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honouredsatoru · 3 years

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JJK Characters x You on a date

notes : I tried including Gojo's love for Digimon since I also grew up watching Digimon and loving the anime with all of my heart, also because Gojo's seiyuu, both Japanese and English versions, voiced for characters in Digimon, so I wanna pay homage to the both of them. other than that, I also included my love for arts and history, something I tried to incorporate into my writing, just to make it like.. lilith's style, ya know?

extra notes : also I wrote megumi for Elli, just because haha.

warnings : slight cussing. not proofread lol. other than that, none. 100% fluff!

characters : gojo satoru, fushiguro megumi, kugisaki nobara, nanami kento, itadori yuji.

Gojo Satoru - Arcades, vintage shops, especially collectors, especially Digimon, comic book/manga stores.

[Your name]! [Your name!]! Look, look! It's the Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 series! All 9 of them! Let's get in!"

"Ahh hold on. Towu! We're supposed to visit the cat cafe, you promised that you would go with me and take pictures with the cat hairband on! And I'm starving!"

You jokingly scowled at him, tapping your Doc Martens feet on the ground, arms folding.

"Fucking adorable. Let me see if I can tease her more, hah." A smirk soon appeared on this blue-eyed darling of yours.

"Let me get the manga and I promise, I'll go to this cat cafe with you, baby. Hm?"

"Oh alright."

"I love you, sweetheart. I know how much you wanted to go there but the manga. I- ahaaaa"

He started pouting as he kept pointing in the direction of the Digimon manga by the window. You quickly opened your camera, taking pictures of him sulking, emitting a soft giggle that actually made his heart squeezed with joy.

He presses his lips against your forehead, thumb circling your cheek, gently squishing them before opening the door, yanking you into the comic book store with him. You vowed to hide the comic books once he goes on a mission. After all, he made you wait a month before the two of you finally get to go to this cafe you always wanted to visit.

"Baby, I can read what you're thinking. Your face shows it too. Hehe. Watch me hide your panties."

Taking in a few gulps of air to deepen your breath, you opened your eyes, to meet the love of your life's own eyes, snickering at you, his large hands on the crown of your head before ruffling your already messy hair. There is no way you can stay mad at this man, as childish as he is, you know he loves you and deep down? He knows you love him too.

Itadori Yuji - Thrift stores, internet cafes to play online games with you, cinemas.

"Candy! [Your name] love! Don't! Make! Me! Ahhh cover up for me! I am gonna lose! I am gonna-"

He turns around to face you with soft eyes, his eyebrows slightly droopy before looking back at the computer, taking in the seconds in his head to register the fact that he lost in his mission with you in Inferno.

"Awww sorry babe. I mean.. you just started playing CSGO, so tell me, why- again- damn it- you wanna- AH. Damn it! Throw the fucking grenade! I mean why you wanna play this game, you need more practice- FUCK YOU."

Gentle chuckles were heard, emitted from his throat, his soft, peach toned lips landed on your cheek repeatedly as he rubbed soothing circles around your back.

"Breathe, bunny baby. You're so feisty whenever you start having online matches. Breathe. I love you, and I don't want you to get your blood pressure rising because of these dumbos, hm?"

Your lips curl into a faint and appreciative smile, nodding while your eyes are glued to the screen, ignoring the fading laughs and snickers from the people acknowledging your mini rage.

"I love you too. If I win, I'm getting us boba and chicken nuggets. So let me fight them, okie?"

"Yes ma'am!"

Megumi - Museums, art galleries, photo exhibitions, aesthetic cafes.

"Oh Gumi bear, look at that! That is the Raft of Medusa, it was done by Thèodore Géricault, he himself interviewed two survivors from the shipwreck."

He looks over your eyes that shine with excitement and pure happiness.

"Art"

Was what he thought every time he laid his sight onto you. God knows that he falls in love with you every single time he is blessed with your presence. Resting his arm around your waist, pulling you closer, inhaling the scent of mixed berries and wild roses, he swore he heard his heartbeat increasing every two seconds in a span of one minute.

"Oh really? What do you think this painting is all about?"

Glancing at him before returning to the painting, you puffed your cheeks, pressing your lips together with your index finger curled on your chin and your thumb under it.

"Lord, she is so cute whenever she does that. Can I kiss her? Should I? No wait, she's trying to tell me her own interpretation of this painting. To me. Oh wow. I'm gonna kiss her... later. I can't interrupt her." That is all he could think of. You. He is deeply, madly, beautifully in love with you.

"In my opinion, it tells me the ways of how men, or human beings, seek out in order to survive. When we are at the brink of desperation, insanity, happiness, greed, lust, desire, wrath, grief, don't we all do things unimaginable to help us go through the day? They even resolved to cannibalism. I think even I would commit to that if I was in an extremely dire situation."

You looked at him, a wide smile on your face, emitting a soft giggle that entered his right ear and stayed within the chambers of his mind. He closed the spaces between the both of you, sealing his lips onto yours, with the intention of making this very moment last a little longer heavy within his heart.

"Art."

Was what you thought of him.

Nanami Kento - Theatres, historical museums, fine dining restaurants.

You squealed, lightly clapping your hands as you ran to a block of marble, your foot tapping against the floor. He chuckles, hands in his pocket, taking fast strides towards you.

"Namnam! Look look! That's the Parthenon Sculptures! It was founded in hm... Athens, yes! If I am not mistaken, around 438 to 432 BC. These sculptures decorated the insides of the Parthenon, it is a temple located at the fortress of the Athenian Acropolis. It is said that this temple was built to appreciate and worship the Goddess Athena, she was the deity worship in Athens. Also, ah ah! Did you know that the word parthénos means "maiden", "girl" or ‘virgin"? And I-"

You look at him, your magnificent lover wearing a dark brown trench coat, with ecru brown trousers and a black turtleneck tucked in, his neck layered with white gold necklaces. Your hand unconsciously scratches your sideburns, giggling at the side of his stoic expression, eyes piercing yours beneath that yellow-green glasses he constantly has on his chiseled face.

"Oh... I am sorry... I didn't mean to bore you. I was just so excited because you know me! I love anything that is related to ancient greek history and mythology. I can't seem to get enough of it and it is absolut-

"I'm not bored, [your name]. I was just paying attention to every single word that pretty lips of yours uttered. It's magnificent that you knew all of this. It shows just how smart, curious, bright your mind and soul is. And darling?"

"Huh?"

"I am lucky to be blessed with someone like you. With Gojo constantly following me, there is no way I can read the books I bought for myself. However, having you around, breaking the ice with your random history tib bits, I feel like I am reading the pages, savouring each word, alphabet, sentence, thus expanding my quest and love for knowledge."

You looked down. Normally, you're not the type to tear up this easily but seeing how this man, this angel of a man, appreciates the little things you loved and adored, you can't help but let the waterworks out. You lifted your head up to meet his gaze, the tip of your nose slightly stuffy. You grabbed his arms, clinging onto him, the difference of height and size makes it sweet to the eyes of strangers surrounding you both.

"Oh Namnam. Thank you so much. This means the world to me. Shall we... go and see the best of Ramesses the Great? I've loads to tell you!"

Nobara - Shopping malls, ferry rides, beach dates, parks with cherry blossoms.

"Baby... tell me, have you ever seen anything as joyous as the ocean?"

You two stood by the seashore, fingers intertwined, your head resting on her shoulders, the sound of the seas splashing against the rocks and the warmth around your foot, it tingled but it feels good at the same time.

"I don't want this moment to end, [your name]."

"Why is that, pretty one?"

A faint sigh leaves her lips, you feeling her body loosen up.

"I just.. school is sort of stressful so my time spent with you liberates me from the pressure, fatigue, and image of curses embedded in my brain. Walking with you... through this airy womb of skies and clouds, don't you know it makes me happy?"

You leaned closer, pressing a soft peck on her cheeks, earning yourself a pair of scarlet cheeks with a gorgeous smile from the one next to you. You turned yourself to face her, hands on her shoulders, bringing her body closer to yours.

"Whenever and wherever you need me, I will be there. I might not be perfect, but I am gonna do my best to be the one you can always count on."

You pressed a kiss on her left cheek.

"I love you."

A kiss on her right cheek.

"I love you."

A kiss to the lips of the woman whom you shared your entire universe with.

"To the moon and back, I love you, Kugisaki Nobara."

The end.

tags : @tojisveryown @sookyshima @megumifushi @sixeyesgojo @sirthisisa-wendys @sasso-oda @fushigurocockslut @nkogneatho @kotarousgf @noritoshiikamo

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vantaeskookies · 3 years

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Yes, I'm standing up for my homeboy Teh and giving my opinion on IPYTM EP.2 things

Look, I know absolutely nothing about what makes a piece of media good but this episode KILLED me. The previous episode was fine, okay, a great start to the series, but it didn't stand out to me.

IPYTM ep2 just about hit me and dragged me through the mud, to put it in a way. I don't know if that's what makes a TV show great, but it definitely made it amazing for me.

I am terrible at words most of the time, so I'll try to put it as best as I can,

Teh is, for one, a Really Stupid Person. But get this. He's Just Like Me. Okay, maybe this is another case of me loving something because I can deeply relate to it, but COME ON. From my point of view, it just makes so much sense. I understand every single thing he's feeling, I swear. I know why he did what he did, why he said what he said. And yes, he treated people terribly and came out all self-centered and mean and it was, I'm not denying it. No matter how much he explains to Oh-Aew his insecurities, he still behaved like an asshole been there, done that. But it makes so much sense. It's another facet of the Teh we met in ITSAY, that arguably immature and at times selfish (I don't know if that's the word I'm looking for, really) teenager that held a grudge against his once best friend because he felt like he stole his thing, which was acting. That same guy who got increasingly stressed over his best friend/crush not loving him enough. Let's not forget that Teh did lose Oh-Aew once -even though it was his fault from the beginning- and his father even died. No wonder he's afraid of being left alone in his fight. Add to that the fact that his entire life has been about proving himself to others, after growing up as his brother's shadow and with his then rival's image in the back of his mind.

From what I can tell from this episode, it seems that he knows his fight is difficult and that his chances of failing are bigger than the other option, and he had Oh-Aew by his side, but now he doesn't anymore. So now his whole world is crumbling down. Will Oh-Aew leave him again? If Oh-Aew didn't fight as hard to follow his dream, will he fight for their relationship in the future? Will Teh be left alone once again, hating Oh-Aew the way he did back then? It's unfair! Now Khim seems to give up too! Everything's going badly!

Teh doesn't seem like the kind of person to doubt himself, but he definitely seems to panic whenever things don't go the way he planned them. He had it all already pictured, and now it's gone. If the one thing he thought would never change -his and Oh-Aew's acting careers, which was the beginning of EVERYTHING, looking back on it-, already changed, what are the odds that Oh-Aew won't stop loving him suddenly? What are the odds of him never living up to his own expectations, both in his career and life in general?

It's so fucked up... so human.

Don't get me wrong, I think that sooner or later Teh has to change his behavior otherwise he might really end up alone personal experience things. If he keeps making the same damn mistakes, I will punch a hole through my computer screen, as I was about to throughout the whole damn episode.

But now that my Teh Best Character rant is over (I AM aware of the fact that I'm just praising myself if I say we're the same, but shhh), let's just a tiny bit about the episode!

As I said, I have no idea what makes a good piece of media, but this episode was the biggest roller coaster of emotions I've felt in a while (see: ITSAY ep.3 and 4), and that, to me, makes it great. The acting was top-notch, seriously. The scenes of them arguing are not anything I was thriving to see -because conflict stresses me- but I was shocked by how heart-wrenching they were. And each time I cried a little, not gonna lie.

Now, CAN WE TALK about PP for a minute? And Oh-Aew? First of all, never in my life did I expect for them to touch on this subject of Oh-Aew being more 'feminine' as they said. I saw another post talking about it really well so I'm not about to elaborate on a subject that would only get me tangled in my own words, but I just wanna say that I felt so hard for Oh-Aew at that moment. I think it was mainly to show how he doesn't fit in the acting industry, but it's still a statement on how that same industry and, let's be honest, the rest of the world looks down on not traditionally masculine guys. And PP did a superb job in these scenes. 10/10 definitely cried my eyes out.

I already talked my shit on Teh so I just wanna say, there's a reason why Billkin was named best actor! He kills it every. single. time. Where's his oscar??? I didn't think he could get even better than in ITSAY but here we are.

Now on the actual episode, I loved it. The last scene is the most direct foreshadowing I've ever witnessed so I am scared but putting that aside, I think this might've become my second favorite episode of the whole series (ITSAY ep.3 is another level of keyboard smash).

I really don't know what's to come. I'm afraid. I don't know if I should trust Jai and Q or if I should quietly drag Teh and Oh the fuck away from them. Q is a sweetheart for all I know but I don't trust pretty boys with painted nails! And Jai has been sus since the beginning, not once did he say or do anything to make me like him, to be honest.

I just hope that whatever shit Teh and Oh-Aew go through in the next episode, it won't be Teh's fault because it would mean he lost that single braincell of his side comment I know that jealousy is toxic and we don't want that but I'd love to see jealous Oh and Teh again asdfgbxvbdfgzxcv. I mean I know Oh-Aew's perfect and all but he CAN make a mistake once in a while too, you know?

That's all. Head's now empty. I don't ever want to think about this episode and show for another week. I need my sanity.

#sorry if this was hard to read #english is hard #teh best boy everybody #idc idc #ipytm #i promised you the moon

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autisticshadowthehedgehog · 4 years

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Sonic X Theory: the other Ultimate Lifeforms

In Sonic X’s adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, they make an interesting claim about the Ultimate Lifeform prototypes on the ARK. When Rouge hacks into the base, she informs Shadow of one thing- he wasn’t the only prototype from Project Shadow that escaped the ARK massacre.

[ID: screenshots from Sonic X: one of Rouge looking up Project Shadow, surprised and reading “Shadow? Secure and dispose?” Another shot of two escape pods falling towards a planet, with the caption from a GUN soldier: “Our mission ended when we sealed away the prototype of the ultimate lifeform.” End ID.]

Rouge makes the claim that neither of these escape pods was Shadow... so in X Canon, is Shadow even who he thinks he is? And just as importantly... who are the other prototypes?

Full theory under the cut.

So first off. Let’s look at Rouge’s claim that Shadow isn’t who he thinks he is.

Part One: Is Shadow from the ARK?

[ID: screenshots from Sonic X of Rouge and Shadow talking, with the following dialogue:

Rouge: This is the progress report for Project Shadow, a plan to create the ultimate life form. The body they created is still held there.

Shadow: I know. That’s a prototype. I’m the Ultimate Lifeform they created afterwards-

Rouge: Two capsules were ejected when the ARK was shut down. But neither was found. They couldn’t lock up in prison what they couldn’t find. Do you understand? I wonder who you really are.

Shadow looks troubled. End ID.]

So two capsules were ejected and neither was found in the fifty years it’s been since the accident-- except I think Rouge is wrong about one thing. Shadow is who he thinks he is- because his capsule was sent out alone. It must have somehow not been logged.

How do we know this? Shadow’s flashback of being sent away and the man who worked for GUN are completely different- first of all, the GUN soldier doesn’t remember her saying anything to Shadow, or Shadow even being there- it seems that she died to send away something or someone else. Second- Maria is in a different position around the lever in both flashbacks. See the GUN soldier’s first--

Though we don’t see the full room, we get the sense that it’s small from the other shots that I don’t have the time to screenshot. She’s around an elevated platform not attached to a wall, and either facing the pod she’s sending away or in a completely different room.

But, both of Shadow’s alternate memories of Maria sending him away-- the first one more stylized, the second one we can assume more real-- neither looks like this.

In both, she’s in a differing position. In the sepia flashback, she’s not facing him, and pulling a lever attached to a wall. In the second flashback, she’s already on the floor, and the lever pad we see would cause her to be facing away from Shadow. In neither of these do we see any evidence that anyone other than Shadow and Maria are in the room or even nearby.

Shadow also has enough evidence he’s who he thinks he is- he has the right powerset, the GUN soldier says that they did, indeed, seal away an Ultimate Prototype, Gerald mentions Shadow enough in his monologues, and... honestly there’s really no evidence that he isn’t Shadow, other than the two pods. And two pods? Shadow was sent out alone, we saw no evidence of a second pod in either flashback. So he wasn’t with anyone else.

So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is that these are two different events- one where Maria releases Shadow, and one where she releases another- or, possibly, the others, the two pods that were logged as escaping.

Maria either freed Shadow first and then the other two, or she freed the first two, got shot, and then managed to survive long enough to send Shadow away. Either way-- these events are separate.

So what was in the other two pods? Two other prototypes of the Ultimate Lifeform, clearly, but nothing like the Biolizard, they’re too small.

Now let me ask you something... wouldn’t it make sense for the Ultimate Prototypes to look similar, if they were similar lifeforms?

And who do we know who looks similar to Shadow?

Part Two: Sonic is an Ultimate Lifeform

[ID: Shadow looking down at Sonic, and saying, “I see. We actually do look alike. It’s like looking in a mirror.” End ID.]

Okay so like. Unless you’re very colorblind I think you’ve noticed that Shadow and Sonic are completely different colors. But let’s ignore that for now-- they do have a very similar silhouette... in fact, Shadow’s silhouette is incredibly close to SuperSonic, which is Sonic at full power. And in-universe, they look similar enough that in low lighting pretty much nobody can tell them apart.

And not just that- Sonic has a lot of power for a seemingly “normal” mobian. [Yes, I know they don’t use the term “Mobius” in Sonic X but let me simplify this somehow.] His superspeed, ability to survive so much shit... he’s powerful enough that he presents a rival for Shadow without chaos emeralds (though Shadow is nerfed a little by the Inhibitor Rings- more on that later).

[ID: Sonic and Shadow racing; they are keeping up with each other. Shadow says, “It seems your appearance isn’t the only thing that’s similar to me. Who are you?” Sonic responds, “I’m me.” End ID.]

Shadow’s right- their appearance isn’t where the resemblance stops. And of course there’s probably the most damning similarity-- they are the only two characters we see go Super and have the ability to control the Chaos Emeralds.

[ID: First image is SuperSonic and SuperShadow, having absorbed the power of the chaos emeralds. Second image is from the Third Season, where a MetaRex shouts, “There are two individuals [referring to Sonic and Shadow] who can draw out the power of the Chaos Emeralds?” End ID.]

Oh and SPEAKING OF Sonic/Shadow similarities-- there’s a scene in Season Three where Sonic is being lectured by the villain about how all life ends eventually so why bother etc. and Sonic says that life is worth the good bits, all that jazz. Here’s the scene:

youtube

And exactly 1:25 in.... guess what starts playing

youtube

This song is scarily similar to “Recollection of the Ark”... Shadow’s sad song about his memories of the ARK... while Sonic is being lectured about still having faith in humanity. You know. Like MARIA WANTED.

Interesting how we know absolutely nothing about Sonic’s past, huh-- pretty much all we have before he meets Tails is that he says he’s fifteen years old, but honestly... are we even sure about that? First of all, if Sonic was revived alone, there wouldn’t be a way to tell his age, he’d probably just accept the first age someone assigned him.

Alternatively, we know from the end of Season Two and the beginning of Season Three that time works in a very wonky way from Earth to Mobius- in the ~2-3 days Sonic’s alone with Chris, a week passes on Mobius, despite the fact we know he can chaos control at any time. In the third season? Six years pass on Earth while six months pass on Mobius. So time doesn’t really work in a reasonable way, meaning it’s possible that Sonic is fifteen... and he lived fifteen years on Mobius after awakening, while fifty years passed on Earth.

And we know for a fact that travel between Mobius and Earth was possible even before the events of Season One... because Eggman was born on Earth.

[ID: Eggman looking shocked and turning around in a chair, announcing, “I was born in this world!” End ID.]

Eggman was born on Earth and somehow ended up on Mobius-- but he was young enough he didn’t realize until he saw that Gerald lived on Earth. So was he in the second escape pod? It’s possible, but I don’t think so-- he’d have to have information on Gerald, and it seems he had a picture of Gerald and Maria, so it’s likely he traveled with a parent or guardian, or at least some kind of family history, which I doubt Maria would think to store in an escape pod while everyone was running for their lives. This plot element was probably just to set up that travel between the dimensions happens more than we think.

Neither escape pod from the ARK was recovered, probably because they ended up on Mobius.

It’s most likely that they Chaos Controlled into the other dimension-- I know I said Maria probably wouldn’t think to store anything other than the lifeform themselves in the pod, but if the lifeform needed Chaos Emeralds to practice/control their powers, or the Chaos Emeralds were already stored in an escape pod for safekeeping-- or if, possibly, GUN was attempting to capture the Chaos Emeralds as well, and the Robotniks knew that they would use them in a destructive way-- all that combined could mean that the emeralds would also be important enough to send away in a pod.

If even one of the pods had Chaos Emeralds, it’s possible that the lifeform inside could have sensed danger and unconsciously teleported them to the most safe place from GUN-- another world where GUN didn’t exist and couldn’t reach them. And even better-- a world where mobians like them lived.

From Sonic X lore that I don’t have the time to find and screencap, we know that the two worlds used to be the same but split at some point in history. If this was after, say, the events of Chaos destroying the Echidnas-- which, sidenote, interesting how they disappear and nobody knows where they went, so it’s possible that Chaos straight-up split the dimensions just to get rid of the Echidnas-- then enough of their lore could remain. Old cave paintings, wall carvings, etc., could show enough mobians that scientists could probably think “oh, wow, that looks like a god figure. might as well design our ultimate lifeform after that, esp since they had this god that could control chaos and the chaos emeralds came from here.”

Wanna know what’s interesting about those ancient echidna temples? Guess who’s there-- if we go by Sonic 3 & Knuckles, a game that ofc had been released by the time X was being written...

SuperSonic.

Both the ultimate form of Sonic, and the silhouette of Shadow.

So let’s say they find this on the ARK studies, and they’re like “okay so our ultimate lifeform goal is a hedgehog. Got it.” There’s two options after this:

They make Sonic, but deem him a failure for reasons and cryo-freeze him until they need him or can release him. They then proceed to make Shadow, who they believe actually is their ultimate lifeform.

They made Shadow first, but after a while kept experimenting and making more prototypes, just in case, or possibly because they decided Shadow wasn’t powerful enough. However, the prototypes weren’t ready to awaken before the ARK massacre, Shadow never met them.

So as I’ve made clear, I’m pretty sure that one of those prototypes was Sonic-- who, of course, has no idea. Either he only entered consciousness after arriving in Mobius, or his memories of the ARK were so vague, traumatic, early, or a combo, that his mind blocked them out. Either way, it doesn’t matter, what matters is that he and Shadow are both prototypes, which is what gives Sonic his power.

And Sonic’s power, btw, isn’t limited like Shadow’s. Because he doesn’t have inhibitor rings.

If prototype!Sonic was sent away with inhibitor rings, he ditched them. Which would make sense, especially if he woke up with no memory of the ARK and didn’t know why these weird bracelets were on his arm. He would notice that the rings slowed him down and ditch them fast. And that’s assuming they even stuck rings on the prototype.

But if we do assume they stuck rings on the prototypes... maybe we can find the other lifeform that was sent away along with Sonic.

Part Three: Who is the Third Ultimate Lifeform?

Okay. Let’s do a headcount.

Who, in Sonic X,

Existed on Mobius at the same time as Sonic,

Doesn’t appear to have a lot of power but has a lot of incredible strength if you pay attention,

Sometimes shows strange abilities, such as far leaps into the air, a speed great enough that they can sometimes catch up to Sonic (though not as great, possibly because of the inhibition), even potentially the ability to summon weapons out of thin air,

Looks similar to the Mobian Hedgehog-- or, perhaps, with influences from a Mobian Echidna, who were the ones who had the SuperSonic glyphs in the first place, and thus could potentially serve as a design point,

Wears rings around their wrists at all times?

[ID: Amy Rose being absurdly powerful in several screencaps, often glowing; though this is normal anime expressionwork, it is something that exclusively happens to Amy in Sonic X. End iD.]

And, of course, this beauteous moment:

[ID: A scene from the season two finale of Sonic X. Eggman’s ship, on which Amy’s hammer is stuck, is high above her, and Eggman taunts “It doesn’t matter if you’re angry because your hammer is stuck up here!” In the following image, a moving gif, Amy summons a hammer out of thin air, a puff of smoke coming from it, as she is still glowing with a fire-like energy. Eggman’s robots shout “She has another one! How many does she have?” End ID.]

That’s right! This was all an excuse to spout out my “Amy Rose could kill God” propaganda! But it’s not propaganda if I’m right!

Part Four: The Lifeforms

So. It’s been a couple months since I made this post, but I was rewatching Sonic X with my sister, and we did notice that you do see prototype lifeforms for a flash in the GUN soldier’s story.

[ID: Screenshots from Sonic X; The GUN soldier narrates his story, as we see GUN soldiers arresting scientists, while standing in front of empty tubes of bubbling green liquid. The caption reads, “There were many rumors about ARK. Such as doing research for eternal life or creating the Ultimate Life Form.” The GUN soldier steps to a tube that has something in it. End ID.]

We see a brief flash of an experimental lifeform in this memory, as seen above; we also see two more, the ones that were explicitly stated to be the ones Maria was freeing.

[ID: Screenshots from later in the same episode of Sonic X, the first showing two tubes with dark figures inside, surrounded by dark blue bubbling water. The next screenshot shows Maria preparing to free them, with the captions reading “An experimental life form? She’s planning to free it!” End ID.]

So, these silhouettes. Let’s uh. Let’s take a look at those huh

Now, the bodies are too thick to be standard mobian bodies- but we can also see wires attached to the prototypes, as well as, you know, whatever that liquid is. It’s entirely possible there’s something wrapped around their bodies, to keep them safe/asleep/etc.

But..... ok so I might be reaching here but analyzing the face silhouettes, using red lines to mark quills and green to mark potential laid-back ears, it really could be long-quilled sonic and short-quilled Amy.

As well as this, in the shot of the GUN soldier looking at a prototype, I swear I can see a mobian ear.

tl;dr this is all fascinating me and I think we should let the Sonic X crew return to making this show as if they never left so that we can get answers to this

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic x #shadow the hedgehog #sonic adventure 2 #amy rose #mine #connie theories #connie writes

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chaotic-lydia · 4 years

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Home as a motif for Lydia in Beetlejuice

Because Sapien is awake in the unholy hours and has decided to unburden her knowledge on all of you people

So this is mainly coming off of the back of listening to the Beetlejuice soundtrack again and fawning over the Dead Mom lyrics because DAMN

So the first mention of home is in the first introduction to the Deetz family beyond Prologue: Invisible and refers more explicitly to the old house. “Dead Mom loved that house!”/“My whole life is in that house!” Both lines are said by Lydia during her bid to try and provoke Charles into seeing her and acknowledging both her own and his own grief. What I find interesting is the use of the personal pronoun “my” over “our”. Along with her later expressions of misplaced hatred towards her father, this creates an image of Charles’ emotional incapability towards approaching grief that paints him out of the picture of the life before Emily died in Lydia’s mind. Because he cannot cope with the painful memories attached to that house, or any external stimuli that remind him of Emily (probably a contributing factor to why he begins to shun Lydia from his life — she’s the spit of Emily in character).

Okay, so now we’ve broached the topic of first introduction, we can get into the good stuff!! Dead Mom!! So, we have all of Lydia’s angsty hours going on during this song, but after the belts the song softens. She claims “You’re my home, my destination” in relation to her deceased mother. “Home”, in this instance, refers to the abstract concept of where/with whom you feel most safe, most protected, most comfortable. This is how home is perceived in every instance of its mention throughout the play. For Lydia? Home is Emily. The only person who really understands her and accepts her exactly as she is. And Emily is dead. She has no home, adrift in the “abyss” before she ever reaches the Netherworld. Additionally, there’s a lovely bit of foreshadowing here with “my destination”, subtly nodding towards Lydia’s impromptu vacation in the Netherworld in pursuit of her dead mom.

So, without doing a lot of research into the script of Beetlejuice, the next reference of the motif I could find was the song Home. Which, of course, is riddled with the word. This is the song that, in my humble opinion, shows Lydia’s character development in the most clear and concise manner.

The first time she mentions the word: “Back at home you don’t exist, so here I am in the abyss”. This is the first and only I think time that she refers to the house in Winter River as home (rather than referring to a person, as she usually does). This may just be a choice for lyrical flow, but I find it interesting, as it emphasises that Emily is NOT there and so therefore home is not home.

We get some nice metaphors for depression sprinkled within the already gut wrenching performance. And the parallels between “I’m prob’ly talking to myself here” and “Tired of talking to myself here” are amazing. She’s so weary of the world and it’s cruelty, so so tired.

“I don’t know which way’s home”; “Show me the way back home”; “Is there a way back home?” These lines come in chronological order, and their development is particularly interesting to me. The first iteration has a double meaning: firstly, the more explicit plea of ‘I’m lost’, both in terms of direction and without Emily; secondly, that she can’t find her mom, and therefore doesn’t know the way back into her arms. She doesn’t know which way’s home. But then the wording changes. “Show me the way back home”, to me, sounds like an open cry for help although she’s still talking to Emily in particular she’s not fussy. Home is no longer pertaining to Dead Mom, but is instead a reference to the human world and the life she left behind (indicated by the line “No light above and there’s no hope below”).

So I’m moving “Is there a way back home?” down here because I feel like this could be lengthy. This has so many interpretations, I love it! So, firstly, let’s start with the surface connotations. The first and foremost implication being her questioning whether or not actually leaving the Netherworld is a possible scenario for her and her father (especially since Juno is after both of them). That’s on the surface. Now, deeper, you’ve got this idea that Lydia has yet to find Emily in the deep dark pit of the Netherworld. Is she even there? Would she ever find her? Is there a way back to the woman she considers home? Who knows? There’s a further idea about a happy family that I’d like to touch on. This idea of home could include Charles. A happier, more open Charles who wasn’t so insecure (because I have a gut feeling Lydia’s actually a daddy’s girl) and a time when Mom was alive and they were all happier. That memory of having an unbroken family is also home, supported by the next reference of “There’s no home without you in it”.

Now we have the bit where Charles and Lydia make up before going back into song.

“I’m gonna go back home / Adam, Barbara, Delia, and Dad / It’s messy but they’re all that I have” Lydia finds her homes in people rather than places, and in this case she’s accepting that Emily cannot be her home anymore though she promises not to forget her and that she has to move on to make more meaningful relationships with others who care about her. “It’s messy but they’re all that I have” will always be one of the most beautiful lines in the entire musical, because it demonstrates how far she’s come. Yes, they’ll have to work on it. Yes, it will be tough. But they’re there for her no matter how disjointed and how difficult it is for them to communicate. She has found herself a new home.

Now! Onto the finale!! Jump in Line!! The very very last line of the entire musical is “I’m hoooommmeeee” from Lydia. Now, thank you to @barbara-lazuli for bringing this to my attention but there is a parallel I hadn’t noticed in this line. The very first lone of the entire musical is the ensemble: “Daylight come and me wanna go....” The line cuts off before home. Flash forward to the very last line of the musical. The ensemble sings the same line, only it ends with Lydia singing the “I’m home” part. At the start she was incomplete, ill at ease with grief and depression, adrift in an ocean far from home; however, with help, support, patience, and love, Lydia has found a new place, a new family to call home.

In conclusion, Sapien has spent 2 hours writing this and is tired as anything. Come back next time for Sapien overanalysing the motif of invisibility and how it creates a wonderful parallel for Beetlejuice and Lydia. Please enjoy. :)

#sapien rambles #lydia deetz #dead mom #home #beetlejuice #beetlejuice the musical #beetlejuice broadway #beetlejuice the broadway musical

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johnny-and-dora · 5 years

Text

safe from the world, though the world may try

71. “...you wanna build a blanket fort?” requested by @stars-my-darling in which amy experiences a cornerstone of the offical jake peralta boyfriend experience. (early relationship, around 3x04)

read on ao3 -

Amy Santiago is having a bad day.

It’s bad enough that the Vulture is so awful and grossly misogynistic that he’s making her & Rosa plan his birthday party – what’s worse is that she’s actually committed to the task, unable to disobey her captain’s orders in a way that sends self-loathing flooding through her system. She misses Holt, she misses working actual cases – she even almost misses Gina insulting her pantsuits and shredding important papers.

That’s not what’s really bothering her, though. It’s bad enough that she’s exhausted from the end of an insanely dull work week, but it’s worse that she’s barely seen her sweet, adorable, dorky boyfriend at all despite sharing a desk with him. She sighs, rubbing her temples, barely able to muster up the energy to tidy her coat, shoes and bag away as she flops onto her couch.

She can’t fix the Vulture being their captain, and she can’t fix Holt leaving. But at least there’s something she can do about the other major grievance currently darkening her otherwise rosy life.

To: Jake Peralta, 19:47 Can you come over?

From: Jake Peralta, 19:49 omw, be there in 15 everything okay?? xxx

She tries not to overthink the kisses – really, it’s just three characters, and knowing Jake it could just be a typo – but still, it stutters in her weary heart, affecting enough to invite a gentle sincerity into her answer.

To: Jake Peralta, 19:50 Just tired and stressed out And I really want to see you X

They’re still walking the wire in some ways; it’s still relatively early in their romantic relationship, and while they’re both all in (light and breezy now a distant memory), Amy’s always tended to overthink, intent on crafting the perfect text message as if each interaction is something she can win. This time, however, she presses send before she can even double check for grammatical errors - and already feels lighter when she instantly receives a long string of heart emojis in response.

***

She’s pleasantly surprised when she hears an elaborate rap on her door only twelve minutes later. Amy sinks into him almost as soon as he’s through the threshold, arms instinctively wrapping around her in a warm bear hug.

“Hi,” He says softly, pulling away only so they can go cuddle on the couch together, Amy laying her head on his shoulder “What’s up?”

“Nothing, really. Or nothing new, I’m just so sick of the Vulture. Can you believe he wants me and Rosa to plan his birthday party?” Jake pulls a face, groaning in sympathy.

“That’s so gross.”

“I know. I just miss Holt, and I feel like I haven’t seen you all week and everything just kinda sucks when I don’t see you.” She buries her frown into his hoodie for a moment and is confused when she feels him pulling away.

“Okay.” Jake stands up and clasps his hands together, eyes alight in that way when he’s set on something and won’t stop until he gets it. Amy’s spent years fearing that look. “We’re building a blanket fort.”

“We’re…what?”

“Building a blanket fort. C’mon.”

“So, just to be clear, we’re both starving, exhausted adults in our thirties who haven’t seen each other all week and your solution…is to build a blanket fort.”

“Just trust me. Please, Ames?” He pouts, and any irritation instantly falls to the wayside, her reluctance to create an unnecessary mess in her perfectly organised living room easing with a wave of affection for her boyfriend. She sighs but decides to relent.

“I’ll get the comforter.”

It’s almost immediately worth it for the way he cheers, fist-pumping like he just scored the winning try at the Superbowl.

Jake kicks on some cheesy 80’s pop playlist blasting tinny and crackling from his phone and they get to work, Amy emptying her catalogue of sheets, pillows, quilts and blankets into her arms and on to the floor. She quickly loses herself in the task before her, dragging chairs from her dining table to form a sturdy framework, arranging pillows like a goddamn champion inside.

There’s one moment where she gets really excited about lighting, rushing to the back of her closet to grab her Christmas lights – when she next catches Jake’s eye, he’s looking at her with an unabashed fondness that never fails to spread warmth through her whole body.

As with everything else they do together, they make a great team, and they’re done before Jake can make it through the second verse of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. He beams at her as they step back to admire their handiwork - even she has to admit that it’s a damn good blanket fort, the lights she strung up adding a perfect homely touch.

She’s still curious as to why this is how they’re spending their evening together as they crawl inside, Jake instantly cocooning himself in her favourite fleece blanket. She absentmindedly makes a note to sleep with that one next time they spend a night apart, then cringes at how clingy she’s already become.

“So, pretty cosy, huh. Do you like it?”

“Yeah. I do. I just…why a blanket fort?” She asks, watching him earnestly as he distractedly plays with the strings of his hoodie, trying to form his answer.

“This is what my Nana would do with me when I was scared or stressed out or sad, about my dad or whatever. Gina too, sometimes, if I let her paint my toenails and choose the movie.” Amy smiles at an image of a young Jake and Gina giggling at a sleepover, throwing candy at each other and sharing scandalous gossip.

“I know it’s kinda silly, but…I don’t know. It always helped me, hanging out someplace safe and warm where the rest of the world couldn’t get to you for a little while. So, I thought it might help you too.” He gently nudges his shoulder with hers, a boyish grin lighting up his face. His honesty and simple sweetness send a quiet thrill through her, stomach fluttering with butterflies instead of anxiety.

“It does.” She admits, smiling softly as she reaches up to cup his face, thumbing over the stubble on his jawline. “Thank you, you’re the best.”

She wants to say more, but she doesn’t know quite how to articulate how at home he already is in her heart. So instead, she kisses him, gentle and honey-sweet. For a moment, it’s as if they’re the only two people in the world and she revels in the intimacy she’s been craving all day, deepening the kiss and touching her forehead to his before her eyes dare flutter open again.

“You’re so welcome.” He grins. “I didn’t know you’d be such a pro, though. The structural integrity of this thing is off the charts. It could probably survive an earthquake.”

Amy glows at the sincerity of his compliment. The more she thinks about it, the more she realises that he’s right – she feels safe, in here, wrapped up in blankets with her favourite person in the entire world.

She always feels safe when she’s with Jake – not the dull, boring safe she was with Teddy, or really any of her long-term relationships before him. Instead, it’s a safety, a certainty, a trust that makes her even more willing to leap without looking back.

“Oh, for the record, everything sucks for me too when I don’t get to see you. You just make everything better.” He gestures loosely, sharpening her focus back to the present – she kisses him again, revelling in the perfect tiny blanket paradise they’ve made.

And just when she thought she couldn’t feel more content, Amy catches him tapping “polish takeaway brooklyn” into his phone and beams, pressing a feather-light kiss to his cheek.

This isn’t how she expected dating Jake Peralta to be, and yet now she wonders why. He’s probably the only person who’d think to calm her down by building her a fort, and yet he’s the only person who knows her well enough to be certain that it would work. It’s a solution so simple and effective and completely and utterly Jake, and she makes sure to show him just how much she loves that while they wait for their food to arrive.

The delivery guy knocks on the door not long into their make-out session – Amy is delighted to find she’s not the least bit embarrassed as she hastily thanks him, although she does make sure to tip him a little extra. They chat and laugh together in-between mouthfuls and lay back on the pillows when they’re done, Jake idly and soothingly playing with her hair as she rants.

“Hey, Ames?” He says in a sing-song, playful tone after they’ve slipped into a few moments of comfortable silence.

“Hmm?”

“What are your thoughts vis-à-vis blanket fort sexy times? For or against? Because I think I could make a pretty great case for- “

She smothers his argument with her lips, a neat new trick she’s still very much enjoying – and it’s a true mark of her adept construction skills that when they're done the fort still remains wholly intact.

#b99 #b99 fic #peraltiago #jake x amy #brooklyn 99 #my writing #yeah this is happening. new collection of prompts babey #shut up sian

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surveys-at-your-service · 4 years

Text

Survey #326

“life by life / waste to waste / i'm the harbinger: the master of decay”

When you get married what do you think you’ll put most of your focus and money into? Do you mean like, for the wedding? Probably the venue. Or possibly the photographer. Have you ever had a teacher that also taught your parents? No. What’s something you complain about frequently? My legs. Are you afraid of falling in love? Very. Are you close to any of your aunts/uncles? Not very. Do you hate it when people smoke around you? Very much so. Do you own anything that is special edition? Yeah, things like DVDs. Do you have any funky bookmarks? I have this one meerkat bookmark where the image moves when you tilt it. Did you ever watch Pokemon? Hell yeah I did. Are there more females or males in your family? Females. Does anyone in your family snore loudly? My mom does due to having gerd. Dad did too when I actually lived with him. I wouldn't know nowadays. Do you own a camera tripod? Yes. Did you ever believe in mermaids? No. Have you ever purchased alcohol? Yes. Any essential quirks/interests/other you look for in a boyfriend/girlfriend/partner? Similar interests, like being a metal fan and gamer especially, as well as a serious animal lover for sure. Any romantic gestures you really like? Okay if someone did that little bow thing while reaching out for my hand to dance, I'd melt, lol. I also appreciate love interests holding open doors, SHOWING INTEREST IN HOW I FCKN FEEL, asking permission before doing anything in sexual exploration, stuff like that. Any sexual fantasies? Are you daring enough to share one? Yep, not sharing those lmfao. Have you ever been in love? Twice. What is your favorite/least favorite word? My favorite is "serendipity/serendipitous," and my least favorite is "retarded." Have you ever been skinny dipping? No. If I actually had a body I was confident in, I probably would in privacy tho at night lmao. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character? Oh yeah. What is your favorite thing to do? Probably RPing with my favorite OCs when I'm in a really creative mood and during a great scene. Did you go to your senior prom? Yeah, I did. Prom's honestly pretty damn overrated, but I did it and his senior prom anyway. It's the picking out a beautiful dress and taking pictures that I loved. What did you do after graduation? I don't remember. We probably went out to eat or something. Favorite home cooked meal growing up? Spaghetti. What item most embarrasses you to purchase? Nothing, really. Do you give cards to people for holidays or events? No. Name the coolest thing about one of your grandparents. Uhhhhh idk. Name two things you put whipped cream on? I hate the texture of whipped cream. Do you ever eat peanut butter straight from the jar? Sometimes if I want a snack but am trying to be healthy-ish, I'll eat just a scoop. What was the last pill you took for? Pain. Do you prefer your clothes loose or close fitting? Loose, 100%. Favorite thing you’ve ever painted? Meerkats grooming. I did it in high school on a large piece of burlap. Are there any songs that remind you of your mother? "Take It Like a Woman" by Alice Cooper, for one. How did your elementary school teachers describe you? Very smart, sweet, friendly, and nice. Game you were best at in PE/gym? Pf, none. Obsession from childhood? Dinosaurs and Pokemon. Best way for someone to bond with you? Let's talk about deep stuff regarding the world or about how awesome animals are. Top 5 favorite Vines? Oh boy. There are just way too many. I'll try to name a few: 1.) the "I can't find my berries" saga guy; 2.) *in drive-thru, asked what he would like to order* "I wanna FUCKIN DIE"; 2.) "i cOUldA DROPpeD my CroISSAnt"; 3.) "it's Wednesday, m'dudes"; 4.) "a d a m"; 5.) "I WON'T HESITATE, BITCH." God, I miss Vine. What is the first meme you remember seeing? Holy cow, I have no idea. Sci-fi, fantasy, or superheroes? Fantasy. Favorite tradition? Dressing up for Halloween, even though I don't do it anymore... Talent you’re proud of having? Writing. Favorite website from your childhood? Webkinz was unbeatable. I was obsessed. Any good luck charms? I don't believe in those. Favorite potato food? French fries. Tell me the color of your eyes, without using the name of a color: Uhhhh a cloudy sky right before rain? Ever been through a goth phase? Goth is my fucking AESTHETIC. I wish I could afford a truly gothic wardrobe, because you bet your sweet ass it's all I'd wear out. Can you remember your first phone? If so, what kind was it? I think so? It was a Blueberry, I believe. Who is your favourite character from Alice in Wonderland? Obviously the Cheshire cat. What is your favorite type of YouTube video to watch? Lately, it's been tarantula and snake channels/pet YouTubers. I still think my overall favorites are let's plays, but right now it's just stepping back a bit. What’s the next project you are excited to start? I have this pretty cool drawing I wanna do of a morbid meerkat doing a big toothy smile, doing a peace sign (but his fingers are syringes) with a crown blinking over his head. Inspired by the "Professional Griefers" lyric of "lab rat king." I just really wanna make it perfect and am procrastinating in fear of failing... Have you ever experienced a miracle? I don't think I believe in miracles. What are your top three names you like for a daughter? Alessandra, Justine, and Chloe, to name a few. Which did you like better: high school or college? High school, at least in most ways. What is the theme of your bedroom? It doesn't have a theme. My interests just kinda threw up everywhere, haha. Have you ever lived in a dorm? No. Were you raised religious? Yes. Do you do your own taxes, or do you hire a professional? I don't have to do taxes yet. What was the very first thing you ever saved up to buy with your own money? Venus was the first big thing, I think. Describe your favorite Christmas ornament: I don't know what that would be, honestly. We have so very many. What jobs did your parents have when you were growing up? Dad's always been a mailman, and he also had a second job as a carpenter for a while. Mom worked with special needs children at my elementary school as a teacher assistant. She also worked at the hospital at one point, doing some computer work. I don't remember her actual position. Are you taller than your mom? We're the same height. Would you marry someone if they were unable to have sex? Sure, that's not a big deal to me. Last reason you went to the ER? For myself, a suicide attempt/overdose. What was the last word document you typed? This survey, actually, so I could save progress as I combine them. What’s something you don’t think people take seriously enough? Global warming. Have you ever dated someone who had a child from a previous relationship? No. Is there any drama currently going on with your family? No. What was the last fruit or vegetable you chopped/sliced up? An apple. I wanted apple slices with peanut butter. What is your favorite Hostess/Little Debbie snack? Holy SHIT that is impossible. Maybe the devil cakes, but I really don't know. I love most of them. Do you/your family buy loaf from the bakery or bagged on the shelf? Bagged. White, wheat or other? Mom buys white bread, but my favorite is pumpernickel. What was the last non-fiction book you’ve read? (Not a school textbook!): I ain't got a clue. I don't really read non-fiction. What color are your headphones/earbuds? These are blue. Would you be embarrassed to find out you snored loudly in public? Yep. Thankfully, I don't snore. Do you feel guilty about killing bugs? Yep. How do you feel about coconut? Not a fan. ^ Ever cracked one open? Ha, I've always wanted to. Who did you last worry about and why? My mom. She's getting a CT scan ASAP due to chronic headaches and stomach pain, so I'm worried her cancer might be re-emerging. When was the last time you ate/drank something gross just to be polite? I don't know; I struggle to do this. If I don't like something, my face shows it. I can't help it. When did you last make up a baby’s bottle? Never. Do you have any framed black & white photos in your home? Who are they of? No. What’s the most expensive thing your car needed to get done? N/A If you had a thousand dollars to spend on a pricey brand you like but can’t really afford (until now of course), which ONE brand would you chose? I don't know. Real talk, I find most luxury brands to sell pretty ugly stuff... Do you like candy canes? Yeah. Do you still talk to any of your old teachers? Yes; one is my landlord. What color was the dress you wore to your senior prom? It was black. Ever go to another school’s prom? No. Do you like burning candles or incense? I love incense. Do you ever venture into the woods? What do you normally do in there? When I used to live in the woods, I did every now and then to take pictures. Does your significant other ever make you mix CDs? Single, but that would be so romantic. /swoons How did you dress your freshman year of high school? I was this emo/metalhead/goth creature. What is the best present you have ever received? My dog Teddy. <3 What is the best present you have ever given? I put the most effort into a scrapbook thing of well over a hundred reasons I loved my then-boyfriend Jason. Even though we're done, I honestly hope he still has it, just to remember. What is the best surprise you have ever had? Sara's parents paying for a flight up there to be with Sara for her birthday. Have you ever been robbed? No, thankfully. Ever kiss someone on the first date? No. Ever sleep with someone on the first date? Definitely a nope. Ever give someone a wrong phone number on purpose? No. What’s the strangest thing you have ever witnessed firsthand? I have no idea. It's... very morbid, but possibly dogs twitching after being euthanized. Seeing Teddy do it was such a strange, painful experience. Like there was still life in there... even though I know it was just his nerves doing their final hoorah and he was already dead. Ever seen a psychiatric ward? I've been in a mental hospital five or six times, so I'm uncomfortably familiar with them. What is the last thing you did that you didn’t want to do? Group therapy. I'm really burning out on it. Thankfully, I don't have it on the weekends. What is the last thing you convinced someone else to do? I dunno. If you could live in a different time, would you? When? Nah. Do you prefer to sleep alone or with someone else? Sleeping alone is more comfortably physically, but I usually prefer sleeping with a partner because there's this amazing feeling of safety, love, and companionship. How many pillows do you sleep with? Two. Do you prefer cold air and blankets, or warm air and no blankets? Cold air and blankets by ten miles. I can't sleep if I'm even remotely hot. How often do you dust? Sigh, not as much as I need to. What is the most "extreme" activity you have ever done? I haven't done very much that fits that description... so idk. Dr. Pepper or root beer? Dr. Pepper. I hate root beer. Last room you cleaned? Mine. Last thing you did that made you feel like an adult? Checked into the doctor's office by myself, haha... Talk about sad. What’s your favorite picture of your mom? Dad? It's not my business to actually share those pictures, but I can describe them. I fucking ADORE this candid photograph I took of my mom laughing; I will forever cherish it. It's morbid to think about, but it's absolutely a picture I'll frame of her once she's passed away. I don't have many pictures of Dad, but I do really like this picture we took together at Red Lobster once. Are you subscribed to anything (Magazines, monthly boxes, streaming sites, etc.)? Mom pays an Adobe Creative Cloud photography bundle subscription for me, but that's it. Last TV show series you finished? Fullmetal Alchemist with Sara. It was a rewatch for me, but she'd never seen it. What’s something exciting that’s happened to one of your friends recently? A childhood friend got engaged a few days back. Do you have any board games? If so, where do you keep them? We have a few somewhere. What were the last things you glued together? I don’t recall. What are your friends’ pets’ names? I'll just use Sara here since she's my best friend. She has two family dogs, Buster and Beesly, a cat named Winter, four ball pythons named Martha, Crowley, Little Dot, and Jane Marie, and Doris, a bearded dragon that I personally adore most. :') What all did you do today? I played World of Warcraft early this morning, but not for very long. I've been in a phase of being very uninterested in it lately. I've mostly just done surveys... lots of surveys. I'm just in the mood to. I've also been listening to music and watching John Wolfe play Amnesia: Rebirth periodically. If you live in a house, how many floors does it have? If you live in an apartment building, how many units does it have? It's just one floor. Would you like to live in a world with mythical creatures, even if they turned out to be evil or dangerous? Honestly... I probably would, haha. Are you scared of heights? Yes. When was the last time you lost something of great sentimental value? Did you ever end up finding it again? Never, I think and hope. What food do you find to be the most filling? Is this something you eat a lot of? Eggs or oatmeal. Not really. What do you think of people who purposefully train their dogs to fight or to be aggressive? They're fucking garbage human beings. If you suffer/have suffered with acne, do you squeeze your spots or do your best to just leave them be? Ugh, I was so bad (and still am if something pops up) about picking at it. Does your father have any hobbies? What are they? Sure. He loves sports, fishing, idk if he still plays video games, fantasy football... and I can't forget playing with his grandkids. It's hard for me to know all of them when I don't live with him and see him rarely. What did the last face mask you wore look like? It was just a white cotton one. Is there a specific song that you always request at parties? What is it? I don't go to parties. Would you rather read poetry or write poetry? Write it. Have you ever had any really infected injuries? I've had infected piercings as well as a badly infected pilonidal cyst. Is there any band out there that you like every song by them? No. Are you popular on any websites? No. What was the last song you listened to? Aaaaand now I'm hooked on "NIHIL" by 3TEETH. Are you currently texting anyone right now? No. When was the last time you played jump rope? Yikes, probably not since I was a kid. I used to love it. Who was the last person you offended? I dunno. What’s the earliest you’ve ever had to wake up for work? Not early. Do you know anyone who has changed their first name? I know trans people who have, yes. Do you know anyone who has been on life support and survived? No. At least, I don't believe so. Do your parents have a strong relationship together? They're divorced, and Mom at least can't stand him. Dad doesn't really care. Do you ever feel like you’re sharing too much about yourself online? Oh, I absolutely used to. I still might, idk. I've tried to reel it back some. How many windows are in the room you’re in? Eight, but they're just small, vertical rectangles stacked together, so it's not as revealing as it sounds. What was the last necklace you wore? My spiked choker, I think, for pictures. Or maybe the one I have with a bunch of big silver skulls. Do you think there are more dimensions than what we’re able to perceive? I don't think so, no. Does anyone in your family have schizophrenia? My half-sister on Dad's side that I've never met. Have you ever been in an abandoned house? A shack, yeah. Do you like art? I positively adore it. I could NOT imagine life without it. How about theatre? I don't care for it. Have you ever made breakfast for someone? Yes, for Sara. Do you talk to your crush? If you have one. Yeah, she's my best fren. If yes, what do you usually talk about? Nowadays I ask her almost daily how she's doing in regards to her progress of recovering from both serious physical and mental stressors. I try to always be an available ear if she ever wants to vent. Would you rather read or watch a video about something? Watch a video. In what ways have you fulfilled some of the hopes and dreams you had as a teenager? I've fulfilled none of those. What’s one stressful thing you’ve been trying to deal with lately? How have you been dealing with it? Inexplicable, chronic boredom/serious anhedonia. I've just... put up with it. I get pleasure out of essentially nothing most days, and it sucks big time. I just try to distract myself and force myself to do things I usually love, though I've been bad about actually succeeding in making me do said stuff... Is there a regional chain of store/restaurant/etc. in your area that you feel very loyal to? MOTHERFUCKIN BOJANGLE'S, BITCH. You think YOU have good fries somewhere? Oh hunny, sit down. Oftentimes, people warn us against getting tattoos or body modifications or dying our hair unnatural colors because we could be judged poorly for them. But has a more “alternative” look ever worked out in your favor? Well, I like myself better with my piercings and tattoos, and that's all that really matters to me. Do you have any daily routine/habit of that you’re really proud of keeping up? No. .-. Pick one of the following activities to do in a forest (assume you would be equally good at each one of these): Foraging for mushrooms, identifying trees, searching for specific types of bugs, trying to build something out of fallen branches and logs. Searching for bugs w/ my camera!!! But that all sounds fun. What’s the hardest class you’ve ever taken? My most recent math course that I failed horribly.

#survey #surveys #questions #lyrics: ''master of decay'' by 3teeth

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space-blue · 4 years

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Artist and Hound

Iain Hund, former supernatural homicide detective, now mere magical vandalism inspector, feels the staleness of his car's air like a strangling hand upon his thoughts. He sends a last baleful glare at the wall he has pointlessly stalked for the past eight hours and starts his car to drive back to the station.

In all his years in the Sup-PD, Hund had never doubted his own righteousness. When the Harris case had come his way, he'd broken all the rules necessary to land the damn man behind bars and still felt like it was right. He had accepted his demotion as a cheap price to pay to save the public from the likes of Jack Harris. So when he put down his things on his new cramped desk at magical vandalism, and even after a year chasing Blues dealers, petty curse carvers, and weres doing their claws on public property, Iain Hund had remained serene. Regret bloomed in him when the Artist's case was made his top priority.

Tom, whom he shares his desk with, is a cold shoulder to cry on.

"No chance with this new stake-out then?" Met only by moody silence, Tom pushes a box of donut accross the desk. "You look like you need some."

"You eat donuts like a road cop."

"Well, those guys know what's up. Didn't you work with them, back in the day?"

"Yes," Iain sighs, dunking his hand in the proffered box, "and this case is the most pointless and disheartening task I've been given in my career, which includes these old patrols with the normal's police, writing tickets and shit."

"Come on, the Artist has been taunting us for years, but she can't be flawless. Guy with an ability like yours, what's that? Magikolour synaesthesia? Why go for stake-outs and CCTV? Why not make some traps? You've got more magical ability than this whole floor put together!"

"Tom, I'd need so many warrants for one trap, it's not ever happening. I think I got given this task as extra punishment. Something senseless to run after until I retire."

"What if they really think you can catch the vandal who's never been caught?"

"Why do they want that anyway? Because some loony normal might scrap some paint off a wall and somehow figue out there's something off with it? What am I to say to her if I catch her? 'You're under arrest for artistry. Your fingers will be broken... No, sorry, I mean, I need your address so we can send you fines!' Don't you think we'd all be better off with more art like hers in NY, and less wendigos or murderous weres I could put behind bars?"

"Hund, I don't wanna disappoint, but the world's been doing just fine without you. Also, moaning to me isn't getting you back into homicide and you know it. Artist is no murderer, maybe you've got to change your tactic, get original."

Iain, knowing good advice when he hears it, wonders about the changes he could make. The police, sup or normal's, has no name or face to put on the Artist. Even her gender is as good as the street word, rumours from the guy who knows a guy who's seen her.

Dusting donut crumbs from his notebooks, Iain peruses through weeks of drawings. When seen by normals or photographed, the Artist's work is static, if beautiful graffiti art. The drawings were to capture the details of what sups–anyone with a shred of magical ability–saw instead: myriads of images, sometimes a whole scene, with characters turning to the watcher, mouth opening in mute calls, sometimes the paint exploding out of the walls, pulling you in clouds of coruscant particles. In his book Iain has little boats on the calm waters of a lake, the face of a submerged god half hidden under lotuses; a pale man weeping liquid gold; a woman playing a sitar, each sound coming alive in the shape of a fantastical animal; a highway bridge pillar turned into an aquarium in which twirled a bigger-than-life mermaid; and many more. His notebook is far thicker than the case file ever was. In the last pages he finds the sketches made of a long mural of dancers. Their appearance changed depending on the angle you looked at it, a masquerade of shape-shifters. In it is a message for the man the Artist knows is on her trail, for hidden behind the legs of a dancer stands a black wolf-dog and though it has no collar, a golden tag gleams beneath its jaws, etched in the faintest strokes with the name Iain.

That's how she must see me: the law's dog on his invisible leash.

"Alright, let's get original."

"Mmh? Where are you going?"

"Hudson Heights. I'm gonna get friendlier with our local alchemists."

He leaves Tom to choke on his donut.

Alchemists have no claws or tooth to rend through you, but they don't need them. The power they wield, and their tendency for single minded obsession, makes them a prickly bunch, and the Sup-PD has a special unit for policing them. Iain's badge feels like a flimsy shield in his hand as he steps down from the sunny, all-American street and into the subterranean entrance to the alchemy quarters. The skills of the Artist and the finesse of her alchemical paints has already sent Iain deep inside those hidden galleries of shops and studios, where his questions revealed envy, admiration, and wholesalers of raw materials who did most business online and all proudly claimed her as a loyal customer, whilst unable or unwilling to prove anything.

The man at the entrance smiles at Hund.

"What do you want this time, cop?"

"Just visiting Toby Smith as a customer today." Iain grimaces. "Please."

The doorman grins sardonically, Smith being a famously irascible alchemist. He reaches for the door handle and applies his magic to it. To Iain it looks like a blue aura. A small displacement magic, that opens doors to other places. He nods his thanks and scuttles past and right into the maddening chaos of Toby Smith's shop.

"You again? What do you want now?" a disembodied voice asks from all corners.

Smith does business like this, never bothering to be present in the same room as his customers, his store guarded by an arsenal of curses that would make any hardened criminal as docile as a puppy.

"Paints."

"You're still after the Artist?"

"Ah, yes sir."

"You planning on defacing her work?"

"No sir. I–well, I like her work too. She caters to her fans though, and I thought, maybe, I can get to discuss with her somehow?"

Drawers open at invisible hands, glass jars and packets start drifting towards Iain.

"You're planning some sort of painting show-down? You've got guts Hund, I like it. Leave two hundred behind, follow the instructions on the packs, and work on your magic before mixing, unless you want blowing your moronic face off."

"Thanks sir."

"You're a better guy than I assumed."

"Sir?"

"Mixing paints to life is a tiny magic, but it's also very rare. The Artist has a unique gift. That someone with such a high grade magic as yours can appreciate her work is good. Maybe with you on her case she won't get wiped after all."

Iain mouth goes very dry.

"Wiped? Why would..."

His mind reels. It makes perfect sense now. Why bother with breaking fingers, indeed! Such a small gift, to breath life into a pot of already alchemical paint. It would take a tiny trap seal with her name on it to erase her magic as surely as if she were born a normal. He can picture his bosses, patting him on the shoulder. Good job Hund.

"Hund?"

"Thank you sir. For your honesty."

Iain goes home on autopilot, lost in his thoughts. He spends several evenings practising, and more building the final spell-works and paints before going out. He's mapped the Artist's work throughout Manhattan, and picked a wall she is likely to walk by. Finally he sits behind the wheel of his car and works a small shifting magic on his face. He has decided to go into the night to do what he's paid to stop. He feels shivers of anticipation and dread, a kinship and a respect stronger than ever before for the Artist who so inconspicuously prowls the nights.

He does her portrait, suggested, unfinished, broad strokes of paint revealing how little he knows of her. Sitting beside her stands a black hound with a golden tag, his muzzle resting in her lap, adoring eyes gazing up into her unpainted face waiting to be filled. Artist and Hound, he titles it.

A promise.

Two days later, Iain finds that the mouth of the Artist has been painted over in a slight smile.

~~ October 2018 – Theme : Small Magics

#original work #original story #competition #fantasy

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iron--spider · 5 years

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Okay, I just saw FFH

I’ll say right off the bat, it was a million billion times better than Endgame, despite the lack of Tony Stark. I’m already planning on seeing it again. But I do have both positive and negative feelings, which I will discuss in full spoiler openness, under the cut.

It’s very strange. I did....I would say I liked it a lot. Almost loved it. But it also makes me feel strangely empty. I guess this links with the fact that I feel very separate from an MCU that doesn’t contain a living Tony Stark. It feels very, very weird to think he’s not alive anymore. My brain still doesn’t compute it even though I know it’s a stone cold fact, and it’s like I’ve built a glass wall between myself and this new world they’re living in. I see it, but I don’t feel like it’s the same world I’ve been in love with for eleven years. And while I can say it was a very good movie, it’s hard for me to connect with it the way I previously would have.

I’m gonna do pros and cons, and start with the cons, so I can end this post on a positive note. But I do have more pros than cons! So that’s good.

CONS:

- I know the MCU is not known for its nuance or it’s emotional content, but I would have liked a lot more personal details about Tony from Peter. We know they were close. A few lines would have done it. - Brad. We didn’t need a love triangle, and he added nothing to the plot. - What EDITH stands for. I think I’m the only person who thinks that’s out of character. It feels like what people believe Tony is, that facade he puts on, but it’s not who he actually is. Maybe we can take it as he’s making fun of what people think of him? I don’t know, but it felt off to me. - The timing of the MJ/Peter romance. There will be more about them in the pros section, but the timing still feels wrong. I don’t know why this sudden romance needed to be the focus of this movie. I understand that he was distancing himself from his grief, but the grief felt.......barely present. It was good, when it was there, but it wasn’t there enough. I wish we had gotten more friendship between MJ and Peter, or at least a rundown of what they’d been through in the year we missed? And am I getting that right? Did a year pass? Is that what they were telling us in the beginning bit? - Going off that, I wish we had seen Peter deal with losing five years like....at all. Even a little bit, lol. He was essentially dead. That would have been an amazing focus, along with dealing with losing Tony and his want for a normal life/girlfriend. Why can’t they balance this shit? - I wanted more about the world and what was going on, obviously. But I knew we weren’t gonna get that. - Peter shouldn’t have walked right by that one gorgeous Iron Man mural with the candles. He didn’t even spare it a glance and that was weird to me. - I really wish we had been able to see Peter’s actual face during the horrifying Iron Man illusion. I love the Spidey suits but I really wanted to see his face. - Take off your clothes scene was very uncomfortable lol, and it was even worse because PETER was uncomfortable.

PROS - Tom. Tom Tom TOM! He was just......incredible. He does so much with what he’s given, he brings everything to the next level and he’s our best Spider-Man. I can’t even say enough about him. I love his face, I love his inflections, I love how he moves, I love his expressions, I love every single thing about him. He has wonderful timing. He’s the best. - Happy. He was so great. He added to every scene he was in. I loved his interactions with Peter’s friends, especially when they were hiding with the crown jewels lol. I loved him handing it to “Nick” in the end, saying Peter would call him :) - MJ. She got so much more to do in this and it really makes me wish we had seen more of her in the first movie. - Going off that, MJ and Peter. Despite the terrible timing of their romance, it was surprisingly cute. I really liked how MJ was softer and changed when she was alone with Peter. They felt genuine and I wasn’t expecting it and I really enjoyed it. They were sweet together. I will say I preferred when they were physically together as opposed to Peter talking to Ned/Mysterio about her. - Ned. Amazing, as always. So funny, so sweet, the best friend. I loved his and Peter’s hug. - Betty and Ned. Really funny kind of critique of teenage romance, lol. - Jake G. I wasn’t really feeling him, but then....THE TURN. He was incredible. One of his best performances, for real. - And going off that....he was so insane. So, so insane. All the music cues helped too. I don’t think Tony’s legacy or character is tarnished AT ALL because this dude was so, so cuckoo bonkers. He was ordering hits on kids and nonchalantly talking about casualties and he was just a LUNATIC. I’m not worried about Tony. And anyone who uses Beck as their source for their Tony hate? Doesn’t look good, fam. He had his crazy eyes on from the bar scene forward. Insane person. He was willing to kill all his pals. He was the worst, lol. - Annnnddd in relation to that, MJ giving Brad the business in the end and specifically using the phrase about how “Peter isn’t here to tell his side” or whatever it was. I think that totally was meant to go along with all the Tony/Beck stuff. It felt purposeful. - I liked the ‘I Will Always Love You’ tribute - The Tony murals in every damn city? They were gorgeous. I hope they release images of those because I wanna see them lol. He was so loved. - I’m glad they had May talk about ‘blipping’ back into her apartment and someone else was living there. They actually addressed something! - Peter having a panic attack at the beginning when Tony was mentioned? Really good. Really sad. - I like that Tony trusted Peter enough to give him the glasses. It shows just how much he trusted him. And this is nothing like project insight, because Tony isn’t Pierce. He has good intentions. It is for protection. People need to chill, lol. Peter was acting like a bit of a moron on the bus, but I believe by he end he has a handle on it and will be much, much better about it. Him jumping out of the bus and destroying the drone was cool. - Bar scene was really good. I know Peter saw Tony in Beck when he put on the glasses :( And his self doubt is so painful. Tony had such trust in him and Peter just can’t believe it. HURTS. - The illusion scene had such magnificent visuals. I want to see it again in 3D, but it was awesome. I said earlier I wanted to see Tom’s face, but he did a great job with all his body movements. He’s just so great, lol. - Iron Man zombie shook me, made me jump, got me upset. As did Mysterio’s taunting in that moment. What an asshole. - I liked the “stakes” in terms of how Peter got so, so messed up in this movie. Poor thing. He was still limping in the scene at the airport! Seeing him get hit by the train was so hard. - The plane scene was my favorite part of the whole movie, from the tulip field to the suit getting built. I loved the hug, Happy trying to be soft and dealing with Peter’s outburst. Peter crying, their talk, “i miss him so much”, Tony never, ever second guessing Peter. THE ONE THING. That hurts so bad lol. And Happy watching Peter make the suit, fondly, seeing Tony in him. It makes me cry thinking about it. Peter carries Tony with him always, because he’s part of him, he’s in his heart, he was his protege and even if he doesn’t believe it, Tony believed in him. He knew he was the best of them. GODDAMN THEM. I love seeing Peter and Happy interact as they did here because they really remind me of Happy and Tony. Peter’s Tony’s kid. There’s no denying it at this point. - MJ and her mace. Chef’s kiss. - The whole final battle was fucking amazing. Some of the best shit in the MCU. I loved seeing Peter get to be a BADASS, get to show his smarts and his strength and use that Spidey sense. He was amazing. - Stopping Beck from shooting him? Incredible. One of my favorite Marvel shots. I loved Peter angry and standing up for himself here. So good. - The kisses were pretty cute. The holding hands was definitely cute. Swinging was very cute, as was how excited Peter was about it. - I really like Happy and May and I hope it goes somewhere. C’mon May! - I’m of two minds on the reveal. It pisses me off that fucker did this. He was obviously planning it and now he’s painted a target on a 16 year old’s back, and once again, anyone who tries to use him as a source is a SOCIOPATH. I feel so bad for Peter, and it makes me really sad because this would be an amazing thing for Tony to be involved with. Peter definitely needs Tony right now, and I hope SOMEONE reliable helps him. I know Happy will, but he needs a powered person too. PLEASE. I worry about where they’ll take this. It could be cool, possibly seeing him on the run, but if they have any ideas about killing May or any of his friends because of this, I’ll kill them. - Skrulls thing was funny and it also explains why Fury felt so off. SLJ did an amazing job with that, lol.

In conclusion, I really loved a lot of what they presented to me. Mostly because Tom is truly spectacular. But a world without Tony Stark will always have a certain amount of emptiness to it, and I won’t be following any other Marvel films save for Spider-Man. I’ll follow Spider-Man because I love Peter/Tom. But it’s always gonna be really painful knowing Tony is gone and they’ll never give us the amount of emotional content that we deserve when it comes to him.

But I will recommend FFH. I give it an 8/10, and I think I’ll enjoy it even more on a second viewing. For being in ‘the bad timeline’, this was a good film.

#spider-man #spider-man far from home #ffh spoilers #far from home spoilers #peter parker #this got long af and i probably left some shit out lol #now i gotta answer all those asks.

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lovemesomesurveys · 5 years

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Have you ever done a craft that you found on Pinterest? I did dabble with some water painting a few years ago during Christmastime, actually. I made a few different Christmas poster things inspired by ones I saw on there. Like, they had different Christmasy quotes or song lyrics and some had pictures of Christmas trees or something. Do you get scrapbooking layout ideas from anywhere? I don’t do scrapbooking. What do you do to wipe off the dust from ordinary life? I’m always cleaning under the keys on my laptop. Are you content with mystery, or do you wish you knew everything? Uhh. I wouldn’t want to know everything. I like continuing to learn and discover new things. There’s also things I never want to know. I also like mystery in the sense of surprises. Like, I hate spoilers and I don’t want to know what any presents are before I open them. What do you do when someone irritates you on Facebook? If I see an annoying or stupid post I just keep scrolling.

Do you think your hair looks better natural or dyed? I think it looks much better dyed red. Do your parents disrespect you? My parents are respectful, pretty chill people. I mean, we get in disagreements and bicker sometimes, who doesn’t, but I wouldn’t say they disrespect me. Have you found that love covers over a multitude of sins? I mean, you can love someone but that doesn’t excuse their toxic, bad behaviors. It doesn’t mean people can treat you or others cruelly just because you love them. What was the last Grand Opening you went to? Hm. I don’t know if I’ve ever been to a grand opening. Not that I can think of at the moment. Do you have anything coming up tomorrow? Nope. What’s one thing that makes your stomach hurt? I’m lactose intolerant, so having dairy will definitely do that. Otherwise, I just have stomach issues and get stomachaches and pains for whatever reason. Ever had a living nightmare? These past few years in particular. Do you have a lot of haters? Ha. I’m so irrelevant. I’m sure I’m not even on anyone’s radar for them to feel that strongly about me. Outside of my family, I feel people are indifferent to me. I don’t make a big impression.

Do you think successful people always come with a pack of haters? Yes. There are people who can’t stand to see successful, happy people. They want to try and tear them down. There’s also just a lot of trolls who think it’s fun to hate on people. Do you have supernatural abilities? Uh, no. Do you kick yourself when you make mistakes? Do you say, “I wish I would have” a lot? All the damn time. There’s so much I wish I did and didn’t do and I’m always kicking myself so to speak for it. Are you doing the most you can with your life? Not even. I’ve completely let these past few years pass me by as I just waste away. Do you let people walk on you? I’ve had it happen in the past. Are you ok? I always just wanna start belting out to MCR when a question like this comes up. Do you have a friend you miss right now? Former friend, yeah. Do you ever write snail mail to your friends? I don’t have any friends anymore, but nah dude. I’ll send you a text or hit you up on social media if I need to reach you, ha. Do you make your life look better than it is on Facebook? I guess in a way because I don’t post personal shit. I used to post like sad quotes and lyrics and images back in the day, but I stopped doing that years ago. I very rarely post anything anymore and when I do, it’s something funny or #relatable that I saw and shared to my timeline. Or a check-in to somewhere if I think it’s of interest. Mostly; though, I’m just on there scrolling through my feed and “liking” things here and there. Do you feel God’s presence regularly? Yes. Do you experience chronic pain? Yes. Do you believe God loves you and is rooting for you? I know He does. Have you ever dreamt that you were falling? Ugh, yes. Worst feeling. I hate that feeling of jolting awake. What would your dream career be? I have no idea. Are you a daydreamer? ”You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” Do you daydream so much that you wonder if there’s anyone who doesn’t? Uhh, I wouldn’t say that. My daydreaming is more me zoning out and dwelling about things from the past, thinking about current things, or imagining up scenarios. Do you ever just sit and daydream for awhile? My mind just wanders off like that. Is the snow falling where you are right now? It doesn’t snow here. :( What is your favorite part of nature? The beach, particularly the ocean. Though, we all know I’m not about getting into the ocean. That deep water and the creatures that dwell down there aren’t for me. Just thinking about that... :O I do love looking out at the ocean and just watch/listen to the waves crash in and out. It’s very, very calming. I let my thoughts get swept away with the waves. I also love the cool, ocean air and smell. Do you wish you could be a world traveler? Yes. Do you wish you could live in another city for a year? Ooh. That would be nice. I actually want to move to another city permanently. What city would you like to visit? There’s countless places I want to visit. What has been your favorite city that you’ve visited? Various ones in California. If you had kids, would you take them to Disney World? Pfft, I’d go now if I could. I don’t need kids for that, ha. I’m the big kid. I love Disneyland, so I’m sure I’d love Disney World as well. Have you ever stood in line to get a Disney character’s autograph? Yeah. As a kid and as an adult, haha. My favorite was a few years ago when we got pictures with Chewbacca and Darth Vader. Do you own a birthday crown? No. How long does it usually take your hair to dry? Do you dry it naturally or blow-dry it? I just let it air dry. It takes forever, though. Do you straighten your hair? Not anymore. I used to. Do you sleep with a teddy bear? I have a few stuffed animals on my bed that always just sit on my bed. Would you consider yourself a free spirit? No. Do you need to clean out your closet? I actually just did that a couple weekends ago. Do you watch YouTube videos regularly? Yep, everyday. What’s your favorite coffee shop? Starbucks. Is your Pinterest page cluttered? I have a few pinned things, but I don’t use Pinterest much for that. I use it to find and save photos for my phone background, typically. Do you want to start a collection? I have a few collections. Are you a role model? Would you consider yourself a good example? No. Are you a leader or a follower? I feel like I’m just sitting on the sidelines watching the crowd go by. Who’s your favorite person? Not a person, but my doggo. (: Who have been your favorite American Idol contestants? I liked a few from the first few seasons like Adam Lambert, David Archuleta, Tim Urban, and of course, Kelly Clarkson. Did you used to name your Barbies? Yep. What unnatural hair color looks best on you? I love dyeing my hair red. Is your life boring? ”I need another story, something to get off my chest. My life is kind of boring, need something that I can confess.” Do you usually feel better around people or alone? Depends. I like spending time with my family, but I also need my alone time. Is there a broken relationship in your life that you want to fix? Oh, like the friendships I ruined a few years ago because I’m a shitty person? I wouldn’t even know where to begin at this point. Like...what could I even say. I know they’re hurt and probably hate me, and I don’t blame them at all. They deserved more than I what I gave them. The more time goes by, the worse it is. I still don’t feel like I’m in the right headspace to try and fix things. Like...I don’t think things would change and we’d end up in the same spot because I’m still a mess. And I feel horrible for feeling this way, but there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to. :X I wish I went about things differently, most definitely, but having some people out of my life now is the worst thing.... Do you ever think about Heaven? Yes. Are you ready for Heaven yet? I pray it’s not my time, yet. Are you afraid of where you’re going to go? I pray I go to heaven when it is my time. Do you have a tree outside your window? Yes. Do you feel better now than you did last night? I feel the same, really. Is your sleep schedule messed up? Ohhhh yeah. It has been for years. It switches up, though. Still all bad, but different. Like, currently my bedtime is like 5, sometimes 6, in the morning and I sleep until 1. Does your body have any problems with it? It has a lot wrong with it. Are you doing ok spiritually? I’m working on strengthening my relationship with God. Have you taken any huge risks lately? No. Silence or songs? I don’t like complete silence ever. I need something, whether it be the TV, YouTube, or music. I sleep with the TV on for that reason (and for some light because I can’t have it completely dark either). Tea or coffee? Coffeeeee. Books or movies? I enjoy both. Do you ever watch your favorite movies from when you were a kid? Disney movies are timeless. ^If you were going to do that, what would you watch? Something Disney. Do you ignore rude people or do you call them out? I’ll talk shit about them to myself or someone I’m close with like my mom, ha. I don’t confront people. Well, unless it’s someone I’m close to who says or does something rude. Do you have trouble staying organized? With my life, yes. It’s showing externally now; though, too. My room has gotten cluttery and I hate it. It never used to be that way. What has been your most favorite adventure? All the trips I’ve taken. What has been your greatest mistake? I’ve made a long list of ‘em. Are you happy with your life right now? No. Do you take anything to make your feel better? ”I take prescriptions to make me feel a-okay I know it’s all in my head.” Sorry, ya’ll know I’m always breaking out into song. Anyway, I currently don’t take any anti-depressants or anti-anxiety pills. Are your parents still together? Yes. What color socks do you have on? White. Are you under a blanket right now? I have one wrapped around me. Are you hopeful? :/

#personal #text #survey #surveys

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tenyatrash · 5 years

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Day 2: A House on Fire

This is my entry for Day 2 of the BNHA Noir Week 2019. Tumblr hates my ao3 links so let’s try this instead. @bnha-noir-week Heist, Fatale, Detective

In which Fuyumi and Touya take back control of the narrative. This one didn't exactly meet the prompt as much as I would like, but it's as close as I could get and I like it too much to orphan it, so here's some noir-lite. Come for the twins pulling off a heist, stay for the fatale/detective pair up.

Ships: BG Fuyumi Todoroki/Ryuko Tatsuma

Characters: Fuyumi, Touya, and Enji Todoroki + Ryuko Tatsuma

Rating: Teen (Some lang, references to past abuse)

Word Count: 2925

It was a hot one, a scorcher of a day that’s left a memory of fire radiating off the pavement even now, hours after the sun disappeared. Slithering heat and muggy night air swirl into a heavy fog that tries to paint the city white and pure, but it fails. Nothing can hide these sins.

This world vibrates with a sickness that skitters just below the surface, coating everything in bitter bile, destroying everyone, one way or another. Some are destroyed by simple violence, quick knives in the dark. They’re the lucky ones, if anyone can be called lucky here. Everyone else? They sit and stew as the corruption eats away at them like rust.

There’s a pair of prowlers on the town tonight, eyes and hearts hardened to cut out a spreading cancer. It’s a night of reckoning for a family name that shoulda been put down long ago.

Pine needles crunch underfoot, sap oozing into the dirt path that marks the road to so many memories, all of them as dark as the oppressive and moonless night. Fuyumi pushes back her bangs and picks her way across the garden that she was never allowed to enjoy, to the house of the Father she was never allowed to escape. She’d smile in bitter triumph, if she remembered how.

There’s a hand at her back now, burning too hot, fingers tapping a steady beat against her spine.

“Pick up the pace, will ya? Pops ain’t gonna be away forever, and yous the one who said no violence.”

Fuyumi looks over to her twin. He’s a scary looking one, alright. The kinda mug folks on the up-and-up cross the street to avoid, the kinda heel soft chippies would gossip ‘bout, bed, and then hide like some kinda dirty secret. Meanwhile, the same skirts are always falling over themselves after the sonofabitch that did it. Just more proof that this world is rotten.

They’ve all got scars of Enji’s ambition, his are just on the outside, is all. Enji got smarter after that, or maybe Touya was just the bravest of them. Either way, dear ol’ Dad learned to keep his abuse strictly need-to-know after that. Learned to hurt, to control, to destroy, all without leaving a mark. Not that anyone would bother to investigate anyway.

Not when every two-bit political wannabe and too-blind copper saw him as some kinda hero.

Fuyumi slides the door open. Just like Pops to not check after his own home security. To assume no one would challenge him, least o’ all here in his pretty little estate. It’s the same arrogance that bred them, after all. Lord, they’re going to enjoy watching the place light up, all pretty blue flames and falling ash.

Touya is eager to start, fingers already caressing awards and photos, skin shivering as they smoke and char. It’s all a lie and God does it feel good to let it burn. A happy family, a heroic life-- filthy deceit that mocks them with every pose and word of commendation. He’s a hero, huh? That what you think, Mr. Mayor, Sir? Then why don’t you try living with him.

Try being a child under that roof.

The two twins slide through the house like shadows, feet still remembering all the steps, remembering which boards creak and which doors groan. They had to learn early, how to hide. How to be silent and unseen. All that training, all that pain, and for what?

To make them big goddamn heroes?

Nah. Turns out, he’d been training them for this heist their whole lives. He mighta been able to catch ‘em, to stop ‘em, to contain ‘em...if he’d cared enough to notice, that is. As it is though, he’s just going to have to say goodbye to all this shiny scratch and all the dreams he had for this name.

Touya’s got his predisposition for fire, and Fuyumi’s got matches, accelerant, and a dream.

First stop is the study. It’s all mahogany slabs and stiff stools, designed so everyone but the kingpin himself can experience stress and smallness and pain. What kinda way is that to do business, much less raise kids? What kinda notes do you give your interior designer when building a room like that? ‘See pal, I wanna room that screams gangster, but you know, classy and legit and all. Wanna keep everyone on their toes.”

Sheesh. They could make a fortune on the book rights alone, if this was any kinda just world. As it is though, Fuyumi knows they’d get buried by law hounds and dirty money the second they so much as pitched the idea. Reputation and respect are the only currency Enji trades in, and if you threaten that, he comes down on you like the fires of hell.

Just ask Touya. Or Ma.

They fiddle with the safe, bad memories making ‘em antsy to get this job done and dusted. Neither knows the code. Not like Enji would trust ‘em with it. After all, they were barely worthy of taking his name, much less accessing his secrets. Lady Luck loves making a fool outta a fella though, and it’s not long before the too-weak twins have their hands on secrets Pops would have done anything to hide.

Fool set the combination as the date his poor “masterpiece” Shouto started manifesting his gifts to the world. It was the third set of numbers they tried. Once this place was ash and his legacy was crushed, Fuyumi hoped she’d have the chance to lean in, real close, and let him know just how his empire came crumbling down.

Let him know that it all came down to his own damn failing. His played-out narcissism and twisted family pride.

They sort through documents and trinkets. It’s all here. Sheathes of paper on the special training they all had to endure, notes from doctors that expressed concern, before blood money overwhelmed their morals, even a dowry arrangement that looks damn sure like a bill of sale.

Touya is more than a little amazed. It’s like Christmas, but happy for once. “What kind of no-good scoundrel does shit like this, then keeps records?”

Fuyumi frowns down at the papers in her hands. She should be pleased. It’s what they’ve been after this whole time, right? But all these names...she wasn’t prepared for that. She might be playing at being a hood tonight, but she’s lived her life more or less on the right side of the law, more or less with faith in people.

And now there’s this. A whole damned mountain of names, of people who knew something sick and twisted was brewing in this house, and who did absolutely nothing to stop it. Hell, even Ma’s parents were in on it, selling her off like a broodmare. Something twists in her gut and all the sudden, she thinks she understands why Touya comes home sometimes, smelling like gunpowder and copper blood.

He sees red, but she feels ice. Ice creeping up her veins and into her heart, that small and abused thing that beats with love, that never seems to learn better. Never protects itself. They all knew. They all knew and they did nothing. Long as the image stayed shiny like the coins that passed hands, they were happy to send them all to the slaughter.

At some point, Touya starts rubbing circles across her palms, gently prying away the documents from her death grip. He helps bring her back to reality, to the job they’ve got to do. She’s not a helpless little girl anymore, and he’s not a throwaway kid. Damn but it’s chilly in here.

There’s no way to heal a festering wound like this one, but at least they can get even. Can show the whole world exactly what they’ve been complicit in. And Fuyumi’s not just interested in taking down Enji. No, she wants them all. Every single patsy and punk who let themselves be bought.

It all clicks in place. That’s why he kept the evidence. Insurance. Pops was never going to go down alone. No, if he got caught, he’d take the whole damn place with him. Fuyumi has no problem making that last request come true.

She wants them to burn too.

They move on, mirror images splitting in two to check the rest of the house. It’s just as impersonal as they remember, with more shadows than furniture and more blood than memories. When he squints into the cloaking night, Touya can swear he can still see the scorch marks from his last training session out in the yard.

Fuyumi touches his arm. They start the fire in two places. Touya begins in the dojo, letting steam and tears lift off his body like all those unanswered prayers, body convulsing as he watches the sparring mats and training dummies that engulfed his childhood be engulfed by flames. Fuyumi begins in Enji’s bedroom, getting drunk on the smell of gasoline as she douses the bed and lets the barren room be swallowed up.

She does it for Mother, who laid on that bed until her body and mind were broken by a man she never loved. She does it for Touya, who destroyed his body and fractured his mind trying to meet standards that he could never reach. She does it for Natsuo, who was called worthless from the start. She does it for Shouto, the masterpiece who never asked for any of this, who spent so long in a gilded cage that he forgot how to feel. And most of all, she does it for herself.

For the girl who did the best she could, who was never enough. Who wasted years trying to tiptoe around a dragon, who blamed herself every time the world descended into flames. For the woman she is, and the woman she could have been.

She spends an eternity looking into the licking flames before Touya, who has more experience in these kinds of things, pulls her out of the room and out of the shuttered home. They leave the lot, no glance spared back until they reach a high hill a few blocks away, at a distance Touya declares safe.

They don’t sit. They stand and they stare and they watch the harsh beauty of orange and blue flames dancing across the collapsing roof and black smoke rising above the murky white fog that still blanketed the lower-lying parts of the city.

They don’t feel the release they had hoped for, but they feel a type of validation, and that’s enough. At least for tonight, their once-home is just as ugly as hellish outside as inside. A four-alarm fire that can’t be ignored. No one gets to turn away. Not tonight.

---

It’s morning, when Ryuko finally makes it home from the clubhouse, just long enough to grab a shower and a bite to eat. Her shift had been held over last night. Whole damn city was losing its mind over that fire especially when some loose-lipped recruit let it slip that the whole thing was cut-and-dry arson.

Ryuko shakes her head and steps into the shower, rivulets of water washing her skin clean but doing nothing to unlock the dark swirls of smoke that clung to her hair and pores. She shudders at the memory of Old Man Todoroki himself, all claws and fire and vitriol as he pushed through the wreckage of his ancestral home. Man damn near started a whole new inferno when he opened the scorched safe and found it empty.

Detective Tatsuma had been sent over, boot-licking superiors and ashen-faced patrol boys offering her as a sacrifice to his anger.

“Come on, you’re shackled to his baby girl. Makes sense you’d be the one to interview him-”

Ryuko had resisted the urge to fill them in on just how much Enji and Fuyumi would hate that characterization, but had trooped forward anyway, too tired to fight for rationality. It’s a losing battle anyway, and it ends up not mattering, at all.

Enji claims the safe was always empty. Nothing is missing. He’s lying like a cheap suit. It doesn’t matter. His word is law, after all.

Ryuko closes her notebook, nods her head, and feigns deference as the hero stomps off, no doubt eager to take out his rage on whatever poor chump is planning on breaking the law today. Once her towering Father-in-Law leaves, she peeks into the safe herself.

It’s bare, that true, but not totally empty. Sitting in the middle of safe like some kinda proposal is a single metal staple. Looks surgical. Ryuko takes note of it before slamming the door shut.

If Enji doesn’t care about who robbed and ravaged him, why should she? Sure, she’ll go through the motions, maybe even catch the doers. But she’s not going to kill herself. Not on a case like this, a one without a real victim.

The shower ends. The house still reeks like smoke and something squirms against the back of her mind as she steps into their bedroom and leans down to press a kiss into Fuyumi’s tousled hair.

Lord love her, but she looks like death warmed over. Ryuko feels a stab of regret. That was Fuyumi’s home, and Ryuko hadn’t been there to deal with whatever emotions hearing about it burn must have elicited. Fuyumi’s never been that forthcoming about her family, and Ryuko has never pressed. Didn’t want to seem like a fame groupie. But surely, there’d been memories there, tokens that Fuyumi might have wanted to take with her. And now some nameless, faceless thug had ripped that away from her.

She’ll make it up to her. She’ll find the arsonist, maybe even find answers. It’s the least she can do.

---

Out in the boonies, Touya’s got one last bit of trash to take out, one last crusade before he can maybe put all this filth behind him. He knew Endeavour would take the bait. Had to, with all he had to lose. He wouldn’t drag Fuyumi into this darkness. Sure, she was mad. And she has just as much right as he. But he’s already lost, his soul already in tatters. He doesn’t mind adding another mark to his debts.

He hears Pops before he sees him, skin simmering and crackling like a bull under a sweltering sun. His ears got trained a long time ago, to recognize that sound and flee from it, but he’s not a kid anymore. Whatever innocence he had was burned to nothing on the floor of that house, under the heel of his no-good progenitor. He stands tall yet disrespectful, scarred hands jammed into soot-stained jeans, a smirk chasing away the tiredness and fear of his eyes.

“Yo, Endeavor. Long time no see.”

There’s a roar. Charming.

The man who was once Touya laughs darkly as hands close around his throat. Well, this isn’t exactly how he saw this going, but he’s nothing if not adaptable.

“You sure that’s your move, Sir?”

Enji realizes there’s no loot bag. No scraps or scrips. He releases the boy who was once his son.

“What’s your game, boy?”

Dabi smiles all lazy and languid. What is his game? Ha, it’s hard to even remember. Oh, right. He’s at a crossroads now.

He could kill the man. Fuyumi would forgive him, and maybe he’d finally be free. His mind flickers forward, already seeing the State Funeral and hearing the cloying speeches of sycophants and snakes. His jaw tenses, metal scraping and clinking with every roll of his neck. Nah, he don’t wanna see that, not at all. A sight like that, no telling what it would do to a man. Nasty things, probably.

He feels his sanity start to slip, just a bit, like a pickpocket's just rifled through his head. He needs to get clear of this, and as good as it would feel to smother those flames once and for all, he can’t let him die a hero.

There’s some things that are just beyond bearing.

That leaves him with his second option. A more….poetic type thing. An execution of public sentiment, if not of the man himself. He ruffles a hand through sooty hair and smiles and Enji glowers at him.

“My game? Gee, I guess...I just wanna rob the house. Prove it can’t always win.”

“Talk sense, or don’t talk at all.”

Touya flicks a spent cigarette into a grimy barrel, still slick with the oil that powers this city, that keeps all these poor bastards rolling to and fro, as if anything really matters. As if they’re good people. As if they’re in control. He hops up on to a railing and starts to teeter before giving a false salute and dropping down to the street below.

“You’ll see.”

Enji stares at the spot for a long time, not sure if he’s more concerned or calmed by the lack of body. He doesn’t trust Touya, how could he? But a body is a hard thing to explain. It’s one thing to have a son who ran away, maybe to Europe, maybe to love. It’s another thing entirely for the corpse of a known hardened triggerman to fall at your steps. To look so much like you.

Enji’s still staring when the newspaper inquiries start to come.

They want to know about the fire, and the safe, and the strange articles and evidence that are hitting papers and precincts all over the city.

He grinds the phone into dust.

#bnhanoirweek2019 #bnha fanfiction #todoroki fuyumi #todoroki touya #endeavors bad parenting #my writing

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vorcotec · 6 years

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41, 33, 21 and 1 for the character development meme !

1. How do they move and carry themselves? Pace, rhythm, gestures, energy?

jane is always Something. she’s got this janeniness. i rbed this post about virginia woolf into my ‘about jane’ tag a while back:

…In his autobiography, Leonard Woolf writes with pain and some bewilderment about the way in which complete strangers would react to his wife: ‘ … to the crowd in the street there was something in her appearance which struck them as strange and laughable … people would stare or stop and stare at Virginia. And not only in foreign towns; they would stop and stare and nudge one another – “look at her” – even in England, in Piccadilly or Lewes …’

Leonard makes the observation that these incidents tended to happen at moments when Virginia was lost in thought – when she had, in a sense, forgotten herself. There was something in her expression or comportment in those moments, which, taken with her unusual mode of dress, made her appear anomalous to people.

with jane, in particular, this sense of anomaly comes bc she is autistic, and there’s always been something in her carriage that sets her apart, since childhood. it’s all over her comportment and how she moves and acts.

first, no matter what she does, jane has this... aura of internality. she seems not to be paying attention to what’s happening around her and to be focused on anything but what one would expect her to focus on. if she’s moving through a room around you, you might get the impression she’s carrying out a task she thinks of as WAY more important than you. this comes about because she doesn’t make eye contact, her head is usually down, and she almost always needs her hands to be engaged in some form of stimming--playing with her phone, her bag, her journal; she’s usually seeking textures and shapes to trace, rather than pursuing any activity involving actual Braining, although she’s been known to draw while people talk to her. again--she seems not to be paying attention. but she is. virtually always.

jane’s posture is also unique. she has a pronounced slouch and will off-and-on stand pigeon-toed. if her hands aren’t in motion, they’re usually visibly Held at her sides, with her fingers curled in, and in general if her hands are still you get the impression she doesn’t know what to do with them. there is usually a sense of tension to her posture, especially if she’s around other people and feels observed--jane’s quite conscious that she’s weird/strange/off in various ways and she knows that other people know it, she just doesn’t know how to be different; hence tension. but because of a general lack of connection to her body she also isn’t so hot at perceiving how tense or relaxed she is at a given moment.

jane’s gestures are also Janey. she almost never gestures when she talks; this is one of the elements of allistic body language she simply doesn’t have. she will gesture if she needs to indicate something specific--such as pointing out the specific part of a painting or invention or equation written on a whiteboard or whatever--but otherwise, if she’s not stimming, her hands are at her sides or in her pockets.

broadly speaking in terms of how quickly she moves, jane’s slow until she’s suddenly fast; when she has a goal she fires off toward her goal, often without communicating that goal to whoever she’s with. you just kinda have to chase after her, or if ur short and happen to be wearing rollerskates, grab onto her sleeve and let her pull you.

overall, jane’s energy is... Jane™™™™™™™. that’s it. u either plug into it or u don’t.

21. What kind of relationships do they tend to intentionally seek out versus actually cultivate? What kind of social contact do they prefer, and why?

jane prefers social contact on Her Terms, not because she’s antisocial, but because she has... very, very, very little tolerance for most of the social contracts the allistic world takes for granted. she does NOT fuck with small talk, “saying hello just to be polite”, being civil to people she doesn’t like, etc. at this stage in her life she’s just over it all. generally speaking, she wants social contact with people one-on-one or, at most, in a group of three (3) total; she wants that to happen in semi-public or private spaces where they won’t be bothered; she wants it to be interesting, respectful, and if she’s talking to a pretty lady... fruitful ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) (but it also doesn’t have to be because jane is a gentleman).

apart from the romantic, jane rarely seeks types of relationships; in general she’s just looking for people she can actually connect with--easier said than done as an autistic in an allistic world, not to mention a woman in STEM. so it’s possible for jane to cultivate relationships that seem sort of... wildly unconnected to each other? she’s able to forge connections w people from all over a range of personality types because what she’s after is that connection between her and them, the ability to experience something meaningful with them. when you compare e.g. margot @sapphiism‘s passionate intensity with the low-key thoughtfulness of dorothy’s father, roberto, they seem very different from each other, and it might seem unusual for jane to have forged such closeness w/ both of them.

33. How do they learn about the world–what is their preferred learning style?

jane learns by Touching All the Things; also by Doing, usually by a method that’s significantly weirder than how other people do it; to a lesser extent, also, research, which definitely plays a role, but is a strong second to her need to stick her hands in whatever’s going on and mess around with it. you can imagine how difficult it was to transition to biomedical engineering and not be allowed to just shove her hands into people goop. GOD DAMN IT LET HER TOUCH YOUR ORGANS.

41. What associations do they bring to mind? Words or phrases, images, metaphors or motifs? Why?

don’t u hate it when ur bopping along writing and u encounter something and ur like “damn i write about this a lot this is def a motif” and then u actually get asked this question and u can’t focking remember... let me try to think of some bhsfmsldkghdgkslm

ok, i associate jane STRONGLY with birds. i’m always thinking of her as birdlike in particular because of her habit of looking at people from angles, out of the corners of her eyes and/or w her head tilted, as a bird will cock its head to look at you. not to be discursive but if u wanna be Valid™ u should have ur character think of jane as being like a lorge bird.

an image that i often write about when jane is happy is bubbles. that’s how she experiences happiness--big, fizzy, effervescent bubbles of light and color lifting her up--and it shows in how she bounces, rocks, and sways when she’s very happy. like fizzy lifting drink but emotional.

in terms of words, phrases, metaphors... i think i’m always trying to find new ways of describing jane’s sensitivity, her engagement w/ the world around her. i think i was genuinely successful when i wrote this:

If she could thrust her hands into the colors of things the way she might thrust them into pools of paint, she would.

and i honestly might never top it.

character development questions. ∴ @marblecarved.

#marblecarved #∴ headcanon tag.#thank you so much for sending these in!

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myvoicenottheoneyougiveme · 4 years

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The fuss, the fuss...

As said by many others concerning this show, “art-house”. The shift from TV14-PG-13+ to very hard R in the theatrical realization of the ending we didn’t get initially. The End of Evangelion ~ ->Armageddon: the end of all things in the same levels of bizarre and otherworldness. We move from the more action oriented Godzilla-esque battles in the very beginning on to art-house explorations of the mind and character driven drama to a time when it all comes crashing down when it’s time to find out what the characters are really made of. Asuka resolves her funk--her lifetime struggle with what’s been inside of her. Misato shows us what “tough-love” is. Rei discovers the breadth and depth of her origins--her true identity. Gendo is revealed for the murderous and manipulative bastard he is. Shinji goes on an acid trip....

Seele plays the UN/JSDF against Nerv because Gendo has his own plans for the Human Instrumentality Project (the evolution or rather devolution of humanity out of its present individuated form into one being--a return to the womb for all intents and purposes). This “salvation” of the human race is their ultimate goal even if the military forces they leveraged against Nerv believe they are trying to stop it from happening. The all out slaughter of Nerv and it’s personnel, everyone and everything that the audience has become familiar with and connected to, the slaughter that ensues... it’s a massacre.

Unit-01 is the vehicle to the realization of The Human Instrumentality project. The culmination of the world ending transformation happens within the mind of the pilot, Shinji. Heart and mind synchronization with the Eva means a strange blurring between what happens to the Eva and what happens to the pilot. After the 9 production model Evas are defeated by Asuka, they get up like zombies and eviscerate her. They descend on Shinji next. In a bizarre twist of events the Lance of Longinus is miraculously recalled from lunar orbit immobilizing Unit-01 and setting the stage for a literal crucifixion. Through the “dissolution of the pilot’s ego” something something incantation-like bullshit from visor man head of Seele and cue acid trip.

“Destrudo”, the opposite of “libido”, is another word used earlier in the series after Shinji is dissolved in a similar fashion to what’s about to happen here. Let’s just dissolve your brain and see what comes out. Let’s just stab stab stab stab stab and jab our way to the end of the world. If we break you down enough, eventually you’re going to snap.

Cue dream like sequence: the most regressive and childlike and desperate the character has ever been. The author’s would-be spouse standing, looming large over top of him,

Shinji: “Somebody! Anybody!”

Asuka: “No.”

Snap... Destrudo. A surrealist dreamlike sequence symbolizing “destrudo”. All in his head, then manifested out in the world as the culmination of an end to the suffering of humanity by returning all to nothingness. But the introspective journey is only beginning.

“Acid trip” (for much of the leading up to and thereafter), is probably the best analogy, and a quick search of the term “ego dissolution” in my search engine actually has a headline that juxtaposes psychedelics and ego dissolution. Whatever it is about acid as they’re discovering that kicks the doors down between the different parts of the brain, you can seem to either have deeply insightful revelations about yourself and life or you can have... a very bad trip--terrifying hallucinations, panic, etc. I guess it depends on the circumstances and your mental state.

I must admit that I don’t fully understand the term ego dissolution as it seems a rather large concept, but destrudo is manifested into the world as a result. He was used as a vehicle to its realization, this end of all things. ...But he had the power to choose a different outcome. He had a choice. He could choose a different destiny for himself and subsequently the world. The moral of the story is one of hope. The moral of the story is, the future is unwritten.

At the end then... after said introspective journey and the choice for a different fate, Shinji and Asuka are washed up on the shore of consciousness side by side. Cue symbolic reiteration of world ending trip so we can make a point--a summary in the most concise and powerful way possible. The future is unwritten. In an absolute reversal of roles, the future is unwritten. There’s so much packed in and around all of this, what her appearance echoes, what her gesture echoes, the apparition of Rei levitating above the water--one blink and she’s gone. The layers, so many god damned layers of meaning packed in. ...The road goes off in several different tangential directions, context all asking for exposes of their own. The message, if I can leave all of the rest packed in aside, it’s the exact opposite message to him of the one that precipitated the snap in the dream. And she’s not angry, and she’s not judgemental, critical, condescending, or belligerent per usual (or physically aggressive/abusive as the first time around). She’s not putting up a fight in the least... but she does one better than all that in an absolute reversal of roles. I feel like every phrase of words I could attach to this gesture would fail somehow to capture it.

It’s meaningful BECAUSE it’s in the face of it. It’s fucking powerful BECAUSE by all rights, by every definition, by every right measure, the action IS horrifying.

In contrast, her body language to match the gesture, isn’t of someone in fear. Her gesture isn’t of someone just trying to appease.

A single touch that could move mountains,

I know.... ....and I love you.

I think it’s amazing... but not because the action isn’t horrifying. If it weren’t horrifying, her response wouldn’t mean, wouldn’t carry all of the weight that it does. You don’t have to have ever felt or experienced or imagined to understand how powerful the image is.

It’s a symbolic reiteration because it recaps the whole meaning. He’s already come to the place, to the hopeful place and made a different choice. It’s as if to say “rewind” and replay it from the top. The single touch echoes the single touch in the ghost of his mother that concluded in his return to the land of the living. The entire how many seconds there at the end that this exchange between Shinji and Asuka happens, is blown up and expounded upon in the whole last half of the movie right before this scene.

Introduction paragraph: “destrudo”.

Body paragraphs, the world of nothing you wished for and all the subsequent revelations and realizations about life and existence and why life is worth living.

Conclusion/Summary from the top: This journey in its most distilled and powerful form. Say you went there, say you decided to end everything, end her, end yourself, end life, end everything. ...She completely, completely defied all of it.

I would point you to the play Trifles for all your gripes about the concepts painted here. One of those required readings in school you know, in English, in the very English class(es) I took in the last couple of years no less. The abusive spouse, the husband that absolutely choked the life out of his wife emotionally. The whole plot is people trying to cover up for this poor woman that just lost it one day and ended him. My description won’t do justice, but we all empathize with that woman. We are made to, meant to. We feel for her, despite the literal act of murder. The whole thing is tragic. ...But you begrudge me an affinity for a series that ends artfully in a similar scenario explored but in the hypothetical ...and with the genders reversed. Explored, despair explored fully. Light found in the darkness. Meaning. Hope. The moral of the story, hope. The future is unwritten. This isn’t the end, it’s the beginning. Battered and broken, this isn’t the end. You wanna end it all? But this isn’t the end. Defying all expectations in a total and complete role reversal, the future is unwritten.

In the face of his pain now directed outward, a single touch that could move mountains,

I know....

....and I love you.

Edit: It was a mind-blowing finale of a film that no one saw coming. It defied all expectations by turning everything up to 11, EVERYTHING. Everyone’s first viewing, my own included, was, HOLY SHIT and WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST WATCH? Someone explain this shit.

First viewing of the series in a decade was 5 years ago, I’ve had a long time since to come to the insights I have, only now getting back to a re-viewing. It’s something of a never ending trip down the rabbit hole as I come to realizations about the meanings, things in places I never expected and my own discoveries about psychology and my own self and why these characters all resonated with me.

The thread, the threads throughout that are weaved into it, it’s made of real things. It’s a puzzle that has real answers, real parallels to real things in life, disguised and weaved allegorically in ways only a “high-context” culture could produce.

I took it for what it was, even if I didn’t understand it then. But the more I understand it now as an adult, the deeper it gets. There aren’t many stories out there with as much depth. And certainly not many in essentially YA fiction. There aren’t many stories out there that punch you in the gut the way this one does.

I’ve spoken for it, represented it on the whole, and now gone into detail about your shock and awe cuts that you use as ammunition.

I’ve spoken for it, and I’ve spoken for myself. There isn’t anything else to say.

Edit 2: Are we talking about "help" this morning?

I'll say it again if we are. I was in therapy/counseling when I arrived in Arizona. That ended when "you" got involved. He had better sense than any of you and wasn't about to be a part of "this" or caught in the middle or in violation of the ethics he was obligated to uphold.

Perhaps without knowing the full extent of your reach, he attempted to send me off on the right foot here in a new state, new life. Leaving all of "this" behind was the main idea. The message was that despite my attempts to get to the meat of anything and me wondering why he's not leading the conversation anywhere, that I was in a better place and just needed to focus on putting one foot in front of the other and focus on what was ahead of me and not behind me.

You have actively sabotaged every bit of that attempt to start over for the last 3 - 4 years. And now having seen the extent of your reach, I haven’t dared set one foot back into the therapy setting. Every step of the way, you’ve been there behind every person. Not everyone is so given or so eager to play a part. Some just avoid me entirely. Others, usually classmates, have gotten real keen on going to bat for you having been indoctrinated before ever meeting me.

You are the end of everything that ever can be or ever will be again.

Cease and desist, psycho stalker.

0 notes

artificialqueens · 7 years

Text

In Sickness and In Health Ch3 - shalaska - pureCAMP

A/N - its been a while!! i moved house friday 18th and ive only just got wifi!! but it’s here now thank god

i wanna show some love for my partner in crime nymph, who loves this fic more than she loves me (i think)

One thing Alaska had neglected to mention before the two of them arrived at the carriage station is that she’d never been in a regular carriage. Or any carriage, really. Her first time in a vehicle drawn by horses was that same day, accompanied by the King, Queen and Princesses. Granted, the regular carriages weren’t as lush as the royal ones, but that was to be expected. The interior was a shade of off-white, presumably painted with whitewash, and was a little bit dusty in the corners. There were two long benches on either end of the carriage, a thick blanket covering them. They were just long enough to lie across if one person shuffled to the side a little bit. The driver introduced himself and his horses – Star and Nutmeg – before helping them in. Sharon got in first, tugging the hood of her robe so it covered her face in case the driver recognised her. Alaska did the same, but to try and be untraceable rather than conceal her identity completely. No one would recognise her, but if she failed her task she knew she’d never be able to return home.

Fairly quickly, they were off, with Sharon offering double the cash to get moving as soon as possible. Light was beginning to fade and a lot of carriages didn’t travel throughout the night without extra coaxing. Alaska leaned against the wall of the carriage as she sat, letting out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding as she pulled the hood down again. Opposite her, Sharon did the same, drawing the ragged curtains closed before removing her own hood in the privacy of the carriage.

In the dwindling light of the evening, Sharon looked sicker than ever. The harsh shadows and lack of light were unkind to her sunken features. Alaska came to the realization, again, that the princess was inches from death, and there was little chance she’d get through it without Sharon dying, the witch refusing to treat her, or Alaska falling in love.

But she had to. It had only been early that morning that Alaska had left her home, awoken to the news of an emergency town meeting concerning the health of the Princess. It was mere hours ago that Alaska believed she would attend the meeting, then go out to work, return home to her small house and eat the same dry bread as always. The fact that she’d gotten entangled with the royal family so quickly, promising to complete a task that seemed damn near impossible, was so out of the ordinary that in a way, Alaska felt as though she had to deliver. If not, breaking out of her usual, albeit boring routine would’ve been for nothing.

“We’ll stop off at the next marketplace we find in the morning.” Sharon stated, her voice sounding grave. “For food, weapons, whatever we can find.”

Alaska nodded. “It’s gonna be a dangerous road ahead, if we even make it through the neighbouring kingdom. I’ve never been anywhere near it.”

“I have.” Sharon told her. “I used to accompany my father on peaceful visits to do with business and that. Not too exciting, but it’s something a future queen has to do.”

For a fleeting moment, the princess looked sad, staring off wistfully as if she were upset. However, she was quick to regain her stony facade. “I’ve been to a few palace balls there too. The place itself is beautiful, but I didn’t meet a single person there who didn’t make me want to drown myself in champagne.”

Alaska let out a laugh, strangely excited at the fact that she and the princess were conversing. “What’s Prince Ronald like? Heard he’s a real character.”

Sharon snorted. “Character doesn’t fucking describe it.” She swore. “If I’m honest, sometimes I wish that our kingdoms would go to war again, just so I could see him die in battle. The fucker loves me. His little brother does, too. Who is fifteen fucking years old.”

For some reason, Alaska still found it shocking just how different their lives were. Sharon had everything Alaska could ever want or need, and more. She had endless stacks of money, a beautiful palace, designer clothes, men falling at her feet. She attended parties and balls and conferences, spoke with individuals from all across the region, far and wide. She saw the world and all of its people. Alaska had none of it. She lived in a small home near the orphanage she’d grown up in, not far from Willam and Courtney. Her purse had pennies in it, barely enough to buy the groceries she needed to survive. She worked, she went home, she worked again. She wore the same dress for as long as she could get away with, washed it in the small stream, and wore her other dress until she could no longer get away with that one. The contrast was astonishing.

Yet Sharon sounded unhappy. Complaining. She had everything that anybody could wish for, dream of and need, and she didn’t seem to have an ounce of gratefulness.

“Must be exhausting, having so many suitors falling at your feet. All that money and everything.”

Sharon caught the hint of bitterness underpinning Alaska’s words, and raised an eyebrow. “You really wanna swap lives with me? Trust me, it isn’t as great as you might think.”

Alaska scoffed. “You have wealth. I can’t think of a single problem of mine that wouldn’t be solved by the money you have.”

“Money isn’t everything. Money doesn’t mean shit.”

“That’s what rich people say.” Alaska countered, feeling brave. “I can barely survive on the money I have. Your money could literally change my life –”

Sharon cut her off. “You have freedom. That’s something I’ve never had and I never will.”

An uncharacteristic bubble of frustration swelled up inside Alaska. “Freedom? Sharon, how on this earth do I have freedom? I have to work every single day, scrimp and scrounge and save every penny I come across. I can’t go out, drink in bars, have fun, I can’t do any of that!”

“Neither can I!” Sharon argued back. “When you step out of your house in the morning, no one is stopping you. No one tells you how to dress, what to say, how to act, who to talk to. You make that decision yourself. No one tells you where to go. You choose where to go. No one tells you not to go out, not to have fun. You choose that. Until I was twenty, I wasn’t allowed out of the palace walls without Miss Michaels. When I did leave, my clothes were chosen for me, my hair styled, I was told what to say depending on who spoke to me, and who not to talk to at all. I had to be the sweet, intelligent young princess at all times, responsible and ready to be a Queen. Try upholding an image like that when you just wanna go for a walk. You don’t have to be anybody. No one expects anything of you.”

She sighed. “I can’t go to bars either. I can’t go to all those rowdy revels that happen in the woods. I can’t even make friends. I’m twenty four years old and I don’t have a single friend.”

Alaska looked down. “You have me.”

“Huh?”

“You have me.” Alaska said again, louder this time. “My name’s Alaska, and I’m twenty two years old. My birthday is March 6th. My favourite colour is red and my biggest fear is drowning.”

Sharon chuckled. “Okay, I see. I’m Sharon, I’m twenty four years old. My birthday is November 28th. My favourite colour is mauve or black and I guess… I don’t know what my biggest fear is.”

She went quiet, but Alaska was quick to remedy the silence. “So we’re friends now. That makes us friends.”

Sharon smiled briefly, her lips curving upwards ever so slightly at her words. She opened her mouth as if to speak, before quickly covering it with one hand and using the other to delve into her bag. When she couldn’t control the impending coughing fit, she leaned her head out of the window, pushing the curtain aside as she blindly scrabbled for the little spitting pot she used. Alaska watched helplessly, knowing Sharon would only push her away.

After a couple of minutes, Sharon fell silent again. She drew back inside slowly, dabbing self-consciously at her mouth. Her face was grey and drawn, the bags under her eyes suddenly seeming more pronounced than before. She tossed the small pot back into her bag, sinking back down into her seat and letting her shoulders slump. It was clear she had no energy left to hold herself properly upright. With one trembling hand, she lifted her hood up and covered her face with it once again.

The carriage stopped suddenly, the two of them jolting forwards as the horses whinnied loudly. Alaska frowned in confusion as the driver poked his head through the curtain covering the window.

“Hey! I heard coughing in here. I ain’t carryin’ no diseased bastards in here, I got a business to run.” He snarled, glaring at Sharon. She turned her head away from him, catching Alaska’s eye and managing to signal her to pull her own hood up before she attempted to speak.

“S-S-Sorry –” She began, hardly able to formulate words.

“Listen.” Alaska continued for her, noting the grateful nod that was sent her way. “We paid you double to drive through the night, not to stop and ask questions about our health.”

The driver narrowed his eyes, squinting beadily at the two of them. “You know what dirty fucks like her do to my business? They contaminate my carriage, meanin’ I can’t have no more passengers. And then? Business goes bust. No money. Ya hear me?”

Alaska scowled. “You were paid extra. Carry on.”

“I’m not movin’ an inch.”

“Name your price.”

It was a risky move, offering extra money – for all Alaska knew, this driver could scam them out of pocket and leave with all of the money Sharon had with her. However, it was all she could think to do. Already they were wasting precious time that Sharon didn’t have. It was a race against the clock, and every moment that passed was a moment she was getting sicker. If money was what it would take to get the driver to keep going, then that’d have to work.

The driver thought for a moment, before stating his figure to his passengers. Alaska’s eyes shot open, taken aback, but Sharon didn’t react.

“P-P-Pock-ket ch-change.” She stuttered, gesturing limply to the bag beside her. “C-Can you…”

She trailed off, but Alaska understood her meaning. Leaning forwards – making sure to keep a careful eye on the driver, in case he tried anything clever – she reached into Sharon’s bag, opening up the purse and taking out his desired amount of money. True to her word, it was practically pocket change in comparison to what Sharon owned. The little purse was stuffed full with more notes and coins than Alaska had ever come into contact with in all her twenty two years of life.

“There.” She said, firmly pressing the notes into the driver’s greedily outstretched palm. “You’re driving through the night and the morning. You’ll stop when we tell you and only when we tell you. Try and kick us out again, the money goes right back to us.”

The driver nodded. “Yes, ma’am. We’ll be off, then.”

With that, he was gone. Alaska felt strangely amused; the fact that she’d been referred to as ‘Ma’am’, or even listened to for that matter, was so different compared to her everyday life. Bossing people around was a little more enjoyable than she cared to admit. The carriage jolted forwards as the sound of a whip cracking came from in front of them, and then it was shambling down the road once again.

“Th-Thanks, Lasky.” Sharon managed, smiling weakly.

Alaska brushed her off. “Oh, it was nothing! I had to make sure we kept going.”

“N-No.” Sharon tried again. “F-For frie-friend.”

The sentence barely made sense, what with Sharon unable to speak fully, but the meaning was clear enough. Unwittingly, a huge smile filled Alaska’s face as she looked upon the princess. She was Sharon’s first friend. At the very least, despite the outcome that lay ahead, she could say for certain that something good had come from the situation. At least it could be said that the princess had a friend.

Opposite her, Sharon seemed utterly drained of all life. She was struggling to keep her eyes open, her eyelids drooping and fluttering as she slid lower down in her seat. Her body grew weaker and weaker after every coughing fit, reaching a pinnacle as soon as the fit was over, leaving her grey and sweaty and exhausted. Back in the palace, Miss Michaels or someone else equally versed in Sharon and her sickness would be at her side immediately, helping her lie back and gently tipping water into her mouth, but not now. Now she clung to the bottom of her seat as tightly as she could – a grip so loose that a breath of wind could knock her down – and tried to collect herself.

“You need to rest.” Alaska said, speaking softly. “It’s been a rough day for you.”

Sharon snorted. “Ev-Everyday is r-r-rough.”

“I know. Come here, come lie on my seat. I can take the blanket from your seat and drape it over you.”

Normally, Sharon would’ve protested, but she just didn’t have the fight in her. Nodding tiredly, she rose to her feet and stumbled to the other side, sitting a few feet away from Alaska to catch her breath. Alaska reached for the blanket on the opposite bench, tucking Sharon’s belongings underneath so they were out of sight and guiding the princess into a lying down position. She was just a little taller than the length of the bench, her legs awkwardly cramped against the far wall.

Alaska draped the blanket over Sharon’s shivering form. “Hey, you can rest your head in my lap so you’re not so uncomfortable. Here, I’ve got you.”

Sharon was practically asleep, compliant to everything Alaska told her to do. She made sure the blanket was covering as much of the princess as was possible as she shifted her head into her lap, her fingers absent-mindedly stroking Sharon’s dark hair. Sharon mumbled unintelligible words of approval, sleepily nestling closer to Alaska and breathing deeply.

“G-Good friend…” She whispered.

Alaska smiled tenderly down at her. “I’m nothing if not a good friend. That’s why I’m here with you.”

Sharon didn’t stir. “N-Not noth-nothing…”

Before Alaska even had a chance to respond, or piece together what the princess had said, she’d fallen asleep. Her eyes finally closed, her body slumping more so than it had when she’d tried to keep herself together. In her slumber, Sharon’s cheeks and lips were rosy, flushed with colour that she lacked during her waking hours. It was incredibly reassuring to Alaska – that and the feel of Sharon’s breath against Alaska’s leg, and the rising and falling of her chest. She’d been irrationally afraid that Sharon would appear almost corpse-like in her sleep, like her daytime self only magnified, but she didn’t. If anything, she looked more alive than she had during the entire day.

“I’d give myself a week, two weeks at most. Death will be a goddamn blessing when it finally arrives.”

Not likely, Alaska thought to herself. You’re not dying on my watch.

-0-

Somewhere around two in the morning, Sharon’s steady breaths must’ve lulled Alaska to sleep. She woke up to glaring sun shining through the flapping curtain, the fresh air like a slap in the face. It was still early, but Alaska was fully conscious now, the pale sunlight outside suggesting that it had not long been dawn. Sharon, unsurprisingly, was still fast asleep, having curled up towards Alaska even more as she slept. One of Alaska’s hands rested on the side of the princess’s face, resuming the gentle stroking of her hair that she’d spent what felt like hours doing the previous night. Although still as black as her mother’s, Sharon’s hair felt brittle and dry, like it would snap or fall out at any moment. Alaska supposed that, what with her illness and the fearsome temper it had brought along with it, Sharon had bigger priorities than whether or not her hair was glossy. Still, it was a shame to see it had deteriorated so much since Alaska had last seen Sharon healthy. Almost everything about her had deteriorated in some way. Back when she wasn’t so sick, she’d been the envy of every woman and the eye of every man in the kingdom. Her last public appearance – a celebration of the harvest, which had been particularly bountiful that year, Alaska recalled – had been incredible, and Alaska remembered noting how wonderful she looked.

“Good evening everyone, thank you so much for the warm welcome.” Sharon greeted the crowd, her face alight with joy. The twenty-two year old hadn’t appeared in public on her own many times, and although she must’ve been dreadfully nervous, she didn’t show it. The crowd was positively delighted to have the eldest princess leading their celebration, used to simply having the King or the Queen. She’d dressed for the occasion in a gown that was golden, complimenting her fair skin, and her eyes were sparkling.

“As we all now know, the harvest this year has been amazingly fruitful. Never before have we had such a spread of grains, vegetables and fruit from one single yield. Our animals, too, are plump and well looked after. All of this, of course, is down to our wonderful farmers. Please, everybody show your gratefulness for the truest foundation of our community.”

The crowd broke into applause as the farmers made their way up onto the stage where Sharon was stood – a group of middle-aged men headed by one older gentleman, and tailed by a young apprentice of about fourteen. Each one received an award and a kiss on the cheek from the princess, accompanied by a wide smile and some kind words. The young lad, after receiving his award and complimentary kiss, blushed a deep shade of tomato red and clutched his cheek, his infatuation obvious.

Alaska smirked as she watched him stumble, wobbly-kneed, to his seat. Sharon always had that effect on the young men, her charisma and beauty an unbeatable combination. She was utterly charming.

“Maybe I should get into farming.” Willam commented off-handedly. Alaska started to snicker as Courtney slapped his arm.

“Willam!” She scolded.

“What?!” He defended himself, turning to Alaska for support. “Tell me Princess Sharon isn’t fucking irresistible.”

Alaska laughed. “Sorry, Court. Gotta admit, she’s gorgeous.”

Courtney sniffed. “Does she know the bad reputation that comes with red lipstick? Really, they shouldn’t let her wear it. Everyone knows it’s for whores. And she’s a princess.”

Willam sighed dreamily. “Fuck, that’s hot.”

His comment earned him another slap and a shrill telling-off from Courtney, effectively drowning out Alaska’s murmured, “Yeah, it is.”

Her hair had been thick and full then, her face full of life, her clothes well-fitted and her body healthy. It was a stark contrast to the Sharon who lay asleep in her lap, with only a mere hint of her old beauty remaining to identify the woman as the same beloved princess of their kingdom.

Still, it couldn’t be said that Sharon was no longer beautiful. Of course, she didn’t look a thing like she had before she had gotten sick, but that was to be expected. But the sight of her asleep – her head cradled in Alaska’s lap, curled up underneath the blanket – was definitely a beautiful one. If it were possible, Alaska would’ve just stared at her forever. However, she needed to focus. She had a mission ahead, and completion was a matter of life or death.

No sooner had Alaska been pulled from her thoughts, the subject of her distraction awoke. Sharon lifted one bony hand up to her face, rubbing her eyes before struggling into a sitting position. Instinctively, Alaska moved to help her.

“Thanks…” She yawned, half-asleep. “You’re a very comfy bed.”

She leaned down to rest her head on Alaska’s shoulder, her eyes closing again. Alaska chuckled lightly and put one arm around her, unintentionally moving the princess closer. Whether it was purposeful or not, Alaska didn’t know, but she didn’t miss the way Sharon nuzzled into her, clearly too sleepy to think too hard about her actions. The gesture made a rosy blush shoot across Alaska’s cheeks, her heart rate quickening.

“Glad to hear it,” She replied softly. “Did you sleep okay?”

Sharon breathed heavily, her head practically lolling. “Like a baby. Are we near any markets?”

“Not sure.” Alaska told her. “I can ask the driver?”

Sharon made a kind of grunt in response, reluctantly shifting away from Alaska and curling up instead inside her big robe. As Alaska made her way out of the seat, she laughed to herself. Clearly, the princess wasn’t a morning person.

“Hey!” She called, leaning precariously out of the window to attract the driver’s attention. “Are there any marketplaces nearby?”

Thankfully, it didn’t take much waving for the driver to notice her. “Yeah, five minutes away? You stopping?”

“Yeah, thank you!”

Alaska ducked back inside. “Five minutes. Wakey wakey, sleepyhead.”

Sharon groaned.

-o-

Akin to the marketplace back in their kingdom, the city square was abuzz with activity, a flurry of colourful stalls and signs and teenagers yelling for sales. Despite the similarities, Alaska felt incredibly nervous stepping out of the carriage. She had debated with Sharon about whether they should leave or take their stuff with them – on one hand, the driver might not be trustworthy, but on the other, markets were rife with thieves and pickpockets. In the end, they’d decided that taking everything with them would be safer, both of them putting their hooded robes on top of the bags strung across their bodies to hide them from sight.

The crime in markets always worried her, even in her own kingdom. Over time, she’d learned to identify the faces of who couldn’t be trusted, who she needed to look out for, and where they lurked, too. But here, somewhere new, she didn’t know. She didn’t know whose smiles were genuine and whose were tainted with mischief. She didn’t even know her way around. Sure, there were signs, just like the ones at home, but Alaska never used the signs. She knew where everything was at home.

“Well, shit.” Sharon murmured, her voice still thick with sleep. “Sheltered princess mode activated. This is completely overwhelming.”

Alaska frowned. “You’ve been to markets before, haven’t you? Like the one at home?”

Sharon pulled a face. “Not alone. There’s – there’s so many people!”

Without thinking, Alaska put an arm around the princess, standing closer to her. “It’s okay. Just keep your bag close to you and try not to bump into anyone.”

“That sounds impossible.” Sharon breathed, hastening to elaborate when Alaska’s expression became confused. “Hello? There’s people everywhere!”

Alaska did her best to keep Sharon calm. “Let’s just have a look around, see what we can find. You said yesterday that we need food and weapons, we can wander and find it.”

It was clear she didn’t want to show it, but Sharon was visibly nervous. Each time someone brushed past them, her fingers gripped tightly onto Alaska’s wrist, and every yell made her tense herself up. She remained quiet as they walked, too afraid in the new environment to strike up a proper conversation.

To Alaska, it was a little strange to have someone to accompany her to a marketplace. Usually she was alone, nipping between stalls to pick up exactly what she needed and then leaving. Only here, not only was she with Sharon, she didn’t know where anything was. After a short while of walking, she found herself amongst the clothing stalls – which wasn’t where she wanted to be.

“Food, food.” She muttered to herself under her breath. “Where the fuck is the food?”

Sharon stopped and pointed. “Food’s that way.”

“How do you know?” Alaska questioned her, tilting her head to the side.

A confused expression flitted across Sharon’s face. “There’s a sign right there, look.”

Instinctively, Alaska glanced up to the sign Sharon was pointing at. She could see an arrow, and some printed letters, but she had no idea what the words read.

She smiled uneasily. “Right, right, of course… Yeah. Let’s go.”

She didn’t miss Sharon’s gaze lingering on her for a few moment after she had looked up at the sign, but chose to ignore the rising blush on her cheeks. Sharon didn’t know, after all. Intelligent as she was, Sharon was naive. Why would she know that someone like Alaska couldn’t read? Of course, she’d grown up rich and educated; she would believe that everyone could read. For as long as she could allow Sharon to believe that, or at least not have to enlighten her to the truth, she would.

Soon enough, they found the correct stalls, and Alaska picked out the food they would need as Sharon counted out the money. Things had settled – Sharon was calmer now, and Alaska less embarrassed. Alaska knew it wouldn’t last long, something would disrupt the peace. And of course, she was right.

“Hello, my good sir! One of your finest red apples, please!” A loud, sonorous voice rang out from the stall next to them.

Sharon winced. “Oh, shit.”

Alaska was about to ask Sharon why she’d cringed when she spotted the speaker.

It was only Prince Ronald, the eldest son to the neighbouring kingdom’s monarchy. He was one of those men that appeared to be uncomfortably perfect – his teeth were too large and too white, his smile too wide, his back too straight and his voice too loud. As expected, he was all dressed up in his finery, with a long sword hanging from his belt. Alaska watched as he took a bite out of his apple, chewed appreciatively, and then spotted the two of them.

“Ah! Ladies!” He called out, tossing the barely-eaten apple into a nearby bin – a waste of money, even if he did have mountains of it. “Let me pay for this!”

The shopkeeper eagerly stretched out his hand for the prince’s money, uninterested in Sharon or Alaska. Wordlessly, he handed their bags over to Alaska and started counting the notes, his eyes wide and greedy.

Sharon groaned. “You really didn’t have to –”

She paused suddenly, as she realized her voice would be a giveaway to her identity. Unfortunately, it was too late. Prince Ronald turned around incredulously, his gaze honing in on Sharon as if Alaska didn’t exist.

“Sharon? What on earth are you doing here? A market is no place for a princess, especially not for a princess from another kingdom! Now I’m positively ecstatic that I bought your shopping for you! You should know it isn’t safe for you here!”

Sharon grimaced. “Thanks, Ron.” She said insincerely. “Now I –”

“If anyone sees you!” Ron continued loudly, as though Sharon had never even opened her mouth. “Goodness me! This won’t do at all!”

He took Sharon’s elbow and began to drag her away, leaving Alaska no choice but to follow. Sharon was too weak to fight him off as she usually would have, and stumbled alongside Ron with a pissed expression on her face. When he finally let go, having pulled the two of them into an alleyway backing the stalls, he started to speak again.

“I must say, it is wonderful to see you again! Although – oh my. You look dreadful.”

“Thanks again, Ron.” Sharon deadpanned.

Ron laughed, obnoxiously noisy. “Oh, you. Of course you’re still beautiful. You always will be! Especially to me.”

Sharon rolled her eyes. “Flirting with me in a dirty back alley. You’re a class act, Ron.”

He laughed again, seeming to find everything that Sharon said hilarious, or perhaps interpreting her mixture of indifference and dislike as friendship. “A vixen, that’s what you are! Well-deserving of true classy treatment!” He exclaimed. “I say, let me tell you, my mother was talking about you just last week – just last week, fancy that! And she said, she said ‘Ron, that Sharon is a wonderful lady, you really should continue courting her!’ And she’s right! Wonderful, that’s you, simply wonderful. She tells me ‘All good women put up a fight before marriage, you’ll get her!’”

Sharon shot an apologetic look towards Alaska, shrugging helplessly. Alaska listened to the prince’s ramblings with a growing sense of annoyance.

“And I say, I say ‘Mother, that’s what you’re not understanding about Sharon. She’s not interested in princes!’”

Sharon’s breath hitched.

“I tell her, ‘She’s interested in kings, mother, kings!’”

She breathed a sigh of relief.

“Classy, see, classy! You want classy treatment because you know you deserve it! And rightfully so! My coronation is soon, and perhaps then I will be worthy of your affection. Until then, I will continue to shower you with gifts.”

Sharon’s brow furrowed in thought. “Oh, so you’re who’s been sending all those roses.” She said, mostly to herself. “Hey, look – can you help me and my friend?”

The ‘my friend’ made Ron finally acknowledge Alaska, sending a stiff nod in her direction before turning back to Sharon. Alaska wasn’t sure how she felt – on one hand, Ron’s eyes were too blue, watery and just plain wrong. His gaze was uncomfortable. However, on the other hand, she wasn’t sure she liked the way he acted towards Sharon.

Ron took to one knee, taking Sharon’s pale hand in his and pressing an awkwardly lingering kiss to it in what Alaska assumed was supposed to be a romantic gesture.

“Of course I can, ma Cherie.” He responded. “That’s Spanish for ‘my love’. What do you need?”

Sharon looked as though she wanted to correct him, but thankfully settled for an easy life. “I’m doing some travelling, to uh… you know, see the world before I become Queen.” She lied.

Ron looked affronted. “But Sharon! You really shouldn’t be travelling, especially on your own! A poor, defenceless woman-”

“I don’t have to be defenceless.” Sharon cut in, her fists clenched in an attempt to keep her cool. “If you can give me access to some weapons, I can be protected. I know you have an impressive collection.”

Alaska noticed the change in Sharon’s tone – subtle but deliberate flirting. Anyone with working eyes would see that Sharon despised the man before her, but he was so besotted, or perhaps idiotic, that he fell for her charm. In the meantime, she widened her eyes at Alaska, signalling for help.

“I do, I do…” He trailed off, his eyes dreamy. “But no! You shouldn’t be alone, it’s too unsafe for a young princess out there. Let me accompany you, and –”

“No!” Alaska burst out, spurred on by Sharon’s silent plea for help. When Ron frowned, she thought fast. “It’s… uh… she’s – it’s like a, a bachelorette-type thing. No, um, men.”

Sharon nodded gratefully, jumping on board. “Yeah, you know me. Bit of a lone wolf. I thought it’d be nice to… uh… fly solo, um, before I find someone to, you know… settle with. I have to be ready.”

Both of their lies were awful, strung together badly and riddled with pauses and gaps, but Ron nevertheless seemed swayed. He nodded slowly, although Alaska could tell he was secretly disappointed about not being able to travel alongside Sharon.

“That makes perfect sense!” He agreed enthusiastically. “Go off, ‘find yourself’ as all you women claim you want to do, and return! I’m sure then you’ll be ready to be my wife, hm?”

Sharon hummed uncomfortably. “Ha, maybe.”

Ron waggled his eyebrows, not picking up on any of Sharon’s hesitant body language. “Who knows, in a year’s time we could have some Prince Ron’s and Princess Sharon’s of our own running around the palace!”

Sharon shuddered. “L-Let’s not get too far ahead. So you’ll supply us with some weapons?”

“Of course!” Ron assured her. “Come with me, come back to the palace, and we can fetch some. I’m sure my mother will be delighted to see your gorgeous face again! As will Felix, of course, and my father!”

As Ron turned to lead them away, Sharon took Alaska’s hand. It was a small gesture, but it meant a lot. She’d obviously noticed that Alaska had been sidelined, and had been stood listening to the exchange feeling shunned and a tad jealous, although she didn’t know why. She’d noticed, and endeavoured to try and make her feel better.

Sharon’s hands were cold, but Alaska’s were warm. She rubbed gentle circles into Sharon’s skin with her thumb, trying to warm her up.

“Can’t wait, Ron.” Sharon called out, the hint of sarcasm in her words drowned in Alaska’s mind by the accompanied squeezing of her hand. “Can’t wait.”

Alaska was in big, big trouble.

#shalaska #sharon needles #alaska thunderfuck #purecamp #in sickness and in health #willam belli #courtney act #rpdr fanfiction #submission #royalty au #lesbian au

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