#despite it's still unclear who were all these clapping people

[unhonestlymirror]

Gojo Satoru is an awesome person, and people clearly don't value him enough

[j4gm]

TOGETHER AGAIN SPOILERS

A thread of lore, Easter eggs, episode connections, and background details from Adventure Time: Distant Lands: Together Again! Let me know if I missed anything! This is adapted from my original Twitter thread.

Keep reading ⬇️⬇️⬇️

1. I was expecting them to perhaps do a classic style title sequence for this episode, but I wasn't expecting them to straight up use the original title sequence. The only difference is this final screen saying "Distant Lands".

2. The background of the title cards is also the hill from the title sequence.

3. The ice cream having "50 flavours" and having an image of an enlightened soul is an obvious reference to the 50th Dead World as we see it later in the episode.

4. Continuing with the metaphor, the dirt in the ice cream could be a parallel to the fact that Jake's Nirvana actually wasn't perfect, because his inaction was allowing for injustice to perpetuate.

5. This whole scene feels immediately slightly off. Finn has his Scarlet sword and is out on a classic Ice King adventure, but he speaks in his grown voice and all the slang feels much more forced than it did in the real season one. Turns out this was deliberate.

6. The snow golem speaks with a baby voice like it did in the pilot episode, even though in canon it has a deeper voice. This further hints that something is not quite right.

7. The first major break in continuity is these snow golems resembling Uncle Gumbald and Peace Master, who Finn didn't meet until later in his life.

8. LSP sitting on Finn's head like this is reminiscent of Pen Ward's piece for the 2018 Ble crew zine.

9. Finn being given the choice of helping somebody but ending up helping everybody reminds me of "Memories of Boom Boom Mountain". It's the kind of resolution that wouldn't happen so much in the late seasons of the show, which helps make this scene feel even further out of place.

10. Jake is half frozen by Ice King in pretty much the exact same way as he was in "Prisoners of Love", and even has a very similar line.

11. The Snail is seen here. The crew have said that the Snail has been deliberately left out of previous Distant Lands specials, so its placement here is another very deliberate hint that this whole sequence is "trying too hard" to be like the early seasons.

12. The book "Mind Games" appears a couple of times, as seen in several previous episodes of Adventure Time. The first is as Finn is approaching the library in his dream. It also appears as one of the items in Finn's backpack later.

13. Jake is hurt when Finn fist bumps him with his metal arm, revealing that this scene is not real. This is also a callback to the title sequences of "Islands" and "Elements".

14. A whole bunch of familiar skeletons are seen in the bird's nest: Dirt Beer Guy, Abracadaniel, Me-Mow, Lemongrab, Mr. Pig, and the Snail again. This doesn't necessarily mean that all these characters are dead, since this scene is just a hallucination.

15. Old Man Finn! He's still got the chest tattoo of Jake, and this time we know that Jake is dead, so the theory that Jake died before "Obsidian" seems pretty likely. He looks similar to his old man design from "Puhoy", with the same facial hair.

16. There are several cameos of familiar characters who apparently died at the same time as Finn. The first is this duck, who previously appeared in "Ocarina".

17. The second is Donny, from the episode... uh, "Donny".

18. This goblin guy is an unnamed background character from “The Silent King”.

19. This old lady first appeared in "The Enchiridion", way back in season one. Old ladies are a species in the Land of Ooo, so I guess she wasn't actually very old back then, given she just about outlived Finn.

20. This is the cobbler who first appears in "His Hero". Amazing that he lived so long given all the trouble he got into in that episode.

21. Land of the Dead! This place was first seen in season two's "Death in Bloom", and now we are finally learning its actual purpose. It's a sort of gateway and hub to all of the other dead worlds.

22. There are some more minor cameos at the gates: a house person from "Donny", a soft person from "Gut Grinder", and a wood person from "When Wedding Bells Thaw". And, of course, the gate guardian himself from “Death in Bloom”.

23. Finn completely ignores the gate guardian in the same way he did in Death in Bloom. This also has the convenient effect of not having to reveal how Finn died, leaving it up to the audience's imagination.

24. Mr. Fox! We already knew he would die at some point because BMO had his skull in the finale.

25. Finn has his design from the first Distant Lands poster in this scene. Turns out it's young Finn in old Finn's clothes. But they gave him a shirt in the poster so you wouldn't be able to see the tattoo.

26. The clapping that Finn does while he's looking for Jake is a callback to "James Baxter the Horse", when Jake tells Finn to listen for that same rhythm if they are killed and need to find each other in the afterlife.

27. Mr. Fox talks about a "past life quotient", suggesting that there might be some kind of limit to how many times somebody can reincarnate. Finn's reincarnations are also seen in this scene; a callback to "The Vault", and confirmation that reincarnations share the same soul.

28. Boobafina, the goose who Mr. Fox was in love with in his debut episode “Storytelling”, apparently reincarnated into a tugboat. We've already seen that objects can have souls in the episode "Ghost Fly".

29. Finn is initially assigned to the 37th Dead World, which is the same one that Jake went to when he died in "Sons of Mars". We can only guess at what the other numbers on the ticket mean ;)

30. Tiffany! Despite several lucky escapes throughout his life, Tiffany has finally died. I like the use of this imagery to express Finn's conflicted feelings about him.

31. The 50th Dead World has long been established as the "highest" dead world, and the one synonymous with Heaven within Adventure Time's universe. It was first mentioned in "Ghost Princess" back in season three.

32. It's unclear what happens to souls which are destroyed within the dead worlds. It is a similar question to asking what happened to the ghosts that were killed in "Ghost Fly".

33. Death doesn't speak at all in Together Again because his voice actor, Miguel Ferrer, passed away in 2017 long before production began.

34. Finn phases through New Death when he tries to attack him, just like what happened way back in "Death in Bloom".

35. The 30th Dead World contains Tree Trunks as well as many of her love interests; Mr. Pig, her alien husband from "High Strangeness", Danny and Randy who first appeared in "Apple Wedding", and several more who we don't recognise, including at least one who presents as a woman.

36. Literally yelled when these two showed up. Joshua calls Finn a crybaby, which is a callback to "Dad's Dungeon".

37. The wall of weapons in Joshua and Margaret's house includes the iconic Demon Blood Sword, which was broken in "Play Date", as well as Margaret's auto-loading crossbow from "Joshua & Margaret Investigations".

38. Jermaine is sidelined a few times through the episode, in reference to his attitude in "Jermaine" where he feels that Finn and Jake were always their parents' favourites. I would have hoped things would be a bit better by now.

39. Fern gets name dropped while Finn and Jake are reuniting. A shame he doesn't actually show up in the episode.

40. In this scene, Finn says "What time is it?" This is a very subtle reference to the 2010 cartoon "Adventure Time".

41. In a couple of shots during this fight scene it looks like Jake might have a tattoo. It seems like it only becomes visible when he stretches out his arm.

42. New Death's amulet in this scene resembles parts of the Lich's cape, foreshadowing his influence on New Death.

43. There are several more cameos in the 50th Dead World: Booshy from "High Strangeness", one of the Marshmallow Kids from "Scamps", and Ghost Princess and Clarence, who were seen ascending to the 50th Dead World in "Ghost Princess".

44. Finn didn't interact with Booshy in "High Strangeness", but it seems they must have met at some point before they both died because Finn knows his name.

45. It seems like people in the 1st Dead World are slowly melted away until they become part of the landscape. Nasty.

46. Lots more cameos in this scene: a gnome from "Power Animal", a gnome from "The Enchiridion", a Bath Boy from "The Vault", Blagertha from "Love Games", Maja the Sky Witch, a troll from "Dungeon", Chocoberry, Choose Goose, Wyatt, a spiky person from "Gut Grinder", and possibly more.

47. Tiffany's insults are consistently nonsensical and amazing, as they were in the original series.

48. The Candy Kingdom looks extremely different. Peppermint Butler is wearing the crown so he might be in charge now, which is supported by the kingdom's very magical-looking augmentations. It’s not clear whether Finn and Jake were expecting to find Princess Bubblegum or Peppermint Butler, since both have the initials “PB” and both could be going by the title of “Princess”. Perhaps Peps and Bubblegum share the princess duties now that PB is living with Marceline more of the time.

49. Peppermint Butler has a "Boss" mug, although it's not the same colour as the one from "Obsidian".

50. Jake's ghost has the same design as he did when BMO killed him in "Ghost Fly". I also absolutely love Finn's ghost. This scene establishes that ghosts are just visitors to the mortal plane from the dead worlds.

51. Life has only appeared in animated shorts before now. Namely, "The Gift That Reaps Giving" which establishes her relationship with Death, and "Frog Seasons: Winter". This episode gives her a concrete place within Adventure Time's pantheon: she is in charge of reincarnation.

52. A translation of Life’s angry French dialogue by Shado: “After all I did for that boy. After all I did for him. No, it's not possible. It's not possible no, that... that makes me so mad but it's not possible.”

53. We finally have in-universe confirmation that Shoko's tiger is a previous life of Jake. This was previously confirmed by one of the writers, but wasn't canon until now.

54. I feel like Finn pulled off Shoko's look even better than Shoko did. I wonder whether Finn has gained the memories of his past lives now that he’s dead.

55. No Easter egg here, just want to appreciate this image.

56. There is an elemental symbol on the wall here, as seen in "Jelly Beans Have Power".

57. Tiffany's dramatic internal monologue is a recurring gag, as is his habit of nearly dying from falling into holes.

58. The Jake suit makes a cameo in the fight against New Death. It was last seen in the episode "Reboot”.

59. Finn's backpack contains a few familiar items: the t-shirt with the pocket from "It Came from the Nightosphere", Finn's underwear from "Little Dude" and other episodes, and a copy of Mind Games as I've already mentioned.

60. The Lich's Hand is present in the background of Death's... death scene. This is probably the unseen "friend" who New Death keeps talking about.

61. The Lich's menacing monologues often begin with a single command. Previously they have included "Fall" and "Stop". This time, the command is "Burn".

62. Jake uses the word "boingloings", which is a callback all the way to "Hitman" in the third season.

63. Jake's blue shape-shifter form from "Abstract" appears very briefly during his fight with Finn.

64. Finn's lumpy space person form also makes an appearance. This design was last seen all the way back in the second episode of the entire show, "Trouble in Lumpy Space".

65. Jake steps on the Lich's hand in a very similar way to how he stepped on Ash in "Memory of a Memory", which is itself a Monty Python reference.

66. The credits include a dedication to a few AT cast and crew who have passed away. Polly Lou Livingston was the voice of Tree Trunks. Miguel Ferrer was the voice of Death. Michel Lyman and Maureen Mlynarczyk were both sheet timers on the original series. Rest in peace.

67. The message that Finn and Jake write out on the ouija board is "BUTT", which Peppermint Butler takes as a distress signal. This message is also used as a distress signal by the Hot Dog Knights in "The Limit".

68. Peppermint Butler's reversed dialogue from the scene where he makes contact with Finn and Jake is "Kee-Oth Rama Pancake", the spell from “Dad's Dungeon” for banishing demons.

69. That appears to be President Porpoise with all of Tree Trunks’ other lovers.

70. In this scene, Life is humming part of "Lonely Bones", the song which Death tried to record for her in her debut short "The Gift That Reaps Giving". It's hard to notice because it's so brief.

71. Finn and Jake's cover is blown while in the Land of the Dead because Jake loudly farts, which also happened in "Death in Bloom".

72. The place where Mr. Fox explains the perception mechanics of the afterlife is the exact same location as the River of Forgetfulness from "Death in Bloom", which, as it turns out, was imaginary.

These are sort of out of order at the end because I was adding stuff to the Twitter thread as it got discovered. That’s all for now!

[wannabe-fic-writer]

Lena Luthor x Reader : Truth

This is my first quote request and my first time writing for Lena. It’s likely that this sucks and if it does please let me know(nicely). I love Lena but it’s possible I shouldn’t be writing for her😅

Quote: "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." - Rumi

Warning: Violence, Language

Word Count: 1,406

* * * * * *

Despite being awake, you cuddle closer to the woman in your arms, breathing deeply and trying to ease back into sleep.

Only for her alarm to go off, effectively pulling you from that sleepy state.

When she starts to move you tighten your hold and press a kiss to her neck,“ shhhh. If we don’t move time just might freeze.”

Lena laughs softly,” I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“Well I think your next invention should make that possible. I hate leaving you.”

The woman turns in your hold, green eyes boring into yours, searching your soul in a way she always had. You raise your hand, cupping her cheek, and leaning in.

Her eyes shut, expecting a kiss, and you give her one. On her cheek. Effectively making her giggle.

“Well that’s not what I was expecting.” She speaks honestly, resting her face in the crook of your neck as she snuggles closer.

As you shut your eyes you have the full intent to go back to sleep. It’s incredibly rare that Lena agrees to sleep in even if it’s a few minutes. But that doesn’t pan out.

The second you hear your phone buzz you know you have to get up. It could’ve been ignored but the triple buzz is a custom notification, from the DEO.

So reluctantly, you pull yourself away from Lena who laughs at you and gets up as well.

“What happened to sleeping in?” She teases, stepping from the shower as you brush your teeth.

You roll your eyes,“ I didn’t want to get up but duty calls Miss Luthor. As I’m sure your familiar with.” You place a gentle swat to her ass that makes the CEO blush furiously.

The worst part of your day comes when you and Lena part ways. A slow passionate kiss all that you have to hang on to until later tonight.

Stepping into the DEO gives you the same feeling it always does. You feel proud to be apart of an organization that saves lives(human and otherwise). And you also feel happy, especially seeing your friends.

“Hey hey.” You smile as you approach the people surrounding the table.

“Y/n!” Kara’s own bright smile meets your eyes and she’s quick to hug you, more than happy to not hold back her super strength to do so. Your daxamite genes take it with gusto and you return the hug with almost the same amount of strength.

“Super hug!” Winn exclaims, joining the hug, and groaning when you playfully squeeze just a tad bit harder.

“Glad you’re in a good mood Agent Y/Ln,” J’onn says with a nod,“ cause we’ve got a big one.”

By big one, he meant big one. None of you are sure who’s inside the lead lined metal suit but you have to assume it’s someone familiar with yours and Karas weaknesses.

A loud frustrated groan leaves your lips when you enter your apartment. Fighting a lead suited man makes you ache in places you hadn’t ached in before.

Of course the one fatal weakness you have is exploited by the enemy.

On top of having your ass handed to you today you come home to an empty apartment, the absence of your girlfriend making you groan again.

It’s not unusual for you to be home before Lena, but that doesn’t make it any better. So you use this time to try and feel better.

Ice works for humans right? Might as well try it.

As you’re resting on the couch, bags of ice on your abdomen and leg, a burst of wind flies past you. H/c strands of hair tousle at the rush and you smirk.

“Always a pleasure Miss Danvers.” You glance at the open balcony doors and over to the front door where Kara stands in her Supergirl uniform.“ What’s the reason for this visit?”

She smiles brightly,“ I know tonight’s fight was tougher on you,” she holds her hands up to reveal two bags, one from your favorite bakery and the other from a Thai place,“ so I picked this up on my way home.”

The blonde walks over and starts opening the bags and the second you smell the sweetness of your favorite dessert you sigh.

Eyes closed, you clap your hands together, and look to the sky,“ Kara thank the gods for you!”

Just as quickly as your moment of happy had come it vanishes at the hurt and shocked voice of your girlfriend.

“Kara?”

Both you and your super friend snap your gazes to Lena and you quickly realize your fuck up.

How had neither of you heard her come in? How could you have slipped up like that?

“Lena-“ you both go to move toward her but she steps back, the hurt clear in her green eyes.

“Kara, you’re Supergirl?” The blonde can just nods at her question. And her gaze turns to you,” and you knew?”

You can only imagine how finding this out must feel. Her best friend and girlfriend have been lying to her.

“How did you know? How long?” She asks you, your lying to her seemingly worse than Kara’s.

Opening and closing your mouth, you struggle to figure out how to tell her that you’ve known your whole relationship.

She knows you’re a Daxamite, having met you when you saved her from being hit by a car. The woman was distracted by her phone conversation and stepped straight in front of a speeding car.

At the time you were working. A superhero “in training” as Winn put it. Kara having recruited you from the DEO’s list of registered aliens because you are a Daxamite and she had yet to reconnect with Mon Ël.

“I-“ you know better than to lie.“ I knew long before we met. I work with her.”

It seems that’s the epitome of hurt for her, a single tear trailing down her cheek.

“Lena love I’m sorry I-”

Her hand raises, stopping you mid sentence,“ I can’t. Not now, just-”

You nod in understanding, moving to just a foot in front of her,“ I’ll go. And I’m sorry. Please know that.”

Lena says nothing and so you leave. Kara helping you since your body is still in pain, your heart now in the mix.

The blonde silently flies you to her apartment and the instant you land she apologizes. Kara knows you didn’t tell Lena for her.

“Hey, it’s fine. Um- I’m sure we’ll figure things out after everything cools down.”

Knowing that you’re also hurt by this situation, and that it’s partly her fault, Kara sticks by your side the whole night.

In the morning she advises you to take a day but you need the distraction. Only it doesn’t work out that way.

Instead of letting your work distract you from the situation, you let the situation distract you from your work. Which leads to your downfall.

While thinking of Lena, admittedly when you shouldn’t have been, you took a fairly nasty stab to the abdomen, by lead.

You feel yourself drifting in and out of consciousness as the lead takes a toll on your body.

“Y/n you’re going to be okay.” Alex’s calm and collected voice meets your ears and you nod exhaustedly.

As you’re being moved to medical you faintly hear Kara telling Alex what happened. That is before you go out for real this time.

How long you’re out for is unclear. You just know when you come to that one: you feel a hundred times better and two: there’s a person holding on to you.

Lena you quickly understand.

The woman’s lithe fingers trace circles on your side, just under your stab wound.

“If I say ‘hi’ would that be awkward?” You ask jokingly, pulling a soft chuckle from her that dies quickly.

A heavy sigh wracks her body,“ I’m glad you’re okay.”

You tighten your hold on her and say,“ and I’m glad you’re here, even though I fucked up.”

“Lying to me is not okay. But I do understand that it wasn’t you’re secret to tell.” She rises up to look you in the eyes.“ Admittedly I would’ve did the same thing.”

Brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear, you smile softly,“ does that mean I can come home?”

“Of course.” She leans down to press a kiss to your lips which effectively makes you smile.

Even though you definitely lied, which was wrong, both of you know your decision in keeping a secret that wasn’t yours to tell was right. And Lena wouldn’t hold that over you, she loves you far too much for that.

* * * * * *

[sonicringnoise]

Have a Jak 3 rant

Okay, I need to talk about Jak 3 and just...how absolutely janky the plot is. 

This rant is extremely long, so I put it under the cut.

First of all, I just want to point out, I love this game. I love it so much, and it’s my favorite out of the trilogy. But it just...it could have been so much better, guh.

And I know that development of this game was rushed (hell, it only came out a year after Jak 2), but I’m still going to rant about it!

It starts out just fine, with the Wasteland and Spargus and the arena, but it gets so weird as it goes on. Just...really disjointed.

We never really find out why Jak keeps going after eco crystals. Seriously, he gets a dark eco crystal from the Dark Maker at the beginning of the game, a light eco crystal from Seem, and just...starts collecting them, for some reason? Like, was he going to make a necklace? Start a rock collection? It’s never explained.

But whatever, it turns out those are needed later in the game to save the world. Fine.

After some Spargus-y missions, we then go...to the Monk Temple. You know, the temple. That’s never been mentioned before, and we didn’t even know existed, but we just went up there to explore and stuff and...

Like, how hard would it have been to have a line where Seem says, “We monks live far to the north, in a temple in the mountains.”

Then we’d at least have a reason to go there. But no, instead we just show up there and start poking around. 

This is one of my biggest issues with the game. In Jak 2, there are cutscenes that set up these missions, or even communications in gameplay that tell us where to go. In Jak 3, there’s just...a lot of that missing.

But, fine. Whatever, Jak has, like, ESPN or something.

At the volcano, Jak gets a dark power of invisibility, I guess. But only when he touches certain statues, and it’s only ever really used to get past a few traps and then never again.

Oddly enough, this was something that...made sense? I mean, invisibility is actually a power that dark eco has. Remember in Jak 2, there were metal heads who could turn invisible. 

But it’s never used! And that complaint holds true for almost every power Jak gets. You basically use the powers when a prompt comes on screen to get through a one-time obstacle, and then never again. 

Then we find out Veger is talking to the monks, but no one ever really expands on why? Or how? Like, for a city hidden in the Wasteland and forgotten, a lot of fucking people know it exists! 

Speaking of which...

We meet Ashelin in the desert and she begs us to come back to Haven City. Jak asks her how she knows Damas and she answers, “It doesn’t matter now.”

Excuse me??

It totally does matter! If Ashelin knows Damas, it begs the question: does she know that Jak is his son? Does she know the Kid is his son? Does she even know about the Kid? 

I mean, Ashelin would almost have to know that Jak is Damas’ son: during this scene, she gives him his seal back and says, “Don’t you remember who you are?”

Whatever. Add that to the list of things that are never mentioned again.

Jak says he’s not coming back to the city, because he’s an angry teenager and he likes hanging around with his Sand Dad. 

This is immediately followed by Jak returning to Haven City.

We head to the Monk Temple, again for no reason. This time, we open up some doors and Pecker leads us back to the city. 

There is no explanation as to why Jak has a change of heart. I actually think that the scene where Damas and Jak had a heart-to-heart and he mentions his lost son should be here: it leads perfectly into Jak deciding that the Greater Good is more important than his feelings.

Instead, we get nothing. Nada. Zilch. Just Jak heading back to Haven City because it’s The Thing To Do.

We reach Haven City after a boss battle and meet with Samos and Keira. Samos sucks, but that’s in character. Keira has no lines in this scene, and only makes goofy faces. Seriously, look: 

That’s it, that’s the character. 

Like, what’s happening in this scene? What’s going on with you, Keira? Are you okay? Are you making bedroom eyes at Jak? Are you confused? Did you smoke some of your father’s funny herbs again?

(Again, I know Keira’s role got cut down a lot because they changed voice actors, but it’s...so...jarring for a normally prominent character to suddenly get shoved into the background.)

We do some missions for Torn and eventually find out that Erol is the bad guy. Never explained how Erol survived slamming his Zoomer into dark eco and exploding in front of a huge crowd, but at this point, it’s whatever. 

We continue on our journey: Tess is a furry, Samos is useless, Torn is...Torn. 

We get a scene with Sig where Jak and Daxter ask him about Damas and his job as a spy and all that stuff. Fine, well and good, except the following exchange happens:

Jak: You’re playing with people’s lives!

Sig: Why not? They played with mine.

I’m sorry??

There’s a story there, and I’d like to know! What the hell happened to Sig? Why is nothing ever explained??!!

We get some Dadmas feelings, then we head over to have a chat with Kleiver. And this happens:

Jak: Kleiver, I need to find some very special Precursor artifacts, but I’m running out of time.

...Are you?? Has that been established?

So, in one of the previous missions, Samos mentions over the communicator (during gameplay, not in a cutscene) that to activate some ruins in Haven Forest, you’ll need some artifacts. But all he says is this:

Samos: Mar wrote that there was some ancient ruins to the west that were activated by five special artifacts and revealed wondrous truths. I'll see what I can find out.

That’s it! There’s never a cutscene where Samos says you need to find the Holo Cube, the��Quantum Reflector, the Beam Generator, the Prism, and...by the way, there is no 5th artifact. Samos, you’re full of shit.

(Unless the Eco Sphere you get from Seem towards the end counts, but it’s very unclear.)

And, by the way, I had to Google those artifact names. The artifacts are never actually named until you acquired them in-game. Jak just finds random artifacts and is like, “Welp, this’ll do it! How convenient!”

Sigh.

Once we get all these artifacts no one told us about, we’re told to go take a cab down to the center of the earth. We don’t do that, and instead blow some shit up to visit our friends in person again. 

(Quarantine mood, really.)

And, again, I can’t get over how much of a non-character Keira is. Seriously, she just stands there and claps like a 3-year-old.

And we also come to my own personal pet peeve: the scene where Ashelin strips Veger of his title.

I can’t with this shit.

The biggest issue I have with this game, from a story standpoint, is how quickly the inciting incident is resolved. Like, Jak being banished is the whole reason we have a Jak 3. The city turned against him; his anti-hero choices in Jak 2 led to him being blamed for the war in Jak 3. It made sense.

But Ashelin decides, 75% through the game, to just be like, “Naw, Veger, fuck you. Get out of my face, buh bye.”

It just pisses me off, because if Ashelin had that power, why didn’t she use it before Jak was banished??

And why is Jak okay with this? Why is Moody McAngerface not even a little annoyed that she didn’t care enough to do this when he was dying of heatstroke in the desert?

Uuuuuuggggghhhhh guys I don’t understand.

So we see Vin again, blow some more stuff up, fight Erol, and get some tentacle wings. Seem acts all nice to us and gives us a present we didn’t know we needed. More Dadmas ensues, we see the Dark Maker ship for some reason, blow even more stuff up.

Finally, it’s time to head to the catacombs. We get into some trouble with Dark Makers (even though there’s only, like, three of them), and Damas busts through the goddamn wall in a car.

No idea how he got here, considering the Wasteland appears to be an island, but whatever, it’s a badass scene.

Then, because Jak can’t have anything nice, they get hit and crash the car all over Damas’ legs.

Seriously, dude, I get that you might be dying from blood loss, but why are you coughing, your lungs are fine.

So Damas dies, Jak is his long-lost son, it’s very sad, and Veger you piece of shit.

I will forever be salty that Veger, who was an overall excellent villain, was sidelined for Erol of all people. Admittedly, Jak 2 did the same thing with Praxis, but Kor was a much better Big Bad than Erol.

Regardless, we then get the Worst Plot Twist Ever, when we find out the Precursors are ottsels.

k.

Moving on from that tragedy, we then get to fight Erol. The fight sucks, it’s boring and I hate driving the stupid Wasteland buggies.

And then the end comes, and my blood pressure skyrockets. Somewhere, my PCP senses a disturbance.

The Precursors being ottsels is stupid, but Jak telling them to call him “Mar” is even stupider. First of all, Jak does not seem like the kind of person to get sentimental over his birth name. It’s weird, and I don’t like it.

Second of all, the ottsel leader calls him Mar once, directly after that. And then never again. 

Seriously, 90 seconds after Jak says he wants to be known as Mar, this happens:

I’m sorry, what’s that?

Why would you add that line in about Jak wanting to be called by his birth name, and then ignore it a minute and half later??!!

It just infuriates me. There’s a lot of stuff in Jak 3 that does this: it’s touched on once, then it’s gone forever.

And let’s talk about Daxter’s wish. I actually find this particular decision - where Daxter chooses to wish for pants instead of being human again - totally believable. 

Despite how much Daxter is regarded as the comic relief idiot of the duo, he’s actually shown to be pretty sharp. He’s definitely observant. And at this point, remember that he’s already seen the Precursors at work: he saw them turn Veger into an ottsel.

So Daxter probably realized that these guys were on some monkey paw, be-careful-what-you-wish-for bullshit and decided to wish for the most innocuous thing he could. Who knows what would happen if he actually asked to become human again? Might come out lookin’ like Samos.

And he’s right, by the way! Look at what those assholes did to my baby Tess. They could’ve just got her a size 6 pair of Levi’s and been like, “Here, boom, pants.” 

But nooo, they turned her into an ottsel, too, because why not why the fuck not nothing matters ahhhhHHHHHHHHH

...

...

Anyway, like I said, Jak 3 is my favorite in the series. It had such potential. It’s like a puzzle that’s missing pieces. I like it more for what it could have been, rather than the absolute mess it actually is.

[i-like-plan-m]

About your LWJ can hear lies AU- I can’t help but wonder how he would react to Nie Huaisang and Jin Guangyao since they are both known for being expert manipulators, especially since it’s hinted at that Nie Huaisang had a lot to do with the WW and MX thing. So I wondered if Huaisang would find a way around LWJ’s lie detecting or if he even knows about it? Also, I can just imagine the PAIN LWJ would be in if he had to talk to Jin Guangyao

Oops, I forgot to link this on tumblr! My bad! This is chapter 3 of the lies au

The trip to Qinghe was familiar by now. 

Years of flight between the sects meant Lan Zhan could make the trip with his eyes closed. He kept them open, because the sight of the Qinghe mountain range always brought a sense of relief that was as sharp as the cold air.  

The sight at the gates was becoming a familiar one, too. Nie Huiyin waited for him with all the patience she was capable of, her constant restless energy directed into a small but impeccably crafted blade that she was sharpening like it had done something to offend her. 

It was just her way, Lan Zhan had learned. Nie Mingjue’s cousin was as brusque as he was, infinitely more cheerful and possibly the loudest person Lan Zhan had ever met in his life. She was also, however, the most refreshingly honest person in all five of the great sects, save for perhaps Nie Mingjue himself. 

“Ah!” She said brightly as he landed before her, stepping gracefully from his sword and sweeping it back into the sheath on his back. “It’s our little Lan Zhan, back again!” 

He refused to acknowledge the blush heating his ears and instead nodded in greeting. His composed response did not deter her from tossing a friendly arm around his shoulders and hauling him through the open gates, past the grinning guards and into the towering grasp of the Unclean Realm walls. 

“How have you been, shidi?” She asked. The Nie Sect, Lan Zhan had quickly discovered, lived up to their imposing reputation of strength and honor. They were also the friendliest people in the world, once they’d decided you were theirs. 

Once Lan Zhan's was unofficially acknowledged as a member of the sect leader’s family-- or at least someone held in high regard by Nie-zongzhu himself, the floodgates had opened. He couldn’t decide whether their open affection was embarrassing or not, but it did fill him with a warmth he was unfamiliar with, one that felt like unconditional acceptance. As though they wanted him here. As though they liked him.

He had never had friends before. 

Well. He wasn’t entirely positive that he had any now. But regardless, the Nie Sect disciples treated him with regard. They smiled when they saw him. They welcomed him in their training exercise despite the differences in their sects’ fighting styles. 

Some, like Nie Huiyin, treated him as though he was a part of their sect. Another of Nie Mingjue’s little brothers to look out for, to keep tabs on like he was incapable of taking care of himself. 

It would be insulting if it hadn’t felt so much like acceptance. 

“I have been progressing,” Lan Zhan reported dutifully. “My control has improved further since my last visit.” He didn’t react to lies like someone had stabbed him in the ear the way he once had. With age came control, and a higher pain tolerance, apparently. 

Nie Huiyin made a sound of exasperation. “You Lans, I swear. I meant how have you been? Done anything fun lately?” She jostled him to punctuate her questions. He was slightly cheered by the fact that she had to reach higher than usual to rest an arm over his shoulders; he’d finally hit his growth spurt this summer and was nearing his brother’s height. 

“I mastered Inquiry,” he offered. 

She squinted at him suspiciously. “Is that what you do for fun?” 

“I enjoy it, yes.” 

“Hm. Acceptable. Though my rock climbing offer still stands if you want real fun. There’s nothing more exhilarating than free-falling from a thousand feet, shidi!” Lan Zhan gave a doubtful noise in response that made her laugh. “We catch ourselves before the bottom and take the rest of the fall on our sabers. And then!”

And then they raced through the most dangerous mountain pass in Qinghe on their sabers, chasing adrenaline with as many death-defying stunts they could manage until the pass ended in a dead-drop of a hundred feet. Most of them followed the waterfall straight into the large lake at the bottom. Most of the Nie disciples were reckless enough to try it at least once.

“Scorpion Alley,” he said, familiar with the sect’s unofficial rite of passage. 

“You got it,” she agreed cheerfully. “We still haven’t gotten you out there, have we?” 

“You will not,” he assured her, and bit back a smile when her laugh echoed across the training grounds. It was so different here than in his sect. There was little composure in Qinghe, no reason to stifle laughter or keep words hushed. 

Composure, he’d learned, was another word for concealment. Disguising one’s truthful feelings to reflect serenity instead. A mask that hid the turmoil beneath for the sake of propriety.

It was a lie all the same. 

“I hear your sect is hosting guest disciples next year,” Nie Huiyin said, steering him towards the main hall. 

“Yes.” He made a halfhearted attempt to sound neutral. He must have failed, because she snorted a laugh as she shoved open the doors of the main hall where Nie Mingjue sat, sorting through a stack of reports with a cranky expression. A slender, unfamiliar man with a dimpled smile stood beside the desk, holding a massive accounting book and waiting patiently for Nie Mingjue to stop muttering under his breath. 

Nie Mingjue looked up as the doors swung open. He brightened almost immediately, standing to welcome Lan Zhan with such genuine delight that Lan Zhan ducked his head, pleased. 

“Welcome back,” he said, clapping a hand on his shoulder and leading him to one of the nearby tables, gesturing for a servant to bring tea. He sat across from Lan Zhan while Nie Huiyin leaned against a column behind him. “How was the trip?”

“Fine,” Lan Zhan said, and tried not to sound petulant. He was almost sixteen, perfectly capable of making the trip from Gusu to Qinghe without trouble. 

“It’s the da-ge instinct, little Lan,” Nie Huiyin said with a laugh, nudging Nie Mingjue with her knee when he scowled up at her. “He can’t help himself.” 

The unfamiliar man hovered in the background as though unsure what to do without Nie MIngjue’s attention. Lan Zhan blinked at him, still unclear on who this newcomer was or how he’d climbed to Nie Mingjue’s side so quickly. Lan Zhan visited often enough that he would have noticed a new person in Nie Mingjue’s inner circle before today, surely. 

Nie Mingjue noticed his distraction and turned to wave the man over. “Ah. Apologies, you two have not met.” The stranger obediently crossed the room and bowed low to Lan Zhan. “This is Lan Wangji, the Second Jade of Lan. And this is Meng Yao, my new deputy.” 

“It is an honor to finally meet you, Lan-er-gongzi.” 

Lan Zhan nodded politely in response and wondered at the faint whisper of a slipped note that accompanied his words. Not quite a lie, but there was something underlying that sounded… off. 

“Da-ge,” Nie Huisang complained, sweeping into the room with a sulking expression. “I already did my saber training today as promised, and Nie Zonghui is trying to make me do more. This is cruel and unjust and-- oh, hi Lan Wangji.” 

“Nie Huaisang,” Lan Zhan murmured. 

“Lan Wangji,” Nie Huiasang said brightly, throwing himself down beside them. “Tell me, doesn’t your clan have a rule or twelve about keeping promises?” 

“A-Sang,” Nie Mingjue said tiredly, pinching the bridge of his nose. Behind him, Meng Yao hid a smile like he’d witnessed many similar discussions like this one. 

Then again, so had Lan Zhan. The Nie’s bickering was as constant as stars in the sky. It had taken some getting used to, but now Lan Zhan let it pass over him as background noise. It was all born from a place of love, and even the small lies (like Nie Huaisang’s mistruth about the duration of his promised saber practice) were easily ignored. 

Meng Yao, though. He was odd. 

Lan Zhan kept his face carefully neutral whenever Meng Yao’s smiles rang false, which was… often. He smiled like he knew it was expected of him, not because he wanted to. Like he was playing a role, either for the sect leader’s benefit or his own. 

It had been a few years since his lessons with Lan Xichen on the reasons why people lie, but most of it was… still hard to understand. So when Meng Yao responded to direction throughout the rest of Lan Zhan’s visit with a demure, “I would be honored, Sect Leader” and it rang discordant every time, Lan Zhan thought it was perhaps time to ask for help. 

Only a few years ago, Lan Zhan had accidentally exposed an advisor in Qinghe who had been bought off by merchants in the city. Every bit of his advice and own influence had been manipulated to support the merchants. 

Of course, when Lan Zhan was in the room and realized the advisor’s input sounded like a drunkard playing a dizi, he’d signaled to Nie Mingjue, who then rooted out the reason for his lies. Lan Zhan was not capable of doing so himself-- he only knew when people lied, never their reason for it. 

Shortly after Nie Mingjue had personally tossed the advisor out of the Unclean Realm’s gates, Lan Zhan had discovered a shadow wandering around on his heels. 

“How’d you know he was lying?” Nie Huaisang asked curiously. He continued when Lan Zhan stood frozen in place, unsure how to respond. “I saw your cue to da-ge. The hand signal?”

“I…” He had no idea what to do. Brush him off? Explain his mother’s gift? Deny it entirely? 

No. That was dishonest. 

He swallowed hard and admitted, “I can hear lies.” 

“Really?” Nie Huaisang’s eyes brightened. “So you knew the advisor was corrupt?” 

“No. Just that he lied.” 

“Hm. Interesting. So just the lie, not the intention?” The ever-present fan fluttered as Nie Huaisang stared thoughtfully at him. He nodded once in agreement. “You hear it?”

Lan Zhan realized he’d been absently following Nie Huaisang’s meandering pace along one of the walls. They were alone, so he reluctantly shared, “It was a gift from my mother, before she died. I hear conversations like music, and lies are…”

“Horrible, mangled sounds?” Nie Huaisang asked dryly. “My music tutors tell me that’s what I sound like when I play, anyway.” 

His face did not show the flicker of humor he felt. “Yes.”

“Is there anything other than the curse that tells you when they lie? Like, if their voice sounds nervous or their breathing is too fast?” 

Lan Zhan paused. He’d never thought of that, of looking past the sound of the curse to identify the physiological aspects of the liars. Why would he? There was irrefutable proof from the curse. 

But not looking further felt… lazy. Like willful ignorance. That he could not abide. 

“I will observe from now on,” he decided. 

“Me too!” Nie Huaisang caught his skeptical side-eye, because he sighed like he alone bore the weight of the universe and said, “I’m just saying, it seems like a useful skill. That advisor got past me, too, you know, and I spend a lot of time listening to their incredibly boring conversations.” 

“Boring conversations about running the sect.” If the disapproval wasn’t clear on his face, it was evident in his tone. 

“Exactly,” Nie Huaisang agreed. “But I learned my lesson, Lan-er-gongzi, all thanks to you! We should practice together, don’t you think? How about just before lunch every day?” 

“That is the time of your saber training,” Lan Zhan, who was not an idiot, said. 

“Is it?” Nie Huaisang asked, blinking innocently at him. “Ah, well, da-ge can’t complain if I’m busy making our favorite guest feel welcome!” 

“We will spar together before lunch,” Lan Zhan decided, ignoring Nie Huaisang’s horrified expression. “And then study during lunch.” 

“No,” Nie Huaisang wailed. “How can I learn to read people if I’ve been pummeled into the dirt by the Second Jade of Lan?”

“I would not,” Lan Zhan said, offended. “You are not capable of a legitimate spar--” 

“No shit!” 

“--so instead I will help with your training.” 

“Somehow this turned out very badly for me,” Nie Huaisang muttered, but he was at the training grounds mostly on time later that day all the same. 

That was two years ago. 

After two years of shared study, they had something that was not quite a friendship. Lan Zhan had never lost the sense of awkwardness around Nie Huaisang-- he was never quite sure how to interact, wasn’t sure what his role was in this relationship. 

Nie Huaisang mostly just complained to him about everything under the sun. But every time Lan Zhan visited, he showed up to the training grounds with an expression of utmost suffering. He only remembered his saber half the time, and he tripped over his own feet often enough Lan Zhan feared for his life, but he showed up. 

So Lan Zhan knew his concerns would be heard if he took them to Nie Huaisang. Maybe he would have more insight into Meng Yao’s oddities-- Nie Huaisang understood people the way Lan Zhan didn’t. He couldn’t hear lies, but he could see them. 

Most of the time, anyway. He’d learned to read faces where Lan Zhan heard the mistruths. It was a training method with guaranteed reliability, and Nie Huaisang’s success had surprised him. Apparently he was highly capable when he actually applied himself. Too bad he didn’t want to. 

Still. He would listen to Lan Zhan, and he would help. That much was certain.

[mimssides]

Life on Crow Avenue: Part 18

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___

Warning: Arguing, a scratch mark from a cat, and capslock!

___

For once Logan was not very focused on the music which was playing. His mind was stuck on Remus. On how tired he looked most of the time. Even in the moments when they had had a good time, like last weekend where they bought and assembled furniture together or when he jokes around at lunch, Logan could never quite blend out the deep dark rings under his eyes.

He knew that in those moments Remus did not fake his smile, that he did enjoy himself but now Logan recognized all the moments when Remus’s smile wasn’t genuine, when he spaced out, when a thought he had startled him. There were so many negative and destructive things going on in Remus’s head and Logan found himself being concerned over every last one of it, despite not even knowing what was going on.

But ultimately Logan could not nothing else. Remus had to make the step himself. He could only offer help so many times and Logan got the sense that he had done all he could. Silently Logan took a sip from his drink and glanced over to Janus. The band’s set would soon be finished and Janus had texted Patton and Logan that he wanted to talk to them.

About what? While Janus did not clarify, both Logan and Patton knew that it was about the twins. They did not have many opportunities to talk privately without them being around and today was their chance as both Roman and Remus had told them they’d stay at home for the night.

The song ended and the people in the bar clapped for a moment. Patton gave Logan a wary look and scooted around in the booth for a bit, as Janus eventually approached with a drink in his hand and settled down next to the pair.

“I hope my performance did raise the spirits?” Janus said nonchalantly and slowly rotated the glass in his hand.

Trying to sound convincingly happy Patton said: “It was great as always!”

“You don’t look so chipper though, dearest Patton.”

Logan clicked his tongue. He had a dislike for mind games. He had a dislike for manipulation. He had a dislike for Janus’s way of talking seemingly carelessly when he knew very well that it was perfectly constructed to get what he wanted. And right now, Logan had no nerves for this.

“Of course, he doesn’t! You called us here to talk about Remus’s predicament, which is by no means a “chipper” topic to discuss.”

“Don’t you say?” Janus said with a smirk that was clearly too bitter. “And I was under the impression that talking about a suicidal man was a fun matter.”

Logan shot Janus a viscous glare and took a sip from his drink.

“But,” Janus continued, “now in all seriousness; Do you think that Remus is going to go to therapy?”

Patton cleared his throat and folded his hands on the table. Quickly he looked from one man to the other before settling his eyes on his hands when he answered: “I wanna hope so. There’s nothing else we can do anyway.”

“Hope is rather unreliable in this case. And I have to agree that we really are unable to help Remus in any way. He is certainly in dire need for professional help.”

Logan nodded at Janus’s statement and said: “Agreed. Let me add that he was rather inquisitive when I talked with him about it. I do think that he is considering it. But what he will end up doing is still undecided.”

“Good. Well, not so good but it’s more than could have been expected at the beginning. Now let’s focus on Roman-”

“Why focus on Roman? He does not need our help,” Logan interrupted Janus.

With a huff Janus threw Logan a look and then said with a bitter smirk: “No, not at all! It’s not like he has chronically overworked himself for the past nine years, is in constant fear because of his brother who could spontaneously decide to kill himself, which would also result in him losing all the family he has left. And that leaves out the obvious show of self-neglect concerning the way he dresses and how he slept on the on a mattress on the floor. No, he doesn’t need our help at all.”

Logan rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“While I agree that Roman is not in a great mental state, Remus is in immediate danger and keeping an eye on him should be our first priority. If we do not do that it will only cause to worsen Roman’s state.”

“And putting Roman on hold even longer? Making him feel like his problems are not as important as Remus’s? You do understand that it will make it even more difficult for him to reach out for help, don’t you? He has a right to be cared for just as much as Remus! He needs to feel important, not like the second-hand friend! He has a right of our compassion as well, not only Remus!” Janus voice got heated but not loud and the veins on Logan’s forehead popped up.

“Guys...” Patton mumbled for naught trying to stop this from escalating.

“I beg your pardon? When exactly did I treat Roman like a second-hand friend?!” Logan asked clenching his jaw.

“Let me recall... Did Roman not almost flee from his own flat so you could talk to Remus? Did I misremember that?”

“Hold on! You are twisting the facts! He left on his own accord and neither you or me could stop him from doing so. And you weren’t protesting either to be alone with Roman! You are biased by him and I will not accept you talking down to me just because you figuratively cannot get into Roman’s pants!”

“You-”

“Okay, time out for both of you! Please! This is getting us nowhere!”

Finally, Patton had enough and grabbed both men’s wrists before they could talk any further. Both reluctantly stopped and Patton let go of them again. Slowly, he looked from one to the other, giving both disappointed looks before he took a breath and nodded to himself.

“Thank you,” Patton said calmly still watching both of them. “Now, uh, I think both of you actually have a point... Remus and Roman are very co-dependent and we need to be aware of that. Like – I think they both need support. Just. Differently. Roman definitely needs attention. Needs to be seen and praised, I think. He was so happy dancing and performing for us, so we probably could encourage him a little more to do that? And for Remus... While we can’t really do more and shouldn’t pressure him, I think, we should show him that we stand behind him. That we want him to get better.”

Neither Janus nor Logan spoke for a moment. Patton took a nervous sip from his beer, a little unclear of why nobody spoke and tried to calm himself. He didn’t think that the others were silent because he had made a good point. Because he was right and more objective in his opinion than they had been.

Janus sighed and was about to give in when he felt his phone buzz and took it out of his pocket. He furrowed his brows as he saw Virgil’s name on the screen and opened the text message.

Favourite Nephew: need your help at the twins come over asap

In his life after the accident Janus had run very few times. Once after getting Latona away from her boyfriend. Once when Orcus’s wife needed the ride to the hospital when she got in premature labour with their first baby. Once when he rushed to Virgil’s high school when he had his worst panic attack.

Now he could add one more time. Panicked he stood up, grabbed his cane to carry it by his side and called to the bartender over his shoulder: “Put it on my tab!”

And with that Janus began to run as well as he could. The clear voice in the back of his mind said he was overreacting and that his running was inefficient and would most likely hurt him more than help. But the heart pounding in his chest cried and told him to go faster. And so, he went faster, until he finally got to the door of the twins’ apartment and tried to open the door. It was unlocked and for the first time in 23 years he ran up the stairs.

With little thought Janus got to the apartment door and opened it quickly, already having mentally prepared for the worst.

He had prepared wrong.

Virgil was snorting with laughter as he steadied himself against the couch, Roman was cursing facing one corner of the room while gesticulating aggressively. And in approximately the middle of the two men Remus stood cradling something white and furry in his arms.

There were a few things rushing through Janus’s mind in that moment. None of them were how much his leg was hurting or how strange it was that neither Logan nor Patton had out run him despite them obviously having followed him, since he heard their quickened breathing behind him. One of them was why on earth Roman was cursing against the wall and why Remus held this fluffy thing like one would hold a baby and why Virgil was laughing like a maniac.

But most presently there was the sense of giant relief settling in Janus’s head. Laxly he set his cane on the ground and took the weight of his left leg. With his shivering hand he massaged the bridge of his nose, hiding the weak smile on his lips, as he sighed loudly enough for Virgil to hear it and turn towards him.

“What the fuck have I been called into?” Janus asked with a mockingly annoyed tone and Virgil tried to calm himself as Remus gasped offendedly.

“Do not curse in front of my child!” Remus exclaimed as he put his hand over the fluffy something’s ears, which Janus now realised was a white cat.

“This BEAST IS NOT YOUR CHILD!” Roman snapped and was about to turn when Remus barked something in Spanish back and effectively kept him from turning around.

Virgil began laughing even more and bend over holding his stomach with his right hand. Janus quirked up one eyebrow and made a few steps inside, so to give Logan and Patton more space to enter as well, while Virgil looked over to them and gave a faint wave before he tried to catch himself again.

Then after a solid minute Virgil got up a bit and wheezed towards Remus: “Please, cut – cut this out! You’re killing me! I – I oh my god, you’re comedy gold!”

“I BEG YOUR PARDON!? COMEDY?!”

“For fuck’s sake, Roman! Keep in your damn corner! He’s still bleeding and I ain’t picking you up!”

“Bleeding?” Janus chimed in worriedly.

Quickly he gave his nephew a once over again, and found that the hoodie sleeve on his left arm was pulled up and a paper towel was pressed over the inside of it, red bleeding through.

“Yeah,” Virgil said out of breath but pretty relaxed and held his arm up a little for Janus to see, “the cat got me good. She’s a real rascal that one, which is why Remus has to hold her and apparently your Romeo can’t see blood, which is why I called you over, ‘cause I cannot for the life of me bandage this arm with my right hand. Didn’t think you’d bring a whole army though.”

“Oh, I didn’t bring them, they followed me. Now, Remus, where do I find bandages and how long of a cut are we talking?” Janus asked as he walked towards Virgil.

Remus didn’t look to Janus at first but turned to Patton and Logan behind him: “Can you close the door? I don’t want her to escape. She might get startled.”

“Ah, yeah of course!” Patton stammered and closed the door.

Remus shot him a smile and then told Janus he’d get the bandages out of the bathroom in a second. And just like that he disappeared for a moment. Janus shook his head and told Virgil to sit down on the couch. He settled next to his left and took a first look at the arm. To his surprise the scratch the white cat had left was three inches long and pretty deep.

“I’ve told him to wash it out and wanted to disinfect it already, but Mrs. Snuffles here was acting all cranky when I tried to go to the bathroom before,” Remus announced from the hallway and set the bandages, a disinfectant spray and Bepanthen on the coffee table.

Janus shot him a confused look as he pressed a little kiss on top of the cats head and readjusted the little creature in his arms.

“Mrs. Snuffles?” Patton asked with a small and watery voice looking at the white cat in question.

Before Remus could answer, Roman pressed his head against the wall with a soul crushing groan.

In dramatic agony he complained: “Why did you have to name her? Oh, why are you doing this to me? We will not take in this most horrendous and foul fiend! She broke into our store and into our flat! She’s a delinquent! She assaulted the man we got to help her! She’s dangerous!”

“How can chu say dis about dis wittwe cutie! She is adowabwe and puwe!” Remus said in a silly voice which made Roman groan even louder.

Meanwhile Janus started to fix Virgil up. Carefully, he disinfected the wound and put some ointment on it. He told Virgil to let the ointment absorb a little and watched Patton and Logan awkwardly walk inside. They were watching Remus sitting down on the floor and cuddle the cat in his arms.

Watching Remus holding the animal, hearing her purr loudly while Remus pressed some little, soft kisses on her head, Janus had a hard time to imagine how she could possibly have caused such a huge ruckus before. But somehow Janus forgot to wonder as he realized how happy and silly Remus looked doting over this animal and gave Virgil a little curious look. Virgil shrugged with a grin and Janus shook his head. And just then he glimpsed over to Logan and Patton.

Oh boy. Oh boy, oh boy.

Perplexed both men stared at Remus cooing over the cat, very obviously and strongly smitten. Patton was blushing furiously and Logan’s eyes were big as plates.

Janus had to hold back a barking laugher. How quickly the table could turn.

Who was it, who wanted to get into one of the Segura Reyes twin's pants now?

___

@varthandi

@sickeningly-deceitful

@sammy-is-obsessed / @exhaustedfander

@unoriginalgayboyalex

@alexisrealgay

@softie-sushi

@wolfs-feder

@just-a-neoclassical-painting

@winter-jay-official

@a-ghostlight-for-roman

Tagged for this fic:

@frawkeye

@arodynamic-enby

@espepspes

@bullet-tothefeels

@fukindork

@shadeofadye

@magic-but-its-green

@croftersjam15

[yaffles-world]

Jealousy - Jonathon Joestar X Dio Brando

Jonathon and Dio’s childhood was fueled by rivalry. A constant competition resulted, although from different motivations. Jonathon was self driven, wanted to be the best version of himself that he could be and merely wanted love and acknowledgement. Dio, on the other hand, was constantly driven by a high ambition to be the best and most powerful person there ever was. Although driven by opposite forces their world’s did collide – quite spectacularly.

If Jonathon got higher marks in his classes, Dio would scorn him and insult him in other ways to try and drag him down, to discredit him. If Dio got higher score in sports, Jonathon would be there, politely congratulating him, but inside it would add to a burning desire to improve himself.

As the boys got older, things began to change.

One day, after school, Jonathon and Mr Joestar were in the dining room. The door creaked open and Dio stepped inside the house. Beside him was a girl. A girl with long, wavy hair and sparkling, amber eyes. Her hand was lingering slightly away from his waist, not seeming to know what to do with it. Her pale cheeks had a faint blush to them as Dio spoke.

“Mr Joestar, JoJo,” as Dio looked at Jonathon, Jonathon felt a pit form in his stomach  for some reason. “This is Genevieve, we are in the same legal class and she has come so we can study together.”

“Well, isn’t that wonderful?” Mr Joestar replied.

“Nice to meet you, Genevieve,” JoJo rose from his chair, putting his book aside and bowing slightly to the lady.

Over the coming months, Jonathon felt really quite odd. He spent all his time thinking about Dio and Genevieve – he couldn’t focus on anything.

His grades were slipping, his sport scores, all despite his best efforts. He criticised himself constantly, about how he couldn’t do it – Dio had a girlfriend and he still kept up exceptionally in school. Dio’s taunts took on a new feeling for JoJo that he couldn’t put his finger on.

JoJo felt trapped. He couldn’t win this. There was no way. Dio was with Genevieve. And everything was different. He’d always felt competitive before, and it sometimes reached the point of obsession, but this just didn’t make sense. Dio was with Genevieve. That was an entirely solo commitment. It wasn’t something Dio could be bested at, like grades or sport, but he still felt fueled by a similar type of passion.

One night, JoJo was studying for an archeology exam. He was trying so hard to focus, his door was closed and he was hitting the books. Every time he thought about Dio and Genevieve, he slapped his hand. It was a strategy he’d thought of a month ago – it hadn’t worked yet but he was out of ideas.

Dio opened the door. JoJo looked over to see Dio being framed by the light glowing from the hall, his amber eyes twinkling with God knows what – mischief, sadism, genuine joy, there was no way to tell.

“Studying hard again, I see?” Dio laughed, “Wonder if it will actually pay off.”

“Leave me alone, Dio,” Jonathon replied, firmly, returning to look at his books.

“What has been going on with you lately?” Dio mused, wandering into the room, “You’ve really been failing, haven’t you? What’s getting you down?”

Dio sat down on the bed, chin in his hands looking up at the window, with mock seriousness.

“For the last time, Dio, leave me alone.” By now JoJo knew what Dio was trying to do – he’d lived with him long enough that it was one of his favourite things was to get a rise out of people, especially JoJo.

“Hmm, I don’t think I will,” Jonathon started to blush slightly, “Is it a girl?”

JoJo tried to cover his face and stared furiously at the book, willing this nightmare to end.

“Ah, it is a girl,” Dio teased, “who is it? Probably some lame girl in one of your classes.”

Jonathon’s throat began to tighten and his heart rate picked up. He continued to ignore him, trying desperately to study. He needed to pass this exam, why wasn’t he able to focus? It was infuriating.

“Oooh, or is it Genevieve? Very naughty, gentlemen JoJo going after a taken lady. Well, she’s too good to go out with you anyway.”

Just. Ignore. Jonathon pleaded with himself.

“Or, naughty Jonathon Joestar,” Dio had gotten closer, it sounded like he was about a meter or so behind him but he still didn’t acknowledge him. His face continued to heat up despite his silent protestations – for some reason, Dio saying his name like that made him furious. The light was on, and if Dio saw JoJo's reaction, JoJo would never hear the end of it.

“Is it me?” Dio whispered directly into JoJo’s ear. His face flushed intensely and he began to sweat more, and he could feel Dio's smirk continue to curl more menacingly as he noticed JoJo's embarrassment.

“We all want what we can’t have,” Dio whispered, and then rose again to walk out the door. “Figure it out. It’s been too easy to win lately.”

JoJo’s one love in his life, the only thing keeping him somewhat sane, was his gorgeous horse. The horses name was Teresa. She had a dark brown body with lighter coloured tail, mane and socks.

One day, months after the incident with Dio, JoJo went down to the stables. He gave Remi a pat, Dio’s surprisingly gentle horse, and went to Teresa.

“Why can’t I focus, Teresa?” JoJo muttered out loud. Teresa just neighed sympathetically.

“Why do I keep fixating on this stuff? I’m at a loss for describing my own feelings...” JoJo said, “Do I like Genevieve? I keep thinking about her and...” Jonathon shut off his thought immediately. No, he scolded, either you like Genevieve or your jealous. Don’t let him into your head.

“And who, naughty Jonathon Joestar?” Jonathon turned around with a start. Dio had appeared in the doorway of the barn.

“Can you stop calling me that? I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Haven’t you?” Dio wandered over to Remi and stroked her nose, “Listen, I’m so bored. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I miss the competition. Why don’t we just have a race with these horses, okay? Shouldn’t be that difficult,right?”

“No, I’ll pass, I’m going to go back inside,” Jonathon started to move towards the door but Dio blocked his way. They were the same height, but Jonathon couldn’t help but be embarrassed by Dio’s commanding presence. “Just go and hang out with Genevieve.” Jonathon looked down and he couldn’t help but blush when he said her name. Maybe I do like her, he thought.

“Genevieve can wait. I dare you to race me and try and win.”

And with that... they saddled up their horses and lead them out of the stable.

What's the harm? Thought Jonathon,  I might even win.

They set the parameters of the course and then they were off. Dio started out in the lead, guiding Remi with ease down this course like they'd done it millions of times before. It was a relatively open track but there was still heavy trees blocking the way, and many hazardous roots. Slowly, JoJo began to catch up.

Was this... fun? Jonathon thought. It had been such a long time since they had done something together. They did get along in their own weird way.

As the end of the track neared both boys encouraged their horses and pushed them through that last bit. Right at the end, as they approached the barn again, Jonathon pulled out in front and won. As they slowed, Dio clapped, possibly sarcastically but it was unclear.

“Well,  I suppose you completed the dare. You can go back inside now or we could have some more fun.”

“I dare you to race me again,” Jonathon said.

Dio laughed. “Nope,” he said as he lead Remi back into her part of the stable.

They both sat on the hay up against the wall. “Dare you to... eat this piece of hay.”

“Lame,” chided Dio.

“Okay,  cut off this bunch of hair.” JoJo grabbed at a bunch of Dio's hair that was pulled back for riding.

Dio sighed. Jonathon knew his pride wouldn’t let him refuse.

So Dio cut his hair.

“So, what is up with you anyway?”

“Oh God, not this again,” groaned JoJo.

Dio continued to look at him, intensely. “Well, it’s just girl troubles.... I guess...” Jonathon said, looking at Dio as he sadly cradled his hair in his hands

“I felt the same,” Dio replied, startling JoJo with his genuine tone, “I was crazy about Genevieve... I just acted on it quicker and didn't,  you know, “ Dio gestured vaguely at JoJo,  “lose it. Who’s the girl?”

Dio’s soft expression made JoJo’s heart twist unexpectedly – blushing, he turned away, waving his hand dismissively. “It’s no one important. Anyway, it’s your turn.”

“I dare you to kiss Remi,” Dio said.

“Lame,” JoJo retorted, mockingly.

“Teresa would get pretty jealous but if you insist,” Dio laughed, “I can give you another dare.”

JoJo nodded and Dio finally parted with his few locks of hair that were now missing. His hair looked mostly the same but you could tell that it had been cut.

Dio smiled. “I dare you to kiss me.”

JoJo blushed heavier then he had ever done before. His hands began to shake, and the light warning up the barn seemed to become dense,  suffocating... judgemental.

Do I... like Dio? Jonathon thought, perplexed.

“Uhh,” JoJo stammered, “what? We can't do that. That's...”

“You've been a very naughty boy, Jonathon Joestar.”

JoJo scanned Dio’s face desperately to see if he was joking or manipulating JoJo but to JoJo's surprise and confusion, he really wasn’t.

Dio smiled. “Do it. I'm serious.”

JoJo hesitantly leaned in to Dio, waiting for him to pull away but he didn't. They're lips made contact and JoJo, finally, after months and months of agony, felt at peace. He pulled away.

“But that was just a dare, right? It didn't mean anything?” JoJo asked.

Dio leaned in and kissed JoJo.

“That wasn't,” Dio said.

“But... what about Genevieve?”

“Honestly, you were the ‘girl’ I was crazy about Jonathon. I didn't understand my feelings and I assumed it must've been for Genevieve. She did help distract me but... we broke up a month ago. Don't worry,  I actually did let her down easy.”

“But... what does this mean? For the future?” JoJo asked.

“For God’s sakes, JoJo, just shut up.”

“Make me.”

And he did.

[enbyleighlines]

Wangji Week

Day 5: Bearer of Light

—

The news said there would be a huge thunderstorm headed their way. But Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian both underestimated it, it seems.

The cracks of thunder and howling winds are keeping A-Yuan awake. He flat out refuses to go to bed, to separate from his Xian-gege and Ji-gege. And so, with all his infinite wisdom, Wei Wuxian had built a large fort in the living room with couch cushions and blankets.

It’s somewhat of a tight fit, for two grown men and a four-year-old. And Cabbage and Carrot, the family bunny rabbits, are in there with them, too.

But there are no complaints. A-Yuan is sitting in the center of it all, playing out a scene with his various plastic toys. He loves making them talk to each other. The toys are currently putting on a little play. Their stage is Cabbage’s fluffy rounded back.

After a year of sharing the same roof, the rabbit is well acclimated to the toddler’s shenanigans. Cabbage remains still, aside from the occasional twitch of the nose.

Carrot, on the other hand, is utilizing whatever little free space there is to hop around in circles.

Wei Wuxian is tucked under Lan Wangji’s arm, and despite the tight quarters, they have found a position that is comfortable for the both of them. They watch the impromptu performance of A-Yuan’s toys in respectful silence.

“We can’t go to the park,” one of A-Yuan’s toys says to another, “It’s night out.”

It’s amusing, really, to see how much A-Yuan soaks up from his surroundings. Lan Wangji smiles, but does not laugh. He has learned that A-Yuan takes it personally when people laugh at him.

Wei Wuxian, on the other hand, has to muffle his snicker into Lan Wangji’s neck. His warm breath tickles.

“But you said we could!” A-Yuan’s other toy protests in an identical voice.

“Oh, fine. We can go.”

The toys walk up Cabbage’s neck. Presumably, Cabbage’s forehead is the park.

“Here we are! Let’s play!”

Wei Wuxian giggles some more. “I can’t,” he whispers into Lan Wangji’s ear, “I can’t handle this.”

“Don’t laugh,” Lan Wangji tells him.

That, of course, only makes Wei Wuxian laugh all the harder. He curls up, holding his stomach with one hand, and muffling himself with the other.

A-Yuan looks up at them. His face is all scrunched up. It’s unclear to Lan Wangji if this means he’s angry or confused.

Just to play it safe, Lan Wangji apologizes. “We’re sorry. Go on.”

But A-Yuan tosses his hands into the air with dramatic exasperation. “You’re supposed to clap,” he tells them, in a dead serious tone.

“Oh? Is the play over?” Lan Wangji asks.

But Wei Wuxian doesn’t wait for an answer. He pulls himself together and begins to applaud, loudly.

A-Yuan smiles.

And then all the lights go out.

For just a moment, the world is still. Frozen in time. Devoid of light or sound.

But then A-Yuan shrieks.

Everything erupts into chaos. Lan Wangji gets entangled with Wei Wuxian’s flailing limbs as they both instinctively move to comfort A-Yuan. Both rabbits take off in opposing directions, uncaring of who they step over to make their escape. The shriek has morphed into wet sobs and garbled gibberish.

Lan Wangji tries to reorient himself. He finds A-Yuan in the darkness, and pulls the child into his lap. Wei Wuxian, who grabbed A-Yuan at the same time, ends up being pulled along with him.

“It’s okay,” both of them are saying, “It’s okay, you’re okay.”

Their touch seems to soothe A-Yuan’s anxiety. His crying quiets, and he ends up just trembling in their awkward mutual embrace. His breaths are still sniffly, but they’re evening out.

“The power just went out,” Lan Wangji explains, once he feels like A-Yuan has recovered enough to hear it.

“Must be the storm,” Wei Wuxian says, “Do you have a flashlight?”

“Mn.”

But Lan Wangji is reluctant to leave his boyfriend and foster child alone, even if it’s only for a minute. Now that the initial shock has worn off, there’s something comforting about being bundled up together in the dark. Lan Wangji wants to savor the feeling.

Wei Wuxian doesn’t rush him. Instead, he just fumbles around until he can take Lan Wangji’s hand.

It’s A-Yuan who loses patience. “Ji-gege, flashlight?” He asks.

“Of course.” Lan Wangji blinks, trying to make out the outline of A-Yuan’s head. But it’s not use. Everything is the same shade of black. So he makes his best estimate, and presses a tender kiss to where he assumes A-Yuan’s forehead would be. He misses and kisses hair. Close enough.

Then Lan Wangji detangles himself from the comfy family huddle, and heads off to find the flashlight.

It’s a little easier to see outside the fort, though the windows don’t cast much light. The rain is so thick, it completely obscures the sky.

Lan Wangji remembers the layout of his apartment well, though. He navigates around the furniture without much of an issue, and makes his way to the kitchen, where the flashlight lies.

Finding the flashlight is easy, but it’s only half of the battle. When Lan Wangji flips the switch, nothing happens. The batteries are dead.

And so Lan Wangji has to shift around his drawers for replacement batteries. This is a far more arduous task, because he has to find the right size, based on what he thinks will fit in the flashlight. Then he has to insert them all both ways, not knowing which side is positive and which is negative.

As Lan Wangji fiddles with the batteries, he can hear Wei Wuxian’s voice in the other room.

Wei Wuxian is singing a silly little song to A-Yuan. It doesn’t rhyme, and the melody isn’t particularly consistent, either. Which means Wei Wuxian is making it up as he goes, which is even more endearing, somehow.

After a minute, A-Yuan starts chiming in during the chorus, which thankfully stays the same each time.

Lan Wangji’s heart clenches. Wei Wuxian and Wen Yuan— he loves them with a depth that is unfathomable, even to himself. But that’s fine. To try to describe it would flatten it. He just wants to ruminate in it, relish the heavy weight of it in his heart.

It takes some time, but finally Lan Wangji solves the flashlight puzzle. This time, when he flips the switch, it immediately emits a powerful beam of light that momentarily hurts to look at.

Triumphant, Lan Wangji returns. He shines the light on the blanket wall of the fort. Wei Wuxian and A-Yuan’s shadows dance and rejoice.

“There he is! Lan Zhan, bringer of light!”

A-Yuan bursts out of the fort and rushes to cling to Lan Wangji’s legs.

Laughing, Wei Wuxian follows after. He doesn’t quite tackle Lan Wangji with the same enthusiasm as A-Yuan, but then again, that would knock them all to the floor. But he does join the group hug.

“I was wondering what was taking you so long,” Wei Wuxian says, between gifting Lan Wangji with light kisses up the side of his jaw.

“Had to change the batteries.”

“Ahhh.” Wei Wuxian gives Lan Wangji a few more playful pecks. “That must have been a pain, in the dark.”

Lan Wangji shrugs.

Wei Wuxian laughs. “Always so modest, my Lan Zhan. Too modest, if you ask me. If it were me who managed to change batteries in a pitch black room, I’d be gloating so much.”

Lan Wangji can’t help but smile at the thought. Wei Wuxian is right. He would have gloated. And Lan Wangji would have happily praised him.

“Oh!” Wei Wuxian takes the flashlight from Lan Wangji. “You know what we should do, now that we have a flashlight?” He positions the light underneath his chin, to make spooky shadows grow across his face. “Ghost stories!”

“No!” A-Yuan screeches, and buries his face into Lan Wangji’s pant leg.

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji says.

Wei Wuxian lowers the flashlight. “Ahh, okay, no ghost stories. Then... how about shadow puppets? A-Yuan, I can show you how to make a bunny rabbit!”

That gets A-Yuan’s attention. He glances up at Wei Wuxian. “How?”

“Let me show you!” Wei Wuxian takes A-Yuan’s hand in his, though he has to walk with his back slightly bent to do so. “Lan Zhan, you can hold the flashlight for us.”

“Mn.” Lan Wangji follows, with a smile on his face and a pleasant fullness in his chest.

[mystery-deer]

Nuclear (b99 kevin/holt)

The phone call from Debbie came deep into the afternoon. It was a dismal day and rained for the better portion of it, the kind of rain that didn’t dissipate only waxed and waned.

“I’m pregnant Raymond!” She exclaimed happily. He could hear her pacing around her house, picking things up and putting them down again like she always did when talking on the phone. He remembered she almost choked him with the cord doing that. “My senses are so strong I threw up because I saw someone ELSE eating relish on a hotdog!” She continued.

Raymond shuddered. RELISH on a hotdog? It was one of the only preferences they had in common. He could recall (though he didn’t at that moment) a great many family barbeques and picnics where they’d be offered the accursed condiment and both pulled faces their mother chastised them for. “Is senses heightening a part of pregnancy?”

“Hell yeah it is!” She declared.

“Ah, I see.” He nodded, sure she must be an expert in the matter. “Well, I’m very happy for you. Please keep me updated.”

As he hung up he heard the door open and his fiancee step in. The moment they'd gotten the house it was decided that they were fiancees. “There’s no legal way to prevent us from being engaged to be married.” Kevin had stated simply, ever the romantic.

“Who was that?” He asked, shrugging off his soaked coat and slipping his shoes off at the door. He looked like a drowned rat when he was wet, his thin hair sticking to his paler-than-average forehead. He would often bemoan how 'perfect' Raymond could look even after being in the rain or having just taken a shower.

Raymond smiled, feeling fond of him. As an afterthought he said, “My sister, she’s pregnant.”

How wonderful!” Kevin said, voice lilting slightly. Raymond honestly couldn’t understand why people said it was monotonous. It had so many soft depths to it, the slight upturn when he was especially pleased by a piece of news never failed to warm his heart.

“Every pregnancy is not good news.” He said suddenly, surprised as he had not planned to say it. “People often default to saying that but there are plenty of instances in which a pregnancy is cause for alarm and panic.”

Kevin nodded and shook out his umbrella. “I see. Good news for her and not for you?” He asked, hitting the nail on the head.

Raymond looked at the nail and did not recognize it as his own. “I’m not- I am perfectly...fine. With the information.” Kevin silently communicated his doubt at this, setting his umbrella out to dry. “It’s not that I’m upset, I just feel...odd.”

Kevin kissed his fiancee’s temple and placed an extremely cold and wet hand on the back of his neck, making him jump. “Please feel free to collect your thoughts while I make us tea, it’s pouring and I know you neglected to take your umbrella.”

“The weatherman did not indicate it would rain.” Raymond protested. He had had to throw his entire outfit in the dryer and change into pajamas despite it not being nighttime. He deserved it, it was his day off.

“I told you it would.”

“You are not the weatherman. Speaking of which, the deli counter clerk referred to me as ‘the rain man’ today when I went in.”

“Which one, Rodrigo?” Kevin asked. He did not like Rodrigo the deli counter clerk. Rodrigo had once, when Kevin ordered a sausage, winked at him and chuckled a notably slurred "right on man!”

“Yes.” Raymond had had no such interactions with Rodrigo.

“I see.”

“It’s a movie.” Raymond clarified for him, thinking that the source of Kevin’s frustration. “I believe the main character has the same name as me.”

“I’m aware.” Kevin remarked, opening the cabinets and taking out their favorite mugs. He was certain Raymond would deny having a favorite mug in front of company but Kevin had noted that he would only use other mugs if that particular one was not available. It was a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, a bluish gray. “Oh, I got your text and I bought more honey.”

“Bought more what?” “More-” Kevin turned to see his fiancee raising an eyebrow slyly and smiled, that was his Raymond. Always playing jokes on him.

“Very funny.” He said, meaning it. Raymond smiled as well and went to retrieve the bear-shaped bottle along with several other items he had realized he’d forgotten after coming home from his errands. And he certainly had no intention of going back out in that veritable storm, he had on his pajamas for chrissake.

“I don’t understand why you buy this brand and not the honey with the normal container.” He said, putting the bear down on the counter as Kevin filled the kettle.

“It’s cute.” He replied. “If you think it’s cute why would you purchase it? You’re meant to drain the honey from it. It is morbid and the same reason why I am against latte art.” “I know your stance on latte art intimately.”

(Flashback: The two of them in a Parisian inspired cafe of Kevin’s choosing, both of them in suits, Raymond’s sleeves rolled up because of the rant he’s worked himself into though he’s not yelling. It's a private quasi argument between the two of them. Kevin is drinking from his cup and Raymond's lays untouched on the table.

“I’m just saying it’s fiendish! It’s undrinkable!” “Because of Mr.Cuddlesworth?” “Don’t give it a name for chrissake!” “He’s delicious Raymond try him.” “You’re a monster.”

Flashback ends.)

“I still can’t believe you drank him.” “You’re adorable.” _______________

They had tea a few minutes later, sitting in their living room and watching the fire. Kevin had prepared it and Raymond had remarked that it made the home feel rustic.

“Rustic?” Kevin asked in disbelief, smiling for a moment. “City boy.” “You’re a city boy too now.” He pointed out. Kevin stood and clapped his hands off. “I’ll carry the scars of suburbia in my heart always.”

They sat in silence for the time it took to finish their drinks and they savored the time spent together more than the taste of honey.

“Kevin, do you want children?”

Kevin turned to look at his fiancee, startled by the question. He was staring down into his mug at the leaves left over. “Children?” He asked. “As in having children of our own?”

“Yes.” Raymond said, narrowing his eyes slightly to express his extreme confusion. “Was I unclear?”

Kevin turned to look at the fire and then up at the art hanging above it that was evocative of a starry sky. They'd bought it to christen the house and he remembered the moment vividly. “We can’t have children Raymond.” He paused. “I know some couples adopt - but not AS a couple and even then It’s difficult to adopt as a single parent.”

“I do not have any particular want to have a child.” Raymond admitted. For a brief moment he pictured his mother- looking stoic but clutching her purse so tightly her knuckles paled as the doctor spoke to her in a low consoling tone. “I am far too focused on my job and have never had a want to raise one.”

He pictured Kevin in the hospital when he got shot a few years back. Kevin waiting, hands in his lap, looking stoic except for how they shook there. He told him later that he’d asked at the front desk if Raymond Holt had been admitted and the receptionist peered up at him through horn-rimmed glasses. “Are you family?” She asked.

“I’m-” He’d paused. Thinking of the man he’d seen sitting in a chair near the entrance with a bulls hat and an American flag t-shirt. Hearing a woman by the coffee vending machine talking loudly on her phone, phrases like ‘alternative lifestyle’ and ‘not around my children.’ buzzing in his ears. The room seemed spring-loaded with violence.

“-No. We’re very close friends." He hesitated, voice cracking softly. "We’ve known each other since childhood just...please let me know if there’s any news.” He said and the woman nodded sympathetically because he looked like a wreck. He looked brokenhearted.

Raymond had woken up in his hospital bed alone. Had had to buzz the nurse in four times before she finally got around to fetching him. She kept "forgetting."

He pictured a funeral with not only Kevin but a smaller them- though they couldn’t procreate his imagination supplied a child which was composed of their halves. A mixed boy, brown skin and red hair, crying for his father.

A black boy, brown skin and black hair, holding his baby sister in his arms. Their mother bent at an odd angle, body shaking. It was sunny the day of the funeral and he remembered feeling wrong about it. Debbie couldn’t even talk then - could only babble and repeat if prompted.

Kevin looked relieved. “I must confess I also don’t have any particular want of children.” He said. “They’re fascinating and can be quite adorable but I do not have it in me to raise one.” They were both people who worked long nights. Kevin imagined taking a child to work, leaving them at the daycare (a child could not be trusted to stay quiet in class, even one that was theirs). He would either worry ceaselessly about them or they would grow distant because of the time apart.

He pictured his father- the back of him. He was sitting at his desk at home shifting through medical journals and loose papers. “He’s not to be disturbed.” Said his mother, ushering him away. “Come now.”

He pictured himself, sitting in the study, surrounded by books and grading papers. Saw himself not even noticing his son- an adopted boy who miraculously looked like them, perhaps not in his physical features but in the way he walked and talked and looked at things - lingering at the half open door.

“Come now.” Raymond would say gently, leading him away by the hand. “You will see him when he’s finished.”

“I was thinking of Debbie.” Raymond admitted, though Kevin had already guessed this was the source of their conversation. “I remember when she used to be so...small. It surprised me that she could be pregnant. That she is at the age where being pregnant is a natural thing.”

He remembered her as a child. Both of them in their father’s study. He sat in the middle of the room and watched her run around spinning all of the globes and listing fake facts about wherever they landed. The joy on her face made him want to cry and he hoped she would happy forever. Dust flew around them. He was sure that as she grew she would dim into normalcy but she only grew brighter and brighter.

He remembered her bringing home her future husband, a teacher at that time. He remembered how she shone that day and when she asked "Isn't he just the cutest?" He'd responded "Yes, he has eyelashes." He went into their father's study that day to escape the noise and spun one of the globes lazily with his finger.

“If I were heterosexual would I be married by now? Would I have children?” Raymond and a faceless woman were sitting in the same house - same fire in front of them. A smaller version of him and Debbie were running the background. A child who looked like Kevin sat with his back to them, singing. He felt a weighted sadness settle on him for a moment.

“I don’t want you to feel that you are missing out on some wonderful part of life because you’re with me.” He finished, setting his mug down. The sound transported him back to a night years and years ago. Raymond and Kevin on one end of a dining table and Kevin’s parents on the other. Classical music seeped in through the corners of the memory.

“You’ve done this.” Kevin's father growled, one eye blue with oncoming cataracts. Raymond remembered feeling sorry for him- he was a surgeon after all. “You’ve done this to our son.” And he felt like he’d murdered someone.

("Do not stand at my grave and weep." Kevin's voice read that night, raw with rage and sorrow. "I am not there, I do not sleep.")

He’d told this to Debbie on the phone and she’d succinctly said. “Fuck that old bastard! But I bet you WISH you were good enough to turn a man gay.” And just like that he was innocent again.

“Raymond I don’t feel that I’m sacrificing anything by being with you.” Kevin said. “Even if I was with a woman - and somehow enjoying it - I don’t believe I would want children. I’m perfectly happy with spoiling various nieces and nephews as they pop up.”

They both pictured themselves, older and grayer, in the middle of an intimate but large family. The image was comforting and felt right. They were complete with just the two of them, they didn't need or want anything other than to spend the rest of their lives together.

Raymond smiled, content with this answer and feeling very much the same. He relaxed against his fiancee and hummed in thought.

“What do you think she’ll name the baby?” “Perhaps Dan?” “Yes.” Raymond said, apparently enjoying the thought. “Perhaps.” "Maybe we should get a dog." Kevin suggested and smiled slightly at his fiancee's dismissive snort. "Heaven forbid."

[emybain]

Renegades Titanic AU Part 7

much shorter than the last update (and written on 4 hours of sleep at midnight), but I felt like the ending was a good stopping point for the part. the next update (which will hopefully be out by the end of the weekend!) should be a lot more interesting;). also the part title is a direct quote from the movie, and its only there because I couldn't find a spot for it here:(((

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Part 7: “We’re Women. Our choices are never easy.”

Nova leaned over the tiny sink in her cabin and splashed water onto her face. Judging from the light streaming into the window over the sink, she guessed it was mid morning. She had just woken up after a sleepless night, and found the room to be empty; she guessed the others were still at breakfast. 

Her head was pounding, throat on fire. When she had returned to the cabin the night before, exhausted and cold, she all but tore her dress off (with difficulty, of course) and fell into bed. While she was asleep nearly instantly, she woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat after dreaming of her family again. This was nothing new; she had been having nightmares about them and their deaths since the night she witnessed their murders over ten years ago. She had hated sleeping since, and rarely got any to begin with. It was a miracle that she hadn’t dropped dead yet of exhaustion, but she had gotten used to a two-to-four-hour-at-most sleep schedule, and was more than fine with it. Anything to keep from seeing her mother and father and sister being shot again. 

Her dress from the night before, which she vaguely remember throwing onto the floor before passing out, was now neatly laid out and smoothed over on Honey’s well made bed. Nova rolled her eyes. She was sure Honey had gushed over it upon waking up and seeing it at the foot of her bed. Adrian had said the night before that Ruby would probably let Nova keep the dress, but Nova had a feeling that Honey wouldn’t let her return it anyway. Nevermind that Honey wouldn’t be able to fit into the same small frame that both Nova and Ruby had. 

Nova was about to head out to find the others when the door opened, revealing Ingrid. She did a once over of Nova before reaching for her coat that rested on top of her bed, which was above Leroy’s. 

“Good. You’re up. Honey wants to take a walk around the deck and I’m not going alone. She should be back in a minute with Leroy so get your things.” 

Nova ran a hand through her hair, blinking. “Actually, I had other plans.” She didn’t, but she would rather not be around Honey or Ingrid, especially Ingrid, at the moment. 

Ingrid raised an eyebrow. “Like what? Go meet up with your little boyfriend? Didn’t you two get enough of one another last night at the party?” Upon seeing Nova’s confused face, Ingrid rolled her eyes. “I’m not an idiot, little Nightmare. I know you where you were last night, and it certainly wasn’t just the dinner in first class. How was that, by the way? I was expecting a bread roll when you returned, but you got back so late.” There was an uncomforting edge to Ingrid’s tone, close to a snap, yet disguised as attempting cheerful. 

Nova crossed her arms. “You followed me, is that what I’m hearing?” She let out a huff. “Can’t say I’m surprised.”

“You will not behave that way again, Nova. Do you understand?” Ingrid dropped her façade, lowering her voice and becoming serious. “We have one job, and we can’t have you willingly jumping into the beds of our enemies unless it is for information. Although I think it’s pretty obvious last night was a waste, correct?”

    “I’m not one of your explosives that you create and control, Ingrid.” Nova tilted her chin up, despite feeling her cheeks warm. She had not been in anyone’s bed last night other than her own, but she wasn’t about to tell Ingrid this; Ingrid was just trying to goad her into breaking. “I’m Ace Anarchy’s niece, and you can’t tell me what I can and cannot do.”

    “Ace Anarchy’s niece?” Ingrid huffed, then raised her voice, stepping closer to Nova. “Ace Anarchy’s niece? Yes you are, Nova Artino, and your job is to get him out of prison and put us in power again!” She pushed Nova back, causing her to stumble and fall over Leroy’s suitcase that was laying on the floor and wide open. Pain immediately erupted in her ankle, although Nova was too frozen to recognize it. Ingrid kicked the suitcase aside and got up in Nova’s face. “You may be his niece but I have followed him for a lot longer than you have, and I at least know where my loyalties lie!” She lowered her voice, although the anger didn’t leave her eyes. “I will not be made a fool, Nova. Is this in any way unclear?” When Nova shook her head quickly, unable to form a coherent word, Ingrid nodded and stepped away. “Good.”

    At that moment, Honey and Leroy walked in. Nova scurried up, ignoring the pain that shot through her ankle. Honey gasped in excitement and clapped her hands together. 

    “Oh, Nova, darling, you’re awake! Good, good! Come, tell us all about your handsome boy toy on our walk!” Nova took one glance at Honey, readjusted her button down, and glared at Ingrid. 

    “Actually, I was just heading out. Alone.” She pushed past the three of them, eyes trained on the ground. Ingrid’s cold hand closed around her wrist before she could open the door. 

    “You are not to see that boy again, unless we know of it. Do you understand?” When Nova didn’t respond, the grip on her wrist tightened. “Nova. I forbid it.”

    “Oh, stop it, Ingrid, before you give yourself a nosebleed.” Nova sneered up at the older woman. Not a second later, Nova’s hand was holding her cheek, tears brimming in her eyes. She barely registered that Ingrid had just slapped her. 

    “Ingrid Thompson!” Leroy snapped, reaching out to pull the woman back, but she pushed him away. Soft hands wrapped around Nova’s face and pried Nova’s hand away to examine the blow. Honey. 

    Only half aware of what she was doing, and how she was doing it, Nova managed to open the door and rush out into the hall. She took long strides, not daring to look back, even as Ingrid yelled at her. People sidestepped her, backing up against the wall to avoid being hit. 

    “This is not a game, Artino! Stop being so selfish!”

__________

Adrian wasn’t sure how he managed to slip away.

They had been given a private tour of the ship that morning by none other than Thomas Andrews, the architect in charge of the design of the Titanic, himself. They had even held a conversation with the captain of the ship, who had been in good spirits and held pride in commanding such a vessel. 

After the gym, however, Adrian was thoroughly bored. He could tell Oscar, Danna, and Ruby were as well, based on their expressions. 

His thoughts wandered to Nova, who he had undoubtedly tried to kiss not twenty-four hours ago and was undoubtedly rejected by her. He had been sure, so sure, in fact, that she felt the same hammering in her chest as he did whenever they were around one another. That perhaps being near him sent chills up her arms like it did with him. This attraction, especially to her, of all people, was foreign to Adrian. He was certain he had never felt so drawn to another person before in his life. It was unsettling yet comforting at the same time. If only she felt the same as he did. 

“You want to see her, don’t you.” Adrian looked over at Oscar at his side, who had his relaxed, crooked smile on his face. 

“It’s obvious he does,” Ruby said from in front of them. She and Danna were in front of the two boys, arm in arm. They slowed down to walk with the boys, but still stayed in front of them. They were on the deck of the ship beside the lifeboats, which took up the majority of the deck space on that part of the ship, forcing the touring group to walk no more than two wide. “He’s been distracted ever since breakfast.”

Oscar snorted. “Try since waking up. He’s been practically ignoring me all morning.” 

“I’m right here, you guys.” Adrian rolled his eyes, brushing off their teasing. “And no, Ruby. Would I want to see her? That’s ridiculous.”

“She never said a name,” Danna deadpanned, side-eyeing Adrian with the tiniest of smiles. “You’re hopeless, really. If you wanted to go smooch-up your new lover, you should’ve just said something.” With that she unwrapped her arm from Ruby’s and sped up. “Mr. Andrews!” she called out, in what she liked to refer to as her ‘I’m not up to anything’ voice. 

Adrian reached out to stop her, but she was too quick. Mr. Andrews turned, breaking off whatever topic he had been discussing with Evander Wade. The rest of the group turned to her as well. 

“Forgive me,” Danna smiled apologetically, “but I did the sum in my head, and with the number of lifeboats times the capacity you mentioned earlier,” she paused, pursing her lips, “forgive me, but it seems that there are not enough for everyone aboard.” Even Hugh, a nearly unimpressible man, blinked.

“About half, actually.” Mr. Andrews chuckled. It hadn’t been the first time that Danna had interrupted the tour to ask questions, and Adrian could tell Mr. Andrews was thrilled by her curiosity, seeing as she was the only person displaying any interest in his realm of expertise. “You miss nothing, do you, Miss Danna?” He then went into a long explanation as to why there were so little lifeboats on such a massive ship, Danna listening intently to every word. 

Adrian would have just stood there, watching the pair until Danna was satisfied with an answer and returned to her friends, but Oscar nudged him and nodded behind them, as if beckoning him to leave. Adrian shook his head, frowning. He couldn’t just disappear and not have someone ask of his whereabouts. 

“For all that is good in this world, just go!” Ruby hissed, huffing dramatically and using all of her strength to push Adrian. “We’ll cover for you, say you weren’t feeling well or something but didn’t want to interrupt.”

Adrian opened his mouth to protest, but she silenced him. Truthfully, he wanted to speak to Nova, at least clear things up between them so that they wouldn’t have to part with her thinking poorly of his character; he had to at least apologize for his actions the night before. 

Surely his parents wouldn’t suspect too much.

[lostbutterflyutau]

Sunset Carla (Part 3)

With the premiere of Not Without My Magic and Naomi Knows Best we’ve learned a lot about Carla, her parents, their dynamic and the effect that this dynamic has on Carla.

In Not Without My Magic it’s revealed that Ash had been gone at least seven years, meaning that she’s been absent from Carla’s life since she was about nine or ten-years-old -- possibly earlier since in Naomi Knows Best she said she studied dark magic for ten years. And this depends on when Carla’s birthday is. I personally headcanon Carla as being 17 at this point with a November birthday. (She’s a Scorpio.) But, I digress.

Shifting back to canon, since even their first appearance in King of the Carnaval, Victor and Carla are shown to have a really close relationship, which is to be expected after he raised her alone for so long. It’s very subtle at first, but as time goes on, we can see more and more of just how much he really cares for his daughter.

 Yes, they do clash sometimes because they’re both strong personalities. And, of course, he does get frustrated with and scold her from time to time – after all, he is her father – but even with the little hiccups they’re shown to genuinely care for one another. They look after each other and never leave the other behind. Ever.

 Until recently…

 Ever since Ash came into the picture in Not Without My Magic, there’s been a lot of tension within the Delgado family that was only recently confirmed. Victor, understandably, holds some resentment against Ash for leaving them and not saying a word for years. As he says, they waited five years and searched for two more. They believed she was dead until Snow Place Like Home. He’s aggravated that she has the nerve to be annoyed with him and rightfully so. Ash snaps that, “I didn’t get to see my little girl grow up. You took that from me!” Despite the fact that she is the one who left for years without sending so much as a letter.

On top of that, she seems to not respect Victor as an equal in general. When she defends the amount of time she spent away training, she tells him that, “Unlike some people I never gave up!” And insists that he should have waited for her to teach him dark magic. This tells us two things. One is that she wants to have the control. She wanted to be the one to have control over his (and by proxy, Carla’s) magical development. Wants them to know what she wants them to know and be able to do things her way. The second, is that along with control, she wants all the power for herself, something that is confirmed by her claims that Jewel of Night will make her, “The most powerful Malvago who ever lived.” When she says this, Victor cuts in, saying in Not Without My Magic, “You mean, ‘we?’” And later pointing out in Naomi Knows Best, “What about us?’

Both times he is brushed aside – kind of. The first time, she gives him a look and hesitates before answering. In that look, it can be seen that she is simply appeasing him. She doesn’t actually intend to share any of the power with him and whether or not she intends to share with Carla is another question. Because when Victor asks about “us” – as in him and Carla, Ash simply replies, “Yes, yes. All of us” in a dismissive tone.

 Speaking of the Precious Smol, Carla clearly looks up to and idolizes her mother, something that was suspected since her comment in The Race for the Realm when, after first being turned into a Malvaga, she says, “If only Mama could see us now!” Knowing what we do now, it can be inferred that Victor and Carla wanted to become Malvagos because of Ash. And, now that she’s back with them, Carla strives to please her. She wants so much for her mother to be proud of and praise her. Any time Ash acknowledges her skills and compliments her, her face lights up and her voice gets this happy, eager tone.

 However, while her mother’s praise is important to Carla, so is her Papa. She’s a total Daddy’s Girl, something that was only subtly hinted at until Snow Place Like Home. In that episode, both Victor and Carla gave the most obvious show of love and affection for each other up until that point. There’d always been a bond between them, it had just been presented through small hints before, mainly in the way Victor and Carla display physical affection. She grasps his arm, he sets hands on her shoulders, even once pulls her into him when they’re talking with Shuriki. When she reaches for the Jewel of Maru in the episode of the same name, he calls out to her when he thinks she’s in danger due to the spell Amalay cast to protect it. He doesn’t want to lose her, especially since, at that point, he believed Ash to be dead. He already lost his wife. He didn’t want to lose his daughter too.

As for Carla, she’s often terrible with her feelings and doesn’t appear to have a lot of trust for other people. She covers up a lot of her emotions with anger or annoyance – which is blatantly shown when she shifts from being upset to being annoyed when Ash confirms that, no, they’re not going back for Victor who is the one person Carla does seem to trust fully. The look of adoration and trust she gives him when he’s carrying her through the blizzard says everything. She loves him more than anything, in part because he’s the one who’s always been there for her.

Now, I’m not saying that Ash was ever a bad mother. It’s not known how things were before she left all those years ago. But, I will say that as much as Carla idolizes her, there also seems to be some tension growing between them. Carla is no dummy. And she appears to be picking up on the underlying tension between her parents. It’s subtle, but the confused look and awkward smile she gives after Ash comments about Victor holding Carla back and him saying that, of course he wouldn’t do that, followed by an awkwardly forced show of affection, says that she’s maybe…not so sure about everything. She’s thrilled to have her mother back. To be learning powerful magic and be told that she’s the “more powerful Malvago” with natural talent, but at the same time, she doesn’t like seeing her mother put her father down. Especially not when he’s done so much in raising her as a single parent. Granted, he doesn’t win the award for “Best Dad Ever.” He is raising a criminal, after all. But he does take care of her and it’s clear that they have a strong bond between them. One that Ash is trying to break apart, which leads me into how this fits in with and changes the Sunset Carla narrative.

I still believe that at her core, Carla isn’t evil. Something she’s shown more recently in the latest episodes as different sides of her personality are displayed. She clearly loves her family and revels in the attention she’s getting from her parents. More than anything, she has always wanted to be loved and wanted and respected.

Now, there’s no doubt in my mind that Ash loves and cares for Carla. Why else would she be upset over missing her daughter grow up? But, she doesn’t seem to be very good at expressing it and doesn’t like the idea of being second to Victor in anything. Her ego is the reason she won’t apologise for being gone for so long without so much as a word or acknowledge the fact that Victor did a decent job of taking care of their daughter alone for years. And it’s this attitude that has her purposefully driving a wedge between father and daughter by putting Victor down, pointing out his flaws and trying to make him look incompetent in front of Carla. When he dares acknowledge that she is, in fact, his wife, she cuts her eyes at him. She declares Carla the more powerful one, (which, in her defense, is true. Carla does have more of a natural affinity for magic) and wants her help in casting the spell with the Jewel of Night. To get rid of him, she orders Victor to take Gabe to the dungeon – “If you can handle that.”

She wants to be the favoured parent and show her superiority any way she can, even if doing so means that she has to manipulate her own daughter. In this case, she’s manipulating her against Victor. And possibly to use her in order to gain more power for herself. Like I stated above, it’s unclear if Ash intends to share any sort of power with Carla, considering the dismissive way she brushes them off when Victor asks. And if that turns out to be the case, Carla is not going to be pleased. She’s a master manipulator herself, but, as pointed out by one of my fandom friends, she knows where the line is. She doesn’t manipulate people she actually likes, and especially not her family.

 Carla has always been genuinely herself around both of her parents. Venting and whining her feelings to Victor in private, squealing and acting like a happy little girl when her parents are finally together again (seriously, that happy clap is everything!), showing pure excitement whenever her mother praises her…She’s not afraid to show them her true feelings. Finding out that her mother is possibly manipulating her and very likely keeping secrets would devastate her.

She’s already picking up on and showing displeasure the tension between her parents – the face she makes when Ash says that they’ll come back for Victor later says a lot. She doesn’t want to leave him behind. She’s never left him behind and he’s never left her. The idea of doing so confuses and upsets her. And she’s annoyed with her mother for not listening to her feelings. Their relationship is already likely strained from Ash being gone for so long and therefore, knowing virtually nothing about her daughter. This, I feel, is only going to worsen and is likely being set up as the catalyst needed to make Sunset Carla happen, just in a different way from how I initially predicted. While I still believe that Carla could benefit from friends her own age and being shown a better way to live, I also think that this isn’t going to be the path the canon story will take. Not completely. And I’m here for it.

 I’m starting to think that someway, somehow, she’s going to be put in a place where she’s going to be forced to choose between her parents. Because Victor isn’t going to stand to be pushed around for long, especially with Carla in the middle of it all. He cares too much for her to let her be caught in whatever problems he and his wife have with each other. In fact, I doubt that he opposes them having or reforming a relationship. He wants his daughter to be happy and if it makes Carla happy to bond with her mother, I don’t think he would mind them spending time together. His attitude comes from the fact that Ash is trying to put a wedge between his and Carla’s own relationship in order to form that bond.

 Though we’ve seen hints of it already, she’s going to realise that her mother is not who she always thought she was and is likely to end up heartbroken as a result. I can’t say when this will happen, but if the prediction that Ash is going to bring the ultimate darkness is true, it’s likely to be in the midst of her making plans and perhaps even being corrupted by dark magic herself. Carla will be put in a position where she’ll have to make a major decision about her future, her family and who she wants to be. She’s always been directed to one path by both of her parents, and I still hold to the idea that she doesn’t know there’s another way, but I also think that, rather than her breaking off on her own like I initially predicted, she’s instead going to be privy to the way power can corrupt and overtake people, which while already seen with Shruki, is going to hit harder when it’s someone she actually cares about being subject to it.

[didanawisgi]

Tribalism is terrorizing America

by Libby Emmons and Barrett Wilson

“On one of the bloodiest weekends in recent American history, a reported white supremacist gunman took 20 lives in an El Paso Wal-Mart. Only 13 hours later, a reported Antifa sympathizer in Dayton, Ohio killed his sister and her boyfriend as well as seven others at a popular nightspot, though his personal motivation is still unclear. These two young men who seemingly followed opposing ideologies both saw mass violence and death as the solution.

This kind of violence doesn’t stem from either an exclusively left or right perspective, but from an undercurrent of tribalism in our society that can cause young people to feel worthless and hopeless. When people feel isolated, they reach out desperately for somewhere to belong.

Over the same weekend as this numbing violence, the young socialists of America gathered in Atlanta for an annual convention. They bickerered about the gendered use of the word “guys” and how clapping is too triggering and must be replaced by jazz hands. The live streams for the four-day event are a tragicomic, yet stunningly accurate depiction of the self-parody that has become the American left. These ideologues are eating themselves alive, while completely ignoring the effect their divisive language is having on society at large.

A look into what happened during one part of the national convention of the Democratic Socialists of America in Atlanta this weekend.

However, divisive language is not the sole purview of the left. The right has its fair share of alienating talking points. Fox News anchors miss the mark when they spout off about the dangerous video games pose in radicalizing those like the young El Paso gunman. Xenophobic, identitarian, anti-immigration language doesn’t help either. It’s almost as if there are bad actors on both sides.

Af El Paso mass shooting, Fox News anchor tries to link video games to mass shootings.

While the left blames “white supremacy” for the problem, and the right thinks that a permissive culture that advocates for violence is at fault, often refusing to acknowledge the problem of white supremacists, neither is looking at the issues that are truly tearing us apart. At the root of both the vile scourge of actual white supremacists and the fevered Antifa activist’s dream that everyone who disagrees with them is a white supremacist is the desire to categoize and group people. To put it more simply—identity politics.

Tribalism is a substantial threat to the peaceful fabric of North American life. It leads to censorship, panic, and conspiratorial thinking. We have abandoned our commonality in favour of elucidating and entrenching our differences. We point fingers and otherize, telling those different from us exactly why those differences make whatever our group is better than whatever their group is. When we box and package ourselves, we make it easier to be divided. We assemble according to shared characteristics, and bond over how different our group is from other groups. It isn’t long before groups take pride in those aspects of self that they all share, and it isn’t long after that pride in shared characteristics within the group morph into feelings of group superiority over others.

White supremacists subscribe to identity politics. They use the prevalence of cultural tribalism to be culturally tribal themselves. The left uses identity politics to unify the members of a group, and then to ascertain, identify, or invent commonalities among groups of groups. This is why the left has the appearance of being comprised of groups of groups, while the right appears to be a solid voting block. Media ideologues vie for control of the narrative, pitting labels of white supremacy against armchair diagnoses of mental illness while real life bodies pile up.

People who murder innocents do it for the same purpose: to terrorize a community and instill fear. That’s what these men were doing. Despite reasons given, whether the manifesto of the El Paso shooter, or whatever reasons we may never know from the Dayton shooter, they picked up weapons with the intent of mass murder because they felt this was the only way to assert power. It goes without saying that these were horrible, terrorist acts. But the fact is that they keep happening, with young people radicalizing on both the right and the left.

Is it likely that a boorish, politically incorrect president or hyper-realistic video games or heavy metal music (to invoke a previous social panic) are to blame for the violence of young rebels without a legitimate cause? It seems more likely that the identity politics that dictates ideological safety and group identity as more important than individual freedom and equality under the law has played a major factor.

Identity politics on the left and the right has become so insidious that people of all races, genders, orientations, and religions are afraid to find commonality. We know culture is polarized, but doesn’t have to be that way between individuals.

When people receive the message from culture at large that they’re worthless, whether for reasons of race, immigration status, or gender, how do we expect them to react? Are they just supposed to take it?

While pundits and pontificators have been quick to blame the recent violence on everything from gun laws to Trump to video games, the lowest of the low have used the recent tragedies as cudgels in order to score cheap political points. Violent tragedies like this predate any of the supposed causes that the talking heads put forward.

Every time this happens the response is the same. Calls for things to change, for gun control, more mental health education or access to care, impeaching Trump, twirl on, media. At the memorial for the victims in Dayton, the crowd chanted “do something!” That is a desperate call. What no one says is that this is definitely going to happen again.

We could clamp down on everything, but until young people feel valued by a society that seems more willing to throw them under the bus, this problem of radicalized, ostracized youth will keep getting worse.

We need to face facts. Mass violence has been around longer than Donald Trump, video games, rock music, guns, and all of the other purported causes. But the one thing that’s been around as long as mass violence is tribalism. And let’s be loud and clear about it: identity politics is tribalism. We need to understand that our differences do not make us better or worse than anyone else. If we want to live in a safer and more civil society, tribalism, on the left and right, needs to end.”

[ijustreallylovezebras]

Stand By You

Pairing: Loki x Reader

Summary: Based off of Stand By You by Rachel Platten

Requested: yeah @hiddlestoner3059 (Hey if u take request then can u pls do a lokixreader on song 'stand by u' by rachel platten ..may be a little fluff on avengers tower a little shock,cuteness,and yeah pls try them with ice skating..i love' welcome')

Hands, put your empty hands in mine

And scars—show me all the scars you hide

And hey, if your wings are broken

Please take mine so yours can open, too

'Cause I'm gonna stand by you

The Avengers had yet to find out about Loki and I. The two of us had been dating for a couple of months and, while we hadn’t intended for it to be a secret, I also knew that Loki was grateful that we had had some time to ourselves before everyone found out.

The tower was quiet, everyone off doing their own separate things. Bucky and Steve were almost certainly training, Tony and Bruce would be in the labs. As for the rest of them, they were not as easy to tell. They were not as stuck to a schedule. 

Loki and I were watching a film in his quarters. He had not been as keen on the idea at first but I had told him that it was one that I had wanted to see for a while and so he grudgingly agreed to it. My head was on his lap and I was curled up into a ball with my eyes fixed on the screen, completely invested in the film. Loki’s hands were playing with my hair and I got the impression that, despite all of his words of protest, he, too, was enjoying the film.

“Brother, I don’t suppose you have seen-” Thor’s voice stops as he walks into the room and sees the position that myself and his brother are in. I tear my gaze away from the screen and look at the blonde God, feeling my face flush in embarrassment.

“Most people knock, brother,” Loki’s voice is mild and he doesn’t stop his hands from playing with my hair.

“I... didn’t realise you had company,” Thor responds, clearly working out how to talk again. 

“Well I do. I was trying to watch a film with my girlfriend before you interrupted. What was it you wanted?” Loki was clearly impatient.

“Girlfriend?” Thor echoes the word looking mildly stunned. 

“Well?” Loki presses, not even being discreet about his annoyance over Thor’s presence. I scowl at the God of Mischief.

“Don’t be mean,” I tell him and then look at Thor. “Who were you looking for?” I question. Thor seems to recover slightly.

“I was looking for you, actually,” there’s still a slight frown on his face but it seems to be slowly disappearing to be replaced with a slight smirk. I go to move off of Loki’s lap but he doesn’t let me.

“Loki, let me up,” I laugh, looking up at him. The God sighs and removes his hands from my hair, allowing me to sit up. I peck his lips quickly and follow Thor out of the room.

“I was told to tell you that you have a debrief at nine tomorrow,” Thor says and I nod.

“I’ll set an alarm. Thanks, Thor,” I smile and he nods but puts a hand on my shoulder to stop me from turning back into the room.

“How long has that been going on?” He questions and I shrug.

“Couple of months,” Thor nods slowly but doesn’t remove his hands from my shoulder.

“Be careful, Lady Y/N. I know my brother better than anyone. As much as I want to trust him, he is not known for loyalty,” I just shake my head, a small smile on my face.

“You said it yourself, Thor. He’s changed and I trust him, even if no one else does,” 

“Be careful, alright?” Thor questions and his gaze moves to over my shoulder and he seems to freeze a little.

“Brother,” Loki’s voice is cold and I don’t need to turn around to know the cold, relentless glare that he’s giving the God of Thunder.

“I don’t need to be careful, Thor,” I tell him and turn around, taking Loki’s hand and leading him back into his room.

Oh, tears make kaleidoscopes in your eyes

And hurt, I know you're hurting, but so am I

And, love, if your wings are broken

Borrow mine 'til yours can open, too

'Cause I'm gonna stand by you

“Loki?” I question quietly. I knew that Thor’s words had struck a nerve inside of the God, even if he would never admit to it. 

Loki doesn’t respond other than by pulling me into a hug, burying his face into the crook of my neck. 

“It’s okay, love,” I murmur and Loki lets out a shaky breath, pulling away but keeping my trapped in his arms as he watched me. I could see the tears in his eyes. He would never allow them to fall around me or anyone else. “He’s just wary of you and wants to look out for me,” I brush a strand of his long black hair out of his face and smile. “I don’t need him too, though. I’ve beaten Captain fucking America in a fight,” Loki lets out a low chuckle.

“You sound proud,”

“Not everyone can say that they’ve punched a super solider in the face. I’ve punched two of them,” Loki rolls his eyes and my smile softens, pulling his face down gently so that his lips meet mine.

“I love you,” he murmurs as we break away. Loki was not normally one for affectionate words unless he was tired or drunk and so that was how I knew just how much Thor’s harsh words really had hit him. 

“I love you too,” I say, just as the door bursts open to reveal some of my best friends. Wanda, Bucky and Sam laugh in delight at it and Peter and Steve look away uncomfortably. I groan, placing my head on Loki’s chest who seems to stiffen under the eyes of the other Avengers.

“So it is true!” Sam exclaims, coming into the room and pulling the two of us apart. He stands in front of Loki. There’s a smile on his face but anyone could see the underlying distrust in it. “You better not fuck up, Laufeyson,” he says, clapping Loki on the shoulder. I roll my eyes and shove Sam.

“Fuck off, Sam,” I say, “you’re not my brother,”

“Sure I am,” he says, putting me in a headlock. I laugh and struggle, trying to get out of it but he holds me in it. “Look, man, I want to trust you. I do,” he says to Loki and I manage to look up and see Loki looking at the floor, jaw clenched. “And I tend to trust whoever Y/N says is good and you haven’t done anything wrong in the past half a year since you got here so I’m going to assume you’re good,” I push Sam’s side, wanting to get out of the headlock. He lets go and I stumble away from him, scowling.

“I hate you,” I say but he doesn’t even spare me a look.

“But Y/N is like a sister to me, alright. If you fuck up or hurt her in any way, you won’t be leaving this compound alive,” for the first time in my life, I feel mildly intimidated by my best friend.

“I’m not scared of your bird costume, Wilson,” Loki responds, looking at my best friend who lets out a wry chuckle, taking a step forwards. Steve puts his hand on Sam’s shoulder, stopping him from getting any closer to the God of Mischief. 

Bucky puts his metal hand on mine too, trying to ensure that I’d stay out of it.

“For the record, Y/L/N, I think you’re right,” Bucky murmurs to me and I grin, putting an arm around Bucky’s waist and giving him a side hug. “Though, I am with Wilson. I won’t hesitate to hurt him if he hurts you,” I roll my eyes at my best friends protective tone.

Bucky, Sam and Steve had been like this ever since they had rescued me from a Hydra base about a year ago. They seemed to look upon me as their responsibility and insisted on teaching me self-defence and making sure that I never went on a mission without at least one of them.

“Maybe you could take me, Loki, but could you take me, two super soldiers, a witch and some spider dude?” Sam asks. I step forwards and stand next to Loki.

“He’s not going to hurt me, Sam,” I say, locking my fingers in with Loki’s. Loki squeezes my hand in recognition and I smile at the action, feeling my face blush. Sam studies us for a couple more seconds before nodding, leaving the room. I turn to Loki with a smile.

“Your friends are too protective,” he states, looking unimpressed. I shrug.

“Probably something to do with being Avengers,” Loki just nods, resting his chin on my head. “You know I’m not going to leave you right?” He gives a minute nod and I can tell that, even if he doesn’t let on, he appreciates the confirmation. “Come on, lets go out,”

Yeah, you're all I never knew I needed

And the heart—sometimes it's unclear why it's beating

And, love, if your wings are broken

We can brave through those emotions, too

'Cause I'm gonna stand by you

“Ice skating?” He questions, gloved fingers still laced in mine. I grin and nod.

“Come on, Loki, it’ll be fun!” I insist. Loki sighs and nods. Despite his outward irritation, I can see his lips curling into a smile.

I lace up my skates and watch as Loki does the same before I hold my hand out again. When I was younger, my family and I would go ice skating every weekend. That was until my mum died then the trips to the rink would become less frequent. My sister still went every weekend, wanting to fulfil her dream of becoming a professional ice skater. She would take me with her every now and then but I rarely got to go on the ice.

I relay the story to Loki excitedly as I drag him towards the rink and the God of Mischief chuckles adoringly. After hearing my love for ice skating he seemed to become less reluctant to come on with me.

“Did she ever make it?” He questions as I take a step on. I raise my eyebrows at him in question. “Your sister. Did she ever become a professional?” Loki clarifies. 

“Applied for the Winter Olympics once. Got in, almost won but then got knocked out right at the last second and broke her ankle. She hasn’t been the same since,” I tell him and I can’t help the swell of pride in my chest that always came when I thought about her.

The two of us skated and it mostly consisted of me pulling Loki around.

“You know, for a frost giant you’re surprisingly bad at ice skating,” I grin, my comment makes Loki laugh and pull me towards him on the ice, pressing a cold kiss against my lips.

“I’m so glad I have you,” he says and I try to bite back my grin.

“You’re so cheesy sometimes,” I murmur, kissing him again.

“Only for you. The rest of the time I’m planning to take over the world,” he jokes.

“I hope you’re not. Not after assuring Sam, Bucky and Steve that you’ve changed,” I chuckle. His grip around me tightens as we continue to skate slowly around the almost-empty rink. 

“I have changed and I love you for seeing that I have,” his voice is low in my ear and the warmth of his breath causes goosebumps to form on my skin. 

“I love you for letting me help,”

Oh, truth—I guess truth is what you believe in

And faith—I think faith is having a reason

And I know now, love, if your wings are broken

Borrow mine 'til yours can open, too

'Cause I'm gonna stand by you

Dinner at the tower on a Sunday was always a social occasion. We’d take turns each week cooking and every week we would gather together in the dining room to eat it. This week was Sam’s week and he was everyone’s favourite chef, as a result of him being one of the few of us who could actually cook.

So, naturally, the second that Sam called us for dinner, everyone was immediately found racing towards the dining room. Loki and I walked in and took seats next to each other and the room fell silent watching us.

I could feel myself becoming nervous at the feel of their intrusive looks. The only people who didn’t have their eyes on us were the two super soldiers, Sam, Thor and Wanda, having already had the conversation about us with them.

Loki could clearly see my worry and placed his hand on my thigh, palm up in the air. I slid my hand into his, feeling myself relax as he squeezed it.

“So you guys are fucking,” Tony finally breaks the uncomfortable silence. Everyone’s gaze shifts to him with mildly disgusted expressions on their face.

“Dude,”

“What? I’m just asking what everyone’s thinking,” he shrugs, defending himself. 

“You could, like, not?” Wanda suggests and with that, the tension around the table is broken and things seem to return to normal, Loki and I only receiving the occasional glance during breaks in conversation.

As dinner comes to a close, I begin to clear the table, it being my week to clean the dishes. Steve was on duty with me. I washed them and he dried.

“You really trust him then?” He finally asks and I nod.

“Of course I do, Steve. He’s telling the truth about changing,” I sigh, tired of repeating the same thing over and over again.

“Y/N... truth is just what you believe in, alright? Just because you believe in him doesn’t mean that it’s the truth,” Steve tells me gently, taking another plate from my hands.

“Well maybe you don’t need to believe in him,” I say, “maybe you can just believe in me? You always have before,” I suggest to my best friend. Steve looks at me for a moment, putting the plate away.

“I have faith in you because you’ve given me reasons to and that’s why I believe in you and always have. Loki... he’s never given me a reason,”

“Maybe that’s because you’ve never let him,” I offer and Steve gives a humourless laugh. “Look, Steve, you’re one of the closest things I have ever had to a brother and, the thing is, as much as I value your opinion and want your acceptance, I know you’re wrong here and I’m going to stand by Loki no matter what because I love him,” Steve watches me as I wash up the final pan, leaving it to drip dry. “And if you love me then you’ll give him a chance,” 

I'll be your eyes 'til yours can shine

And I'll be your arms, I'll be your steady satellite

And when you can't rise, well, I'll crawl with you on hands and knees

'Cause I... I'm gonna stand by you

“I heard what you said to Steve,” Loki appears in my room just as I finished getting changed. 

“Give a girl some warning,” I smile, going over and kissing him. He kisses back, hugging me tight to his chest.

“Thank you for that,” he murmurs and I shrug.

“I’ll make them accept you, Loki,” I assure him, “and, until they do, I’ll make you feel welcome on behalf of them all,” He laughs at my promise and kisses me lightly in what feels like thanks

“The metal arm one-”

“Bucky, I think you mean. You know, if you want to be accepted, learning their names may help with that,” I tease Loki, taking a drink from the glass of water that’s on my night stand.

“Right. Bucky. He invited me to go out for drink with him, Thor and the other two tomorrow,”

“That’s good, Loki!” I assure him. “You said yes right?”

“I asked whether Steve and Sam wanted me there,”

“What did he say?”

“He said that you would,” I smile at that.

“You should go,” Loki furrows his eyebrows, unsure. “You’ll like Bucky. He’s funny. And Steve promised to give you a chance, too,” 

“Okay, I’ll go,” he concedes, pulling me by the arm and kissing me again. “Thank you for everything, Y/N,” he murmurs quietly, our lips only a couple of centimetres apart. I wind my arms around his neck, smiling.

“I’ll always stand by you,”

I hope that this was kind of what you wanted? Sorry, I haven’t written much for Loki before :)

[floral-and-fine]

Exposing What’s Significant part 1

Solo!Triplets x Female!reader

Soulmate AU

Summary: An alternate universe where Matt and Kylo are Ben Solo’s clones. 

A/n: I am so siked about this idea! I wanted it to be only one part but figured it would be best to break it into parts, I have no idea how many parts yet. I’m hoping just one more. Also I hope I did it justice!

'Why do all the corridors have to look the same on this base?' Matt thought as he wandered around carrying his toolbox. Somewhere on this wing was a circuit board that needed replacing. It should be an easy fix if he could find the correct panel. The problem was that all the corridors in this place were identical.

His eyes scanned the area, he scrunched his face, that panel on the side could be the right one.

Matt crouched down and started to unscrew it lose. Taking a glance, all the wires and conductors looked fine, nothing needed fixing or replacing. Matt replaced the panel cover, this has to be the sixth one he's checked this morning.

Sighing, he picked up his toolbox, he has to be close to finding it, he had other repairs to make today.

Matt tripped, as a couple of stormtroopers pushed him aside, causing him to drop his wrench on the floor. He looked up from the floor and watched them walk past like he was nothing. Matt sat up picking up his wrench, as he stood back up. He readjusted his glasses, pushing them back up the bridge of his nose.

Just another morning on Starkiller base he thought to himself.

Matt refocused on his work, a part of him wished life was more exciting than this, that people respected him more than they did, but in the end, he figures he should just be grateful to be alive.

The boys were shivering exposed to the outside, dripping wet standing in the center of a large lab. They both had just been flushed out of their tanks. A little while ago the could barely stand.

The boys were scanned by different machines. The men in white coats flashed lights in their eyes, drew their blood with syringes, and conducted various tests.Then whispered among themselves.

"Inform the supreme leader," one of them announced.

Moments later an old man escorted by men in red armor entered the room. He raised his brow looking at the two adolescent boys.

"What would you have us do with the... mistake, sir?"

The blonde boy's eyes widened at the word 'mistake'.  

His eyes darted over to the boy next to him, they were identical in every way, with the exception of their hair. His own messy blonde tresses falling into his eyes, blurring his vision which was already unclear.

He watched the other boy who stood quietly, unflinchingly calm underneath the scrutinization of the scientist and of this 'supreme leader'.

There was nothing wrong with that one.

The blonde knew he was the mistake. There was something wrong with him. He began to cower behind one of the scientists, trying to remove himself from the direct gaze of the old man.

He feared the worst. He had only been awake for a few hours, his life couldn't possibly already be over?

"We'll find some type of use for him," the supreme leader decided.

"Of course, sir," The doctor agreed.

The supreme leader redirected his attention to the dark-haired boy, "And this one?"

"He's a perfect specimen, sir," the scientist replied, his tone full of pride. "An exact replica."

Perfect. That one was perfect. The blonde thought to himself.

"Come," barked the man to the dark-haired boy, who responded by raising his eyebrows.

"We start your training now, Kylo."

The dark-haired boy narrowed his eyes, "Ky-lo," he repeated in a dry scratchy voice, testing out his name.

The old man turned his heel followed by his red guards. Kylo glanced back at the other boy for a split second before following the man.

The blonde's shoulders slumped, at least he wasn't going to be disposed of, but everything about his existence still seemed so uncertain.

A silence fell upon the entire wing.

The two stormtroopers from earlier suddenly scurried back, then stood stock-still with their backs against the wall of the corridor.

Kylo Ren strode through the hall with an aura of purpose. He paid no mind to those he passed even though all eyes were on him.

With the utmost subtleness, Kylo turned his head looking down at Matt as he continued to make his way forward. Matt had heard that Kylo was sent to retrieve something important for the first order, he wondered if they had been successful.

An inaudible sigh of relief washed over the hall once Kylo was out of sight. Everyone on the base, with maybe the exception of General Hux, feared Kylo. It was crazy for Matt to imagine that he could’ve had the same respect.

Matt gathered his tools. There was still a circuit board that needed to be replaced. If he was lucky he could get it done before lunch.

"I win again, Dameron!" Ben boasted, jumping out of his X-wing. He took off his helmet, his thick black hair falling around his face.

Poe rolled his eyes and stretched his arms over his head. He loved Ben like a brother, but his competitiveness got real old after awhile.

"Don't get too cocky, Solo. I almost had you back there."

"Hey, nothing wrong with being the second best pilot in the resistance," Ben laughed heading towards the inside of the docking hangar.

'Woooo Beep Beep boop,' (Better than being the galaxy’s biggest jerk) screeched BB8 who rolled over to Poe’s side.

"I heard that BB!" Ben shouted back at the little droid.

'Beep' (ass.) BB added.

Poe nodded his head in agreement, "Couldn't have said it better myself little buddy."

He removed his flight gear and put on his jacket, before following Ben inside. Inside everyone was bustling around and working. Running down the hall, he caught up to Ben as they were approached by a messenger.

“The General has requested your presence in the comm room.”

“We shouldn’t keep her waiting,” Poe suggested.

Ben smirked, finally some action, it was getting way too boring around here lately.

"Mo- ugh General!" Ben corrected himself as he strutted over to the center of the room.

The comm room glowed lit with various holos and vids of base and data. The General was examining the latest reports from the Republic.

"General," Poe formally greeted.

Ben resisted the urge to laugh over Poe’s goody two shoes behavior. He was such a suck up, ever since they were children.  His mom always said that Poe was a good influence on him. Even though Ben had gotten Poe in plenty of trouble over the years.

"We're planning a small recon mission, I need my best to handle it," she explained, leaning forward against the table.  "Are you two up for it?"

Ben clapped a hand on Poe’s shoulder, “Of course we are!”

The mission was simple enough, go to Jakku retrieve the map and return home.

From inside the hut, Ben and Poe could hear the commotion outside from the villagers, something about an enemy ship entering the atmosphere.

“Sounds like we need to go,” Poe stated cautiously taking a peek from the window.

‘Woooop’ (oh no!) BB8 whirled around in a slight panic.

Suddenly the sound of blasters being fired filled the air.

“We need to get back to the ship.”

“What about all those people?” Ben asked.

The villagers were innocent. It felt wrong to abandon them, to leave them to their own devices, just for the First Order to kill them or take them, prisoner.

“I know you want to help them, but we can’t without jeopardizing our mission,” Poe advised.

Ben ran his fingers through his hair. He could hear them yelling and screaming. But Poe was right, they needed to get out of there.

“Fine,” he reluctantly agreed. “Let’s go.”

In the midst of all the chaos, a tall figure dressed all in black strutted towards them.

“Go!” Poe ordered Ben. “I’ll try to hold him off.”

Poe took a couple of shots with his blaster. The man easily dodged them. The last shot stopped, suspended in mid-air.

“Screw this,” Ben muttered to himself. “Get to the ship BB!”

“Hey!” Ben shouted, intervening despite Poe’s earlier objections, stepping in between Kylo and his friend.

He drew his lightsaber.

"Ben Solo," Kylo acknowledged. “We finally meet."

"So you're the infamous Kylo Ren," Ben evaluated his opponent looking him up and down. "I'm not impressed."

He had heard about how intimidating this guy was, but Ben wasn't seeing it. Kylo Ren was just another pawn of the supreme leader. Nothing to be afraid of.

"Is that so?" Kylo inched closer. Both of them had their hands firmly gripping the hilt of their lightsabers.

This had to have been the worst day of his life. So what if he got a little pissed off. But what his uncle said had gotten under his skin.

The words played over and over in his head, “Your weakness will be your undoing, you must fight against it.”

Aimlessly, Ben wandered around in the dark swamp. He just needed some space and time alone. His parents insisted that training with his uncle would be for the best. But Ben didn’t agree, he didn’t want to leave his home or his family. He didn’t care about being a Jedi.

In all honesty, he wanted to be a pilot, like his dad, but what he wanted didn’t matter.  

He found a spot to sit, on the log of a collapsed tree.

Ben sighed, he was trying his best. All he wanted was their approval, from his dad, his uncle, and his mother.

He hated it, anytime he felt anything or showed any kind of emotion his entire family reacted as if he was going to snap, and force choke all them.

But what made it even worse is that everyone assumed the worst of him.

He was approached by a stranger, an old man.

“I can sense your greatness, boy,” the stranger spoke.“The power that resides within you.”

Ben narrowed his eyes, standing and cautiously taking a step back. He didn’t know what it was about the stranger, but he made Ben feel uneasy.

“I can train you,” the man offered. “If you join me, you’ll never have to hold back.”

Ben looked at the ground, a part of him wanted to say yes. He was so tired of having to hold back, of having to worry about if something he did would remind them of Vader.

“I won’t join you,” Ben finally responded standing defiantly.

But this, this wasn’t the way to prove them wrong, it would only prove them right about him.

In a blink of an eye, their lightsabers collided. The red glow of Kylo’s lightsaber illuminated Ben’s face.

Ben spun around and swung his lightsaber again. Kylo easily dodged the strike, countering with a swing of his own.

"Fuck," Ben muttered falling back. He would never admit it, but this Kylo Ren was proving to be more of a challenge then he predicted.

Ben lunged forward, their lightsabers connecting again. No matter from which side or angle he came from his enemy was able to block or dodge it.

"Let's go, Ben!" Poe shouted trying to hold off the oncoming troops. "We're outnumbered!"

Ben looked at Poe, then back again at Kylo.

There wasn’t really any other option right now, the village was on fire and the stormtroopers were marching through and attacking. There’s no way Poe and he would be able to succeed.

“Fine,” Ben gave in.

Both of them made their way back to Poe’s ship. Kylo didn’t bother to chase after them, the stormtroopers pursued them instead. Out of breath, Ben climbed aboard the X-Wing. He turned, to offer Poe his hand to help him on the ship only to see that Poe wasn’t there behind.

“Dameron?!” Ben shouted. When did they get separated?

“Just go!” Ben heard Poe scream.

Out in the distance, Ben could see Poe being captured by a couple of stormtroopers.

‘Woo Wop’ (what about Poe?) BB8 asked.

“We can’t BB, we have to go now.”

Ben couldn't believe it! He had been bested by some First Order bitch in a black dress, and his best friend is now their prisoner. Not to mention he somehow lost the map during all the anarchy.

"Damn coward hiding behind that ugly ass mask," he sneered.  

Ben shook his head, he was letting his anger get the best of him. He flopped on his bed and crossed his legs. He focused on his breathing. 'in and out, in and out.' He needed to have more control than this, he was a Jedi and fighter for the resistance. He should be calm, cool, collected.

Next time he'll get that smug bastard and knock him down a peg! In fact, he'll be taking down the whole Order! Ben thought to himself clutching his fists tightly.

"Hey," a voice interrupted his thoughts.

Ben looked up to see his mom enter through the doorway.

"I figured you'd still be pissed about what happened earlier and blaming yourself for everything. So I brought you some dinner," Leia announced holding a tray in her hands.

Ben smiled, she could've just ordered someone to bring him food, but this was her excuse to come see him.

"Thanks," he said, giving her a small smile.

She placed the tray on his desk and sat next to him on the bed.

"Let's talk about it," she offered, looking back him concerned. He loved seeing this side of his mother, the part of her that wasn't a General or princess, but just a mom.

Ben sighed, he might as well get it all off his chest.

“It’s all my fault about Poe,” he muttered.

“He knew the risks,” she reminded him, trying to make him feel better.

“No, it is my fault,” Ben argued. “If I didn’t engage with the enemy… if I just listened, maybe it would’ve turned out differently.”

“It’s going to be alright,” Leia soothed, rubbing his shoulder.

"But that guy, Kylo Ren,” Ben uttered the name with disgust. “He got under my skin... I couldn't get the upper hand. It was like he knew my every move," Ben admitted, running his fingers through his hair.

"Well, he is a force user like yourself perhaps-" Leia started until Ben cut her off.

"No, it wasn't like that, it had nothing to do with the force," he explained. He replayed every move in his mind, every hit and every block, all of it. He looked up at his mom, shaking his head slightly.

"He fought just like me," Ben narrowed his eyes frowning as he thought about it. "Exactly like me... just more reckless, like he had nothing to lose."

He put his head in his hands, "I'm sorry, I fucked up. I’m sorry I failed."

"I'm just glad you're home safe," she held her son, wrapping her arms around his shoulder. She was aware of all the stress he put himself, she felt the same type of pressure on herself.

"I know, mom."

Still damp from his shower, Kylo’s entire body tensed, his entire body reacted to seeing his own reflection from the corner of his eye. His hands bunched into tight fists, while he stood aggressively across from the mirror.

Kylo rarely saw himself without the helmet, so it didn’t immediately register in his mind that he was looking at himself, instead, it was like looking at Ben Solo. For a moment he was back in that desert.

He studied his face closely. The resemblance between them was not a surprise. But after having fought Ben face to face, it had made Kylo weary of his own appearance.

There was something else that Kylo was preoccupied with, and that was the result of their recent battle. They were too evenly matched, which was more than Kylo cared for. He should’ve been able to tear through him easily.

He would not be bested by that arrogant fool. Kylo would double or triple his time training in order to surpass Ben.

“What is this?” Kylo asked examining the artifact that the supreme leader had presented him with. It didn’t make any sense that he would give this to him.The helmet in question was so badly damaged that Kylo couldn’t imagine what purpose it could serve.

“It is a remnant from the past,” Snoke explained. “That helmet belonged to Darth Vader, a powerful sith lord.”

“Darth Vader,” Kylo recognized the name, it came up in his lessons. He clutched the helmet tighter.

“You are his grandson, part of his bloodline.”

“You mean Ben Solo is his grandson, he’s the one you created me from,” Kylo replied, furrowing his brow.

Snoke squinted his eyes, that obviously wasn’t the response he was wanting. Kylo had become increasingly rebellious, questioning his purpose and place with the First Order. The boy was smart enough not the voice these thoughts of his, but the supreme leader could sense the doubts in Kylo’s mind.

“He would be proud of you Kylo. He would be proud of your work.”

Kylo didn’t understand why, but he liked the idea of someone feeling proud of him.

Kylo exited the refresher and looked over at the helmet, which was displayed in his room. It was one of his very few personal possessions.

“Grandfather,” he muttered to himself, sitting across from it. He would never dare speak of his doubts out loud. But he couldn’t help but wonder if this was the path he was meant to be on.

He stared at the helmet stoically in stony silence. Kylo wanted some sort of guidance, but there was no one he could turn to.

What would Darth Vader think of Ben Solo, his real grandson? Ben Solo the Jedi? What would he think of Kylo’s weakness?

Kylo grabbed his lightsaber.  He headed straight for the training room. He wouldn’t fail again.

You had been captured by the First Order in a small village in Jakku. Two stormtroopers had taken you as you tried to escape into the desert away from the fighting and the chaos. With all your might you struggled against them hoping to break free.

Once inside the ship, your hands were restrained. You were completely clueless as to why they had even attacked Jakku. The stormtroopers wouldn’t answer any of your questions.

You watched as they dragged several other prisoners into the ship. Quietly, you tried your best to free your hands without drawing too much attention to yourself.

The stormtroopers escorted you and the rest of the prisoners to various holding cells. There was one prisoner, in particular, that was taken to a different area. You overheard that that prisoner was going to be interrogated.  

Still wriggling your hands you were finally successful at getting one loose. This was your chance, you had to at least try to escape and get away from this place. You pushed one of the stormtroopers aside stealing his blaster as you did so. Quickly you fired at the others, then started running.

You ran through various corridors, trying to lose them.

With your back pressed against the wall, you hid behind the corner. Hopefully, you were able to get them off your trail. This whole base was like a maze, but you couldn’t stay in one spot for too long if you were trying to avoid getting caught. Holding your breath you peeked around, the hall was empty.

You hissed feeling your neck start to burn.

“What the hell?” you muttered to yourself, you did not need this right now. Why out of all places in the whole galaxy would your soulmate be here?

You turned to look behind you, to see a tall man in an orange vest looking very confused as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. You knew an instant that he was the one. Your soulmate.

You stepped away from the wall and stood directly in front of him. His entire body froze as his eyes went wide.

The way you looked at him made his heart race. Nobody in Matt's life had ever looked at him like this. You were staring at him and just him with tears brimming at the edge of your eyes.

You wrapped your arms around his middle. Hesitantly, the blonde held you. You could hear his heart speed up as you pressed your head against his chest.

"You're him," you whispered, this was unbelievable.  

"Him who?" he asked confused, not that he minded being hugged by a pretty girl.

You blinked your eyes, pulling back a little to look up at his face. Matt already missed your closeness, so he tightened his hold on you like you might slip away.

"My soulmate," you stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Soulmate?" Matt repeated, he didn't understand. How did he, a mistake, deserve a soulmate.

"You feel it right there don't you?" you motioned to the back of her neck.

He nodded his head.

“Well, that’s where your soulmark is,” you explained. “Just like mine.”

A sweet smile formed on his lips, “can I see it?”

You nodded, letting him take a look at your neck. His fingers traced the outline of the triangle that was identical to his own tattoo on his neck.

“I’m Matt,” he introduced himself.

“y/n.” 

“Y/n,” he repeated your name, sighing.

“Why haven’t I seen you around before?” Matt asked.

You let out a nervous laugh, surely he wouldn’t turn you in, would he? He seemed so kind and gentle.

“I just escaped,” you began to fill him in. “I was captured and brought here.”

You looked up at his face to gauge his reaction. He face was scrunched, and filled with concern.

“I’ll keep you safe,” Matt promised.

Footsteps echoed through the corridor, someone was headed your way. Without thinking, Matt took your hand and started running. He didn’t really have a plan or a place to take you, but neither of you could stay out in the open like this.

In his haste, Matt collided into a stormtrooper.They both fell backward. During the fall, Matt’s glasses slipped off his face.

You wanted to help him up, but you were frozen with fear. What if this stormtrooper would try to capture you. You prayed that you weren’t getting Matty in any trouble for this as well.  

“Matt are you okay?” the stormtrooper asked in a surprisingly kind voice.

“FN2187?” Matt reached over picking his glasses up off the floor. “What are you doing here?”

This was the cellblock where the First Order kept and interrogated prisoners, FN2187 didn’t have a reason to be there.

“Listen, I don’t really have much time to talk,” FN2187 explained.

You entwined your fingers with Matt. His eyes widened, he totally forgot that he needed to hide you someplace safe.

“Us too,” Matt mumbled rubbing the back of his head.

The stormtrooper nodded his head, “Goodbye Matt.”

Matt looked over at you, his soulmate, “let’s go.”

“Sir,” one of the officers spoke. “We’ve received an SOS from Dameron.”

Ben’s eyes lit up. Poe was ok and he managed to escape from the First Order. He stood up immediately and started putting his gear on. There wasn’t any time to spare.

“Where is he?” Ben asked, already heading straight towards the docking bay.

“Jakku, sir.”

“Inform the General,” he ordered. “I’m going back to Jakku.”

Ben needed this, a chance at redemption. He was going to rescue Poe and find the map.

In his X Wing, he plotted a course back to Jakku using Poe’s last known coordinates.

As he reached his destination, Ben laughed spotting Poe standing near the wreckage of a stolen tie fighter. He felt a wave of relief wash over him seeing his friend alive.

“Poe!” he shouted exiting the ship.

“Solo!”

“Who this?” Ben asked acknowledging the stranger with Poe.

“This is Finn,” Poe announced. “He helped me escape.”

Ben extended his hand shaking Finn’s.

“You look kind of familiar…” Finn muttered releasing Ben’s hand and squinting his eyes.

Ben shrugged, “I don’t think we’ve met before.”

Finn nodded dropping the subject. “Well now that we have a way off this planet, we should probably get going,”

“Not yet, I’ve got to find that map,” Ben explained. “I need to complete our mission.”

“The First Order will be here soon,” Finn replied. “We need to leave.”

Poe nodded his head, it was dangerous but they couldn’t let the First Order have the map.

“We need to return to where the village was and then start our search from there,” Poe suggested.

“You guys are crazy! Did either of you hear me?!” Finn groaned, throwing his hands in the air.

“Your new friend seems kinda anxious,” Ben muttered.

“Well he did just betray the First Order,” Poe stated. . . . It was like deja vu.

Finn had warned them that the First Order would find them if they stayed on Jakku and he was right.

“You guys head back to the ship,” Ben ordered, “I’m going to find that map.”

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Poe retorted, “Haven’t you learned anything from last time?”

“Yeah, I learned that we don’t really have time to argue,” Ben replied smirking.

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Finn added.

“Damn it,” Poe resigned, “When we have some time, like when we’re not being chased by stormtroopers with blasters, we really need to sort out your priorities.”

Ben laughed, “Just get going!”

Finn and Poe fled back in the direction of the ship. Ben started running again, hopefully, he would find the map before the First Order caught up with him.

On the horizon, Ben could see the remains of the village. As he approached closer he could make out a figure waiting for him amongst all the rubble.

“Fancy seeing you here again,” Ben greeted Kylo Ren.

He could sense that the map was near, he must have dropped it somewhere close by. Ben took out his lightsaber.

Kylo removed his mask, carelessly dropping it on the ground, before preparing to attack.

Ben froze, he couldn't believe his eyes.

“Wha- How?”

This was the most surreal experience of Ben’s life. Standing across from him was another version of himself, like facing his evil twin.

Without hesitation, Kylo attacked swinging his lightsaber straight down onto Ben, who was barely able to block in the last second.

Using as much strength as he could muster, Ben pushed against Kylo’s saber and rolled out from underneath him. But within that split second Kylo struck again.

Ben screamed in agony feel the searing burn as the lightsaber cut through his flesh. Everything sort of went dark after that. . . . “Solo!?”

He wanted to open his eyes, but he felt too weak.

“Ben, shit, we need to get you home,” Poe muttered.

“Mom?” Ben croaked, waking up in the infirmary.

“Ben, it’s alright,” she reassured.

Something felt off, Ben shifted on the bed but his arm, he couldn’t feel.

He sat straight up, pushing the sheets down. His pulse raced, how did this happen?

His left arm was gone. Ben stared at the stub. The last thing he remembered was the searing pain he felt as Kylo overpowered him. Ben regulated his breathing as it all started to sink in. He just lost his arm to Kylo Ren, who was a clone of himself. It all sounded so crazy.

“It’s going to be ok,” his mother gently took ahold of his right hand. “There is some good news, Poe found the map after he found you.”

“What happened to Ren?” Ben asked.

“Poe said he was already gone when they found you,” she explained.

Ben sighed, why didn’t Ren just kill him?

He looked around the room and noticed a mechanical hand laying on a table, must be his new hand.

“At least I’m keeping the family tradition alive,” he muttered to himself.

Back on Starkiller base, an unfortunate officer informed Kylo Ren that another prisoner had escaped.

No other ships had been taken, so it meant that the prisoner was hiding still somewhere on base. Kylo examined the corridors nearby where the prisoner had last been seen.

“Matt,” he whispered to himself, as he sighted the lone toolbox on the floor. Kylo didn’t waste any time and headed directly towards Matt’s living quarters.

"Where is she?" Kylo hissed.

"W-who?" Matt stuttered, trying to keep his cool.

"Don't play these games with me," Kylo said raising his voice. "I know about the girl."

"She's..." Matt's eyes darted to the door.

"Is she in there!?"

Kylo slammed Matt against the wall. Matt winced in pain, squirming as Kylo held him there by his shirt.

Hearing the commotion outside of Matt’s room you panicked, worried that he’d get injured over you.

"Please don't hurt him," you begged bursting out of the room.

The masked man's grip on Matt loosened the moment he noticed you.

“The prisoner-” He stopped speaking. His entire body tensed.

You bit your bottom lip, feeling your soulmate tattoo starting to burn again.

This didn't make any sense, you found your soulmate. So how was this happening all over again?

His hands fell to his sides.

"What is this?" he growled stepping closer to you.

“She’s our soulmate,” Matt answered him quietly.

Kylo grabbed your upper arm dragging back into Matt’s room. Matt followed.

Now that all of you were somewhere private, the man removed his helmet revealing his face which was identical to Matt’s.

He looked just like Matt, but with more intensity. The dark-haired man stared at you. His irises traced every curve of your face. With a gloved hand, he caressed your cheek.

Slowly, your fingertips met his skin tracing his jaw. He took hold your hand and nuzzled his cheek against it. Closing his eyes he savored the feeling of your touch.

“Come with me,” Kylo offered.

"Where are you taking her?" Matt asked in a worried voice.  

"To my quarters," Kylo stated, picking his helmet up, holding it in his hands.

"Why?"

"You can't honestly believe that I would let her stay here?"

"What's wrong with my room?" Matt questioned.

"It's so small... Where does she even sleep?"

"In my bed..."

Kylo narrowed his eyes, "So where do you sleep?"

Matt's face went red at the question, it's not like he's done anything inappropriate, he didn't feel ready to be intimate with you yet. But there really wasn't much space in here for him to sleep anywhere else.

"I want to stay,” you spoke up.

For a brief moment, Kylo looked hurt.

"Do you... not like me?"  He frowned, looking disgusted with himself for even asking such a question.

"No, I do! I just don't want Matty to be alone."

"But you're not concerned about me in the same way?" he countered, raising an eyebrow at you.

Kylo touched your face again, his thumb grazing your bottom lip.

"Perhaps... we can work something out," he mused. “My quarters are more comfortable, and there’s enough room for all of us.”

Matt’s head perked up, if he heard Kylo correctly then he was suggesting that the three of them should live together.

It was like some horrible nightmare, witnessing Starkiller base destroy the entire Republic. It was obvious that they would be targeting the resistance next.

In the comm room, people kept shouting and talking over one another.Everyone was in a panic over it, they needed a plan, a way to either hide or destroy the First Order’s new weapon.

Suddenly, Finn spoke up. Apparently, he knew a way to that they could destroy the entire base. Finn had Poe’s and Ben’s support which quickly earned him the support of the rest of the resistance members who were present for the meeting.

Finally, Leia gave the orders and everyone on base prepared for what very well could be their last mission.

You were laying in bed, Matt’s head resting on your tummy as you absentmindedly played with his hair. He had fallen asleep a little while ago, his breathing was low and steady.

Kylo was right, living in his quarters had been much more comfortable. The bedroom alone was three times bigger than Matt’s entire living space. In fact, the three of you sharing the space had been working out quite nicely.

The more time you spent with them, the more you realized how starved for affection both of them were. Not that you minded their constant pets and caresses and responding to them in kind.

Just as you thought you might fall asleep as well, alarms started blaring, startling you.

Matt practically jumped, waking from his nap.Sleepily, he fumbled around getting his glasses off the nightstand.

“What’s going on?” he muttered.

The doors opened and Kylo marched in, directly towards you.

“We need to leave!” he shouted the urgency evident in his voice.

“Oh alright,” Matt said, gathering a few of his things, “just let me-”

“NOW!” Kylo barked. He took your hand. You could barely keep up as Kylo led you and Matt to the docking bay.

“What’s happening?”

“The resistance is attacking the base, I need to get you to safety,” Kylo stated.

Ben watched as a Tie fighter fled the hangar. He could feel it in his very gut that Kylo was piloting that ship.

He felt his blood boil, that damn clone was running away like a coward!

There was no way Ben was going to let Kylo get away that easily. Despite the direct orders from his mother, Ben chased after the ship in his X wing.

It was time to settle this once and for all.

It didn’t take Ben long to catch up with Kylo. In a few moments, he was riding on Kylo’s tail.

Kylo maneuvered quickly taking risky turns to lose Ben. Matt had his arms wrapped around you protectively holding you against his chest.

Ben smirked to himself, Kylo was a decent pilot but was nowhere near his own skill. Now all he had to do was take a shot, it had to be just right. Ben didn’t want to kill him, well not like that.

Ben fired damaging the side of the ship. Kylo would have to act quickly in order to make a safe landing.

The ship shook violently as it was hit. Matt’s arms held you still, as Kylo made an emergency landing.

“Are you alright?”

You nodded, you were just scared.

“Stay here.” Kylo gently stroked your cheek.

He got out of the ship.

“Solo,” Kylo growled through gritted teeth.

“You honestly thought I’d let you get away?” Ben shouted. “I was surprised that you, of all people, would abandon your mission… you’re so obsessive I was sure you’d burn with the base.”

“Really? Because isn’t that what you just did?” Kylo retorted. “Rather than concern yourself with your real objective, you pursued catching me instead.”

Ben snarled.

He hurled himself at Kylo. Soon their lightsabers clashed against each other. It was just like their previous fights. They were so evenly matched that it was hard to tell who had the upper hand.

Ben’s lightsaber grazed Kylo’s face.

“Kylo!” you screamed scrambling out of the ship and running towards him.

Ben dropped his lightsaber wincing as he felt his neck began to burn. His hand rubbed the back of his neck.

“What the hell?” he whispered to himself. Rapidly he blinked his eyes, why was his soulmate mark burning?

His mouth hung open when he saw you standing protectively by Kylo. You were beautiful.

Matt followed you out of the wreckage, he took your hand in his.

Ben stared at the three of you slack-jawed. Another clone and his soulmate?

Kylo stepped in front of you, shielding you with his body. Blood was dripping down from his face and off his chin.

"This has to be some kind of joke?" Ben mumbled. How did they find her before he did? He lowered his lightsaber.

"Come with me!" Ben demanded, offering his hand to you.

You shook your head, this didn't feel right, you shouldn't have to choose like this.

"They aren't me!" he argued. "You're supposed to be with me!"

"I don't think it's that simple..." you mumbled.

"It is.”

"I-I-”

Ben cut you off before you could even finish your thought.

"You can't possibly love them?” he questioned with disgust.

You glanced at Matt then at Kylo, before looking Ben in the eye. You did. You loved Matt it was impossible not to love him. And you knew you were falling in love with Kylo.

It was Ben who you knew nothing about. There were still the same attraction, the same invisible force that pulled you towards him, that same feeling. But Matt, Kylo, and you had already started to bond.

Another X-wing landed in the same vicinity. Matt held you close to him, while Kylo took a defensive stance.

“Ben?! What the hell were you thinking?!” Poe yelled, frustrated that he had to track Ben down.

Poe stopped talking, shutting his mouth, how in the world were there three Bens?

Finn joined Poe’s side, climbing out of the ship.

“Matt?” he questioned surprised, not expecting to see the blonde here of all places.

“FN2187?”

“It’s just Finn now,” he explained. “What is going on here?”

The group didn’t respond right away. Matt shuffled his feet looking down at the ground. Kylo lowered his lightsaber and leaned on you a bit. His injury causing him to feel unsteady.

Ben too, lowered his lightsaber. He ran his hand over his face, before turning to face his friend.

“Meet my clones and my soulmate,” he announced in an annoyed tone.

Taglist: @skellingtonbatz @sleepylunarwolf @teapocaiypse @damalseer @i-wished-upon-a-star-one-night

[aion-rsa]

Mortal Kombat Trailer Breakdown and Analysis

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It’s taken 24 years, but we’re finally getting a new live-action Mortal Kombat movie. The R-rated reboot is set to come out in April, but outside of some casting news, a few recent stills, and a very brief appearance in a HBO Max ad, and some character posters, Warner Bros. has kept a lid on the movie.

Fortunately, we finally have a trailer to dissect, and it’s quite the ride. Action-packed, dark as hell, and seemingly very faithful to the original games, the Simon McQuoid-directed movie seems on the right track..

Give the trailer a look below:

Watch Sub-Zero literally (cold)snap Jax’s arms off in the first official trailer for Mortal Kombat. pic.twitter.com/x8cnrptYgT

— IGN (@IGN) February 18, 2021

There are quite a few story hints, easter eggs, and nods to the games in this short trailer. Before we share our findings and try to figure out what it might all mean, we need to start with the big question…

WHO IS COLE YOUNG?

Lewis Tan plays Cole Young, who appears to be the protagonist of this movie. At the very least, he appears to be our POV character, as opposed to Liu Kang or Sonya. So what does this trailer tell us about him? Cole apparently has a birthmark shaped like the Mortal Kombat dragon logo. He also has a younger sister named Emily (Matilda Kimber).

But really, who is he?

There’s always the chance that Cole is really just a new character, but it’s just as likely that he’s a familiar Mortal Kombat character. Kind of like how Agents of SHIELD had the character Skye around for a season and a half before revealing her to be the existing comic character Quake.

One of the popular theories is that he’s Johnny Cage. Since this movie is most heavily inspired by the first game, Johnny Cage’s absence in this movie is notable. He’s the only guy on the first game’s roster that the movie seems to be ignoring. With Cole Young, the movie could be forgoing the comedic aspects of Cage’s quest and getting rid of the nonsensical “gain public notoriety by winning a super secret tournament that nobody’s ever heard of” storyline, which seems like a smart move.

Besides, Cole’s tattoo seems to suggest that he’s a “chosen one,” and the most recent games have doubled down on Cage being special, too. Turns out his ancestors were Mediterranean warriors bred and trained to kill gods.

The other big possibility is that Cole is actually Kuai Liang, the younger brother of Sub-Zero, who is featured heavily in this trailer. In Mortal Kombat lore, there are two Sub-Zeros, the villain Bi-Han and the hero Kuai Liang. After Bi-Han dies in the first game, Kuai Liang takes his place.

Revealing that Cole is in fact Sub-Zero’s good guy brother and can perform all of his awesome ice attacks would be a fun third act reveal.

Plus it would explain why he appears to be haunted by Scorpion’s demonic visage.

Then again, maybe Cole is someone lame like Taven. It would almost make sense if he were Rain. Almost.

SUB-ZERO

Joe Taslim is Bi-Han, the first Sub-Zero. The trailer puts a ton of emphasis on him despite Sub-Zero being more of a henchman villain when he isn’t being depicted as an antihero. What’s great about this movie is that it’s using bits from the modern games for inspirations. Instead of just throwing ice balls and making frozen puddles, this Sub-Zero is able to weaponize his surroundings. Just look at the way he’s able to create a wall of frozen ice and throw Scorpion through it, or the way he freezes Scorpion’s blood and turns it into a dagger.

There’s an interesting shot in the trailer of Sub-Zero walking out of a dark, smoky portal. At first I thought this was supposed to be Smoke, but it’s very possible that it’s Bi-Han’s post-death form, Noob Saibot.

SCORPION

Hiroyuki Sanada is Hanzo Hasashi, the ninja warrior fated to die and return as the specter Scorpion. Prior to becoming an undead warrior, we do get to see him wiping out a bunch of idiot invaders with his trademark kunai.

We see more of him later, wearing an outfit closely resembling his Mortal Kombat 11 look, complete with an aura of Hellfire. More importantly, it appears we’ll finally get that cinematic Scorpion vs. Sub-Zero fight we’ve been wanting for decades.

“Slaves under my control,” my ass.

LIU KANG

Ludi Lin is Liu Kang, the hero of Mortal Kombat. At some point, the people behind the games realized that Liu Kang had become a pretty bland protagonist and shunted him to the sidelines. Even the recent Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge made a big deal about him being the chosen one, but also kept him in Scorpion’s shadow.

That leaves us wondering how much he’ll get to do in this movie. He was fine in the original film, but if Cole Young is the main character, what does that mean for Liu? Who is going to watch who save the world?

Regardless, we get to see Liu show off his fire powers. This includes summoning a giant, flaming dragon. Definitely a step up from the awful CGI of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.

KANO

Josh Lawson is Kano, playing up Trevor Goddard’s previous take on the character as much as humanly possible. Kano has his cybernetic eye, including the laser, but it’s less overt, hidden by a bit of skin grafting.

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Kano’s appearance overall is interesting. Based on what we see in the trailer, it seems very likely that he’s an ally who betrays the rest of the heroes. He travels around with them, but we also see Sonya take him down and Kung Lao deflect the eye laser, so the timeline of events is unclear.

He also gets to take out what appears to be Reptile with his classic heart rip Fatality.

JAX

Mehcad Brooks is Jackson “Jax” Briggs, who unfortunately ran into Sub-Zero during a mission years before the events of the movie. Jax got his arms shattered in that fight, but he tends to lose his arms quite often so no biggie.

As expected, he gets cool metal arms as replacements. He’s shown later in the trailer preparing for his head-clap Fatality against some goon in armor. I give you fifty/fifty odds it’s an established character that nobody likes like Hotaru or Dairou.

SONYA BLADE

Jessica McNamee is Sonya Blade, and while she’s seen guiding Cole a bit early on, she doesn’t appear to do too much else in the trailer. We do see her very briefly fight with Mileena in the final moments in the trailer. In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cut, she appears to blow off a huge chunk of Mileena’s midsection using her laser gauntlets. Nasty.

KUNG LAO

Finally, Kung Lao makes his movie debut and is played by Max Huang. All he does in the trailer is identify himself and deflect Kano’s laser with his hat, and that’s about it.

In the games, Kung Lao is the descendant and reincarnation of the Great Kung Lao who defended Earthrealm in Mortal Kombat until being killed by Goro. He’s Liu Kang’s best friend, but is also jealous that Liu is the hero when the glory really should go to the original hero’s descendant.

GORO

Goro only appears for a second, leaping at an unknown opponent wearing what appears to be gold armor for a shirt. Goro was the initial selling point of Mortal Kombat as the returning champion and penultimate boss. Hopefully, this shot pertains to a real fight in the movie and not, say, a flashback to a tournament from centuries earlier.

MILEENA

Sisi Stringer appears as Mileena, Shao Kahn’s beloved daughter figure, personal assassin, and the deranged clone of Kitana. What’s interesting about her appearance in the trailer is that there’s been no mention of Kitana nor Baraka in this movie. Mileena is a spinoff/hybrid of the two, so seeing her appear on her own is surprising.

Her design is pretty reined in here. Gone is the character’s usual giant piranha mouth.

RAIDEN

Tadanobu Asano is Raiden, who doesn’t do anything other than stand around and look cool. At least we see him staring down Shang Tsung, suggesting that his role isn’t to compete in the tournament,but to mentor the heroes and keep Shang from abusing his authority.

SHANG TSUNG

Chin Han is Shang Tsung, who doesn’t have much going on here either, but we do get confirmation that Sub-Zero and Mileena work for him.

SHAO KAHN

Much like the first Mortal Kombat game, Shao Kahn, the emperor of Outworld, seems to be off the table in this movie. He’ll likely be mentioned or referenced at some point, but it’ll likely be in the form of the statue we see in the trailer.

The statue very closely resembles his Mortal Kombat 11 look. In fact, it’s like he walked straight out of the game…or off the side of your cool uncle’s van.

REPTILE

There are a couple of shots of what appears to be Reptile. Instead of going with the ninja version of the character, the movie depicts him as the two-legged lizard creature from Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.

Not only does he get his heart torn out by Kano, but he’s also turning invisible at one point. Better than the CGI mess from the ’90s at least.

TOURNAMENT LORE

The movie seems to be connecting the wacky birthmark with the existence of the Mortal Kombat tournament, which is odd. What is cool is this painting, which appears to depict the Great Kung Lao after kicking Shang Tsung’s magical ass in the tournament finals.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

They should totally make a live-action TV show about that era, and kill off all the good guys in the final episode before getting cancelled. That would be cool.

Mortal Kombat is out on April 16 on HBO Max.

The post Mortal Kombat Trailer Breakdown and Analysis appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[leupagus]

“No,” Poe repeats, decisive. “Everyone you date turns out to be a spy, or possessed, or something.” from this part to whenever you want to stop :P

I’ll actually start a little earlier: 

“Don’t you like me?” he asks, and he hates how he sounds, hates it.

One of my betas—I think it was spatz—advised me to cut the line I’d originally written for this scene, which was... I can’t even remember now, actually, but I can never read that line without being grateful that she told me to change it. Betas are the best, guys, don’t ever forget it.

“I do,” Luke says, taking both of Poe’s hands and clasping them in his. “I like you tremendously, Poe. You’re a wonderful young man.” He hesitates. “And you are very, very young.”

YES HE IS. I get a fair amount of shit for this moment, and perhaps deservedly so, since the correct thing in this day and age is definitely not to hold hands with the child in your bed offering his virginity to you. But this was a tricky moment that needed to be shown as one where Luke was turning him down, but entirely from Poe’s perspective—with all of his internal biases interpreting Luke’s behavior in the most optimistic way possible.

“I’m sixteen years old,” Poe points out. “I’m not a child anymore.”

lolllllllll

Luke smiles at him. “You’re right.”

And legally, this is true; age of consent on Yavin is 16. But Luke has many, MANY reasons to say no, even if he was attracted to Poe (which, as we see later, at this time he very much was not), and so the legality of the situation has never really been a factor. It was important for me to show that not only will Luke do illegal things that are moral—something he’s shown doing in canon pretty frequently, and are intended to be lauded and praiseworthy—but he also refuses to do perfectly legal things that are, to him, immoral. This is something less flashy, but equally important.

“Then why not?”

I wanted Poe to sound as whiny as possible here and I think I succeeded.

“Would you believe me if I said I was seeing someone?” he asks, like it’s just occurred to him.

It was really fun to write a scene where Luke is trying to lie, because he’s just SO BAD AT IT ALL THE TIME EVERYWHERE. Like, he doesn’t even lie here, he asks if his lie will be believed. Just like... it’s such a good thing he’s an all-powerful Jedi because kid is dumber than rocks. 

“No,” Poe scoffs, before he can stop himself.

Just because 16 is technically of age doesn’t mean he’s not a twerpy teenager still.

Luke looks offended. “I could be.”

I mean, could he though.

“No,” Poe repeats, decisive. “Everyone you date turns out to be a spy, or possessed, or something.”

This is a blatant and gleeful rip-off of the Extended Universe books, which in addition to being of...varying quality, also feature Luke with a looooooooooong string of love interests that are spies, or possessed, or something. There’s one woman from like, a warrior clan, who takes him as her husband because she thinks he’ll breed well or something? I am unclear on the specifics, but Luke seems to fall dick-first into a LOT of shenaniganery in the EU. (Although apparently very little action occurred, which may account for a lot of his attitude tbh.) And from a practical standpoint, the tales of Luke Skywalker, Dating Disaster would definitely be page 6 type gossip, if only amongst academy kids.

“I’ll have you know my last girlfriend was very nice.”

Looking back I can’t remember which on this references—probably not Mara, let’s be real.

Privately, Poe thinks it’s just a matter of time before they find out she was really a Sith lord or an evil goddess. “And the one before that?”

Both women who at one point were positioned as love interests. Just saying.

Now Luke is looking uncomfortable, and he lets go of Poe’s hands to lean back in the chair. “Poe,” he sighs.

This was an important moment for me, even though again it is Tres Problematique and I accept censure for that, but I wanted Luke to forget for a moment that he was the Grown-Up In The Room Saving A Young Man From Poor Choices and treat Poe as a friend again. For me, Poe and Luke’s friendship was always more interesting than their romantic or sexual relationship; despite the age difference, they’re equals in many ways, even now, and I wanted Luke’s exasperation with his friend to temporarily override his sense of duty. Which is a bad thing for a person to do, but an interesting thing for a character to do.

“Luke, I’ve been wanting this since—“

Someday Luke is going to hear the end of that sentence and it’s going to horrify him probably.

Luke lunges forward again to clap his hand over his mouth. “For the sake of your mother’s memory and the fact that somewhere out there, your father is probably having a stroke,” he orders, “Don’t finish that sentence.”

Again, showing Luke as a friend rather than an elder here, despite how much you wouldn’t want this kind of conduct in real life, because along with Luke realizing that Poe has HUGELY different ideas about their relationship, this scene is also permanently changing how they relate to each other.

Poe grins, and bites at Luke’s hand. Luke swears and pulls it away. “You don’t have a girlfriend,” Poe tells him. “Or a boyfriend. Or anybody.” Then the implications of that set in. “So — so why don’t you want to—“

It’s telling that Poe a) only thinks Luke wouldn’t sleep with him if he was seeing someone and b) feels that being in a relationship is a reason not to sleep with someone else. B may sound obvious, but Poe is portrayed a lot in fic as someone who just sleeps around and doesn’t care who’s in a relationship, including him. It’s not the characterization I prefer.

“I really can’t have this conversation with you while you’re naked and in my bed,” Luke announces abruptly. He gets up and goes to his closet, pulling open drawers and throwing clothing over his shoulder at Poe’s face. “Get dressed. How did you even get in here?”

This was meant as a funny moment—certainly I can imagine Luke saying this in a really irritated way—but rereading it, I don’t know how many people actually see the humor in Luke being like “STOP BEING NAKED” at Poe. I have been frequently told that my sense of humor wrt this fic is mega bad.

None of Poe’s friends would appreciate getting involved in this. “I’ve got talents,” he says, and pulls on a soft grey shirt and the worn brown trousers in his lap. He has a sudden pang of longing for the stark all-black getup Luke used to wear, instead of the neutral colors he favors now. The hard-on has mostly gone away — getting slapped by a pair of pants will do that — so he risks looking up to gauge Luke’s reaction.

Poe’s loyalty to his friends is a bedrock part of who he is, so not even Luke could get him to squeal on them. Also of course Poe has something to say about Luke’s fashion choices.

Luke still hasn’t turned around. The line of his back is one long cord under tension, and Poe wonders if he pressed his fingers into the small of his back, softly, if everything in Luke would give way.

This was a fun moment to write, because it’s so clearly unreliable narrator—or just horny narrator—who’s interpreting Luke’s irritation and stress as some kind of secret longing for him. Because of course this asshole thinks he’s irresistible at age 16. Serves him right for falling in love with the only dude in the galaxy who will actually resist him.

But Luke said “Stop,” and so Poe knots his hands behind his back and adds, “I’m dressed. Promise.”

HEY LOOK IT’S POE’S FEELINGS ABOUT CONSENT. With the caveat that of course Poe doesn’t actually have any power in this scene, I wanted to set Poe up as the type who is always about consent, who takes people at their word about boundaries and who tries his best to honor even the unspoken boundaries. Weirdly I’m reminded of the scene where he and Finn fly off of the destroyer and they introduce themselves, and Poe says, “I’m gonna call you finn, is that all right?”