#despite being horrified by the atrocities she has committed

[fromduck]

No Glory

(Yandere Gladiator x Empress Reader x Yandere Emperor)

Summary: There is no glory in seeing your lover in the arms of another.

(Tw: Gore, Violence, Forced Relationship)

A/N: Guess who watched Gladiator II, hehe 🤭

-unedited-

-The Emperor’s wife is an untainted beauty.

-Despite the blood and death on his hands, the Empress remains pure from his sins.

-With soft luscious lips and unblemished skin, kind doe eyes a beautiful color.

-Draped in white robes, with gold accents. White Gold jewelry adorning her frame. Pearls hanging from her ears and entwined in her hair.

-She has a beautiful smile and kind eyes. Willing to choose mercy over shedding blood.

-Unlike her cruel husband who relishes in it.

-Anyone blessed to be within her radius marvel at her presence. Even more so when she smiles. Be careful not to stare too long, the Emperor’s watching.

-The Empress is beauty incarnate a being coveted by all people. Adored by the citizens of Rome and boasted as the most beautiful woman in the world.

-And the Emperor is a lucky man. A lucky man indeed.

-There are whispers of her divinity and where the Empress hails from.

-Some say she was given to Rome to the Emperor as a gift from the Gods.

-Others argue that she herself is a Goddess who willingly married their glorious Emperor.

-None know the Empress’ origins.

-Except for two people.

-The brutal Emperor of Rome.

-And a Gladiator who knows too much for his own good.

-A man who waits for the next fight he’ll be thrown in. Where he’ll be fighting for his life.

-For the delight and entertainment of others.

-His life matters not, it never did.

-Yet, when he wakes up, when he trains for his fights, and when he goes to sleep. He thinks of you. He lives for you.

-He knows the truth.

-You don’t belong to the Empire of Rome. Or that bastard Emperor.

-You belong to him.

-You were his long ago. When he wasn’t a war broken man torn by the cruelty of others.

-In a land far away from Rome, you both once lived together at peace.

-He’d been a gentle man once. Someone who pined after you in your youths, who’d begged your father for your hand, and had cried when he married you.

-He loves you so much.

-He had never been one for religion but if there were any gods out there, he thanked them sincerely for the life they gave him. One with you.

-Then the Romans came. And they took everything.

-They came with a hunger for blood and conquest. Ready to plunder their lands and take over them.

- They killed his family, his friends, people he had known.

-They did it with bloodthirsty grins. And the one who led them was the cruel Roman Emperor who lived for the violence.

-He killed many while on his black stallion. His sword plunging into innocent people.

-Man or woman, the Emperor didn’t care. He demanded blood and blood he would get.

-It was horrifying the strength of the Emperor as he slaughtered those around him.

- Your husband watched as he committed atrocities.

-There was no mistake, with that monster there, his and your home would be overtaken.

-Him taken a slave to fight in the pits of violence at the Colosseum.

-And you made a slave, owned by someone as an object.

-No. he wouldn’t let that happen.

-Now all he had left was you. And he would die before anyone touched you.

-So he prepared his stallion, picked up your precious form and placed you on the horse. You looked at him with worried eyes, tears slipping down your soft cheeks.

-He’d only look at you with loving eyes. Cupping your lovely face in his large hands.

-He remembered your look of worry as you questioned where would you both go. Your sweet gentle eyes pleading as you made him promise to never leave your side.

-He promised that not even death would separate you both.

-Then, he’d been clubbed upside the head. Pushed to the floor as someone began beating him with an inch of his life. He tried to get up but then another one had shown up with club and struck him in the head.

-Both Roman soldiers jeered as they continued their violent onslaught. He’d almost seen double.

-But what stood out to him was your anguished face.

-Your shrill cries of agony rang out through the air as the love of your life was beaten to a messy pulp.

-The stallion had jumped, and pushed you off of its massive body.

-You tumbled to the floor, hitting your back violently.

-With no regard for any injury, you’d quickly jumped up and tried to stop the cruel soldiers from killing your love.

-You’d shove at them yelling out for them to stop. Though to no effect as your smaller form was no match for the might guards of the Roman Army.

-One of them had only sneered at you before delivering a backhand to your face.

-You fell on your side, your nose bleeding from the impact.

-You quickly got up and clung to a guards leg as you begged for them to spare your husband.

-They ignored you and continued their onslaught.

-Until the galloping of hooves.

-There the Emperor was like a sign of death as he rode his gigantic black stallion.

-Blood coated his face and armor. None of it his.

-The war was over, Rome’s victory assured.

-And yet the Emperor was left unsatisfied.

-So he went on the prowl for more victims. All until no one was left.

-He caught sight of his soldiers torturing a large man as his wife begged them to stop.

-Any honorable leader would have stopped his soldiers and given the couple a swift merciful death. No more suffering was needed from a war already won.

-But he was far from honorable.

-As he approached it wasn’t because he wanted to stop the violence.

-He was honed in on the soft crying and pleading of the woman.

-A sound so delightful that he couldn’t help but want to hear more.

-He got off of his mighty horse. His steps confident.

-But as you turned around to face him, he felt his breathe hitch, his steps waver.

-It was as if he was in the presence of Aphrodite herself.

-There you were with tears in your big eyes and blood dripping down your nose.

-Even in filthy peasant clothes, you were the most beautiful being he had ever laid his eyes on.

-He had to had you. And have you he will.

-His eyes narrowed at your injured face. The soldiers most likely the culprit.

- “Stop.” He commands, his word alone enough to halt the violence.

-With a sob you run to your husband as he lay on the floor. You place his head on your lap. Ripping a piece of fabric from your dress, to clean the blood on his face.

-Your poor husband looks at you with swollen eyes, barely focused. Your heart broke further.

-The two soldiers quickly turn around. Sinking onto their knees to properly greet the Emperor of Rome.

“My emperor.” They say in union.

-They cower under the glare of the Emperor.

-“Which one of you hurt the girl?”

-Both soldiers look at each other confused. He wasn’t taking about the sobbing girl behind them, was he? The enemy?

-The Emperor’s glare becomes murderous. He draws his sword from his scabbard. It glints with the blood of his foes. But all know that his sword can just as easily kill who he pleases, friend or foe.

-It was at that moment, both the soldiers knew that whoever was guilty— they would be dead in the next second.

-So, both blamed each other, scrambling to have the Emperor believe them.

-“It was him my emperor, he was the one who hurt the girl—-”

-“Nay my emperor, he lies—”

-Both soldiers plead their innocence. But the Emperor isn’t known for his patience.

-With a brutal slash, he beheads the two soldiers.

-Their heads roll off their bodies.

-A huff of satisfaction leaves the emperor, soldiers who lie are not worthy of his army. He may not be honorable but he has no patience for lying snakes.

-He averts his gaze, to you, only to be met with a puddle of blood. Presumably your husband’s.

-The emperor snaps his head to your quiet sobs. He sees you dragging the large form of your husband, his arm over your shoulder, his feet dragging against floor.

-You both were trying to escape, this wouldn’t do.

-With large strides, he rips you away from your lover. The man falling gracelessly onto the floor. He tries to pick himself up but his strength is diminished. He could only watch as the Emperor, holds your hands and stares into your beautiful eyes in awe.

-He knows that look. That look of adoration as if in the presence of a goddess.

-Your husband holds the same look for you and now the Emperor does too.

-You try to escape but the Emperor’s grip is painfully tight.

-A whimper escapes your lips as the man gets down on his knees, his head bowed. He mimics the same loyalty his subjects would show him. But he is in the presence of a goddess.

- “The Gods have rewarded me by giving you to me.” He whispers breathlessly. “You are the one they have chosen for me. Rome needs an Empress. And I need a wife.”

-With the hunger of a man starved he yanks you down to him, grabbing you by the hair and devouring you into a brutal kiss.

-You cry out into the kiss, looking at your husband pleadingly to save you from the Emperor.

-But your husband is at death’s door, fighting and pleading Hades to not take him. For he couldn’t leave you to such a grim fate.

-The Emperor pulls away, his eyes filled with lust. He’ll have you, but not here in this filth.

-He picks you up a bridal style, taking you to his horse. Taking you to Rome.

-You try to fight him, but he only gives you a scolding glare. As if to say, ‘behave.’

-You cry quietly, looking at your husband’s dying form. The Emperor only sneers at him, spitting on his bloodied face.

-Your husband looks at the Emperor with rage. A rage that makes him shakily get up on his knees.

-Your hands are tied behind the Emperor’s neck, begging him to let you go. A smack to your thigh makes you shut your mouth.

-Once you’re both secured on the horse, the Emperor doesn’t even glance back at him.

-He rides off into the distance, with the blood of his people on his hands and the love of his life in tears.

-Your husband, a broken man, lets out a sorrowful scream. He promptly collapses onto his side, passing out. Pleading with the gods to not take him. He needed to save you.

-Later, he was dragged by his feet. Slave masters had found him. They bet on how much money the large man could make them.

-Him, a none violent man, was put into fighting rings were people placed bets on who would win.

-Your husband, a gentle man was turned into a former shell of himself with each blood shed that coated his hands.

-A man who once held you with tender hands was forced to use them to kill for the entertainment of others.

-He fought weaker men, stronger men, and terrific beasts. All who were in the same position as him. All for the entertainment of others.

-The life he was forced into would have broken others, but not him. Not when he was fueled by an anger. An anger for the Emperor who had taken everything from him.

-The hesitance he once had for killing became nonexistent with each fight. His worth as a slave becoming more and more valuable. And he was taken to more and more valuable places.

-Like a blood thirsty hound, he followed you. He was at the edge of death many times, yet he refused to part from you.

-He followed you to Rome, vengeful and angry. Many times he thought he’d die but once he made it to the grand city, he knew the Gods had given him another chance.

-He needed to be stronger for you. So that he would save you.

-His reputation as a vicious fighter spread throughout Rome. Many eager to see him in the Colosseum.

-And that’s where they took him.

-Now he stands in the arena, his heart beating erratically in his chest. Blood splattered on his face and armor. None of it his.

-There is no glory where he stands while his defeated opponents lay bleeding on the ground.

-There is no glory in the screams and cheers from the crowds. All chanting his name as he stands as the last man standing.

-There is no glory in his victories, where he gets to live another day.

-His eyes shift to where you sit in the grand seats of the Colosseum. You’re beautiful with your beautiful gown and jewelry. Yet you look at him with such sadness. As if he were another dream out of reach.

-His soft eyes harden when a firm hand grabs your soft one.

-The Emperor brings your hand to his lips, kissing it ardently.

-He doesn’t break eye contact with him as he does this. A clear claim of ownership over you.

-He grits his teeth.

-There is no glory when you’re trapped with that despicable man. There is no glory when you’re not his. There is no glory when the Emperor is still breathing.

-He returns the Emperor’s glare. Eyes hard with pure hatred and loathing.

-And for that, the Emperor must die.

[number1yisuchongfan]

Okay I have two AUs flicking about in my brain and it both deals with the same situation happening:

“What if Norm was left behind by Hank when he went to go get his kids from Shady Sands? Leaving him with Rose and Moldaver because Hank saw no reason to keep him around.”

Norm as part of the NCR:

NCR!Norm has been raised by Moldaver and the rest of those who survived Shady Sands, growing up knowing his mother’s fate and growing to hate his father and Lucy in some extent. He gets to go to Vault 33 with the raiders and Moldaver, getting to see what woman his older sister has grown into, and finally gets to meets his father again. And he’s disgusted, he’s horrified, and most of all, he’s PISSED because Hank made Lucy believe that Norm never even existed.

So he joins in on the raid, but unlike most of the other raiders, he’s not fighting because though he’s been hardened by the life he’s lived under Moldaver; he’s not going to kill innocent people. He hacks doors, takes down security, helps make the bomb, and finally gets to tell his dad off for abandoning him as a baby.

He works with computers, helps Moldaver with her projects and research, beats everyone in the NCR headquarters at arcade and video games, and is still quiet, but now he’s a bit brasher, a bit more of a fighter, and definitely much more depressive. He also wears Rose’s necklace

Moldaver tells him to calm himself, to rather prepare himself to go pick up Wilzig and CX404 from Ma June’s, and he reluctantly agrees. Leads him to go get Wilzig, realizing he’s already left, and then getting tangled up in some BoS bullshit. He’s forced to tag along, seeing how they’re the only people who can help him track them down, and soon learns to let himself get away from all the anger and bitterness that has plagued him for his whole life.

Norm in this AU is a bitter, young man who has gained the confidence and courage he desperately wanted in the show, but at the loss of those around him and the community he desperately craves.

Norm as part of the BoS:

BoS!Norm ended up in the Brotherhood’s care around the same time as Maximus, Rose giving him up for his own safety and leaving him just with her necklace

Norm is a scribe, he never wanted to be a scribe but they put him as one either way, and he’s one of the youngest scribes on the base. He mainly gets coffee and cleaning duties, but sometimes he just likes watching the Aspirants dueling and doing their jobs. He finds it a nice escape away from how boring being a scribe is.

He watches them from afar, wanting to be like them so badly, but this is the job he was assigned and he’s not gonna fuss. Norm likes the safety that just working with numbers and computers bring him.

His name isn’t Norm in this AU, the Brotherhood gave him a new name, Philo (Greek name derived from the Greek word Philos which means “Lover” & “Friend”), and he takes his job very seriously. He’s also got the biggest, fattest crush on Thaddeus, even after seeing him being a bully, and personally requested to join him on his journey with the other man.

He’s idealistic and truly believes in the BoS’s mission and goals but finds himself miserable and disillusioned with the poor leadership and twisting words of its mission for committing  atrocities.

He meets Lucy near the end, and he’s completely taken aback that she recognizes the necklace, and that’s when he learns that she’s his older sister, that he does have family, and then realizes he was left behind and given up. Lil man goes through an entire identity crisis over this realization as Lucy is so awkward cuz she was told Norm died with their mother during the famine. Also I have some art of Norm in his BoS scribe outfit!

In both, Norm is still lonely, the black sheep, the person who constantly questions, but at least he feels wanted and needed within his communities. In the NCR AU, he’s Moldaver’s son and second-in-command despite his age, and in the BoS AU, he’s a scribe who does his part for the Brotherhood and finds peace with it.

He’s just so fascinating to play around with lol

[walks-the-ages]

"What would a Second Trump Presidency look like?"

How about how we're literally living and seeing right now, except liberals would have to pretend to actually give a shit about people who are not them?

If Trump was president, they'd be baying for his blood, screaming from the rooftops that he's a war criminal and a genocidaire and a fascist dictator committing genocide --

But because Biden is the one in office right now, Liberals keep saying, against all reality,

"he supports a ceasefire!" --

so why is he building military multi-million dollar piers in Gaza explicitly to aid Israeli troops in massacring Palestinians, including having US troops participating in the slaughter of 300 innocent people ?

"He doesn't want to support israel but he has to!" --

So why has he tried to make a law that a President can send any amount of military aid to foreign allies without ANY congressional or public oversight, because he was pissed off that the American public was horrified at him sending billions and billions of dollars towards genocide and he didn't want people to know what he was doing, even though by his own admission this would allow future Republicans such as Trump to send billions in weapons to anyone he wants with no one else being the wiser?

You can also listen to his speech here, and tell me, do you really think his opinion has changed in the slightest since that time, despite the increasingly -public atrocities and apartheid committed by Israel ?

"there's no way he could stop the genocide, he's just one man!"

Oh, Biden is "just one man" but Trump is a magically powerful unstoppable dictator who can do anything? You guys really gotta make up your minds about how powerful the President of the United States is.

Biden has been sending Billions, with a 'B' as in $1,000,000,000, and an 's' as in plural in weapons to Israel. In April alone he sent $15,000,000,000 in weapons to them right before the first Rafah massacre, and that doesn't count every single fucking other "smaller" exchange of weapons he's sent them every month prior or after.

Biden is directly responsible for everything Israel does with the weapons he continues to send them.

And, he's been deliberately spreading disinformation about October 7th to justify Israel's genocide since Octover 7th .

On the opposite side of the spectrum, a reporter wrote an article about her treatment when she visited the White House to try to speak to him about the situation in Gaza and when she tried to show him pictures she'd taken personally in Gaza, Biden dismissed her and ignored her, claiming "I've seen those photos already", despite these being pictures she'd taken personally with her phone and not published online.

Biden is more than aware of the reality on the ground for the victims of his genocide, but he does not give one single flying fuck about them, because he does not view them as human beings, all he views them as is acceptable sacrifices for him to achieve his political goals of keeping Israel in power, no matter how many atrocities they commit with his direct aid and support.

All Biden would have to do to slow or halt Israel's atrocities would literally be to just stop sending them fucking weapons and cash. Israel has received $300,000,000,000 in aid from the USA, it would literally not survive without funding from America which pays for all of their healthcare, their military, supports their economy, etc.

The United States literally cares more about Israel, a genocidal apartheid entity, than it does its own people.

Israel has universal healthcare for it's citizens, funded by USA Taxdollars. But somehow, if the United States had universal healthcare of its own, that would be a waste of money ? As the saying goes, "They've got money for war but can't feed the poor."

You really just have to sit there and absorb the fact that the United States, and Biden right now especially , are literally funding another nation's universal healthcare and economy, while millions of Americans starve, are homeless, and die from lack of healthcare. If you're insisting we need to vote for Biden, I want you to literally sit for five minutes and absorb this fact. Biden is commiting genocide, right now, with your taxdollars, and is giving Israel billions and billions so that their citizens can have universal healthcare so they can commit genocide

Do you still think voting for this man is in your best interests, as he commits genocide?

Do you still think the Democrats can actually pretend to care about people, when they joined in with the Republicans to censured Rashida Tlaib, one step below expelling her from the House over her calling for Israel to halt the genocide?

Do you still genuinely believe that Biden actually cares about Palestinians? Or "can be reasoned with" How ? Its been 9 months, including mass protests across the USA and worldwide, and Biden is still refusing to slow or halt aid to Israel, and this is while he's trying to get re-elected!

Do you really, truly believe that you can "pressure" Biden in any way shape or form when he gets re-elected and literally does not have to give a single fuck about what any of how supporters want?

Have you grasped that fact yet?

If Biden gets re-elected by holding your rights hostage, and promising to do all the things he failed to do and is currently failing because he's President right fucking now and has another 4 months to accomplish things, do you truly, genuinely believe that he's going to keep any of those promises on round #2 when he's no longer beholden to public option (laughable, considering he's literally not right now even as his own party begs him to step down, and as studens are brutalized by his militarized police he gave millions towards ) because he truly doesn't need to give a fuck at all about re-election on his last term??

Anyways, if you want to actually vote for a candidate who is pro-palestine, you can vote for Dr. Jill Stein this November.

For all the genocidal liberals crying about how "we all gotta band together and vote for Biden or the world's gonna end 😭", how about you actually take a look at his actual fucking poll numbers and what his own party is saying before you go harassing tumblr users to vote for a losing candidate whos commiting genocide?

As of this post [7/15/2024], ~56.5% of Americans disapprove of Biden, while only ~37.9% actually approve of him.

If liberals spent even half the energy they do supporting Biden against all rational and national sense on instead actually supporting third party candidates who are Pro-palestine, we'd effortlessly get our first Third Party President.

Instead, genocidal liberals will deny the ongoing genocide by downplaying and ignoring it, and instead use phrases like

"Biden isn't perfect",

"Biden has some flaws",

"voting for president isn't like choosing a valentine",

"candidates dont have to be flawless to get your support".

Hey, pro tip liberals: if you literally have to plug your ears and play dumb to the fact that your favorite candidate is committing genocide to try to get people to vote for him, maybe, just maybe, that's a sign you need to rethink your strategy and morality.

All you do when you deny the genocide in the pursuit of your own interests is show the world that you solidly do not give a fuck about anyone but yourselves, and that you're willing to support candidates mass slaughtering innocent people as long as those people aren't you

You're also literally just telling the Democrats currently and any future Democrats that it doesn't matter how fucking low they sink, that as long as they pretend and promise to give a fuck about liberals sensibilities, that they can commit as many atrocities with impunity as they want, because they're guaranteed your undying support.

Anyways.

Vote Dr. Jill Stein this November.

Vote anti-genocide.

[fantasyandromancelover]

The Demon of Notre Dame

This is just something I wrote for amusement.

In France, two orphans Heinrich and Etienne were raised in the church of Notre Dame and training to become clergy men, though their guardian is very prejudice and unforgiving, they choose to be kind and open-minded with their beliefs. One day Heinrich meets Marie, a beautiful gypsy of Moorish descent who is homeless and offers her shelter in the church despite her dark sin. Both Heinrich and Etienne are instantly smitten with Marie and the three strike up a friendship. Over the years Marie comes to care deeply for both men but ultimately falls in love with Etienne but Heinrich feels entitled to have Marie since he found her. One night Heinrich follows the couple to a secret meeting and watches them make love. In a jealous rage, he stabs Etienne to death, though he's horrified by what he's done, he convinced himself and everyone else that he did it to save Marie from "getting raped" but Marie knows better. She leaves the cathedral.

A year later, Heinrich has now become a minister of justice and one night when a gypsy steals food, he and his men chase him back to his camp. He arrests everyone there even though the others are innocent, and discovers Marie living among them with a baby son she had unknowingly conceived with Etienne before he died. Still harboring feelings for her, he offers to spare her from prison if she accepts being with him. Marie rejects him and runs to the cathedral with her baby, Heinrich chases her. She reaches Notre Dame but the doors are locked and by the time the archdeacon  hears her pleas for sanctuary he is too late. Heinrich catches up to Marie and in blind rage beats her to death though her child is saved due to his mother sheltering him from the attack. Again Heinrich is horrified by his murderous actions but again he convinces himself that his victim was the one at fault, creating the delusion that she had bewitched him. Though when the archdeacon arrives and finds her body, he lies and says that she committed suicide. Still he feels the need to repent and he decides to do it by raising Etienne and Marie's child as his own.

The boy is named Alastor and Heinrich keeps him isolated in the bell tower of Notre Dame because he was born with a frighteningly, deformed appearance. Yet despite being "deformed" Alastor is stronger, smarter, and more talented than most men. Inheriting his father's athleticism and intellect and his mother's charm and musical gifts. Heinrich does try to be a good guardian to Alastor but can't get past the fact that he's the son of the "rapist" and the "witch" who "drove him to sin". So he mostly leaves him alone in the shadows and as the years pass he grows to become more self-righteous, prejudice, and misogynistic, and begins to secretly practice alchemy in the church which is forbidden. However young Alastor eventually becomes so lonely and desperate for a friend that he swipes some of Heinrich's alchemy tools and uses them to bring to life three imp statues that were constructed on the church, Blitzo, Moxxie, and Millie, who serve as his only friends, only moving in front of him.

Though Alastor tries to keep a smile on his face, he grows up depressed due to being kept solitary behind stone walls and forbidden by Heinrich to ever leave Notre Dame. Also lying to him that he's a monster so horrible that his father abandoned him and that his mother killed herself unable to comprehend that she had birthed such an atrocity. He finds entertainment and joy only from ringing the church bells and from watching the annual festival known as the Feast of Fools. When the festival takes place on his twentieth year, he decides that just watching a spectacle is boring and that he's been cooped up long enough. With encouragement from Blitzo, Moxxie, and Millie, he sneaks out to attend the fair.

At the same time, Anthony, a soldier is summoned to serve as the new captain of the guards and on his way to the Palace of Justice he spots Vagatha, an attractive and streetwise Romani gypsy dancing in the square and is immediately smitten. However Vagatha is distrustful of soldiers and members of the church due to a history of herself and her people being mistreated by individuals of each group, though she is grateful when Anthony defends her from getting harassed by some bigoted men.

The festival begins, led by Husk a gypsy magician, who secretly uses his skills in illusion and entertainment to run a pick-pocket scam and this year he proposes that his fellow gypsies have the Pope of Fools be chosen based on the scariest face in town, and once all the customers are distracted, they can rob them blind. However Vagatha, one of his wards, disapproves of stealing and pleads with Husk to put a stop to it as it only confirms what other people say about them. But Husk only dismisses her pleas, claiming it's survival of the fittest.

When Alastor arrives at the festival, he tries his best to avoid being noticed, which leads to him tripping and accidentally falling into the tent of Husk's other ward. Charlotte, a beautiful and innocent gypsy of French descent. Alastor tries to hide his face but she sees it anyway but much to his relief and surprise, she is not frightened and is more concerned by if he's hurt by the fall. He assures her that he's not and she kindly asks him to leave her tent so she can change but not before giving him a ticket for a front row seat to her performance. Heinrich and Anthony also attend the festival and are present when Husk, Vagatha, and the gypsies perform on stage with magic, juggling, and other tricks. Suddenly Charlotte appears and dances gracefully, entrancing all the men with her beauty, particularly Alastor and Heinrich. She then pulls Alastor on stage for the Pope of Fools contest, thinking that his horrific face is a mask but is self-mortified upon learning that she was mistaken.

The crowd is frightened of Alastor at first but Husk turns their fright into cheer by declaring Alastor the winner. For a moment all is well, but then the soldiers turn things around by throwing insults and stones at him, humiliating him. This enrages Aalstor who attempts to defend himself but the crowd thinks he's attacking without reason, so they tie him down to a stockade and began whipping him. Both Anthony and Vagatha want to stop this cruelty but Heinrich orders Anthony not to, in order to punish Alastor for sneaking out while Vagatha is held back by Husk who doesn't want her to get into trouble. But Charlotte cannot bear it any longer. She runs on to the stockade and throws herself on to his body to shield him from the lash. The whippings stop, Charlotte cuts Alastor loose and gives him water. This act of kindness captures his heart.

Vagatha and Husk then take Charlotte away before trouble arises and Heinrich finally allows Anthony to escort Alastor back into the church but not before viciously scolding him. Later that night, Charlotte cannot stop worrying about Alastor and blames herself for what happened to him, so she sneaks out of camp and into Notre Dame to see if he's alright. Unable to find Alastor, Charlotte sings a prayer that God will bless him and take care of him always. Her beautiful voice lures Alastor down from the tower and he spies on her, touched up on hearing her prayers for him. Suddenly he trips and catches her attention. He runs and tries to hide from her but the imps expose him. At first Alastor keeps trying to hide his face from her but she eventually convinces him that she doesn't find him ugly at all. They quickly become friends and bond over their shared love of music and performing, and the fact that they're both orphans. Charlotte tells him about how her parents died from the plague and how Vagatha and the gypsies took her in when no one else would. He in turn reveals to her his belief that his father deserted him and his mother killed herself because he’s a monster. Charlotte then reads his palm and looks up into his eyes, telling him with a smile that he's not a monster. Alastor falls deeper in love with her.

When Vagatha finds Charlotte's note explaining where she went, she quickly goes to the cathedral to get her. Anthony spots her and follows her, inside they argue whcih leads to them bonding over their shared pasts of hardship with Anthony having fought in war and Vagatha having to constantly face prejudice and bigotry. They are interrupted by Heinrich who demands that Vagatha leave, insisting that her kind only corrupts people and tempt them into sin. Vagatha stands up to Heinrich, calling him out for his mistreatment toward her people and calling him a hypocrite and a fraud which enrages him. He tries to strike her but again Anthony defends her and quickly escorts her out of the church, warning her not to fight unwinnable battles, to which she retorts that she cannot help it.

Later Alastor takes Charlotte on an outside tour of the cathedral, using his acrobatic skills to scale up and down the walls while carrying her. At first she's frightened but soon becomes amazed by the incredible views of Paris and finds herself feeling safe with Alastor. The moment is then ruined by Heinrich finding them and angrily yelling at Alastor for apparently trying to leave again and sends him back to the bell tower. He reluctantly goes but not before Charlotte bids him goodbye with a kiss on his cheek. Heinrich has now developed feelings of desire for Charlotte and he approaches her cordially, offering her shelter so he may save her soul, but she rejects his offer, saying that she sees the way he looks at her.

This infuriates Heinrich and he threatens to have Charlotte arrested if she ever sets foot in Notre Dame again. Later he tells Alastor that Charlotte is a dangerous person sent from Hell and that she is only trying to drag him into damnation even though he now lusts for her himself. The imps try to convince Alastor that not everything Heinrich does is right and they express their doubts about if he really cares for him, but he refuses to listen. Reminding them that he did raise him when his own parents refused to do it.

One night Anthony goes to a tavern where Husk, Charlotte, Vagatha, and multiple other gypsies are partying. While the other gypsies see any solider as a threat and refuse to include him, Charlotte invites him to dance with her and Vagatha. The three of them have the time of their life and Vagatha becomes so fond of Anthony that she kisses him. Charlotte watches them and can tell that they're falling for each other, she then wonders if she will ever be so lucky to find love even in these times of great hardship.  Meanwhile, in the bell tower, Alastor reflects on seeing couples in love from his tower and how he never thought himself worthy of love until meeting Charlotte.

That same night Heinrich's lust for Charlotte drives him mad and he convinces himself that she's a witch just like Marie was but that she's also his second chance at having what was denied him all those years ago. He vows to condemn her or take her as his own. The next day, he approaches King Louis XI asking for special powers to stop a 'gypsy witch' to protect Paris, which he is granted. With his new powers, he instigates a citywide manhunt for Charlotte, setting fire to houses which repulses Anthony. He finally has enough and defies his order to burn a mill that was rumored to hide gypsies. As Heinrich orders Antony's arrest, Vagatha appears to aid him, a fight breaks loose. Amidst the commotion, Heinrich stabs Anthony and frames Vagatha for it, she uses a magic trick to escape. Still Heinrich continues the hunt, while Alastor grows increasingly worried about Charlotte's whereabouts.

Vagatha brings the unconscious Anthony to Charlotte for help and she suggests hiding him at Notre Dame. Alastor agrees to look after him and almost tells Charlotte how he feels about her but backs out when he becomes scared of her rejection. She gives him a woven band and leaves with Vagatha. Heinrich arrives shortly after, Alastor hides Anthony from him. Heinrich quickly deduces that Alastor is in love with Charlotte and lashes out at him in jealousy but then calms down when he figures that he can use this to his advantage. Before leaving, he tells Alastor that he knows where the gypsy hideout "The Court of Miracles" is and that he intends to attack at dawn.

Anthony having awakened and overheard the conversation, suggests that he and Alastor go warn the gypsies. They decipher the woven band Charlotte gave Alastor as a map and they use it to find the court of miracles. Initially, thinking them to be spies, the Husk and the gypsies attempt to kill the two, but they are saved by Charlotte and Vagatha. Alastor and Anthony tell the gypsies about the attack and they all quickly prepare to leave. Anthony asks Vagatha to go with her, the two expressing their love for each other. Alastor looks on them all heartbroken, believing that there's no place for him out there in the world and that he'll never see Charlotte again. Charlotte however finds that she can't leave him and fears that he will soon die under Heinrich's abuse, she then realizes that she loves Alastor and decides to stay with him despite protest from Vagatha and Husk. She goes to confess her feelings to him but Heinrich and the soldiers suddenly enter, having followed Alastor, and arrests all present.

Heinrich has the guards lock Alastor in the bell tower and imprisons Anthony, Vagatha, and Charlotte on the false crimes of treason, stabbing a military officer, and witchcraft. He then visits Charlotte in her cell, telling her that he can save her if she will live with him as his mistress. When she refuses, he attempts to rape her but halts when she cries out in protest and leaves her to think on his offer. Feeling that all hope is lost, she makes one final prayer to God as Vagatha and Anthony yearn for a better future together. Meanwhile in the bell tower, the imps try to encourage Alastor free himself and save Charlotte but he angrily denounces them, declaring that he will remain stoic until he dies. Seeing that he's lost all will to fight, the imps can only leave him to his fate.

At dawn, Charlotte is tied to a pyre outside Notre Dame. Heinrich sentences her to death, offering her one last chance to save herself, which she angrily rejects. He lights the pyre and she faints. Unable to watch her suffer, Alastor breaks free, swings down on a rope from the bell tower, and takes Charlotte back to Notre Dame, invoking Notre Dame's status as a sanctuary in an appeal for protection. Heinrich orders that the church be taken by force but Husk uses his pick-pocket skills to swipe the keys and free all the other prisoners, after which Vagatha and Anthony rally the people of Paris to fight against the guards while Alastor and the imps dump the molten lead used for fixing the bells onto the guards to stop them.

When all appears safe, Alastor goes to check on Charlotte only to find her unresponsive to him. Believing her dead, the trauma triggers a flashback to the night he saw his mother die. Devastated, Alastor realizes that Heinrich has destroyed everyone who ever loved him and cries while holding Charlotte’s body. Heinrich enters and asks Alastor if Charlotte is dead, which he broken-heartedly confirms. Relieved, Heinrich tells Alastor that they are finally free of her poison. But Alastor is furious and calls him out on his evil behavior, he retorts that it was "her choice" and he "could have helped her" and "loved her." Alastor then asks bitterly,

“Like you loved my mother?!”

Heinrich panics and attempts to mislead him again but Alastor refuses to hear anymore of his lies. He prepares to kill Heinrich but stops when Charlotte awakens, alive and well, and Alastor rushes to her side, thrilled that she is okay. They embrace and kiss, the sight of it reminds Heinrich of Etienne and Marie, and his jealousy and pride finally causes him to lose all his sanity. He draws his sword and chases them onto a balcony overlooking the city, slashing at them with his sword with Alastor unable to fight back due to protecting Charlotte. In his rage, Heinrich admits that he killed both his parents because they were evil and declares that shall he now kill him as he should have done twenty years ago because he's nothing but a demon.

During the scuffle, Alastor ends up dangling from the cathedral, Heinrich raises his sword to strike him but Charlotte knocks out the evil man and desperately tries to pull Alastor back up, risking her falling with him. He's too heavy but the imps lend her their help and she successfully saves him. Heinrich quickly regains consciousness and makes one last attempt to kill the couple only for Alastor to throw him over the edge of the cathedral.

The two then reunite with Vagatha and Anthony, and the three lead Alastor into the square, when the crowd sees him, he almost flees but then Husk steps forward, paints deformities on his face, and twists his body to show that he is like him and the rest of the crowd follows suit, accepting Alastor. They cheer for him and Paris' liberation from Heinrich's tyranny, and Alastor and Charlotte finally proclaim their love for each other, as Blitzo, Moxxie, and Millie look on in approval.

[feenixdrop]

ideas for actual villain caitlyn if she didnt get a redemption arc under cut: (i guess an au?) mostly started as inspiration for potential drawings of caitlyn

-> s1 caitlyn was always really stubborn/stuck in her ways and sense of 'justice' use that to corrupt it into corrupted ambition -> ekko feeling betrayed the one enforcer he trusted turned out like this/confrontation with her -> caitlyn using more funding and taxes to go completely into military and police -> ambessa starts off as influence a lil but caitlyn starts to be the one purposing all the ideas -> vi becoming more horrified at the monster caitlyn is becoming -> caitlyn starts targeting the firelights which starts to radicalize/push the undercity to really act against piltover -> go harder into the macbeth inspo -> vi is the one that kills caitlyn even tho she still loved her but it was the right thing to do -> vi cuts off caitlyns head in the end (ref to jinx implying she had her head in a plate s1) caitlyn just accepts it -> vi being completely alone in her grief and maybe even guilty for even feeling that way -> caitlyn looking at her hands after making a cruel order and washing it (symbolize 'bloody' hands even tho she didnt directly do it) -> she puts on gloves to symbolize her ignoring the atrocities shes committing -> more propaganda fascist posters of her -> shes the one that gets isha killed in a failed jinx assassination attempt -> vi never joins the enforcers and become a firelight with jinx -> caitvi would become actual enemies with caitlyn actually going as far as to try to kill/imprison her -> caitlyn's dad ends up dying indirectly because of her actions/policies, completely isolating her (she justifies it saying it gives her all the more reason why she has to finish what she started now) -> caitlyn hunted by hallucinations of the deaths shes caused and of jinx/vi mocking her -> visual imagery of a crown of some kind on her head (not literal) as she looks away from the undercity -> more undercity citizens becoming sick and hospitals being packed while caitlyn has a private doctor to attend to her minar wounds -> actual ENEMIES toxic caitvi (when you have to break up with ur girl becauses she become a dictator, bubbline vibes?) -> crafting more hextech weapons which severs her connection to jayce -> imagery of her losing her eyes in some way to represent how shes stopped seeing clearly in what shes done -> actually, it would be funny if her eyesight started getting bad to the point of needing glasses -> more leaning on caitlyn seeing ambessa as a new replacement mother figure while ambessa just sees her as a pawn, ie shes not really family so she wouldnt care about her getting harmed -> more comparison of mel and caitlyn, mel is only the fox and caitlyn is only the wolf, they lack what the other needs (mel is able to reconcile being a wolf when its necessary, caitlyn dies before she can learn how to be a fox) -> more focus on firelights and the juxtaposition to the enforcers; firelights have an actual community/enforcers are only coworkers -> comparing the warm environment of the tree and firelights despite no light, piltover and enforcers are cold even with it -> compares the way ekko/caitlyn are leaders to their groups and its effects differently, caitlyn doesnt actually really know any of them -> is the one to hire singed and has the idea to use warwick (shes not willing to spill her own blood to use him however) -> uses the time spent learning about the undercity as ways to know how to hurt it more -> she starts selling shimmer/something adjacent to it (change it in a way to make it worse?) in the undercity again, parallel it to her scenes in s1 -> she ends up being the one that kills the man she helped in s1

NSFW: caitvi fight turns into hate sex and vi is repulsed with herself while beating cait as a release for her anger, caitlyn has a masochistic desire for it as she believes she deserves to be punished for her actions in some way. when the giving head scene is foreshadowing for when vi will take caitlyn's head lmao

[saffronique]

I Read Leopardstar's Honor So You Don't Have To: A Review (Not Spoiler Free)

Oh Leopardstar. A cat who has long divided the fanbase as a leader beloved by some and despised by others. After years of waiting (for some) she was finally given her own super edition. In a word it was... underwhelming.

Introduction:

The book opens during Leopardstar's kithood days. The first scene is adorably heartwarming- readers are treated to Leopardkit and her denmates playing the warriors version of hide and seek, and there are some absolutely adorable moments here, such as Crookedjaw helping Leopardkit escape the seeker by whisking her away on his back, and Mudfur doting on his daughter. The scene takes a sharp turn when Skykit, one of Leopardkit's denmates, lures her away from the group to shove her head underwater and berate her for giving away Skykit's hiding place in the last round of hide and seek. Skykit's actions are startlingly cruel here, as she tells Leopardkit that she's a rotten kit that killed her own mother and that she is doomed to the dark forest like all the other murderers. This understandably disturbs and traumatizes Leopardkit, and when she speaks to her father about it, Mudfur reassures her that she is good, and that Brightsky came to him in a dream to say that Leopardkit will one day save RiverClan. Leopardkit latches on to this dream, and the book follows her through relatively disjointed moments in her life as she tries to live up to her destiny.

Pacing:

The pacing of the book is an absolute nightmare. We don't spend long enough in any one part of Leopardstar's life to see her have any meaningful interactions with other cats, and thus the majority of the relationships she has seem surface level at best, forced at worse, with Whiteclaw being a notable exception. She spends maybe 3 chapters as a kit, 3 as an apprentice, 3 as a warrior, 2 as a mentor, and so on. As a result, we don't actually get the opportunity to see Leopardstar learning or struggling in a meaningful way at any point. We're TOLD she's a hard worker, that she's dedicated and loyal, but the book gives you little chance to actually see it. The book slows down long enough to force an almost love story with Frogtail, which Leopardstar ultimately gives up on to focus on her work, but then a few chapters later Frogtail is dead and it's back to jumping around through her life.

The book really suffers from a lack of side characters and relationships to help things feel connected. The only real through line is this silly dream from Mudfur-not even an official prophecy- that Leopardstar focuses on to the exclusion of all else. Compare this to Crookedstar's Promise and Bluestar's Prophecy- while both books feature a greater destiny that the characters focus on throughout the book, they are given the chance to develop meaningful relationships that last for large chunks of the book. Bluestar has her relationship with her sister and her rivalry with Thistleclaw, and even her friendship with Thrushpelt, all of which allow her story to feel genuine and naturally lend themselves to interesting subplots. Crookedstar has his relationship with Mapleshade, his romance with Willowbreeze, his desire to prove himself to his mother- again, all things that make him feel like a well rounded, multifaceted character. Leopardstar has her dream, and ONLY her dream. None of her friendships last more than a few chapters before the other character is killed off. Her most meaningful relationship, with her apprentice and adopted son Whiteclaw, has the potential to round out Leopardstar's character, but Whiteclaw's fate has been predetermined. We all know he's going to die in the gorge because we see it happen in Fire and Ice. After Whiteclaw's death, Leopardstar briefly has a compelling relationship with Silverstream after she discovers her relationship with Graystripe. Silverstream and Leopardstar have opposing priorities of love and duty, and the interactions between them are an interesting insight into both characters. Silverstream actively rebukes Leopardstar's mindset and challenges her priorities, something that would have been invaluable in making Leopardstar's choice to join Tigerstar seem more consequential. But Silverstream too is doomed to die, and by the time the book reaches its climax, Mudfur is the only cat left to challenge Leopardstar's choices. Instead of letting the rift between father and daughter build, Leopardstar has no problem simply banishing her father and medicine cat for disagreeing with her. No one that she cares about is left to challenge her for her decisions, and thus there are no real stakes to the choices she makes. Sure, Stonefur dies and its awful, but the book doesn't bother to develop any real friendship or camaraderie between the two, so it doesn't feel as impactful as it should. The book concludes with Leopardstar understanding that she's wrong and Mudfur convincing her that she's going to save the Clan from the disaster she helped create. At the very least, Leopardstar seems to understand the problems with this and points out that it's not really her saving the Clans, its Firestar. This is completely true, as she has no role in Tigerstar's downfall and no role in stopping Scourge. The best that can be said for Leopardstar is that she doesn't get in the way of Firestar here.

She faces no real struggles aside from her father's doubt as to her ability to lead, a dynamic already witnessed between Brambleberry and Crookedstar and done much better.

Awful editing:

This book suffers from an almost unbelievable lack of care on the part of the editors, with big chunks of text very obviously cut and pasted to different parts of the story without any effort to edit out nonsequitors. The most painful instance of this revolves around Stormpaw and Featherpaw's apprenticeship. In one scene, Leopardstar comments on the fact that Primrosekit and Pikekit will be made apprentices any day (Reedkit is inexplicably absent here, and Perchkit seems to have died offscreen though it is never mentioned) and notes that Stormkit and Featherkit still have their kit fluff and look tiny next to their older denmates. A couple paragraphs later, we see Featherkit and Stormkit being apprenticed to Mistyfoot and Stonefur, in a paragraph that EXPLICITLY STATES that it's the very next day. The other kits have mysteriously been apprenticed already. Boulder and Jaggedtooth of ShadowClan are inexplicably present at the ceremony, despite there being no mention of their arrival at any point and Leopardstar refusing Tigerstar's offer to join their two Clans together the day before. A few pages later (yes, literally just pages later, that's how atrocious the pacing is) we cut to a battle between RiverClan and ThunderClan at the Sunningrocks, where Stonefur and Mistyfoot's parentage is revealed. Leopardstar doesn't actually hear this, but she does overhear them discussing it in the most painfully forced way possible moments later. Leopardstar finds herself absolutely HORRIFIED that she's apprenticed two half-Clan cats to half-Clan mentors.... and then a few chapters later, after forming TigerClan, Tigerstar asks her if she still intends to make Mistyfoot and Stonefur mentors to Featherkit and Stormkit despite their parentage, to which Leopardstar responds that they are still loyal RiverClan warriors. Yes, I'm serious.

Leopardstar's character:

This super edition is nothing but a showcase of the absolute worst aspects of Leopardstar as a character. Throughout the book she is shown as racist, battle hungry, self-centered, foolish, and utterly lacking in compassion or even pity for any Clan other than her own. She is constantly making racist generalizations about cats from other Clans, actively wishes for WindClan's downfall, sides with Tigerstar simply because Fireheart is a kittypet, and, perhaps most disturbingly, tries to murder Fireheart in cold blood because of his kittypet background. This book literally does nothing to endear the reader to Leopardstar, it makes her out to be the most despicable, honorless cat imaginable. And honestly, if you're not a Leopardstar fan, I think that's one of the most compelling things about this book. The desire to see what atrocities Leopardstar would commit next was what kept me interested in the story, honestly it was the only reason I finished it. There was something morbidly fascinating about watching a character so self absorbed and lacking in compassion interact with the world around her. It was enjoyable in a way to see a character so deeply set in the beliefs that the series has repeatedly established as wrong time and time again. Pacing and editing aside, this difference in philosophy is a breath of fresh air after the same recycled plotlines and moral messages that the series has been using for years. This book isn't going to make you like Leopardstar, but it is going to make you love to hate her.

What the book did right:

While there were very few positives to the book, it wasn't completely lacking in value. The book succeeded in developing a deeply meaningful relationship between Whiteclaw and Leopardstar that, thankfully, wasn't a romance. Their mother/son and mentor/apprentice relationship does a good job at setting up Leopardstar's grudge against ThunderClan over Whiteclaw's death as we see it play out in the first arc. Honestly, Leopardstar as a character would have been served far better if this had just been a novella detailing the relationship between these two. That was probably the only real thing of value in the book, honestly. Aside from that, Frogtail and Leopardstar's relationship, while I personally found it completely unnecessary, addressed a topic I've been hoping to see in warriors for a while now-- two characters who love each other but decide that the things they want out of life are mutually incompatible, and part ways amicably. Leafpool x Crowfeather and Bluestar x Oakheart both almost did this, but fell short because it was only ever really one character who decided to end the relationship. Unfortunately, the value in this message is somewhat diminished by the fact that Leopardstar later laments multiple times that she should've given up on her goals and just had kits with Frogtail instead, an absolutely disgusting conclusion that plays into the recurring problem of misogyny in warriors where women aren't allowed to be both mothers and hold a position of power, they have to choose between the two.

All in all, this Super Edition is easily the worst so far in terms of plot, pacing, and writing, but I still found some enjoyment in reading the perspective of such a selfish, cruel protagonist.

[giorno-plays-piano]

Last one, I promise. MonsterHunter!Bucky or Steve where you’re the rare creature they’re after. You don’t have to write any of these, I just feel like you would appreciate these 💕 keep up the good work giorno, I’m so proud of you bb❤️

Thank you for your requests, hun! I haven’t worked on other ones, but I’m happy to present you this story 😌❤ Hope you’re going to like it!

Daughters of Persephone

Pairing: monster hunter!Steve Rogers x vampire!Reader

Warnings: yandere-ish Steve, kidnapping, death of minor characters, mentions of torture and suicide, gore (a severed head), general vampire stuff.

Words: 4109.

___________________

Suddenly waking up in the middle of the night, you fell down your bed, desperately trying to turn on the small lamp on your bedside table and reaching too far, soon ending on the cold floor. Trying to get up, you hit your head on the table and moaned. Saints, what on Earth was happening? You barely realized you were laying on the floor in the dark, but you knew for sure you were woken up by someone's agonized cry.

Who was that? The closest rooms to yours belonged to Iriya and Alice since mother lived in the north wing in a room she once shared with her late husband. Who screamed? Was it Iriya? Why was she screaming in the middle of the night? Was it just a nightmare? You had no time to think, finally standing up and rushing to the door, abandoning the idea with the lights: window curtains in the corridor had never been kept closed, so you would be able to see something thanks to the moonlight.

Hurrying to the point you ran barefoot, shivering in the dark - the floors had always been cold despite mother doing her best with all those expensive carpets - you reached Iriya's room and banged on her door, hoping it was just a nightmare.

'Iri-"

Before you called her name, the door opened by itself, and you froze in fear: Iriya was always closing her door at night, explaining that it all started when drunk Alice mixed the rooms and then woke her up with her angry shouting. Why was the door open? Was it better to go find mother rather than go there all by yourself?

No. What if Iriya needed help right now? You couldn't risk it.

Nervously getting in, your fists clenched painfully, you peaked inside your sister's room only to find her beheaded, her body laying on her spacious bed, Iriya's head on the carpet with her face caked in blood, her mouth open as if she was still screaming, pleading for help. Despite total darkness, you could see the white bedsheets soaked in her blood, the rich crimson fluid seeping through the fabric and dirtying the floor. You felt the bile rising in your throat, almost throwing up and barely containing yourself.

Iriya was dead. She was dead.

You were horrified to the point you could hardly move, your hands trembling as you wept, then getting on your knees and trying to reach out to Iriya's head but failing to do so - you didn’t have the courage to take her head in your hands, blood spreading further and almost reaching your long cream-colored nightgown Alice always mocked you for. You needed to run and find help. The murderer was still in the house, you were sure.

The thought of burglars breaking in had crossed your mind before, but you had never imagined some madman to get into your house and kill your poor older sister in such barbaric, horrible, revolting way, cutting her head off as if she was a character in some sick videogame. Why would anyone do this? How could they murder a harmless young woman sleeping in her bed?

You needed to get to Alice. The murderer could already be there.

Letting out a loud cry, you got back on your feet, hanging on to the large dark jacaranda drawer with nice thin metal legs - mother had it customized specially for Iriya on her 20th birthday. Thinking what would mother say once she saw her daughter with her head chopped off, you covered your mouth with your hand, unable to hold your tears. How could it happen? Who could commit such atrocity?

"Alice? Alice!" You could see the light coming from beneath her door.

Kicking it with all your force, you prepared for the worst, ready to jump at whoever you saw, but the only one there was Alice herself standing close to her desk. She was holding a revolver in her hands.

"Alice, Iriya-" You muttered, unable to say your sister was dead out loud and just pointing to the corridor with your shaking hand. "Iriya, she..."

"I know." Your other sister said through gritted teeth, her eyes still on the revolver she was holding. "It's not like I'm deaf."

You always had a hard time understanding her even when she was perfectly sober and in a good mood. Alice was strange: she reminded you of girls in Nirvana's music videos, either pretty angry or too energetic for you to keep up with her. She had been drinking as long as you could remember her, always silently protesting against mother's lifestyle and probably having a grudge against her and you. When you asked Iriya if you'd done something that upset her she just brushed it off, saying the youngest sister had always been a little monster in the family.

Now she looked like a monster, too.

"It wasn't you, right?" You whispered, holding your hands against your mouth. "You didn't do it to Iriya, did you?"

"Of course, I didn't!" She shouted angrily but shut her mouth as she saw you trembling, all of a sudden her expression guilty and grim. "Sorry, it's too late to explain. I don't have much time."

You nodded eagerly through tears, holding the door and ready to leave, "We need to run!"

You didn't miss a dark chuckle escaping Alice as she smiled at you bitterly, bringing the revolver's barrel to her head, her hand not shaking the slightest bit. "No. I've been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, and now is my chance."

Your head was spinning from shock and confusion. Iriya's chopped head, her bed full of blood, Alice pointing the gun at herself... Was everyone mad? Were you mad? Was it some nightmare you were seeing in your sleep? It felt damn real.

Seeing your horrified expression, your younger sister lifted the corners of her mouth, a broken smile on her face. "I'm sorry it turned out that way, but no one of us has been given a chance. This is how things have to end."

"Alice, please-"

"I have a full magazine. I know it sounds terrible, but after I'm done you have to shoot yourself, too. Believe me, it's the best you can do."

Before you opened your mouth to ask for an explanation and demand her to stop, Alice had pulled the trigger right in front of your eyes, blood and something that reminded you the insides of her brain smearing the wall to her left. While you screamed louder than you ever done in your entire life, her body landed on the floor with a loud thud, the left side of her head completely destroyed as you stared at the bloody mess, red liquid gushing out of the deep wound.

You felt like you were losing your sanity, crawling to her and cupping her head, unable to believe your eyes. She couldn't do it to herself. She has never seemed suicidal! What would she end herself like this? What did her words about some chance meant? Was it really her who cut off Iriya's head?

Wrapping your hands around her shoulders, you tried lifting her suddenly heavy body, crying and demanding your sister to stand up and stop pretending. It just couldn't be true. This madness couldn't be happening.

"Please, please!" You kept weeping, your nightgown soaked in her blood as her head laid on your lap. If body wasn't warm and heavy, you could believe it was all a nightmare, a frightening dream you saw, but Alice's empty eyes staring at you were making you painfully aware of your insane reality.

You cried so hard you missed the heavy steps of the intruder, realizing someone's here only when he opened the door and came in as if he weren't bothered by you screaming at all. It was a tall, wide-shouldered man in his thirties, his hair shining like gold in the bright light of Alice's room, a sharp blooded knife in his hand - the one he used to cut Iriya's head off. You reacted surprisingly fast, reaching out to revolver laying on the floor close to your sister's lifeless body, and tried shielding her as if it mattered, as if she didn't take her own life minutes ago. Your head was hurting, your thoughts mixed up: you barely understood what was happening, but you knew this man wasn't here to help, standing in the doorway with a stony expression on his handsome face while you pointed Alice's revolver at him, your hand shaking.

Who was he? What did he want from your family?

"Go away," you cried, hoping he wouldn't get closer. "Go away! You won't have her!"

You clenched the fabric of your sister's black tee, barely seeing the figure of the intruder as tears were making everything seem blurry.

The man was silent, staring at you with a blank expression as if he weren't interested in cutting off Alice's head and then murdering you, too. He made no attempts to come closer, although he didn't leave the room either, simply standing on his place and not moving an inch while you struggled to keep what remained of your sanity. Could you ask your mother for help? Should you yell so she'd hear you? Would it be better to challenge the murderer yourself since your mother certainly wasn't a super soldier to deal with someone like him? No, no, you couldn't shout to catch your mom's attention. Even if she'd hear you from the other side of the building, you couldn't let her end up just like your darling sisters. You needed to shoot the man.

But as you kept your gun aimed at him, you slowly realized you couldn't do it despite him clearly being a culprit of this madness. It just wasn't in you. You weren’t made to kill other people. Maybe that's why Alice told you to shoot yourself? Maybe she knew you couldn't protect anyone even if you had a gun in your hands?

"Please, don't touch her." You pleaded him, your hand aching from holding a heavy revolver for so long. "She didn't do anything bad. Please, please just go."

"On the contrary." The man suddenly said, and you froze on your place, frightened to the core. "She was the epitome of bad, but it wasn't her fault. Can’t blame the both of you for what your mother has done.”

“Mother?”

Looking at his blood-stained black pants and leather boots with dry blood on them, you opened your mouth but didn’t utter a word, watching his grotesquely big figure relaxing against the wooden frame, a silver cross hanging from his neck, drops of blood on the shining metal looking like dirt. Oh God. He didn’t do anything to mother, did he? He didn’t kill everyone in the mansion, did he?

Wailing like a wounded animal, you kept your gun aiming at the man, praying for him to just leave, vanish, let you call the ambulance and police, let anyone come and help you. What did he wanted? Money? Mother kept them in the bank like any other human being. Did he want her jewelry? Her collection of antique service? He didn’t have to kill your mother and Iriya for it, they would give him anything willingly if he didn’t hurt anyone. Who was this lunatic? Did he do something to Alice, too? He did, undoubtedly. She wouldn’t commit suicide just like that. She might have had issues with alcohol, but your younger sister had never been suicidal.

... however, well, considering you barely remembered what had happened before your fall from the bridge, she might have been.

“Sorry, little girl.” The man suddenly said, landing on the floor and dropping his knife as if he weren’t planning to attack you - you were much doubted it, though. “I know it’s not your fault. You’ve been for how long with the family? Around three months, correct?”

Still shielding the dead body of Alice with yours, you whispered, tears still falling down on your nightgown wet with your sister’s blood, “What are you saying?”

A dry chuckle escaped him as if he knew you were gonna reply exactly like you did, his left cheek resting against his hand caked in crimson fluid, but it didn’t seem to bother him much as he rubbed his skin with his dirty fingers, smearing the blood.

“I’m saying your darling mother adopted you when her second daughter had committed suicide just like Alice. Couldn’t stand what she had to do to stay alive after she was turned, you know?”

Gritting your teeth, you felt the rage raising deep within your chest: the bastard had the audacity to mock your family and you after he had probably killed everyone but you in the mansion. He probably tried to make you drop your revolver and finish you off as fast as he could and run before the police arrives - if anyone was going to come at all. You lived all by yourself with no one but a cleaning lady coming once a week to help you take care of the mansion; it was Friday evening, and people would start wondering why both Iriya and Alice stopped attending university only after a couple of days. Police will probably discover your bodies only when they start to rot.

Clenching the gun in your hand, you pointed it directly to the man’s head, ready to pull the trigger. If you were gonna die or lose your sanity tonight, you had to make sure you kill the murderer of your family before. You could do it. You had to!

“I won’t make it difficult for you.” The man said calmly, seemingly unafraid of your gun. “One day you woke up here with no memories whatsoever, and that creature played a role of your loving mom, saying how she’s scared about you after some incident has happened. She forbade you to leave the mansion because it was doctor’s orders purely for your own sake. Of course, she said something about a rare genetic decease and forced you to drink your medicine before every meal like your sisters, didn’t she?”

Yes. Yes, she did. Although she refused telling you what had happened to you, later Iriya confessed you jumped off the bridge because of some bastard you loved once you figured out he only dated you because of your mother’s money. Of course, they destroyed all your photos with him and anything he gave you so nothing would remind you of that despicable man. You didn’t question it. You didn’t question your mother’s decision to make you study at home just so she could keep an eye on you. It was reasonable: what mother would leave her daughter unattended after a suicide attempt? Naturally, you didn’t question her words about the genetic decease running in the family thanks to your blue blood ancestors marrying within a family. In the end, both your mother and sisters were taking the medicine every meal.

How did he know that? Was he spying on your family?

Oh. A silver cross, a knife made with something that look a lot like silver, cutting the heads off... this madman thought he was a vampire hunter. He was a lunatic who had murdered your family because he decided you were vampires!

“Are you mad?” You shouted angrily at him, unable to believe someone would go so far for something so stupid. “Do you think mom gave me blood, and I couldn’t figure it out?”

“You think she’d give you pure blood to make you freak out?” The man grinned at you, and you felt nauseated: he was fucking insane. “Of course, she didn’t. She diluted it for you and added some supplements, sweeteners and artificial flavors.”

“You lost your mind.”

“Huh, you wish, little one.” He cocked his head to the side and took off his cross, you raising your gun and almost firing it at his sudden movement, but the stranger did nothing else, throwing the cross closer to you. “If you doubt my words, just take it. It’s pure silver. Your mother didn’t stand it, did she? Probably said something about it bringing bad memories.”

Yes, she did, but thinking it was because she was a vampire who could burn herself with silver was ridiculous. What, now all women wearing gold were considered monsters?

“Why would I do that?” You said, your damp from tears cheeks finally becoming dry. “What if you put some chemical on it?”

“Then it would burn me, too.” Showing you his hand, he proudly demonstrated you his fingers that looked perfectly well.

Maybe you were really going mad, but you had touched the cross laying close to Alice's arm and immediately regretted it since it stung as if it was hot as a frying pan on the stove. What was that? Why did it hurt? Unable to believe it, you grasped it in your hand and cried out, dropping it and bringing your hand closer - a large burn was spreading out on your skin, bleeding on the floor, your blood mixing with your sister's. How did it happen? What was that?

"See? That what happens when a vampire touches silver," before you opened your mouth, the stranger continued, "and no, vampires aren't scared of sunlight or garlic, that stuff is straight from the novels."

Crying from pain, your hand shaking, you still didn't lower the revolver despite your other hand already starting to hurt from having something so heavy for a couple of minutes. No, it couldn’t be. He tricked you, surely. Vampires didn't exist! Besides, how would mother get so much blood to feed all of you? It's not like some truck was delivering you blood packs from the hospital every day! And, of course, you had never seen any other human being coming to the house other than a family doctor treating you and a cleaning lady. Where would the blood for your medicine come from?

"Your mother has a nice dungeon with a few iron maidens, little one."

Bullshit. It was all bullshit! Did he expect you to believe your kind, intelligent, loving mother who donated money for building a school in the village would kill innocent people? It was outrageous! From the day you woke up after the incident she had been nothing but a caring parent, always worried about your wellbeing and willing to give you everything you asked for. A week ago you joked about getting some super expensive haute couture dress for your graduation ceremony, and the next evening your mother invited you to her cabinet with her laptop open to show you the designers she found suitable to make you a dress. A woman like her just wasn’t build for murdering others.

The man snorted, “I can show it to you, actually.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.” You whispered, your other hand now clenching the gun, too. “If you won’t leave, I will shoot you, and no jury would convict me after they found out you cut off Iriya’s head.”

“I wouldn’t be violent if I could neutralize her any other way, but Iriya had accepted her vampire nature a long time ago. Alice, on the other hand, ended her own life. I didn’t do anything to her; it was her own choice.”

“It’s a lie! If she really hated us all for being vampires, why didn’t she do anything? She had a gun, she could shoot us!” Desperate, you yelled at the man seemingly unfazed by your behavior and waiting calmly when you’d get back to your senses - if it was possible in a situation like this, your sister’s body long cold on the floor.

“I bet she wanted to, but, you see, Stockholm syndrome is a funny thing. After 5 years in the family she grew to love her mother and sister, this always happens at one point or the other. I think she probably loved and pitied you, too, since she couldn’t prevent her mother biting you.” There was no pity in his voice, but you could see something compassionate in the way he looked at you, a girl who had no idea who she had become or who she was before that, getting mixed up with dangerous creatures feeding off humans like cattle. “Bet she was scared of the mother, too. But when the opportunity presented itself, she decided it was enough and shoot herself before I came for her head.”

His words were scaring you because it was all making sense now: her addiction to alcohol mother could do nothing about even with all her money; that attitude of hers as Alice had always been unhappy and never agreed to anyone; her constant desire to be left alone and locking herself in her room...

“But why would mother bite us in the first place? What would she need daughters for?” Getting overprotective to prove all this wasn’t true, you asked him.

“All ancient vampires like your mother were human once. They have the need to reproduce as much as we do, but what they don’t have is a physical ability. So, at one point they want to adopt a human and turn them into a vampire, raising them like their own. I’d find it sweet if only they weren’t making more blood-sucking bastards killing people.”

“I DON’T KILL PEOPLE!”

Your deafening scream could probably be heard even in the garden, but you didn’t care, your aching hands gripping the revolver with 5 more bullets in it. You had done nothing wrong in your entire life! You didn’t hurt anyone! You didn’t break into someone’s house to cut off people’s heads! You were just a girl who had now have to live on her own after all your family was brutally murdered by some lunatic thinking you were vampires. It was him who was a true criminal, not you!

“Sorry, little one. I know you don’t, but it doesn’t change the fact you will have to sustain on human’s blood, and then I will have to take care of yo-”

Unable to listen to him anymore, you moved your hand a bit to the left, and the revolver fired, bullet getting into the wooden drawer, a poster with Alice’s favorite rock band hanging on it. “Just move once more and I’ll shoot you. I swear I’ll shoot you! Get out and leave me alone!”

But before you had time to react, the man had disappeared from your sight, and the next second you felt his hot hand on your throat, the other one forcefully taking a gun out of your arms as you screamed, crying and shaking beneath the stranger who felt even heavier on top of you than he looked. Why was this all happening to you? What have you done? Would he cut off your head just like Iriya’s?

“Mama! Mama!” You shouted, crying, his grip suffocating you. Knowing he would have no issues murdering you, you had nothing better but to plead for your mother’s help even though she had been most likely dead. “Mama, p-please... argh... hh... mama...”

If you could look into his face, tears not blurring your vision, you’d see Steve’s expression distorted with what seemed like guilt or maybe empathy when he was slowly, but surely making you lose consciousness, his knife laying on the floor far from you. Did you think he got pleasure from murdering little girls like you? Well, he might have been happy while killing the creature calling yourself your mother, but not the daughters, never the daughters.

You had finally fainted, your body now close to your sister’s. Unlike her, you were still alive, and watching your lay beneath him, unarmed and harmless in that nightgown covered in blood of your beloved ones, Steve thought he may have leave you alive - you really were new to the family, it couldn’t be more than 3 months since you had been bitten. Maybe there was something he could still do. He heard Tony found a way to stop the turning mid-way.

Anyway, keeping a pretty girl like you didn’t seem too bad. You certainly wouldn’t like waking up in his lair, but it was still better than ending up with your head cut off, wasn’t it?

Grabbing your revolver with a couple of silver bullets, Steve showed it into his pocket and carefully lifted you up, his knife in its sheath. Carrying you like a bride, both him and you drenched in blood, the man quickly disappeared in the corridor, heading to the dungeon beneath your mansion. His job was done.

_________________

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[imalwaystiredzzz]

Hi~ May I please ask for platonic headcannons for Amber, Jean and Lisa visiting their friend's hometown and finding out they have Nymphs who are very kind to children and vulnerable but will cannibalize those who have ill-intentions

WARNING: Slight blood/gore Note: Ahh I hope that you like it, I’m not very good with writing for the Genshin impact girls and this is my first time writing for them  (⌒_⌒;)

𝒜 𝓂 𝒷 𝑒 𝓇 

> Amber the outrider!  Always on the run and ready to help others especially children, needles to say despite having no siblings she’s better at handling them more than some of them who do have. 

> Her friendship with you began when she was a child herself, often she ran around crying for her missing grandfather and hoping to find him behind a bush or up on a tree the way they used to when playing hide and seek. 

> What she hadn’t meant to do was come across treasure hoarders with less than good intentions when they come across a young girl, by herself wandering the forest. Sure, she’s brought her trusty bow and arrow, she’d practiced everyday but when it came down to it, Amber was just a child barely even ready to shoot at live, breathing humans. So she does what her mind told her to do, run.

> Amber ran and ran and ran, through the trees and thick bushes with all her might and as far as she could, but it’s never enough. Not far enough because she can still hear their heavy footsteps, their deep voice and maniacal laugh. The red girl finds herself hiding in the hollow trunk of a tree, hands in her ears and praying to the archcons that they don’t find her. 

> Which to you was a good thing, the trees, winds, and vines howl to you of a child in danger. With your command, they keep her safe in the trees. She doesn’t even notice how the bushes thicken and the shadow of the trees grow to hide her in their shadows, while you swiftly dispose of these people with a smile on your face like it’s just another Tuesday. 

>  “Do you need help?” You offer her a hand and a warm smile, hoping to entice the little red rabbit out of her hiding. She  looks at you with brown eyes, lighting up with so much wonder that the first words she says to you were; “Are you a fairy?” You chuckle and wipe the unshed tears in the corner of her eyes.

> You’ve guided many lost children to Mondstadt before, knowing that they would not disappoint in offering a helping hand. Especially to children, minor as you may be in the hierarchy of elemental beings you trust that even the sleeping Barbatos would wake to the cries of injustice. 

> Which is why you’re confused, as to why this little red bunny is back in your abode. Knees scratched and face with a band aid, she smiles goofily and you fix her up once more, bag of snacks and herbs in her pouch before setting her back to Mondstadt. But she does it again, and again and again, until the earth has memorized her steps and winds would simply lead her to your little cot., prepared with snacks and Jean’s famous coffee (not that you asked Jean how she makes them just for this energetic girl.)

> The odd afternoons when Amber finds time to visit is just lively nowadays, sometimes you miss when she would do it everyday but you’re so proud when she finally told you that she’s finally part of the knights like her grandfather. Just do be careful of the arrows as they may accidentally burn the forest and your cot,  

> She’d talk your ears off from what's currently happening to Mondstadt to about how the other knights are. Sometimes when you go about to help another lost child wailing on the top of their lungs, you’d find yourself thinking “What would Amber do?” 

Certainly it is easier with her around, she’d play with them until all their worries are forgotten and it’s time for them to go home to Mondstadt with her. 

𝐿 𝒾 𝓈 𝒶  

> ‘Really, parents need to keep a better eye on their children or at least stop them from wandering a bit too far’ is what you thought, looking up the thundering skies and dark clouds, as you trudged to the path that the grass had made for you, until you came upon a wolf? A boy? You’re not exactly sure, but definitely the nature tells you it is both and not at the same time, as confusing as that might be.

> He looks like a puppy ready to bite off anyone's hand with his small teeth dare they come too close for comfort, but that electric wound from his vision needs to be tended sooner than later. So you take him in for a few hours despite his vocal protest at first, and nurse him with herbs from your garden.  

> It’s a few hours later when a purple witch trespasses your abode, the hair on the back of your neck rises and you are reminded of another one wearing a hat like so, just of scarlet color and leaving chaos in her wake.  “I’m simply looking for my student,” is what she told you with a tight smile and a tremble in her hand that she tries to hide.

“Oh so he is your charge.” You lead her to your cot, where the sleeping wolf boy is and you watch her shoulder relax as she looks at him.

> She apologizes for the intrusion and thanks you for helping Razor, but what catches you is that she apologizes for the thunders and dark sky like she knew. Knew from the way you hold yourself and the way your energy is different from a mortal, “I’ve read about your kind from the books.” Oddly enough her air of danger and knowledge entices you, so you open your door to her and Razor when they need a place away and secluded lest the boy have accidents while mastering the use of his vision.

> Afternoon tea with Lisa is relaxing as she talks about the books and her friends while you talk about plants and things that have piqued your interest over the week which she then supplies more information about. You don’t tell her how sometimes you get bored and lonely being in the forest, but she picks on it and leaves books around your house. There’s a new shelf for mundane things - love stories, poems and epics. And she doesn’t tell you her favorite food but you always give her a bag of fresh vegetables before they leave. The flowers in her window are blooming a bit more livelier lately. 

𝒥 𝑒 𝒶 𝓃  

> What you didn’t expect was for Lisa to invite the acting grandmaster of Mondstadt, Jean Gunnhildr herself, and that fiery woman’s child, Klee. You could only hope that she doesn’t set the whole place on fire; or that Razor and her would make the whole place explode.

>Jean, Lisa and you would have weekends booked for tea parties and when they could come in the afternoon, rather than night, because Jean’s job has always been taxing, you’d welcome the children too. Some kids that you’ve helped in the past would wander about looking for you so they’d be playing with the two, like a playdate.

Just hope they don’t pass out from exhaustion as Klee and Razor’s energy are boundless and Jean would have to carry the kid back to Mondstadt.

>You’d make it a point to make Jean a small serving of her favorite pizza and tea. Something that would help her relax, as you notice her tight shoulders, and the bags under her eyes, when her hands trembled from exhaustion or her skin too pale.  You make her candles, gift her bags filled with snacks, leaves and herbs to help her with the stress that she goes through on a daily basis. 

> You didn’t mean to show her this side, you have an inkling that Lisa knows about the darkness in you without even truly showing it. It’s not that you’re insecure or scared, but there is something about Jean that makes you want to hide the ruthless blood lust that boils in your veins when you come across cruelty to the weak. 

And for the first time in a while, you’re scared to turn your back and look at her. Is she horrified? Does she hate me? These thoughts run in your head, as blood drips from your hand and face, the bodies of these vile people scattered in the field. In your defense, they do deserve it, to be left to rot, to scream until their throats are bleeding and the light in their eyes gone with the singular thought of there’s no help coming here.

They deserved it, for what they did to the poor teen with red hair and dead eyes, skin as pale as ice and arms much too thin for her age with a cryo vision in hand. (Rosaria)

> Albedo may be the best alchemist in Mondstadt, but he is no doctor and even the church couldn’t guarantee her full recovery. “With all that has happened only a miracle could do such a thing,” the sisters tell the blonde with sadness in their eyes, so where did that lead her? Back to you.

> Jean only embraced you, she couldn’t approve of what you did but she also couldn’t thank you. Only that she accepted you, because in the dark corner of her mind, she had the same thought but her morality hindered her from doing the same.

> Jean was all the light and good, the embodiment of righteousness in the world and you wouldn’t mind jumping head first to commit the deepest atrocities if it meant protecting the weak.

In the end nothing much has changed, only that there are no more masks, formalities and silent walls are broken between the two of you. 

Jean could come to you for things that she wouldn’t never do and you would be more than happy to help protect the city and the people that she loves so much.

[kiki-shortsnout]

For intimacy prompts: #17 laying your head on someone’s shoulder for Frostiron! 💚❤️ Thanks!

I'm back!!! Sorry it's taken so long, but I'm back to answer my prompts! Thank you so much for this one! I enjoyed writing this!

***

Loki stumbled as the Bifrost set them both down, too exhausted to shake off Thor’s steadying hand on his elbow, his brother’s own exhaustion evident in the slump of his shoulders. Loki had no strength left in him to make a jest about Thor’s overprotective tendencies, instead looking around the Midgardian cityscape he’d come to think of as a second home, his limbs limp.

Part of his atonement for his war crimes was to take a more active role in defense of the planet he sought to enslave. His mother and brother’s pleas not to imprison him swaying his father from a harsher sentence. He was a…tolerated member of the Avengers, a proverbial thorn in the side for most. He’d formed a tentative, begrudging respect towards the Black Widow, but he was a constant source of irritation for the rest of them.

Well, someone needed to keep the Avengers on their toes.

Loki was still called upon to keep Asgard and the realms it protected safe, and that was where he and Thor had been, subduing marauders on Vanaheim, listening to whispers of an event called a Convergence was impending, a cataclysmic occurrence that had them all on edge.

It felt as though his very bones rattled as he trudged across the roof of the Avengers Tower beside Thor, like his skin was stretched too taut over the excruciating ache of his muscles. As they came into the hanger, they both looked around, used to having at least one member of the Avengers greet them after their excursions off world.

Despite being used to being treated with distrust and trepidation, the bitter sting of their rebuke still penetrated the fatigued miasma clouding Loki’s brain.

He’d managed to convince one Midgardian that he was not the nemesis that all perceived him to be, that it was an illusion he portrayed to hide the crippling weakness he felt. This one Midgardian had seen through Thanos’s manipulations of his mind, had shattered the deception he shrouded himself in. It was Anthony he looked around for now, bewildered as he was met with nothing but silence, not even JARVIS speaking to them.

‘Is Earth under attack?’ Thor questioned, wiping the grime from his eyes as he frowned, moving towards one of the huge windows. Loki reformed his daggers as he took a step forward, ears straining to hear, his body sluggish and unwilling to cooperate.

The door at the far end of the room creaked open, and Loki teleported beside it in an instant, flinging it open and pointing his dagger at their enemy.

‘Pepper?’ Lowering his dagger, he immediately noticed she looked as tired, if not more so than the both of them. Her usually glossy hair was dull and frazzled, wisping around her face in auburn tufts, her eyes encircled with grey smudges.

‘What has happened?’ he asked, his words curt despite how he’d promised Anthony he would respect this mortal. It was an easy promise to keep, treating the two people Anthony treasured above all with care. Loki genuinely liked Pepper, her attitude, her bravery, her fiery temper. He and Rhodes tolerated each other, their mutual like for Anthony the only thing stopping them from attacking each other, settling instead for snide comments.

‘It’s Tony, he…he’s been really sick, Loki,’ Pepper gasped, her lower lip trembling as she swayed into him.

‘Where is he?’ Loki demanded, catching her by her shoulders. It was as though his body had been invigorated with lust for battle, any fatigue he’d felt moments ago burned away. Instead of the adrenaline he usually felt under such circumstances, his body felt cold, terror seeping down the back of his throat, stroking its clammy fingers across his skin.

Why wasn’t I here?

‘He’s in his room now-’

‘Where was he before?’ Thor asked before Loki could even put words to the thoughts scattering in his mind, the guilt webbing in his lungs, tugging at him with every breath.

‘The medical bay downstairs…JARVIS has the most extensive anatomy files because of the arc reactor and-’

‘Thor, look after her for me,’ Loki ordered, teleporting away despite them calling after him.

Anthony was huddled in his bed, the numerous blankets piled on him quivering as he trembled. The sickly scent spiraling in tendrils through the air made Loki recoil. This…was not something he was comfortable with. He’d never cared about another enough to warrant any actions of concern from him, had never been able to see past his own arrogance and selfishness to consider others.

‘An…Tony?’ he called, scared at what he was going to find, at how sick his mortal was. He’d seen Tony sick before, seen him with what they called a cold, all snuffy nosed and demanding and clingy. This silent, still, Anthony frightened him. What ailed him so? What illness had made Pepper look like a shadow of herself? Why had he needed to go down to the medical bay? Loki had seen Anthony after a battle, had seen him spit venom at any who dared suggest he seek medical help when he was injured, only allowing Loki to tend to his wounds hours later when the pain had grown too much to bear. Even then, he’d pretended it was for his own sake, that he was the one who couldn’t bear to see Anthony in pain.

He took a step backwards, wanting to flee, wanting to escape the fear plucking at him. He’d been in countless battles, fought with odds against him, had stood and waited for punishment by his father. This, seeing someone he had grown to care about like this…why was this affecting him so?

Anthony had reached out a hand in friendship despite all the atrocities he had committed in both Midgard and Jotunheim, the countless lives he had taken and lasting repercussions, Anthony Stark had given him a home, a means to make penance for those he had wronged. He hadn’t forgiven him, not straight away, that had taken time and trust to develop between them.

It was that belief in him, an emotion that so few beings were unwilling to extend to him which made Loki fall in love with the Midgardian, a feeling he had not given life with his words yet. It was this unnamed feeling which made him shove all his selfish fears aside.

Anthony needed him.

‘Anthony?’ he called again, peeling back the covers, his breath hitching at the sheer heat radiating from the man.

‘Hey,’ his voice cracked, his lungs rattling as he drew in a breath, hands tightening from where they were wrapped around himself in a pitiful hug.

‘What…what happened, should you even be here?’ Loki asked, dropping to his knees by the side of the bed, his hands hovering over Anthony’s body, uncertain, scared to touch this fragile creature.

Anthony rolled over in bed, and Loki was horrified at the sunken look to his skin, the waxy grey pallor, the red-rimmed eyes.

‘Oh, beloved,’ Loki breathed out, his hand stroking through clumped together hair.

‘Not a pretty sight,’ Anthony wheezed out. ‘You should’ve seen me a few weeks ago.’

Weeks? He’d left him behind in a worse condition than this for weeks?

‘How did your health deteriorate so fast? You weren’t in this condition when I…’ Loki’s eyes narrowed when Anthony’s gaze dropped, one of his tells when he wasn’t telling the entire truth. ‘You were ill when I left.’ Loki didn’t phrase it as a question.

‘Honestly, Lokes, don’t-’ Anthony’s protest was cut off with a wracking cough, the sheer force of it scaring Loki, sweeping aside whatever anger that had been beginning to build a few moments ago.

‘Why did you not tell me? If I had known-’

‘Thor needed you,’ Anthony said weakly, sagging back into his pillow. ‘Besides, this isn’t…this isn’t what we do.’ He closed his eyes as if the mere act of breathing pained him.

He was correct in his assumptions. They laughed, talked, had sex…keeping everything light and frothy and pleasurable, avoiding anything that encompassed feelings, vulnerabilities, neither wanting to be beholden to the other. It was a foolish act on Loki’s behalf, wanting to keep a distance from attachments, fearful of what Anthony could mean to him.

‘Move aside,’ Loki commanded, shrugging off his cape and unfastening his arm bracers.

‘Loki, what?’

‘Unless me joining you is going to impede your recovery in any way?’ Loki hesitated, suppressing his smirk at Anthony’s interested, fatigued gaze on his now naked torso. Lying beside his mortal, Loki gathered him in his arms, arranging them so he was on his back, Anthony half on top of him, his head on his shoulder.

‘Listen to me,’ Loki whispered, the words delicate, but infused with such meaning that it made them hang thickly between them. This was a precipice on which he stood, a moment he had read about in countless epic sagas. The hero baring the depths of their love after a heroic deed, or a noble act of self-sacrifice… not holding a sickly mortal. ‘I am not…not very good at this,’ Loki finished, his voice trailing off pathetically.

‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,’ Anthony said instead, wriggling his body closer, enjoying the cooler feel of Loki’s skin. ‘I’m a shitty patient, and I didn’t want you to see me like this.’

That Loki could understand. Only his mother dared to face his wrath when he had been sick, her gentle hands and calming voice the only things he would tolerate. But there was a deeper meaning behind Anthony’s reasoning too, the unwillingness to reveal a weakness, the fear of being abandoned.

‘I am not angry you did not tell me. I am infuriated with myself for not recognizing the signs of your ailment, of leaving you behind for such a long period of time when I know you do not like seeking help.’

‘Then what-’

Loki clutched his mortal closer, resting one hand on his brow to both to measure Anthony’s temperature and to cool him down.

‘I have never felt this way towards another being, mortal or not. I am sorry that you felt as though you could not tell me you were unwell, that I acted as though my intentions towards you were not serious. You plague my waking thoughts, my unconscious dreams, beloved, there is none I would rather be with.’

Rather than receiving a heartfelt confirmation of Anthony’s own feelings, the mortal stiffened in his grip, his rattling breathing halting. Fearful his illness had gotten worse, Loki rose a little from his waist so he could look down, confused at the angry frown Anthony was displaying.

‘Anthony-’

‘This is going to keep happening,’ he interrupted with a snap. ‘My insides are completely wrecked, my lungs, heart… Christ my liver…they’re all damaged and I’m not as young as I once was. I don’t know about you, but this is a wakeup call for why we shouldn’t be fooling around…let alone catching feelings for me.’

‘It is not for you to tell me my feelings are wrong,’ Loki admonished gently.

‘Loki, look at me. I’m a mess. I got a simple cold and it morphed into pneumonia. I might be out of the medical bay, but it’ll take weeks to-’

‘More of a mess than I am? Loki, the God of Mischief who manipulated my brother into going to war with my birth world, who allowed myself to be manipulated by Thanos-’

‘Loki you were tortured…’

‘And I threw you from a window, killed innocent people.’

Anthony didn’t answer that.

‘I know my actions of New York were not wholly my own, that I agreed to invade under duress, that my thoughts were not my own. Anthony, those thoughts were not just placed there by Thanos. I had always regarded Midgard as a lesser race. Those emotions might have been warped and heightened, but they were my own. I tricked my brother into a war against Jotunheim because I was jealous of the attention my father bestowed on him. These are not trivial things to be forgiven. They are sins I will atone for the rest of my life, and still, you found a way to love me.’

Anthony’s breathing hitched, turning into a cough, and Loki ran a comforting hand over his back to calm him.

‘I care not if your body is injured, that you are more susceptible to illness. It does not make you weaker in my mind, it highlights the battles you have endured, the strength it takes for you to continue living,’ Loki told him, lifting a hand to place it over Anthony’s arc reactor, protecting it. Despite his earlier fears earlier, the words he spoke were the truth, and it pained him that he had waited so long to tell him.

Even as he held his sick mortal close, wishing he could create a spell to eradicate any vestiges of this illness, Loki was plotting. He wouldn’t let Anthony be snatched from him by something trivial like time or illness. Technically he needed his father’s permission for his plan, but he knew his mother would see his way of thinking, would be happy he had found another to share his life with.

‘Feels like you’ve been shortchanged here,’ Anthony grumbled, settling his head back down against his shoulder.

‘I’m not sure what that means, but it sounds like you are degrading yourself after I’ve confessed my feelings for you. This is meant to be a momentous occasion and-’

He laughed as Anthony silenced him with a hand over his mouth.

‘Alright, alright, you’re lucky, I’m a peach, I get it.’ Anthony burrowed closer, his sweat-slick hands wrapping around Loki’s middle.

‘Next time, promise me you will tell me if you are feeling unwell.’

‘You had to go- ‘

‘Nothing is more important to me than you. Father and Thor can protect Asgard. We have an army for that reason. I will always fight for Asgard, for its people, but not if you need me.’

Anthony squeezed him close, his legs twitching as he drew closer to sleep.

‘Thank you.’ Loki felt the words formed against his skin rather than hearing them, and he smiled, holding Anthony closer.

‘I love you too,’ he whispered when he was moments from sleep, and Loki didn’t respond, knowing his beloved needed rest, that he would be here to watch over him while he slept.

[neokad]

Phantasy Star II - The 1989 JRPG that could

(This post is dedicated to @kuukigajan, my best friend, whom motivated me to post here again, so... I hope you'll enjoy this!)

This game. This freaking game.

I'm gonna say it right now: this post will contain massive spoilers about pretty much everything in Phantasy Star 2's story, so if you do plan on experiencing this game fresh, I strongly advise you to not read this post at all beyond the first paragraph, but... here's the gist of it: Phantasy Star II is one of the most important and groundbreaking JRPGs of its time, and I just did not believe this game was from 1989, at ALL. For that and a few other reasons, it has become one of my new favourite games of all time <3 

In fact, I do want to start with the one big flaw of this adventure so that I can just gush about everything else that's brilliant about PSII. I have to be honest: the dungeon design in this game is horrible. Now to be fair, it does make the many places you visit more memorable, but well... there's a rumor floating around that an actual trainee made the layouts for the dungeons - and since this game was a bit rushed for the Genesis's launch, the devs just didn't have time to replace the... stuff he submitted. And let me tell you, this rumor makes sense: PSII's dungeons are too big, too maze-like, too confusing and also FILLED with strong enemies. And in a game where you don't get a way to save anywhere until the midway point, it can make your adventure very frustrating and potentially grindy because of that... Now I wouldn't say that PSII's nearly as bad in this area as say, the original version of Dragon Warrior or ironically the first Phantasy Star, but the dungeons can totally make you feel like the game's harder than it actually is, at least without a map.

Thankfully, you should never feel bad for using any maps or guides with this game! The execs at SEGA at the time made the very smart decision to include a walkthrough with each copy of the game, including maps, tips, secrets and more! Said guide does encourage youto not look at it as much as possible but... it's totally fair to just use this, without any shame!

And that is a great thing, because... with you armed with this piece of paper, Phantasy Star II can finally show you its actual brilliance.

The game's plot starts off a thousand years after the events of the first Phantasy Star game. Since Alis and her party defeated Dark Force, the inhabitants of the Algol solar system - and its three planets of Palma, Motavia and Dezolis - have enjoyed relative peace. However, at a (to my knowledge) unknown point in time, a computer entity known as Mother Brain has started imposing itself onto mostly Motavia. This, over time, has actually given many benefits to the region: the once deserted wasteland was given rain, water and crops, so that it could finally host viable, comfortable civilizations. The citizens that lived here could finally ditch their (arguably) nomadic, harsh lives in favor of comfort, pleasant weather and more. And most importantly, Mother Brain allowed its citizens, save for a few, to ditch their current jobs and live a life of laziness, without any obligations or pressure to do anything other than well, existence. This is reflected many times during the game through NPC dialogue, too!

It is on such a setting that our protagonist, Rolf, wakes up from a strange nightmare. In it, we see Alis batting Dark Force and struggling in doing so, but as soon as he realizes this, Rolf wakes up in cold sweat. He then proceeds to calm his nerves, realizing that no such dramatic events could possible happen to him - after all, he and many others have been under the universal protection and care of Mother Brain, whom at this point, has provided all of their needs for centuries. He then gets out of bed and goes to the central tower, where we works as an agent in case some things do go wrong.

And gone wrong things have! His superior informs him that biological monsters, which had been created and bred in the Mota biosystems laboratory, have gone rogue and infected the regions of Motavia at a rapid rate. Because of this, Rolf is asked to investigate the cause of this phenomenon. Once he gets home to prepare for his journey, he is ambushed by best girl Nei, who has been rescued by him many months ago from the clutches of a serial killer. She does not want to be left alone anymore, and since she is also worried for Rolf's sefety, asks him to accompany him on the mission. Naturally, Rolf accepts.

Here, I do want to bring up Nei in more detail! She's in fact, the first of PSII's brilliant story-gameplay interactions, and here's why! Nei is in fact, a crossbreed experiment between a human and an unknown animal with cat-like features, but here's the thing: this said experiment was a failure. Because of this, Nei is only one years old, and yet her physical and mental age are progressing way more rapidly than they should. And you can feel this effect on the game itself: she needs way less EXP than any other party member in the game to level up, and because of this she will skyrocket in levels way beyond the rest of your crew... with a catch. Because of the nature of the experiment, the genetic code inside of her is slowly being messed up and corrupted, which not only causes her level ups to be less valuable than anyone else's, but it also becomes an important plot point later...  Unfortunately, despite her absolute cuteness, her status as a half-half made her a victim of bullying, racism and so much more, which is... pretty messed up to bring up at the time not gonna lie o_o

Starting up the journey, the party discovers that rogues have destroyed a neighboring city, and it just so happens that their base is situed at Shure, the first dungeon of the game . One assumption I like to make from this scene is that life has become so easy and careless on Motavia that people just went and did crime out of pure boredom, because life just wasn't thrilling enough anymore with Mother Brain doing everything it could for its inhabitants...

However, upon climbing said tower, Rolf and Nei find out multiple dead rogue bodies, whom have been presumably murdered by the many biomonsters roaming the place. They do, however, manage to find some dynamite and most importantly, a letter. This piece of paper informs our heroes that the daughter of a Darum, the very same person that tried to murder Nei months ago, is held captive in another tower, which explains why he turned to crime in the first place. They then decide to do the obvious, which is to rescue daughter Teim in her captivity location. Once they meet up with her, she explains her desire to talk to her father to set things straight and sway him from the life he's been getting into, as well as hide her from the surviving rogue members with the help of a veil. Our group manages to meet up with Darum, but... her daughter asks the party to stay put, as she does not want them to interfere with her as she explains things to her father. However, in the heat of the moment, she forgets to remove her veil, which causes Darum to not recognize her. In his confusion, he murders her own flesh and blood and sits there, stunned, as he watches the reason he caused many untold atrocities... wither away below him. Shocked and going insane by this situation, he sees no other way out... but to commit suicide with the help of a bomb.

It gets worse.

While this scene was tragic and brutal to say the least, it does allow Rolf to cross the previously guarded bridge where Darum was always located, which allows him to investigate his mission further.

I do want to make a sidenote here actually! Phantasy Star II does include eight playable characters, but unlike Rolf and Nei they do not join you at fixed intervals - instead, they will become available in your home town of Paseo once conditions are met. Sadly while they do have a recruitment quote, a few lines and a backstory, they do not have an impact on the main story in any way. This does blow as this means PSII does not have much in character development and interaction, but I did want to mention that there’s more to this game than just Rolf and Nei :P 

Upon exploring the regions of Motavia, the party manages to make its way to the Biosystems lab, and what they find here is horrifying to say the least. The lab is in horrible shape, with cracked floors everywhere. On top of that, there is no one inside the lab anymore, it being completely deserted, save for some horrible-looking creatures being kept insides tubes, decorating the now sinister looking building... Because of this, Rolf deems it safe to pick up the recorder inside the lab, to analyze it and try to find out just what exactly went wrong - if anything at all - to hopefully figure out why the world has been sacked by biomonsters. And sure enough, the gang make its way back to Paseo.  After handing over the recorder to the library located in Paseo’s Central Tower, it is now made clear: the biomonsters were caused by a large amount of energy used in a very short amount of time in those labs, causing them to mutate extremely rapidly. This had the predictable but unfortunate effect of ruining the natural order of the ecosystem, which is why these species are wrecking havoc without control. The librarian giving this information also makes the following connection: this outpour of energy must have come from Climatrol - another lab which regulates the weather of the terraformed planet so that it can sustain its new shape. Following this, Rolf and co. take a few steps to reach Climatrol - and I want to highlight a specific one!

The story somewhat pauses until then, but one of the dungeons you’ll go through is a garbage dump... and one of the treasures is a jet scooter you can use! Sounds cool, right? Well it is, but even such a cool object has been abandoned by the lazy society, since teleportation is much more convenient to them. I just thought it was a really neat detail, that’s all ^_^

Once making their way through the relatively normal Climatrol, something does wait for them at the top of the building... something... unsettling...

This is Neifirst. She was another failed experiment just like Nei, sharing the same biological data as her. However, unlike her sister, her creators tried to kill her on the spot due to her status. This made her enraged against the species that gave her life, and as an act of revenge, decided to unleash this bio catastrophy to slowly wipe us out. This is where another truth is revealed: Nei did not come with Rolf just to protect him, she actually wanted to put a stop to her sister, because while she did dislike being treated like a freak or a monster, she never wanted to hate her species as a whole... It remains that she still wants to stop her sister’s plans, and despite Rolf’s protests, the two engages in a fight. However, due to Neifirst being much stronger, Nei sustains heavy damage and is incapacitated. But, this is where the rest of the party comes in, and thus they finish the job and kill off Neifirst dead in her tracks, Rolf then quickly rushes in to his dear friend’s side, but as he does... it’s too late... Nei is dead.

This is yet another reason why Phantasy Star II is such an important game: it is, to my knowledge, the very first JRPG in which a major playable character dies permanently. Heck, Rolf even tries to bring her back through the local Clone Lab - because yes, citizens have access to eternal life by cloning their bodies until the end of time - but... since Nei’s genetic code was degenerating rapidly, they could not clone her body anymore. And, since Neifirst was also defeated, it is also impossible to get a fresh code back from anywhere in the world. Nei is dead. And you cannot do anything about it.

But don’t worry! It still gets worse!

But just as you’re about to find a way to fix this, it turns out that Climatrol has collapsed, which caused an immense flood all over the world. Since the government - and by extension, Mother Brain - isn’t happy about this, you are now considered a fugitive, a criminal. You are now the bad guy, and you are wanted for treason. 1989, anyone??

This is where the second brilliant story-gameplay integration of Phantasy Star II happens. Where until now you’ve only fought mutated monsters due to the outbreak, the government has now sent thousands of carious cyborgs and robots against you - and lo and behold, this is now the only thing you are fighting in both the overworld and dungeons, and the previous creatures are now nowhere to be seen. THAT’S REALLY SMART. Now sure, even if you are considered evil to many, you still task yourself with the task of unflooding the planet, and to do so you simply reactivate all four colored dams in the continent. However, upon reactivating the fourth one, your party is suddenly ambushed by a trio of robots sent by the cops, and this time? They succeed in capturing you. Your party is now sent in chains on a hovering satellite, as you are sentenced to slowly wither away and die in there without any trial of any sort, simply because you went against Mother Brain’s dear wishes...

But, something goes amiss. The sattelite starts to malfunction, and is now set to crash on one of the three planets of the Algol system. And despite you all trying to alter its course, it is too late. The satellite crashes onto Palma - the planet of the first Phantasy Star game - and it is gone.

That’s right! The planet in which many players took the time to save with Alis’s gang, to have a huge dungeon crawling adventure, the planet where you defeated Lassic in a glorious fashion. GONE. In only a few seconds. But... what about yourself? Well, you actually died! But a space pirate wandering close to the crash site pulled out your remains and cloned everyone’s body back to life... which makes you technically not yourself, and also dead, for the remainder of the game! ...May I remind you this game was developed in 1989?

Tyler the space pirate then escorts the zombie party back to Paseo, but not for long - you see, your commander, who hasn’t truly approved of Mother Brain’s actions against your group, allows you access to a spaceship. This is a big deal, because space travel as a whole has been banned ten years ago due to a major accident in which Rolf had lost his parents, and thus, the one stationed in Paseo is the last one remaining on the planet. But sure enough, Rolf takes the opportunity and travels to the ice planet of Dezolis, or Dezo.

And honestly? Even though this next part has nothing to do with the main story, it’s probably one of my favourites in the entire game. In this section, you simply must make your way through an abandoned space station, which has not seen use in years. At first, you’d think it was somewhat related to the spaceship incident, but as you explore this space station, you find a bunch of animals and newspapers lying around. You not only find some irrelevant ads about various products, but also news flash about a horrible gas spreading throughout the station, begging every inhabitant to evacuate immediately, which... definitively implies a very bleak fate to the place and its inhabitants o_o 

And on top of this unsettling setting, this is the first time you get to hear “Silent Zone”, my favourite track in the game. While the rest of the soundtrack is very upbeat, catchy and all around excellent, this track in particular is very... sad, desolate, lonely, in spite of it being just as catchy! It all combines for a brilliant example of “show, don’t tell” that really sets the mood perfectly to me <3

Either way, upon exploring more of Dezo - a frigid wasteland with few inhabitants - the party gets to meet up with Noah, a party member from Phantasy Star I! After reawakening from a cryogenic sleep, he then reveals that unlike Paseo and Motavia, Dezo basically never submitted with Mother Brain’s control and benefits simply because they did not want to live a life without any struggles. Unfortunately, this is also where you learn that Paseo came to terms with this *after* being to MB’s whims and as such, you can connect the dots and realize that the satellite crash was no accident after all... it was all planned.

Noah, however, knows about how deeply MB has ruined everything for the inhabitants of Motavia and thus tasks Rolf with collecting eight legendary ancient weapons all throughout Dezo, located within some ruinous, empty, cold dungeons which make for stunning atmosphere and presence, believe me!

Once that’s done, he then entrusts Rolf with the ultimate Sword and, thanks to kinetic abilities, sends him and his troupe to the space station housing Mother Brain. And once there, for the first time in centuries, a human being has met with Mother Brain.

And of course, the computer scoffs at those rebelling against her. She laughs at how they think they’d want a life with struggles, wtihout comfort, without anyone providing their needs, when work and hardship seems so uninviting on a desert wasteland like Motavia, or a frigid hell like Dezo. And yet, after a (pretty difficult!) battle, you emerge victorious! Or do you?

After the victorious outcome, Noah senses some additional presences beyond Mother Brain’s spot, and urges the party to investigate. And then... I don’t think I’ll even explain it in words. Please watch what happens. It is disturbing.

Yeah. We, the humans, were destroying our planet, Earth. Thus, we escaped through this spaceship to avoid extinction, and found the Algo system. It then, to our species, only seemed logical with so few numbers, to instead slowly weaken the population of all three planets with Mother Brain, making it then easy (although a very long process) to get rid of the population and start anew, even if it meant genocide. What I love about this twist ending is not only how it’s presented: the creepy music, the way you did *not* expect it at all, the number of humans on the screen at once, and so on... but also, how you don’t even know for sure how it ends. You don’t know if Rolf, Rudo, Amy, Kain, Hugh, Shir, Anna... if any of them survived. But it looks grim. It looks like we lost. And it looks like everyone we fought and tried to save... will rot until the final days anyway... Phantasy Star II... is important. Sure, I could talk about how the game is challenging due to how both your party members AND the enemies are very capable in battle or the stellar, catchy, memorable soundtrack...   but its story... is stunning. In 1989, we were still used to princesses being saved by armored heroes from dark dragons. We were used to things going all well in the end. But in 1989, Phantasy Star II taught us many things that would become staples in the future of JRPGs:  Yes, your cherished ones may die with you not being able to do anything about it No, you may not be able to save everyone you’d like to. Yes, your actions might make things worse for yourself and everyone else. No, things aren’t quite as black or white as they seem. And no, you might not always win. Phantasy Star II is a masterpiece. It’s a bit hard to approach this game today, but with a guide, this game is a must play. It’s unique. It’s ambitious. It’s chilling. And I adore this game to pieces. Thank you for reading, somehow <3

[nellie-elizabeth]

The Handmaid's Tale: The Crossing (4x03)

Too much? Yeah, maybe a tad.

Cons:

Like. We've got Handmaids dying via train. We've got Marthas pushed off buildings. We've got extreme physical and psychological torture. The thing that's brilliant about The Handmaid's Tale is how the society is structured like... a society, where people live "normal" "lives" and by that I mean they are terrified all the time, but they've also grown into routines. But by this point in the show, it seems like Gilead will do literally anything, including shooting a bunch of Handmaids as they try to flee, despite just saying that keeping them alive was the top priority. It's all over the top to the point where I think it shoots the moon, just a little. I'm horrified, yes, and I know I'm meant to be... but I'm also just drained past the point of coherent appreciation for what the show is trying to do.

Let's talk about June's psychological arc here, because I think there's something kind of odd with it. She refuses to break, even when her friends are being murdered in front of her. Then she sees Hannah, sees that her own daughter is afraid of her, and that causes her to cave, giving up the location of the other girls. Okay, makes sense so far. Then she tells Aunt Lydia that she's ready to die. Lydia says no, we're sending you to a breeding colony. And then... June gets to have a fun bridge kiss with Nick, and that invigorates her desire to live, to the point where she overpowers Lydia and runs with the other girls? She'd just said she was ready to die. Is this a suicide run? Did she expect to be gunned down as well? Because it doesn't seem like it. I guess what I'm saying is... this show has reached June's "breaking point" many times over, and every time it's not real, she always gets back up and keeps fighting. The cyclical nature of the storytelling can bog down some of the character development in this way.

I am really compelled by Nick and June's relationship and the complexities therein, but I think because of the grotesque amount of torture in the rest of this episode, I wasn't super sold on the big sweeping romance of their reunion. It felt tonally strange to me, even though I'm intrigued by these two people who have a real connection, and who have both committed atrocities since last seeing one another. I want more of them, I just don't quite know what that looks like, or how they make it fit.

Pros:

Elisabeth Moss did a great job acting and directing this installment. It's too much, too grim, too extreme to really have the impact I think they were going for, but it's stellar in how it's constructed nonetheless. I just wanted to say that upfront.

And there were moments where I felt like the horror was excellently deployed. Like... the one guy who's conducting the torture and then acting super pleasant and saying "it's lovely to meet you" was over the top in my opinion, and didn't strike the right tone. EXCEPT when he pushed a woman to her death off of the wall and said "too bad." That was excellent.

I also think Aunt Lydia's whole deal is an effective way of telling this sort of story about evil. Her ego and sense of self-worth is tied up in her relationship to her "girls." Even though Lydia and June are opposed in their goals and their methods, June is now adopting Janine and the other Handmaids as her "girls" and that creates a natural tension between the two. I loved the part where June was calling Lydia out on the real crux of the issue, that Lydia has failed them. Lydia's villainy has always been fascinating to me because she seems to have warped her own perceptions of reality to such a degree that she thinks she does care about them and that what she's doing is what's best. That's so scary to contemplate.

Like I said, I do love Nick, and I find his and June's relationship to be quite fascinating. Here, we see that Nick is willing to do whatever it takes to keep June alive, even if it means having Lawrence manipulate her, even if it means using Hannah. I don't blame Nick for it. I know he's doing what he can to keep June safe, and her child, too. But also... yikes! It's like June said in the last episode. Gilead makes it hard to be a good person. And Nick is trying, but he's also willing to cross a lot of lines to protect the person he cares about. June has made that kind of choice too, but she's also taken responsibility for more and more people, trying to help save the day in bigger and bigger ways.

Up in Canada, we get a little bit of time to see what's up with Luke. He's... angry, at June, in a way. And again, how can I really blame him? There was a moment when she had a chance to escape. And she made a different choice, knowing she would probably never see Luke or Moira ever again. Luke wants her to be okay. He wants her to survive. But how does he reckon with that reality? It's an interesting question and I'd love to see it explored more. We see how Moira and Luke are both struggling with their love for June and the situation they've found themselves in. It's not June's fault, but parts of it are due to her decisions.

So as we end, we've got Janine and June on the run, a whole swath of other Handmaids dead in the road, and I have truly no idea where things go from here. That can be the most exciting thing about this show, but it can also be frustrating in that often the answer seems to be "June gets captured again, bad things happen to her. She escapes. She gets captured again." How does the cycle end? How does this show stay healthy as it's marching into its fourth season? We'll find out if they manage to pull that off!

7.5/10

[i-watch-too-many-movies]

Favorite First Viewings of July 2020

The Big Boss (1971) (dir. Lo Wei)

A phenomenal martial arts film, showcasing the talents of Bruce Lee to their coolest, bloodiest extent. The choreography is remarkable, and the direction is top-notch, with the blocking of the cast in each scene similar to a musical. Also a great critique on the inhumane treatment of workers by their bosses.

Burning Cane (2019) (dir. Phillip Michael Youmans) 

A directorial debut that shows enormous promise, tackling the ugliness of alcoholism, the sweaty lands of Louisiana, and the horrifying nature of overtly religious beliefs. The cinematography is astounding and the final shot is haunting. 

Dogville (2003) (dir. Lars von Trier)

My favorite LVT I’ve seen so far, with its wonderful minimalist set, amazing leading performance from Nicole Kidman, and a film that succeeds in showcasing how American society, despite its posturing, has not evolved in its way of thinking, and how small towns that present themselves as good are more easily to give in to murder and other atrocities.

Golden Eighties (1985) (dir. Chantal Akerman)

One of the greatest directors of all time makes a wonderful musical, channeling her familiar themes of lost love, anti-capitalism, and post-World War II anxieties into ‘80s synthpop songs. 

Histoires d’Amerique: Food, Family, Philosophy (1989) (dir. Chantal Akerman)

A film that features Brechtian humor and several Jewish immigrants telling their stories in New York City, often with the dark, unsaid undertones that they had left their country to prevent getting killed in the Holocaust. I often think of the woman who had to leave her parents and her brother that told her that he’s never going to see her again and the possibility that he made it to New York.

Hotel Monterey (1973) (dir. Chantal Akerman)

A haunting silent documentary film showcasing the exteriors and interiors of a nearly empty hotel. The patrons look like ghosts, and all of the shadows that are in each corner of the hotel make it look like there is no escape from the building itself.

Je, Tu, Il, Elle (1974) (dir. Chantal Akerman)

A film about missing an ex-lover, with loneliness aching through Akerman’s narration, direction and set design. It also perfectly nails depression and being unable to create despite feeling that you need to. 

The Living End (1992) (dir. Gregg Araki)

My first Araki that I’ve seen. I need to see more. A beautifully shot, angry, funny, and heartbreaking road trip movie about the toxicity and dependence of the relationship between two men, as well as a scathing film showcasing how these men who suffer from AIDS are unable to receive the proper treatment they need. 

The Meetings of Anna (1978) (dir. Chantal Akerman) 

Another great Akerman movie that paints a perfect portrait of the director’s loneliness. Anna is a director who can barely hold a steady relationship or even a friendship due to her busy schedule and her own inability to commit to a romantic partner or spending time with a close friend. The last shot has broken me. 

Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020) (dir. Eliza Hittman) 

A movie about a teenager going from Philadelphia to New York City to get an abortion, and NYC is shot like the intimidating, scary place it can be to two teenage girls who can easily get tricked and run out of money. A film with so much empathy and love for its protagonist, whose actor, Sidney Flanigan, gives a brilliant, subdued performance. I cried at the titular scene. 

News from Home (1977) (dir. Chantal Akerman)

Arguably, Chantal Akerman’s masterpiece. A film in which she reads letters from her mother over gorgeous shots of New York City. I love the way it’s filmed, she gets these gorgeous, colorful images of NYC and its people. It made me wonder if any of the people there had stories similar to that of Chantal. Did their parents write to them every day? Do their parents miss them? Akerman’s mother’s letters are so beautiful and caring. Despite them being mundane, she’s so caring and wants nothing but the best for her daughter. I started bawling 20 minutes in.

Palm Springs (2020) (dir. Max Barbakow)

A romance that uses its time loop setting as a perfect backdrop to show the loneliness and quitting feelings that the two main characters have succumbed to. They feel so much comfort in each other, however, and each moment that they spend together is just pure romantic movie magic. Samberg and Milioti give two of the year’s best performances and have incredible chemistry together.

[autumn-foxfire]

God, I love your blog so much because you get to express in words what I can't, does that makes sense? Anyways, seeing all those asks about Dabihawks made me think about something that tends to get ignored in a lot of fanfics: following the idea of Dabi being Touya, meeting his family again and being with them after a long time, it's the fact that his family, after being horrified about him being a criminal/terrorist for like, seconds, they inmediately accept him again? And this is something that annoys me a lot even if I end up swallowing those feelings because I like the writing or the fanfic in general. There's just some ideas like that one, that I just... can't. There's no relationship building in that. Dabi, along with the LOV, attacked Shouto's class, attacked, even if they weren't planning to kill anyone. And they kidnapped Bakugou too. It doesn't really matters if it wasn't his intention or his idea on the first place, or even if he didn't wanted to do it, he still did it and, sometimes, it's really hard to let go of that.

And people ignore that moment or make him forgive Touya because he's his brother, with no struggle at all. I know Shouto is a kind soul and all that jazz, but it's not really that easy to talk to a family member (barely, he probably doesn't remember him that much), and just stop associating certain actions, terrible ones, with them. Shouto struggled with Endeavor to do that. Fuyumi would probably still be horrified and even scared, but ignoring what's happening for the sake of keeping the family together or inevitably focusing on herself depending of other's reactions (like Natsuo's or Shouto's), Natsuo would be split between the person he knew and the criminal he saw on TV, Rei would probably relapse, even if she wants to see him because she's his mom, but she would feel guilty, and Endeavor (they don't tend to include him but I'll do it anyway), would feel really guilty about it too. Even better, He would probably feel guilty about it all his life. That's great angst material.

Dabi ends up being the only one who feels bad about what he did (either sometimes or all the time) and his family only... comforts him, without having any problem about that. Acting as if he had never being a criminal. Or as if he only used to be just a petty robber. Acting as if they just barely cared about what happened in the past. They can't let go of Endeavor that easily, why would it be that easy with Dabi?

And God, I would understand if only one person in the family reacted like that. But a family of five? Everyone is different. You can't expect people to act as if nothing happened. Of course it happens, but like, with Todoroki's, where everyone deal with trauma in very different ways despite having the same experiences? I don't really buy it...

It just makes me thing so much about a couple, where one of them cheated on the other and the other one just accepts him, despite seeing the moment where he was cheated (the reactions of would be different if one of them just confessed and asks for forgivement, but in this case, since the Todoroki's family knows about a lot of Dabi's crimes so it makes more sense for the couple to see how he was cheated).

I love reading fics that talk about healing. People can get better. People can do better, and Dabi can be a great example of that along with Endeavor. But I think we should try not to reduce feelings to something so vain, so simple, in a family, because it's always way more complex than that.

T-T Thank you so much!!! I’m so glad you enjoy my blog (and my responses to anons XD)

My god, I feel you there though. 

Dabi’s crimes always tend to be swept under the rug by his family and it’s both annoying and unrealistic. Firstly, Dabi put his family through an immense amount of pain by faking his death. I don’t know if people realise how traumatic it is to lose a family member, especially one so young, in such a violent way. You feel the pain of it for years (and never really get over it), you’ll have to attend therapy or something called berevement counselling just to help you deal with their death and every year, without any fail, you’ll most like become depressed around the time of month of their passing.

*While I am speaking from experience here and projecting slightly, I’m also just pointing out what I’ve observed my family go through dealing with a similar loss. It’s really a horrible thing to experience and has probably left us more mentally ill then we were before*

So sure, the family would experience relief that Dabi, Touya was actually alive, but that relief won’t last for long before the family are consumed by their grief, anger, guilt and all the negative emotions they’ve had to deal with since learning his passing. It’s going to be a traumatic experience (or at least it should be) and yet most act like they’d just be happy he’s alive?!

Secondly, that’s not even taking into account Dabi’s crimes and the emotions they would experience over them! Dabi isn’t just a petty criminal, he’s a serial killer who not only tried to kill their father (who they have a complicated relationship with but clearly don’t want dead), he’s also put the lives of many innocent people in danger or even indirectly been responsible for killing them (i.e. the Machia march) as well as putting his own baby brother in danger too. He truly didn’t care that the training camp he was attacking would have his brother and his friends there, he didn’t care if any of them died (the nomu was obviously given orders to kill) and he didn’t care about hurting his own brother either when he got in his way. He even taunted Shouto for his failure too (which was beyond messed up considering Shouto was being a hero and trying to protect his friend).

Dabi has committed many, many selfish crimes that none of his family should just brush off because they’re happy he’s alive. Yes, they’ll be happy, but Dabi has caused them all, especially Shouto, a lot of trauma through his actions (I know he couldn’t control the trauma they experienced at his death as such, so I’m not blaming him for that, what I am blaming him for is willingly causing this trauma for what currently looks like selfish goals).

I don’t know why people are so dismissive of Dabi’s crimes, to be honest. He’s committed many atrocities that he needs to pay for. Is he capable of change? Well anyone can be if they put their mind too it and while Dabi should be held accountable for what he’s done, if he’s truly willing to change in the future, then he should also be allowed to heal.

But his family will also need to heal from his choices too and I wish the fandom would explore that more instead of just sweeping it under the rug.

[let-tyrants-fear]

this may be unpopular, but i think the series would have been a lot better if aaron had just stayed dead. 

.

let me explain. it’s not that i don’t like aaron, it’s just that the whole resurrection arc ruins all the character development of the first three books. 

for the first half of the series, there’s a lot of anxiety about whether or not call will turn into an Evil Overlord, and despite how much the characters worry about it, we as readers never truly doubt that call is a good person. he doesn’t want to be evil, and he has the chance to be better, and we trust that although he might screw up sometimes, he will ultimately make good choices.

throughout the first few books, we sort of know that constantine’s misdeeds were fueled by the death of his brother, and then in the bronze key, alma confirms this when she tells them that jericho died because joseph wanted constantine committed to the cause. constantine didn’t want to be evil at first either, but then jericho died, and it was enough to tip constantine over the edge. 

then in the same book, aaron dies, and call loses his counterweight, and suddenly he has never been so close to constantine. they’ve both lost their closest friends, their counterweights, and they both feel like their grief will swallow them whole. 

aaron dies, and call says he finally understands how constantine madden could have wanted to tear the world down. 

and this is when we actually begin to worry. the idea that call will turn into an Evil Overlord isn’t so impossible now. it’s right there in front of him. 

so this is the moment of truth, right? this is when we finally find out whether it actually makes any difference if call has constantine’s soul or not. but instead of an exploration of grief and a ponderous insight into the nature of good and evil, we get...the last two books. 

it’s not that call tries to bring aaron back. that’s something that i think everyone who has lost someone contemplates, it’s understandable. it’s grief. it’s human. and it’s not like call is trying to be evil, he just wants his friend back.

it’s not even that call brings him back, but wrong. that was horrifying, but it was interesting. we know call makes mistakes, and that’s part of what makes him so compelling as a protagonist and narrator. how do you know what the right thing is when everything feels wrong. 

and with call in particular, these actions open an interesting channel for discussion. how does he do this? how does he feel about this? he’s been insisting that he’s different from constantine, but this is dangerously familiar territory, so how does he justify this?

but after call brings back aaron in tsm, he has to confront what he’s done. jasper’s horrified, tamara’s horrified, and aaron is fundamentally off somehow. call has to face the fact that he has made a mistake, that it would be better for everyone - including aaron - especially aaron - if he had left it alone and let aaron remain dead.  

and that sort of happens at the end of the silver mask, but then you have aaron in call’s head, and then you have the golden tower, and then you have aaron resurrected in alex’s body. and ignoring the inherent creepiness of aaron-in-alex’s-body, that is a terrible way to end your story about the nature of good and evil and the irreversibility of death. 

like, i just. i can’t even begin to express how wrong it is. 

for the entire series, call wants nothing more than to prove that he is not constantine madden. that he can make his own decisions, that he is his own person, that he is a good person. but the ultimate climax of the series shows call succeeding where constantine failed. 

in the iron trial, call jokes that being the enemy of death doesn’t sound that bad because it’s not like death is so great. tamara immediately sets him straight, tells him that the enemy was evil because he tried to conquer death, and the message there is pretty clear: no human should be able to control death. for the final books to turn on the series’ thesis statement like that is...jarring, to say the least. 

i think we were all hoping for a series that told us: evil is not inherent, good is a choice that anyone can make. but instead we got: you cannot escape what you are, all the atrocities that constantine committed were worth it because they allowed call to raise aaron from the dead.

so yeah. aaron should have stayed dead. 

[dalekofchaos]

Leia was screwed over by the Sequel Trilogy

While it’s true that she didn’t undergo character assassination to the same degree as Luke and Han, Leia was also a victim of the sequel trilogy.

In the OT, she lost everything. Her family, her planet, and her culture were obliterated before her eyes. She didn’t for one second give up, but it is heavily implied in ESB that after Alderaan’s destruction, she prioritized the rebellion over her own humanity, and was afraid to let people in. Her two main arcs throughout the story center around her desperation to defeat the Empire, and her struggle against her feelings for Han, not wanting to admit that she loves him because she is afraid of more loss.

By the end of the trilogy, despite having lost her world, Leia has gained a family. She has accomplished what she was devoted to the entire trilogy and the Empire is defeated. And she let herself love Han and her worries were for nothing because he demonstrates that he is reliable and honorable: he is invested in her happiness, he commits to the rebel cause, and they get their happy ending.

Then the Disney Trilogy stripped her of literally everything. Her accomplishments, her happiness, her family, everything.

The Republic she had fought so hard for is crushed. Perversely, its capital system is blown up by yet another Death Star—likely Leia’s worst fear—that can destroy entire planetary systems at a time. She is discredited, too. Despite all that she did for the galaxy and all the things she did to prove herself, no one apparently believed her about the First Order and she was back to square one with a “resistance”. When she sends out her personal distress signal in TLJ, no one responds to it. So apparently Princess Leia herself isn’t even able to rally the galaxy to action even after systems are being destroyed. Oh and the Empire? That victory was taken away from her, too, since the First Order grew out of the remnants of the Empire and rose again. So Leia, who was the champion for the rebellion and democracy the entire OT—who was still committed to the cause while Luke was off training and Han was going to pay off a bounty, the person who inspired them to join up in the first place—actually accomplished nothing.

She also lost all the people she cared about in deeply, personally horrifying ways. Han leaves her just like she had feared at the start of their relationship (which defies his character arc but I digress). Her brother vanishes into thin air when she desperately needs his help and then isn’t even willing to come help her when she begs him to (also character assassination but that’s nothing new). Her own son hero-worships the man who imprisoned her and interrogated her on the Death Star, tortured the love of her life and froze him in carbonite to be handed off to a crime lord, and was otherwise responsible for countless atrocities. The revelation that Vader was her father must have been extremely difficult for Leia, and her own son resolving to follow in his footsteps is so messed up. Not only does he idolize Vader, he also joins up with Empire 2.0 while they try to destroy the Republic Leia had fought so hard to build and while they built Death Star 3.0. Her own son embodies every single thing Leia devoted her life to fighting against, and then he murders her husband, his father.

So Leia is subjected to this grotesque suffering—(not to mention mischaracterization, because I don’t buy for a second that she’d sit back and not go after her kid or not go after her brother)—and has every single accomplishment taken away, she is discredited, her personal victories are undone, her loved ones are taken away, and the narrative all but ignores it. Other than about ten seconds of looking sad in TFA, she is “sTiLL sO StRoNg!!!!!”

Leia is reduced to a prop. They did all that awful stuff to her, used her as a chess piece in the story, then slapped the title “General” on her and made her “still have hope!” and tried to claim it as feminism and “a strong female character.”

Leia is not a strong female character in the Disney Trilogy. She is a character whose personal arc was completely thrown out for the sake of their gross fanfiction plot, who is stagnant and flat and regressed back to the beginning of ESB, and who “never gives up” because it’s more convenient to the plot and for marketing for her to stay strong when actually they just aren’t giving her character the attention she deserves. If Han Solo is dead and her own son murdered him, we should have seen Leia fall apart for once. If Luke is dead we should have seen her grieve. But Leia is no longer a character. She is a device in Rey’s story, so instead she smiles and says “we’ve got everything we need!” :) She is an empty puppet.

It’s sickening. Leia was SCREWED by the new movies, just like Luke and Han.

Source

[yandere-musings]

Hey I don’t know if requests are open or not so please just ignore this post if they aren’t!! Could you please do headcannons or a scenario of yan Dabi or Tomura with a somewhat apathetic fem s/o? She just lets things happens and “goes with the flow” (as best you can when you’re kidnapped). Eventually her captor has to bring up the fact that most people would be hysterical over being kidnapped by a notorious villain. Thank you so much!! 💕

I still don't have much experience writing for Shigaraki so I'm sorry if he's a bit ooc! aaah I tried! Hope you like it!

Dabi

Yandere Type: Possessive, Sadistic, Controlling

• He had been stalking you for a while before he even made his move. It was easy enough though to steal you away. Break in with the key he had made, hide in your closet until you left the room, slip the dissolving sedatives into your glass of water then go back to hiding until you were out cold. Sure enough, you drank every drop and passed out shortly after. Dabi couldnt help but smirk as he came out of hiding and scooped you up, marvelling at how perfectly you fit in his arms and how easily things had worked out.

•When you woke up in the run down apartment he had you locked in, rather than screaming and panicing... You just looked around. A pity really. Dabi was oh-so looking forward to seeing your expression when you realized what was happening. But rather than hearing the sweet sobs he was longing for, you just sat silently. Perhaps you were in shock?

• "My name is Dabi. You belong to me now... This is your new home. If you try to run away, I'll kill you," he told you.

"Oh... Okay.... I won't run then."

Wait... What did you just say? Was that supposed to be a joke? Were you trying to trick him? Dabi watched you carefully, trying to piece together what game you were trying to play. Surely it wouldn't be that easy to break you in. Dabi knew these circumstances were supposed to be horrifying, making your reactions all the more suspicious. You stood up and began walking around his room and inspecting your surroundings. You picked up magazine that laying on the floor.

"I'm kind of hungry. Got any food?"

• The next few weeks left Dabi on edge. He was certain you were biding your time and planning an escape soon. Or waiting until he let down his gaurd before you'd attack him. But despite how ready he was for you to flip the switch and lunge at him, it never came. You just let things happen. Whenever he made food, you ate it without questioning if he had put anything in it. Whenever he pulled you close,you didn't tense up or struggle. Hell, you didn't even fight back when he shoved his tongue down your throat for a heated kiss. You never flinched. Never faltered when he forced his affections on you. What were you planning? Was he so beneath you that you wouldn't even waste the effort? Was he not good enough- even as a kidnapper?

• You were casually lounging on his bed, using his lap as a pillow while your eyes were glued go to the TV. The news was playing repeat stories of your possible death and disappearance, the lives lost during attacks by the league of villains and how blue flames had been littered across the city and burning whatever it touched to the ground. All these horrible images playing, clearly linked to him... And yet here you sat, relaxing in his lap like some kind of adoring pet despite witnessing the atrocities he has committed.

•Dabi is left with mixed feelings. On one hand, your lack of reaction infuriated him. He wanted to see you scared. He was looking forward to licking away those tears. Hear that beautiful voice crying and begging for mercy. Having you be so afarid of him that you would do anything he commanded... But he couldn't deny that he enjoyed this passive side of you. You were already submitting to him. You just went along with whatever he did with no resistance as if it was normal. Wasn't this exactly what he wanted?

• "Why aren't you scared of me y/n? You know what I'm capable of... Anyone else would be terrified," he questioned. You shrug.

"My life was kind of boring before this honestly. And you take care of me. So its not too bad here," you replied nonchalantly, not even taking your eyes off the television.

Dabi kept staring down at you. That's it? He treated you 'OK'? And you were fine with staying here? Dabi let out an amused grunt as he began to play with your hair. As weird a reason as it was, it was still a reason. Dabi was oddly... satisfied knowing that you genuinely weren't going to try to escape. You were perfectly content at staying at his side forever.

- - - - - -

Tomura Shigaraki

Yandere Type: Possessive, Controlling and Delusional

•A twisted smile spread across Tomura's face as Kurogiri's warp gate opened. Nomu stepped into the bar, an unconsious form tucked under his arm. Tomura quickly stood up from his seat and scurried over to take you in his own arms. He held you tightly against his chest, deeply inhaling the scent of your hair and struggling to surpress a pleasured groan and shudder. How long had he been waiting for the day to hold you like this? Far too long. It was if you fit against him perfectly like two pieces of a puzzle. One of the villains made an assertive cough, reminding him that Tomura wasn't alone in the room. He rolled his bloodshot eyes.

• They didn't understand his kind of love. None of them could, except for maybe Himiko. And even then, nobody in the world existed who could ever love you more than he could. Tomura cooed to you gently, marveling at how precious you were as you slept. He quietly excused himself, opting to take you to a private location rather than be prevy to the judgemental eyes. The sooner people stopped looking at his beloved, the better.

• When you came to, you were laying tucked neatly into a small bed in the corner of what looked like a giant cage. You yawned and sat up, only to look up and realize that you were not alone. Just outside the cell, a skinny man stood staring down at you with wide, blood red eyes. His gaze was intense as he breathed heavily, not once blinking or breaking eye contact. After a tense silence, he spoke.

"Wel..come home, Y/N.... I've been waiting... for so long to finally have you," he wheazed while gripping the bars of the cell.

"My name is Tomura... I don't think you remember me, but that's okay. It was so long ago when we met. But I never gave up on you. On us... I've been watching for so long, just waiting... Ahhh now we're finally together," he confessed airily, his cheeks turning red.

You looked around at the dingey room. The wallpaper was peeling back, windows nailed shut with wooden boards. This place was falling apart. The room was illuminated only by a small lamp that sat atop a computer desk so it was hard to make much out. Wait, what's that against the other wall? Another bed. Was this his room? Tomura extended his arm, pointing his finger at the small table by your bedside where a tray of food was waiting.

"I made your favorite... eat up my love."

•Tomura was sitting at his desk when he heard you clear your throat from inside your little prison cell.

"Excuse me? Tomura was it? Um... can you let me out of the cell for a bit? I can barely stretch out in here," you asked politely.

Tomura swiveled around in his chair, tilting his head curiously at your request. It had been quiet these last few hours. After you had eaten you meal, you had just been lounging around on the tiny bed, staying silent. Well, at least you weren't panicking as much as he thought you would. You weren't panicking at all really. Hmm.. He did want you to feel at home, since this would be your home until he decided otherwise. He could let you out to stretch right? He didn't want his beloved feeling crowded.

"If I do, will you behave?" he questioned.

"Well yeah. The windows are boarded shut so I can't get out that way. And that door over there is probably locked," you explained, nodding in the direction of the only exit on the opposite side of the room.

• Such a clever girl. Of course you would notice that sort of thing. You were his brilliant darling after all. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a keyring. Your eyes watched carefully as he inserted the key... but he didn't turn it. Your eyes went back up to his face where you found him.... staring at you.

"If you try anything funny... I'll put you right back in there," he warned.

"I won't."

• Tomura sat at his office chair, watching a video online with you sitting in his lap. Feeling you so close to him was wonderful. As promised, you were behaving. Execptionally well in fact. Tomura sighed happily, pulling you tightly to his chest and pressing into your back. You didn't even flinch when he snaked his arms around you to hug your waist. You were being totally complacent.

"You know, Y/N... I could kill you right now, if I wanted to..." he weezed behind you, his breath warm against the shell of your ear.

You shrugged and reached out to use the mouse to scroll the playlist of videos you had been watching. Tomura's hand shot up clamped tightly over your neck. You froze, stoping the mouse.

"Please don't ignore me dearest. Its bad manners," he hissed.

You swallowed and nodded.

"Hmmm... You know that I've killed a lot of people, right? Does that frighten you? Knowing that you're at the complete mercy of such a villain?" he whispered.

"... Not really. If you wanted to kill me, I wouldn't be able to stop you even if I tried. So I won't bother struggling. Do whatever you want to me," you admitted.

• Tomura's dry lips curled into a sickening grin. Oh my, the countless ideas that could insinuate. You remained as still, feeling his body begin to tremble as he giggled maniacally. Suddenly the hand that had been clamped over your throat loosened and fell to your arm, rubbing small circles on it. In any other circumstance, such a gesture would have been reassuring. But it was was more unnerving given the fact that he had buried his nose into your hair and continued to inhale sharply.

"Ahh, such a tantalizing answer my love... I certainly will do just that. I have so many fun ideas of things we can do. I'm sure you're just as excited to try them as I am."