehold. Not her fault, but she really shouldn't be giving herself any accolades there. And you shouldn't be offering to help Dean with, like, anything. Let him figure it out on his own. Jesus, Rory.

Said literally nobody ever in the history of time except Rory this one time. Dean wanted to call Rory earlier to tell her about these mediocre dreams of his, but he couldn't, because of you know, The Guy. I'm sorry Dean, you need to make a friend who is NOT Rory and NOT her MILF Mom. Get a gerbil to talk to or something. You mean to tell me you haven't made any friends from all these sports and hobbies that you get involved in for 1-3 episodes? Let's see how Rory throws Jess under the bus to placate Dean! R:You still could have called me. D:I can't get over how weird it is. I go from seeing you every day to not seeing you every day. I got used to talking to you every day. It's a hard thing to let go of. R: (sadly) I know. Me too. D: Can we be friends? R: (perking up) REALLY? I want to! I really want to! D: Don't ask me how I'm going to deal with HIM. I have no idea. R: Okay. D: Let's take this slowly. "Dealing" with Rory's new boyfriend is something you're gonna have to work on, you skunk. Listen to me, you two sneaky dirtbags. You both SUCK. I feel like this conversation is so low down and dirty and disprectful to poor Jess, even though he may not know everything that happens and what is said when he's not around and even though Rory is just placating Dean like she always has. Enough is enough Rory. Grow a fucking spine already.

(As an aside: she’s always so concerned that random townies will notice her business and spread gossip, but she’s not concerned that someone will see her conversing cozily with Dean over custard pies at the bakery and this won’t make it back to Jess?) I do not like how Rory is treating Jess already, and their relationship is only three episodes in. Arghhh. Salty is pissed!

[welcometothejianghu]

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 民国奇探/My Roommate is a Detective.

My Roommate is a Detective is a 2020 drama about the Jazz Age shenanigans of a terrible OT3: a useless noodle boy, a spoiled journalist girl, and a handsome thug-turned-cop, who together solve Agatha Christie mysteries in 1920s Shanghai.

I mean, seriously, have you ever wondered what Hercule Poirot would be like if he were a 6'2" Chinese rubber man? If he had a long-suffering sugar daddy from the wrong side of the tracks and a spunky sugar mommy who owned their shared apartment? The answer is, it would be a laugh-out-loud-funny series about a ridiculous and charming assortment of weirdos solving only slightly believable murder mysteries in charming period clothing.

This is another one of those shows where I'm kind of shocked at how not well-known it is, except I'm not, because I can see exactly the problems that keep fandom from descending on it like horny little vultures. Nonetheless, I think it's a good time that more people would enjoy if they gave it the chance. Here's five reasons why you should:

1. Equal parts smart as heck and dumb as butts

On the one hand, especially given its tone and tenor, this show has many surprisingly clever turns and thoughtful moments, carried along by some talented actors. On the other hand, [.gif of a guinea pig in a rollerskate being pushed merrily down a hallway]

This show is not a complicated intellectual exercise. It's an action comedy about a goofy sleuth, a rich-girl reporter, and the cop who should be the straight man in this trio, except he's as much of a goober as the other two are. If the promotional tableaus are giving you real "cover of a Clue box" vibes, you've understood the kind of pastiche it's pulling off.

The mysteries are preposterous. They're all the kind of thing that exemplify the Doyle line about how, when you've eliminated the impossible, whatever's left has got to be the answer, no matter how ding-dang improbable it may be. You know the type: tons of overly elaborate setups, unbelievably perfect timing, coincidental long-lost relatives, people hallucinating right and left. They're also very short -- most full cases take only 2-3 episodes to introduce, investigate, and resolve, even when interspersed with the larger goings-on in these weirdos' lives. The DramaWiki page for the show lists 23 separate arcs over 36 episodes, so you do the math.

And yet, it's way more thoughtful and clever than its doofy little setup would indicate. Its attention to detail surprised me on more than one occasion. Add to that a bunch of solid performances from an ensemble of real characters, and what you get is definitely more substantive than a junk-food waste of time. You can't turn your brain off while watching it, but you sure can turn it down, and that's great.

It also doesn't hurt that everyone is super attractive and wearing great outfits. The whole show's worth it for the wardrobes.

2. THE GIRL

Fuck the haters, fuck everyone, I am going to climb right up on my little soapbox and tell you all why Bai Youning is awesome.

She is insane. She's a troll. She's a clever little monster. Every other character's response to her is, oh my god, you are literally the worst. And she is! She has been spoiled beyond belief by her incredibly rich Crime Dad, and she has learned to leverage her uwu just a widdle girl status to get her whatever the hell she wants. She simply cannot hear it when someone says the word "no." She will look her future sister-in-law in the eye and point a loaded gun at her own head without blinking. Every ball she has is made of brass.

She's hardly perfect. During the course of the show, there are some times where her entitlement runs face-first into the brick wall of reality. She's not nearly as good at her chosen career path as she's been told (mostly by the people who get paid to tell her she's good). She's rarely prepared to deal with the consequences of her actions, especially when she can't just throw money at the problem.

So she learns, and grows, and changes. She's always going to be a stubborn bitch, but she can become a stubborn bitch with a more accurate conception of her relationship to the world around her.

She's actually a really good romantic foil for Lu Yao, who is equally stubborn and spoiled and obnoxious as hell. It is a pure brat4brat relationship, where each one thrives on comically enraging the other. What this means, though, is that when they actually start showing one another some vulnerability, it's really sweet.

Now: I'm pretty sure that you could not have made a female character in her position that everyone did not hate, no matter how cool you made her, because that is the fate of all girls who theoretically keep the two boys from kissing. (More on that next point.) If she were less outgoing and friendly, she would've been hated for being too cold. If she were less headstrong, she would've been hated for being a pushover. If she weren't as into the boy, she would've been hated for being frigid. I know the "god forbid a woman do anything" meme is a joke, but ... man, god forbid this girl do anything. She gets a level of hate entirely disproportionate to what she's actually like. As I said with Eom Dada, it's not always sexism, but sometimes, yeah, it's sexism.

(Real talk: Her character is also fighting both how she's definitely not written as well as the boys are and how the plot sometimes needs her to be artificially stupid and jealous for Straightness Drama Reasons, so that's a legit problem on a structural level. Also, she's dubbed by someone else and the boys aren't, which gives her voice an annoying not-quite-there quality that's hard to ignore. The deck is stacked against her real hard even before she steps onscreen.)

So here's my advice: Go into this show wanting to like her. Embrace her terribleness as a positive, intentional quality. Don't be mad at her for straightening up an endgame that was never going to be gay, even without her. Welcome her contributions to the chaos. Realize that she is exactly as entertainingly irritating as her boys are.

Truly, this is a story of three terrible people in love. They're all just awful, and you wouldn't want to be in a room with any of them for longer than you had to. Left to right up there, Bai Youning is spoiled and self-absorbed, Lu Yao is arrogant and lazy, and Qiao Chusheng is suuuuuch a fucking cop. If you're into the kind of dynamic that can only be described OT3: You All Deserve One Another, then this one's perfect for you.

3. Do you really miss '00s queerbaiting?

Like, really? Are you just super-nostalgic for being able to see the showrunners go, ha ha, girls, we know you're watching and we know you want these cute boys to kiss, which they never will -- but what if we pretended for just this one scene??? Do you just carnally ache for that with every fiber of your being?

Yep.

Now, why am I calling the occasional really gay moments between these two gentlemen "queerbaiting" and not "bromance"? Because these moments are a) obviously intentional, b) completely sporadic, and c) never spoken of again.

For example: There's a scene (which you can see a gifset of here) where the two of them are at a restaurant frequented by the cop, who brings a lot of ladies there on dates. When the waiter points this out, useless noodle boy says, I'm his date. The waiter looks mildly surprised by this, the cop says not to listen to his bullshit, and that's the end of it. The scene moves on. There is no further discussion of this comment. It does not affect their relationship.

That's the essence of queerbaiting: that little on-purpose nod to the homoerotic tension between the two, in a way that isn't a joke but also isn't not a joke, and either way is never going to happen. (In fact, the show is going to go out of its way to make sure that ship gets sunk, so, uh, get your fanfiction lifeboats ready for that.)

A true queerbaiting move is something that should make a difference in a relationship, but doesn't. It should make a difference that our cop is so comfortable in the noodle boy's personal space that he invades it at will. It doesn't. It should make a difference that noodle boy keeps getting real weird every time the cop has a date with a girl. It doesn't. Those are some real romantic moves the two of them keep pulling, and then nothing comes of them.

I had this show sold to me as being incredibly shippy, to the point of being even more so than its censored-BL contemporaries. And ... well, it is and it isn't. It has textually gayer individual moments, but it is much less pervasively gay. It's clear from the start that it's going to throw all its actual relationship points into its canon het romance. When it comes to these boys, the show is toying with you. It knows you want to see those boys smooch, just as much as it knows (and it knows you know) they're never gonna.

How you feel about this is entirely up to you -- and indeed, it may be a dealbreaker on the whole drama for you. If you are inclined to pitch a fit when your ship does not become canon, you'll be happier somewhere else. If, however, you see this as a delightful opportunity to do whatever the hell you want with the situation as it is presented, all the while enjoying little moments of startlingly blatant homoeroticism between two handsome dudes, well, here you are!

(I mean, if you want my take on it, what needs to happen is that the cop and the girl need to fuck while the useless noodle boy watches with asexual bisexual interest, and then they all need to snuggle with the noodle boy in the middle so they can both annoy him appropriately, but your mileage may vary.)

4. The multicultural extravaganza!

1920s Shanghai had a lot going on in terms of cultures and languages, and this show actually does a fair job of representing that.

By now, I've seen a number of shows set during this era, and they all at least acknowledge the international nature of the city -- usually by mentioning the French Concession and having a handful of evil Japanese characters. However, this is the first time I've seen a show go to such lengths to actually show so many non-Chinese characters onscreen, even to the point of making one a recurring character supporting the main squad.

Salim is the best. Whatever he is being paid, it's not enough. He's Qiao Chusheng's right-hand man, which means he is also the dude who most often has to put up the main trio's bullshit. (The actor himself is also a dude with a pretty cool backstory, which is another great layer.) He's sharp, he's loyal, he's patient, and he looks great with his shirt off. He's got it all!

Other non-Chinese characters include a white Jewish art collector (I'd issue a warning for period-typical antisemitism, except … honestly, it's mostly just confused), a sadistic priest who maybe is supposed to be Italian, a completely different priest who [last episode spoiler], and three whole sinister white dudes behind it all.

It's not just the world coming to China, though! A large number of the Chinese characters are said to have spent significant time outside of China, whether for business or for schooling. Near the end, when some characters are discussing moving away from Shanghai, they consider a number of foreign cities as potential destinations.

Here's a delightful detail: When Lu Yao and his sister speak English, they're dubbed by actors with posh British accents who sound like native (or near-native) English-speakers. This makes perfect sense, because both of the siblings did a lot of their schooling in the UK. When Bai Youning speaks English, she's dubbed by someone who speaks English very well but also has a noticeable Chinese accent, which makes perfect sense for her character's background. And Qiao Chusheng never speaks English at all, because he's a street tough who has no reason to know more than three words.

...This is also kind of weird to say about something literally made in China, but go with me on it: Everything's kind of got that Art Deco Orientalist vibe to it. It looks like China's idea of what Britain's idea of China during that period would have looked like. The result comes across less like what 1920s Shanghai would actually have looked like, and more what an ad for 1920s Shanghai would have looked like. It's a fascinating aesthetic, and more so for how it's mostly pretty subtle. The show isn't some visual extravaganza, but it's always very nice to look at, and I appreciate that in a show.

5. A wonderful horrible protagonist

A lot of mystery-themed prestige television involves an asshole genius detective who gets away with being a dick to everyone because he's sooooo smart, while all his long-suffering friends and colleagues spend a lot of time doing damage control for him because, sigh, he's an asshole but we need him, genius excuses all dickhead behavior, we'll always make exceptions for him because he's just ever so special. (Watch histrionic sage hbomberguy's video on Sherlock if you're unfamiliar with the trope.)

Lu Yao is an asshole genius detective, but one who winds up spending most of his time being an asshole to a) people who deserve it, or b) his horrible friends who will be assholes right back at him. When he is awful to the people who don't deserve it, the show smacks him pretty hard on the nose for it and makes him apologize.

This is a show where you'll figure out pretty quckly if you'll love it or hate it, because if you love Lu Yao, you'll love it, and vice versa. He carries most of the show himself, with his goofy charm and his incredibly bendy slenderman body and his ability to make the one competent person he knows both protect him and give him money.

Like so.

For my own part, I find him intensely charming, and I think a lot of this has to do with Hu Yitian's ability to play him as an affectionately bullyable weenie who needs to get shoved in a locker for his own good. He's the worst, and it's comically endearing instead of offputting because at the end of the day, he really does have a good heart. He's just also lazy as heck and disinclined to do anything that he does not want to be doing, and really, aren't we all?

As I alluded to in point 3, he comes across as real asexual. He's just not that interested in sex, and he is in fact pretty uncomfortable in situations where he finds himself the subject of someone else's sexual desires. He's perfectly capable of romantic feelings! I mean, not only does he get Bai Youning as a love interest, we actually meet one of his ex-girlfriends. He's just not partciularly horny about them -- which is even more noticeable as a sharp contrast to how extremely horny Qiao Chusheng is for just about everyone, but this exasperating little dork in particular.

(Like seriously, 90% of the time, Chusheng is about to explode with sexual frustration at Lu Yao's skinny oblivious ass.)

This isn't to say you couldn't get Lu Yao into bed, because you absolutely could, and he'd probably have a good time. You'd just have to remove all distractions from the room, lest his ADHD ass wind up running off to solve a crime mid-coitus.

Twiggy little nightmare man. Garbage-animal boy. Love him.

sidebar: A word about the ending

I'm going to be vague and talk about general vibes instead of specific events, but you should still skip this section if you want to remain completely unspoiled. Jump to the picture of Chusheng holding the sledgehammer.

Okay, so, a lot of people do not like the ending, and I'm including myself in that number. I honestly don't know if they got rushed and had to wrap everything pretty last-minute, or if they thought they might get a second season out of it and were leaving things open-ended accordingly. Either way, it's incredibly unsatisfying.

I think there's a clue that the show didn't actually want to end this way, and it's not actually in the text of the show itself. Every episode, between the last scene and the start of the credits, you get to see a couple still frames from the episode (usually some of the queerbaity ones). After the very final shot of the series, you get two images: the boys hugging goodbye, and Chusheng's upset face. That's not a resolution! That is at best a "to be continued..." ending!

But no, that's it. That's all, folks.

It's not quite an ending so bad it ruins the rest of the show, mostly because it doesn't feel finished, so it's less like you're watching a car being deliberately driven into a wall because someone thought that was the best route to take, and more like you're watching someone leave a car on the railroad tracks because they figured they'd have time to move it later.

As far as I know, there has been no noise made about a second season. These 36 episodes are the entirety of the narrative. It had the distinct misfortune to start airing in March 2020, which wasn't exactly prime time for planning sequels, and that seems to have been that. (There is a 2022 show called Checkmate that stars the two main guys in extremely similar roles, also adapting Agatha Christie stories, but it's apparently pretty meh? Somebody else who's actually seen it, go ahead and weigh in here.)

I'll say that if you turn off the episode right after Lu Yao gets out the handcuffs, you'll save yourself the worst of it the awkward and unsatisfying moments (though I'm impressed at your willpower to stop watching something five minutes from the end). That's not all of it, though. Structurally, there are several situations rushed to a resolution and loose threads left flapping untied in the breeze. I guess stopping before the last five minutes simply saves you the hope that it'll pull a good ending out of the fire, because it won't.

And let's be real: The more you hate Bai Youning and her romance with Lu Yao, the more you'll hate the ending. (Not that liking those elements will necessarily make you like the ending, of course, because I'm a fan of hers and I still think the ending is butts.) The ending is already like a pair of uncomfortable shoes; if the het romance especially makes you grind your teeth, the ending becomes a pair of uncomfortable shoes that also have a rock in them. A lot of the comments online indicate plenty of people dropped the show when they learned the het romance would be endgame. It's a pretty common dealbreaker.

Oh well. Bring on the fanfic, I say! Those of us who are used to taking a sledgehammer to canon are unafraid.

Smash it, baby.

Still want to see some of these mysteries?

Both iQiyi and Viki have the answer to your sleuthing!

It's not a perfect show -- as evidenced by my digression about the ending -- but it's a lot of fun. If you can handle the occasional foible and some eyebrow-raising moments, you're in for a good time with some attractive people that occasionally tastes very gay.

Every roommate crazy 'bout a sharp-dressed man

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

ALRIGHTY IT’S BEEN A HOT SECOND BUT WE ARE BACK LADIES AND GENTLEMEN BOIS AND LASSES LADS AND FOLKS ITS KNOX REACTS TIME AND AHA AHAHAHA OH B O Y HERE WE GO

Knox reacts to Monkie Kid season 5 episode 1

lmk s5 spoilers ahead

so like, to start off, little disclaimer, i don’t know how i’m gonna do with the animation, so bear with me, my brain still hasn’t accepted that this isn’t just new fan animation or something I’m gonna TRY and do my BEST to keep comments on the animation to a minimum but i can make no promises, I watched the first like, ten seconds to make sure the sound was working and I gotta say folks, it hurt me puppet animation is not my vibe I miss 2D heck lego godspeed wildbrain. So yeah, just heads up on that, I shall do my best simple to react to the voice acting and plot, humour, all that kinda stuff HERE WE GO

NAH BRO I’M AFRAID TO PRESS PLAY WHAT DO I DO I’M JUST SITTING HERE

I KEEP LOOKING AT THIS BLANK WHITE SCREEN AAAAAAA

Okayokay keep it together knox u got this you got this it’s just more monkie kid, we’re normal about monkie kid <— is not the least bit normal about monkie kid

on an unrelated side-note my computer keeps autocorrecting monkie to monkey and i’m two seconds from strangling it OKAYBEFOREIPSYCHMYSELFOUTAGAINLETSGO

o u gh

theme song i’m on my hands and knees

Flying Bark i miss YOUUUU WAILS WAILS WAILS WILASGFAWE OH GODS WHAT IS THIS

Hi welcome back to Knox pausing this every four seconds here’s the pre-episode reaction of me reacting to the trailer if you’ve been here a while you probably saw this coming COUGHS HACKS SNEEZES

Okay going back. So, flying bark bits </3 breaking my heart I’m FINE as you can see i totally don’t want to break down lego’s front door and beg for them to accommodate flying back pay them better and give less insane deadlines so i can have them back what are you talking about—

Because we are here for the voice acting and stuff I will NOT make commentary on the still frames in the theme song i will NOT

OKAY SPEED ANALYSIS. Everybody’s intros look p basic, so nothing huge going on yet for personal arcs probably gonna mainly focus on mk and ohhh haha right right circlet right yes, mac and wukong cool beans yeah, I like the little snark monkey king has going on good for him, I am not used to seeing Macaque who’s not animated by animators who sold their souls to make him look like he’s a shiny rock. I’m already pointing and laughing at Nezha, angsty looking fool AND HEYYY THAT’S HIS DAD FROM THE TRAILERRRR WASSUP OLD MAN WHY ARE YOU STANDING LIKE THAT—no comment on all the glowy blue light. Ohhhhh mysterious cloaked figure has teeth now, smiling like that? Gotcha macaque-ish figure. Smug fella? Charismatic? I dunno i’m guessing here, WILL THEY PLAY A BIGGER PART???? WHO KNOWS. PROBABLY. They in the theme song ofc they’re gonna play a bigger part what am i talking about ALRIGHT. Okay lots of eyes, whole lotta eyes. Saw this clip in before i think?? Was it in the trailer? Maybe someone sent it to me, not sure. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM They’ve used that tilted angle twice now, like Mk in the middle with the floor tilted under him. …squints. Eh, no comment, if you want my thoughts on all that junk lemme know I’ll make a separate post where I will probably spend 90% of the time wailing about Flying Bark— [gets hit by a chair]

[REDACTED]

Anyway

Cool cool, giant flaming bird phoenix thing, I don’t know enough mythology anymore to identify what that might be i’ma be real with y’all I used to know a lot more than i do now my brain is EMPTY. Ooookaaayyyy, Turtle, Tiger, Dragon. Sure sure. I don’t know whats going on—

Mmmmmmmm stones…….. what were some theories about these onessssss, something about pillars and holding up the universe? I honestly don’t remember wowza say goodbye to the universe ig ALTHOUGH HEY, I do love the aesthetic of floaty rocks around to show power or whatever, I’ve been drawing Mei with the Samdhi fire rings hovering around her in my notebook and sketches and stuff for AGES, so that’s really neat I do like that I can tell there might be a lot of cool art pieces (at least from me maybe) coming out of that!

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM heeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Nuuuuuwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaa hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii a h a h e y I’m sure everything is gonna be fine. I like that her face is shadowed so we don’t know where she’s at i hope she’s impartial i would love that genuinely um MK WEAPON???? REMEMBER THAT??

I’m sure this will not lead to anything in the future ever

Right, and then a uh, multi-headed… thing—oh is that like medusa air on that creature? Is it a snake or a bird? eh, i’m sure i’ll find out eventually maybe its a snake bird, a snake that absorbs that fire bird at the start or something OHHH OR MAYBE THAT TURTLE TOO? HEY CAN YOU LIKE NOM ALL THOSE ANIMALS AND GET THEIR POWERS?? THAT WOULD BE INTERESTING— sorry ahem, theory territory we’re here for reactions MOVING ON—oh

OH THAT’S A WHOLE PILLER. THAT IS. A WHOLE PILLER OF THE UNIVERSE. ISNT’ IT. Dear gods what am I walking into.

Ough <— paused on the end of the theme song

Pigsy my beloved <3 I’ve been staring at him for three minutes. Whoever drew Pigsy standing there with his arms crossed in the theme song… ily <3

OKAY RIGHT, BACK TO IT.

THEM SONG IS OVER, I’VE MANAGED TO STAY NORMAL AND KEEP ANIMATION COMMENTS TO MYSELF LETS GET THIS ROLLING!

MMMMM STRINGS THAT BIND.

.

I DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS SO IMA JUST PRESS PLAY

:(

The um… the expressions don’t match the…voice act..ing…. MMMMMMMMMMMdunnoificandothisguys

Okay this is fine we fine i just have to listen to the reactions going on underneath the constant screaming in my head this is f i n e I’M SO SORRY I’M TRYING MY BEST TO STAY POSITIVE HERE

Ahem

The monkey mountains are cute! Lil goofy, we love that for them. I’ll bet they set a day aside for making those. I do find it funny that monkey king’s stuff looks like he purchased it from a merch street vendor and Mk’s all looks handmade with scraps of old clothing items and string he stole from probably monkey king’s house;lKMGAWEF

Okay so capture the flag! Cool! Capture the flag with the staff thats so silly actuallyLG;KMAWEF

Oh he is sleep deprived

NAH THO I’VE FELT THAT BEFORE THE SLOW ONE EYE THAN THE OTHER BLINK THEN OUGHH AND MUFFLED STATIC AND THEN HEADSHAKE AND ALRIGHT BACK TO IT I HAVE LITERALLY DONE THATGL;KMAFWE who among us has not y’know—

The way Mk throws himself into training to avoid thinking about things is hilarious. I’m guessing he hasn’t had a wink of sleep in days NG;LKMAWEF

I already said the THING

Ough flying bark my beloved <3 I see u reused animation i missed you i’m gonna cry facedown on the floor now

Hm! Mk sounds different actually. Like the voice actor?? Something’s different about the voice, tho that could just be my audio honestlyG;LKAWEF Maybe a little deeper sounding? HMHM INCHRESTING

Wukong just yeeting the staff at Mk was funny HGL;KJSAFD

aHA GOT A HIT IN

Nah the way Wukong is just >:D is nice, we love mentor and student bonding hours

Okayokayokayokay l i s t e n. One kinda negative opinion here, I may bring it up later we’ll see; the expressions don’t match the voice acting energy. Like… the vibes are just different. S I G H S. End comment for now ;-;7

Okay, okay, I laughed. I did laugh. I confess, I laughed, “Here… comes… monkie—“

“KING”

I laughed. That was silly, i liked that, thank you bless <3 That made my day <3 Bless u sir <3 Silly goofy <3

It’s interesting to see Mk and Wukong getting closer in power level tho like, the dynamic is shifting to something else, vibin a little different, I dunno, could be the animation change, writer change, whatever it is the vibe is v different

Glad to see the humour is still there <3

Huh, Mk sounds really different to me IS IT JUST ME?? AM I GOING INSANE?? ??? ? NOBODY ELSE PICKING UP ON THAT??

.

honestly it could just be because bro is sleep deprived as HECK which honestly would make sense, JUDGEMENT RESERVED FOR LATER!! (could also be my headphones i ain’t even lying)

“yousaidnoholdingbackbutyouheldbackrightuntiltheendrightwheniwasabouttowin—“ BRO U ARE SO SLEEP DEPRVIEDLKGMA;OIEWFM GO TAKE A NAP

Wowza we do love the high-key confirmation monkey king’s holding back all the time tho that’s fun mwahahahahaha VINDICATION

Oooohhh nicely done wildbrain you kept the little spinny guys, y’know those in the background legs and arms out spinning versions of Mk? that’s nice I always loved those with flying bark

[face in hands] bro pls i can’t live with the flashbacks pls UR HURTING ME WHYYYYYYYYYY

Hi and welcome to knox’s live [sniffs] missing flying bark reaction, today we will [snimffles] C RY WAILS

Just two monkeys holding baaaaaaoh okay

sniffs

weird

so confim… share stone?? how does that work?? also fambly confirmed ig, RELATED. Cause if its literally the same stone… that’s a whole related bois right there. Appropriate concern for Mk fr

Kaykay h o ne s t l y ?? ? It doesn’t feel like monkie kid so far—granted we are oNLY three minutes in so I may take that back—but MAN throwing me off quite a bit WILD

Mk avoiding monkey still gotcha, its kinda neat how willing swk is to change the subject n stuff

I’M COMPARTMENTALIZINGNALSK;FMA;WOEIFMSFD

ME TOO MK

ME TOO

IF I STOP I DIE

SO REAL

ME RN

MK MANSPLAINING ABOUT MONKEYS TO THE LITERAL MONKEY KINGSDLFKMAOWEF

P sure that’s sharks bud

NOPE MONKEYS

HELPGNSADFKAMSDF

THE SPEED WITH WHICH

WUKONG IS DISTRACTED

“:OOOOO SURPRISE???? :D?? no wait—“

Mk bro is there really a surprise or are you trying to run away from the subject—

I’m sorry i made the exact same sound as monkey king when macaque showed up don’t look at me—SPEAKING OF MANSPLAINING, HERE WE GO, LEMME GUESS, GONNA LECTURE MONKEY KING ON HOW HE’S NOT DOING A GOOD JOB OR HE NEEDS TO DO THIS AND THAT AND IGNORES THE FACT MONKEY KING IS CLEARLY TRYING WITH WHATEVER IT IS HOW CLOSE AM I GUYS?

Also before i continue, listen I’m NNNOOOT sure how I feel about like… Mk and Wukong “our egg” I dunno feels kinda weird to me for some reason like, so they’re definitely related now, whether that be technically bros or straight up twins. Like i’m a huge fan of found family and now its like… WOW I FOUND AN ACTUAL RELATED FAMILY MEMBER THAT I ALREADY HAD AN ESTABLISHED DYNAMIC WITH AND NOW THAT CHANGES HOW WE INTERACT AHA this is fine, I wasn’t sure about Monkey Mk first either so I’ll probably get over it— G;LAKSDFM I like Sifu and Student better than I do big bro and little bro at this point tho :T might just be me

GOOD GODS WE’RE ONLY THREE MINUTES AND FORTY SECONDS IN SAVE ME

Wow, a lot of things getting confirmed this first ep actually wow. I’m kinda startled. I’m so used to like… biased narration and skirting around the what’s actually being said and everything being carried by the animation but in this first ep we have verbal confirmation that

both mk and monkey king hold back

mk and monkey king are related

Wukong and Macaque have lived on the mountain together since they were born

Oh cool working together huh interesting—AHA. AHA I TOLD YOU. SEE??? TRASH TALKING MONKEY KING AHA SEE? sniffs I’m sorry but

Macaque, after seeing Monkey King try to talk to Mk about stuff and Mk brushing him off so hard he flies off the mountain: you suck as a mentor

SHUT UR MOUTH MACAQUE I LIKED YOU BETTER IN YOUR THEATRE KID PHASE—

Okay no, seriously tho, whats up with all the tilted angles?? I’ve counted what…? Four? Five of them now?? Two in the theme song, at least two in this convo and then one other one I thought but I might’ve been imaging it. Are they trying to bring an off centre vibe?? if the goal is to make us uncomfortable it at the very least is working on me

ANOTHER ONE???

.

P

Pls tell me they don’t do this tilting screen thing throughout the whole season

Like, once in a while for dramatic effect is nice, this is the third time in this one convo alone—

Ough. Man godspeed Monkey King trying to give Mk 25 minutes of peace fr

Ig macaque do be having a point tho, there sure do be something else going on with the lad

OHHHH ANOTHER CONFIMRATION??? Wow ask and ye shall receive ig dang

Confirmation 4. Sun Wukong did not know Mk was a monkey

That’s wild that the eyes of truth couldn’t see through Mk’s disguise or whatever it is that’s some pretty powerful stuff then

Also HELPGMALSKFMASDF WHY IS MACAQUE BEING SO AGGRESSIVE I’M WHEEZINGL;KAMSFSD

“It just felt right” ah, I’m sure that won’t be said multiple times throughout this season I’m sure this won’t be a recurring theme, DESTINY, IS THAT YOU?

Every moment of this conversation is tilted and it is distracting me so much helpMLGAOEFMI LISTEN THERE WAS A PICTURE AT THIS LADY’S HOUSE I VISITED TODAY AND IT WAS CROOKED BUT A COULDNT’ FIX IT BECAUSE IT WAS BEHIND HER AND THE COUCH AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN RUDE, THIS GIVES ME THE SAME TWITCHY FEELING JUST A LITTLE BIT BG;KLAMSEWF

Okay, tbf, macaque is definitely mmmm how’s you say this… looking at the bigger picture, a little bit more. Wukong’s priority is Mk and that’s p much it. Is mk okay. Is mk ready. Is mk safe. All that other stuff doesn’t matter to him. Which is silly cause that’s how Mk feels about Monkey King too. Is he here. Is he okay. Who cares about backstory. Which is!! Funky!!

“All your old companions are suddenly here” uhuhuh, so that is weird, and they definitely all did die.

Yeah Macaque how come you back huh—well its LBD obviously but y’know same thing, Macaque I think maybe you’re not saying why you’re actually thinking about all this you’re one of the people who were snatched back bro, bro? bro are you listening—

HELPGKLMASFOI;WMFSADF THE WAY WUKONG DOES NOT CARE ABOUT STRINGS BEING PULLED UNTIL MACAQUE MENTIONS MK.

Sniffs, wowza

“and they’re not finished.”

“Are you?”

HONESTLY FAIR, FAIR, I’M SORRY, I TOO, WOULD BE DONE WITH A GUY WHO KEEPS CALLING ME TERRIBLE AND TELLING ME ALL THE REASONS I’M STUPID, NO MATTER IF HE BRINGS UP ANY GOOD POINTS OR NOT, SERIOUSLY, FAIR MONKEY KING I’LL CHEER YOU ON, GET EM KING—

iNHALES

>:T

“you need to do better” = “if you’re homeless… JUST BUY A HOUSE”

same energy

sniffs LISTEN. Wukong has literally been running around trying to take everything on himself for the past four seasons and steps back when Mk needs to do things himself, literally no matter what this dude does he gets flack for it >:T AS A MONKEY KING FAN WHAT THE HECK—

He sure does look tired dude :(

AND THEN THEY’RE GONNA SLAP THE CIRCLET ON HIM, CAN HE GET A FIVE SECOND BREAK? PLS?? HE COULD USE IT

Mk you sound so incredibly sleep deprived TAKE A NAP

OUGH, seriously tho, I do love how dedicated mk and monkey king are to each other?? its fun

Excuse me sir

sir

sir excuse

me

sir

sir the stone

sir

why

is it cracking sir

…HA ngl a third monkey would be funny, heck LETS GET ALL THE SPIRITUAL PRIMATES IN HERE, POP EM OUTTA THERE OR SOMETHIN—

okie dokey whats the surprise—PIGSY

TAHT’S MY MAN

Honestly we should have seen Monkey Mk coming with how many times he ends up on Monkey king’s shoulders and vice versa

BRO UR THE ONE THAT CALLED HIM PLEASELK;MG;OAEWF

MEI BELOVED

GRAB HIM

AAAA

BAM

SORRY

great sound effects bravo

Mei ily so much

“AHAHA NOPE WE’RE DOING THIS NOW” i do love him so much with my whole heart ur honour

awww AWWW THEY FIXED HIS

H O U S E

WAILS

BRO TRIED TO MAKE

A HAIR CLONE HOUSE I’M CRYING;LASFMAWOEF

TANG IS CANONLY PRETENDING TO BE A 90YO WOMAN TO GET OUT OF MANUAL LABOUR

IF HE WAS ON THE TITANIC WHEN IT SANK, HE WOULD HAVE BEEN THE FIRST ONE INTO A DRESS AND ONTO A LIFEBOAT

Huh Pigsy also sounds different to me. Mk’s getting more familiar, Pigsy sounds DIFFERENT, it might be my headphones yeahNGKLAWMEF I FEEL LIKE I’M LOSING MY MIND A LITTLE. MEI SOUNDS NORMAL, MY BOIS MK AND PIGSY SOUND OFFOHHHHH OH MY GOODNESS MK’S DOODLES ON THE WALLS EVERYBODY SHUT UP

Return of Buff Mk and two massive smiles we love to see it

ohh AWWW looks like they put some pictures up too awww oh OH LOTS OF PICTURES oh ough… tribute to flying bark real huh

i’m totally fine

these are cute!! mk’s doodles everywhere makes me happy fr tho ough <3

me when a picture of monkey king and his monkeys crawling on him: mwehehehehe

its silly and i love them

KING MOVE MEI

ABSOLUTE QUEEN BEHAVIOUR

PUTTING HER PICTURE WITH MONKEY KING RIGHT ON TOP OF THE TV SO HE HAS TO LOOK AT IT WHENEVER HE SITS DOWN

SHE HAS ADOPTED HIM

ITS HAPPENED FOLKS

HE’S OFFICALLY IN

HE’S UNDER THE MEI FRIENDSHIP UMBRELLA AND WILL NEVER ESCAPE

THEY ARE MK PROTECTION SQUAD BACK OFF

AU WHERE MEI BIG SISTER

THAT IS ALL GOODNIGHT

cH OK I N G

GOING RIGHT FOR THE HUG

WAILS

honestly

really nice of them to do the pictures that was super thoughtful like ough that’s super sweet

PLEEEEAAASEEE PIGSY WITH MK’S THEME SONG AS HIS ALARM, THAT’S SO MUCH FUN I LOVE THAT GAG KEEP IT COMING

Man, it’s tough to be a monkey hated by all who wants to do his best and protect his student/family member but you don’t know how to do that and everyone keeps yelling at you—

Pigsy ily

fr tho a lot of the cast sound off hope they’re all doing okay :(

Pigsy: if you wanna stay, you can stay—

Mk: NOPELETSGOLETSGOLETSGO-

SANDY PLEASE STOP BABYING TANG HE’S LITERALLY FINE—

MK IS NONSTOP RN AND I FEEL THAT

Ah pigsy’s noodles <3

Secret family recipe that technically isn’t secret because Cheng’e aired an ep of Pigsy sharing it on television but okay— /j/j/j GJKA;SDMKFL

…you guys don’t understand. Y’know the next meme i was gonna try to draw? “truth or dare.” and it fits. so well with ep one i’ma draw it right after this actually i WAS ALREADY GONNE DRAW IT I SHOULD HAVE DONE IT IMMEDEATLYG;LKASMFASD

…why did noodles catapult out of her mouth whats happening— ;LKGMAWEF

sleeping with the noodles, nice one nice one

Dad stare. THE DAD STARE

That is what we call PTSD—GMLA,FAWPEF

huh, something different with the dialogue that i’m not used to. Not sure what it is, the rhythm of it feels different, OR I COULD BE LOSING MY MIND DON’T PAY ME ANY ATTENTION FOLKS

I do love Pigsy bonding with his son thank you very much

“…but what?” good job Pigsy he’s teaching his son he’s being silly i do love him still

AHA, i see i see “gotta feel it” “it felt right” we all about the vibes now ig

wow yeah the dialogue is very very different, did we change writing teams? i was so distracted by the animation change i wasn’t paying attention to all that, but the dialogue just… not quite pigsy y’know? i like seeing him soft but i also like him gruff and awkward too? he’s vibin more like how i wrote him in my crackfic for crack purposes. kinda weird

its home, aw that’s sweet

don’t pass out mk

OH BABY MK

SOBS

BABY MK IN THE RECIPE BOOK SHADDUUUUPPPPP WAILS

.

He’s gonna turn around and mk’s gonna be passed out isn’t he

that is a little silly

hm

I do miss gruff pigsy a lot actually grumpy with a heart of gold is the best pigsy

“still works”

;-; c o o l

PIGSY CARRYING MK UPSTAIRSLKGMA;OISEF;ALKMEFSD

HEY

HEY HOW’D YOU GET THE SCRIPT OF MY SICFIC

HEY

HEY HANG ON I HAVNE’T WRITTEN IT YET WAIT FOR ME—

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

scratches head

y’all can come at me with pitchforks and torches but

this doesn’t feel like Pigsy to me

I dunno if its the dialogue or the pacing or something but its just… v off. For some reason. feels like a different character and not in the “he had an arch” way. …I dunno, ITS THROWING ME OFF FOLKS He feels like a fan fiction pigsy DONT’S STAB ME—

Son in the fourth season hit way harder— I’MSORRYI’MSORRYDON’TKILLME—

awww monkey king origami real

he’s fine as i can see

oop

okay so what’s going on in the dream realm cause they’re all not sleeping good so its probably a shared dream of some ki— AHAHA HANG ON HANG ON

Hang on

if they get

dragged to the underworld

that would be funny

monkey king passed out (technically drunk himself to death but lets say passed out) he woke up to being dragged to the underworld so it would be funny—

Whats he saying??? ECHOY VOICE I CAN’T UNDERSTAND YOU

I understood time to wake up but not the other bit

AHAHAHAH CALLED IT

SUMMONED

SNATCHED

MONKEYS??

OH YEAH ALL OF THEM OKAY

face in hands

its o v e r

THAT FELT LIKE THE LONGEST EPISODE I’VE EVER WATCHED IN MY LIFE

OH GODS ITS SEVEN O’CLOCK I’VE BEEN HERE FOR TWO HOURS AND TWENTY MINUTES I

HELPGKLASMF;OAIWEMFLSADF

Okay, overall consensus of episode 1: you can feel the change in studios and you can feel the change in writers (if there’s new writers, if not i can eat my words.) the animation is about what i expected, they use a lot of tilted angles for reasons I don’t know it’s making me kinda dizzy, some of the VA’s sound very off, I hope they’re doing okay, the dialogue was weirdly hard to focus on, i had to go back and replay bits several times to understand what they were saying, humour still nice, outfits cute, Tang needs to get pushed into some hard manual labour, the house bit was really nice i love that monkey king has been accepted by the group, macaque questioning why the jttw crew is there means that their reincarnations are a weird thing which i’m staring at, uh… and they’re in the underworld now probably!! WOO!! HORRIFYING!!!

Y’know my goal was to watch 2 episodes but I think that’s all i have in me for today so SEE YOU NEXT TIME ON KNOX REACTS UNLESS IS SCARED YOU ALL OFF WITH STARING TOO HARD AT THE DIFFERENCES, JOIN US FOR WHEN KNOX INEVITABLY SHATTERS INTO PEICES AND STARTS YELLING ABOUT HOW MUCH THEY HATE LARGE CORPORATIONS LIKE LEGO AND DISNEY AND HOW MUCH THEY LOVE CREATORS LIKE FLYING BARK AND THE VA’S PEACE OUT AND PLS DON’T COME AT ME WITH PITCHFORKS AND TORCHES—

edit: EATING MY WORDS, sound mixing studios changed, not writers, that would explain some of the difficulty i was having hearing the audio and why a lot of the voices sounded off pls disregard all previous ranting about those things o7

edit 2: i've processed a bit, we got dadsy, i will live forever

[klance-headcanons-official]

Any galra!Keith x (normal/paladin) Lance headcannons ??

I v e b e e n w a i t i n g f o r t h i s m o m e n t

Okay, so basically, here's how it went down.

Lance, Pidge, Hunk and Shiro had all gone to space and found Allura, however this time, they found the blue lion with the alien signal tracking thing that Pidge was using in the beginning of episode one. They went to Arus, met Allura and set off to save the universe.

Allura becomes the initial red paladin in this one, following her father's footsteps.

During one of the Paladins' raids on a Galra base, Lance finds Keith in a cell.

In this AU, Keith went with his mom to space and joined BOM when he turned 14, though of course he's still mostly human, besides from furry ears, purple skin and yellow eyes (and of course fangs but we don't need to get into that).

Anyways, Lance frees him and leads him back to the blue lion. As soon as everyone sees him, they immediately start saying things like, "Lance, why did you bring a Galran with you!?" "Why would you lead them straight to Voltron" "The Galra killed my entire species!" all that fun junk, and Lance looks them dead in the eyes, and with his whole heart goes, "Because when I found him, he looked more human than anyone I've ever met."

Of course, Lance meant the way Keith had looked at him. He saw pure humanity in his eyes, he just knew Keith was good, he'd never been more sure of anything in his life. "He was alone, in a cell. The Galra don't do that to their allies."

anyways, time passes, Keith becomes the Red Paladin, and they all grow and learn to trust each other n stuff, you know the basics.

But, Keith and Lance grow especially close, seeing as Lance had been the one who saved him, the one that had defended him and stuck by him through everything despite him being Galran.

One day, they got caught in a crossfire between a Galra fleet and a planet involved in the coalition, and Lance gets hit. Though, Lance, being Lance, doesn't say anything and just keeps fighting. When the battle concludes, the Paladins go back to the Castle of Lions.

As soon as he thinks he's alone, Lance collapses and removes his armor. Because of how careless he'd been during the fight, the initially small wound had torn and become much larger, meaning that Lance was losing quite a bit of blood. If he had to guess, he'd lost about a fourth of a liter. It wasn't enough to make him dizzy, but it hurt like hell.

As we all know, I enjoy making them suffer a little, so naturally, Keith finds him on the floor by his bedroom door, and his gaze falls on the gaping slash on Lance's side. He immediately drops down and starts scolding Lance.

"Why didn't you say you were hurt!? When did this happen?! How much blood have you lost?!" He presses his hands over the wound in hopes of stopping the bleeding, he knows it isn't bad enough to be fatal, but simply the sight of Lances blood on his hands sends him spiraling with panic. It's an image that will be forever burned into his memory.

Lance can't find the words he needs to say, all that escapes him his a small, quiet "I'm sorry".

Keith picks Lance up and takes him to his room, where he lays him down and gets the first aid kit from his bathroom.

He stops the bleeding and patches the wound. It was something he'd had to learn early on when he joined the Blade of Marmora. He helps Lance sit up and then plops down beside him.

"I could have handled it on my own, you know.. I'm not helpless.."

"First of all, you were bleeding out on the floor! If you really had it handled, i think you would have already had yourself patched up! And second, being helped doesn't make you helpless, it makes you human-"

"What would you know about being human?"

There's a long moment of quiet between them. Keith is the first to speak again.

"You're right.. I don't know the first thing about being human.. But I do know you. And I know that you're strong, and brave, and you'll do whatever it takes to ensure the safety of those around you. But I also know that sometimes you can't do things by yourself, and that's fine, Lance. There's nothing wrong with needing help..."

"I'm sorry" he says, turning to look Keith in the eyes, "I shouldn't have said that. If anything, you're more human than any of us. I don't know how, or why, but you are. And I think-"

There's another silence, Lance debates whether or not now is the right time to be saying any of this, but this is Lance we're talking about. He's the king of bad timing.

"You think what?"

Lance takes his hands, his heart is about ready to break his ribs with how hard it's pounding. "I think... I think that's why I love you!"

They stare at each other for what seems like an eternity, Keith's eyes move back and forth between their hands and Lance. Neither knows what to say.

Eventually, Lance tries to let go, taking the silence as a rejection, but Keith then grips tighter and pulls him into a hug.

"I love you, too, idiot..."

"Wait seriously? Like, you aren't messing with me, right?"

"Yes seriously! And if you ever pull a stunt like this again, I'm gonna kill you myself, got it?"

...

"Yeah, I got it"

They sit there with each other for probably an hour before Pidge bursts through the door and shouts, "AHA! I KNEW IT!!" They turn their head and yell into the hallway, "HUNK, YOU OWE ME FIFTY BUCKS!!!"

I have so many more but i think this post is long enough as is, so i'll stop here for now. If you want more of these please please please ask, i love getting requests so much.

[myechoecho]

The Double, ep 20 & 21

I'm not sure where Li thought the Duke was, but he finally gets the confirmation about her true identity. Not that he really needed it, since he's known forever. I wonder too, if Li knew that he was likely around and was fine with him overhearing. It's a way of letting him know without being direct.

I very much enjoyed Li jumping on the Duke's back and wrapping herself around him in a death grip. Thank you, random rat. Once the the guards leave, neither know quite what to do nor are they in any hurry to have her get down. LOOOL at them coming out from around their hiding spot with Li still on him and Li's father's supporters being scandalized.

First sighting of the Duke fighting with something other than his fan. But never fear, he brought his fan with him. I cannot get over that his weapon of choice is the fan. I can't say I've ever really considered a fan a good weapon, but the Duke makes it work effectively.

Li calling the Duke Xiao Heng when he gets hurt! Li saving the Duke's like by throwing a rock at the bad guy's head. The looks they give one another when she does. And then they have matching wounds and are all focused on one another. Despite the battle still going on a few feet away. It was all so extra.

I smirked at him telling her to look down only for her to ignore it after a couple of second and then look her fill. He doesn't even care. Then they have the most ridiculous flirting session. His face when she says he was stuck with her was everything.

Though I think one of more important aspects of this interaction is when he asks his subordinate to get her some appropriate clothes to go the magistrates office. The reason? It's the first meeting after a long separation, she shouldn't go all dirty. And she smiles because he understands her. It's also her basically admitting and acknowledging her identity to him. He knows who she needs to see there and he wants to make sure she looks her best for her father.

More importantly, when they confront the Magistrate she listens to him. She holds herself back when she sees her father, no matter how hard it is. Because she believes the Duke, and she says as much.

The Magistrate was beyond vile. Love that the Third Uncle gave her his knife without hesitation. That mean deserved all that that he got and I extra appreciate the two handed stab to his junk. The Duke lets her stab him, because she needs it as part of her justice. But he stops her before she goes to far, both for her sake and the sake of his case.

I love that the Duke was waiting for her, just to be with her and comfort her though nothing was really said. He did give her instructions because they are a team. But mostly, the just were together in comfortable silence.

I'm not sure who the secret letters the Duke wrote are for, but my guess is one was for Shi Jie and the other the Emperor.

Most of episode 21 was about the political stuff however, we did get the confirmation that the real power behind the Li family was the Princess. She's the one behind everything, which is treason to the Emperor. As for the reason why - my only guess is because she was sent away as a hostage.

[originalwinnercheesecake]

Who from the ghosts pasts would it be fun to meet

We get some good episodes of ghosts (Metaphorical or literal) from the main 8's past coming back. We have met some... interesting characters, and there are some more it would still be cool to meet. So I thought I would make a list of the ghosts and who from their pasts it would be fun meet. Note I do not necessarily know how this person/ghost would come back, I just think it would be fun to see them.

Thorfinn: I do not want anybody else from Thor's past. The arc with Bjorn was sweet, and I do want it revisited in season four. But seriously Thor's old crew were jerks who left him behind. Thor hasn't once mentioned Bjorn's mother (Thor's wife???) and given that he has canonically had at least three serious relationships since becoming a ghost, it is pretty clear he has moved on from her. if hey had to they could maybe do an episode where Bjorn is able to bring his deceased wife back for a day, and introduce her to Thor. That would maybe be fun since it forces Thor to be pleasant to a danish person.... But I also think it is pretty fun that Bjorn is with Judy (50's Hetty) now, and she has expressed that she is not cool with poly life... Hopefully one day would not upset her enough to break up with Bjorn.

Sasappis: Okay anyone who we meet from Sass's life needs to be in a situation like him and Shiki, i.e. haunting some part of the Hutson sally for 500 and something years. Because otherwise 1.) It has been pointed out to me that Lenape Native Americans of their time did not speak English, so we would not be able to understand them. 2.) Dragging one of his people back from the afterlife to show them how completely settlers paved over their homes and wiped out their culture would be to cruel a thing to do.

Oh bonus because I thought of it after making my Season 4 wish list. If travel based ghost powers can be extended to other ghosts, then I would like Pete to take Sass to see Shiki again, and for afterwards Sass to return the favor by taking Pete inside of Jay's dreams and all three of them to shoot some hoops together.

Issac: I really really want to meet someone from when Issac was a living. He also curently has the most options of the ghosts. Beatrice, of course. We see in the season 2 Christmas special how great a person she was and how much she and Issac meant to each other, regardless of their less than ideal circumstances. Also given that in season 4 Issac will have to once again come to terms with a failed romantic relationship (Nigel), and a female friend whom he wronged/hurt (Patience). Well Beatrice is implied to view him with no ill will, so it could be really therapeutic for him to reconnect and further reconcile with her. If she told him she did not view Issac as a bad man, then that would help him not see himself as a bad man

In addition to Beatrice, I would also like to meet Issac's best friend Edmund. The unnamed brother Issac mentioned who had a wife and at least 5 sons, at least 2 of which died as children. We do not know if Issac was ever a father, but I imagine he was a really caring uncle. Hamilton! Please, please, can we get an episode where Hamilton's ghost shows up for a night and Issac is once again faced with his more successful rival. Bonus points if Hamilton does not know who Issac is, or have any recollection of ever meeting him.

Hetty: So far every time a new ghost has shown up for 1 episode it has been one Hetty knew. Which I guess is understandable since the house is her families, and a lot of the old junk in it belong to people she knew. But honestly episodes of them are hit or miss. The two episodes we got of Elias were one to many, and he does not need another episode. I know some fans really liked the episode with the maid; but I did not like her trying to blame Hetty for things that went down between her and Elias. It is clearly implied that she and her husband were Elias's employees and that they were hooking up before Elias and Hetty's marriage. Also it seems like the pair where hooking up many years, so why wasn't her son grown up?

For People from Hetty's life that we haven't met yet, but could meet in the future: I would really like to meet her sister, Margret. Show me what their relationship was like. How did Margret's life turn out? How did she react to Hetty's death? It also would be really cool to meet that stable boy that she and Issac both found hot. In that case though he has to be bisexual, or maybe just gay. I said in another post I wanted Thomas to have become a ghost after dying at a neighbors. But that I also wanted him to turn out to be as dumb and childlike as Lenny from "oMaM". Basically please only introduce Thomas if their is going to be a distinct difference between him and Elias. If he is just a gay version of his Hellish father, than there is no point.

Alberta: Well if Thomas is a ghost she deserves to get to rip into him for poisoning her. On that note please bring Earl back for one day so she can do the same to him. Forgetting the fact that he cheated on her with the guy that went on to murder her. It is cannon that Earl cheated on Alberta multiple times and she knew it. But he was her manager, and she could not break up with him without being dropped, so she felt she had to keep looking the other way and forgiving him. But that is not true now, and Alberta deserves a chance to tell him off like Hetty did to Elias in his debut episode. On a nicer note it would be sweet if they could resurrect Alberta's father. She could tell him about how people are still listening to her songs to this day, and he could maybe recite some recipes for Sam to write down, and Jay to start cooking for visitors. As far as Alberta's sister, well the only thing I have ever wondered about her was if Thomas ever did anything to hurt her too, since she was Earl's next girlfriend. If we see Alberta's x-times great niece again she had better be a successful web singer, taking a trip to where she first got the inspiration to follow in Alberta's foot steps.

Flower: I do want to see her brother Robby, and her ex Ira, who are still livings. If Robby has children/grand children they should come too. For ghosts she has other brothers who we do not knows current status, also if possible it would be cool to meet someone else whom she maybe knew during her time in the cult and the commune. It'd be weird to bring Michael back, since she is trying to move on from him with Thor. I have considered the ghost of the bear that killed her. The issues with a apex predator would be wild, but also I am not sure how you would wrap that up, and it would need to be wrapped up. Where do you go with a ghost bear guys?

Pete: Please no more people from Pete's past. Carol sucked. Jerry sucked. Pete's dad sucked. He is implied to have been an only child. I do not know why Laura and little Pete would ever want to again visit the place where both her parents/ his grandparents died. Lastly I found it cruel and disgusting that Sam and Jay brought over one of Pete's former scouts and made her recount watching a trusted adult die the way Pete did. All because Pete wasn't willing to suck it up and help Sam&Jay the way he told Flower to. No more people Pete used to know. He can visit Laura and Petey himself off screen.

Trevor: So it seems like everyone from Trevor's life is still alive. Okay He died young, and has only been dead for 20 years. We have met Arty and learned about their Friend group: except for Pinkus they all sucked. I want to to hold off on meeting Pinkus again though, because I largely suspect Trevor will be sucked off after that and I am not ready to lose him. In season 1 Trevor mentioned a Nicki Fisher, a friend with benefits he had then , who he kinda wanted to be in an actual exclusive relationship with (Like he wanted with Hetty). But, later in that same episode, we learned she had a baby with another guy she had been hooking up with at the same time, so he likely would not have gotten what he wanted with her. No need for us to meet Nicki. I have seen some people suggest that Jeremy could come back and work on the lightening at Woodstone/Jays restaurant. One person even suggested he could meet Bela. I have no objections to either of those. One final thing I was thinking is that maybe one of Trevor's parents got engaged again, and want to have their wedding at the B&B. Then we could explore Trevor going through his feelings on one of his parents finding love again, and trying to come to terms with it to support them at their wedding... Maybe we could even have Hetty offer to attend with him as friends. If it is Trevor's mom I want both her boys to walk her down the isle.

Crash, Nigel, Nancy, Stephanie: If a secondary ghost has someone from their past show up it will almost certainly end in them being sucked off. Crash is more a seasonal gag than a character, and while the show can certainly get by without him, it would be really cheep to tease a character getting sucked off again and for it to just be Crash. Especially after pulling the same stint with Ralph in the season 2 finale-season three. With Nigel I have admitted in other posts that he is my least favorite character. He is a cheater, a gas-lighter, and an asshole. But I also know he and Issac are endgame. This split between them is temporary: they need to grow as people, and will eventually (season 5 hopefully) get back together and (again hopefully) have a healthier, more equal, and caring relationship the next time around. That's what is being set up. So give Nigel the improvement he needs and do not touch him otherwise. For Nancy 1.) I would hate to lose her. She is the best secondary ghost on the show. 2.) before we get into people from her past we need to learn more about her relationships with the other basement ghosts.

Stephanie is different though. She was just a teenager when she died. The fact that she needs to sleep most of the year means she can rarely take part in house shenanigans. All the other ghosts are way older than her, and largely ignore her when she is awake. While most of the other ghosts are revealed to have had really depressing lives as livings and it could be argued ghost-hood is their second chance; Stephanie potentially had a fun life and has a lonely and really depressing afterlife. If her boyfriend from when she was alive, or maybe somehow her mom, came back and took her with them to the afterlife... well that sounds like one of the more heartwarming stories of the show

[mores0]

So, I just rewatched season 1 episode 14 of Psych/the poker episode last night, and I have so many thoughts lmao.

First of all, Henry recommend Psych to one of his buddies, he wouldn’t admit to it, sure, but he did that. And that seemed to mean a lot to Shawn, it was kind of sweet honestly. And then Henry told Shawn to tone down the psychic crap, so for the rest of the episode, Shawn acted 100x more unhinged which is so real of him honestly. Love him for that. And then at the end of the episode, he literally impulse gambled their payment for the case and lost it in the span of about one minute- which hurt me a little bit inside lmao. I felt Gus’ pain in that moment, haha.

And Shawn had a really cool ‘oh, he’s actually really fucking smart’ moment in this episode- which I’m always go feral for. So like- he finds this random business card for lawns right? And instead of just thinking it’s junk or something, he just says “why would the guy have this? He’s in debt and lives in apartment, he has no lawn and even if he did, his priority would not be his lawn,” or something around those lines. And on the back of the card there a was a random combination of R’s and L’s, which would’ve been gibberish to anyone else- but later on- he goes to the gardening place yeah? And he follows a suspicious guy around for a bit before losing him and realized that the letters in the back of the card were directions and discovered a whole ass underground/illegal gambling ring- what the actual hell lmao! Things like this only ever happens to Shawn, I swear.

But, no, for real. He was so smart for actually figuring that out, I don’t know who else would’ve.

Anyways, in a different post I already talked about how Shawn has a terrible sleep schedule, which is also seen in this episode because Shawn was sleeping in like, the middle of the day and only woke up because his dad told him something came up in the case. Henry- let him sleep, omg.

Also, Juliet’s part of the episode was gold. So, it’s Lassiter’s birthday and she wants to throw a party for him. And, it’s crazy how different their relationship is in this episode, because Juliet talked about how he never talks to her, and sometimes he asks to drive in silence, which I literally can’t imagine happening later on in the series. Anyways— to find out more about what he likes, she calls his mom who is exactly like Lassiter lmao! His mom at first thought that she was trying to steal her information, and that she was now recording their call, and then Juliet accidentally slipped out that he was separated which his mom did not know, and so she immediately hung up, Juliet was now regretting her entire life, and then you see Lassiter picking up his phone because his mom wants her ring back lmao! And then she goes through his notebook and invited all the people on it to his house, and apparently they were all just repeated crinimals that he checks up on, but they were so nice honestly. Instead of doing anything bad, they all just showed up and stood around, and one of them even brought him a gift.

And then Gus and Shawn ran away as if their lives depended on it, which was hilarious, but, like, why?? Lmao, they weren’t the ones who invited them, why are they running for??

And, yes, this post is for @pineapple-psychic, I hope that you like it even though it’s more incoherent than usual lmao.

[syerkrustydawgz]

‼️SPOILERS (If you haven't watched Prime yet)‼️

Why were people so quick to call Nine a villain-- Sonic was unaware he had been 'using' Nine to get the shards back into place and had gotten agitated by the fact Nine had the last shard- (He also gets hissy fits and agitated when things stop going his way and very VERY impatient because he's desperate to fix what he broke and this only led to more damage) As someone once said, indirect positive manipulation. So much praise came out of Sonic's mouth and yet he failed to see that it was negative at the same time. It could be seen as pity, lying- all that junk.

"Whoa Tails looks upset-" "Tails is never upset-"

Because he doesn't show it around people. As others say, he's supposed to be the 'smarty'. Tails never told anyone else but Sonic how he felt about things. He already has self doubt and compares himself to Sonic a lot anyways. (Frontiers) Whatever Sonic does, he does. Nine however, had all the little hints click as soon as Sonic opened his mouth at the end of the last episode.

Sonic has never told Nine the real reason behind collecting shards. Nine lashed out because Sonic can't stop seeing him as 'Tails', someone he isn't. I think it's so stupid and messed up to paint someone as a bad guy because they got their hopes up on having a literal person in their life only to be backstabbed. He's aware that he'll cease to exist if the shards are put back together, that's only one of the reasons he took the shards. I'd do the same if I knew everybody would 'die' just so someone's friends I'm compared to can exist again.

Nine didn't deserve what he had went through. He already got caught, almost got Sonic killed with Chaos Sonic, the Knuckles & Rouge of New Yoke don't even trust him because they misunderstood the reason for why he did what he did. This is the second time Nine has taken a shard and been labeled as a bad guy yet again because nobody understood how he felt-

He literally and I mean literally got pissed at the sight of Tails and even mentioned it- 'I AM REAL- just not your real friend'

He is h u r t i n g- he is conflicted- he and I quote cannot trust anyone but himself-

It's so painful to see people see the points of interactions just to ignore it 😭

edit: I'm also gonna add this. At the beginning of prime when Sonic and Nine first met, Nine was not very trusting of him. In response to Nine's trauma he brings up how things were with him and Tails. This does not make Nine feel better, it's still Sonic believing Nine is Tails. Nine was led to believe that if Tails had a chance then maybe he did too, even if how they met was completely different and at the worst timings. This is why Nine feels constantly hurt whenever Sonic denies or compares him. Sonic never gets Nine's name right, he says "Tails Nine" and Nine has to constantly correct him. The fact he adds Tails only makes Nine more agitated.

He only wanted a clean slate because he believes that with Sonic his life could be better too. Just like Tails'. He wants what Tails has. He thinks he's better than Tails. But he is aware now that it won't happen because again, all he was to Sonic was 'Tails'. A Tails that needed to be 'guided' and put back in his 'place'.

[iolaussharpe-24]

When was it decided that Wednesday would be the older kid? In both the 60s series and the 90s movies, she's the younger one. But then in the 2019 movie and the Netflix series, Pugsley is the young one.

On that note, how is Fester related? He's not Gomez's brother in the old show. Both Gomez and Morticia call him 'Uncle'. I googled it, and it came up that he's Morticia's uncle here. But, she makes a comment about an Addams ancestor and that blood being in Fester's veins so... is he Gomez's uncle? Who's mother is Grandmama?!

I also want to point out, just because I thought it was funny, that Wednesday doesn't have a phone in the modern versions but there's a season one episode of the old show where they have a computer in their attic. Their own computer. In 1964. It looks like a Star Trek setpiece, but that's kind of what old computers look like to be perfectly fair. And they did exaggerate it a little to be funny. The thing even has manners. Gomez does a calculation on it (he wants to know how much it would cost to go on vacation to the moon) and when it gives the number, Morticia thanks it. It replies with a page that says "You're welcome". AI in the 60s. They proceed to use the computer to bet on horse races. There's also another episode where it's stated that Pugsley is years ahead of the space race. Gomez talks about "We could land on Mars in just three years" and Morticia says that "Pugsley will be there long before then."

Wednesday has a boyfriend in one episode. Woodrow, the invisible man's son. At first, you think she's playing pretend. She is not. He trips over Gomez and then walks himself out the door.

Wednesday is traumatized by fairy tales. It comes up in the first episode, where she comes home from school crying because a knight in shining armor slayed a dragon, and then it comes up again when she runs away from home and a police officer offers to read her some stories just to keep her occupied. Her response is to tell them who she is and where she lives.

Morticia wanting to donate things to charity. She's upset that people don't see the value in their things, but refuses to just hand over junk they don't want. She actively goes around the house looking for good valuable things to give away. "We must all give till it hurts." When they give up Pugsley's favorite clock and upset him, Gomez and Morticia go into a bidding war against each other to try and get it back for him.

Lurch cries over his harpsicord when it's donated to a museum. A lot. Gomez and Fester have to make him a new one. That is only one example of how surpisingly expressive he is in this version. Another is the 'what the actual fuck is that?' Look he gives Cousin Itt the first time he shows up.

On that note, Lurch talks. Quite a bit, actually.

Gomez fights a carnivorous plant when he thinks that it ate Pugsley. He's strangling the thing screaming for his son until he pops up behind him. "Thank goodness you were indigestible!"

Gomez is incredibly horny for Morticia. It actually catches me off guard sometimes. Like when they plan to go to "Lover's Leap" and Fester asks what he'll do when they get there. Gomez tells him, "We'll make love; you leap." Or the countless times he's kissing her and either Morticia or Fester have to be like, "We have company" to try and stop him because he was in the middle of a conversation with said company before he stopped to get freaky with Morticia. Or the time when she says "C'est la vie" in conversation and Gomez excitedly screams "THAT'S FRENCH!!" I'm surprised he didn't jump her right then and there. French is his kink.

Fester is trigger happy. Every time he gets mad he pulls out a musket and shouts "I'll shoot him in the back!" And he'll repeat it multiple times until someone either calms him down or removes him from the situation.

Wednesday does ballet and tried to teach Lurch. She had a little tutu and everything. He lifts her at one point (Dirty Dancing style), and then she goes to lift him the same way and Gomez and Morticia panic. They do not go through with the second lift.

I've always wondered if the Addams Family was supposed to be Latino or not, and there are a lot of references to Gomez's Spanish ancestry in the series.

[verytallfox]

The Sounds of Nightmares Episode 5: A Deluge of the Inevitable Thoughts

Right off the bat, we learn the Ferryman is likely the archetypal “guardian at the threshold.” Additionally, Noone has an OCULAR TUMOR in her brain?! She has a fucking eye-thing in there and it is what’s pulling her into the Nowhere.

Next, Noone gives Otto the chewing out of his life. He doesn’t want to listen to her about her parents, and she calls him out on his bullshit. She agrees to tell him about her latest dream so long as there are no machines this time. He agrees.

There’s a role reversal now: Otto will be lying down with a blindfold on while Noone tells him her latest trip to the Nowhere. Otto hopes that Noone can somehow transmit her dream into his head.

Noone is in a sewer setting. There’s lots of children and there’s waste and there’s messed up pipes. Also, unfortunately for Otto his plan is working.

Also, THERE IS A NOME!!! The same noise, the same description, and the same mannerisms! Noone calls it a “little mushroom fairy.” Noone also hits a nasty child with a brick who presumably seeks to hurt the Nome. The Nome guides her to a room full of scavenged junk and treasures, all compiled into piles, dropped down from the world above for years.

There’s also an abandoned child’s “propeller cap” that Noone suspects the Nome’s trying to show her.

There’s also a man, who empties his pockets with his goodies. He was seen before with a beeping device. He’s horribly distorted, his head a mess like most others in the Nowhere. Said head is swollen with the back sagging behind his head, mistaken for a sack for Noone. And she knows he used to be human. He became one with the sewers.

(Cutting out excessive summarization of the episode, there’s a chase, a tidal wave, and cruel singing)

Finally, the Ferryman appears and speaks in riddles that Noone has determined the meaning of: if she gives in to his world the suffering she feels in her own will stop. She suggests that CiCi (?) abandoned Otto because she had enough of his shit. He stumbles out of the room in shock.

Otto’s demeanor changes from this and he’s colder to her from here on out. She also discovers the tumor’s existence. He’s unprofessional and no matter what she said she’s a child and he’s an adult so fuck him, grrr!

Later that night, Otto decided to use a device on Noone to locate the tumor, believing it to be the gateway to the Nowhere. Noone is coming in and out of sleep and Otto is unhinged. He has some sort of brain imaging device and he finds her tumor. Upon viewing it, it LOOKS AT HIM, and its stare is seemingly painful. As it watches him, the machine breaks.

Something has happened to Noone…

And we’ve been cliffhangered. In the words of the great Rouxls Kaard:

GOD. DAMN IT.

Some analysis:

I fucking loved this episode. Of the few legitimate theories I have (this episode mainly backs up the ones I already there), Eyes in your brain lead to the Nowhere, the Ferryman is its guardian, and it can bleed into our world too are all that’s new. Pretty simple!

Also, I believe the “bag-headed man” was once a normal child or normal man, and he’s meant to embody some sort of desire or hunger along with the nasty children. Noone’s explanation of him and the children each wanting what the other has also is meant to parallel to some degree her and Otto.

Additionally, the propeller cap is either the man’s or the Nome’s. As for the children, I don’t think those children were always children (assuming they even are children now) or perhaps they originated in the Nowhere. There’s something wrong with those guys.

I think the man might be in Little Nightmares 3. There was a suspiciously sewer-themed area in the trailer so fingers crossed!

Also, I believe CiCi is Otto’s sister. There’s mention briefly of Otto being just a boy and also looking “nothing like” his sister.

Lastly, something bad has happened to Noone y’all. I don’t know what, but I think the answers fall under two categories: physical harm or vanishing. We’ve got one more episode left and I can’t wait for it.

EDIT

Holy shit I can’t believe I didn’t consider that they both might be in the Nowhere now. I honestly love that idea, along with the possibility that the final recording will be taken while in the Nowhere. LOVE THAT!

Apologies if this summary heavy, but I hope this gave folks some delicious morsels to nibble on until next week! Thanks for reading and god I love this fucking podcast so much, it has filled the Magnus-shaped hole in me hearto. Anywho, toodles!

[scoobydoodean]

5.07 is so touching from a Dean and Bobby perspective but also so funny and one doesn’t happen without the other. It opens with Dean updating Bobby on the case Bobby had directed them toward. Dean asks how Bobby’s doing and Bobby snaps at him. The next time they talk on the phone, purely talking about the case, Bobby again kind of takes his bad mood out on Dean, telling him to get off the phone and work. Dean brushes it off, knowing Bobby is in pain. But then Bobby shows up in Dean’s eye-line just in time for Dean to find out Bobby played Patrick at poker and lost, and Dean explodes. He calls Bobby an idiot and asks him what the hell he was thinking.

The rest of the episode, Bobby and Dean snark at each other and call each other idiots, mocking each other for complaining, and I think becoming old gives Dean the confidence to continue to engage with Bobby this way and facilitates an important one episode dynamic.

Instead of asking Bobby how he is and letting him snipe at him, old Dean refuses to take Bobby’s sniping and mocks him back… and I think this is exactly what Bobby wanted. He indicates several times in the episode that he isn’t open to a heart to heart, and it’s because it needs to be earned. Bobby’s in a dark place where he feels pathetic and useless (even though he’s been indispensable!) and even being asked how he is just reminds him of the pain he’s in and how much things have changed and how he isn’t the same. He’s a raw nerve and he IS emotionally delicate but he doesn’t WANT to feel that way and can’t stand being reminded that he does. So having Dean refuse to treat him that way—instead telling Bobby stuff like “You’re right. I’ve never been paralyzed. But I’ve been to hell and there’s an archangel there that wants me to drop the soap. My junk’s rustier than yours. You hear me bellyaching?” / “What were you thinking? He’s a witch! He’s been playing poker since guys wore tights!” / “Bobby’s an idiot, that’s what!” / “At least your legs are numb” / “Pound it up your ass, ironsides!” all treats Bobby as someone capable of handling that kind of banter (even banter that references his paralysis) instead of as someone fragile who needs to be handled in a fragile way.

And Bobby IS capable of handling that kind of banter! He gives as good as he gets and also gets to vent about his condition the entire episode simply through minimizing old Dean’s state and all his aches and pains. Yelling at old Dean to stop being a grandma and etc allows him to release so much internal resentment about how angry his own condition makes him without him feeling delicate and vulnerable in the process, because Dean is complaining too so it’s all in the context of a fight instead of a sharing and caring session. Dean is attacking back so they’re on equal footing and Bobby doesn’t feel babied! He feels strong, especially when Dean complains openly more than him and Bobby gets to snipe at him for it.

So then by the end of the episode, Dean is able to have a sincere conversation with Bobby about how much he matters to him without Bobby getting angry and shutting down because he receives it as pity. Dean is the guy who fucking told him “At least your legs are numb,” after Bobby told him to stop complaining about having to dig a grave by himself at the age of 80, and Dean’s going to keep calling him ironsides, so even though Bobby doesn’t stop hurting (we see his last look of sorrow at the end of the episode), by the end of the episode, he feels less raw due to Dean refusing to treat him that way.