#even jess with the giant height difference

[undermine-the-instinct]

Crowe, youre supposed to make these people look approachable

[perfectprofessorloverapricot]

Small big problem

Pairings: Peter B. Parker x giant spiderman reader (platonic), Mayday x giant spiderman reader (platonic).

Summary: Some times is easy to to forget that even the strongest can be vulnerable.

Warnings: none.

A/n: this is my first time writing straight and purely in English, and it’s freaking hard when it’s not your native language. All my respect for the people that can.

Masterlist

In the spiderverse, a place of infinite possibilities, it’s easy to find every kind of people. Different Spider-Mans with different abilities.

There are different variants like Miguel with his claws and fangs, like Hobby with an always present distinction in his movements typical of his dimension, Jessica with her webs that come out of her fingertips and fights on a motorcycle or Margot with her avatar that has a physical and tangible form. Then there are the common variants like Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. But even then, knowing of the possibilities, it was big shock for Miguel, Jess and Peter B. to land on a dimension were everything was huge. It was even more shocking to find the anomaly they were chasing, being pinned down by the big hand of the universe’s Spiderman.

But surprises don’t end there.

The moment he took off his mask in front of the team, every one was left speechless.

“Sooo…” started Jess.

Finally coming out of his shock, Peter smiles watching a young, smiling and fresh face under the mask. “Yep, a new teammate.”

Y/n rises both his eyebrows in slight confusion when both spider people turned towards the bigger guy among them. Because to him, they were all still small. His always been the tall kid in everything, but he totally feels like a giant in front of 3 people standing on an AC engine to stand shoulder height level with him. Basically, they were like 12 inches action figures to him.

Miguel, on the other hand, wasn’t thrilled to the idea of including another hormonal teenager to the society.

“Absolutely not.” he stated, turning his back on them and start messing with the watch.

Peter was the first to start arguing. “Oh come on. Big guy here-“ he said while pointing with his head at the young giant. “handled the anomaly effortlessly. He could totally be a good asset.”

Jess crossed her arms over her almost unnoticeable baby bump. “I agree with Peter in this.”

Miguel sighted turning around. “No. I already let you two persuade me to let Hobbie, Gwen and Pavrit into the society. I don’t need another teenager.” He said, making hand gestures to make emphasis in his point.

“Umm…” the three adults turned to the young boy when he got their attention. “If I may ask. What is this team you are talking about?”

Miguel opened his mouth under his mask to answer but was beaten by Peter. “It’s supper cool. You’re gonna love it kid. We are part of a society that reunites variants of Spiderman from different universes to protect the multiverse.”

“Wait, so- the theory of multiverses is real?” Asked the young one.

Peter, being the science nerd he is, started to explain. “Yeah. Miguel-“ he said, pointing at the líder of the group. “-our boss, leads mostly everything in there. He’s the only Spiderman that’s not funny, but everyone else is, so don’t worry. And it’s incredible to work with the other variants. Entertaining. But you should-“

“It’s not supposed to be fun or entertaining.” Interrupted Miguel with his authoritative voice. “This is serious. The multiverse is under our protection-“

“Ugh, and there you go again.” Complained Peter like a kid. “Killjoy. You keep repeating and repeating the same thing…”

While Peter and Miguel kept discussing the matter at hand like a married couple, Jessica and Y/n shared some glances between them. The younger asking ‘Is this normal?’ with his eyes, to which she replied ‘you have no idea’ with her own look.

Kind of feeling guilty for causing the discussion, Y/n tried to fix it. “It’s not necessary. Besides, I don’t think it would work.” He talked again, gaining the attention of the team. “You seem pretty surprised by my size. Which makes me think that the rest of the dimensions are on a smaller scale. It’ll be difficult or strange for the people in those dimensions to suddenly see a big Spiderman”

Peter turned to Miguel and threw him a bad look. “And now you made him feel bad.”

Miguel made his mask disappear just so Peter could see his offended expression. He can’t be serious, right?

Jess and Y/n felt the need to face palm so hard in that moment.

Long story short, Miguel ended up giving in and accepted the young Spiderman in the society.

The first days were something.

Most were intimidated merely by his height, that is until they all saw the friendly face under the mask when he took it off. But a special gang was the most interested in the newbie. Hobie, Pav and Gwen. The same teenagers Miguel was complaining about. He could understand why, the gang has too much energy for the poor man to handle. That’s why he has taken in to his own hands, the task to entertain the group whenever they are in his office.

Partly he does it so he doesn’t get in Miguel’s bad side and on the other hand, he wants to help the boss whose hate for life seems to grow every passing day.

Other than being busy with the gang, everything else was going perfectly fine.

He was called on difficult missions with Miguel, Jess and Peter B. after checking that the mission site is spacious enough for him to move. Or even leading his own missions with Gwen, Pav and Hobie. The last one was the hardest to convince to follow instructions, but he found a way to convince him to do what he wants without him even noticing, at least not until it was already done. Reverse psychology is what worked the most.

Until there was a problem. Hobie and Gwen were called to move a doc Oc anomaly to another universe in order to fight without causing damage to the surroundings. But they didn’t expect for the anomaly to have such an advanced technology so they called for back up, aka, Y/n.

But they forgot to mention a small detail.

The anomaly was in Lego Spider-Man’s dimension.

Y/n had such a heart attack when he came flying out of the portal and instantly had to calculate the landing to avoid destroying everything.

It was inevitable.

His foot alone covered the whole street.

Back up for the back up was needed, and seconds later Jess and spider byte appeared taking care of the situation.

But poor Y/n still was left with the horrified faces of the citizens in his mind. He doesn’t know how many bit the dust because of his mistake because there were to many casualties caused by the anomalies attack. It was a miracle that Lego Spider-Man’s dimension didn’t disappear.

Gwen and Hobie were scolded for how careless they were in their decision making once they returned.

Y/n didn’t leave his own dimension for a week with Miguel’s permission to stay out of missions until further notice.

It took the whole gang and spider Lego himself to convince him to go back to the HQ.

It was hilarious for him to see the relieved face of Miguel when he again was in charge of the teenagers. Poor man felt like he was one step away from strangling them all.

It took some time and encouragement from those who care about him but everything went back to normal. Dealing with anomalies and protecting tiny people, training with different variants of Spider-Mans that were brave, confident or stupid enough to face him, and last, the most fun thing to do is invite the gang to his universe just to see them mess around with things bigger than them. His locked screen picture is a selfie he took with them holding or eating a slice of pizza half their size.

But just like with any normal human being, there are good days and bad days. Just like the present.

Y/n dedicated himself to roam in the halls of the HQ trying to clear his mind of his thoughts while he waited for a call from any Spiderman in need of back up.

There has been some things troubling him at home. The need of silence and time brought him to the training zone.

Due to the busy day, most of the spider variants are out, dealing with things in their own dimension or chasing anomalies. That left the HQ almost empty, even the training zone.

He went to the machine that simulates carrying to trains and sat down letting his feet dangle from the edge.

Many would think that being Spiderman means not having to deal with common problems. That everything is about villains and training with cool super powers. But they forget that under the mask, there’s a normal teenager with normal problems.

But still problems.

“There you are.”

Y/n flinched in his place when he heard the voice so close behind him. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice he wasn’t alone anymore.

When he turned he found Peter B. walking towards him with his always smiling baby attached to his chest.

“It’s unusual to not see you with the teenage gang during missions.” Said Peter watching his daughter impatiently kicking her legs. His smile faltered when he didn’t recibe an answer from the young giant. He looked up encountering Y/n staring at his baby with an unreadable look. Not in a bad way but still worrying. “You okay kid?”

Y/n was startled out of his thoughts. He looked away and fiddled his fingers, putting a smile in his face that didn’t reach his ears. “Yeah, yeah. Just- you know… thinking.” Said the teenage with some insecurity. “The usual.”

Peter rises an brow at the down attitude. That is totally not the usual.

Normally, whenever the giant boy sees Mayday or Jess swollen belly there’s instantly a smile in his face. But today doesn’t seem like the case.

“Hey, everything okay?” Asked the father. “Because that doesn’t sound like the usual.”

He saw Y/n’s shoulders tense up when he was caught and he didn’t like it. That meant that something is bothering him.

In a silent message that he is not leaving, Peter sat down beside the boy, looking at the hyperactive Mayday to avoid putting pressure on the teenage.

“Wanna talk about it?”

Y/n visibly deflated at those words, letting out a sigh. “It’s just-“ the words got stuck in his throat, unable the let them out. “No, forget it. It’s something stupid.” Dejectedly, he placed his elbows on his knees.

Peter put a hand on the boys side, in a reassuring way. It was the only place he could reach. “If it’s bordering you I doubt it’s stupid.”

Both of the males turned to look at Mayday when she stared fussing in the carrier. Her little hands swaying in the boys direction.

“Oh look. Little Parker here noticed that someone is sad.” Said Peter while taking his baby out of the carrier. He bounce her up and down, managing to get a laugh out of her. Instantly, better than a charm, there was a smile in Y/n’s face. But just like before, his smile slipped of his lips, returning to that indecipherable look.

Suddenly a lightbulb light up in Peters head. He stood up with Mayday in his hands and held her in front of him. “Hold her.” He said.

The sudden request startled the big guy, making him jump in his place and lean away from Peter. “What?”.

“Hold her.” He said again, bringing her nearer.

“I-I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Oh come one. It’s rejuvenating.” Y/n shifted a little to the side when Peter walked closer.

“N-No. I’m serious. It’s not a good-“

“Here” in a swift movement, Peter put his baby in the teenager’s arm. Mayday’s spider ability did the rest. She stuck to Y/n’s spider suit.

The poor giant froze in his place, he even stoped breathing in fear of blowing her away or something like that.

He may like the baby, but he’s never hold a baby, much less one this small. He is truly terrified that he’ll hurt her. She is just so small.

Both males’ attention was on the baby that stared crawling with curiosity in the new surface. She looked happy to be freed of her fathers baby prison in his chest.

Y/n, instinctively put a big hand under the baby, in case she fell, finally letting out a breath.

When she actually let herself fall and land on her back on the hand, y/n had a mini heart attack. But ultimately let a sigh of relief when she let out a giggle.

To be more comfortable, y/n brought Mayday in front of him and put his free hand below the other just in case.

Peter felt accomplished when he saw that smile in the young one’s face again. “See? Everything’s okay.”

Y/n’s smile widened when Mayday grabbed his thumb and hug it like one of her plushies. She truly is adorable. With her fluffy and curly red hair she looks like a little peach in the palm of his hand. A small baby of the size of his middle finger.

“I’m going to be a big brother.” Blurted out suddenly the teenage.

Peter blinked a few times at the declaration before finally processing. “Congratulations kid. That’s cool. Your gonna be a big sibling.” Said the man, rising his hands in celebration.

The big smile in his face waved when he saw that expression in the teenage’s faces.

“Or not?” He said a little bit unsure.

Y/n kept looking at the baby hugging and chewing his thumb. Always making eye contact with her. “It is good.” He brought his free hand closer to the other, tickling her soft chubby tummy, earning a squeal from her. “It’s the almost inexistente relationship between my mother and I that worries me.” He finally confessed.

It may have been only a few words, but the relief that brought him was evident in the way his shoulders slumped. Finally he could talk about it.

Understanding the seriousness of the situation, Peter took a seat beside the young giant in a silent sigh that he is paying attention.

“When my father died, we unconsciously stared to distance ourselves from each other. And when we realized what was happening we tried to fix it but…” Y/n physically grimace at the memories. “It was so painfully awkward between us.”

Peter’s eyes softened when the teenager took one hand of his daughter between his thumb and index. Softly caressing the chubby palm.

“And then there’s Tom.” The adult gave him a questioning look, not knowing who is Tom. “He… is my stepfather.” The teenager clarified.

“Is he a bad person?” Asked Peter a little confused why it seems like something is happening.

“No, actually no. Totally the opposite.” Y/n sighed again. “He is a good guy. He loves my mother, makes her happy and everything.”

Mayday grabbed the index that kept her arm trapped, as a way of revenge. She wrapped her arms and legs around the finger before it was lifted.

The adorable baby giggle when she was moved up and down, always keeping a hand below her for protection. The sight brought a smile to the faces on those present.

“In short, he is good for her. But he trays way too hard to be on my good side to the point it becomes really uncomfortable. And now with the baby…” At last, after everything being said, he turned to look at Peter.

The adult didn’t need the teen to finish the sentence to understand what he meant. “You fear that gap between you will only widen.”

Y/n nodded.

Peter’s gaze softened at the simple yet complicated problem. He’s had a few of those and there’s always a way to clear it.

“Look kid. Let me tell you something” Said Peter, putting a hand in Y/n’s elbow again. “I may not know your mother, but if there’s something being a father and married has thought me…”

As if knowing what her father is saying, Mayday squealed while attaching a web in Y/n’s finger to let herself dangle between his hands.

“Is that, a parent’s love knows no limits.”

Y/n nodded understanding. It was right, after what happened with his father the same year he became Spiderman, his mother became a single mother who worked overtime just to pay the bills.

She could have just sent him to an orphanage or call social services. But she didn’t. She fought to give him a good future.

“But you should talk to her.” Said Peter again catching his flying baby when she swung to her father’s arms, startling the poor boy. “We know our kids more than anyone else. But we still can’t read minds.” Concluded the father.

Simple words with a heavy bust of confidence were delivered.

Y/n let out a chuckle. He couldn’t believe it. The goofiest spider dad he has ever met actually made him feel better.

“Thanks. That actually helped.” He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with air and straightening his back.

“By the way.” Started Peter again. “You held Mayday without her making a fuss. Have you considered being a babysitter?” The ridiculously out of the blue question with his serious face made Y/n snort and shake his head. “No, I’m serious. Mayday loves you and MJ and I have been planning to go on a date for months but there’s no one we trust enough you know. With her having super powers and all.” Quickly explained Peter while bouncing his baby.

Y/n rolled his eyes with a smile. “I’ll think about it Peter. But no promises.”

In celebration, Peter threw May in the air. “Yes.” He caught the squealing baby.

“If that is the case, I’ll totally have to make an appointment beforehand.” Said a feminine voice behind them.

They turned finding the very pregnant spider woman of the society.

“Why did I suddenly became a babysitter material?” Asked the teenager in fake annoyance.

Jess smiled up at him. “You always were. With babysitting the young spider gang and everything. You’ll just babysit a real baby this time.” She said with obviousness in her voice.

Y/n nodded his head, accepting his reality.

Peter turned to Jessica, standing up with Mayday finally in the carrier again. “What are you doing here? I thought you were in stand by ordered by Miguel.”

“Miguel needs a hand in the mission. Three pairs of hands to be exact.” She clarified while starting to introduce the coordinates in her watch.

“What? Is the boss getting his butt kicked?” Joked Y/n standing up.

“Seems so. Let’s move.” Ordered the woman.

After the portal big enough for them was opened, the three were launched through the multiverse.

Y/n doesn’t know how it feels to be normal and thinking civil problems are the biggest weight his shoulders could ever carry.

But he does know that being Spiderman is something he would never give up.

He could never give this awesome people in the society up.

He would give his life first.

100%

[blog-reflection]

ONE / Nineteen - Security Breach

Why do they even have that Ticket?

James: Jesse you can’t be serious can you? This was meant to be a surprise and now? This is totally not how I imagined that would work. Honestly…. Jesse: James How the fuck was I suppost to know? James: You were not, how could you, how should you? It was a surprise. For all the work. As a thank you and last time to spend with my best pal. Lucia: I don’t want to interrupt anything but, like, we can still go there. Why make this scene James, it's pointless you know that. Yeah your plan didn’t work, oh what wonder. Let’s get there and party like it’s the last night we have. Drinks, music, food all on me!. Common bitches lets move it!

Lucia is right, there is no need for a fight. Sure that would’ve been a great surprise but hey. Though, I still wonder how the heck Jesse got one of those. Both of us got dressed in our fancy glittery fits before going to the bus. I will admit, our outfits look different. In other words, we catched many eyes. Jesse and I in some dark purple shimmering outfits and Lucia with bright orange and pink colours and this giant feather boa. We kind of look like Lucia is our pimp and we’re just some toys to waddle around her. I mean, it’s more odd considering that Jesse and Lucia are almost the same height but sure. It didn’t take long and all three of us arrived at the nearest station to the club. I don’t think anyone would be able to miss the club. It’s the biggest building in miles, lights everywhere and a giant garden. They really didn’t lie when they said it used to be an opera house. People. Everywhere you’d looked there have been people. Some in groups, some alone but everyone was chilling. And, to my surprise, the three of us haven’t been overdressed at all. Most of the people wore some sparkle stuff, which was nice, but also many wherethere in casual stuff. I have never seen such a diverse place in terms of looks. But my mood got bad when I noticed the line. A never ending line in front of the club filled with people of any shape and colour. 

Jesse: Oh gosh, we will stay in line for like, forever. I did not know that a club with that name would be so much of a hype to be honest. Lucia: Oh my god, are you. Nevermind. Look, we have me, and you for some stance, just follow me.

We followed Lucia on the way to the bouncer. Typical one. A big and chunky man with lots of muscles in a suit and sunglasses. Kinda scary if I might add. Lucia made eye contact, swung the golden ticket in front of them, and then pointed towards us. The bouncer moved aside and within five steps all of us were inside. The interior is much bigger than the outside would tell. There is a massive glass dome in the middle as well as bars, people and music everywhere. Like in the city, they have signs pointing to the variety of locations and music styles. Not gonna lie, standing here feels surreal

Lucia: NOW WHO’S READY TO PARTYYYYYYYYY

With a graceful walk Lucia strutted down the entry line directly towards the bar, again fiddling around with her ticket and whispered something that I did not understand.

Lucia: Here ya go bitches, have a drink. Jesse: What exactly is that? Lucia: Ugh booooring. Just drink it already. I promise this will boost you sooo much. James: You know what, fuck do I care. Give me that glass. Lucia: Here ya go. Don’t spill it.

It didn’t take long for us at all to adapt to our current location. Lucia and Jesse danced at the middle of the stage in the most erotic way friends can dance together while still booking like casual friends. I for myself am not so good with dancing, so I just looked around and got familiar with the club itself. I walked up the stairs into the second floor where I spotted, yet again, three different dance floors as well as up to seven individual bars. I still can’t really believe that I am in this massive thing but, I will not be the one crying about the most awesome night I have. Maybe it doesn't come across like that, but I really love tonight. I know I may not be dancing as much as you expect people to do, especially in a club, but I noticed that I get my happiness from seeing other people's happiness. I got to the bar and got another drink, though I noticed that without the ticket I kinda have to actually pay for that stuff. Ugh it’ll be fine. I grabbed the drink, paid the bartender and braced myself along the railing, looking down the dome onto the main dance floor. I do say, it’s great to see Jesse and Lucia together. They have a vibe I could’ve never imagined for them. Sexual but also close, same kind of drugs, you name it. It was then when I noticed that Lucia was only left in her hotpants and bikini top and Jesse with, ehm, I think that’s part of Lucias outfit they have covered their private part with. Well I couldn’t care less. That's just them and to be fair they do have the body to show it. 

I looked around. Behind me was the floor seven, which provided more of a synthwave music kind of style. Left to me was the kpop corner that’s been blasting the newest songs of Korea nonstop and on my right I can see the smoky hip hop area. They are partly on the balcony so the smoke actually runs out of the Club. And of course, people. Every single floor is filled to the prime with people. It’s not stuffy, there is still enough space to walk around. Across me was the big glass door that led to the balcony. The door was open, and you could see the garden. I decided to move and swung my hibs around till I arrived on the opposite side of where I was. Ah finally, fresh air. I stood in the middle of the balcony, breases to my left and right side like I’d be ready to take off. I haven’t felt like that in such a long time, the feeling of being free, being happy, being … me. I noticed small tears on my cheek before I carefully brushed them off. I again looked around the garden. It’s a giant garden with a massive tree in the middle. Some people were smoking, others just standing by them. Some people were making out in the bushes alongside the walkways. I do think those are rose bushes so happy sexy time for them. The only calm thing was the river behind the garden. As I said, this thing is massive. And even though there are my types of music, the outside is pretty much sound proof. The only thing I hear is the Hip hop music on the side. Life’s truly magical sometimes.

Huh? Who’s that? I just noticed a dark figure, like a shadow on the other side of the balcony, starting to glance towards me. I don’t know how long they’ve been standing there but it kind of creeps the heck out of me. I turned back inside only to look back at the garden. That’s when my phone started to ring.

Discord call 

Jesse: THE FUCK WHERE ARE YOU? ARE YOU OKAY?!? James: Jesus, you don’t have to scream. I’m one floor higher on the balcony. Jesse: ARE YOU OKAY??? THERE HAVE BEEN PE- WH-. [...] YOU KNOW? James: Yeah I’m fine, just some creep staring at me. Stay where you’re at. I am on my way. Jesse: JAMES NO

I closed my phone. Bet Lucia and Jesse had a blast, if Jesse has a moof like that. I walked  towards the stairs to go down, slowly ensuring that the person wasn't watching anymore. I don’t know who that was but I’m sure it’ll be fine. When I came down I saw people, like many people. More people than ever. I spotted Jesse and Lucia and ran towards them.

James: Jesus what happened? Lucia: Apparently there has been a security breach. Hundert of people were flooding the dancefloors within seconds. The bouncer tried to defend the club but with no chance at all. Jesse: Don’t call them people, those are addicts. The Beast and Prey has a strict no drug besides alcohol rule, that’s why the bouncers are that aggressive sometimes. The guys in here are selling drugs to everyone, just sticking them in their pockets, robbing people, you name it. Lucia: I think we should leave. James: Yeah you’re right, seems like all hell broke loose.

As we exited the club, we noticed a variety of people chucking stuff towards us, not only us, but everyone who is getting out of the club. Bouncers were storming the club non stop trying to pull people out of there. In the sure distanz you were able to hear the sound of the police. I just hope everyone is save and sound, however, maybe that creep who stalked me was one of them? How could it be that I got to know nothing of what was going on downstairs? Guess I’ll never figure that out I don’t need to though.

All three of us arrived around Midnight. To my surprise, Sarah was still up. Of course the news made a fast circle so she asked us if everything was fine. After checking all our pockets we decided to call it a day. Lucia wanted to go home but I convinced her that that is not a good idea. Luckily, she agreed and stayed over the night. Tomorrow will be our last day together. After that day it is me, and me only. 

I can’t wait for that               

[pitchperfectinspace]

Pitch Perfect in Space: Eversong: Final Round

Luna reappears, on top of a giant golden speaker. She is holding the Baby. Luna explains that the Eversong cult has reconstructed the ancient weapon: The Eversong Nexus.

The Bellas stand frozen in shock as they stare at the massive golden weapon towering above them. Luna cackles with delight as she cradles the Baby in her arms.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the final round of the Galactic Federation Singing Competition!" she exclaims. "We've been waiting for this moment for a long time. The Eversong Nexus is complete, and the Baby is the final piece we need to activate it."

The Bellas exchange worried glances as Luna continues her speech.

"With this weapon, we will have the power to rule the galaxy and control the minds of everyone. The competition is no longer about singing, it's about survival."

Fat Amy steps forward, clutching the Chordinox tightly in her hand. "We won't let you get away with this, Luna."

Luna sneers down at her. "Ha! You and what army?"

The Bellas square their shoulders and stand ready to fight. Beca steps forward, a determined look on her face. "We may not have an army, but we have each other."

The Eversong cult members surround the Bellas, weapons at the ready. The Bellas take a deep breath and prepare to engage in a final showdown. The fate of the galaxy rests in their hands.

===

The stage is electric with energy as the Bellas and the Eversong cult begin to sing. The music is intense, each voice competing against the other. The crowd is cheering, the judges are mesmerized, and the atmosphere is charged with anticipation.

Aubrey stands on the stage, surrounded by the other Bellas as they sing with all their might. She can feel the energy coursing through her body, and it's unlike anything she's ever experienced before. She feels strong, powerful, and confident.

Suddenly, she realizes why she feels so different. Her eyes widen as she remembers the conversation she had with Jesse earlier, about his love for her. It hits her like a ton of bricks - she loves Jesse too.

She stops singing for a moment, her gaze fixed on Jesse as he fights off the members of the Eversong cult. She can see the love and determination in his eyes, and it only fuels her own.

Aubrey closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, and when she opens them again, she feels different. Her voice is stronger, her presence on stage is more commanding, and her eyes are glowing.

She sings with everything she has, and she feels like nothing can stop her.

The other Bellas look at her in awe, and they can feel the energy radiating from her. They know that this is what true love can do, and they all sing even harder.

Aubrey's eyes never leave Jesse's as she sings, and she knows that she has found her purpose. She will always fight for love, and she will always fight for Jesse.

Jesse is standing in front of the Bellas, protecting them from the Eversong cult. Suddenly, a stray blaster bolt comes flying towards him. Just as it's about to hit him, Aubrey steps forward and raises her hand. A blast of Potential Singing Energy shoots out from her hand, deflecting the bolt and saving Jesse.

Aubrey turns to Jesse and gives him a quick kiss. "I love you," she says.

Jesse smiles back at her, "I love you too."

Beca sings with every ounce of emotion she can muster, her voice ringing out over the stage. She feels like she is on fire, fueled by a deep and intense love for Chloe. She sings the lyrics of "Flashlight Reborn" with a newfound passion, her voice rising to new heights.

As she sings, she locks eyes with Chloe, who is singing next to her. The connection between them is electric, and Beca can feel the energy of their love fueling her performance. They sing together as one, their voices harmonizing and blending together in perfect unity.

The crowd is stunned by their performance, and the judges are left in awe. Beca can feel the power of their love coursing through her veins, and she knows that they have just won the competition.

As they finish the song, Beca and Chloe embrace, their hearts beating as one. They are filled with a deep and abiding love for each other, and they know that they will always have each other's backs, no matter what. The crowd cheers, and the Bellas have secured their place as the greatest singing group in the galaxy.

Click here to see all currently posted chapters of Pitch Perfect in Space: Eversong!

[cookiesupplier]

It was the first time that she’d ever celebrated thanksgiving, and honestly, she had absolutely no idea what she was doing, and sometimes she wasn’t sure half the boys in the house knew either. Or maybe they did. They grew up with the Holiday, but they also grew up with their parents in charge, and none of them had their parents here now. Walking through the house, the utter chaos in that kitchen, everyone trying to cook their special dish for thanksgiving dinner tonight, was utter insanity.

Even Noah. Her not-so-little Perfectionist. Okay, her bloody giant perfectionist to be honest, what did they feed him when he was growing up! She was a tiny five foot two nothing and he was.. Never mind.

That man, she loved him, why else would she have flown all the way here, risking life and limb, well, sort of, to travel to a different country during the holidays?

Now, he usually wanted everything to be perfectly clean and tidy, so she knew seeing the kitchen to be in such complete insanity, had to be setting him into a spin right now, there were people everywhere through the house, and everything was everywhere.

It wasn’t like a party, it was just simple chaos. Nothing else. No other way to explain it.

As another timer go off and Jesse rushed in to check something in the oven she spied Noah get that twitchy look, and she smiled. Alright, okay. Enough of that.

“Come on you.”

Reaching for his hand, she took it, her fingers wrapping up with his.

“Can we go for a walk? I could use a break.”

“But th-”

“Just five minutes, please?”

She saw his eyes soften then. Those brown eyes meeting hers, and she could melt every time. When he was on stage this man was a fucking force to be reckoned with. There wasn’t a bone in her body that wondered why other women in the world wouldn’t strip naked for him and offer their entire being to him in every fucking way when he stood up on that stage. The presence he had.. fuck..

But when he looked at her the way he was now?

All softness, like he’d wrap those muscular arms around her and keep the world out, never letting go.

Yea, no. Nothing could compare to that.

“Okay, Baby.”

Walking towards the back of the house hand in hand, and stepping out onto the back porch with a sigh, Noah wrapped his arms around her shoulders just like she’d just been imaging not moments ago.

“Feeling better?

“I wasn-”

She just giggled softly, not even really needing to cut him off with any words at all for him to stop at the sound, and the soft sigh to come from him. She wondered sometimes how he was able to last as long as he did living with so many people in the house, then again, with touring, she supposed, they usually weren’t here all at once often. How did he survive tour buses! Organized chaos.

No one inside was really going by his organizational skills right now. Well, aside from Jolly.

Smiling at the feeling of his lips pressing gently against her temple lightly.

“You should move here and save me for good from all this insanity Baby.”

Turning in his arms and looking up to him, her arms wrapping around his waist.

There was a reason this was her first Thanksgiving, and living in two different countries made spending time together difficult enough sometimes worse with his tour schedule. Peaceful times like this, they grabbed whenever they could, which is why when she had gotten the chance to be here, she had taken it without question, even if it had meant sacrificing her holidays with her family this year. She was just spending it with a different type of family.

Her lips curled into a smile. It was dangerous to think about, she didn’t have any family or friends here aside from Noah’s and he toured most of the year.. But she loved him.

“I like that idea.”

Raising herself up onto her toes to lean up to bring her lips to his as he leaned to kiss her, oh yes, with more than a foot difference in height between them, they both had to lean here. Smiling against his lips now..

“Lets go inside and check on the casserole before it burns, Mmkay?”

Everyone was making at least one dish for the big dinner they were having, and they were actually making a casserole from y/n’s home, and throwing all the guys under the bus when they realized that there wasn’t even remotely anything thanksgiving about it. They hadn’t told any of them about it, all they was it was that she had wanted to make them something special. She suspected that Nicholas had figured it out with the small smile when he was checking his pecan pie.

“I should start heating up the bread rolls too.. They’ll get feral if they don’t get their bread rolls.”

She chuckled as she pressed her lips to his again, letting the kiss linger as long as she could not wanting to move away from him.. They’d talk about the idea of her moving properly later, when they weren’t all stressed and dealing with the insanity of the holiday, but she really liked the idea. All she could hope for was more time with her boyfriend, waking up wrapped up in his arms when he wasn’t off touring the world as a famous rockstar.

If you are still taking requests, since Thanksgiving is coming up, I would love to see a Thanksgiving one shot where the band and reader have Thanksgiving together. The reader and Noah could be all cute with each other while they prepare the different foods.

SO, I have an idea, I do, but I am going to admit I am not american, not even remotely close, and never experienced an american thankgiving lol.

All my experience is media related. SO, in saying that, would you like this idea from an outsider aka, reader potentially a foreigner themselves perspective?

[slashersins]

so i posted this little thing about getting abandoned in a cemetery . and it’s fuck up and all . but i was thinking after i wrote it that it’d be the ( almost ) perfect way to meet one of the slashers . here me out , 

so you’re a thirteen year old kid who’s been abandoned by a group of people at an old cemetery . that’s already the start of some horror movie . but like . . . fuck just . . . 

think of young and up and coming snuff film maker jesse cromeans . he’s out in some back water town looking for easy prey . maybe he’s already in the process of making a little movie . chasing some piggy into dense woods he’s previously scoped out . he gets creative . he makes sure her screams are the loudest when thunder rumbles and booms out shaking the earth . he’s bloodied , his little piggy all dead . and now he just needs to get rid of the body . easy enough , he knows there’s an old cemetery near by . but when he shows up there’s just . . . this kid . a kid who isn’t supposed to be in this place , especially not this late at night and especially not when it’s storming . and jesse is observant . he sees how you sob and shake and desperately try to open the gate , he sees how it’s been bent to stick in place , and he knows you didn’t do that yourself . some part of him feel for you . but he doesn’t approach . the corpse forgotten by the outer egde . 

he waits , seeing if someone will come to get you but after fifteen minutes pass no one shows up . so he moves closer . soon he’s on the outside of the gate . and you’re looking up with puffy red eyes and fear . jesse knows he’s intimidating with his height and mask , he knows you’re scared . so he’s slow with his movements . carefully undoing the makeshift lock and letting the gate fall open . he expects you to run , but you stay in the mud , sniffling as you stare up . he stays with you , keeping lookout for someone who might be coming for you , making choices of whether to just get his car and take you to some gas station so you can have help finding your way home . of leaving you here alone . but the way you looked at him tells him that you need him with you . so he stays until he hears the sound of a car and sees the shine of headlights . he’s gone but watching , making sure you’re inside the car before he’s taking the corpse he’d left outside the gate and goes back into the wood . waiting for a clearing so he can dump the body and leave . 

maybe a few years later . maybe a lot of years later , you’re working at some coffee shop or something , and a tall man walks in , ordering his coffee on his electronic text to talk . you smile up and tell him it’ll be a few minutes .and something about your face tugs at him . it brings up an old memory . be blinks down at you , watching you , his eyes glance to your name tag , memorizing it for later . you make his coffee , serve him , all with a smile . all while jesse has been googling you , searching , looking at old pictures and his suspicions are proven true . you’re the kid who was abandoned . all grown up . he’s curious . wondering about you . and maybe , just maybe he’ll stop by the coffee shop again . he remembers you , but to you remember him ?

or or or or or , this take !

same situation . but this time it’s painfully close to the land that surrounds camp crystal lake . you’re supposed to be in the near by town on vacation with your dad . you’re still taken and cruelly left alone in a cemetery . but even more lost as you don’t know anything about this area . you’re panicked , so fucking scared . more than likely your step sister and her friends going to fuck around on camp crystal lake . you don’t notice the lumbering undead giant watching you . you’re technically on his land , which means he has every right to kill you . but something about the way you cry and sob and desperately claw and shove at the gate reminds him so much of drowning . feeling abandoned and alone . 

he isn’t sure what to do , but he won’t let you suffer . not like he had . so he moves , slowly and quietly . you don’t notice him until lighting hits and you look terrified as he raises his machete . it breaks his heart to know that you’re terrified of him , that he’s causing you so much fear . but he swings his blade down , breaking the gate for you . he opens it , and takes off his ratty jacket and puts it over your shoulders . offers you his hand . you’re panting and scared , slowly reaching out for his hand . then the bells ring . someone’s on his land . 

he makes a motion for you to stay there and then heads towards camp . he finds two boys and two girls , drunk and laughing . he’s stalking forward , ready to end their lives when one of them mentions a kid they left at the cemetery . it makes jason want to kill them more , but he pauses . if he kills these teenagers then it’s likely you wont have a way home . you’re already cold and soaked to the bone and suffering . so instead of murder jason decides he will scare them off . it’s the first time he’s let anyone drive off his property . but no sooner are they in the car does jason take off towards you . he wants to make sure they get to you , that they don’t forget you . 

he’s satisfied that the teens show up , screaming at you to get into the car . he sees how you looks back , searching for something , searching for him , hands holding his jacket tightly around you . he supposes , that just this once it would be fine . so long as he could help someone in a way he never was . 

year later when the bells rings again , like the always have and always will , he goes to inspect . he doesn’t see a group . just one . it will be easy and quick . he watches , waiting for the right moment when they see the intruder pull out an old ratty jacket that looks familiar . 

you smile down at it , brushing your finger tips over the worn fabric as you look around the camp . you don’t really remember if the man had been real not . but you had proof . didn’t you ? 

memories flood jason as he sees your face , and remembers the small shaking child that made his chest clench . he can’t stop his feet as he walks forward , looming over you , gazing down . you jump slightly , started as you stare up at a familiar face . but your shock turns to awe and excitement . a gentle joy on your features . you take the jacket and hold it up in offering . you never got to tell him thank you . and now you could .

BUT THEN THERE’S THIS ?

bubba being out and causing a ruckus with his brothers . they’re young and silly , bubba not yet wearing the face of someone else but a full face thin leather mask that fits awkwardly and has his hair pointing out in all directions . 

he hears your cries through the storm . he’d been on his way back to his house with nubbins and chop top . but he’s pulled towards the noises of distress , some of his own filling the night air . he stumbles through trees and mud to find the place where these sounds come from . he’s even more worried when he sees you there . trapped and almost caged like a farm animal  but you’re just a kid , younger than he is . his inner mother hen comes out , rushing towards you babbling and squealing , trying to convey that it’s all okay . 

his normal skittishness is gone as he forces open the gate . getting on his knees and tilting his head , babbling at you curiously , trying to calm your sobs . you’re barely able too . and he sneaks up closer , making a soft noise . it’s gonna be okay , he might be able to do much but he’ll help . somehow it calms you and you scoot up , closer , cold and feeding off of the stranger’s warmth . 

bubba makes a quick decision to take your hand . he’ll walk you to dratyon’s gas station . it’s warm there . you let him guide you , stumbling a bit , but bubba never lets go of your hand . dratyon’s pissed when bubba shows up , starting to yell until his attention is taken by you shaking and soaked and muddy and all sobbed out . now he’s cursing for a different reason . blankets and a warm drink are given as bubba fusses over you and whines and whimpers . he’s angry . he’s worried . you looked so lost and scared . 

your step sister and her friends show up , frantic , asking if drayton has seen any kids come in or - he points to you . and they sigh in relief . they take you home , bubba hovering . you manage to get out a thank you before your shoved into the car .

it’s been a few years since you been this far out . here to visit your dad . when you pass a familiar gas station , it makes you pause . so you turn the truck around and walk inside .the old man behind the counter hasn’t seemed to change much over the years . and you wave and smile , asking if he remembers the girl who came in late one night worse for wear . he barks out a laugh that he does , and asks if you’re that girl . you smile and nod . then you ask about the older kid who’d helped you . and drayton pauses , thinking to himself . he admits that it’s been his youngest brother . and asks if you’d like to come over for dinner to see him . you beam and nod your head yes . it’s be nice to see him again . 

[emersonfreepress]

New Year's Eve 2000 @ the Emersons'

"Is he here? Have you seen him?!"

The laughter in Heidi's clique fades abruptly and the queen herself scowls at her brother for his interruption.

"Seen who?" Jessie asks in such a sweet tone Heidi's forced to wipe that sneer off her face. Good ol' Jess. Curt can always count on her to diffuse the H-bomb before it even gets going.

"Gabe." Curt does another cursory glance around the room and still doesn't see him. Then he checks his watch and groans. "It's like five minutes to midnight, where the hell is he??"

"I'm pretty sure he isn't coming," Madison says. She crosses her legs and looks up for a second in contemplation. "Is he even in town still?"

"What do you need him for?" Brooke whines with a pout and a subtle toss of blonde hair. "Come sit with us, the countdown's starting soon."

"Brooke," Curt starts. "You're beautiful."

Brooke quits pouting and preens under the unexpected compliment, batting her lashes with a small smile. "Curtis..."

"But I see you all the time."

She deflates just as quickly.

"Cortés said he would be here, he wouldn't just..."

The girls all stare at him. Madison fails to hold back a laugh.

"Oh." Madison covers her mouth slightly. "Sorry."

"He wouldn't just lie to you?" Heidi asks, voice dripping with sarcasm. Her eyes add, 'Are you stupid?'

Curt just groans again and walks away. He can't explain himself to them. Jessie might know what he's talking about but he's only got four minutes left to find Gabe and he's already got his answer: they haven't seen him.

Is it possible he really didn't show? Curt doesn't know how to feel about that. He's not an idiot, that was sort of what he expected. Gabe has skipped the holidays in Emerson for two years straight and it was pure dumb luck that Curt even spotted him at all downtown last weekend. He didn’t seem all that different, busy as ever somehow, but he'd at least had enough time for Curt to invite him to his parents' New Year's Eve bash and to give a polite yes.

Curt sighs. Maybe that was the sign. The politeness. Since when has Gabe ever been polite to him?

It's only ever hostile neutrality or whining with that guy...

Three minutes.

Curt is being stopped by a former classmate/future nobody or some family acquaintance every few seconds now. Even if Gabe is here, there's no way he's going to find him before the clock strikes twelve. Sighing forlornly, he decides to make his way back to Heidi and her friends. At least Brooke is reliable for a kiss.

- - -

"Oh!" Jessie beams and jumps up from her seat. "There you are!"

Gabe gives her half a genuine smile before settling into a more careful one for Heidi and the Madisons—um, Brooke and Madison. He should probably stop thinking of them like that.

"Hey, Jess." The two hug and Gabe shuts his eyes for a quick second as he gives her an affectionate squeeze. They part and he greets the other girls. Heidi shoots him a nod of acknowledgment and a raised glass while Madison gives him a short wave. And Brooke... crosses her arms and ignores him.

Okay...

"Curt's been looking for you," Heidi says, holding an empty champagne flute out to him before standing to grab their table's bottle of Dom. "Apparently you promised him you'd come."

"Ah, yeah. I wouldn't call it a promise, though. " Gabe almost passes on the champagne but Jessie's bright smile leads him to accept the glass and the alcohol that follows. "More like..."

"Placating a child?" Heidi asks, amused.

Both Gabe and Madison laugh at that.

"Sure, that."

"One minute, everyone!" someone shouts.

"Here we go..." Madison gets to her feet, nearly reaching Gabe's height in her heels.

Brooke jumps up, perplexed. "What, already? Who the heck am I supposed to kiss??"

"Aw, I'll give you a kiss, Bee."

Brooke's arms uncross just to rest on her hips alongside another pout. "That won't count, Mads."

Madison just laughs in response and teases Brooke some more. Meanwhile, the remaining empty hands around the room quickly fill with glasses while more and more people begin joining the countdown. Heidi makes sure their group's glasses are filled before swapping the bottle in her hand for a tumbler of whiskey and downing it. Gabe also notices her shoes are off and to the side—someone's had a long night.

Jessie lightly nudges him in the side with her elbow, breaking him from his observations.

"So are you leaving tomorrow, after all?" The soft smile on her face is hopeful so Gabe sighs, regretful to disappoint her.

"Yeah." He rubs the back of his neck. "I just... This town is..."

"'Stifling?'" They both wince a little, Jess in her attempt to keep a smile on despite her disappointment and Gabe at hearing his exact word quoted back at him.

"Right. It's not the people—"

Jess giggles and pats him on the arm. "Oh come on, Gabe. It's the people."

He rolls his eyes with a light laugh. "Okay, yeah. Even just being here right now..."

Jessie sighs. "Yeah, I know. It's always weird coming back just after a few months out of state. I can't imagine after two years."

Gabe nods, the thin glass stem in his hand suddenly feeling a little too brittle for how tense he is. How tense this environment makes him. He shrugs, though.

"Well, I'm glad I got to see you, at least."

"Ten seconds! Ten! Nine!"

Jessie hits him with the full brightness of her smile and one of her tiny bounces of joy.

"Yeah! Me, too."

- - -

Just as the entire party begins counting down from ten, Curt finally gains sight of his sister and her friends again. Brooke catches sight of him too and smiles, knowing exactly why he's returned. He smiles back at her for a second before he falters when he sees...

Ha! I knew he meant it!

He's never wrong about these things. Curt smirks hard and licks his lips, unable to keep from internally gloating. Gabe showing up at all is a victory in and of itself.

"Eight! Seven!"

Oh, wait. No, it's not. Curt speeds up his approach.

"Six! FIVE!"

It's only really a victory if he reaches him at midnight!

- - -

"I have a good feeling about 2001!" Gabe rolls his eyes, cynical as always, but Jessie cheerfully insists. "Just watch, this year is going to be perfect and—oh! Three! Two!"

Gabe refrains from counting but turns with everyone else to face the giant screen displaying the Times Square Ball Drop.

“ONE! Happy New Year!”

The room they’re in, and the rest of the house, erupts in raucous cheers, shouts, and champagne glasses chiming. Jessie nearly crushes Gabe with a giant hug as she shouts “Happy New Year!” and that manages to pull a real smile from him, even as they almost spill both of their drinks. They both laugh and clink glasses instead.

“Happy New Year, Jess.” He turns to the other girls, who are just toasting each other. “Happy New Year, Heidi. Madison.”

Heidi wears a polite smile and nods as she raises her glass to him and Madison enthusiastically clinks her glass against his with a breathless “Happy New Year!”

Gabe turns to Brooke, who’s turned away from him and is fluffing her hair. Should he bother? Eh... might as well. “Happy New Year, Br—”

- - -

Curt is vaguely aware of Brooke leaning into him as he walks up to Gabe, but his tunnel vision forces him to sidestep her with a smile. Everything’s fallen into place: it’s a bangin’ party, it’s midnight, Auld Lang Syne’s just started, and the belle of the ball has finally arrived. He doesn’t wait for the boy to finish whatever he was saying and just goes for it.

Gabe’s eyes widen just a bit before Curt plants a kiss fully on his mouth, placing one hand lightly at his lower back for support as he leans into him. Gabe lets out a stuttered breath and clasps at the lapels of Curt’s suit jacket to keep upright. That brings a cocky grin to Curt’s lips and he raises his other hand to brush his thumb along the bottom of Gabe’s jaw, just as lightly.

"Mm." Curt darts his tongue out to savor his old classmate for just a moment longer before finally drawing back. With a boyish smile and a slight bite to his own lip he says, "Happy New Year, Cortés."

Madison makes a strangled noise somewhere between a gasp and a shriek.

“God—DAMN it! I told you I needed my camera, Jessie!” The girl darts away in a flash of jet black hair and spilled champagne, presumably to go find it. Brooke has gone pale. Heidi rolls her eyes and takes a sip of her champagne.

Gabe is frozen, gobsmacked. After he starts to feel others’ eyes on them, though, his expression finally breaks into one of angered incredulity and he shoves Curt away from him.

"What is your fucking problem, Emerson?!" He wipes his mouth on his sleeve as his face breaks into a subtle yet violent blush. "Is—" Gabe’s expression clouds, the brief panic that was there gone in an instant. "Is that why you invited me?!"

Curt frowns, confused.

"Of course! I said I couldn’t wait to kiss you at midnight!”

Brooke, completely forgotten, makes an indignant sort of squawking sound.

Gabe's hands curl into fists and the look he throws him is venomous. "Curt."

“And I’ve said kissing you's on my bucket list?” Curt blinks, lost. “Like, a thousand times at this point, Gabe."

Gabe’s fists curl tighter and Jessie steps between them, her glass waved between the boys like a penalty flag and a deceptively natural smile plastered on.

“Oookay! Curt, I think you just startled Gabe. I’m positive he didn’t think you were being serious, right?”

“No, I fucking didn’t,” Gabe growls.

Curt has the gall to look even more confused.

“For six years?”

Gabe shuts his eyes, his anger in danger of rising faster than he’s able to suppress it.

“Jesus, Curt. Just apologize.” Heidi looks more annoyed than anything else. But at least Curt finally catches on to the huge party foul he’s committed.

“Sorry! Sorry, man. I thought you knew what I meant.” Curt is, for whatever it’s worth, blushing now, seeming actually embarrassed for once. When Gabe doesn’t reply, he raises his hands in a placating manner, then brings them together at his chin with a truly pleading look in his eyes. “I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. I’d take it back if I could, don’t be mad!”

Gabe rubs a hand over his face and lets out a long, hard sigh. Then his other hand rakes through his hair briefly as he looks away from the blond idiot.

“Fine. Fine.”

Curt sighs in relief.

Then, because it’s very important to him, he asks, “It was good, though, right?“

Heidi barks a laugh, flopping back down into her seat. Jessie winces and pleads, “Curt, no...” Brooke, of course, seethes and plops into her own chair, quietly downing the contents of her flute.

And even though the anger has dissipated, Gabe’s annoyance surges to new heights. But before he can even voice his disdain, Curt’s looking around the immediate area as if something’s just dawned on him.

“Oh, wait a minute.” Curt huffs, dissatisfied. “I’m the only one without champagne!”

[quicksiilver]

In My Fathers Eyes

All Parts: Here

Also on AO3: Here

Part Seven: Frost Giant

Word Count: 4k

Chapter Summary: After training all morning with Natasha and Wanda, Rachel has lunch with her uncle.  She learns more about her father, which is news she isn’t thrilled to hear.  Another mystery about who she really is has been uncovered.

Wanda and Natasha dropped me off at my floor.  It was a nice journey upstairs, both the girls told me stories and funny details about jobs they’ve been on.  One of the best was Wanda’s laughter over the story of her brother figuring out his power when they were first released.

“It was such a rough time, but looking back now I can’t help but laugh at how ridiculous he looked,” She laughed out loud again describing what he would do.

Natasha and I laughed with her, a scene of Pietro crashing into things as he tested his speed playing out in my head.  It was painful losing a member of your family.  Even though I lost my mother and it hurt, my heart ached for Wanda.  She didn’t just lose a brother, she lost her twin.

“This is you,” Natasha said to me once the elevator doors opened.  Part of me hoped Peter would be there, but unfortunately he was not.  Mentally I noted to find him, make sure he was okay and figure out what was going on.

“Thanks for today,” I said looking back to them.

“We’ll be back again tomorrow,” Natasha smiled, and the doors shut sending them off to wherever they needed to be.  She planned for us to be together most mornings, and as much as that prematurely exhausted me I was also happy to have something to look forward to.  Being around Wanda and Natasha felt so effortless.  Having girls who were actually nice to be around made me feel like I finally fit in somewhere.  Shaun is my complete best friend, no one could ever replace him, but having some friends who were actual girls who actually wanted to be around me was something new and exciting.  Even though I knew I’d be around Natasha for work, I looked forward to her guiding me through this just as she did for Wanda.

Still sweaty and feeling gross I went into my room and pulled the shirt I had on over my head and automatically tossed it to the floor forgetting I wasn’t at home.  Though it was my room for now, it felt wrong just throwing my stuff around the carpet.  I picked it up and placed it on a chair by my bed knowing I needed to find a place to put dirty clothes.  I pulled my leggings off and did the same thing with them.

Going into the bathroom I turned the shower on and shut the door.  Staring at myself in the mirror I examined my face with suspicion turning it side to side.  Since I arrived I was reminded, every hour it seemed, that I resembled my father.  I didn’t feel an urge to look him up, but I knew there had to be a picture of him on the internet somewhere.  Curiosity sparked within me.  Walking back into my room, I grabbed my phone off my bed and shut myself back in the bathroom.  I opened Safari and tapped on the bar at the top.  My fingers were suddenly stuck.  A feeling inside my chest told me to put the phone down.  It told me this was a bad idea.  It told me to wait.

Placing my phone on the marble counter by the sink I sighed looking at my face again.  I tried to imagine what he could look like based off of me, but as a man.  Did he have a beard?  Were his features sharper than mine?  What if they were as soft as mine, actually?  I tried to think of how tall he would be compared to me.  By the time I was seventeen I was about my mothers height, and she was five feet and two inches.  I assumed that’s how tall I was now.  I began to smile as more thoughts about him consumed my imagination.  He was a mystery to me right now.  A mystery who was a bit of a villain with abilities I couldn’t even put into words.  Peter told me stories of what my father could do.

Breaking myself away from the mirror I realized the water was still running and I needed to be ready soon to meet with Thor.  I got in and out of the shower fast, washing my hair in the process along with everything else.  As I got ready I decided on a pair of jeans and a black long sleeved t-shirt that was oversized in just the right way.  My hair dried naturally in a soft curly wave just below my shoulders.  Make-up was never for me, but I did wear mascara almost everyday.

I left my room around one thirty not realizing before that half of my day was taken by stories, arguments and sparring.  I once again had the thought of spending time with Natasha and Wanda and felt purely excited.  After my mother there were never many girls around me except for my friend Jessica, but even then her and Elliot were always off with one another.  Shaun and I were truly the only two out of our friend group to have a connection.  We blame our age, but Jess and Elliot blame the fact that they’re dating.  They’d both be twenty one some point this year anyway.

When I got into the elevator that was waiting for me I had no idea where I was to go.  Thor didn’t specify, and neither did his messenger.  Going with my gut I pressed the floor for the kitchen, at least I hoped I did, and let the elevator do its job.

“Hello Miss Rachel,” Friday said, startling me.

“Hi, Friday, jeez,” I said to her with a small laugh.

“I’m sorry, I always seem to be surprising you,” She said to me in her usual tone that never seemed to change.

“It’s okay,” I said looking down at the ground, feeling a little silly talking to myself.

“Are you going to see Peter?” She asked, getting me to look up.

“Am I?” I questioned for a moment, a tickle of a butterfly in my stomach, but I brought myself back, “No, I’m going to eat with Thor.”

“He is in the kitchen.  Enjoy your lunch,” She said, and I thanked her.

“Hey, Friday?” I asked sweetly.  She had eyes everywhere, she literally was everywhere.  I wondered if she’d be able to tell me anything about other Avengers and where they were, or what they were doing.

“Yes?” She replied.  Biting onto my bottom lip I hesitated, knowing this was wrong, but there was a longing inside of me that wanted to make sure he was okay.

“Where’s Peter?” I asked quickly and quietly.

“Peter,” She stated, “He is with Tony in the gym.” I sighed, closing my eyes.  I was literally just there.

“Would you like me to tell him you ask for him?” She asked, clearly this protocol built into her wires.

“No thanks, I’m good,” I said looking down to my shoes once again.

I arrived to the floor with a ding, and as I stepped out of the elevator an amazing smell flooded my senses.  I came around closer to the counters by the stove where I found Thor standing over it cheffing away.

“Hi there,” He said as I tried to look around him.  My stomach growled as I pressed my lips together.

“What are you making?” I asked, amazed.

“Smell good?” He asked, then laughed as he watched me nod my head fast.

“What are you making?” I asked again, unable to say anything else.

“Something delicious.  Without meat, of course,” He leaned toward me and winked.  My mother was a vegetarian and raised me my entire life that way.

“How did-“

“That friend of yours told me a bit about you yesterday,” He said stirring the spatula around the pan, “He’s different, isn’t he?” His eyebrows questioned me.

“Oh yes.  He is,” I nodded, “Thank you, by the way.  For bringing my things here.”

“Of course,” He said, he implied subtle offense in his tone, “I wouldn’t leave you here with nothing.  Now go sit, I’m almost finished.”

At the table I sat and waited by Thor's request.  He brought over plates and bowls full of food I wasn’t sure I’d be able to finish.  Sitting down across from me, he told me to have as much as I wanted.

“I thought Friday did all the cooking,” I said with a small smile.  Thor shrugged his shoulders, his blonde hair pulled into a bun hanging behind them.

“Jane taught me a few things.  I enjoy it, actually,” He said.  Jane was his girlfriend from a few years back, the two of them meeting when Thor came to Earth from Asgard the first time.  Well, he was banished here actually, by his father.

“You really don’t see her anymore?” I asked curiously between bites of potatoes and carrots, “Oh my god.  This is amazing.” I slouched dramatically closing my eyes, Thor laughing at me.

“I really don’t,” He shook his head, “It became too difficult, her working and studying, and me avenging and battling,” I nodded, encouraging him to go on while I ate.

“Plus I’m over a thousand years old,” He mentioned without a care.  I nearly dropped my fork.

“What?!” I said sharply, watching him with wide eyes.

“I said I’m over a thousand years old,” He repeated himself, oblivious.  I giggled under my breath, then placed my chin in a hand to lean against the table.

“How?” I asked simply.

“We age differently,” He said, “Different realms, different times, different growth stages... It’s all boring really.” He waved a hand and finished off his plate going for another round.

“So Jane didn’t want to date you for your age?” I asked, my voice wiggling around unsure of what was appropriate to ask.  Although he didn’t seem too torn up about her.

“No, no, that wasn’t an issue.  I’d say in your time I’m around her age,” He bobbed his head, “It’s just that I’m going to be around her age much longer than she will be.”

“Oh,” I sighed.

“Yes, and I’d hate for something to happen, or you know... what could our future hold?  She belongs here, I belong there,” He pointed to the sky, then we watched each other.  The room fell into a deafening silence, the last of his words ringing in my ear.  We took it in.  We let it hang around for a moment, because he knew exactly what he did.  He didn’t let his front change.  His words didn’t seem to bother him as much as they bothered me.

“Guess you never gave your brother advice,” I spoke quietly, almost bitter, but mostly disappointed.

“Listen,” He said, motioning toward me, “Now that I have you there is no letting you go, but we never knew who you and your mother were.  I don’t say that with any means to hurt you.”  I hung my head, and nodded letting him continue.

“My father didn’t even know about Loki’s use of the bifrost to come here back then. In fact neither did Heimdall, and he’s the keeper of the gate,” Thor laughed, amazement hidden in his tone, “Your father is powerful.” Looking back up to him, he smiled once our eyes met.

“I want to know how they met,” I said softly, “I want to know what led up to me, and I was told to ask you actually... why he hasn’t come back to see me.” Shaun was in my head making me anxious this entire lunch to ask this one question, and once I said the words that nervousness was gone.

“A lot has been happening on Asgard and around Asgard,” Thor began, “Are you done eating?” He paused to ask me, and after I nodded he went in to eat some more.  He got a small laugh out of me after making a joke about being a god and needing to eat.

“Loki and I were in line for a crown.  One of us was meant to be crowned king of Asgard.  Myself being the first born, we thought, I was the first considered... Now talking about it out loud I was the only one considered,” His voice fell quiet, as if he was only intended to hear those words.

“Why only you?” I asked.

“I can explain that matter in a minute,” His voice regained its strength.  He went on to tell me the story of how the Frost Giants, that I learned of yesterday, got themselves into Asgard unfortunately with the help of my father in his attempt to slightly mess with his brothers coronation.  Thor sent an attack on the Jotun’s messing with a peace treaty, and that’s when he was banished to Earth.  Shortly after, my father sent the attack on New York under the influence of the mind stone by a powerful space being named Thanos.  It was after that he was locked up in the dungeons beneath Asgard.

“Then I needed him to help me in a fight against some dark elves, so I took him out of his cell,” He said, “We won, of course, but he had faked his own death again.” I giggled as Thor shook his head with a small smile.

“He’s like a cat,” I joked.

“Close to death, then he comes right back,” Thor said.

“What happened after that?” I asked.

“After that I went away for a while searching for some Infinity Stones.  You know what those are?” He narrowed his eyes in question.

“I’ve heard of them,” I said with a shrug.

“When I returned to Asgard from my search I found Loki masquerading as our father.  Since then my father has been returned to Asgard safely, but he put Loki back into his cell,” He sighed looking down at the table, “At first I thought it was right, but then I learned something that helped me make sense of it all.”

“And that was?” I asked, leaning forward crossing my arms over the table.  His eyes found mine slowly.  I shook my head as if to ask him again after he hesitated for a minute, his eyes beginning to dart around us as he tried to find the words.

“Loki is not a true Asgardian,” He said, “My brother is a Frost Giant.”  The words struck me in the heart, the sharp pain spreading throughout my body.  Clenching my jaw shut I threw myself back in the chair and turned my attention up to the ceiling.  Closing my eyes I took a deep breath, sorrow filling my being.

“Rachel,” Thor spoke gently, “He was raised to be on Asgard, but he was not treated fairly.  It was clear my father favored me,” More of his words hurting my heart, “From Loki’s attempt to take his own life, to his acting out against the throne and life in general... I never understood why.  Then I learned why he was so damaged.”  A single tear fell from my eye as I looked at him.  Watching him explain more of the same, I felt an anger from within me.  An anger toward Thor that I didn’t want, an anger toward Asgard, and an anger toward their father.

“This entire time I’ve been made out to believe that my father was the enemy,” I said through my teeth, “My father is a villain, my father destroyed half a city, he’s a bad man and nobody likes him.”

“Rachel,” Thor began to speak, but I cut him off.

“Seems to me as though your Asgard is to blame,” I spat, “It’s no wonder why from the start he wanted to take it down, or make it his own.  How dare you all shut him out, push him down, and then blame him for all he’s done.”  My uncle watched me with sad eyes.  I hadn’t even noticed how much I had started crying myself.

“Why did Odin take him,” I whispered shakily, my fists clenched tightly as I squeezed my thumbs.  Thor took a long deep breath, looking down.

“He was castaway by the Jotun’s.  He was abandoned.  He wasn’t built the same way as the other giants,” He said, making me roll my eyes and slam my hands against the glass.

“He was abandoned by his own people,” I was nearly shouting, “And your people wanted to abandon him, too.”

“I never wanted to abandon him,” Thor spoke louder, startling me, but like with Tony I didn’t let it show.

“You think I wanted to let my own brother go?  What did I tell you? How I’ve learned all of this? How I need to get him back before he rips two worlds apart?” His voice shook me, literally.  Groaning, he relaxed and reached across the table for my hand, but I pulled away from him.  My eyes stayed on his.

“Am I one?” I asked at a whisper.  He watched me, his expression not giving anything away.

“Am I?” I asked again, a bit louder.

“We don’t know,” He sighed, “I don’t know.” Rolling my eyes again I turned away, facing the windows that looked out to back fields where the men and women in matching clothes were still running.

“You’re cold to the touch,” He said, “You dislike the heat, but you haven’t shown any signs of any abilities you may have.” I glanced vaguely over my shoulder with no intent to find him.

“How would I even figure those out?”

“You’d have noticed them by now, but seeing as though you didn’t quite grow up the same way... they have to keep looking inside your memories,” He said, “To figure anything out.  It’s the only thing we have... to tell us your past.”  My thoughts directed to my mother who, if she were here, would be able to give them anything on after I was born until she started drinking.  Anything after that was up to my memory.

“Was he the one in my dream?  Or... my reality?” I asked, not even knowing what was considered real.

“No,” He answered fast, “His Jotun form is not that big.”

“Right,” I nodded, remembering what he said about my father being left by his people.  We sat quietly, Thor letting me soak in the information a little longer.

“Are you alright?” His voice rumbled in his chest.  I turned to him completely.

“Am I ever?” I muttered.  He hung his head, waiting for the right moment to speak again.

Wrapping my brain around my father being a Frost Giant, I tried to remember more of my dreams.  I then thought of what Bruce had told me yesterday.  That maybe they weren’t dreams, maybe they were real moments in my life that had actually happened.

They came for my mother, somehow finding us in the maze that Manhattan is.  The dream I’d looked at yesterday was the one that had become a nightmare, them chaining my mother up and the giant grabbing onto me lifting me into the air.  His icy hands gripping my small, seven year old body as my mother screamed violently behind him.  After that I usually woke up with a jolt, my mothers scream chilling my spine.

This thought played out in my mind.  The giant held me up, bringing me close to his face to look closer at me, his crimson eyes burning into mine as I wriggled around trying to escape.  Making tiny fists I punched his face as hard as I could, it affected him just enough to where he dropped me.  Funny how a seven year old was able to do that to a creature of his size and strength.  I hurried to my mothers side, throwing my arms around her neck, pulling at the back of her shirt to cling to her tight.  The giant was turned toward us now, but before he could charge at us thunder shook our building like something of enormous weight landed on the roof.  Lighting was shooting around outside the window like mad.  The giant was frozen in his place, his eyes looking toward our ceiling in what seemed like a panic.  Deafening thunder crashed again.  My mother and I jumped, the two of us pressing our faces together in a means to protect one another.

When the room abruptly fell quiet we looked toward the giant, but he was gone.  The thunder had stopped, the wind had calmed down.  The restraints on my mothers wrists and ankles had disappeared like magic.  Her arms wrapped around me quickly and she lifted me as she stood at her feet.  She held onto me tight as she anxiously paced around the apartment looking for any signs of more danger.

I glanced at Thor finding him watching me already.  He questioned me with his brow.

“God of Thunder,” I said.  He nodded.

“You were there, weren’t you?” I asked.  He immediately knew what I was thinking. His eyes fell to the floor as he sighed guiltily.  He nodded again as he turned his chin back to me.

“But you didn’t know who we were?” My voice was just above a whisper.

“Honestly, Rachel,” His voice was deep and meaningful, “I swear on his life I had no idea.  I was just following the giant, protecting the planet like I was assigned.” It was my turn to nod.  I gave him a small smile after another bout of silence, and he returned it to me.

“Thank you,” I whispered this time, letting him know that I knew he saved my mother and I that night even if he didn’t know we were in there.

“Seems like I’ve been watching over you for a long time,” He smirked.

“Seems like it,” I said.

“Now,” He cleared his throat and held up a finger, “I have a question.”  I gave him a sound of encouragement to keep going.

“You and Spider-boy,” He began.  Cue my stomach dropping to my knees.

“Yeah?” I asked innocently, trying to not give away my sudden nervousness.

“Natasha said he may like you,” His words didn’t do a thing to ease the electricity in my body.

“Oh really?” I asked in a small voice.  He put his arm down and narrowed his eyes.

“Yes,” He took in my state and let out a laugh in the form of breath, “Alright.  As long as he isn’t bothering you.”

“What?” I asked, giving him a confused look.

“Well, I can tell you like him to,” He said simply, gesturing toward my tense body language.  Sighing, I closed my eyes for a second and then glared at him.

“So this you pick up on?” I asked sarcastically, digging at his obliviousness toward Earth being mannerisms.

“What do you mean?” He asked, proving my point.  I laughed and shook my head.

“Don’t tell him,” I said quietly.

“Your secret is safe with me.”

[venmomejoy]

Don’t Look Back

Summary: an orpheus and eurydice au!! w Jesse and Lucie :) let me know what you guys think!!

read it on AO3 here !!

Hades's home for the dead was not an open house for mourners, but Lucie wasn't leaving without Jesse.

She knew walking into the Underworld was a death sentence- if the dangers on the path down didn't kill her, the gods would. The gods were quick-tempered and proud, and had little interest in humanity's wellbeing; when they caught wind of her journey, they would zero their wrath in on her. But she just needed to see him. She didn't care what the consequences were.

He wasn't supposed to go. He was too young, they were too happy, he was too good. He wasn't supposed to get bitten by a snake, wasn't supposed to leave before she could even say goodbye. Lucie was sure that if she were there, he would still be alive. She wouldn't have let Hades claim him, poison coursing through his veins or not.

She had spent all of her days since weeping and writing, weeping while writing and writing while weeping. The grief never abated, no matter how many pages she filled with the tales of her misery, no matter who she moved as she shouted the poems and stories of her agony to the world.

Lucie's stories had always been revered, hordes of people clamoring over each other to hear her latest piece, and her tales of loss and heartache were no different. The public, the trees, the wind, even the gods themselves heard her ringing cries of anguish, felt her pain as if it were their own.

She was disconsolate, lost without her love, so when Apollo appeared and whispered to her about a path into the Underworld, about a way to see Jesse again, she didn't hesitate.

The path she walked through was a glorified cave, the dank walls of stone plunging her into darkness. The light from her lantern only illuminated a couple feet in front of her, so she let her hand trail along the slick walls to monitor her movements. Eventually, the tunnel opened up into a wider walkway, lit periodically by mounted torches. Lucie kept moving, fighting the chill in her bones as she descended farther and farther underground.

She should have expected to see spirits as she approached the Underworld, but she still gasped when the first one drifted past her. The translucent ghost, a woman who couldn't have been over twenty, floated past her, hardly turning her gaunt face Lucies way. She pressed her hand against her throat as she tracked the ghosts movement, watching until she faded into darkness. She couldn't stop thinking about who that spirit was, wondering what had happened to her. Wondering if there was someone who mourned for her the way she mourned for Jesse, someone who would brave the depths of Hades to bring her back.

When she drudged up the courage to keep going, Lucie encountered many more souls, the dead roaming around their eternal resting place. She took it as a sign she was close.

The back road Apollo had sent her on would help her avoid troublesome sentries, but he warned her that she would still encounter some opposition. Hades wasn't stupid enough to leave any entry point into the Underworld unguarded. So she had expected to see a few people blocking the doorway, but she hadn't expected to see a giant three-headed dog blocking her path.

Cerberus had to be four times her height, three pairs of teeth glinting as it snarled at her. She had expected Hades's hound to be monitoring the primary entrance, but it must have smelled her and raced to expunge the intruder. Somehow she doubted it planned on calmly escorting her out.

Cerberus's muscles were tensed, legs prepping to launch himself at her, when Lucie started reciting her writing. The melodic way she spoke coupled with the beautiful stories she wove soon entranced the dog, and before long its head was swaying along with the rhythm of her words. Cerberus sat, basking in the beauty of her storytelling, while Lucie slipped past.

After she had enraptured Cerberus, it was easy to do the same to the smattering of guards posted around the entrance. She had finally made it, had finally reached the Underworld. But as she scanned the vast lands, she knew her search was far from over.

Her eyes scoured the different sectors, searching the Asphodel Meadows, Elysium, even The Isle of the Blessed for her lost lover, but they were too far away for her to make out any faces. She knew he couldn't be in the Mourning Fields because they had been in a happy, requited love. And there's no way he could have been sent to Tartarus, so she didn't even worry about finding out how to reach the land of punishment far beneath the Underworld.

She didn't know where to begin looking, and there was a high likelihood of her getting lost within the first ten minutes of her search, so she sought assistance. Securing an audience with Hades was surprisingly easy when you were already in the Underworld. All Lucie had to do was find the giant looming palace and head that way. The path was a straight-shot, so Lucie hurried, reciting her stories under her breath and avoiding the indignant gaze of every guard she passed.  

The castle was imposing, its massive walls carved entirely from black stone and set with soaring spires and sharp arches. Lucie's mortal hands looked frail against the towering door as she used all of her weight to push it open. Her feet clapped on the smooth flooring as she took in her surroundings, trying to surmise which hallway would take her to the god of the Underworld.

She was relieved from making a decision when an imposing figure materialized in front of her. She flinched, jumping back a solid foot when the tall man appeared, his arms crossed as he took her in, seemingly unimpressed with what he saw. Hades.

She really wished that she could have come during fall or winter, when Persephone was with Hades- people always said she made him more agreeable. But, unfortunately, it was spring, and Persephone was up on Earth with her mother, leaving Lucie alone with the god. She gulped.

"What are you doing here, mortal?" Hades looked disinterested, if vaguely annoyed, but not angry. She didn't see any storm brewing in his eyes, any tightening in his jaw that indicated he might smite her right then and there. But she knew better than to feel comfortable; a calm demeanor didn't mean she was safe, especially not when dealing with a god.

Lucie was sure to avert her eyes as she made her case. She pleaded with him, but his face was hard as stone. He held no compassion for her situation as he told her that no one who entered the land of the dead got to return to the land of the living, even with a lover's desperate plea. Her outpouring of emotion didn't infiltrate his dispassionate disposition, so she did the only thing she knew- she told him her stories. She let her voice become musical as she recounted her misery, let her inflection show just how deep her pain went. And slowly, Hades's unfeeling attitude dissolved. His brow creased, his arms falling back to his sides as he listened to her words, listened to the stories and the poems she had created. The beauty of her stories moved him.

After moments of deliberation, he struck deal with her. "You may take your lover and return the way you came. But, I have one condition. You must walk in front of him, keeping your back to him for the entire journey to the surface. Reach land without turning around and he will be yours once again, but if you take one look backwards at him, he will return to me for eternity."

What a small, small cost for her love back. Lucie felt tears pricking her eyes. "I accept. I- thank you, I don't-"

"Enough. I hate groveling. Now take him and leave." With a flippant wave of his hand, Jesse appeared. He emerged out of thin air, summoned by whatever magic the gods had, his eyes flitting around in disorientation before they landed on Lucie.

Lucie's heart stopped beating before skipping into double-time. He looked just how she remembered him, inky black hair falling a little too long over his forehead, his piercing green eyes boring into hers in shock. He was still wearing the white chiton he had been when she found him. She scanned him from head to toe, every inch of him looking like her husband, her like Jesse-

"Lucie?" Jesse whispered, as if he was afraid that if he spoke too loud she would vanish, as if the force of his breath would blow her away. His face was soft, a mixture of joy and apprehension in his eyes. He didn't think she was real. It was breaking her heart.

She only managed to breathe out "Jesse," before she was hurling herself into his arms. If seeing her didn't make him believe she was really there, the press of her body against his did. He wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her neck as he inhaled her smell. She curled his fingers into the fine hair at his nape, murmuring his name like a prayer. Pulling back, she grasped Jesse's face in her hands, drinking in the sight of him. Before she could think about the fact that they had an audience- a god no less- Lucie smashed her mouth against her husbands. She let the press of his lips against hers slowly burn away the sorrow, the fear, the grief. His kiss was intense, erasing all of the time they spent thinking they would never have this again, never have each other again.

Jesse pulled away first, blushing furiously as he glanced shyly at Hades, who just looked at them with an unreadable expression on his face. Lucie was inclined to call it distaste mixed with yearning. Jesse turned back to her, eyes wide as he took her in. Suddenly, his gaze turned worried. "How are you here, love? Are you okay? What happened?"

"No, Jesse, I'm fine, it's nothing like that. I'm here to take you home."

Jesse looked at her like she'd grown a second head. "What?"

"I came down here to get you back, and I've come to an agreement with Hades. He's letting me take you back home. To the realm of the living."

He looked unconvinced, and she couldn't blame him. If she were in his shoes, she wouldn't believe this either, so she explained Hades's deal as simply as she could. Slowly, Jesse's doubtful face started to morph into a hopeful one. "We can go home?"

"We can go home." She flashed him the first true smile she'd produced since he died.

He pulled her into his arms again, his breath harsh against her ear as he whispered, "home, home, home."

It seems Jesse knew that Hades disliked gratitude, or maybe he was just scared the god would change his mind, because he grabbed her hand and led them out without another word. When they reached the pathway leading back to the mortal realm, Lucie took up position in front of Jesse.

"I've missed you so much, Jesse," Lucie says, roving her eyes over him one last time before they enter the tunnel.

He ran his fingers through her hair. "Me too, Luce. You have no idea."

Planting a final kiss on his lips, Lucie turned around and promptly marched into the darkness.

They filled the beginning journey with chatter, but it wasn't until it petered out that Lucie realized how anxious she was about this task. The gods were heartless and sadistic. There must be some kind of catch to this deal, something she missed that Hades's is laughing himself hoarse at right now. There's no way he would let a soul leave, at least not that easily.

Maybe he wasn't letting her take Jesse. Maybe this was some cruel joke, the man she saw a mere apparition of her husband, so that when she finally reached the surface, she would turn around and see nothing but empty space.

Doubt seeped into her mind. "Jesse?"

"Yes, love?"

She loosed a sigh of relief. "Sorry, I was just checking to make sure you're still here."

"Of course I am," he laughed, "Where else would I go?"

She huffed through her nose. She needed to calm down. Jesse is here, Jesse is right behind her. Except the longer she focused on it, she thinks she can't hear his footsteps. They sounded faded, like echoes bouncing off of the cave walls. She needed to check, needed to make sure he was still there-

"I'm here, Luce. Stop freaking out, I'm right behind you. Look, we're almost done," he said, and Lucie figured he was referring to the faint light she could see far ahead of them. They were almost there. Only a couple more minutes of patience and she would have Jesse for the rest of their lives. But now she couldn't hear him. Yes, that sound was definitely echoes, echoes of her own footsteps. Jesse wasn't there, Hades had tricked her, and she just had to check-

As she stepped into the streaming sunlight, Lucie whipped around, sure Hades had deceived her. But when she turned backwards, all she saw was Jesse's horrified face, his quiet gasp before he vanished.

"No." Lucie said. She would go back after him, she would find some way to get him. But when she tried to step into the cave, she was met with an invisible force blocking the entrance. "No, no, no, no, no!"

Lucie fell to her knees, banging her hands against the unmoving obstacle separating her from her love. She had ruined it; she had ruined it all.

The only stories Lucie wrote after that were those of woe.

I’m not a history buff so I’m sorry if the tale or the descriptions are a little different than the original myth :) let me know what you guys think!!

tag list: @fairchild-squad

[dear-wormwoods]

Ch.2 reactions part one

Okay so I’m gonna post my reactions and thoughts about the movie in a few different posts because... I have a lot to say. Obviously, spoilers ahead for literally everything. 

Thoughts on Adrian & Don’s scene

- The parallels start literally immediately - James Ransone has said he played Eddie as if he never really grew up, and Adrian is first introduced playing a carnival game alongside a bunch of actual kids so the first perception we’re meant to get of him is that this is a guy who is still a kid at heart. We quickly learn two more things about Adrian - that he’s idealistic, and that he’s naive.

- Even the way they’re styled and dressed, with the same height difference as Richie and Eddie, Don dressed more conservatively with a jacket on and Adrian in bright, eye catching colors with the same preppy hairstyle. Intentional casting, intentional wardrobe.

- The film adding to this by giving importance to Adrian’s asthma - including a closeup of his inhaler that shows it is the same exact inhaler Eddie has.

- Adrian openly mocking his attacker, displaying both his naivety and his bravery, was always such an important parallel to Eddie standing up to Henry and making fun of him in the novel, so I was thrilled that was included here. The fact that they went the extra mile and had both characters use very similar insults was the cherry on top.

- The parallel of Don and Richie both being unable to save their loved one and having to just watch it happen.

- So an important parallel from the novel was that IT bit Adrian in his armpit first, in the same spot where IT later bites Eddie’s arm clean off. And the movie consciously changed one and then consciously changed the other to match, proving that this was BEYOND intentional. IT bites Adrian in the chest this time, and then IT stabs Eddie through the chest later. 

Thoughts on the Phone Calls

- Bill: Really thought this was McAvoy’s weakest scene and I would have much preferred a conversation with Audra that was more similar to the book. I get why they minimized Audra’s role overall, but this scene was really ineffective and it didn’t have to be.

- Eddie: A risk analyst is a perfect job for him, first of all, and his conversation with Myra was short and effective. They’re both paranoid about safety while simultaneously being unsafe (Myra warning him about rain that stopped hours ago even though talking on the phone while driving is far more dangerous than rain, and Eddie being irritated at her for calling him while he’s driving as if he wasn’t literally asking for death by driving so recklessly and antagonizing other drivers lmfao). Neither of them know how to talk to each other, neither of them are happy while talking to each other, and both are projecting their issues onto a crappy sham marriage - Myra literally has to beg for love (people who actually feel loved don’t do this), and Eddie is using her as a replacement for his mother. Like the vast majority of Eddie’s scenes, it’s played for laughs but has an underlying misery that works very well.

- Still Eddie: The fact that he got into a car accident during his call with Mike was so fitting… driving is the one thing Eddie loves doing, the one thing he feels confident about, the one time he feels brave, the one outlet he has for channeling all of his pent up aggression, and the one time he lets himself take risks, so of COURSE the phone call would swoop in and ruin that! Brilliant.

- Richie: I have hoped since Ch.1 came out that modern Richie would be a stand-up comedian (or on a skit show like SNL) so… thank you Andy for hearing my prayers. Also, Richie’s manager guy had major Eddie vibes, which may have lowkey been a shout out to the miniseries’ choice to have him subconsciously seek out Eddie types in his career. 

- Ben: I loved the little trick they did with using miniseries Ben, that was such a nice cameo. Loved Ben’s giant fancy house and how the wide shot of him standing by the window was such an effective visual representation of his loneliness. Really missed Ricky Lee though, and Ben’s high functioning alcoholism. 

- Stan: Loved the bird puzzle, loved the easy comfort that Stan and Patty had, loved the overall serene vibe of their house right up until the phone call. I wish Stan and Patty talked more, but I think their relationship dynamic came across pretty well even in that small exchanged. Really missed the writing on the wall, though, and Patty discovering him.

- Bev: I really liked the way Jess portrayed Bev when she’s with Tom versus Bev normally - her entire demeanor is different, her voice is different. It’s obvious that Jess really understands the cycle of abuse, so it’s unfortunate that the scene was so short and escalated so quickly, because she was capable of doing so much more with it and wasn’t given the time to. But I liked her kicking Tom and whacking him on the head the same way she did with her dad, that was a nice ‘this is the moment I found the strength to fight back’ parallel.

Up next: the restaurant scene, the Derry Town House, and the clubhouse scene.

[dackewins1]

Windsor Dacke Information

Is that WINDSOR DACKE? Wow, they do look a lot like RUDY PANKOW. I hear HE is an EIGHTEEN year old FRESHMEN who are studying CULINARY ARTS AND SCIENCE at Luxor University. Word is they are a SCHOLARSHIP student. You should watch out because they can be INSECURE and CONFRONTATIONAL, but on the bright side they can also be PATIENT and IDEALISTIC. Ultimately, you’ll get to see it all for yourself. [Kal, 24, PST, She/Her/They/Them]

Basic Information

Full Name: Windsor Dacke

Nicknames: Win

Preferred Name: Win

Birthday: March 20

Age: 18

Zodiac: Pisces cusp Aries

Gender: Male

Pronouns: He/Him

Relationship Status: Single

Occupation: Student

Nationality: American

Ethnicity: White

EXTRACURRICULARS:

Soccer

Equestrianism

CLASSES:

Program: Culinary Arts and Science

Foods and Nutrition

English

Chemistry

Algebra

World History

BACKGROUND:

Place of Birth: Brooklyn, New York

Hometown: New York

Used to live: Irving, Texas

PHYSICAL:

Face Claim: Rudy Pankow

Eye Color: Blue

Hair Color: Light Brown

Height: 6'1"

Weight: 180 lbs

Paw: Southpaw but can also use his Northpaw

Tattoos, Birthmarks, Scars, etc: One very light small scar on his left leg, another on his left-hand pinky and ring finger knuckles.

RELATIONSHIPS:

Ex-Significant Other(s): A few girlfriends that didn't seem to last, one boyfriend (Jesse)

Current Significant Other: N/A

BACKSTORY:

Windsor Dacke grew up for the most part in Brooklyn, New York where he met some really good friends. Even though he would later move from Brooklyn into other parts of New York this is why Brooklyn always felt like home. Although he was always a good hard-working student he was constantly in trouble. By the time he was 11, he’d been escorted home multiple times. He was given a solid piece of advice when he was younger, the better grades you got, the better life you had later. When he was 11, he moved from New York to Texas, much to his dismay.

Texas was much different compared to the city but Win had to adapt. It was a bit different learning to ride horses, and dance in cowboy boots, but soon enough Win found himself actually liking Country music, square dancing, horseback riding, and football. Through every change in his life, Windsor made sure his grades did not slip. Even through hard nights works, sleepless study sessions, and travelling for football games.

New York was home. So Win spent his every waking hour trying to be good enough to get back to his friends and his home. With newfound confidence, Windsor spent his first high school years studying and doing everything in his power to be the best. When he heard his friends were actually going to Luxor he tried his hardest to get into the academy. And somehow he made it.

Skills and Abilities:

Talents: Cooking, Horseback riding, Bull riding

Drive?: Yes

Jump-Start a car?: Yes

Change a Flat Tire?: Yes

Ride a Bicycle?: No, Motorcycle yes.

Swim?: Yes

Play an Instrument?: No

Play Chess?: No

Tie a Tie?: No

Pick a lock?: Yes

Favorite Things:

Activity: Cooking

Beverage: Water

Book: The Big Friendly Giant

Food: Truffles

Movie: The Lion King

Sport: Football, Baseball

[rebellect-writes]

[SIZE=1][b]Name:[/b] Jess. [b]Age:[/b] 21. [b]How did you find us?:[/b] Well, you see. You found me!

[align=center] [color=WHITE]Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. -- [b]Edgar Allan Poe[/b] "The Raven"[/SIZE][/color] [IMG]http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lilkhvalW01qzozmk.gif[/IMG] [color=WHITE]Tell me would you kill to save for a life? Tell me would you kill to prove you're right? Crash, crash, burn let it all burn. This hurricane chasing us all underground.[/color] [/align]

[b]Name:[/b] Fallon. [b]Nicknames & Aliases:[/b] [LIST]Fall; He’ll acknowledge you if you’re not being funny. Autumn; He may change his hair colour a lot but that will get you smacked. Sadistic; Why thank you! Lust; No, he’s not a chick even if he wears guy-liner. [/LIST][b]True Age:[/b] 3004 [b]What He Says:[/b] 1018 [b]Date of Birth:[/b] December 26th [b]Age at Death:[/b] 30 [b]Gender:[/b] Male. [b]Sexual Orientation:[/b] Bisexual, though guys are more his thing. [b]Occupation:[/b] Owns his own theatre plus company, sometimes steps in at Club Hell to help Noah.

[b]Bloodline:[/b] Belle Morte. [b]Power Level:[/b] Master. [b]Mind-Set:[/b] Dominant unless submissive suits the situation. [b]Animal to Call:[/b] Wolves. [b]Powers:[/b] [b]Standard Vampire powers:[/b] Like all vampires, Fallon’s got heightened physical strength and he has steel like grip. He could send a human flying with a slightest touch and like the newly dead, he’s capable of lifting a small car with ease. He’s also very fast, more than capable from switching from a death like stillness to a speed that’s perceived faster than the human eye can follow since he can cloud people’s minds. It’s like as if he vanishes at will! His senses are pretty spot on, Fallon can smell a human’s emotional state, and to some degree, he can taste weaker shifters or vampires and his hearing? Well, he can hear a whispered comment from the other side of the house. With his age, Fallon can disguise himself and appear mortal, but unlike a human, he can switch from being a completely animated being to something that is still, expressionless and silent. The last thing of note is that he’s extremely difficult to harm like most of the older vampires and wounds made from heavy objects, and even bullets, heal with moments even though it hurts like hell he doesn’t let it show.

[b]Feeding Via Mind:[/b] Now, this is a tricky thing for him to do since the human mind is complex. He has to touch people to do this, skin to skin, for it to work and he can only enter a person’s mind to feed from their more promiscuous thoughts and deepest fantasies. He can’t sustain himself on this for long, maybe a day or two extra, but he can use it to hold back the ardeur and the blood hunger. To avoid doing this often, Fallon takes precautions and wears a pair of leather gloves.

[b]Empathic Voice Manipulation:[/b] Fallon can use his voice to bring out the better aspects in peoples moods. He thinks of it more as a mental power than something actually physical because he doesn’t have to touch someone when he uses it, however it still gives off a physical sensation at times to the people he uses it on. In his mind, it’s supposedly like rolling a victim. They want to stay and listen to him, even if they wouldn’t normally do it or despise him. He's only ever really used this power on his wolf, Jesse.

[b]The Ardeur:[/b] Fallon is an incubus, and one of Bella Morte’s special little boys and girls. The most basic way to describe it is that anyone under its thrall is gripped by the intense desire to have sexual intercourse with the user or the closest person to them despite their general preferences. This power’s truly frightening because the Ardeur drains the energy from those it feeds on and can potentially drain a person to the point of death, so incubi and succubi have more than one general lover if they want to feed correctly.

[b]Animal/Human Servant Creation:[/b] In theory, Fallon could take a human on as a servant as well, outside of his animal servant Jesse Harley. Basically, this power allows Fallon to magically bind someone to him, making said servants greater resistance to injury and mental powers and almost complete immunity to his own power (first mark). It also allows him to draw power from his servant and experience what they eat and drink, and even enter their dreams (second mark). He has to take some of the servants blood, but by doing so, it conveys increased healing powers, immunity to poisons and allows him and his servant to communicate mentally (third mark). After that, it’s just a matter of getting his servant to drink his blood and he can make them immortal like him, it also gives them a bond of almost complete mental communication and allows the servant to draw on Fallon’s strength (fourth mark). However, should his servant die, Fallon’s would be metaphysically crippled and most likely go insane since he’s old enough to survive the death. [b]Rank:[/b] Témoin

[b]Face Claim:[/b] Jared Leto. [b]Description:[/b] [IMG]http://images.sugarscape.com/userfiles/image/july/0707jared2.jpg[/IMG] [i]Height:[/i] 5’10. [i]Weight:[/i] 166lbs. [i]Eyes:[/i] Blue. A very distracting blue. [i]Hair:[/i] Naturally, brown and stays brown. Unless he dyes it a different colour for fun! (and 6 months out of 12, it’s one colour or another.) [i]Build:[/i] Very lean, almost to the point he looks underweight but that’s a lie. [i]Visible marks:[/i] He has two tattoos, one on the inside of his wrist in Latin with a quote he forgot years ago, and the other ( a small triad ) on his collar bone. [i]Style:[/i] Normally loose clothes, grungy punk like clothes. Beaded bracelets, necklaces and so on. He can wear suits, if he does though that’s another story since they make him feel confined. He’ll wear them though, if the occasion calls for it and keep the complaining to a minimum.

[b]Special Skills:[/b] [LIST] [*] Can speak French, Romanian, Spanish and Italian. Oh! And sarcasm. [*] He can appear human, unlike newer vampires. [*] Since he’s second in command of Jackford, he does actually have a network of spies and snitches at his finger tips that he uses when he has to. He’s built this up over the years, so in a way it’s a special skill, because he uses it to keep Noah updated and the Kiss one step ahead of things most of the time. [*] It isn't really a special skill, but he prides himself on not being power hungry. [/LIST][b]Personality:[/b][LIST]Fallon is just a giant ball of multicolours. No, seriously, his hair isn’t the only thing that changes. Normally, he’s an ok kind of guy that doesn’t go out of his way to annoy people too much. He likes to help people out and offer them a shoulder to cry on or wall to bounce ideas off. He’ll give advice where it’s due, even if he’s stepping on toes or going to piss someone off, if he feels the need to say it then he will. He’ll always try and apologize afterwards, but he’s Old World, so sometimes things don’t click right despite being fairly modern. What most people don’t notice, and sometimes Fallon doesn’t either, is that he gets bored easily and he acts out, heck the only people that probably would notice one of his acting out fazes are his brother, cousin or Jesse because he goes beyond the typical theatrical, creative and eccentric, he strays into maliciousness. He’s a bit of a charmer when he’s not being a whacky nut case that should be locked away for societies own wellbeing. Fallon’s loyal and backs up any threats and promises, if he says that he’ll do something then he will do it, even if it makes him squirm and whinge like a kicked puppy.

With his vast age, Fallon’s adopted a slightly twisted perspective on vampires and other supernatural. He comes from a time when they were monsters and did drop bodies where they could be found by others then slaughter others. He’s also well versed in the way many Kisses are run. Masters of the City are treated with the utmost respect, and he would give his life if it was what his “master” would want. Masters within the Kiss don’t get instant respect either; if they’re not strong enough then they have to earn it. In a dog eat dog world, its sink or swim baby. Lower Kiss and fledglings jump when he tells them too…Or at least that used to be the way. Fallon treats the Kiss like extended family, they have their ups and their downs but at the end of the day they’re not that dysfunctional. That doesn’t mean he’ll put up with blatant endangerment of his family. If it’s for the better good of all, he will stop people by any means appropriate and has at times locked vampires away in coffins and forgotten about them, or simply ripped their hearts out. He hasn’t held the position of second in command by only being a funny bastard; he has his ruthless streak well hidden as it may be.

While he’s been in Jackford, he’s made it his job to be friends with all the local werewolves where he can and provide them with an alley should they need it. He’s only ever once called the wolves of Jackford without their permission and he won’t do it again. Those he call come to him willingly or not at all. It’s the same with any partners he has as force is very distasteful. No one in this life time has seen Fallon at his worst. Sure, he has his moments where he withdraws from the world and appears bored with what’s going on around him and with what’s going on in his life, but I’m not talking about a depressive vampire. The anger in him is deep, and it’s destructive and in some ways protective because he does rant and he does rave and he does lash out normally in his head these days and prays that he never needs to get violent properly. [/LIST][b]Likes:[/b] [LIST] [*] Playing video games with Jesse. [*] When there’s no trouble for the Kiss. Running around like chickens is annoying. [*] Riding his bike through the city. Screw your cars! [*] Shopping in person, though he’ll never own up to it when he does it online. [*] When it snows. [*] Swimming. [*] Protecting the Kiss. He wouldn’t be second in command of the city if he didn’t. [*] Tormenting Jesse on their [i]movie nights[/i]. [*] Writing poems, short stories, you name it. [*] Playing the guitar, that’s something only Jesse and Noah know about. [/LIST][b]Dislikes:[/b] [LIST] [*] Religious talk. Followed by the words "vampires have no souls." [*] Getting blood on his favourite clothes. It’s hell to get it out.   [*] When Jesse gets into trouble and doesn’t tell him straight away. [*] Fighting with Noah. [*] Jesse disobeying him in some form or another. [*] Silence. He has to have a little noise around him otherwise his mind wanders. [*] People underestimating the Kiss. [*] People that try and hurt his wolf. [*] Getting blood on his clothes. [*] Having to make an example of someone. [/LIST][b]Strengths:[/b][LIST] [*] Goes to great lengths to make friends with the wolves before calling any. [*] Jesse makes him look at the world a whole new way again. [*] Is brutally honest when he needs to be. Suck it up, princess! [*] He’s pretty intelligent, even if he does look like a typical punk.   [*] His brother. Enough said on that matter. [*] Can and will walk into a church, much to the surprise of many. What? He’s fine as long as there’s no flaming crosses or bible toting idiots. [*] Patience of a saint, it must be said. When things look rough, he’ll look for other options. [/LIST][b]Weaknesses:[/b][LIST] [*] Having to be invited into a home. [*] Holy symbols. [*] Jesse Harley. Hurt the pet and you hurt the Master. [*] His older brother Noah. [*] He has to feed the Ardeur or risk it getting out of control and no one wants that. [*] Has a habit of running his mouth off at times. [*] Likes blood a little too much. [/LIST][b]Fears:[/b][LIST] [*] Small spaces. He can deal for a little while but not long time frames. He feared them as a human and it has carried over as a vampire. [*] Seeing Jesse hurt and being unable to help him, he wouldn’t know what to do if he didn’t have his wolf around. [*] Noah's temper or Jaspers. He fears that in a big way like any baby brother/cousin would. [*] Being starved from touch again. [/LIST][b]History:[/b][LIST]Seven years after the birth of Noah, during a particularly rough winter, Fallon was brought into the world kicking like any normal babe to be welcomed by his older brother Noah and his father as his mother lay exhausted. His mother knew something was different about her second son; womanly intuition of course, brought on by the fact Fallon was quiet as a babe. Her first son and her husband didn’t seem to notice it, so she didn’t mention it to anyone. From the moment that Fallon could walk on his own two feet, his brother was teaching him all kinds of things as well as his parents. They were growing old; they wanted both of their boys to survive in the harsh life that had been given to them and in less than six years Fallon and Noah were left orphans as their parents passed on. Noah tried at first to make things work, he took up the responsibilities afforded to a man and Fallon tried his hardest too help, even at such a young age. Eventually the local story teller Alaric’s wife came and helped, and then the rest of the settlement rather than see the boys waste away since they had no other blood kin close to hand.

When he was ten, Fallon was left in the care of the story teller and his wife as Noah went off to fight for the clan and settlement with other young men. As much as he hated it, he couldn’t blame Noah much but he did feel abandoned. For most of his life Noah was the only constant in his life, and to be left with strangers that some in the settlement considered mad was a little…scary. After the first few weeks though, he was fine and Noah was the last thing on his mind. Up at dawn he would go hunting with the story teller while his wife kept the house and small farm that they had and they’d go into the woods to hunt birds and the like and every day Fallon was told a different story about Gods and Goddesses, demons and all kinds of great and wonderful things. He was also taught how to shoot a bow and arrow over the nine years he spent with them, he was also taught to hunt and forage in the woods and the land around them, and every night when he lay down to sleep he no longer thought about Noah like he had when he had when he’d been younger.

Nine years later and Noah stumbled back into the settlement. Fallon wasn’t the first to great him as he’d been out fishing at the time, but when he found out that his brother was back, he raced back. Only, things weren’t as they were. Before he embraced his brother, Fallon hesitated for a moment and he knew that Noah noticed it because his brother had to clear his throat to get Fallon to even move forward that last few steps. There was just something different about Noah that he didn’t like and yet he couldn’t explain it. So instead he pushed it aside and embraced his brother and tried to summon up the elation that he just couldn’t feel. Yes, he was happy that Noah had returned alive and whole, but it was the joy of having a warrior return from battle and not that of a baby brother. Maybe it was because Noah didn’t seem that enthused to see him or it was the fact that the entire settlement had hounded him. So, after a quick hug and a ‘I’ll see you later’, Fallon slunk off with his tail between his legs in no mood for the celebration.

Over the following years, the brothers tried to reconnect, they really did. Fallon showed him everything that he had learnt but Noah seemed to always find something to pick and poke at while fending off the women folk that wanted to hear tales of the war and offers from wealthier travellers that wanted a mercenary. Every time Noah poked, Fallon snapped, every time he prodded, Fallon hissed until eventually he just took off and left Noah to the mercy of the villagers.  Alaric’s wife, Ava, tried to get the brothers to bond but to no good, and they got in to enough fights both verbal and physical that on occasions Fallon was left with a bloodied lip or black eye and Noah was left with another dent in his conscious. Fallon may’ve been good with a hunting knife or a bow, but his brother was deadly with or without weapons so Fallon never fought back. So in the end both brothers were left sitting on opposite sides of a chasm that only seemed to get wider and wider and ultimately led to Fallon’s mounting frustration and anger, even Old Alaric called him up on that a time or two when it cost them a night’s dinner.

Old Alaric died two years later, just after Fallon’s twenty sixth birthdays. Ava had passed the previous autumn before and it was the only reason that had Fallon alone on the coast watching a pyre burn rather than finding out about the war in the south. It was then he decided that he really wanted to make things up with Noah. He returned to the settlement too late, apparently his brother and the other warriors had gone that morning. Rather that race after them like an idiot, Fallon retreated to the old shack that had been his home for years with Alaric and Ava and broke down. He screamed and he raged and he prayed that his brother would return again, just one last time, but he never did. It was only then he realized how stupid he’d been for letting the gap between him and Noah stay so wide.

Noah never returned.

It was six months before he really gathered himself together to carry on with things. He became the story teller for the village like Alaric had been before him. He told the children stories that defied all possible imagination while the adults got on with things. After about a year and a half though, things got a little hectic. A very bad harvest had left the settlement running low on food and to make matters worse they’d gotten word of a small wolf pack that had been scavenging to close for anyone’s comfort. When the first body turned up and it was decided by the head of the settlement that they needed to do something about the wolves, when Fallon saw no one volunteering, he offered to go out and hunt the pack down. He was given a horse, supplies enough for a week if he stretched them, and sent on his way. Of course he wasn’t stupid and he didn’t really trust the villagers much, more so the so called leader that should’ve gone off with his damned warriors to war. He stopped by his home to retrieve what he would need, his bow was better than any dagger.

Setting out properly this time, he tracked the animals for a week before setting up a trap far enough away from the village that no one would be bothered by it. Rather than taking the wolves on all at one time he settled into picking them off, one or two over the space of a few days, then another few weeks would pass before he would take more out disrupting their routine and scaring them away from villages they even looked towards for their next meal. Eventually however, he got them  all and returned home with the wolf pelts almost a full year later. It was a bit of a shock to find that the settlement had changed so much, so many of the elders had passed on and the leadership had shifted to a new generation. One that Fallon knew all too well. Abner, son of Esca; One of the other boys that had missed out on the last war had taken over the headship to allow his father some peace through his final days. Fallon wasn’t allowed to approach the old leader directly and when he brought his ‘case’ to Abner, the other male dismissed him. Called him mad, said he’d made a pact with the devil because no one would’ve been able to kill a pack of wolves alone. Rather than accept or deny, Fallon dumped the wolf pelts at the man’s feet before walking away as Abner made it a law before everyone that he should be shunned. Any help of any kind would be met with a punishment and so on and so forth, Fallon didn’t catch the end of it. He did work out what was happening though about fortnight later when no one would look at him, trade, and talk or even walk by him without warding themselves.

It hurt Fallon to his core because of what he and his family had done for the village, but he was determined to weather the bad patch. Only it was a bit longer than any patch, for six full years passed and he was alone through it all. Starved of touch and conversation, Fallon withdrew into a hermit like lifestyle living in the village so to speak but not a part of it. Then the strangest thing happened, after returning from a fishing trip on the coast, Fallon almost walked smack bang into his brother. His dead ice cold to the touch brother. Naturally he gaped like a caught fish before bolting for his home leaving Noah standing there like a statue. He must have been mad! For the next two nights he was scared to close his eyes and stayed locked away in his home and then on the third night Noah banged on his door asking to come in. Rather than have an argument with his dead brother, Fallon invited him in…and fainted.

The following night Noah walked right in and Fallon didn’t even flinch but kicked out a seat from his table and going back to his stew. Since he believed he was mad at the time, Fallon happily listened to what Noah had to tell him for the next few weeks. Fairies were real? Could’ve fooled him! People changed into animals? Get out of here! Noah had been turned into the undead on the battlefield by the Lord Fallon had seen with him weeks previous….No, seriously, get out demon. Fallon snapped and the brotherly fight lasted for weeks before either one of them were calm again to sit in the same room without threats of impalement of some kind, and not once did Fallon tell his brother what had happened in the village to cause him to live like a hermit. He didn’t mark the year passing, but he did try his damnedest to try and fix things with Noah despite his frustration and then one night – exactly a year to the day – he met Master Mikhail. Noah was powerless to do anything as the old Master vampire deep rolled Fallon and tore into his throat.

Sometime later, Fallon woke up starving with fangs in his mouth. Naturally he panicked because he was no longer in his home and he was out of his element. Noah caught him before he could bolt anywhere and tried to explain things before Mikhail came to them. Apparently Mik had grown impatient and turned Fallon and now Fallon would live forever if he fed on the life blood of the living. Gods be damned! If Noah hadn’t already been dead, Fallon would have throttled him or Mikhail. Since he didn’t trust Mikhail as far as he could throw him, Fallon stuck to his brother’s side as the Master told him what was going to happen next and if he didn’t stop hissing and spitting like an annoyed kitten then he could easily die the true death. Rather than argue, Fallon accepted his fate and in a roundabout way, thought of it as a way to see if the old stories Alaric had told him were true. It didn’t stop him from cringing and whimpering when Noah and Mikhail showed him how to feed, and yet again another argument erupted between the brothers that left Mikhail ordering Noah away for the evening while Fallon stayed with Mikhail. He probably would have been scared by his brothers parting words “No, Master Mikhail. You won’t use him.” But he wasn’t. He found it exciting, almost as exhilarating as the rush of blood he’d taken from the girl they’d gotten him. Truth be told, he’d never liked any of the girls in their village because they were stuck up.

He should’ve been humiliated by the actions he took with his master but he wasn’t at all. In fact it was the first he’d really felt in years after having been starved of touch. It also explained why when Noah and Jasper had pushed girls towards him growing up, Fallon had sent them away. He wasn’t a virgin by any means, but it wasn’t something that he’d broadcasted in life. For once in a long time he was happy and content, and in a way it opened himself up to all kinds of guilty pleasures. While he learned to control his new instincts, Mikhail would use him when Noah misbehaved, and when Fallon misbehaved, he would use Noah. Both fledglings learned fast that their ‘father’ wouldn’t be swayed by a honeyed tongue and sweet actions eithers.

Centuries came and went and they travelled all over the world, and then one day Noah reached his Masterhood and the attention shifted from the two of them to Noah. Fallon was jealous and he hid it be slinking off more and more on his own and risked his neck more times than he could count. His brother was only six hundred and forty seven years old! Why couldn’t he have new powers as well? Oh yeah, he sulked. Mikhail snapped one evening and threw him in a coffin while Noah was away for an evening. The sulking turned to panic and out right fear. Being trapped in a box reduced him to nothing within hours and when Noah tore through it, Fallon clung to his brother and cried his eyes out for all he was worth. Fallon didn’t blame Mikhail at the end of the day, he hadn’t told anyone about his claustrophobia ever thinking it humiliating enough, but it was a good century before he felt truly comfortable about his maker again.

More time passed and as Fallon approached his seven hundredth and eleventh year as a vampire, something happened that changed him. Something clicked inside his head, he could feel werewolves and without knowing what he was doing he called the local pack to him. However that wasn’t the only thing that clicked in him, the Ardeur. Unbeknown to him, Noah and Mikhail had gotten into a little trouble with the church and Mikhail was using Fallon as a proxy to feed from. The pack wolves that came were sent into a lust induced frenzy and Fallon was in the centre of it and enjoying every moment. It wasn’t until a few evening safter that he found out one of the wolves that had come had been barely fifteen years old, shocked by that revolution, he waited patiently for his maker and brother to return, still riding the high from the new powers and feeding. Mikhail and Noah were just as surprised as he was when they came back. It was nice…

And then six hundred years later the nice changed. Fallon had grown bored living in his brother’s shadow as well as Mikhail’s and asked if he could leave, after asking his brother of course. Mikhail granted his wish and the brothers said good bye but promised to stay in touch. One thousand and three hundred years old and it was safe to say he’d learnt a lot in his time. He’d gotten a hold of his master powers, fed his incubus side on a regular basis so there’d never be a mistake again with the teenage wolf from when they first showed. He eventually settled in Coventry at age two thousand one hundred, but he hid his powers from the Mistress that accepted him into her Kiss. Morgana was an interesting woman, he’d been drawn to her beauty and she’d been drawn to his bloodline powers. He was her personal toy for the next five hundred years, he jumped when she said so, he started to plot her downfall when she personally tore into a werewolf and rather than letting the poor shapeshifter die, Morgana infected it with her corrupting bite. He was forced to watch as the young boy – barely eighteen – rotted to death in slow agony on the floor because she’d been insulted by the shirt he’d worn. When she’d been lulled into a false sense of security and had had enough of Fallon, she traded him away for something new. Little did she know that he’d given the Temion of her kiss the keys to take her down and the last thing he heard from Morgana or anyone within the Coventry Kiss was that the manor house had gone up in flames.

Oh well. Jackford was interesting enough, even though he’d been ‘gifted’ to the Master of the City at the time to do with as he pleased. Luckily, Fallon won him over and fought his way to the top by wit, skill and sheer power once he was settled in. The Kiss from what he could tell was really new and finding its feet, so he used it to his advantage to get a hold on the city over the next five hundred years. The only interesting thing that tickled his fancy was meeting a werewolf in 2007 on the outskirts of the city. Fallon had been dealing with a rogue alpha that had been the companion of a vampire that had insulted a previous Master of the City and out of a misguided sense of comradeship, Jesse attacked him after Fallon had killed the other werewolf and Fallon had no option but to defend himself from the spirited pup’s mauling while nursing wounds from the other wolf. Jesse staggered off and Fallon traced him back to the Pack house, rather than leaving the wolf to stay unconscious on the kitchen floor Fallon took him back to his home outside of the Kiss manor and patched him up as much as best as he could. When Jesse woke up, he came back singing and Fallon unknowingly gave him the first mark as an animal servant as he taunted and teased the irritable wolf before explaining what had happened. Simple enough right? Right.

Jesse decided to stay with him as his willing blood donor the following year and Fallon was ecstatic. Then he got a call from someone he hadn’t heard of in a long time in early 2010. Mikhail wanted him to return to deal with some delicate werewolf issues for him. He was surprised because he’d thought that Mikhail would’ve known other wolf callers but apparently not anyone as experienced as he was. Shrugging off his curiosity, he bade Jesse fair well and slipped across the pond to New York. Trouble was an understatement, there were four packs fighting for one territory! Fallon was in New York for just under a year and counted down the days until he could get home, he even had a chance to drop by New Jersey and visit Noah for a few nights before him came home to find Jesse picking a fight in one of the local clubs. Then when the last Master of the City left Jackford, Fallon did the only thing he could as he was still wheeling from the trip and familiar faces, he called his Maker and got the promise that Jackford wouldn’t be without a Master for long.

A fortnight later his brother showed up. [/LIST]</span>

[seaselkie]

20 Questions Tag

I was tagged a while back by @seylaaurora to do this and I’m finally doing it :) Here goes

1. Name: I can’t say it lest the faeries take it for nefarious means

2. Nicknames: In most places I’m Tatty, which I’ve had for years. I was previously called Elfie by friends in school because I guess?? I look like an elf... But there have been others here and there which didn’t stick so much. I spent four years while I was in college and Uni going by my middle name just because I felt like it, though.

3. Zodiac Sign: Scorpio (and I’m more irrationally happy about this than I probably should be, especially for someone who really puts no stock into horoscope or zodiac lore).

4. Height: 5′1″

5. Languages spoken: English. I knew a little German years ago but I’m very out of practice and couldn’t string together a full sentence, now. There was one summer I tried to teach myself trigedasleng but that didn’t go far. And I have picked up odd words or phrases here and there of Italian and Japanese, the former thanks to a week in Europe with friends last year and the later thanks to watching a tv series in the original language. But yeah - fluent only in English.

6. Nationality: Neverlandean ¬¬

7. Favourite season: Autumn

8. Favourite flower: Orchids

9. Favourite scent: hmm...I tend to veer towards jasmine and honeysuckle for bottled smells or candles. And I have a ‘winter spice’ candle - whatever that is - that I won’t light anymore because it’s almost out and I love the smell. But I’d also say I love the smell of a campfire, or the air right after heavy rain. That last is probably my favourite, honestly.

10. Favourite colour: Brown

11. Favourite animal: R e d  P a n d a s. I’m sure people who know me will be SHOCKED to read this haha. I’m obsessed. They’re such beautiful, adorable, goofy little creatures and they’re so endangered. Getting to hold a red panda is on my fairly short bucket list. But other animals I really love include: Orca whales, Quokkas, owls (specifically barn, snowy and malasian wood), fruit bats and Arabian horses.

12. Favourite fictional character(s): oh dear. oh no. um. So, the thing is - I fandom hop a lot and characters I’m obsessed with at the time I’m in the fandom I can also feel fairly apathetic about months later if i’m really deep into a different fandom. So it’s tricky but I guess ....ones that I’ve loved for a long, long time and tend to sort of stick with me (and this has no bearing on my opinion of the show/movie/book itself, or their storylines): Jess Mariano from Gilmore Girls, Percy Jackson from Percy Jackson and the Olympians (books not movies), Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Stiles Stilinkski from Teen Wolf. These are ones that I have a long history of always liking but that said I really very quickly fell in love with BD-1 the little buddy droid from the Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order video game. so. There’s that.

13. Coffee, tea or hot chocolate: hot chocolate, hands down. I’ll drink tea occasionally but I’m not overly fond of it and coffee very literally makes me nauseated. Even the smell turns my stomach, so that’s a no-go.

14. Average sleep hours: maybe 7? Sometimes I sleep in to make up for routinely going to bed late, but not always so i fluctuate a lot.

15: Dog or cat person: Both. Hands down. I never want to pick between these because I just can’t. 

16. Number of blankets you sleep with: Varies. Usually at least one but sometimes i’ll pile on a few more if it’s cold. I’m a blanket hoarder - I love buying all kinds of different ones so I can pick and choose.

17. Dream trip: Probably something that incorporates a bunch of things I want to do, But that’s not possible. There’s a lot of things I want to do, not all of them for the first time. There’s places I want to see, not all of those for the first time, either and I just want to have fun doing them. I think any trip that enabled me to cross off some of those things would be a dream. Which means I’ve already had more than one dream trip.

18. Blog established: Oh heck. Years ago? I have no idea. I’ll go look..April 2013. I guessed it was spring-time ish but nice to get the year confirmed. I do remember I got this blog thanks to the Percy Jackson books, so there’s that, too.

19. Followers: No idea about this either. I don’t even know where to find out. Checking...Whoa 298. ....I appreciate all of you so much, just fyi, but equally...how did you all get here? I hope it’s not boring bc I have no idea what I’m doing.

20: A random fact: Have one about red pandas - they’re not genetically closely related to any other still living animal in the world. They are on a divergent evolutionary tree of their own, that branched off before Giant Pandas, other bears or even raccoons or cats. But there finally is conclusive proof that there are two entirely unique species of Red Panda; the Chinese and the Himalayan. (and turns out choosing which random red panda fact to provide was really difficult).

...

Welp. There we go. I have no idea who I’d tag for this, though - most people probably already have been but if you haven’t and you want in, consider yourself stamped :)

[camkablam]

MCSM Headcanons Because Why Not

-Nurm is aromantic; Jack technically isn’t, but he’s long lost interest in having a romantic relationship. The two married for tax benefits.

-Admin’s can’t teleport or ‘blink each other out of existence.’

-Romeo hadn’t meant to kill Fred. He’d just wanted him to get out and, when he’d refused, he’d tried to teleport him. He hadn’t meant to make his heart explode.

-After falling from the Witherstorm, Jesse developed an almost crippling fear of heights. They had a panic attack when they went to Sky City, especially when they had to get off the island they’d appeared on and when Lukas (quickly followed by themselves) were shoved off the edge, not to mention when they and the Founder had to build their way back up; then there was when they fell through Cassie’s death trap; when they had to jump into a tiny pool of water to get into Harper’s lab, and the giant and seemingly bottomless redstone hole they had to fight their friend in to defeat PAMA as the Redstone Heart retracted. While they don’t get panic attacks about them anymore, Jesse still has an ever-present weariness of heights and will avoid them if they can. Which, sadly, isn’t often.

-Somehow, at some point, Ivor started seeing Jesse as his kid and Jesse started seeing him as a father figure and it took them both a ridiculous amount of time to notice.

-Ivor sometimes calls Jesse bluejay.

-He also calls Harper his sunny sky or sunlight, a little nod to how she used to live in a Mesa Biome; Harper calls Ivor her poppy.

-There are times where Radar tends to follow Jesse everywhere; it kind of reminds Jesse of how Reuben used to follow them everywhere, something that’s only heightened by the fact that, out of everyone, Jesse has the urge to protect Radar the most, just like they had with Reuben.

-Because of the above headcanon, Jesse is absolutely terrified of Radar facing the same fate Reuben had, especially when they were dragged into season two and he tagged along. If Jesse let Radar lead the Giant Enderman away, they’re constantly worrying about him throughout the majority of the following episode.

-At times, as Ivor tries to find the rest of the original Order and Petra tries to find her purpose, they’ll run into each other and travel together for a while. Even though neither, especially Petra, will ever admit it, they both find these little get-togethers immensely comforting.

-Before they became too busy to do so, Jesse and their friends would sometimes go and compete in the Games now that they weren’t rigged anymore; said Games are now broadcasted across multiple worlds, including Jesse’s world, Crown Mesa, the Two Moons world, Sky City and, now, the Underneath.

-Porkchop and their gang especially enjoy watching the Games. They hope to participate themselves sometime soon.

-If Radar left to distract the Enderman and never really got to see the Old Order’s temple, Jesse takes him back there so he can freak out about it and explore to his heart's content (after, of course, making sure all the traps have been disabled).

-If Jesse decides to stay in Beacontown, they settle down for a while, but do eventually pick up adventuring again and go out once or twice a month. There are times they’re joined by Olivia, Axel and Lukas, albeit rarely all at once, but more often than not they’re adventuring partners are Jack, Nurm and, if they were nice to her, Stella; there are times Radar even tags along.

-Jesse and Stella co-parent Lluna. Jesse has her Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, while Stella has her Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays. On Wednesdays, she’s usually with both of them, since Jesse and Stella usually take Wednesdays to hang out together, be it in Beacontown or Champion City.

-Radar never gets the hang of a sword, but he does prove to be incredibly good with a shield. Lukas even teaches him to use a bow properly, which he eventually becomes decent at.

-If both Romeo and Xara survive, their reunion is just as terrible as you’d expect it to be, with Xara slapping him so hard, she leaves a massive bruise on the side of his face. Afterwards, they avoid each other, with Romeo mostly sticking to the area around Romeoburg and Xara staying around the Oasis and Fred’s Keep.

-To Romeo’s surprise, he actually befriends Val and Soup, who decide to help him fix up the Underneath. One of the first things they do is destroy his Admin Arena Death Trap.

-Romeo is, naturally, harassed, beaten and even kidnapped by various scavenger groups, including Porkchop’s. During a particularly brutal kidnapping that would have ended with his death, he’s saved by Xara after Val and Soup go to her for help. They’re still not exactly on speaking terms afterwards, especially after Romeo’s healed enough to leave the Oasis, but they do start to acknowledge each other.

-Jesse, Radar, Nurm or Jack check up on the Heckmouth every now and again, just to make sure it’s still holding.

-Jack put Sammy’s remains in the safest place he could find in his shop after they defeated the Colossus; he almost collapsed in relief when they returned to the Underneath and he discovered it was still there.

-Lukas, of course, wrote a book about the season two adventure. Radar grinned for days when he realised that his role in it is more major than he’d initially expected (especially if he distracted the Enderman).

-When Romeo and Xara finally, finally get to the closest they’ll ever be to how things were before, they’re both surprisingly protective of the other. 

-Romeo is almost ridiculously quiet, shy and timid, a completely different person than the one that had destroyed Jesse’s town, whereas Xara is rougher and more aggressive than he remembers, even if she’s just ruffling his hair. The end result is rather strange.

-There are times where Romeo acts like a scared child, hiding when things become too tense or overwhelming, even when it doesn’t seem like anything’s happening at all. His favourite hiding spot is someplace freezing cold, like a meat locker, but if that’s unavailable, he’ll hide in the back of a closet or under the bed. There are times where he’ll stay there for hours, if he’s not dragged out by Xara.

-Radar is terrible for hiding illness. When Jesse catches him (and they always catch him), they drag him to one of the rooms in Order Hall, makes sure he has everything he needs, before threatening to tie him to the bed if he tries to work and getting back to tending to Beacontown, making sure to pop in every few hours to make sure Radar was doing okay. 

-Before heading down to the Underneath, Romeo helped fix up Beacontown and rebuild Champion City. He didn’t say anything about the amount of people that beat, screamed and harassed him while he did so.

-Petra, Ivor, Lukas, Axel, Olivia and Jesse always write each other at least once a week. Even Jack writes Petra at times. It’s a little difficult to write with Ivor and Petra, since they’re both constantly travelling, but they make it work.

-Romeo and Xara eventually start exchanging letters with Jesse as well.

-Lluna joins Jesse almost every single time they go on an adventure. Turns out having a ninja llama can be quite helpful.

-No one says useful. No one.

-Aiden and Lukas eventually started writing each other. They like to chat about books and writing a lot, and send each other extracts of their work in progress. Aiden also writes to Jesse.

-Romeo constantly forgets to eat, sleep, sometimes even breathe and always ends up overworking himself. Collapsing became a regular thing, which freaked out both Val and Soup, and usually ended with one of them running to get Xara. 

-When Romeo got sick for the first time after being humanised, he honestly thought he was dying; he wasn’t sure what to think afterwards when he realised how okay he’d been with that.

-Cassie is the youngest Old Builder. The oldest is Otto, followed by Hadrian, Mevia, Harper and Isa.

-Despite being the leader, Jesse is the youngest out of the new Order. Petra is the oldest, followed by Axel, Lukas and Olivia. However, they were all born in the same year.

-Aiden writes romance. Lukas likes romance, but prefers to write adventure.

-Despite looking older, Ivor’s actually the youngest of the original Order. Gabriel was the oldest, followed by Soren, Ellegaard and Magnus.

-Ellegaard constantly teased Magnus about being older.

-Out of the Admins, Fred was the oldest and Romeo was the youngest; there was a whole year between them. Xara was right smack in the middle, being six months younger than Fred, but six months older than Romeo.

-When Ivor was still hiding behind a cold mask, he’d frequently avoid calling the new Order by their names so everyone would be under the impression that he didn’t actually care about them; he’d call Axel ‘big guy,’ Olivia ‘redstone girl’ and Lukas ‘blond guy.’ But he always referred to Petra and Jesse by name due to feeling guilty about what the Witherstorm had done to them.

-One time, when Jesse, Ivor and Harper had been exploring a new, civilised world together, Jesse had been mistaken as Ivor and Harper’s kid, with Ivor and Harper being mistaken as husband and wife. They never told anyone about this incident, but never corrected anyone either.

-Every year on Founding Day, as Beacontown celebrates late into the night, Jesse sneaks away and gives himself a few hours to simply sit and miss his little pig.

[cianmars]

The Charmings next generation :

Benjamin James Charming

After being an energetic toddler and child he went on to join both the lacrosse and soccer teams. He works really hard to earn a scholarship to one of the colleges on the day he receives the news of his scholarship he also receives other news, his friend, whom he slept with, was pregnant with his child. He promised to support his friend and his baby no matter what, he changed his major to a slightly more helpful one.

Seven months later, the baby was born, and he was named after his maternal grandfather, Declan James Charming. His mom, Jess, and his dad, Ben, split custody and with help from their parents volunteering to watch Declan while both of them attended their college classes and worked. Declan’s cousin Mia is the same age and the two are soon inseparable, and give their families a run for their money, both bundles of energy which only seem to get into more and more trouble the older they get.

While in his second year of college Ben joins a study group where he meets Alison, who seems to be the complete opposite of him, she’s quiet, introverted, and really into computers and programming. Despite their differences the two hit it off, Ben makes sure that he’s serious about her before he introduces her to his son, luckily two year old Declan hits it off with Ali too.

They move into an apartment when they graduate, Declan has his own room and spends half the week with his dad and the other half with his mom. Ben works as a physical therapist for the Hyperion Heights Giant’s soccer team, Alison starts up a technology company which quickly becomes the most well known in the United Realms.

Declan’s ten when Ben pulls Ali aside at his family’s Christmas/ Hanukkah party, he is sweating when he gets down on one knee and asks Alison if she’ll give him the pleasure of marrying him. She says yes. 10 months later they welcome their first child together, Ben’s second child, into the family.

Declan helps them in choosing the baby’s middle name, who they name Samuel Lancelot Charming, known as Sammy to his family and friends.

Sammy is a lot like Declan and Ben in that he is an absolute bundle of energy, he’s quite chaotic, and can talk a mile a minute, finding that he posses the Charming Charm TM and can talk pretty much anyone around to his way... perhaps apart from his mom.

They move out of their starter apartment and into a house only a little away from Ben’s brother and brother-in-law, close to the soccer stadium where Ben works and Ali’s company, Declan starts to spend even more time in his new home, his mom is an artist so her apartment, while homely, is a lot more chaotic.

Their next child is a girl called Phoebe Mae Charming, Ben expected her to be as extroverted as her brothers but she’s much quieter, she follows her parents around like a shadow, often without them even realising. She is close to her cousins and quickly finds a playmate in the form of Luke who is a couple of years older.

Phobe is only a young toddler when Ali finds herself pregnant again, and when Florence Ella Charming, Flo, is born Phoebe loves helping her parents look after her, the two quickly become inseparable. Florence is very girly, she is quiet unless she’s around her friends or family, at which point she becomes as chaotic and extroverted as her brothers. She also adores her oldest brother Declan, who is a teenager when she is born, like her sister she loves it when they welcome another baby into their family when she’s six.

They hadn’t been planning on having another child, but when Henry and Ella tell them about a baby who is in the orphanage they run in Snow and David’s old castle both Ben and Ali are unable to resist the 18 month old. Joshua Jacob Charming was born with issues with his heart, which while could be treated would need several operations and would need to be treated as he grew, his birth parents decided that was too much for them so they gave him up. Josh quickly finds his place in the family, he’s so happy when he’s around them that many don’t believe that he has heart problems at all. Because of all his time in hospitals, and slightly because of his Uncle PJ’s influence, he wants to be a doctor or a scientist when he’s older.

Jake x PJ’s life and kids X

@findingtallahassee @queenofglassbeliever @lilacmoon83

[belizedeservesbetter]

Please Give Ann Darrow Some Shoes!

Yes, King Kong the musical is as bad as it looks

Where do I even start? 

If you think this musical looks like a complete disaster, let me assure you that it is. If you, like me, thought making King Kong into a musical was a bad idea, you were right. Worst of all, Ben Brantley and Jesse Green of The New York Times were right. It pains me that I have to say it, because even I, an overly harsh theatre person, think they’re both assholes. 

But let’s start with the positive. 

King Kong himself is pretty cool. At least the first time you see him. He’s huge and intimidating and an overall extraordinary achievement in puppetry. There is a moment in Act Two (slight spoilers?) where Kong walks all the way to the edge of the stage and reaches a hand out into the audience before standing up to his full height which was the best moment in the whole show. It really let you soak in the details of this puppet in almost complete silence (this show is so loud!) and see just how expressive the puppet actually is. 

Though honestly? Kong gets a little underwhelming after a while. He’s lifted up out of scenes into the rafters which is really awkward to watch because his body just goes completely limp and you remember that he really is just an expensive puppet Avenue Q could only dream of having. Also, they didn’t bring him up completely during the last song, so you could see a lone Kong foot dangling while Ann Darrow sings the last bad song, but more on that later. 

The King Kong puppet is so expressive! It’s more expressive than the entire cast! 

I am sure Christiani Pitts is very talented but honestly she isn’t great in this show. Her Ann Darrow is underwhelming, but that also may be because Ann Darrow is so poorly written. She’s a “strong woman,” or what the men writing this show think a strong woman is. She doesn’t scream, she roars. She also has no real defining personality traits. But going back to the roar - it isn’t really a roar at all. For a show that reiterates the importance of her roar again and again and again, it better be a damn good roar. But it isn’t. Pitts was actually really quiet, and my rush seat was pretty close to the stage. 

But my real beef is with Eric William Morris and his character Carl. I am sure Morris is regretting leaving Be More Chill every day because despite my frustration with aspects of that show, at least it’s got a solid foundation. And The Squip was pretty good. But oh man he is bad in King Kong. He is the cartoon evil villain of every Fairly Odd Parents episode I’ve ever seen. He’s so ridiculously evil that he doesn’t even make sense. Plot hole notice - we never find out why he wanted to go to Skull Island in particular in the first place. I’m assuming he knew King Kong was there, but he also seemed very surprised that a giant gorilla resided there. What was he expecting?

I am now incredibly worried about Beetlejuice the Musical because Eddie Perfect’s score was downright awful. None of the songs were good - and there weren’t many actual songs? Most of it was ominous scoring and intense King Kong running music. The actual songs were all terrible. There’s a lyric that goes, “There’s fire in the water. The water is vapor.” This line is actually stressing me out because it makes zero sense. All of Ann Darrow’s ballads sounded exactly the same. You could play me all of them back to back and I wouldn’t be able to tell you the difference. They were also oddly contemporary? Like this musical is set (in like the 20s? maybe? they talked like contemporary people but Carl mentioned knowing Clara Bow so I don’t know) far in the past but the music was all very modern and didn’t fit at all. “But Hamilton!” you say. Yes, I know, BUT while King Kong is very realistic in terms of setting and storytelling, Hamilton’s turnstyle set and direct-address approach to telling the story makes it clear this is America’s today telling the story of America’s past. 

The plot is weird and doesn’t make sense, but we’re not even gonna go into that one. 

The whole show felt like it was on 2x speed. I felt like I barely sat down when Queen of New York started and ended. Even Pitts was out of breath! Everything moved way too fast in that I had no time to learn about the characters and the show was trying to get to the next big action piece. Even the choreography felt too fast and too much like everyone was just throwing their limbs in different directions. I think the phrase I’m looking for is “jerky movements” but regardless it was bad. But it was also way too slow in that the book scenes were so poorly written it was unbearable to sit through.

Perhaps a layer of hell is a bad book to a musical. 

There’s a lot in this musical that is totally ridiculous! There’s a snake fight! If you thought Kong was the only puppet, you’d be mistaken. There’s a giant snake! A whole snake fight scene! There’s moving/dancing vines! There’s weird projection set pieces! Carl says about King Kong, “This isn’t film, this is theatre!”

And poor Ann Darrow has to go through this half the time without shoes. I swear to God she never has shoes on in this damn show and I don’t know why it bothers me so much! Running through the jungle with no shoes! On the top of the Empire State Building with no shoes! Whenever there’s an “emotional” moment she has no shoes on! So impractical! So improbable! It’s like Bryce Dallas Howard in Jurassic Park with the heels all over again. 

But let’s talk about that last song. Spoiler but it’s basically Ann on the top of the Empire State Building (with no help in sight?) singing about the wonder that was King Kong and how much he has inspired her. But he didn’t? He did nothing but wreak havoc on the city! People died, Ann! 

When Kong dies and falls off the building, that probably crushed even more people and buildings! Also he’s a gorilla! I really find it hard to believe he understood every single thing she said to him! She’s singing about wonder but she didn’t really learn anything from him. 

I suppose the only way to end this (way too long) review is to call out the girl sitting behind me who recorded the whole show, causing ushers to shine flashlights into the row multiple times. She also took pictures, with the picture taking sound on with the volume all the way up. She was annoying and incredibly disrespectful and reminded me that people who record Broadway shows really piss me off.

People at intermission who were really wowed by the puppet were saying how, “This is what live theatre can be! This is what live theatre can do!” But honestly, should it?