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randomwritingguy · 1 year

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The Myth of Y/N (Korra x Reader) Part 31

A DEAL WITH THE DARKNESS

Y/N’S POV

A small radio lies still on the small table before me. Despite its size, I feel like a prey to a giant. Fists clenching tight, sweat on my skin, and teeth gritting, I stare at the communications device that will soon change my life forever.

“Y/N! What happened to you?! Are you okay?! How did you get out?!

“Zaheer. We need to get to Korra immediately!”

I don’t know how long it has been since we escaped Ba Sing Se. Despite the beauty and the utopian atmosphere that surrounded the metal city of Zaofu, I still can’t shake the sights I saw from my mind. Those awful, awful sights.

Getting out of their cell, Mako and Bolin rush to me with concerned faces. The other prisoners run out of their own, screaming cheers and joyous profanities at the dream come true that their tormentor that was their highness was dead and that they are free.

Free. No-one is free now.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Mako asks me, fear etched in his face. “You look like you can barely stand.”

No. I’m not all right. If anything, I feel like a corpse that is forced to walk via invisible strings like I am some twisted puppet. But that doesn’t matter. Not right now. The Air Nation is more important.

“I said I’m fine!” I snarl, turning away from them both. “We need to get out of here! I’ll tell you all along the way what the message is.”

While the others are too focused on the other radio they are using in desperate hope to get into contact with the Northern Air Temple, I’m all alone using a spare.

Good. I don’t want anyone to see this.

When we finally rush out the main gates of the palace, I am greeted with the stuff that my own mind could not imagine.

In such a short amount of time, chaos erupted.

Screams, shouts, shrieks, yells surround us all along with the blazing heat of flames that consume the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se like a hungry mauling animal. So many flames. So many screams. So, so many.

“I can’t believe it!” Mako exclaims in shock. “The Upper Ring is in chaos!”

“Should we do something?” Bolin asks aloud, shocked and devastated as we all are.

“This isn’t our battle. We have to deliver Zaheer’s message to Korra immediately.”

The two brothers start walking away from the palace, focusing on the task at hand, to find an airship to esacpe. But I stay still. Frozen like a platinum statue that not even the famous Toph Beifong can’t move.

So many flames. So many screams.

“Y/N?”

I don’t hear it. How can I? How can I hear my name when all I can hear are the screams and yells that overwhelm the beacon of the Earth Kingdom?

“Y/N!”

So many flames. So many screams. So many.

This is all my fault…

If I was strong enough, If I had enough power, I could have prevented all of this.

How many will suffer because of my failure?

Y/N!”

Rough hands on my sides shaking me partially snaps me out of my thoughts.

Mako is staring at me, teeth gritted, with golden eyes staring into my own E/C.

“Snap out of it, Y/N!” he barks out, using his authority as a police officer. “Remember what you told us! We need to get to Korra! The Air Nation’s survival depends on it!”

Shaking my head slightly, I completely rid the awful thoughts from my mind.

He’s right. Focus on the task. Grieve later.

“Yes, yes.” I mutter to him, nodding slightly. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

As if time was slowed down through a force beyond our understanding, I rise my arm and stretch out towards the radio in slow motion.

The rough exterior of the radio speaker adds to the intense feel as I grab it with my palm.

Seeing Korra and Asami in Misty Palms after hours of rescue, escape, and dread from the crumbling Ba Sing Se gave me enough joy to smile just a bit. But only a bit.

Despite the relief, the flames and screams still echo at the back of my mind. They persisted throughout our rescue of Mako and Bolin’s family and the long transport from the city to the desert. I have a feeling they will persist for a long, long time.

The happiness and relief that was briefly expressed on the blinding smiles on Korra and Asami when they saw us quickly vanish as they see my bruised and battered state.

“What happened?!” Korra asks with panic and fear as she rushes up to me, ignoring Mako and Bolin, and placing her right hand on my shoulder and cupping my cheek with the other.

“Tortured by the Earth Queen.” I tell her bluntly, slightly leaning into her hand. Unlike the blazing heat that I felt in the city, the warmth I felt on my cheek by my best friend’s hand. I harden my gaze at her slightly. “She’s dead.”

Korra’s eyes flash with utter rage upon the revelation. “I know.” She growls. Then, her features soften. “I am so, so sorry, Y/N.”

“Korra, no.” I tell her, placing my hand on top of her own and giving it squeeze. “None of this is your fault. Okay? None of it is. But, right now, we have more important matters to discuss. Zaheer wanted me to give you a message.”

Her mouth drops slightly and I can feel her hands tense up as with the rest of her body. “What message?”

Here it goes.

Taking a deep and long breath, I finally tell her. “The Red Lotus is heading towards the Northern Air Temple right now. If you don’t turn yourself in, they are going to wipe out the Air Nation…for good.”

Taking the radio, I start the call.

I sit and wait. And wait. And wait. And wait.

Finally, after a second, minute, hour, day, week, month, year, decade, century, a thousand years, the other end picks up.

The first thing I hear is the rough, heavy voice of my dad.

“Hello?”

Swallowing a gulp, I start talking.

“Hello, father.”

I purposefully call him the more formal “father.” Maybe it might lessen the pain if I create some distance.

After a brief moment of hesitation, he responds with a simple but tense “Y/N. You finally called.”

“I have.”

“I take it you have finally made your decision?”

Clenching the radio tighter, squeezing it perhaps too much, I swallow a gulp once more. I repeat my previous answer in a monotone “I have.”

“And?”

Here it goes.

Taking a deep and long breath once again, I let out sigh. Finally, I give him my answer.

“I’m joining the Air Nation.”

As soon as the words leave my lips, I can feel the life that I once lived shatter entirely into shards. The intensity of the atmosphere is almost overwhelming.

Then, out of nowhere, the transmission ends.

Wait, what?

I check the radio and…

He ended it.

He didn’t even say goodbye.

He just…ended it.

Slumping down in the chair, I just…stare.

Not at the radio. Not at anything, really.

Just…staring.

So, that’s it.

I’ve been disowned.

I am no longer welcome in my own home back at the South Pole.

No longer welcome to my own parents.

Much to my surprise, I don’t cry. Maybe the flames and screams from Ba Sing Se have shook me to the core so much that I can’t cry right now. Or maybe I’m just tired of the tears.

I just feel…empty. Cold. Alone.

I hear footsteps approaching only to stop dead when they presumably see me. I don’t utter a single word.

“Am I interrupting something?”

I recognise the voice immediately without even glancing at the source.

Kuvira.

“No.” I tell her, rising from my seat and then finally turning to face her. She is wearing her typical Zaofu guard armour and helmet. I see a slight frown of concern on her face. “I just finished.”

Kuvira tilts her head to the side. “Is it about your parents?”

I nod. “It’s done.”

She sighs heavily and walking forward she places a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” I tell her. Then, hoping to stop talking about my depressing situation, I change the topic. “Has Korra gotten into contact with Tenzin?”

Noticing this obvious topic change, she lets it go and removes her hand from my shoulder and her posture returns to business as usual. “She has but I’m afraid the Red Lotus has already gotten to them first.”

Dammit!

“Shit.” I mutter under my breath. “We better get going then.”

Walking back outside, I see my friends accompanied by Lin, Suyin, Tonraq, and Lord Zuko. When they see our approach, Suyin walks to the captain of the guard. “Kuvira, gather the guards and get an airship ready.”

“Of course.” Kuvira responds immediately with professionalism and after a quick glance in my direction marches off.

“I’m sure Kuvira told you what happened.” Suyin says as we walk side by side to the others.

I nod gravely. “She did. This isn’t good.”

Sighing heavily, the matriarch rubs her grey silver hair. “It isn’t. We have to act fast before Zaheer tries anything.”

“Agreed.”

When we finally reach to the cluster of people, I speak up.

“I heard about what happened. What’s the plan?”

The others turn to me but Korra is the first one to answer with utter seriousness.

“You’re staying here, Y/N.”

“What?!” I reply. “No! I’m coming with you.”

She gestures towards my form with her hands. “Look at you, Y/N! You are still badly hurt!”

I scoff at her claim. Yes, I am still hurt. But I can still fight.

“Korra’s right, Y/N.” Mako agrees. “You were tortured for hours. You need rest.”

NO!

I glare back at Korra with all the confidence I can muster. “I’ve healed enough! I am not going to sit here and do nothing while you surrender to the Red Lotus!”

“She might not have to do that yet.” Lin says, though her voice doesn’t sound as confident as her claim. “We are still coming up with a plan that will prevent that from happening.”

“And if you don’t manage to do that?” I retort, glaring at her.

No response.

I continue with my rant. “Regardless if Korra is going to surrender or not, I am not going to sit by and not help my friends! I am coming whether you all like it or not!”

As soon as I finish, silence lays upon all of us. I am staring right at Korra who is staring back in defiance. We are at a standstill.

Eventually, out of all people, Suyin speaks up.

“I agree…with Y/N.”

Huh?

I glance at her in surprise. “You do?”

She nods. “We need fighters now more than ever. Even though you’re hurt If you want to help, I don’t see why you shouldn’t.”

My jaw drops for a moment, but I quickly snap it shut.

Suyin…actually defended and agreed with me. Huh. I think that’s the first time she’s done that since we met.

I nod in a silent way of saying “Thank you” before turning back to the others who seem to have reluctantly accepted the situation.

“So, what’s the plan?”

TIME SKIP

“I say we make our approach from the west, drop down from the airship on cables, ambush these Red Lotus low-lives before they know what hit.”

“It will never work. That Combustion Lady will pick us off one by one.”

“You have a better idea on how to save the airbenders?”

“Yeah. We come up from the valley, scale the side of the mountain and take them off guard.”

“That could work.”

“And give them the high ground? No, if their lavabender spots us, he'll melt the mountainside and us with it.”

Aboard one of the advanced Zaofu airships, we all throw out plans, suggestions, and ideas onto the table of how we can save the airbenders and fight the Red Lotus without having Korra to surrender herself to them. So far, we are having no success.

Every single time a plan is suggested there are always major drawbacks and flaws. The Red Lotus have abilities that allow them to counter anything we throw at them.

Unless…

“Last time I fought the combustion bender, I was able to defeat her.” I throw out admist the chaotic mess of plans.

“What?!” The entire room let out; jaws dropped to the flaw in complete shock. Honestly, I can’t blame them.

“How did you do that, Y/N?” Tonraq asks me.

Crossing my arms, I continue gazing at the map of the Northern Air Temple. “I was barely able to get close to her enough to chi-block her into submission. I could try and do that again.”

“If you can close to them again.” The Chief of Police corrects me, though I can hear the impressiveness in her voice. “I doubt she will fall for that again. She will probably try to create some distance to ensure she isn’t distracted too.”

The Chief does make a good point. The combustion lady doesn’t strike me as one to be fooled twice even with outside interference to help me.

“This is pointless.” Korra speaks up bitterly. “. None of these ideas will work. The second Zaheer realizes we're up to something, he'll wipe out the airbenders.”

“And Opal is one of those airbenders.” Suyin adds, her motherly instincts taking over. “Believe me, I understand what's at stake.”

Tenzin, Bumi, Jinora, Ikki, Meelo, Kai, Esha, Opal, and so, so many more….

So many lives are at stake. So many.

“Then I'll think you agree that the only plan that will work is for me to give myself up.”

WHAT?!

“No way.” I immediately retort. “It’s too dangerous.”

“It’s the only way, Y/N.” Korra counters. Her eyes are full of determination but melancholy. She knows full well the gravity of the situation. “I talked it over with Lord Zuko, and I've given it a lot of thought. I have to do this.”

Dammit…

“You can't expect us to sit by and let Zaheer take you.” Asami says in desperation to change our friend’s mind. But, from the look of her resolved face, it seems like it has already been made up.

“The world has been out of balance for far too long: it needs the Air Nation back again.” Korra explains with conviction. “I can't let Zaheer destroy it and everyone we love. Help me save the airbenders, then you can worry about saving me.”

As much as I hate to admit it…she’s right. Typical Korra, always thinking of others before herself. It’s why she’s the Avatar after all.

After a brief exchange of glance between Tonraq and Suyin, the former speaks up. “We’re with you Korra.”

“Whatever you need.” The matriarch adds.

I let out a deep, frustrated sigh but relent. “I hate this. I really, really hate this but…you’re right. Make the call.”

Korra nods. “Thank you. I’ll radio Zaheer now.”

She walks off to exit the meeting room, leaving all of us behind to make a deal with the most dangerous criminals in the world.

Dammit. I wish there was another way…

“Y/N.”

I perk up at the mention of my name and I see Tonraq by my side with a mixture of concern and sternness on his features.

“Tonraq.” I speak up. “Is there something wrong?”

The Chief of the Southern Water Tribe shakes his gently. “No trouble. I was wondering if I can speak to you in private for a quick moment?”

Huh?

I raise an eyebrow in curiosity and suspicion, but I agree. “Sure.”

We both exit the meeting room and enter a narrow metallic corridor with not a single person in site. The voices in the meeting room are muffled but we are out of earshot.

“So, what’s this about?” I ask him, leaning back on the wall.

Tonraq does the same and his face softens slightly. “I understand this is probably not the most suitable time to discuss this but I figured I might as well get it out of the way.”

What’s he talking about?

He takes a deep, long breathe and leans forward to place his hand on my shoulder. “I know about your situation with your parents.”

Oh…

I open my mouth to say something, anything, but no words come out. I close it, trying to think of what to say, and reopen it. All I can make out is a simple “I see.”

Sensing my discomfort and stunned nature, he steps back to give me some space. “Your parents talked to it about me when they first found out that you were an airbender. I was shocked at how serious they were being. It seemed so out of character for them. I knew how traditionalist and patriotic they were but this…I never expected they would do something like this.”

Nodding gravely, I glance downwards. “I just had a call with them a few hours ago. It’s done.”

“I’m sorry, Y/N.” Tonraq says, sounding so sad and sympathetic. “I tried convincing them to do otherwise but they wouldn’t budge.”

“That sounds like them.” I bitterly remark. “They can be stubborn like earthbenders sometimes. Please don’t let this ruin your friendship with them, though. I know you and Senna have been really good friends with them. What they’re doing is really, really wrong but…I still love them.”

Tonraq’s face briefly flashes with surprise at my consideration to my parents despite everything they’ve put me through. I can’t say I blame him. I would be surprised too. This surprise fades a few seconds away, replaced with a gentle smile.

“Your compassion knows no bounds.” He tells me softly. “And, if it means anything, you will always be family to Senna and I. You have been best friends with my daughter and stood by her since you two met. We are so grateful Korra had you in her life where she was forced to be isolated. You gave her normalcy in a life of responsibility and I thank you for that. You are always welcome with us.”

As he finishes his speech, a tsunami of emotion overwhelm me and I feel tears streaking down my face as fast as a satomobile.

Spirits…

He…He really means all that?

“T-Thank you.” I mutter, so overcome with my feelings that it comes out weak. “Thank you so much.”

Then, without even thinking, I wrap him in a tight hug. I feel Tonraq briefly tense up in surprise but melts away as he wraps his arms around me in a fatherly gesture.

Despite the darkness that is soon to come, nothing can ruin this.

TIME SKIP

Korra’s POV

We have arrived.

After radioing Zaheer, he told me to meet him at an area called Laghima’s Peak. Considering his admiration for Guru Laghima, I can’t say I’m surprised at the destination. There, I will turn myself in while Mako, Bolin, and Asami go to the Northern Air Temple and collect the airbenders.

Y/N is staying to help Tonraq, Lin, Suyin, and the rest of the Zaofu guards. I still don’t like that they’re here because he’s still injured. But it was unsurprising that they refused to stay. They’re stubborn like me.

That’s one of the many reasons why we get along so much. Little can be done to change our minds.

Much like I’m not changing my mind on my surrender. It is time.

As Tonraq and Suyin walk down the ramp of the airship, Lin, my friends and I are at the entrance. There the Chief of Beifong passes me a radio. The plan is for Mako to radio me the very instant they spot the airbenders in the temple. That way it will prevent us from falling for a trap.

Turning to Asami, a worried concern on her beautiful face, I pull the black-haired woman into a tight hug. As we embrace, I feel warmth and…something else. Something tender.

Now’s not the time to think about that, though.

“Be careful, Korra.” She tells me, her spiritual voice worried and caring.

“You too.” I add back.

When we pull apart, I look at Mako and, despite the awkwardness that has been going around us since our breakup, I wrap him in a hug too. After a brief moment of surprise and hesitation, he hugs back too. I’m glad we can still being friends after everything.

Before I can even react, Bolin pulls me into a massive, tight hug that threatens to spill the air from my lungs, sobbing as he does so. Classic Bolin.

Y/N also hugs the others to, wishing them luck, and soon afterwards we walk down the ramp of the airship, my glider in my hand.

As we finally exit the airship, I see dad walking towards me with a worried look on his face. No doubt his fatherly instincts are kicking in.

“Korra.”

“Don’t worry, Dad.” I assure him. “I’ll be all right.”

Then, like my friends, he pulls me into a tight embrace. “I just want you to know how proud I am of you. The risk you're taking to save the Air Nation will be remembered for generations.”

The words from dad lift my spirits somewhat but I can still feel the intensity. Still, I smile.

“I love you, Dad.”

“I love you too, sweetheart.”

As he starts walking to the metalbenders, I give him one last piece of advice. “And Dad, watch out for Zaheer. He's not very fond of world leaders.”

Despite this warning, my father doesn’t seem concerned. He still looks and sounds confident as ever. “I can handle him. Just stay focused on your mission.”

Then, finally, I turn to Y/N. Despite being mostly recovered, I can still the faint bruises and cuts from the Earth Queen’s torture. When I saw my best friend in such a brutalised and disfigured state…I had felt so much. Panic, sadness, anger, hate.

Despite Y/N’s reassurances that it wasn’t my fault…I would be lying if I said part of me still doesn’t blame myself. While I was stuck in a desert my best friend who has always stayed by me was being tortured to near death.

While I wish it never happened, another part of me is glad that the Earth Queen is dead. And I don’t know what that says about me.

But enough thinking about the past, I need to focus on the present.

Now, I see Y/N trying to give me a confident smile but I can see it faltering. They have been through so much. First their parents, then the Earth Queen, and now this. Once this is all over, I am going to make it up to them. I will.

“How are you feeling?” they ask me in a gentle tone.

Such a simple question that asks so much.

“Honestly?” I as them rhetorically. “I’m scared. But I know I have to do this.”

They sigh heavily but, in an attempt to lift the tension, chuckles dryly. “I guess that’s in the Avatar job description, huh?”

The light joke works as a good chuckle erupts of me and so does Y/N. They always had a way with their humour.

“I suppose not.” I tell them with a small smile and I pull them into a tight, tight hug. The embrace soothes my fears and thoughts of failure.

“Please, be careful.” Y/N desperately tells me as if they’re begging.

“Only if you’re careful too.” I retort.

We pull apart and, after an exchange of small smiles, they walk towards Tonraq and the metalbenders.

Shifting my attention away from the group, I glance upwards to the very top of the the peak.

Time to face Zaheer.

Pulling out the wings from my glider, I use my airbending to thrust myself into the wild air as fast as Equalist Jets back in Republic City.

As I am gliding to the top of the mountain, I turn on the radio. “Mako, did you see the airbenders?”

“Not yet. We’re just arriving. Don’t turn yourself over until I get a visual on them.”

Got it.

When I finally reach to the rendevouz, I spot them. There, standing at the far edge of the mountain is Zaheer and the combustion bender with an airship right behind them.

Instead of stopping right in front of them, I land a good distance away at a lower relief.

No-one says a word for a brief moment. Until…

“Drop your staff and surrender yourself.” Zaheer commands, voice stern and powerful.

I stay where I am.

“Don’t make me come get you!”

I still do not move an inch. I need to wait until Mako gives me confirmation that the airbenders are there.

Feeling impatient, I radio him again. “Mako, what’s going on?”

The response is immediate.

“They're here. And so is the lavabender.”

What?!

“Tell Ghazan to let the airbenders go!” I shout at Zaheer, hoping the anger in my voice will make him to back down and listen to my demands.

It doesn’t. Instead, his features flash with irritation. “Not 'til you turn yourself over. This isn't a negotiation.”

Then, he pulls out his own radio. “Wipe them out!”

NO!

“No!” I immediately let out, panic now replacing my anger. Then, in defeat, I add “I’m coming.”

The combustion bender marches down the slope toward me and I head to meet her. As I do so, I hear Zaheer order Ghazan to stand down.

Good. So far, so good. This can still work.

When I finally reach close to the incoming woman, I notice her holding cuffs. I drop my staff and radio and she immediately uses them to cuff my wrists and angles.

Dammit. I didn’t think of this. Maybe, I can metalbend them?

“Don't bother trying to metalbend out of these.” She tells me, answering my unspoken question as if she read my mind. “They're platinum.”

Then, with a light shove on my back, I start walking to Zaheer and the ship.

Okay, good. Everything is going to plan. The airbenders will finally be free again…even if I might not be around to see it. I am ready.

We reach to near the airship and before we get a foot closer, I hear my radio turn on.

“Korra, it was a trick! They're not here. Don't turn yourself over!”

WHAT?! NO! THOSE LYING SCUM!

Engraged, I glare daggers right into Zaheer’s emerald eyes. “We had a deal!”

Then, before he or his ally can restrain me, I jump upwards and use my feet to separate the two criminals with my airbender whilst creating distance from me!

The battle has begun.

Y/N’S POV

I am holding onto one of the many metalbenders as we hang from the mountain with the cables. We have been in this position for a while now. Something doesn’t feel right.

My concerns are confirmed when, beside the guard and I, Chief Beifong’s radio switches on and I hear Mako’s voice.

“Chief, get Korra out of there. Now!”

SHIT!

“Go, go!” Lin immediately barks out and in a flash we are all thrust forward along the metal cables from point to point of the mountain side until we finally reach to the top.

Me, Lin, Suyin, and the guards of Zaofu land on the mountain and we immediately start our pursuit towards Korra.

As we rush forward step by step, using all the energy within us to speed up our charge, I see the combustion bender leaping up into the cloudy sky and land with a loud crash right in front of us.

NO!

Before I can warn the others, she leans slightly back to charge up her attack and unleash a powerful explosion of orange and red. I barely manage to jump out of the way, knocked slightly forward by the explosion, and land on my feet. When I recovered, I see the Chief and Suyin launching rock disks, boulders as fierce projectiles towards our enemy. She effortlessly dodges each and every one and purposefully angles her explosions to force the two Beifongs to take cover beneath a large rock.

Even the guards, despite outnumbering her, are no match for her and they are soon blasted off the mountain afterwards!

NO!

I need to get closer to her!

But, every time I try to the slightest step, she fires an explosion in my direction, forcing me to dodge its fiery grip. Dammit!

It stays like that for a few minutes, an intense standstill as she launches explosion after explosion after explosion to keep me out of the way. She does the same to the rock the sisters are hiding behind, not allowing them to exploit her focus on me.

Dammit, dammit, dammit!

The more I stand here and waste our time, the more time Zaheer has to take Korra away! This has to end now!

I know the risks the Chief told me about repeating the same tactic but this is my only chance. I have to get close and chi-block her!

I need to do this! For Korra! For the Air Nation!

Forgetting all my fears and worries, I rush forward.

The combustion bender, who was currently focused on the Beifongs, is startled by sudden boost of aggression and starts aiming and firing. But I was just expecting that and, like our previous confrontation, barely manage to dodge and flip away from her explosions. The heat scorches my skin but I ignore it, and I continue my advance.

Come on, come on, come on.

Then, like last time, when I have gotten too close to her she firebends a red tsunami towards me and I sink to my knees so it would pass right over me. Despite the pain on my legs as I slide across the rock, I rise to my knees and-

-And knocked backwards as the combustion bender throws a fire kick right at me, the flames hitting right into my chest and knocking me back onto the ground!

NO! SHE KNEW WHAT I WAS GOING TO DO! LIN WAS RIGHT!

I try to rise upwards but the pain from the attack and the injuries from my torture by the Earth Queen becomes too much. Everytime I try to rise, a searing pain erupts at my back like a dagger.

“There was no way I was going to fool for that again.” She barks out with a sadistic smile, clearly taking pleasure from winning the rematch.

No…

I failed…

She leans back, charging up her attack…

I’m sorry, Korra…

She leans forward…

I’m so, so sorry…

And metal wraps around her entire head as soon as the explosion begins to form. A loud BOOM is heard from within the metal encase…

Her head…

Her head is gone…

Then, in a blink of an eye, what’s left of the combustion bender falls to the ground, smoking rising from the metal surrounding the area of what was left of the head. Completely devoid of life.

Dead.

Eyes widen and heart pounding, I stare at the corpse.

Spirits…

I then glance to my right and I see the two Beifong sisters, the matriarch devoid of her metallic armour.

It was her…

Suyin…saved my life.

I-

“P’LI!”

The scream of utter anguish from Zaheer snaps me out of my trance and I look to the source.

There, standing motionless at the top of the mountain, is the leader of the Red Lotus. From what I can see from the distance, sadness and regret paints across his features.

I then remember what he said to me back in the Spirit World…

“One of them...she...she was the love of my life.”

I then glance at the combustion bender. At P’li.

He…He loved her.

And now she’s dead.

Somehow, despite everything he has done, I feel…sorry for him.

Then the sound of firebending brings me back to reality.

I see Zaheer dodging from projectiles made of fire. Korra!

“Y/N, come on!” Suyin yells.

Dammit! FOCUS ON THE TASK! KORRA IS IN TROUBLE!

Rising to my feet, I run faster than I have ever run before and when I’m close enough Suyin grabs onto my arm and sends a metal cable up to the higher relief where the two fighters were along with her sister.

When we reach to the top, what we see shocks me.

Standing at the edge of the mountain is Zaheer, holding an unconscious Korra over her shoulders, staring down at us. But…

He has no way out.

There’s an airship, yes, but its far away from him.

We got him!

“It’s over, Zaheer!” Suyin shouts.

I was expecting at least an inch of fear to be written across his face. But instead…

He closes his eyes in calm serenity.

“Let go your earthly tender.”

What?

“Release the Avatar!” Lin commands him.

Something’s wrong…

“Enter the void.”

Something is definitely wrong…

“Stop, Zaheer!” I shout to deaf ears.

“Empty and become wind.”

He opens his emerald eyes and glares right at me.

And then takes a step back…

“NO!” I yell and we all begin rushing forward!

No, no, no, no, no, no, please, please, no.

When we reach the end, what I see shakes me to the core.

Instead of seeing nothing at all, we see Zaheer…floating.

How…How is he doing this?!

In vain attempts, Suyin and Lin shoot out their metal cables right at him…

…only to simply fly away from them.

Fly.

He is flying…

And then, he flies away….

With Korra in hand…

KORRA!

NO!

“KORRA!”

And, in just a minute, Zaheer becomes a tiny spec until he fades into the grey clouds.

We lost…

I failed.

First Ba Sing Se…

And now Korra.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And that's it!

I hope you all enjoyed it! :D

Feedback is appreciated!

See you all in the next chapter!

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rainbowsky · 2 years

Text

Welcome New Turtle Friends 👋🏻💛.

There have been a lot of turtles coming here from Twitter and other platforms, and since most of you will not really be familiar with me or my blog I thought I would give you some information that might be helpful and serve as a bit of an introduction.

I have been a turtle for a few years now. You can read a little bit about my turtle journey here.

I am autistic, so some of the ways I communicate might not be what you're used to. Please be patient with me. I'm human and doing my best to connect with everyone in a positive way.

I believe BJYXSZD, and like most turtles I enjoy some mixture of candy, fan works, and GG and DD's projects and endorsements. I'm also particularly interested in the political and 'queer issues' side of things, which some people are not comfortable with.

I tag absolutely everything that I post, to make it easy for people to filter out things they do not want to see. Here are a few tags that might be of interest to those who want to avoid certain topics:

'your political disengagement is a weapon against you' - political topics

'let's talk about sex' - mature sexual topics

'off topic' - posts that have nothing to do with GG and DD or with queer issues (the main topics of my blog)

'fandom reflections' - fandom issues and self-examination

'antis go home' - haters and antis

'solos belong to moling su sect' - solo topics

'i'll take homophobia for 800 alex!' - posts about homophobia

Please let me know if there is any particular kind of content that you would like to see more specific filtering around. I'm always happy to add in a new tag if it will enhance someone's experience of Tumblr and of my blog.

There are some posts that might be of particular interest:

My masterlist post - links to some of my past posts, somewhat organized around various categories

GGDD fic recs

Wangxian fic recs

Fandom survival guide

There are also tags that might be of particular interest. That list can be found toward the bottom of my masterlist post. Note: most of my posts are not tagged with typical fandom tags (bjyx, yizhan, etc.). That's just to ensure that those tags aren't overrun by topics that aren't of general interest to all fans.

Please feel free to connect with me via comments/reblogs on my posts, via private message, or through my ask box if you have a question or if you prefer to remain anonymous.

New people can bring new challenges and change. Such things can sometimes require adjustment and adaptation, so I hope that people will be patient with me and speak openly (gently) with me if there's anything they have concerns or questions about.

Throughout this time, I hope we can get along and support each other. Let's try to be kind. We are all living in very difficult times, and many of us are at vulnerable and/or emotional places in our lives. Conflict, hate, and personal attacks are something nobody needs. Please yell into your pillow, throw some plastic bottles against a wall, or go for a jog rather than ever raise a hateful or angry word toward anyone, including me.

I hope that we can be friends, but if for some reason there is an incompatibility between us or you find me or my blog not to your taste, please feel free to unfollow me or even block me. We all must curate our own fandom experience.

I'm looking forward to getting to know some new people and hopefully see some new life injected into the fandom here! Thanks for your interest in my blog. 😊

#personal #thanks so much

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ourstarscollided · 4 years

Text

jatp fanworks appreciation - day 1 (writers)

motivation - so in true me fashion and my aversion to brevity, i've made three (3) posts (see also artists, gifs/edits) to celebrate the wonderful people in this fandom who have made my jatp tumblr experience what it is; a community of people who simply shout into the void about their love of a ghost band and their fearless female leader. i've enjoyed simply being on the sidelines admiring everyone's love for the show, but i thought this would be a good time to really show my appreciation for all these wonderful people, because if i've learned anything from this pandemic, it's that there is NEVER a wrong time to tell someone that they are simply ✨the best✨.

disclaimer: i don't interact with most of these people personally and i simply absorb their content from afar and scream about how wonderful they are in the tags.

This list kind of became a fic rec, so if you're looking for some wonderful fics to read (or reread), I've also included my favs from the author here as well.

Okay this is gonna get a little long so please bear with me. But I just wanted to preamble this by saying that the fanfiction written by the jatp fandom is what resparked my love for reading fiction after about 3-4 years of not reading for leisure (be an adult they said. it'll be fun they said.). So I'm really grateful for that? I don't interact with a lot of people, just because it makes me a little anxious, but I will constantly yell about your content in the tags as if I were on a set of bleachers with a megaphone.

I also know there are so many wonderful fic writers out there (on Tumblr and not on Tumblr) that make amazing pieces of work, and this is just a tiny peek into that, and is not at all conclusive.

Without further ado here are some writers who live rent free in my head, in alphabetical order, so feel free to just skip to your name to avoid my rambling:

@bluefirewrites -> your Merry Ex-Mas fic had me on the edge of my seat every single time you updated. I am so in love with how you wrote the characters into this and at how many words you churned out for this fic. This was filled with so much adventure, and it was really welcome during a time when the world wasn't allowed to travel. And I simply love all the other drabbles and fics you write, but I especially enjoy the hilarity of Ray Molina, Crime Scene Photographer and Matchmaker.

@captainkippen -> I'm pretty sure Love Drunk was one of the first fics I ever read in this fandom. Your stories and your writing feel so goddamn real and I find myself so immersed in the worlds that you've created. I have reread most of your jatp fics and I still manage to find myself stupidly grinning at my phone each time. Your stories flow so easily and are such perfect characterizations of the characters we know from the show, but elevated to fit into your verse. I cannot say enough how wonderful your writing is and how talented you are!! (also a slight nudge that I am still very much following along with The Key and the Crown and I hope you continue it!)

@catty-words -> Your???? Exhaustive??? Music??? Lists???? The amount of work and dedication and microanalyzing that you put into pulling out every detail from each scene is so admirable. You not only manage to find the details, but you also give us EVIDENCE via your intricately selected gifs. You could've just put the video of the performance, but no, you take your time to find that specific 1 second shot to emphasize your point. And your little fics that you sometimes throw out into the world? They're so beautiful, and so fun to read and I enjoy them so much! (I am STILL screaming about this band's a snack) Thank you for validating my yelling in the tags, and for feeding my hyperfixation to this show. (I'm sad these lists are ending soon, but it's about the journey ya know?)

@lydias--stiles -> I don't even know what to say here because I've yelled so much about your fics that I feel like there's really nothing else to yell. Your Road Trip AU was also one of the first ones I read in this fandom, and really just made me go absolutely feral. Pretty sure I absorbed the rest of your fics in an ungodly amount of time and I just simply think you are incredibly skilled and talented. Every time you post a new fic I always wonder what it's like to be in your head because the ideas you come up with are so unique and so well thought out. Thank you for all the art you create for this show, I will constantly be in awe of you. (Special shoutout to the 5+1 fic that became a 31 chapter monster)

@pearlcaddy -> This list would not be complete if I didn't mention you. First of all, thank you for suggesting this wonderful week, it has been so lovely to see so much love being spread around today. Secondly, I never thought I'd find myself reading a Buffy or a Wizarding World crossover fic, considering I know nothing about those two things. And yet I found myself on various nights after work at 3 in the morning just silently screaming and/or crying into my phone. Your writing is so insane. Your world building is so insane. Your banter/dialogue is insane. The way you capture the love between Julie/Luke in different universes is so perfect. Thank you for gifting us these beautiful pieces of art, and I hope you know that you have at least made one person (me) a very happy reader. I also really admire your dedication to "this will only be a oneshot", only to write like 4 other POVs for it. (Special shoutout to 100 Bad Days)

@ruzek-halstead -> Literally every single fic you have written lives rent free in my head. The way you've managed to build this universe of different Julies and Lukes, and each one still captures the essence of them is astounding. You've extended their characters beyond what we know from the show and I am just in awe of everything you write. Please know that dead of night is both triggering to me and yet the most hilarious thing I have read. (Special shoutout to the Fake Dating Christmas AU and of course the Cinderella Story AU)

@serendipitee -> Your stories and your writing are absolutely magical. I think Write It Down was one of the first multi-chapter fics that I followed super closely and whenever you updated, I would literally drop what I was doing and read it instantly. You have such a way of building the plot and the characters for all of your fics and drabbles, and making the reader just want more. Please know that I am so obsessed with Oh, She Waltzed With the Dead and I cannot wait to see where you take the story!

@sunsetcurbed -> I have no words for your writing. I am simply in awe every time I read something from you. The way you've got down Alex and Willie's voice to a tee is so crazy good. You write their characters and their stories with such grace and care, especially with how you approach the topic of mental health. Thank you for all the research you do and for also writing in your own experiences. I literally binged the Princes Diaries AU during work and lost a good half day to it, and I regret nothing because that fic left me in SHAMBLES. I secretly adore the way you say you're going to keep a fic short, and end up writing an insane amount of words for it. (I have not yet left my obligated long-ass comment on Chapter 4 of the College AU yet because I am still processing the fate/destiny concept.)

@tangledstarlight -> Gahh. Rosie. Please. This is going to sound a little repetitive considering I just screamed at you last night, but now I guess I will just have to publicly confess my adoration for you!!! Thank you for being my first online friend in a very long time, and for putting up with me yelling at you about everything (and also nothing at the same time). I can't believe all it took was one message about your Royals AU for you to post it, but I will gladly take that credit any day. You are so so so incredibly talented with your writing, and your ability to transport me to another world while I read your fics is unparalleled. I adore the way you can come up with a new story to write every day, and then proceed to throw it into your pot of other WIPs. I am so so so so lucky to have gotten to know you and am incredibly grateful that I now have someone to cry about everything with 🧡 (If you read anything from Rosie, you need to read her Seasons/Long Distance Juke "friendship" fic and the Reggie x Photography oneshot that made me bawl my eyes out.)

@thedeathdeelers -> No thoughts. Just soulmates. Jk jk, you know I love your Reggie x Ray x Carlos fics, and I will scream in the tags about it until the day I get more of those fics from you. This is lowkey a threat, but wrapped in kindness. You are so wonderful to see on my dash (albeit scary at times because of the sheer amount of headcanons and theories running through your head), but you radiate such positive energy that it's impossible to not want to jump in and scream about soulmates with you.

Some special mentions to fics that also live rent free in my head:

@sunsetsandcurves wrote a Willex Cruise Ship AU inspired by a Simple Plan song and it’s something I never knew I needed until I read it.

@phantom-curve wrote a Juke fic based off of Coney Island and I would just like to say, yes, it did shatter me. (Here’s the fluff sequel that makes up for it though)

@unsaidjulie wrote the Juke dog fic of my dreams and I simply cannot express how much I want the Molina’s to have a dog now.

@pawprinterfanfic managed to get me incredibly invested in a Star Wars AU even though I know absolutely nothing about Star Wars. I just know that I would die for two (2) space boys.

@sanssssastark your Later universe made me realize that I do very much want there to be more mature content for this fandom (and you constantly deliver).

@theobligatedklutz wrote a Tangled Willex AU that makes me screech every time there’s an update. Just read it.

@alexthedrummerboy your talent knows no bounds when it comes to your Social Media AU. Also she’s written ORIGINAL songs for Alex and Willie?!?!?!

@gennified has this really wonderful modern take on pride and prejudice for Willex and I’m so obsessed with how much miscommunication there is.

@bananaleaves okay, I just found your Tumblr today, and I know you don’t know me in any capacity, but allow me to scream about THIS FIC RIGHT HERE. If anyone in this fandom is to read ANYTHING, it’s this fic. This was one of the best things I’ve read in a long time and absolutely wrecked me. Please just read this.

This turned out WAY longer than it was supposed to, and I’m SO SORRY. (I also tried to make sure I got everyone’s pronouns right, so PLEASE let me know if they’re wrong!) A final sincere thank you to everyone in this fandom who writes. Your talent knows no bounds. Gonna stop talking now before this becomes an essay....

#jatp fanworks appreciation week #fic rec #if i realize that i've missed someone i'm gonna bite the bullet and send an ask to you okay. i will not let my anxiety STOP ME FROM #YELLING HOW MUCH I LOVE PEOPLE'S WRITING!!#idk what else to tag this other than i genuinely think this show saved my mental health and so have all the fic writers.#gonna post this now before i chicken out oky aklfwjepofae #motivation monday

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classic80sand90smovieloves2 · 4 years

Text

Meeting and Dating Lloyd Dobler

(Not my gif)(Requested via message)

(I kept the first date because I thought it was cute. Hope you don’t mind!)

- You and Lloyd technically didn’t meet until after he asked you out.

- Remember when you first went to highschool and you had no idea that half the school “existed”; for lack of a better term. And every year you would somehow encounter someone that you didn’t know went to your school but now that you did know, you would just see them everywhere? That was you and Lloyd.

- It was after you entered your senior year of highschool that Lloyd had first seen you in the hallways. He had a thing for you the moment he saw you and spent the entire year arriving at one of his classes late because he just couldn’t take his eyes off you whenever you stood and waited for class to start.

- The only reason he didn’t ask you out during the year is because he just couldn’t work up the nerve, especially knowing that he’d have to see you the rest of the year if you rejected him.

- But soon enough, graduation came and he figured that he just had to ask you out or else he was very likely going to explode.

- So he went to “his office” and searched the phone book for your name, scanning through page after page until he found it and nervously dialed up the number.

- Well, I think you know how that phone call went. He spent the first minute or so rambling which gave you the time to skim through your yearbook and see exactly who was calling. And frankly... you were surprised to see that the voice on the other end of the phone was such a handsome boy.

“Lets go out. You wanna go out?”

- Let’s be honest here, Lloyd won’t relent until he gets; at least, one date with you. And why would you refuse? Like I said before: you saw him and saw that he was cute. And though you really didn’t know him, what was the worst that could happen when going out with someone that was so nervous while just talking on the phone with you.

- So you agreed ...which prompted him to ask you to repeat yourself a few times because he was in complete disbelief. Afterwards, he told you he’d pick you up at eight before saying goodbye and prancing to the living room to yell with his nephew in celebration.

- For your first date, he took you to the graduation party where you spent the night mingling with a lot of his surprisingly chill friends and periodically meeting back with him while he played keymaster.

- Your night; and morning, went pretty much the same after that. You were forced to drive around for three hours to give Mike a ride home, then you stopped at 7/11 and talked while you walked the rest of the way to your house; whereupon getting there he confessed that he wanted to see you as much as he could.

- The two of you share your first kiss a few dates later which only takes about three days since he asks you to hang out nearly every day. He’d just parked in front of your house, both of you saying a cheerful goodbye when he leant over and pressed a chaste kiss to your lips, one you’d returned happily before saying a final goodbye and getting out of his car.

- Well, after that the two of you are inseparable and neither of you would have it any other way, especially not him.

- Constant Pda. Lloyd is sort of obsessed with you and wants to be touching, kissing, and holding you whenever he can, no matter where you are.

- Hugs. He likes to bury his face in the crook of your neck when you do.

- Having his arm around you most of the time. He likes having you pressed into his side.

- Neck kisses.

- Quick and chaste kisses or long and passionate ones; depends on the mood.

- Don't mind him, he’s just absentmindedly playing with your hair.

- Handholding. He takes your hand whenever he can, he likes having that little connection.

- Bridal carrying and piggyback rides.

- He’s not a big pet name person; mainly because he loves your name, but if he knows that you like them, he’ll gladly use them just to make you happy.

- Lets be real here; Lloyd would gladly cuddle with you for hours on end. He loves having you as close to him as possible so never worry about trying to snuggle with him, he wants you to.

- He’s a big spoon and he will refuse to let you go if you really don’t have to leave. He’ll tell you to go back to sleep or tighten his arms around you whenever you shift, not wanting you to move away from him even for a moment.

- He’s the best at comforting and reassuring you and he genuinely never gets tired of it. He’ll sit with and talk to you for hours if he has to because the most important thing for him is seeing you happy.

- He’s your own, personal cheerleader. He’s always at all your events, clapping the loudest, and turning towards whoever's next to him, saying a “she’s great, isn’t she?”. He’s so proud.

- He’s always gushing about you to people, even before the two of you started dating. Corey has to hear about you constantly though deep down she really doesn’t mind.

- Speaking of his friends, you end up getting close to a lot of them, especially Corey. You let her rant to you whenever she needs to and she reminds you how important and special Lloyd is.

- He sort of tells Corey and his other girlfriends everything so be prepared for her to know if you’ve “made it” or not or when you’ve had your first kiss. She tells you pretty much everything about her so it’s sort of a fair deal.

- Getting close with his sister and nephew. You love watching him and the little boy play with each other and he loves the fact that you think it’s cute whenever he does.

- His sister loves to tease him; and the two of you honestly.

- He never gets annoyed while he waits for you to get ready. He likes having the excuse to watch you while you do your makeup or brush your hair, or just helping you choose an outfit and put it on.

- Tons of compliments. He thinks you’re the greatest thing since sliced bread and you best believe you’re going to know that.

- Lloyd is ...so respectful? His mother raised him right and there’s so many points in your relationship where you wonder how you somehow managed to hit the jackpot.

- I’m just gonna say it: he’s a pushover. You have Lloyd wrapped around your little finger so be nice to him because you’re his world and he’d do anything for you.

- If you ask him to carry you’re things, he’ll do it. Ask him to do something he normally hates, he’ll do it. Ask to do something most boys would say no to, he’ll do it. He just loves seeing you happy.

- He sort of jumps to agree with a lot of what you say; especially in the beginning of your relationship, because he wants you to think that the two of you are really compatible and that he’s the perfect guy for you.

- Having a bunch of pictures together. He certainly has a bunch of pictures of you.

- Watching him train, fight, workout, etc. He pushes himself as hard as he can to impress you, occasionally hurting himself because he’s distracted ...so maybe it isn't a good idea for you to be there with him.

- This boy lives for your praise. Tell him he’s handsome or that he did a good job and he’s all smiles.

- He sort of loves hearing you talk and learning more about you. He eats up all your stupid stories like they’re the greatest things in the world.

- Talking on the phone pretty much everyday. He usually calls to say good morning or goodnight, or to see if you want to hang out.

- Occasionally deep conversations. Sometimes something one of you says will just spur a sort of existential explanation/speech that neither of you really anticipated.

- Sooo many dates. You have at least three every week. Like I said: you’re inseparable.

- He’s pretty much willing to do anything with you. He just likes being in your company, he doesn’t really care what you’re doing together.

- Going to convenience stores.

- Beach dates.

- Taking walks around gardens and other pretty places. You admire the scenery, he admires you.

- Driving around with him all night. You don’t even have to talk for most of it, you just enjoy exploring the town and listening to the radio with him.

- Cuddling in the early hours of the morning because you’ve spent all night out with him.

- Sitting together in his backseat, either making out or “making it”.

- He’s always prepared wherever you go. He always has whatever you need and is so considerate that you just want to kiss him. Food, entertainment, extra coats; you name it and he’s got it.

- He would absolutely be the type of boyfriend to go out and buy you pads. He’s got a sister that he lives with and a friend group that pretty much consists of all girls; I’m sure he’s done it before.

- You think you’re gonna be free of him when you get sick? Oh ho ho honey; not a chance. He’s calling to check in on you every few hours and stopping by to take care of you himself.

- He’s not an extremely jealous person, and he’s good at acting nonchalant when he is so you rarely know when he’s actually feeling that way. He’s respectful and he trusts you so he isn’t gonna make a big deal out of you being around other guys, especially since you’re both so obviously in love.

- And he’s got eyes only for you; there’s no reason for you to ever feel jealous.

- He’s protective of you in the cutest way possible. He’s always sweetly checking in on you, making sure you’re okay and looking out for you whenever you’re together. You’ll never have to worry about stepping on broken glass again.

- The two of you rarely ever fight so when you do, it’s over something serious or because someone else has caused a rift between the two of you. He never yells at you, he never really insults you, he mainly just wants you to talk to him, but believe me, when it comes down to it, he’ll argue and argue until one of you can’t take it anymore; usually you.

- It’s usually you that leaves to get some space and cool off or think things over. In that time, if you refuse to see or talk to him, he’ll continue to call you until you finally agree to make up. He’s the king of persistency; as we saw in the movie.

- His apologies are usually very heartfelt. A boombox playing your song™, flowers, messages on your answering machine that makes you want to cry. Believe me, it’s hard to stay mad at him.

- At first, he was really nervous to tell you that he loved you. He thinks that telling a girl he loves them is a really meaningful thing so he wanted to know that he meant it before he said it. But after he said it for the first time, he just couldn’t stop, and he loves hearing you tell him that you love him back.

- It doesn’t matter what the future holds for the two of you; he’d follow you to the ends of the Earth. He wants to be with you for the rest of his life; it’s the one thing he’s really sure of.

#lloyd dobler imagine #lloyd dobler headcanons #lloyd dobler imagines #lloyd dobler headcanon #lloyd dobler x reader #80s movie imagines #80s movie imagine #80s movie headcanons #80s movie headcanon #say anything imagine #say anything headcanons #say anything headcanon #say anything imagines

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kim-ruzek · 3 years

Note

burzek kisses 49

49. secret kisses

I'm going to put most of this under a cut, because it got a little long, to say the least. It's 1.6k words long, but tbf...this prompt has burzek ALL over it! Enjoy soft!burzek

Do you have any evidence to file?

Kim’s phone buzzes, and she looks down at it, a smile immediately coming onto her face at the text from Adam. She doesn’t know how he timed it perfectly for when Roman and her pulled back up at the district, but it’s something he has a penchant for doing. There’s logical basis to it, he always messages around the time she should be having her break, or when the day has gone on a bit, and they’re usually in as much contact via text as their jobs allow, but it’s always uncanny in it’s timing.

“What’s making you smile so much? Who’s texting you?” Roman asks, and Kim quickly locks her phone, sliding it into her pocket.

“No one,” she answers, before realising the quickness of the response and the defensiveness of her tone brings up more suspicion than it dissuades .

“My sister. About something my niece did.” Kim then says. She’s a big believer in the bond partners should have with each other, that transparency is key, and she feels bad for lying to him but it’s necessary for her, for her career prospects. And lying to Roman about a message doesn’t kill her half as much as having to pretend her wonderful, caring, attractive boyfriend is just a friend.

“Here’s me thinking it was that new fella of yours.” Roman dryly responds. Being stuck in a car all day with someone, it gets hard to completely keep up a lie. Especially when there’s frequent texts between her and Adam, especially when Adam gets a little too enthusiastic in their love-making and she undoes her collar in front of Roman, forgetting all about the marks Adam left. So Kim had to make up some half truth about her seeing some guy, and had to try to ignore how much it hurt her to downplay the relationship, to make it seem like something casual and unimportant; just something fun that’ll end in a few months.

“Maybe instead of my love life, you should focus on your own.” Kim hits back, good-naturedly of course. Sometimes, on long, tiring days, she wants to hit back a little harder, but she’s always so aware how she shouldn’t seem too defensive, too secretive about whatever she’s doing relationship wise as that’s a sign of gossip to be had, and she so doesn’t want the spotlight on her.

“We taking a break now?” She double checks, barely waiting for his confirmation before she’s getting out the squad car, taking out her phone to message Adam back.

I think I do. x

Kim heads straight to the evidence room, a spring in her step at the thought of getting to see Adam. It’s hard already being away from him for so many hours, especially on the days their schedules don’t line up and it’s even harder with them keeping their relationship a secret. That they work together, that they regularly run into each other, that they could eat lunch together, that they can drive together in the morning and yet whenever others around they have to keep their distance, that they have to keep up the act that they’re just friends and that it is. Being so close to him, and yet unable to be with him, it aches her in a way she’d have never imagined. And she knows Adam feels the same.

This is how they get by. They message each other when they can. They don’t hesitate to waste time as soon as they’re at either of their apartments. They have stolen moments whenever they’re near each other. A brush against the arm here, a quick link of fingers there. A hey, a good morning, a how are you. Quick grabs around corners, gentle barely-there kisses that leaves them craving more. And this, rendezvous in an empty locker room, the back room, the evidence room. Anywhere and anytime they can.

They develop their own language in their messages, in their body movements. Adam’s text now, do you have evidence to file?, is their signal for I have free time, if you do too come here for a kiss. They can talk more open in their messages, they have, their messages being filled with words expressing how much they want each other, how much they crave each other, how much they miss each other. Messages about dinner, about how many rounds they’ll stay for in Molly’s before leaving.

Yet they have these more indirect messages, these private signals that dances around their intentions but is so clear to them. They give them a feeling Kim can’t describe, a sense of thrill and affection. A surge of possessiveness for their relationship, that these words are for them, and only them.

It’s how she feels about their subtle body language, the way their eyes catch each others across the district, the way they can ask each other things without ever having to utter a word, the way they know if the other wants to go to Molly’s or head straight home without needing to ask. It’s a language, all relationships are.

But when it’s a secret from the world, when privacy is a priority, it becomes something more. It becomes their first language, a language so unique to them, a language that is only theirs, a language only they can understand. It becomes the most important thing, because it’s how you communicate with each other. How you comfort each other. How to be close, to be in love, to be with each other when you have to stand what feels like miles apart.

It kills Kim whenever she’s helping out intelligence and Adam’s there, standing so close, and she has to pretend that her heart’s not beating ever so fast because he’s her man. It kills her when they’re at Molly’s with their co-workers and she’s having to pretend that she doesn’t just want to wrap her arms around him, that she doesn’t want to kiss him, deeply, firmly, passionately. That she doesn’t want to yell to the whole world that he’s hers, and she’s his.

It kills her when she sees a girl flirting with him and she has to pretend that a wave of possessiveness doesn’t wash over her and that she just wants to claim him, openly and publicly. It kills her that when they’re both hanging out with Kevin that she can’t cuddle up against him as they watch a movie, or cheer him on and give him a winner’s kiss when he beats Kev at videogames.

It kills her that they have to hope that they can sit next to each other in Molly’s without it seeming like they’re deliberately seeking out each other, that they can only secretly hold hands under the table if they know no one will see.

All she wants to do is to broadcast that they’re together. To be able to talk about how truly happy she is, how her day doesn’t feel complete unless she has seen him, spoke to him, kissed him, how he’s the person she wants whenever she feels so anxious, or distressed, when she just needs to rant and vent, when something exciting happens.

Kim’s a private person, really. She’s never been one who needs to broadcast that she’s in a relationship, who needs to show PDA to feel complete, to even particularly need the world to know she’s falling in love. But it’s different, it’s different when she’s so happy, it’s different when she can’t do any of that. Then she sees all the good parts of publicly showing your relationship, about having stolen moments without worrying it’ll cost you your dream job, of being able just to hug each other whenever you need, of being able to walk out a bar, hand in hand. All these little things she’s taken for granted in previous relationships, and yearns, aches, to be able to do it with Adam.

Adam, he’s kind, sweet, gentle, loving. She always knew he was, but had she known just how much underneath all that flirty arrogance, Kim might’ve not regretted kissing him nearly as much. He’s everything she’s ever wanted in a man. He makes her feel so attractive, so desirable, so sexy. And he makes her feel so safe, so warm, so secure.

He is why she can feel so achingly sad about keeping their relationship secret. Because he deserves the world, deserves to be able to kiss his girl whenever he likes, deserves to not have to steal away secret moments in the day, deserves to have the world told just how important he is to her.

She can’t give him that, not if she ever wants to make it into intelligence. Kim knows he understands, and so does she, that this is just how it has to be, no matter how much she wishes it wasn’t.

So they have these moments, little moments they carve out just for each other, biding their time until they can be in bed together, curled around one another, biding their time until they can tell the world that they are each other’s.

Adam is on her as soon as she enters the evidence room, immediately grabbing at her, pulling her to him, and kissing her deeply. Kim is immediately at his mercy, being able to only kiss him back with just as much ferocity, wrapping her arms around his neck as she does so.

“I miss you,” Adam murmurs against her lips, when they part from their passionate, needy kiss, instead gently giving small kisses to each other.

“I miss you, too,” Kim says back, her hands running gently through the back of his hair. She’s smiling softly at him, meeting his every gentle kiss he bestows on her. These kisses are secret, just for them. Kisses that if they get even the slightest hint of someone else being here have to immediately end. Kisses that are risky, dangerous, yet so needed, so craved.

They may have to kiss in secret, kissing in hidden places, away from prying eyes but Kim has no complaints—it is worth it, he is worth it.

#burzek #chicago pd #kim burgess x adam ruzek #ree writes #ree's.writing #ree.prompts #Cíara tag

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dianaburnwood · 4 years

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HITMAN 3: First Impressions

This post is full of SPOILERS. Also, it is LONG, so.... yeah. Be prepared lol

HITMAN 3. Also known as: Diana’s Game.

Dear GOD I am in love.

I’m going to do my best to make this coherent. But. I am still freaking out. And I have SO much more to explore!!!! This won’t be very in-depth because I played each map exactly once so far. There’s so much left to see, conversations to overhear, opportunities to exploit - but, I DO have some first impressions, oh hell yes.

Menu:

That menu music!!! I was not expecting that at all. It was a mix of choral and classical with previous themes intertwined, and it reminded me of Blood Money. Speaking of Blood Money, this game is Blood Money.

Dubai:

Very, very beautiful. Kinda thought Grey made it all about himself lol of course he wanted to say “in your face” to the partners, but it was like 47 was just there to pull the trigger, like he’d not been hurt by them too. But, I really liked it. Trapping them in a room and watching them freak while Grey watched me kill them?? Helloo??? Popping off HARD from the start and I love it.

So - here’s the thing. I don’t get the timing. Diana tells them then that Edwards escaped. Did he escape just before the boys got to Dubai? Or were they unavailable to reach until then? It seems that the message Grey got at the end of HAVEN was after Olivia hacked the HAVEN servers, and then the boys were out of reach so after Diana discovered Edwards was gone, she couldn’t tell them until Dubai? And it was shown to us in a different order to leave us hanging? I dunno. Maybe? It seems weird.

THE CUTSCENE here omg - once again establishing that 47 and Diana are ride or die. “Diana will make it right, she always does” - BABE. BABE. SWEET BOY. His little face when Grey doesn’t trust Diana. OMGGG.

Dartmoor:

I went the murder mystery route, of course. I figured it was Emma from her conversation with her husband, but I got all the clues after just to be sure. Can’t believe Carlisle just handed 47 the file on Edwards and then went out alone on the balcony like I wasn’t gonna kill her??? Bitch????? do you forget who i am?????? Anyway, the murder mystery was SO much fun, but I can’t wait to infiltrate this manor in other ways. Lots of Beldingford vibes here.

THE CUTSCENE bdsfgafhlsjfah WAHT????? Ok so HOW did Edwards know where they were? And - ok, so it made for an amazing scene, but Grey is a badass. He is a mercenary genius that duped the ICA and brought Providence to its knees. How did he get himself surrounded in the woods by CICADA? But he did, and it was beautiful, and he literally only shot himself to save 47, and the LOOK in 47′s eyes on his balaclava face - I just bfjKSFasad. I can’t believe he died so early tho. I was very sure he’d die somehow, but SO early. WOW.

Berlin:

fucking hell. Berlin. fuck. fucckkkk.

I wanna shout out to Mini (not gonna tag you in case you’re avoiding spoilers) but hot damn girl if you’re reading you were BANG ON about 47 wearing Grey’s coat. I really didn’t think it was his. It was. It is such a beautiful way for 47 to express his emotions about this death without actually saying anything. Omg. It was perfection. I’m crying thinking about it.

BERLIN was where this game really upped its... game. Like WOW. 5 targets, and it’s the ICA. Clearly Edwards went to the ICA board at this stage and was like uhhhh so you need to take these ppl out. HOWEVER I am amazed that the ICA is like “oh, ok”. DO you not remember what happened in SOUTH DAKOTA.

But going after the ICA is a fucking trip and I love it. I love how 47 says each agent’s name to himself. I love how he listens in and the team handler realises it. I love how she pulls the rest of her team out once you get 5. I love that the ICA agents use disguises too!!! This is truly APEX PREDATOR and I love that they named it that. Y’all think you have the balls to go up against 47??? bitch?????

But the fact that you have to find the targets and none of them are marked is so fantastic. I found 6, but I have no idea how many are actually available - but I’m gonna find out!!! The club is HUGE as well, and lots of throwbacks to Contracts, especially with the biker gang. Amazing. Amazing level. I’m so excited to replay it.

Also they really addressed the elephant in the room with the ICA agents describing 47 as a caucasian male, bald, average height and ppl being like uh that’s every man here, and then he said yeah but he’s got this big tattoo lmao

Chongqing

ok this is where I started to think this game was my fanfiction. Inside the ICA? Showing off how truly international it is, and high tech. Hidden in plain sight. Ready to dismantle in 12 hours if needed. SO perfect. This lore builds on Absolution and Blood Money ICA lore in wonderful ways.

Also, I don’t know why the IOI and DK of the logo looked different in the trailer, they must have been just hard to make out. Cos in the game, the ICA logo is the same as all previous games.

Also, analysts do client vetting? Intrigue. Always assumed that was part of the handlers’ job. I take it all back Diana, you have never done anything wrong in your life, ever

I killed Royce by firing the ppl she recommended so she’d get trapped in the data core cleaning. I killed Hush (what a name I love it) as his patient.

Working with Olivia is really fun. I missed Diana, but Olivia brought a whole fresh perspective. I also really like how neither Grey nor Olivia are as good as Diana - they both fucked up while guiding 47 at least once.

47 saying “...I will leave you to prepare” to Olivia, I yelled fdagsfa

Also I love how 47 decided to expose the ICA exactly like Diana did in Absolution. Those two. One of a kind. My heart. And his desire to protect her. I love that the files showed their start together. Olivia saying “I can see why you...” and then she stopped herself. We all KNOW what she was gonna say.

AND AND AND AND

the cutscene - I screamed

“47 has one weakness. Me.”

I swear to fucking GOD, IO has seen into my soul. I’ve said all along that Diana is 47′s weakness, and he is hers. But to hear it said, aloud, by my girl? WHAT???!!!!!

Mendoza

Ok. OK. OKKKKKK. OK. I can’t even write about this one. This was where I was pretty sure I was hallucinating the entire level. This is my Diana and 47 dreams come true. This is insane. This is EVERYTHING.

So we have OUR MOMENT IN THE SUN. She puts her HAND on HIS HAND and he looks in fucking wonderment at it. ahugarhiewEG;FEJGHEFlejlhsgfes;gjrsgt. I can’t. I can barely get through writing about this.

Diana - the dress, the Jolie thigh slit, the jewellery, the hair (they finally fixed her fucking hair), SASS. “I have tango fever” omg.

How do these ppl not have a pic of 47 by now lol

I followed Diana and Vidal around cos I was entranced by my girl. Diana was fucking amazing each time. So much sass. Little did I know I interrupted them enough times for Vidal to say “ok son let’s talk”. I saw the tango and I was like omg imagine if I could dance with Diana.

well.

WELL.

Anyway, got to kill Vidal via her own setup for me, and that was amazing. I wasn’t expecting it at all. I snuck into the house to kill Yates, and overheard him calling Edwards’ voicemail. Also, it is April 2021?? So, yeah. My previous dates were way wrong lol.

And then, ALL MY DREAMS CAME TRUE. Diana and 47 fucking dancing the tango? I was pissed that I was in a security guard outfit, next time I play he will be in his tuxedo baby.

Diana’s comments to 47 when he’s in disguise tho, I was freaking. As security “you look like a true professional. I feel so much safer with you gentlemen around” aaahhhh

UH HE FELL TO THE GROUND COS OF POISON fngjfagfljgnsdfa

I am so glad I was right about my baby girl tho. She even told him “you didn’t have a choice” about her parents. Good. I’m so glad I was right about that. But omg it broke my heart to have 47 so, SO, SOOO sure of Diana all along, defending her to Grey and Olivia, knowing, KNOWING that she was on his side, and then, he eventually started to doubt it.

I was screaming at my screen - this is BLOOD MONEY! SHe is doing what she did in BLOOD MONEY!!!!

But, for a second, 47 wasn’t sure anymore. And Diana played her part well.

Carpathian Mountains

Ok, what I love most about Contracts was how it gave us an insight into 47′s psyche, and this game upped that tenfold. Him seeing all his targets surround him? Him imagining Diana and the Constant dancing together? Him imagining her say terrible things about him, things he’s thought about himself deep down, always, omg, but he finally snapped out of it. Ironic that thinking about Grey snapped him out of it, when in life Grey had not trusted Diana. But 47 came to the realisation on his own. Diana would never betray him.

opening that door and finding out you’re on a fucking train?????? I screamed.

I am a bit disappointed that it turned out Romania wasn’t significant, they just happened to be passing through. But omg the fact that you are “subject 47″ again. I freaked. This is 47′s worst nightmare.

I love that you have a free pass to kill everyone in this level. I did it in stealth anyway, cos it felt wonderfully tense to sneak through that train. But wow. This is another BIG risk that IO took. The train was straight out of Uncharted, and crafting a silencer for your pistol??? Hello The Last of Us????? But I don’t care. They used those elements super well.

I think some people will be angry at this game because parts of it (especially the last level) were a departure from how HITMAN and HITMAN 2 worked. But I love it. I love that they took risks to tell the story they wanted to tell, and those risks paid off.

47′s undying loyalty to Diana, omg. Telling Edwards bye bitch, I’ll never forget who I am again, and Diana thinks you suck. <3<3<3<3<3

ENDING

OH MY GOD. ONE YEAR LATER????? 47 obviously took some time off cos he fucking needed a break. But he’s back, baby. Ending on “it’s good to be back” was wonderful. The game ended where the 2015 trailer for HITMAN started, and I’m crying. He’s ready to continue with Diana, and not because it’s what he was made to do, not because he doesn’t know what else to do, but finally, because he CHOOSES to do that.

But one year later? What does that mean? Has Diana rebuilt the ICA like in Blood Money, or will she and 47 work together without anyone else? They’ll need the infrastructure that an organisation like the ICA has though. Diana said she would dismantle Providence from the top down once Edwards was gone, but how? Does that mean dismantling what’s left of the ICA? They were one and the same by the end of the game. All that didn’t just disappear. I’m left with so many questions.

I was disappointed Diana wasn’t in the cabin when 47 got there. And I wonder why she wasn’t. She knew he was coming, but they are clearly still on good terms. Maybe she wasn’t sure what to expect. But does that mean they hadn’t spoken in a year since??? But she didn’t sound surprised to hear him, and he had coordinates that he was following, so I think they arranged to meet. But her phone was in there when he arrived, and she wasn’t. Maybe he was tracking her phone? Did she come back there to him after?????

BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT

the game

ended

with 47

smiling

And for that I will be forever grateful.

Ok bye, I need to play it again. RIP work tomorrow lol

#hitman 3 first impressions #hitman3spoilers

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itsclydebitches · 4 years

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RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Refuge”

Happy Saturday, everyone! Welcome to week two of… fourteen? Is that how many episodes we’ve got this Volume? Man, we’re going to be here for a while.

There’s a ton to unpack in “Refuge,” but as promised I want to delve into the opening first. Given the scattered, symbolic nature of our intro I think it’s easiest to just chuck out observations in list form. I’ll segue back into cohesive recapping in a moment.

So, what have we got?

The glitching between a happy, whole Atlas and the burning wreckage we’re now dealing with. That works well given both Atlas’ tech-focus culture and the ways that tech has led to some of our biggest tragedies (hijacked army, framing Penny, etc.)

Ruby looks scared and is standing behind the rest of her team, separated from them by the title. I’m not really feeling that theme so far though, given Yang’s incredibly weak challenge, Ruby’s immediate forgiveness (during her talk with Penny), and the fact that she’s still working with half the team who vocally support her, particularly Nora. Unless something drastic changes, the idea of Ruby being the outsider here is silly.

We get shots of the girls with their past selves superimposed over their bodies and weapons. I like the message here—they carry those versions of themselves with them—just not how it’s contrasted with Ironwood’s image of an earlier Atlas now burning. So that’s all he is now? Everyone gets to embody their growth except for him? His past is erased to focus solely on our current predicament? I’m not picking up any redemption flags here…

Robyn’s hand reaches down towards Clover’s badge, which then circles to show off the Ace Ops. The final image contrasts an angry Harriet with a defeated Qrow. At least, I hope they’re contrasts. It’s going to read as absurd if they somehow end up working together after Qrow helped get her leader killed.

This morphs into Qrow alone who sits, devastated, until Robyn offers him a hand up and they both smile. I’m not a fan of this symbolism after the prison scene we got this episode. It’s like Qrow might have thought about his choices until Robyn’s anger reminded him that, oh yeah, he can be angry at Ironwood instead. These two teaming up, when their last team-up led to a death, is worrisome to say the least.

We get our horrifying image of Salem looming over Oscar as he clutches his head. The group’s weapons fall. This makes sense given this episode’s kidnapping and the team’s sheer inability to do anything to stop it.

Jaune stands determined—also makes sense with his trend of giving “pep talks”—while Ren and Nora stand apart, facing opposite directions. Nora looks back though.

Paralleling them are Winter and Weiss who also face opposite directions. This is becoming a common visual theme: Harriet and Qrow, Nora and Ren, Winter and Weiss. Here though, Weiss looks determinedly ahead while Winter stares down at her feet, unsure. Ugh, I just know they’re going to have her betray Ironwood too.

We get a brief glimpse of Whitley and Willow, not a whole lot to go on. Then we see Salem turning her chess pieces into grimm—literally changing the game—while Ironwood’s white pieces are turned to dust. I could make a quip about how white is supposed to go first, but the initial move was made thousands of years before Ironwood existed and thus he never stood a chance, certainly not when his own allies are actively working against him… but I won’t lol

Watts is smiling at a terminal while at his back Pietro works at his. More opposites. Pietro’s reflection looks to Penny even as his body continues to work, his heart contrasting his head. Penny, in turn, looks upset as her reflection flinches at something off screen and the glass cracks. Watts hacking her, perhaps?

We see the new teams as a cherry blossom (I think?) floats across the screen. It melts in Ren’s hand while escaping Nora’s. Honestly, I’m not sure what to make of that just yet.

Ruby and Yang share a look—undermining their supposed conflict this volume. Couldn’t we have gotten sister unity over the last three years instead?—and a fight against grimm starts up. It freezes as Cinder walks through it, hopefully implying that the group’s attention is on the wrong threat. While they concern themselves with low-level grimm, Salem and her allies are walking free and wreaking havoc.

Then Cinder screams and clutches her grimm arm as things go up in flames. I hope that’s not a death flag given that we’ve teased her death twice already and we only just got a glimpse at her backstory. Also, I think it’s worth mentioning here that there’s a “Summer is the Hound” theory gaining traction which, frankly, I think is 100% unsubstantiated. It’s a fun crack theory, but not something I’m inclined to take seriously until we get some actual evidence behind it. There is, however, potential evidence for people becoming grimm in general: Salem falling into the pool and Cinder receiving that arm. That’s not much though. So while I’m far from convinced that the Hound was once human—let alone that it was Summer—there is something to the theory that Salem may be able to control Cinder via her arm like she controls other grimm. After all, she knew Cinder was alive despite everyone else thinking she’d perished. They seem to have some sort of connection that hasn’t been explained yet and now that Cinder has willingly walked back into Salem’s clutches, she may not be able to walk out.

There are shots of all our other villains, the Lamp and the Staff reflected in Salem’s eyes, and Jinn’s blue smoke, perhaps suggesting that we’ll see her again, or the entity residing in the Staff (if they exist).

Atlas glitches back to normal—a false victory?—before the ice breaks and Team RWBY falls into the darkness below. Volume 3 vibes all around. There’s light above them emanating from the Staff, but as Ruby reaches for it grimm arms circle and pull her deeper. I hope this means that the group will suffer the defeat we need to keep Salem as a legitimate threat, but we had very similar imagery back in Volume 6 and they made it out of that situation just fine, so.

“Happy Ever After” glitches into “Happy? Never Again.” Which isn’t ominous or anything. We finally end on the classic RWBY image of Crescent Rose buried in the snow underneath the shattered moon.

On the whole I think the opening is strong and I like a lot of the symbolism in it, though I do question how much will actually end up being relevant to the story. My only gripes are that there are too many different styles going on—it feels like three or four different Volume openings slammed together—and the fact that it also feels overly long. I don’t think it’s actually any longer than our Volume 7 opening, but it seems that way to me, perhaps because of those varying styles breaking things up.

So that’s what we’ll be watching for the next twelve weeks! Let’s move onto the actual episode.

We open on the image of Clover’s bloody badge in Qrow hand, the same one we got in the trailer. I theorized last recap that we’d be getting the rest of our trailer/promo material this week and I was almost entirely correct in that. This moment, retrieving the bikes, fighting off the grimm, Watts getting hit, Oscar carried away… all we’re missing are some eye closeups and Nora powering up her hammer. As said, it makes me nervous for what the rest of the Volume holds. I can’t decide whether the footage wasn’t ready to be included in promo materials that early, or if RT is just determined not to give us any information past the first two episodes…

Regardless, this is supposed to be a moment of grief and all I could focus on was Qrow’s hand. Specifically, the lack of detail in it. On the whole, I’ve been very happy with the engine upgrade and I quite like RWBY’s animation now, but a closeup here draws too much attention to how, sometimes, they’re just not animating their characters in a way that looks natural. Where is Qrow’s wrist? Why is his palm perfectly smooth? Stylistically that’s usually fine, but when given the chance to stare at it you realize how odd it looks.

Says the woman whose own drawing skills suck but, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But we’re talking about the important bits in this episode! Out of frame Robyn is heard yelling, “This is your fault. You realize that, don’t you?” We’re meant to think that she’s telling Qrow this, especially with how he’s bent guiltily over the badge, until we cut to reveal Jacques right next to them.

I wish Robyn was saying all that to Qrow. It would mean that she was ignoring her own responsibility in Clover’s death, but at least it would have started an arc where Qrow has to grapple with what he did. Not the awful moment that’s coming up.

Before that though, Jacques claims that he’s the “victim” here who was “duped.” His hands may not be clean, but “at least I’m not a murderer.” Look, I’m not here to absolve Jacques of anything. The guy is an absolute shit stain on the Remnant world. However, he’s right in his overall point even if his words are BS. Meaning, Jacques is not a victim and he is a murderer, but he is not the one responsible for Clover’s death. Robyn has plenty of things to be furious at him for, but this is not one of them. Ironically, here we have Jacques functioning as the kind of villain the show wants Ironwood to be. He is a murderer because the company he runs exploits faunus and forces them to work in dangerous conditions (see: the death of Ilia’s parents). He is culpable because he a) had control over these conditions and b) has full knowledge of their flaws. He’s a racist who cares more about money than lives. His informed choices then led directly to deaths. Ironwood? Not anywhere near the same thing. Overlooking the “Omg Salem is here and I have to do something about it” context, he did not try to arrest Robyn. He did not force Qrow to resist arrest, or Robyn to get involved, or Qrow to break Clover’s aura, or Tyrian to stab him in the chest. Ironwood had no control or knowledge of these events, so he is not responsible for Clover’s death in the way that Jacques is responsible for the faunus’. RWBY is giving the right arc to the wrong character.

Robyn then insists that Qrow didn’t kill anyone. He didn’t strike the blow, but he certainly helped! Look, Qrow is one of my favorites, but I’m not about to claim that he didn’t have a hand in getting his friend killed. I seriously can’t believe the show is ignoring this.

We then segue into some, uh, questionable dialogue choices. Jacques is a “snake with a mustache”? Sorry, I can’t take Robyn seriously at the best of times, but definitely not when she’s tossing out laugh worthy insults like that. Nevertheless, this “snake with a mustache” is guilty because he “helped that man tear us all apart.” That man being Watts.

…why are they all in what amounts to the same cell with barriers dividing them? I suppose we could make the argument that they’re being held in some secret facility, given that they’re in this dark, garage-esque space with no lights and no other prisoners. Some sort of maximum security setup that... doesn’t have any other inmates and no additional security? Hmm. Then again, the power is supposed to be out and I don’t really trust RWBY’s ability to craft consistent backgrounds. I feel like they’re packed together merely because that’s plot convenient, not because it makes any sense in world.

Watts looks pretty comfortable in there though and Jacques is likewise full of confidence. He says that by now Whitley will have already called their lawyers to get him out. Now, non-imprisoned people know that the apocalypse is currently underway, as Joanna will later put it. No one is lawyer-ing at the moment, but it will be crucial to see whether Whitley is trying to get Jacques out despite the chaos. How faithful is he to his abuser? Can Willow start undermining Jacques’ influence now that they’re alone?

Jacque’s confidence thoroughly pisses Robyn off and she screams, punching the barrier between them. Keep this in mind for a second.

A moment later two guards show up to take Watts somewhere and… oh no. Please don’t tell me Ironwood is going to team up with him now that Penny has written him off? I know the guy has (presumably) already killed someone, and he must assume he’s killed Oscar, so we’re definitely in full villain territory despite the stupidity of it… but please don’t start working with Salem’s henchmen too. You know what? I’m not going to assume the worst until I actually see it. RWBY gives me enough nonsense as it is lol.

What I really want to talk about is that hit.

I’m somewhat concerned by a lot of the fandom’s reaction to this moment in comparison to another. Who remembers Volume 6? That scene when Qrow punched Ozpin directly into a tree? Now, I’m not keeping track of who says what when—this is a generalized reaction—but I saw a lot of posts defending that action. There were numerous justifications for the punch, but the three big ones were: 1. These characters are fighters and they’re used to it, 2. These characters have aura so it’s not that bad, and 3. Ozpin totally deserved it. Now, the problems here are that 1a. I don’t think punching someone when they’re crying on their knees is justified, whether they’re a fighter or not, 1b. Qrow was likewise punching Oscar, a totally innocent kid, 2. We had established earlier that Oscar was having trouble remembering to activate his aura and didn’t seem to have it active then (no ripple effect, he’s rubbing his jaw afterwards), and 3. Ozpin’s crimes are, as explored on this blog, not nearly the horrific actions that the story and fandom would like to paint them as. The point is that despite all this, lots and lots of fans said it was totally okay to punch Ozpin&Oscar. What’s the big deal? they asked. Now, lots and lots of fans—mostly when the trailer first dropped—say it’s not okay to punch Watts. Despite the fact that he’s also a fighter. Despite the fact that his aura has broken. Despite the fact that he’s not currently a threat (seated on the bed/Ozpin on his knees). Despite the fact that he’s responsible for helping Salem try to take over the world. If we were to make a case for who deserves to get hit, Watts is a WAY stronger candidate in my opinion, yet he’s the one who a lot of fans are scrambling to defend. Why? I assume it’s because hitting him feeds into the generalized police state/dictator theme Ironwood has been thrown into. It helps villainize Ironwood for fans to go, “Poor Watts. He’s done horrific things but no one deserves to face police brutality.” I agree. The only problem is that a lot of those same fans seem to have gone, “Ozpin can get over it. He deserved to be hit! I would have done a whole lot worse to him…” So is the difference only that one attacker is a military professional and the other is… a huntsmen professional who soon after that scene starts working for the military? Yeah. The show continually ignores that the group aren’t the rogue heroes they pretend to be. They worked under Ironwood for weeks, if not months.

The show isn’t clear about its morals and neither are the fans, with both changing tactics whenever it helps blame the character they already don’t like. When Robyn punches the barrier, do we really think she wouldn’t have hit Jacques if given the chance? Why would it be heroic for her to hit the Evil Man but it’s not okay for the grunt minor character to hit the other Evil Man? These morals don’t change just because you like Robyn and don’t like Ironwood.

Jumping ahead for a moment, we get another example of this hypocrisy with Joanna. A reporter is informing the people that the military seems to have stopped evacuations and there is an unheard number of grimm hanging out overhead, both things that are objective facts. He’s reporting as he should, sticking to what’s known and provable, and thus is, notably, not some lackey of Ironwood’s who is hastily presented as evil. Yet Joanna treats him like he is. She snatches the microphone from him and, when he starts to protest, threatens him with her weapon. After she’s done hijacking the feed, she shoves him on her way out.

Look at how scared this guy is. These are our heroes? This back and forth doesn’t work. Prior to his random killing spree, Ironwood took his fear and frustration out on some furniture, yet the show acted as if he was hurting real people. The mere possibility that he might use violence and intimidation to achieve heroic goals—getting Amity up/escaping Salem—was enough to label him as an antagonist because the understanding was that you can’t act like that no matter what your intentions are. Yet our current heroes can use as much violence and intimidation as they want to achieve their own heroic goal of warning the people? Do we think the story will encourage us to be critical of the group if they start beating up a bunch of Atlas goons to reach the access point? Of course not. And it’s that flip-flopping that’s the problem. Your heroes have to function differently than the villains in order for them to be heroes. Under that logic, our heroes haven’t acted like heroes since mid-Volume 6 and it’s getting harder and harder to watch.

Especially when we take the scene before this into account. Yup, we’ve still got Qrow gunning for Ironwood. Robyn bemoans the fact that they can’t do anything, to which Qrow replies, “We can do something. We can kill the man who put us here.” I… feel like I shouldn’t start repeating myself given how long this recap is—we’ll be here for forever lol—BUT I hope everyone reading this understands precisely how little this makes sense. How god awful a choice it is. I mean c’mon. Robyn attacked Clover unprovoked, Qrow teamed up with Tyrian, he broke Clover’s aura, Tyrian murdered him, Salem is here, and now he’s sitting in a cell with Watts and Jacques… but Ironwood is the guy he wants to kill? REALLY, QROW? THAT’S WHO YOU’RE GOING TO GO AFTER? I really can’t with this show sometimes. RWBY, put your clown makeup on.

We get a cut to Ironwood’s image just so there’s no confusion about who Qrow wants to help kill next and Joanna threatens that reporter who, you know, is also a citizen in need of help and protection… Her “General Ironwood has abandoned you, but we have not” sounds absolutely ridiculous when we just watched her intimidating this guy to get what she wants. ‘You can trust us! Unless we randomly decide we don’t like you.’ I have other things to say about Yang calling out that racist woman later on, but she gets props for helping her regardless. Honestly, I don’t get that sense from the cast very often: that they’d help you even if they don’t agree with you. They certainly didn’t offer that to Ozpin, Ironwood, or the Ace Ops.

There’s a very long shot of a scared toddler staring out the window, just to hammer home how young and innocent Mantle is. Seriously, pay attention to our imagery: Mantle is scared children in homes, cute children fist-bumping Jaune, family photos lost in the street, a stuffed toy run over by hoverbikes. It’s meant to evoke a general sense of domesticity and, again, innocence. Meanwhile, Atlas is only shown via Ironwood and Jacques, the villains. Where are the families living up in the sky? The children? The humanizing details? Our racist woman is an outlier who is quickly silenced by Yang. The rest of Mantle is characterized as victims: scared women, worried fathers, the faunus huddling together in the slums, even another racist who, while an asshole, is supposed to have a point about things like the embargo. Which is all true. These characters are all of these things, it’s just that they’re not unique in this. All this exists above too—from those families, to the faunus slave labor, to the beloved objects that remind you of someone’s worth—but they’re ignored to provide a simplistic look at Atlas as the villain.

Throughout this entire episode the group tosses out snide remarks about how “They” don’t care about you and it’s just… they who? The other thousands of innocents who have nothing to do with Ironwood? The hundreds of Mantle citizens you already evacuated? The redeemable people like Winter and Whitley? The group fights alongside a Schnee who was one of the most vocal racists a year and a half ago, yet writes off the entirety of Atlas as the bad guys. What a mess.

As Joanna’s voiceover finishes, we cut to Yang’s group going after Pietro’s tech. I already covered this scene in our promo material, but to summarize here: horrible tone. Absolutely nonsensical given the situation. Salem is here and Yang is giggling over bikes. In fact, the tone is off for most of the episode (our end being the wonderful exception): Yang’s joy ride, antics with the Mantle citizens, Blake poking fun at Weiss, the tube scene… none of it fits the context of the series’ big bad here to kill everyone. Arguments along the lines of, “But it can’t be doom and gloom all the time” or “This is a brilliant parallel to Volume 3 with happy times heralding tragedy” don’t erase the fact that our cast isn’t taking this threat seriously. Last week Weiss’ “We’re never going to sleep again” moment worked because it’s humor in the context of how bad everything is. All of this? It’s just the group goofing off despite supposedly being in mortal danger. This?

This doesn’t read well. I’d argue this scene is even worse in context due to lines like “The others are definitely missing out.” In our promo material I assumed that the group just split for the sake of splitting and they were, in fact, just missing out on something cool. But we’ve since learned that they split due to a fundamental disagreement about how to help people, a split Ruby compared to Salem’s plans, a split that Yang started! Why is she now acting like their separation is a funny “missing out” moment? It’s like if half your friend group decided to go to the movies while the other half went to a party with an unexpectedly good DJ. The movie-goers are people who are “missing out,” not the group who went off to take over a military base and everyone left angry.

Keep in mind that Ozpin is also back. Every fun times scene with Oscar in it has the added problem of Ozpin hanging back, not saying anything, not acknowledged, still a secret.

The other issue I brought up weeks back was the lack of grimm. Why are the streets deserted? Shouldn’t the army be overrunning the city? Well, turns out that there’s no army because… Salem just hasn’t bothered to send it into the city yet? When Jaune and Ren take out the low-level grimm Oscar asks if they’ve “already pushed this far in,” to which Yang replies, “No, I think those are from last night.” A few minutes later, last night’s grimm change to new non-Salem grimm as Oscar observes, “It’s the negativity. Salem’s forces aren’t moving in, but it’s enough to attract the stragglers.” Later still, Joanna asks, “…grimm are circling out there. What are they waiting for?” GOOD QUESTION. We don’t know, but it’s real convenient, isn’t it? RWBY redeems itself a bit at the end of this episode with that Hound grimm, but I’m still calling it out for having Salem hold off long enough for the group to evacuate pretty much all of Mantle and infiltrate the base. That’s real nice of her. As the characters keep pointing out, it would be a staggeringly different situation if they were overrun with grimm right now, huh? Kind of like the situation Ironwood (rightfully) assumed they’d be dealing with.

Again, I’m so glad our Big Bad is kind enough to let the heroes do everything they need to before lifting a finger to attack them.

RWBY seems to be setting up a, “See! There was always time to evacuate the city!” accusation even though no one could have known that and it makes zero logical sense. Salem brings an army with her so she can not use the army against Atlas? Right…

This all segues directly into our other promo scene. My initial comments still stand: the tone doesn’t work, the lack of urgency doesn’t work (Jaune playing with the kid, Oscar politely knocking on doors), the low-level grimm are not a threat, that shield is useless against anything not driven by plot convenience, and it’s weird for Jaune to be yelling, “Heads up!” when there’s no one in front of him. As said, this moment really doesn’t sit well given everything that’s going on. I had hoped that it would read better when seen in the episode itself, but that’s sadly not the case.

After Ren one-shots the grimm Jaune suggests that they use his amplified semblance to get everyone to the crater safely. Ren seems less than pleased about this, but agrees. Right now, it’s easy to say that he’s in a bad mood because Nora is mad at him, but what about the Volume before? Where’s this underlying tension coming from? I can come up with lots of theories, but at some point the show needs to confirm something. The longer we go not explaining what’s wrong with Ren, the less faith I have that it will make sense when we get it.

We see the racist woman upset that they have to go live with the “animals in the slums” rather than going up to Atlas. As said, I like that Yang helps her despite clearly hating the woman, I also think her criticism holds up well (ignoring the simplified ‘They abandoned you’ narrative). The only thing that bugs me is RWBY continually presenting racism as a problem to throw a band-aid on and then pat yourself on the back for ‘solving.’ Racist drunk says shit? Toss him in the trash! Racist woman says shit? Remind her that her survival depends on you! It’s not that these responses aren’t earned, but that we’re given them instead of an actual arc that tackles the complexities of this issue. I mean, Blake has abandoned the White Fang and we’ve barely mentioned the faunus slave labor in Atlas. When they head to the dust facility it’s conveniently run by bots instead of faunus. Can you imagine if Weiss Schnee walked into a group of exploited minorities, hoping to use them to access a military base? But of course, there’s nothing like that. RWBY ignores the actual issues for these simple solutions. Heroes just attack/threaten racists and then it all goes away. Yay.

The other problem with this scene is that we learn the crater is the slums. Um… what? Hold on, Joanna made it sound like it’s a separate place, potentially inhabited by grimm, yet it’s the same area Oscar was in last episode? How is that area warmer? This makes no sense to me.

Also, ha, the crater below Atlas apparently houses all the “animals” that Team RWBYJNR is very protective of. I’m waiting for them to do something that messes with the Staff—Ruby reaching for it in the opening—Atlas crashes down on a whole city of exploited minorities, and then Ironwood is blamed for it somehow. Can’t wait for that episode.

So the group starts making their way there and hark! An Ozpin! I’m always thrilled to hear him, even if he’s treated just terribly by the show. Oscar is at the back of the group and comments that “It should not be this hard just getting people to cooperate.” Except… they are cooperating? Oscar, you are watching them cooperate right in front of you. That one woman might grumble a bit, but she hasn’t made a move or said a word about not doing what you say. Where did this complaint come from? Another example of RWBY insisting something is there when it simply isn’t. More importantly, Ozpin responds:

“And yet, it’s becoming something I’m increasingly concerned about.”

“You know, I really don’t need your additional comments right now.”

Then why did you comment out loud, Oscar? What, do you normally talk to yourself like that? You were clearly speaking to Ozpin! Don’t criticize him for responding. I hate traps like that.

Ozpin immediately says that Oscar has every right to be upset and apologizes for leaving… it’s not apologizing for his entire existence like I wrote on the bingo board, but it’s close. Who’s surprised that Ozpin is the first to offer (another) apology? Not me. Oscar corrects him with, “I’m upset you came back!”

Okay. Here’s the thing. I like the idea of Oscar rejecting Ozpin both because he’s taken over his life and because Oscar has suffered horribly due to Ozpin’s presence (punched, slammed into walls, kidnapping attempts, etc.) That makes sense, it’s actually morally complex, and it’s great groundwork for character growth. The only problem is… this came out of nowhere. Oscar was shown accepting this new life when he left the farm. Then again when he insisted on fighting Hazel. Then again all the times he’s been told he’s acting like Ozpin and seems to accept that just fine. He’s clearly pleased with this new badass self he’s got going on—he even says as much—yet doesn’t want to acknowledge Ozpin as the catalyst for all this positive change. Okay, that’s something we could still work through, but what about the group? Fans are already theorizing that this is why Oscar is keeping Ozpin a secret, because he’s scared of how the group will react, punishing him to get at Ozpin again, and though he 100% has reasons for thinking that will happen, Oscar hasn’t shown that fear before now. Qrow punches him? Bonding moment with Ruby. Jaune attacks him? I made you all dinner. They all smile over his inevitable death/disappearance? He smiles back. Yang is the most scream-y? Happy to have her using him as an armrest. The group continually ignores him and treats him with suspicion? Not a peep of protest. It’s horrifying that Oscar accepted how the group previously treated him, but he did accept it. Where did this fear come from if we haven’t seen it in response to the harm done towards him? Just as importantly, can’t we have an arc where Oscar is mad at the team some too? I’ll admit that the general premise of blaming Ozpin makes sense for the traumatized fourteen-year old, but after two years of blaming Ozpin for everything… aren’t we sick of this? His team has actively hurt him, outside of Ozpin’s ability to prevent, yet Ozpin is the one who takes all the heat for their behavior. “I felt like I was actually part of the team” should lead to the realization of, “Hey, Yang shouldn’t yell at both of us for things outside of our control” not, “Hey, you should stay away forever because others have decided they don’t like you.”

All of this following Ozpin saving Oscar’s life in the airship. Then saving his life again after Ironwood shot him. Our heroes are real grateful, huh. I hate that RWBY is taking another fave and doing them dirty, though I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.

Ozpin also mentions his magic—would be nice if Oscar brought that up with the team!—and that he is now “recollecting my longest held memories.” He…is? When? Don’t you think that’s something important to show us? We keep being told that “the merge” is occurring but not shown what that actually means. Seriously, when did Oscar get slammed with that many memories??

Please just use the aura machine and give Ozpin a robot body. RT doesn’t have the chops for writing this situation.

As they continue on towards the crater Ren snaps at Jaune about not needing a “pep talk.” Jaune looks annoyed at the attitude which, fair. It says a lot about the writing the last few years that Jaune is the character I’m least frustrated with lol. Likely because they haven’t had him do anything lately which, given that he’s not one of the title characters and our cast is bloated enough as it is, I’m still totally fine with.

Ozpin concludes the scene with, “We need to find a way to work together. Not just the two of us, all of us” with the camera panning up to look at Atlas. I’m glad someone isn’t ready to throw Ironwood under the bus. Given how the group reacted to him sparing Lionheart’s name though, I don’t think they’ll follow Ozpin in his forgiveness. If anything, I expect this perspective to just be more hate fuel.

We move to Ruby’s group which now includes May. Woohoo! She still hasn’t gotten half the screen time as Joanna, but I’m really glad she’s here. In fact, between a useful semblance and that adorable courtesy, I love her already. Despite, you know, helping the team break into the base and all that. Everyone has their flaws lol.

She also frames the Amity plan as getting the world “talking again.” Why is everything presented like a fun romp rather than avoiding death via Salem? Absolutely terrible tone this episode.

The group hilariously waltzes past a sign labeled AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY and enters the dust facility with the bots I mentioned earlier. This I do like. My hypothetical scenario incorporating the racism issue aside, I like that Weiss is using her knowledge and connections to further the mission, rather than something conveniently dropping into the group’s lap. Like Amity suddenly being ready for launch…So yeah, it makes sense that Weiss would know of a potential way in.

Sending someone up through the tubes though? Ehhh… I know they have aura and everything—and that Zwei was once mailed—but are we sure this is safe?? Doesn’t matter because Nora sends Weiss through with a misplaced button press. Good thing that was the tube heading to the base. Too bad Weiss is heading to a guarded military base alone. It should have been May going first with her semblance activated, but no. Chuck this onto the ever increasing ‘Bad Tone’ pile. There should not be giggles over Weiss being in that level of danger, especially with everything else going on. Ruby’s expression is the only one on point.

Before Weiss is yeeted off though, Penny and Ruby have a talk wherein Ruby lies her ass off. Penny says, “I do not like it when friends fight” and when Ruby starts talking about Yang she corrects her, revealing that she’s actually thinking about Winter and Ironwood. “They were our friends.”

I was ready to sing Penny’s praises and really, she still gets credit for being the only one who has acknowledged this, but her opinion is (once again) overridden by Ruby’s. Penny goes, “but then the Ace Ops attacked you” which Ruby doesn’t bother to correct. How would Penny know otherwise? The only information she has about that battle is what Ruby has told her, but Ruby is lying via omission here. The Ace Ops never attacked her. They very explicitly refused to start a fight. Ruby attacked them. Then when Penny is upset that Ironwood said “people were going to die because of me,” Ruby takes her by the shoulders and angrily insists, “That was a lie and he was only saying it to hurt you.”

Ruby… you’re the one lying. You know damn well Ironwood didn’t just say that to hurt Penny. Oh yeah, the general trying to keep a kingdom alive from an immortal witch is preoccupied with hurting Penny’s feelings for no reason other than being evil. That makes sense. More importantly, Ironwood is right. Look, I’m by no means blaming Penny for anything. She fought off Cinder, took the power when there was no other choice, and has now gotten caught up in Ruby’s plans which include incredibly misleading information that Penny has no reason to question. She’s doing her best and deserves that hug. But that doesn’t mean she lacks responsibility here. Ironwood needs Penny to evacuate. Penny—listening to Ruby—won’t help him. Ergo, if something happens to the people up in Atlas Penny will be partly responsible. If I have the key to a door with lots of people trapped behind it as a fire rages, and I refuse to open that door, I have indeed allowed a lot of people to die. As Penny says, she didn’t want this responsibility… but she has it. She has to deal with it. Too bad she’s with Ruby who encourages her to ignore it instead, insisting that nothing bad that happens after their choices could in any way be connected to them. Kind of like Qrow ignoring his own actions against Clover.

Because that’s the takeaway from this scene. Penny had empathy for their friends and then Ruby talked her out of it. She never even acknowledges that those were indeed seven friends that she betrayed. That’s horrible.

What happened to Ruby? I used to love this girl.

Continuing our tone issue, Nora is watching this show like her favorite soap is on. Okay then.

Weiss goes up the tube and then we cut to Fiona saying that… the Mantle police are helping them evacuate? So the military is bad, but the police are good? I need to stop trying to make sense of RWBY’s allegory.

When Yang and the others return Fiona makes an innocent comment about being worried about how they’d fare without the rest of their team. Yang is pissed.

Ah, so we’re back to her giving allies attitude for random observations. Remember the anger at Marrow for suggesting she and Blake try different team-ups? Now here Yang is, in a different team-up, doing quite well. Funny how we never acknowledge who first suggested that. Now, Fiona reveals a totally logical worry that losing four fighters might make a difference when fending off grimm, but Yang is poised to be angry at everyone, about everything, all the time. Which I get is something that a lot of fans like. I’ve already seen a couple of posts praising RT for letting Robyn and Yang be angry without consequences because women often can’t do that and, fair. That is indeed one way to read it. My problem is that their anger is actually irrational, not just called as much because we women are ~emotional~. Their anger isn’t justified: Robyn because she had a significant hand in all this nonsense (that she’s ignoring) and Yang because it’s clear Fiona means no harm here. This is anger that needs to be called out, not ignored because yay women expressing emotion. That kind of defense is reserved for a woman’s justified anger that needs to be expressed without criticism, especially in a narrative that tries to undermine her perspective. But what has Fiona done to Yang? Nothing. More importantly, the show has yet to teach Yang a better coping mechanism than lashing out at people, be it with her fists, words, or angry glares. Yang has been through the ringer and it makes sense that she’s angry, but that doesn’t mean she gets a lifelong pass to treat those around her badly.

Anyway, Joanna says they have a lot of people to keep warm even though the crater was supposed to be warmer? And they’re stealing dust? So what are they using it for it not heat? We’re not seeing any difference here and frankly all the civilians should be dead by now. Or at least entering hypothermia. (Give me that conflict: how do you keep people safe when they’re not all conveniently up for walking all the way to the slums?) Joanna also says that they’re trying to get the “Old mine shafts into a livable condition” which would take how long exactly? In fact, I’d say our timeline is already wonky. We’ve watched Yang hide the Ace Ops last Volume, fly to Winter and Penny, find the Happy Huntresses, wait around for Oscar to show up, ran off on her own at some point to scout, went to get bikes, evacuated all those people to the (far away) slums, then went back out to fight off the grimm. That had to have taken up a good chunk of the night, though it’s impossible to tell the time with Atlas’ snowy sky. I’m leaning towards a bingo mark though…

The faunus who I thought was a badger or something is… a bear I guess? He has a bear-like paw, but his nails seem too long… I honestly don’t know. But he’s Fiona’s uncle! Cute. She's off to deal with a fight that’s starting while the group goes to fight more grimm. Finally, the episode gets good.

The teamwork to take out the dragon grimm was nice, always glad to see it, but the real fight starts when two more grunts show up and then immediately run away. What could have scared them off?

The Hound. (I’m sorry, all I can think of is Game of Thrones when I write that, but it seems to be the name the fandom is adopting, so…) Remember how I said it was unlikely to be a threat on its own? I WAS WRONG. Holy shit this thing is terrifying. It snatches Oscar and in some wonderfully quick animation absolutely obliterates the kid. Oscar is thrown around like a chew toy, desperately trying to rabbit kick at this thing and it does [checks notes] absolutely nothing. I’d normally say something about our farm boy always getting the shit kicked out of him, but this scene was too good for my salt.

Then it changes shape, growing arms, and starts using Oscar as a shield. Yang can’t pull back in time and is snagged by her head, the Hound tossing her into the wall hard enough to break the stone. She’s still conscious though and warns the others about its strategy.

“But grimm aren’t that smart,” Jaune says. Maybe if you kids (Fiona keeps calling them kids) had stayed in school you would have learned that grimm get smarter with age! Oobleck knew that. Or, just as likely, this is a special Salem grimm. Hard to say at this point.

The point though is that the group is helpless in the face of this monster. I do want to emphasize this. I’ve seen a few people criticizing them for not doing enough to save Oscar and it’s like, what did you want them to do? Yang tried to attack and the grimm nearly had her hitting Oscar instead. Ren tried to attack and the grimm changed so fast his weapon was useless. Factor in that morphing—which the group has never seen before—the horror of Oscar hanging there limp, and the general fighter response of, ‘I can’t just keep attacking head on because that thing might kill me,’ and you realize the group was screwed from the start. They can’t stand up against this thing, not without a good strategy anyway, which there’s no time to think up. For the first time in years, ever since Tyrian, Salem actually made the right, villainous call.

Ren screams, “Give him back!”—which was just lovely in an angsty way—and the grimm creepily cuddles Oscar against his chest. Then he responds, “No.” Yeah, they’ve never seen that before either. Can you blame them for their shock? I’m impressed that they were on their bikes just seconds later, managing to keep the grimm in sight. That speaks to their combat experience. Not the ability to power through a situation where they’re clearly outmatched, but their ability to pick themselves back up and try again.

... Ah, so that’s why Pietro was oh so randomly making them bikes. The plot needed a way for them to keep up with a flying grimm. Got it.

My takeaway? RT should be writing horror. They’re far better at it. The animation, sound effects, voice acting, the grimm’s speech and protective instincts, that splatter of goo on Oscar’s cheek…

... stellar all around. Like the Apathy, this is the best I think RWBY has been since the lore episode of Volume 6. Granted, action sequences like this aren’t required to grapple with any of the messy morals and character consistency of other scenes, but still. If RWBY had just given me a lighthearted ‘Girls fight cartoon monsters’ show or a horror fueled ‘Girls fight monster abominations’ show, I’d have been happy. This? This is the only redeeming part of the episode. And it’s indeed one hell of a redemption. Look at this thing!

I’m not going to say it erases all the bad we got—it doesn’t—or that it likewise erases problems like Salem not using the rest of her army, but it’s a notable step in the right direction. This grimm is a threat. This grimm is a mountain the cast has to overcome. If this is the minion its master should be Everest. I still think this Volume is going down the tubes fast (it’s going the way of Weiss lol), but if it can give me more scenes like this? It might not be a total loss.

Last thing to acknowledge: What about Ozpin? I’ll admit it doesn’t look good. Given how fast he takes control he should have been able to override Oscar’s will and at least fight back a little with that spectacular magic we saw during the finale. So why didn’t he? I hope we get an in-world explanation: it happened so fast even Ozpin couldn’t do anything (shaky, but I’ll take it in a pinch), now that the merge is farther along he can no longer take control—something. Because I can easily imagine how quickly the fandom, and even the cast, will turn on him for not playing deus ex machina here. In reality, I think Ozpin didn’t take control simply because the plot needed him not to. The writers needed Oscar kidnapped so any potential out from that is conveniently forgotten… which is another knock against their writing, despite how great the scene otherwise was. The point is to take all these potential pushbacks and find a satisfying way to circumvent them, not pretend they don’t exist. RT can still save themselves here by providing that explanation later, so I hope they’re smart enough to do that. Ozpin has been blamed for everything at this point. His own kidnapping doesn’t need to be added to the list.

Also, still no word on Schrödinger's councilman. We’ve got to wait another week to see whether he’s dead or not.

Finally, let’s update the bingo card!

I’m crossing off “Ruby gives an ‘inspiring’ speech built on ignoring facts she doesn’t like” for that conversation with Penny. Yeah, it’s a speech to her alone about her worth, but Ruby mischaracterized the situation so badly I’m mad at her lol

I never thought the story would straight up just not have the grimm army attacking, so I think I’ll hold off on “Army of grimm conveniently doesn’t kill any civilians” until we see if/when it gets involved.

I’ll likewise hold off on the timeline slot until we see how bad things get…

Maria is on thin ice given that we have no idea what she’s supposedly doing while the group is off on their missions. Stay tuned.

Today we’re crossing off “Deadly cold conveniently doesn’t kill any civilians.” They should all be dropping like flies by now.

A friend pointed out that Cinder’s Cinderella flashback counts as an “Overly obvious fairy tale allusion.” In fact, I talked about how much of a shorthand that is, so that’s getting a mark.

From last week I’ve also decided to include Amity for “Retconning previous lore.” Now that the group is fully underway with their plan it reads as even more egregious that we were told it wasn’t ready.

I’ll hold off on Ozpin’s space for a while. See if he apologizes to the whole group and, if so, exactly what for.

“Oscar is finally kidnapped”—check!

Well, that’s a whole lot of headway this week. Can’t wait to see where the next episode takes us... Here’s hoping we spend a lot of time with that Hound. MVP of the episode.

Until next time! 💜

[Ko-Fi]

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #mymetas #rwby recaps

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jaxsteamblog · 3 years

Text

Her Royal Majesty Our Queen

Click here to read the entire fic on AO3

During the two day trip to the Foggy Swamp, Katara had to disconnect from her role as Thuy’s Master and step back into her work as Queen. This visit had nothing to do with the Avatar as she needed to meet with the Matriarch of the Swamp Tribe, and Thuy was simply going home. Toph, as her current instructor, was always going to come along but was herself interested in seeing the swamp.

For someone who invented metalbending, Toph was certainly very interested in mud.

The layover was, amusingly, in Haru’s hometown. With their arrival publicly announced, Haru’s parents sent a short letter to her hotel room, but there wasn’t any attempt to meet. Katara was only there for the night, and Haru was happily married in Republic City.

Still, it was nice to be thought of.

On the flight the next day, Thuy became more animated and even Mister Whiskers was showing more signs of life. The amphibious creature clearly missed her damp home.

“Did you hear that, Sugar Queen?” Toph asked loudly, making Katara turn from her laptop. “Thuy says they eat bugs.”

Katara blinked and shut her laptop slowly.

“And?” She asked.

“Doesn’t that weird you out?” Toph questioned.

“No?” Katara put a hand on top of her computer. “Some of us didn’t live in a manor for the entirety of the war.”

“Are you saying I’m soft?” Toph demanded, not sounding angry but leaning over the arm of her seat menacingly.

“Oh Toph, you’re as dense as a rock.” Katara replied sweetly.

Toph cackled, slapping the seat arm and sitting back.

“See Wet Wipe, you have to give as good as you get. Otherwise people will walk all over you.” She said to Thuy.

“I just don’t think it’s nice.” Thuy huffed, picking up her squirming catgator. Mister Whiskers had taken to chewing on the empty seats in front of them.

Katara did not like how many sharp teeth were in that wide mouth.

“Avatars don’t get anywhere by being nice.” Toph countered.

“Don’t I know it.” Thuy muttered.

Due to the unpredictable nature of the swamp, the plane landed at a small, private airfield next to the looming entity of the banyan grove.

As they disembarked, figures came out from the treeline and Thuy ran to meet them, Mister Whiskers loping cartoonishly after her.

One figure Katara recognized as the matriarch. Dong-Lee broke away from the group and walked leisurely toward Katara as she and Toph made their way to the trees.

“Welcome, our queen.” Dong-Lee said. A chorus of shouts raised from the group behind her and Katara felt her face start to warm.

“Please, Matriarch, Katara is perfectly fine.” She said, waving the comment away.

“You are bringing the other tribes back to our family, we are proud to call you our queen.” Dong-Lee replied.

Katara’s mouth twitched at the comment, but she ignored it.

“I appreciate the welcome, Matriarch.” She said.

“Is the Fire Lord still onboard?” Dong-Lee asked.

“Zuko?” Katara frowned in confusion. “He’s in Caldera.”

“He didn’t come?”

Dong-Lee sounded surprised and Katara did blush then.

“We’re not married yet, I wasn’t aware you were expecting him.” She explained.

“I apologize, Thuy had told me you were handfasted already.” Dong-Lee said.

“They are!” Thuy shouted indignantly. “They announced their coupling ages ago and then she accepted his pledge on my birthday!”

“That doesn’t mean we’re married!” Katara snapped anxiously.

“Sure it does.” Thuy said, sounding calm and unconcerned as she walked back over. “A wedding doesn’t make you married, a pledge does.”

“That’s not how it works in other places.” Katara said and sighed.

“That is how it works here, though.” Thuy said. “And we are your people too.”

Katara sighed again and rubbed her face.

“I’m sorry, Matriarch, Zuko isn’t coming.” She said.

“Like dragon spit he isn’t.” Thuy said. She pulled out her cellphone and Katara lunged. Thuy avoided her easily, pushing herself away with her bending.

“Zuko, Auntie said you’re not coming to the swamp even though I promised everyone.” Thuy started, continuing to move away as Katara made a strangled sound in exasperation.

“So,” Toph interjected as she strolled over. “I was told there were bugs?”

By dinner, Zuko was already in Republic City making further travel plans. At Thuy’s invitation, Sokka and Suki decided to tag along and the three of them would be in the swamp by the next evening.

Having her script so completely disrupted, Katara sulked and grumbled at her seat.

Toph had gone hunting with some of the tribe members, returning completely drenched in swamp mud but clutching the still writhing bodies of leopard eels. Apparently having an Earthbender made it much easier to catch the fish by hand, and an unsettling sack proved it.

The catch was gutted and cleaned at the docks, with Mister Whiskers getting her fill of offal. None of that bothered Katara, save for the blood that spilled onto their woven mats.

There hadn’t been much in the way of technological advancement in the swamp. Whatever spiritual energy shielded Thuy’s home, it was complete and fickle. The tribe used peat and water to make steam engine generators, but they didn’t power much outside of the few telephones, radios, computers, and satellite for reception. And that was certainly spotty, often requiring a shaman or Thuy herself to go into the swamp and yell about it.

Torches, bug nets, and rickety walkways were sprinkled over massive banyan roots and linked the various thatched huts or raised pavilions. Family groups lived in nodes and each node could communicate with the others via the root system and a shaman. So the technology they did have only came, Katara found, after Thuy was identified as the Avatar and her family knew she would need it.

Other things, like books, weapons, and clothing, trickled in at random times when an outsider was allowed access to the interior.

The swamp had protected Thuy and provided her with everything she needed.

It reminded Katara very much of the South Pole.

Which oddly did not help her mood.

“Is her royal majesty being snooty?” Toph asked, sitting down hard next to Katara.

“No. I’m just mad I didn’t know they expected Zuko to be here.” She replied.

“I’m surprised too, to be honest.” Toph said, putting her hands down behind her and reclining. “What do they want with the Fire Lord?”

“That’s a good question.” Katara replied.

The answer came after dinner had been cleared away.

A shaman, adorned with bright feathers and a carved wooden mask, stepped out onto the wide dock. Everyone quieted and turned; Katara looked expectantly at Thuy, but she was already focused on the shaman.

“We welcome the return of our kin, Thuy.” The shaman said and clapping filled the heavy air. Katara clapped slowly, still unsure of what was happening.

“Before we understood our world, we told stories to explain what we saw. The Avatar represented all of our questions; where did we come from? Why do we have Benders? Why are there four elements? And how are we to live with the spirits?

“The ancient stories tell us that the sun and the moon fought over the ocean. That one day, when the moon triumphed, the sun fell into the ocean and from it’s boiling, the lands were made. The bubbles made the air we breathe and pushed the sun back into the sky. So the elements were made, but as they came from strife, only one would ever inhabit a human at a time.

“We know of space now, of gravity, but we also still live among the spirits. We see how they alter the world around us, how they bestow gifts, and how they take things away at a whim.

“After the great and terrible war, the rest of the world is turning away from the spirits. It is why the Avatar has been born here, in this sacred grove, to remind us of what we are all still connected to.” The shaman paused but no one spoke or made a noise.

“The rest of the world is being reminded. Our spirits, not our adopted family of the Great Banyan Tree, but our spiritual parents Tui and La, have reconnected to our human world. The honorable princess Yue has ascended to the sky as the handmaiden of the moon. And here sits our awe-some protector, the Matriarch of All Waters, our queen!” The shaman continued and a roar went up around Katara.

Toph, unable to find a snarky comment, only sat up straight. A shiver ran through Katara and she gripped uselessly at the mat under her.

“The sun has fallen again into the ocean. We must prepare for what is to come.” The shaman said, raising his hands to quiet the people.

“Tomorrow, the queen and her husband will go out into the swamp. When they return, we will abide by whatever message they bring.” The shaman said and then turned his carved mask toward Katara.

“Long live La!” He called and the shout was quickly picked up by the others.

“Looks like someone has a new, terrible destiny.” Toph whispered.

“Alright Huu, get down and let the fiddlers start!” Someone yelled and laughter replaced the solemn calling.

The energy immediately shifted and Katara let out a breath, slumping onto the low table.

“I am so sick of destiny.” She muttered.

That night, Katara sat awkwardly tucked in a knot of a banyan tree. She had to climb higher than she liked to get a decent signal on her phone.

“Divination at dinner?” Zuko asked.

“It’s starting to feel like we never had a choice not to be together.” Katara grumbled.

“And that’s a bad thing?” He questioned haltingly.

“It makes it seem like it doesn’t matter what kind of person I am if you were fated to love me anyway.”

“I don’t know. Even if people say we were meant to be together, we still had to be the people we are to make that happen. And I do love you because of who you are.”

“But I don’t want to be this. Whatever this person is that everyone is making me out to be.”

“And what’s that?”

“Liu called me Oma, everyone here thinks I’m La, and Rohan is trying to make me think I’m the embodiment of yin.”

“What do you want to be?”

“Me! I just want to be me. And your wife.” Katara added, lowering her voice and wrapping her free arm over her chest. “I just want to be me with you.”

“The quiet, unassuming wife of the Fire Lord?” Zuko asked and she snorted.

“I could never just be a wife.” She said dryly.

“Which is why I wanted to ask you…” Zuko started and Katara sat up.

“What now?” She asked.

“I want you to become the Fire Lady.” He said.

That stilled her and Katara stared off into the darkness.

“You still there?” Zuko asked cautiously.

“Yeah, no, I’m still here.” Katara said. “Just, thinking.”

“I know it’s a big ask.”

“That’s two crowns, Zuko.”

“I know.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re my queen too. You will be queen to my people. Our people.”

Katara went quiet again, and Zuko waited.

“You want children.” She said finally.

“Yes.” He was quick and honest. “Don’t you?”

“I don’t know.” She said, just as honestly.

“I never wanted them before. But with you?” Zuko’s voice drifted and Katara felt her pulse quicken.

“If they’re really saying I’m the sun falling into the ocean-”

“Zuko.”

“-then maybe what they mean is how many little islands I can-”

“Zuko!”

“The allegory is right there Katara.”

Katara laughed and her anxiety left her.

“I’ll think about it.” She said finally.

“That’s all that I ask.” He replied.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” She said.

“I am so excited for our field trip, you have no idea.” Zuko joked and Katara laughed again.

It was certainly enough to think about for one night.

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#zutara #fanfiction #jax writes #zutara month #modern au #the fic that prompts built

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chrissyutimagines · 4 years

Text

Damsel in Distress

This is a soulmate au one shot. As per usual, '---------' marks point of view changes, and the setting is on the surface. This one is with a gender neutral reader, starring Butch from @bigoltrashpile. I don't own Butch, and if you want to read more about him please go to their blog. Oh, I've gotten permission to use their characters for a series of soulmate au stories. Stay tuned for more~ It would take a long while tho...

In this dangerous, shady world, you led a quiet, normal life.

Living in a small but cozy apartment, working as a front desk manager at a small hotel, hanging out with a few friends... It all seems normal, except for one thing... You've never been caught in the midst of any sort of chaos, be it a simple bar fight or a massive mafia shootout.

A usually rowdy speakeasy would be oddly quiet with you there, never getting attacked walking down a dark alleyway, a mafia shootout taking place in the area you had just left a few minutes ago... It was like you had some kind of lucky aura that protected you from the dangers of this society. Because of this you have been given the nickname 'Clover'.

You've always gave them a smile and accepted the nickname...

But you knew luck won't always be on your side...

Glancing down at your wrist, you see a short message tattooed on it.

'you okay, doll?'

It was said that those words are the first words your soulmate tells you.

...and by the looks of it, you'd be in quite a bit of trouble when the time comes.

You've received a letter from your friend, whose family is stupid rich, and was invited to a masquerade ball to celebrate the fifth anniversary of their luxurious hotel.

Knowing your friend, they will call you to shop for dresses in 3, 2, 1...

'Ring' Ah. Just as expected.

You pick up the phone.

"Hey Sof."

"OMG! Did you get my invitation?! We're going shopping in a minute! You better be ready by then! Oh! And we need to catch up lately! It's been too long!"

"Heheh! Sof, we were chatting just two days ago!"

"Yeah! Way too long! See you in a few minutes! 'click'"

Typical Sofia. Well, loud or not she's a good friend. And you should better change clothes before she...

'Ding dong!'...arrives.

You sigh and go greet your friend.

"How did you get here so fast?"

"Oh! I was in the car when I called you! Now go change into some decent clothes! We need to get some proper dresses for the ball!"

She herds you into your bedroom and a short while later you're in a high-end dress shop. While you gape at the beautiful yet expensive dresses, your friend starts searching through the various dresses.

"Don't just stand there! Come over here. It's not like you've been to this place before."

"Alright, alright. I'm coming."

The both of you start to pick the best dresses while making small talk.

"...so I just went like- Oh my! This would look amazing on you!"

Sofia holds up a red and black velvet dress, it looks like a dress fit for royalty.

"Oh! Sof, I, I don't know."

"Oh stop worrying about me, your know I don't look good in red. Now go put this on and show me!"

You sigh and let her push you into the dressing room. You try on the dress and twirl in front of the full body mirror in the room. You... Look stunning. You hear intensive knocking on the door.

"Hey, get out here and lemme see how it looks!"

You sigh and chuckle her eagerness, then walked out of the dressing room, giving a small twirl to show off the dress.

"Well?" She was silent for a few seconds.

"...well? It's fantastic! You're getting this one! Now, help me choose a dress!"

"Of course, Sof. Just let me change first."

"I'll wait for you then."

You change and start helping your friend. You soon found the perfect dress for her, which she said was, 'The prettiest dress I've ever seen!' But, you know she's just bluffing, she has always been the dramatic type. You sigh and chuckle, following her too the cashier to check out both of your dresses.

After searching the mask store for a while you managed to find a beautiful, classy, red and black mask to go with your dress. Sofia has also found a sparkly mask to go with hers. You both chatted for a short while before parting ways.

When you got back home, you marked the day of the masquerade and placed the clothing away. This would be a perfect break from your boring routine...

Or would it?

----------------------------------------------------

Butch is sleeping in today... Or he would be if Noir haven't dragged him up. He grumbled.

"come on! ya know 'ow late i worked last night!"

"This Is Important Lazybones! You Have To Get A Decent Suit Tailored Asap!"

"*yawn* why?"

"You Are Going To A Masquerade Ball. We Have Business With The Hotel Owner."

"*sighs* *grumbles* alright, fine."

He begrudgingly went to the tailor and got his measurements. Then Noir dragged him to a mask store to get a 'suitable' mask... Which basically means Noir picked one for him.

When they finally got back, Butch just flopped on his bed and dozed off. This would be another boring, pesky business trip...

Or would it be something more?

----------------------------------------------------

On the day of the ball, you dressed up in the stunning dress and mask you got via Sofia, did your hair to compliment your dress, and put on some red heels to finish the look. You have decided against make up as no one can see it under your mask. Sofia said she wanted to arrive at the ball with you, so she would be here in three, two, o-

*knock knock*

Bingo. You open the door to see Sofia practically bouncing with excitement.

"OMG! (Y/N), you wouldn't Believe how excited I am! Are you done?! Come on!"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming, Sof. Just let me grab my hand bag."

You grab your hand bag and went to the exquisite, grand masquerade ball with Sofia. She excitedly told you all the details of the ball, and from what you gathered, you think this'll be a delightful evening.

But you have no idea what has truly been in stored for you.

----------------------------------------------------

It's the day of the ball, and Butch is, well, being his usual grumpy self. Putting on the freshly tailored suit and the well-picked mask along with a pair of freshly polished leather shoes, he went to attend the ball.

Thinking of the business meeting with the owner made him annoyed about actually attending and participating in it.

But, he didn't know that someone would change his mind.

----------------------------------------------------

The ball is in full swing. Everyone was dancing, laughing, and enjoying the grand ball. You have just finished a few dances, and feeling a bit parched. So you, along with an equally tired Sofia, went over to the food tables for a nice snack break.

"That was *pant* Amazing! Did you have fun? *pant*"

"Ah yes, having fun dancing so much my feet are sore from being stepped on by multiple dance partners." You said sarcastically.

"Oh. I'm so sorry. How many?"

"I lost count after 10." She winced.

"Ooo... That's not good."

"Yup. I'm going to stay here for a while. You can go dance some more."

"Okay. But you rest up okay?"

"I will."

She smiles and waves at you as she went back to dance some more.

It was then that you heard the whispers

"They look like a couple."

"That dress they're wearing matches the suit he wears."

"How do they look so good in red?"

"Are they together?"

Feeling uncomfortable from all the whispers, you ducked in a dark corner hoping to leave the center of attention. It worked, but the action has got you the attention of someone.

"Hey there, beautiful." You instinctively take a step back as the stranger approached you.

"Who are you? And what do you want? I do not want to dance right now."

"Oh we're not going to dance, sweetie. We're going to have some... Fun..."

You tried to make a run for it, but he caught your wrist. You struggle to break free of his hold, but to no avail. You tried to yell for help, only for the guy to clap his hand over your mouth. This is it, you thought. You were going to get taken away by a random guy and be ruined. Tears streamed down your face as your struggles grow weaker and weaker.

Just as you thought all hope was lost, you feel the weight of your attacker leave. Your eyes shot open, and you saw the blurry form of your savior standing in front of you.

"What do ya think yer doin'?!" A baritone voice growled.

----------------------------------------------------

Butch arrived at the ball, and started hanging around to look like an ordinary party-goer. As he was chilling, he heard whispers.

"That suit looks exquisite."

"It matches the dress the dress that person's wearing."

"Do you think they're a thing?"

"It sure looks so."

He feels his anger creep up in him, but was interrupted by a man tapping his shoulder.

"Sir, the owner would like to speak with you."

He groaned internally and followed the man. He will be out of here after business is done anyway. No reason to stay right? He thought.

After a bit, the business is done, and Butch finished what he came for. He grumbled a bit as he emerged from a dark corner in order not to attract unwanted attention. Just as he was going to leave, his eyelights caught a glimpse of red... And that's when he saw them... A beautiful person wearing an elegant black and red dress with a matching mask... Who is also being assaulted by a scumbag...

He's snapped back to reality at that, and immediately used his magic to drag the guy away from them. Anger bubbling up in him, he growled.

"What do ya think yer doin'?!"

"I-I was just taking my p-partner-"

"bullshit! they were struggling!"

"I-I'm s-sorry-"

"shut up. i'll deal with ya later." He uses his magic to bound him and threw him to the side, not wanting to alert anyone else.

Turning back to the person assaulted, he kneels down and touches their cheek.

"you okay, doll?"

----------------------------------------------------

You whimpered, and threw yourself at the stranger that saved you, sobbing.

"whoa, whoa. hey, it's okay. it's over now. yer a'right now, doll. shh..."

The guy held you in his arms, gently rocking you. Slowly, you calmed down, and pulled away to look at him.

"You, you saved me." His eyelights widen, and you tilt your head curiously.

"What? Is there something wrong?" He didn't reply, instead, he pulled up his sleeves and showed you his wrist-bone? Your eyes widened as you read the tattoo.

'You, you saved me.'

You flipped your own wrist to reveal yours.

'you okay, doll?'

You stared at each other with wonder.

"w-we're-"

"-Soulmates..."

You continued to stare into each other's eyes, till a noise coming from your attacker broke the both of you out of your trance.

"Ow! Why is there a glass piece here?!"

"*sigh* sorry, doll. gotta deal with this bastard first." He stands and helps you up.

"ya think ya can stand on yer own?"

"I-I think so..." He smiles.

"good. i'll be back on a sec."

His hand glows red and the guy floats up. Then, they disappeared. You blinked a few times, not knowing what happened. And just as suddenly, your savior appeared. Seeing your shocked expression, he chuckled.

"ya okay there, doll? dun worry yer pretty lil head off. it's jus' a 'shortcut'."

"H-how?"

"mmmagic." You huff, and he chuckles.

"hehe. 'ere, take my hand. let's go to somewhere quieter."

With one hand extended to you, he seems almost nervous. Is this the same guy who pulled the jerk off you? You giggle, delicately placing your hand on his. He closed his large hand around yours, and gently wraps his other arm around you, pulling you close to him. You shivered a bit as he whispered in your ear.

"hold on tight, doll."

You feel yourself being pulled into seemingly nothingness, you clutched on him, needing to feel a sense of reality. Then the both of you appeared on the balcony. You tried to pull away from him, only to feel an overwhelming dizziness and fall back into his arms.

"take it easy, doll. shortcuts can be a bit disorientin' the first few times."

You grip onto his suit, taking deep breaths to regain yourself as he cooed words in your ear, while soothingly rubbing your back.

When you finally recollected yourself, you stood back up on your feet gazing up at his eyelights.

"Thank you. For everything. But..."

"but what?"

"I haven't even gotten your name." He looks stunned for a second, before bursting out laughing.

"hahaha! y-yer right, doll. w-we... pffft... 'aven't even... ahaha!" You giggled with him at how ridiculous that is.

When you both calmed down, he took his mask off and introduced himself.

"the name's butch, doll." You smile, liking his handsome features, then took your own mask off.

"My name's (Y/N). Pleased to be saved by you."

He looks at you with stunned eyelights. His hand slowly reaching up to cradle your face.

"y-ya look... gorgeous... 'ow did i get so damn lucky?" You blush at his words, and the fact that his face is getting closer and closer to yours.

"Y-you're the one looking so dashing in that suit." His face glowed red as your said those words.

"'m only a bag o' bones... yer... yer the true diamond, doll. can i...?"

His breath lands on your lips as his thumb absentmindly smoothed over your cheek. You blush but nod and closed your eyes. You then feel a pair of lips touch yours, you questioned how a skeleton has lips in your mind, but the thought was gone as you feel yourself melting into the sweet and sensual kiss. By the time you both pulled away, the both of you are panting heavily.

"Wow..."

"wow indeed, doll." You open your mouth to ask about a skeleton with lips, but closed it as his answer would most likely be 'magic'.

Then you noticed your clothes...

"...we match."

He looks down at his clothes, then yours. And his face glows red again. You giggle.

"what's so funny?" he said with a scowl.

"Hehe. You're cute." His face glows redder.

"nah. yer the a'dork'able one 'ere, doll." He smoothly take your hand to kiss the back of it, causing you to blush.

"Hey! Pffft. No fair! You can't charm me with puns and smooth words!"

"oh. so i'm smooth an' charmin' huh?"

"H-hey! *giggles*"

After your giggles died down, you sigh and look at Butch.

"So... What now?" He smiles and puts his mask back on, extending a hand.

"we dance. i mean, we look like the ultimate power couple, might as well."

You giggle, and fix your mask back on as well, delicately placing your hand on his.

"Lead the way then."

As he led you back in, the crowd parted as if they expected the both of you. When you got to the dance floor, a slow song starts and the two of you danced. Couples looked at you two with envious eyes, bystanders whispered around you, but the two of you are too focused on each other to care.

You are with your prince charming and he has found his damsel in distress.

Nothing else matters.

There! Sorry that I'm so inactive lately. It's been quite busy... I'll be working on this series and that second story of Dance of our Souls first. But it'll be really slow as well... Sorry... Hope you liked this story!

#Mafiafell #Butch #Sans #Drabble #Oneshot #x reader #Sans x reader #Butch x reader #Character not mine #GN! Reader #Soulmate au

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gra-sonas · 4 years

Photo

Day after day this summer, with covid-19 shuttering much of the world, Lily Cowles would enter a small sewing room in her family’s 18th century home in Northwest Connecticut, crawl inside some blankets, and scream. Along with her wails, she’d repeat the same phrases, over and over — all part of a daily ritual that spanned some four hours, until a collection of voices told her they were satisfied. Then she would collect herself, climb out from the blankets and greet her boyfriend who could hear her through the walls in the next room.

“Man, you died a lot of ways today,” he’d say.

“I don’t know why they killed me so bad,” Cowles would reply.

Such were the unusual conditions for Cowles and others when recording the dialogue — and other vocalizations — for the upcoming game “Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War,” the newest addition to the famed and fanciful war sim series. The blanket-draped fort served as the actress’s workstation, with a host of audio producers providing directions via video conference. Occasionally those instructions included imagining a wide variety of fates for her character, requiring lengthy sessions capturing death cries. All of it was part of a months-long, pandemic-related process to produce the game, one that proved both challenging in its never-before-done nature and cathartic for its ample opportunities to exorcise the many anxieties of 2020.

“It just felt so good to scream for that long,” said Cowles, who plays MI-6 operative Helen Park and supplied the character’s voice for both the game’s story and multiplayer modes. She recalled one session in which the game’s audio producers recorded her falling from a 30-story building. “I was like, ‘can we make it 40 floors? I could really use the extra 10 [stories] of just straight screaming.’ It just felt like a real relief.”

The unorthodox routine was shared by “Cold War’s” cast of 125 actors as they pivoted to follow safety protocols related to the novel coronavirus, which temporarily shut down the game’s production in March. The latest installment in the Call of Duty franchise, releasing Nov. 13, was completed with both developers and actors working remotely and overcoming a variety of logistical challenges.

“At the time [in March, when covid cases escalated in the United States] we thought it might be like 20 people or 50 percent of the studio who would have to work from home, and maybe that would be for like two weeks,” Dan Vondrak, Senior Creative Director at Raven Software, said. “And then it was everybody. … In my head, I was thinking, if this thing lasts six to eight weeks, we can’t get it done. That’s impossible.”

For Cowles and the game’s other actors, that meant recording lines of dialogue — and their many screams — from the confines of their homes. That process normally would be captured in large part during live shoots using motion capture suits on a studio sound stage. During the pandemic, capturing those recordings provided a unique challenge for narrative producer Natalie Pohorski and her team.

“One of those areas I thought we were just dead in the water was the external talent [voice overs],” Vondrak said. “I can’t have actors go into a studio. So, how is this going to work? And what Natalie and the narrative team did to get that to work and have people recording at home was unbelievable.”

Before dispersing from the studio, Pohorski and Vondrak estimated they had between 50 and 60 percent of the voice over work finalized. Working with their partners at Activision (the game’s publisher) and Treyarch (“Cold War’s” co-developer), Pohorski and her team shipped the actors crates filled with recording equipment that included helmets wired with microphones, sound mixing boards and materials to improve the acoustics around their homes.

“They sent me this giant Pelican briefcase that looked like I’m an arms dealer,” Cowles said.

Veteran actor Bruce Thomas, who plays the role of CIA agent Russell Adler in the game, already had a 5-foot-by-5-foot sound booth he’d constructed in his apartment adjacent to his kitchen. He’d used it to previously to record voice overs, including for some commercials, but he’d never recorded himself there quite so regularly — or at quite the same volume level. To that end, he sought to get ahead of any potential problems with a kind gesture and a heads-up for his neighbors about any yells they may hear through the walls.

“I delivered cookies and a little note to their doors right next to me and below me,” Thomas said. “I just moved here in January, so I hadn’t really met them yet, and I got a text message from the person below me who was like, ‘Oh my God! You do that for a living? How cool is that? Even if I hear you, don’t worry about it.’”

The conditions also required the actors to perform another role as well: that of audio engineer, recording and tinkering with sound levels to ensure quality and consistency. The studio’s engineers would call actors and walk them through proper setups and troubleshoot issues, but when something went wrong, the actors would have to be the ones to fix it manually. Turns out CIA operatives have the same tech troubles as other remote workers.

“Because of covid, everybody’s home and sharing bandwidth,” Thomas said about the Internet connection in his apartment building. “Sometimes it would just cut right out [during an online recording session]. And sometimes when that happens, a glitch will happen on your laptop and so you have to reboot it.”

The recording process consisted of four sessions per day, every day of the week, according to Pohorski, who also noted they wrapped at a similar time compared to what they’d anticipated in their pre-pandemic production schedule, even as they navigated challenges that would have been easily addressed in their usual studio setting.

“To not be able to just walk up and touch the screen and act out what I was talking about … ‘I want the guy’s head to turn this way,’ … I was trying to do it real time in a video camera,” Vondrak said. “Just the communication of that last 20 percent [of the game] was probably the most difficult.”

The on-the-fly evolution of several standardized processes did carry some fringe benefits, according to both the developers and actors. On the development team, Vondrak noted some people seemed more willing to contribute their opinions to the creative process when they didn’t feel the pressure of speaking up in a formal meeting. For the actors, Cowles said her isolated, remote location led her to take more chances with her character.

“I think I was able to make facial expressions and noises that, in a normal setting, my body would be like, ‘Don’t, don’t, don’t. You don’t want to make that noise. Don’t make that face,’" Cowles said. “But I was alone in this thing, and you know, the context in which we’re working [as characters] is this crazy war zone where horrible things are going down. Right? And no one in that situation is thinking about the sound they’re making or the face that they’re making. … I think that led to a degree of authenticity in my work.”

Another silver lining, according to Vondrak, was the increased flexibility in scheduling follow-up sessions for VO work. Oftentimes VO recording sessions are pegged to specific times of the year when the developers can gather all the actors in one place and free them from their other projects. (For example, Thomas is also the motion capture actor for Master Chief for the upcoming game “Halo: Infinite.”) With everyone working from home, the actors’ schedules became more flexible.

“It was like, wait a minute, we can just go back to these people and have them pop out of their family room, into their closet and record some VO lines,” Vondrak said. “Normally it would have been like, ‘We need some new lines.’ And [the schedulers] would have said, ‘Well, the next pick up session where everyone’s going to be in the studio is June.' It’s [normally] a very slow, formal process."

The flexibility did carry an occasional side effect of home life encroaching on the working world, and vice versa, often providing a uniquely 2020 kind of amusement.

Cowles remembered recording a scene in which her character laments the loss of one of her companions, screaming his name repeatedly as a helicopter whisks her away.

“I came out of the sewing room, and my boyfriend is like … ‘So, who is he?’” Cowles said. “I was like, ‘Don’t worry about it. He’s dead now.’”

#lily cowles #call of duty: black ops cold war #rnm cast interviews #helen park

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i-do-trash-fanfictions · 4 years

Text

Thera’s Journal Entry #44

I was walking still when I heard running. Not a Guardian, it didn’t sound the same. And it wasn’t just one, whatever it was. It was many.

I thought fast, and double jumped onto a tree branch, out of sight from anything that passed.

Suddenly, a bunch of fallen ran past, led by two captains. They stopped, looked around. The captain said something to the other in Eliksni. I couldn’t make it out though. Only, “Battle.”, “Village.”, and “This way.”. They started off again.

“Where could they be going?” I whispered to myself.

“They said village!” Scout exclaimed. “That means-”

“Ann might be there!” Poppy finished.

“And they also said battle. They must be planning to attack it, or they already are. We have to move.”

I jumped down and ran after them, making sure that I was out of sight and far enough behind them that they wouldn’t notice.

Soon I heard the sounds of fighting. Gunshots, screeches of Fallen, yells of people.

I soon saw the village. People were standing holding weapons as the Eliksni jumped out at them. There was silence except for the Fallen. I could feel the panic in the air. The fear.

I pulled out Hawkmoon and took aim at the Captain and in one shot towards the head, it’s arc shield fell. Then two more shots that weren’t my own rang out and it fell.

The fighting began again and sounds filled the forest once more.

I jumped down and switched to Riskrunner, firing at any Fallen I could take aim at. This was nothing to me.

I switched back to Hawkmoon and fired at three fallen who were surrounding a woman. She gave me a nod of thanks, and even though her left arm was covered in blood she still fought.

I twirled around and fired at a dreg who had jumped at me, and it fell in midair. I fired at three more and reloaded. I didn’t notice the other captain who was behind me, about to fire.

I turned just before he fired his weapon and heard three fast shots coming from an auto rifle. The captain fell, and behind him stood a tall man with chestnut hair and dark brown eyes staring at me.

“Who are you?” He asked, turning and firing at other dregs.

“Name’s Thera. Young Wolf. Glad I came upon your village when I did.”

“Thera! You have a friend here. Ann.”

“Ann’s here!” Poppy exclaimed, shooting out of the satchel.

“Yes, but I suggest you stay down. Don’t want you to lose your life.” The man turned and fired at some fallen who were surrounded two of the other fighters. Poppy quickly returned to her satchel.

“Where is she?” I asked.

He pointed to another spot and I saw her, hair flying as she twirled around to stab at another dreg who jumped at her with a vandal’s knife. I ran towards her and shot a few more dregs with Riskrunner.

“Thera!” She exclaimed, still shooting.

“I see you’ve been getting into trouble without me.”

“You know me. I can’t stay out of trouble for long.”

“Angelica!” Poppy came out of the satchel and flew to her. She dissipated. “I’ve had no idea where you’ve been! Thera’s been looking for nearly two days!”

“Well I have a lot to tell you guys. But I suggest we finish this first.”

Soon, the fallen numbers began to dwindle down and when the last few remaining dregs and vandals saw they had no chance, they ran off into the forest. We let them.

I turned to Ann and wrapped her into a big hug. Then I turned to the man.

“I never caught your name.” I stated to him.

“Callum. But you can call me Cal. Head to the medical house, everyone! There you can be checked over and treated for any injuries!” He shouted to the fighters.

They helped each other and walked off, covered in dirt and blood.

“They fought bravely.” I said, following after him and Ann as they began to walk a different way. I couldn’t help but feel that I knew the man’s name from somewhere. I haven’t met him before, but perhaps he was mentioned to me by someone else at some time?

“They always do. I’m the only Guardian here, and while they do trust me to protect their home, they know that I can’t do it alone.”

A Guardian. Named Cal. Leading a village. In the middle of uncharted territory on Earth.

“I think you know an old friend of mine.” I said.

“Sora.”

“You’re the Callum she always talked about. The one she visited once a month.”

He nodded.

“How long did it take? For you to get the news? I would have gone myself to tell you, but Sora never gave me or anyone else the coordinates to this place.”

“Two months at least. We found it strange that she didn’t come one month, but I just assumed she was busy and thought nothing of it. But usually she would say something, give me a message either before or after. And she didn’t. So when I tried to contact her via the comlink on her Ghost, Argent said the line didn’t even exist anymore. So I went to the Tower. A Guardian there told me what had happened.” He sighed. “I didn’t take it very well.”

“Neither did I. Especially since she wasn’t the only one I lost.”

“I heard that too. The exo she talked about, Zane.”

I nodded.

“But let’s not dwell on that.” He said as we arrived at a house. “Right now, I’m sure the two of you want to share your stories of how this all happened.”

Callum went off to get food while I sat on one of the chairs. Ann sat on the couch and told me everything as soon as Cal came back. She told me all the details, her noticing the skiff far too late, her ship going down and her blacking out, her waking up without her Ghost. And I told her my side. Poppy getting ahold of the Vanguard and them getting ahold of me, and me setting out to find her.

“I was glad I came across here when I did. You guys seemed to be in trouble.” I said.

“We were.” Said Cal in between sips of his drink. “There have never been that many Fallen to attack at a time before. It’s always been a small few and they can easily be taken care of.”

“I believe,” His Ghost Argent chimed in. “That their numbers are growing. You’d think that with how long this village has been here, that they would just give up this part of their territory, but I guess not. I suppose they plan on taking it back.”

“You could always go to the City, you know.” Suggested Ann.

“Sora would always suggest that. But this is the people’s home. They don’t want to leave. Every year I ask around to see who would want to leave. No one wants to. If they did, I would allow them to. And, it’s become my home too. I like it better out here. It’s calming.”

I nodded. “I can see why. It’s secluded. And while you do have your troubles out here, it’s free from all the fighting that’s going on.” I paused. “Do you wish to keep this place a secret? Is that why Sora never gave Zane and I - or anyone else - the location?”

He gave a simple nod. “I’d like only a few Guardians to know of it’s whereabouts. That way fighting cannot be led this way. I’ve heard that the more Guardians there are, the more chances that there will be trouble soon to follow.”

“That’s as true as it gets.” I stood. “Ann, we should probably head back to the Tower. Scout, call my ship near here.”

“Okay,” Ann said, “But I have to check in one someone first.”

I nodded and she ran off.

“Can I ask a favor?” Asked Cal, turning to me. “You know how Sora would come once a month? She would arrive not only to spend some time with me, but to also keep me updated on what’s going on out there. Do you think you could do that?”

“Sure.” I answered with a smile.

“And make sure to bring Ann. She seems to like it here.”

I nodded once again.

“The ship’s here.” Scout said.

“Well, we had better be going. Zavala and Ikora need to get the update that I’ve found Ann. And I’ll be sure to leave out all the details.”

He smiled.

I left the home and Scout told me that Ann had already transmatted back to the ship. I transmatted there too and passed by Ann who laid on the futon, fast asleep already. I went to the cockpit, and flew off.

“Vanguard, this is Thera, I’ve got Ann and I’m coming home. I’ll fill out my report once I get there.”

I flicked off the coms and had my helmet appear back on courtesy of Scout. I let him turn on my music, not wanting to wake Ann, and started to fly back home.

#destiny 2 #oneshot #destiny #destiny guardians #destiny game #theras journal entries

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keltonwrites · 5 years

Note

How do I become courageous? How do I stop letting the anxiety over the uncertainty of future, or the fear of other people's judgement, dictate my life's narrative?

Ten years ago, my Zoloft prescription ran out the day I had a tumor sliced out of my neck. The surgery was on a Monday. I woke up with chest pain and nerve damage in my face. They kept me until Wednesday morning. I left the hospital with a drainage bag attached to my neck, pinned to the collar of my shirt. I couldn’t move the right side of my face. I emailed my boss.“The surgery was a little more intense than I anticipated. I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it in this week.”“Please be here on Friday.”I went to work on Friday. I couldn’t brush my hair because the pressure on my neck was too painful. The blood bag seeped occasionally on my shirt. I had the kind of sleep anyone has after their ear is partially sliced off to remove a tumor burrowing beneath it. Don’t worry — they sewed it back on. (The ear, not the tumor.)On Friday, because I didn’t understand how boundaries or rights worked, I walked across the National Institutes of Health campus toward my building looking more like a patient than an employee. My boss stared at me and then didn’t speak to me again. I wrote for four hours before I went into her office.“I need to go home.”“Have a nice weekend!” She beamed, actively looking everywhere that was not my blood bag.I smiled, sort of. The right side of my face was still temporarily paralyzed, so the left side of my mouth hoisted my cursory courtesy smile by itself.“Gonna work on my face,” I said pointing to my partially slack expression.“Sorry?”“Nerve damage. Gonna try to exercise it. Do some heavy lifting while I watch TV,” I said, my face contorting from the kind of stifled laughter usually reserved for broken ribs and strict teachers.“Ok!” She almost yelled, her own face contorting with discomfort.Over the next two weeks—tumor and medication free—I lost my mind. Stop me if you’ve heard this before. I gave away my percocet. I dyed my hair. I adopted a cat. I started a blog. And nine months later, I started a challenge called Bold Moves October. I started it because so much of my day-to-day life felt defined by inaction and complacency. Plus, the October prior is when the doctors had said, “we’re really not sure if it’s cancer or not.” Followed immediately by, “we can schedule you for surgery in three months.”It was a long three months. Death all of a sudden seemed like something that could happen. In my 23-year-old wisdom, this meant I should be more proactive. For better or worse, I primarily applied this proactivity to flirting.

We can’t all learn life’s great lessons on the first go.Anyway, that blog and that mini movement of boldness changed the trajectory of my life. One thing toppled into another. Over the next few years that blog and challenge would (directly and tangentially) get me a book deal, writing contracts, sport sponsorships, job offers, the friendship of my favorite author, the adoration of my husband, and a full-time job as an editor that would be the two best professional years of my life.The period I spent working on that blog was obviously good. It was also the most derided and insulted I would ever be. I lost friendships. I received hate mail and death threats (in 2011 no less, before every Twitter account with too many numbers in the screen name became an amateur fear monger.) I allowed people to send me anonymous messages because it was a way for people to share how they were struggling without revealing their identities. But that meant I couldn’t protect myself from anonymous and un-trackable threats. God only knows what my parents thought. (In this scenario, I am God. I know what they thought.)Courage often doesn’t feel good. The only courage that exists without anxiety is arrogance. There is not a life where you, a person who wrote anonymously to an all-but-dead Tumblr, live without the anxiety of others’ judgment. But there is also not a life where you, who—again—wrote asking for advice anonymously to an all-but-dead Tumblr, aren’t a person defined by desperate chances and hope. I apologize that you sent me that note months ago, but I assure you, it is because I too was flexing courage, letting it coarse through my veins and vanquish months of chronic nausea.Like you, I was fussing about in the woods of my life, looking for something that resembled a path. Not necessarily a path without sinkholes or poison leaves, but rather one worth them.Your path, the one it sounds like you’re trying to find, will be overgrown with the thorns of judgment and anxiety. But they’re just thorns. They’re on every path. They’re hurting you just as much on the wrong path as they will on the right one.Normally I give very ethereal advice that’s difficult to act on. It’s more like a song than an action item, but in this scenario, you don’t need to listen to someone else. You also don’t need to have a tumor spliced from your insides to remind you that at some point, our chances run out. All you need is to develop the skill of listening to yourself. For a couple of months, relax with the courage. Courage is just an instagram word for having a strong inner constitution. And that is something you can develop without framing it in the same terms we use to go to battle.

To do the work, I recommend a few things.

If you don’t already, move your body. I know how much people hate this advice. But if you can hike or run or cycle or even just briskly walk (without podcasts) for a minimum of 20 minutes a day, you should. Our gut, our intuition, our inner sense of self or whatever you want to call her, she’s not going to feel safe coming out when you’re in the mental thicket of other people’s narratives. Exercise is the closest humans have to Drano for the mind.

Find a journaling exercise that feels like maybe it’s a little too much work. If it feels conquerable, it’s too easy. I go back to Susannah Conway’s Unravel Your Year. Doesn’t matter if it’s a new year. Time is a construct.

Get the book Designing Your Life. You may not design an entirely new one, but it may help in making change feel conquerable, or just possible. If that book feels too “action item” oriented, try The Artist’s Way. It’s much more about knowing yourself than it is about art.

Make a list of the narratives that you feel other people are suffocating you with. Maybe dad wants you to be a doctor. Maybe girlfriend wants you to settle down a little. Maybe boss wants you to focus on the clerical side of your job. Maybe society wants you to buy an apartment you can’t afford. Whatever or whoever it is you feel is pressuring you, write it down. You need to know your demons to exercise them. You might even find, in time, that you even like some of these visions. They’re not the enemy. Pressure is. And pressure is only defeated by self. Isn’t that annoying?

Write to me again. Impress me. Give yourself a few challenges each week. Whether it’s applying for a class, trying something you’re bound to be bad at, getting up half an hour early to dance your heart out before work, I don’t care. Do some things that are for you. Not for others, not for profit, not for your future — just for you right now. And then use me for more than an anonymous submission on the internet. Use me as a deadline. Sometimes all it takes to get over the hurdle of pressure is a little validation. I’m here for that whenever you need me.

I’m recommending these things because I just did them.

I gave myself a deadline to change my life. Not that it was bad, it just felt… well it felt exactly how it did ten years ago: full of inaction and complacency. I was on cruise control, taking few chances, taking really nothing at all. So the next thing I took was an exit. I wanted to see what life looked like when things weren’t all concrete and white lines. I quit my job. I camped around the west. I picked up a few new hobbies. I journaled more than I did all of 7th grade. My year-long bout of nausea went away. I started to dance again. I wrote songs again. I wrote in general again. And I dug around in my psyche for the truth about what I always liked doing, what the through-lines in all my good jobs have been. Very simply, the strongest through-line was the encouragement and empowerment of others.

Most of the writing I’m doing right now will be private until it isn’t. I’m writing a horror film and still working on my first novel. But I need a weekly way to interact with people via writing lest I lose my lonely mind, so I’m bringing back the one thing got me into writing in the first place: answering people’s questions.

After writing Anonymous Asked, I was too embarrassed to promote the book. I’ve never re-read it. I fell into the spiral of what other people thought: of me, of the work, of my ideas. But I’d rather be fulfilled and insulted than bored out of my mind and forgotten.

So to encourage your courage, I am flexing a little bit of my own. My newsletter (of which this essay is a part) is now called “A Little Bit Better” and the whole point is that it helps you feel a little bit better. You can subscribe to it here. It will include essays like this and other bits of things that made that week a little bit better. I hope you enjoy it. I know I will. See you there.I wrote this while listening to:It’s a Storm - Young & SickSwing - Mahmut Orhan Remix by Soki Tukker and Mahmut OrhanKissing Other People - Lennon StellaScared to Death - Jax AndersonSound of Your Voice - Griff

#advice #newsletters #courage #courageous #griff #jax anderson #young & sick #soki tukker #lennon stella #a little bit better

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paintingwithdarkness · 4 years

Note

"Please don't cry.” Bluepulse for the writing prompt asks!

“Please don’t cry.”

Jaime could feel the tears streaming down his cheeks as he watched over the footage again. He couldn’t believe everything that had happened within the last 48 hours. It had been chaos; an emotional roller coaster that Jaime was still on. Oddly enough, the majority of his teammates seemed to have already recovered from the incident and had moved on past the initial shock. But the incident was still lingering in Jaime’s mind, and despite knowing it was only making things worse, he couldn’t help rewatching the footage over and over again. It was a terrible thing that had happened, but something that Jaime never wanted to forget.

He could feel himself shaking with restrained fury, anger and fear. Jaime wanted revenge. He knew it was stupid, that he shouldn’t give in to his negative feelings, but he couldn’t help himself. Bart had been shot, and Jaime wanted Deathstroke to pay.

His fists clenched as he rewound the video and played it again. The warehouse had had several cameras, all set at different angles, so Jaime could see everything.

The clip began with a frontal view of the door to the warehouse, and Bart running in at superspeed, only to skid to a stop once reaching the middle of the room. Unfortunately, the video didn’t have any audio (although in retrospect, maybe that was a good thing), but the quality of the footage was good enough that Jaime could see Bart’s lips moving to form the word “hello”. Gar had tasked the speedster with inspecting the warehouse to determine whether or not anyone was inside. Meanwhile, the rest of the Outsiders had been involved in putting out a fire, which was the actual reason they had been called in in the first place. They had already evacuated all of the civilians in sight, but it was standard procedure to check the surrounding buildings as well, and as the fastest one on the team, that task was often left up to Bart to save time. No one had actually expected anyone to be inside the warehouse. It just so happened that this time there was, and it had been one of the worst possible people.

The angle of the video changed, and panned in for a close up of Bart from the side. By this point, Jaime was all too familiar with what would happen next due to watching the footage so many times, but he kept his teary brown eyes glued to the computer screen in front of him nonetheless.

Unfortunately, this angle wasn’t very good for actually seeing where the shot had come from. All that the camera had captured was the tiny dart embedding itself in the back of the speedster’s neck. A tranquilizer. It wouldn’t take very long for Bart’s heightened metabolism to burn off the paralytic, but that minute- those precious 60 seconds- had been long enough.

The angle changed again, this time showing Bart from the back and panning out so that the rest of the interior of the warehouse could be seen. Metal storage containers and boxes created a maze, with Bart at the center. From around the corner of a container just to the speedster’s right emerged a figure, light glinting off the orange face mask and silver of the rifle balanced against the figure’s shoulder. It was dim in the warehouse, and the cameras didn’t have night vision software, but Jaime could see enough to determine that the villain stalking his boyfriend was none other than The Terminator himself.

A growl rose in Jaime’s throat as he watched Deathstroke leisurely approach Bart, and stop about two inches away from his face. Due to the mask Slade was wearing, and of course, the lack of audio from the footage, Jaime couldn’t make out any of what the assassin had said, but from the look on Bart’s face, it hadn’t been anything good.

The glint of metal drew Jaime’s attention as Deathstroke lifted the rifle from its relaxed position against his shoulder, and aimed the barrel at Bart’s right knee. He hissed something- a warning perhaps, or a threat- and fired.

One camera recorded the yellow and orange blast, as well as the smoke curling from the barrel in the aftermath. Another captured the widening of Bart’s viridescent eyes behind his rose-tinted visor, and the movement of his lips as he drew in a gasp of shock. A third caught the splash of maroon that erupted against the red material of Bart’s spandex, and the horrible image of shredded skin and gnarled bone.

A sob escaped Jaime’s lips as Bart fell to the floor on the screen in front of him, hands clutching desperately at his ruined knee, eyes clenched shut, and mouth open wide to emit a scream of agony. The clip ended there.

Jaime wasn’t sure how long Bart had laid on that concrete floor writhing in pain before he’d found him. It had been a terrifying shock. When Jaime had seen the pool of blood surrounding Bart’s leg, and the damage- which Bart’s heightened metabolism had already been in the process of trying to fix; incorrectly- his mind had gone blank. All he could do was panic.

[Jaime Reyes, immediate medical attention recommended for the Kid Flash. His accelerated metabolism is healing the wound incorrectly. Without medical intervention, risk of further damage is high.] Khaji Da served as the voice of reason Jaime needed to snap him out of it.

Immediately, Jaime scooped Bart up in his arms bridal style, and hauled it out of the warehouse, yelling at the civilians who had gathered on the street in the aftermath of hearing the gunshot. He needed everyone out of his way. Bart needed to get to a hospital STAT.

Bart’s hands held tight against his bloodied knee, his eyes squeezed tighter, and his teeth clentched tighter still. His breathing was heavy. Jaime could tell he was in an agonizing amount of pain. He wished he could have done something more to help. He never wanted to see his boyfriend in that state of distress again.

When Jaime had burst through the doors of the hospital, he’d located a stretcher and carefully placed Bart down on it, calling out to the nurses and doctors for attention. Almost immediately a gaggle of three or four nurses and a doctor were at Bart’s side.

“What happened?” one of the nurses demanded.

“He needs help. He was shot in the knee,” Jaime tried his best to keep his voice level. He knew the panic and the adrenaline were the only things keeping him from crying. He hated seeing Bart hurt like this.

“When?!” the lead doctor asked, shocked, “It’s... partially healed. It doesn’t look right.”

“He’s got a heightened metabolism,” Jaime did his best to explain, “He heals quickly- not correctly.”

After snapping on some gloves, the doctor did a quick examination and probe of Bart’s knee. “His patella’s been shattered. Ligaments torn.” He turned towards a nurse. “Give me some ethyl chloride and clear the schedule for OR 2 STAT!”

Having heard the doctor’s orders, the scarab decided to chime in. [Ethyl chloride will be an ineffectual means of anesthesia with the Kid Flash’s accelerated metabolism.]

‘Then what do you suggest?!’ Jaime snapped back. He knew Khaji Da was only trying to be helpful, but the stress and worry he was feeling for Bart was ruling over his ability to control his emotions.

If the scarab could sound sorry, the tone that came out of it next was definitely convincing. [There are no known anesthetics safe for human use that would not be negated by the Kid Flash’s body.]

Jaime swore under his breath. He relayed the message to the doctor.

“Then we need to move faster than him if we’re going to save his knee.” The doctor carefully used a pair of sterilized scissors to cut away the tattered portions of suit around Bart’s injury.

“Jaime...” Bart’s trembly, blood-covered hand reached up to grab Jaime’s own where it was white-knuckled against the stretcher’s side rail.

Immediately, Jaime loosened his grip so that he could hold Bart’s hand instead. “This is going to hurt, Cariño.” Jaime used his free hand to smoothe back the auburn strands of Bart’s bangs which had matted to his forehead with sweat.

Bart’s green eyes turned up towards Jaime’s own, defiantly. “I don’t care,” he gritted out. “Just make sure the others are safe.”

Jaime gave a fierce nod of assurance. He was not going to let Deathstroke get away with what he had done.

He gave Bart’s hand a squeeze when the doctor said it was time to take the speedster to the operating room. He knew Bart was in for an invasive, pain-filled surgery without any anesthesia. Just the thought of it nearly made Jaime sick with worry. He needed something to distract himself.

“Blue!” Beast Boy found him standing in the middle of the ER. The doctor, nurses and Bart were already out of sight. “He’s on the roof.”

Jaime didn’t need any clarification. He already knew exactly who Garfield was referring to.

“I sent the rest of the Outsiders back to the Premiere Building. It’s just us.”

Jaime was perfectly okay with that. He now had a personal vendetta to settle with Deathstroke, and with less teammates to get in the way, that just meant he could do more punching of his own.

When they burst up onto the roof of the hospital, the assassin was there waiting for them.

“How’s the kid?” Deathstroke had his rifle propped up against his shoulder, leaned cockily to the side with his foot up on top of the half-wall surrounding the edge of the roof.

Gar changed into a rhino before charging at the smug mercenary. “Better than you’re about to be!” he retorted, via the translating collar around his neck.

Deathstroke flawlessly avoided the attack, flipping over Gar’s flank with ease. “You young heroes never change, do you?” he taunted. “Always acting by instinct.” He fired some rounds at Beast Boy, causing him to charge off the edge of the roof and crash through the window of an office building across from them. “Always charging in without a regard for your own personal safety.”

Jaime aimed his sonic cannon at the orange and black-dressed man. “What do you want, Deathstroke?” he demanded.

“What do I want? I want you and other teen heroes to stop putting their lives in danger!” He leaped over the side of the roof, and landed on the pavement below, forcing Jaime to follow.

“It’s wrong. And if I have to kill one of you to prove it- I will.” Deathstroke threw an explosive in Jaime’s direction, forcing him to retreat and shield against the debris. Meanwhile, Beast Boy seemed to have recovered from his fly through the window, and came soaring down to the pavement in the form of a hawk. He transformed into a bear and went on the offensive.

“Since when have you ever cared about kids?” Gar shouted. “You’re always hurting kids, aren’t you? Manipulating them. Putting them through hell! Metateens. Terra. Now Kid Flash!” Beast Boy slashed at Deathstroke with his heavy paws, managing to slice through some of the armor covering Slade’s side.

“Get clear, Beast Boy.” Jaime gave the warning as he shook off the effects of the explosion and fired up his sonic cannon once more. As soon as Gar was out of the way, Jaime released the shot.

Deathstroke hit the pavement with his hands over his ears. It took him more than a few moments to recover.

“Playing... with sound waves?” The insult came out more questioning than menacing.

“One hundred forty decibels,” Jaime boasted. “More where that came from, too.” He kept his cannon aimed at the assassin as he and Beast Boy closed in.

“Is there, Reach Boy?” Slade peeled off the mask, revealing grey hair and an eyepatch.

Jaime clenched his teeth. He could feel the tendons in his neck tensing. “You’re the one who helped the Reach abduct all of those metateens! You’re the one who’s been working with Onslaught and Savage to abduct kids to use in Granny’s experiments!”

Deathstroke rubbed his fingers against his temples. It was clear he was still suffering the effects of Jaime’s sonic attack. “You’re wrong. Both of you. I know this isn’t easy, but you have to understand. It’s for the sake of those kids. They need powers to defend themselves. The Light’s problem isn’t with you teenage heroes; it’s with the Justice League. Their system of preserving the peace is outdated. Their methods are crude. They flaunt their powers over regular civilians to maintain control. Nowadays you kids are so involved in politics and speaking out about what you believe in. The Light is just granting kids like you the power to stand up to the system.”

“Only one problem with that plan, Slade.” Jaime whipped around to see where the new voice was coming from.

About ten feet down the road stood reinforcements. Nightwing was leading the pack. To his right stood Tigress, Superboy and Forager. To his left were Geoforce, Static, Cyborg and El Dorado. Floating in the sky above were Miss Martian, Wonder Girl, Terra and Halo.

Deathstroke managed to regain his feet. “And what is that, Boy Wonder?” The mercenary pulled his sword.

“In the process of ‘saving’ these kids from us, you become the new ‘system’ they want to escape.”

Deathstroke beared his teeth and charged towards the group.

“Go!” Nightwing yelled.

Cassie immediately flew towards Jaime, drawing her lasso before landing next to him. “Bart’s not here with you?”

Jaime blinked hard and paused, brows furrowing. “What?”

Cassie gave him a wary smile. “Beast Boy sent us all back to the Premiere Building. A few hours past, and then we zetaed back to check in and see how everything was going. The doctors told us Bart checked himself out of the hospital. We assumed he would be here with you.”

Panic set itself alight inside of Jaime. “What?”

He knew his boyfriend healed fast, but surely Bart hadn’t done something that idiotic? Surely Bart would have waited to tell someone where he was going before taking off.

“He’s not at the hospital? Did he tell anyone where he was going?!” Jaime could hear himself getting worked up. He’d been worried sick about Bart, and now to hear that he’d run off?

“I need to look for him.” The boosters on the back of Jaime’s armor kicked on. “Tell Nightwing-”

Suddenly something skidded to a stop right beside him. “You rang?”

There Bart was, standing in all of his yellow and red-suited glory. Jaime felt like punching him and kissing him all at once.

“Had to run home and grab a new suit. New knee took some getting used to, too, but I think I’ve got the hang of it. Where’s Deathstroke? I’ve got to give him a piece of my mind.”

Apparently Nightwing had heard everything over the sounds of the battle. “That’s a negative, KF. You and Blue are going back to the Premiere Building. Neither of you are in a condition to fight. We’ll handle things here.”

Both of them tried to protest.

“But-”

“I just got here-”

“Now.” Nightwing’s mask narrowed as he death stared them, even while he had his escrima sticks locked with Deathstroke’s sword.

Reluctantly, Jaime kicked the boosters back on and took off into the air, as Bart kept pace with him on the ground. When they got back to the Hub, an awkward silence ensued.

Jaime had no idea what to say. His emotions were all over the place. Bart, on the other hand, seemed to be treating the situation as if it were only another Tuesday, and nothing amiss had happened. Jaime was furious, and relieved, and anxious, and overjoyed. Bart seemed to be okay. He was standing upright. He had just run several miles without any difficulties or signs of pain. But the doctors had told him Bart would need a total knee replacement. How would a standard prosthetic hold up to the wear and tear of Bart moving at the speed of sound on a daily basis? Would it need to be replaced again at a later date? What if it failed during the middle of a mission? Jaime would have no choice but to hold Deathstroke accountable. He was outraged that he had been denied the chance to get even with the self-righteous bastard. Slade deserved to pay, and Jaime wanted to be the one to dish out his punishment. No one was lucky enough to hurt Bart and escape the wrath of Jaime Reyes. Jaime wouldn’t be happy until he knew justice had been served.

They blinked at one another from across the room. Was there anything Jaime could say?

Bart shuffled in place. Jaime knew he had never been comfortable with extended silences.

“I think I’m gonna head off to bed now.” Bart raised a hand up to scratch behind his neck. “Nite, Jaime.” He then turned and ascended the staircase to the upper level before heading into one of the unmarked rooms.

Jaime stared at the spot where his boyfriend had been standing. Something was definitely not right between them. Bart hadn’t given him a goodnight kiss, or even a hug. And what was up with that, “‘Nite, Jaime.’?” Usually Bart used the full ‘goodnight’ and often followed it up with a pet name. He hadn’t even given Jaime the chance to reciprocate the sentiment.

Jaime was still in the process of deciding whether or not to go after Bart and check on him when the rest of the team got back. Immediately, Jaime turned to interrogate Nightwing.

“Where’s Deathstroke?” he demanded.

Nightwing gave a tired sigh and removed the domino mask, revealing the blue eyes of Dick Grayson. “In a armored police van on his way to Arkham.”

Jaime crossed his arms over his unarmored chest. “Did anyone else get hurt?”

Dick shook his head. “I’m sorry about what happened to Bart. Is he okay?”

Jaime turned his eyes down towards the floor and shrugged. “He wouldn’t talk to me.”

Dick gave him a sympathetic look and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Everyone knew he and Bart were romantically involved. Relationship status amongst the team never stayed secret for very long.

Dick’s eyes shifted around the room, seemingly searching for something. “Where is he?”

Jaime used a hand to gesture to the upper floor. “Said he was going to go to bed.”

The older man nodded. “He’ll come around. It was a hard day for him. Maybe all he needs is a little rest.”

Jaime’s frown deepened. “Maybe...” he mumbled.

Dick must have sensed his unease, because he continued to linger.

Jaime shifted his weight from foot to foot, uncomfortably. “Is there footage?” he asked, after a minute. “Of what happened in the warehouse?” He raised a hand to scratch at his nape.

Dick’s azure orbs drifted to the side and Jaime watched him bite his lower lip. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea-”

Jaime cut him off. “Can I see it?”

“Jaime...”

“Por favor.” Jaime knew he sounded desperate, but he had to know. Finding Bart laying on that cold concrete floor, writhing in agony in a pool of his own blood had been terrifying. Jaime had to know what had led up to that point.

Dick looked exteremely reluctant to do so, but pulled a USB flash drive from a compartment on his gauntlet, and handed it to Jaime. “Don’t show this to anyone else,” he said, gently.

Jaime nodded to show he understood. “Gracias.”

Dick gave him one last pat on the shoulder before walking off to join in on a conversation amongst some of their teammates. Jaime pocketed the flash drive and turned to go up the stairs to utilize one of the spare rooms. It was too late to go home tonight. He would just have to call in the morning and explain to his parents what had happened.

He left the lights off and closed the door behind him. Against one of the walls was a desk with a laptop sitting on it. Each of the spare rooms in the Hub had one for mission related issues. Every member of the team had their own login username and password, which could be used on any of the devices. Jaime quickly typed his in and waited for the screen to boot up before plugging in the flash drive. It took about a minute for the footage to download. Once it did, Jaime pressed play.

The first watch through was more shocking than anything else. Jaime’s mind had to process what he was seeing. It wasn’t until the second watch through that Jaime had fully comprehended the situation. The third was when Jaime had started crying.

Bart never should have run into that warehouse alone. They were a team for God’s sake. Why had any of them ever thought it was a good idea to send Bart in alone anywhere? As heroes, they were used to ambushes. Why hadn’t any of them ever thought that a search and rescue could turn into a serious situation? Of course villains would use a mass panic like a fire to their advantage. Why hadn’t they ever put the clues together? If someone had gone in with Bart, he might never have gotten hurt.

Jaime spent the whole night playing the video on repeat. Each watch through was worse than the previous. A new detail seemed to pop out at him every time. The blood. The way Bart’s eyes had widened. His gasp. His panic. The fear shining in his chartreuse orbs. His pain. It made Jaime’s heart throb and his blood burn through his veins. He couldn’t stop crying.

Jaime wanted revenge. He knew it was stupid, that he shouldn’t give in to his negative feelings, but he couldn’t help himself. Jaime wanted Deathstroke to pay.

A knock at the door startled Jaime, and he slammed the laptop lid closed as fast as he could. He hastily tried to wipe the tears from his cheeks, but he was too emotionally distraught; everything he wiped away was quickly replaced with more salty droplets.

The door opened to reveal a familiar figure sillouted against the light streaming in from the hallway.

“Blue?”

Bart closed the door behind himself and reached over to flick on the lights. Jaime immediately averted his face.

“Whoa, hey, are you crying?” Bart immediately rushed over, and knelt beside Jaime, laying gentle hands on his shoulders.

“No,” Jaime lied, keeping his head down.

Bart’s hands carefully cupped his jaw. “Look at me,” he ordered, softly.

Reluctantly, Jaime lifted his head to look at Bart.

Bart used a thumb to brush some of Jaime’s tears away. “What’s wrong?”

Jaime crossed his arms and shifted his gaze downwards again. “Nothing,” he mumbled.

Bart frowned. “Don’t lie to me, Jaime. What’s bothering you?”

Jaime shifted and slowly reopened the laptop. When Bart saw what was on screen, he gave Jaime a pitying look.

“It’s my fault,” the older teen said, “If I had gone with you, you wouldn’t have gotten shot.” More tears streamed down Jaime’s face.

Bart’s hands gave Jaime’s shoulders a squeeze. “It’s not your fault, Babe-”

Jaime cut him off. “It is.” He stood up, pulling Bart up with him. “This is my fault-”

Jaime pointed to the fresh pink scars covering Bart’s knee. While he did heal fast as a speedster, it didn’t mean that Bart went completely unscathed. Injuries that were going to scar would scar. He wasn’t immune to them just because he healed faster.

“These are my fault-” Jaime gripped Bart by the biceps and spun him around. He crouched down to run his fingers up the backs of Bart’s ankles where several faded white scars marked his Achilles tendons.

“These are my fault-” Bart gasped as he felt Jaime lift the legs of the basketball shorts he was wearing, to reveal several jagged strips of skin marking the backs of his thighs.

Before Jaime could go any further, Bart twisted back around. “Please don’t cry,” he begged. “None of these scars are your fault. Everything that’s happened to me has been a product of circumstances neither of us had any control over.”

Jaime shook his head. “I hurt you. I gave you those scars. And because I wasn’t there yesterday in that warehouse, you got hurt again.”

Something in Bart’s eyes changed. There was a spark igniting behind the jade irises. Jaime recognizes that look. It was the same defiant expression Bart wore on the battlefield. It meant he wasn’t going to back down. He wasn’t going to lose.

The auburn-haired boy propped his right leg up on the desk chair Jaime had abandoned.

“The Reach gave me these. Once as an experiment-” He pointed to the white marks on his Achilles. “The others as a punishment.” He slapped his hand over the pink lines marring the back of his thigh. “Deathstroke is responsible for this.” Bart slid his hand down to cup his now artificial knee. “All of the people who have hurt me had one goal in mind: to prevent me from running. They wanted to send a message; they wanted to destroy my spirit. I’m a speedster. I run. It’s what I do, and who I am. But the one thing people don’t understand about us speedsters is that we’re also stubborn. I’m not letting anyone stop me.”

Jaime blinked at his boyfriend. That speech was perhaps the most profound thing he had ever heard Bart say.

“So there’s no reason for you to cry. None of this is your fault, Jaime. You’ve done nothing but love me and support me since we met. I promise, I’m not going anywhere for a long time. I’m not going to let one gunshot wound stop me.”

Jaime couldn’t help himself. He started laughing.

Bart have him a concerned look.

“Lo siento. It’s just- Dios mio. I was so worried about you! You got shot, had your entire knee replaced, and did it all without any anesthesia. And you’re not even fazed! You’re running around like it’s just any normal Tuesday, and you just gave that kickass profound speech... I’m baffled, Amorcito.”

Bart raised a finger. “It’s actually Wednesday.”

Jaime snorted a laugh shook his head in exasperation. He was done crying. “Come here.”

Bart removed his leg from the chair and took a step forward so that he was standing right in front of Jaime.

The raven-haired boy hugged him around the waist, pulling the younger flush against him.

“I love you. I have the strongest, bravest, crashest boyfriend in the world.” Jaime smashed his lips against Bart’s, pouring out all of his relief.

“I won’t argue with that.” Bart smirked when they pulled away for a breath.

Jaime rolled his eyes, and leaned in to kiss him again.

Omg, Anon! I’m so sorry this took me so long. I have no excuses. I tried to make it a little longer to make up for my shortcomings as far as a decent time range for getting this out goes. Once again, super sorry for taking this long with it.

I used the Teen Titans 2003 comics as inspiration for this piece. It’s an amazing set of comics, and I would highly recommend to anyone who has not read them yet. This particular scene where Bart gets shot is covered in issues 1-4, which is actually where I got a lot of the dialogue from for this (I just replaced Cyborg with Jaime, and changed a few words). This version of Bart as Kid Flash is actually one of my favorite versions of him. I absolutely love his suit design in this run.

If you have read the comics, I apologize if this Drabble comes off a little redundant. I really just wanted to explore the situation for myself and of course, add a twist of bluepulse. Hopefully it’s enjoyable tho?

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breanime · 5 years

Text

What He Deserves

Requested (forever ago), by @illgowithpland-fordumbass: I just think people often forgot that [Luther Hargreeves] is broken too and traumatized by Reginald just like the other kids, but I think he suffers even more because the damage made to him it's way more visible than the others, so I would really like to see a writing when he gets the kind of love and acceptance that he deserves, someone who can show him that he's not a monster, who can see him beyond the ape torso.

Man... I felt this. I hope this came out all right--thanks for the request!

(Collage created by the eternally sweet @songtoyou)

“And you’re bringing Claire, too?” You asked Allison, pacing in your apartment with one hand holding your phone to your ear, the other covering your mouth as you spoke.

You heard Allison’s smile in her voice. “Of course, it’s Spaceboy’s day, she’ll be so happy to see him.”

“Good,” you said back, “He’ll be happy to see her, too.” You spoke with Allison for a bit longer before hanging up. That made six out of seven Hargreeves who agreed to come to the surprise party you were throwing for Luther.

You moved around the house, glad for the space as you sent out a few reminder texts. You and Luther had moved in together only a few months ago, and it had taken you a full year to find a place that both of you liked, but you did. Luther was a big man, and there was no amount of coats that could hide it, so you had settled on a place with lots of space so that he could walk around freely, without fear of bumping into any furniture. He’d been bashful about that at first, so you’d made it your mission to help make your home—his and yours—a place where he could always be comfortable and not feel the need to try to shrink himself like he sometimes did. People didn’t seem to realize—or care—that Luther was just as broken and fragile as his siblings; just because he was Number One didn’t mean he didn’t have his own problems and trauma stemming from his upbringing.

But you did. You saw past his number, past his inhuman torso, into the man inside. You saw the insecurity, the naivety, the pure love and loyalty that rested within him, and you helped him bring those traits out to the open. He had been surprised, at first, at how well his siblings responded to him when he started being honest about his insecurities and fears; Diego was the first one to really embrace him, of all people. It had taken Allison a little longer; she had been so used to the old Luther, it took her a moment to come to terms with the open, honest, and increasingly more confident man he was becoming. But she did, which was why she was so happy to come to this party—they all were…well, most of them. You were still missing one…

There was a knock on the door, and you knew exactly who it was.

You opened it, smiling, to reveal Klaus. He was leaning against the doorframe, wearing blue eyeliner, a fuzzy black coat, no shirt, Dave’s dog-tags, and red leather pants with black boots. “I believe you’ve been trying to contact me?” He drawled, grinning.

“Why yes, I have. Come in.” You watched Klaus saunter in and shook your head fondly. He was three years sober now, but he was still Klaus—hence the outfit. He plopped down on the couch and put his feet on the coffee table, something he only ever did when Luther wasn’t home. “I have a favor to ask you…” You began.

“Is it about the party?” He guessed, tilting his head. “Of course I’m coming—I’ve already picked out this nice little outfit, lots of tassels, very tasteful, and Five and Diego have been arguing over who’s going to bring me for days now,” he waved his hand in the air, “It’s hard being popular—but you know that.”

You laughed. “It is about the party,” you said, “I know you’re coming, and Diego’s coming, and Five, Allison and Claire, and even Vanya’s bringing her girlfriend, but… I never got a RSVP from Ben.”

Klaus’ eyes widened. You had invited Ben weeks ago—via Klaus—but had forgotten to get confirmation if he was coming. “You—you want to ask Ben if he’s coming to Luther’s party?” He asked slowly.

You nodded. “Yes please. I need to know how many chairs to put out.”

Klaus turned, and you knew him well enough to know he was looking at Ben. “Yeah,” he said lowly, “she really is perfect for Luther.” He looked back to you again. “Ben says he’s coming, and that he’s really glad Luther has you in his life—we all are, actually.”

You smiled. Powers, general dysfunction, and personal hang-ups aside, the Hargreeves were all just…really good people. “I’m lucky,” you said back, “Luther’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and with him, I got six more people I love in my life.”

“Okay, okay,” Klaus sighed, grinning as he got up. He came over to you and engulfed you in a hug. He smelled like cigarettes and cinnamon. “Ben said he’s punch me again if I didn’t hug you.” He pulled back and smiled down at you. “You’re just… You’re gonna be such a great sister-in-law,” he cooed.

“Okay, Klaus,” you laughed back. You and Luther were in love, but you were still a ways away from marriage…not that you wouldn’t welcome it.

The next day, Klaus (and Ben) showed up again just as you started getting ready for the party. True to his word, Klaus was wearing the exact outfit he’d described, complete with tassels. Klaus, declaring “well, we’re already here”, ended up helping you set up the decorations for the party. You’d tasked Diego with keeping Luther busy while you got everything ready, so you knew he wouldn’t be home until right before the party started. Klaus floated—literally floated—around the house pinning up banners and taping balloons to the wall. Five showed up an hour before the party, Delores under his arm and a dozen pizzas in his free hand. Allison and Claire showed up next, a huge box in Claire’s tiny hands and an equally large smile on her face. Vanya was next, her girlfriend greeting you with a hug as she walked through the door. Pogo came in a few minutes after Vanya, graciously complementing the decorations while ignoring Klaus’ outfit.

You made sure everyone was having a good time, well-lubricated (Claire and Klaus got sparkling cider in wine glasses), and that everything was in place. You stepped back and looked around. Today was the day Luther had come back from living on the moon for four long lonely years. It was also the anniversary of Reginald Hargreeves’ death, so you had two wonderful things to celebrate. Luther hadn’t wanted to make too big of a deal out of it, but you did. He had made so much progress since then, and you thought that was cause for celebration. Your phone vibrated in your pocket, and you took it out to see a message from Diego: ETA 45 seconds. Be ready.

“They’re here!” You hissed, turning to address the party, “They’re outside! Everyone, get ready!”

Klaus picked Claire up and ducked behind the couch with Allison and Pogo. Vanya and her girlfriend hid behind the drapes, and Five—in a flourish—teleported behind the door. Ben was invisible. You stood in front of the couch, hands clasped in front of you, bouncing on the balls of your feet. They’d be coming up the stairs now and opening up the door any second to see… “Oh, Five—the lights!” You whisper-yelled.

Five poofed across the room, cut the lights off, and poofed back to his hiding space behind the door in a matter of seconds.

You heard the lock turn, and you grinned, nearly jumping with excitement. Luther came in first, and you heard his voice before you even saw him.

“…Y/N and I just got a new dining set,” he was saying, “Maybe we can have everyone over for dinner…”

“Five,” you whispered, “now!”

Five teleported to the light switch again and turned it on.

“Surprise!” You screamed; your voice joined by the others as they popped out of their hiding places.

Luther’s eyes were wide as he took everything in; his family, the decorations, the wide grin on your face. Diego and Grace were behind him, laughing.

“Happy anniversary, big guy,” Diego said, putting his hands on Luther’s shoulders as he walked past him.

“An…Anniversary?” Luther asked, looking adorably confused.

Claire ran up to him then, wrapping her arms around her uncle’s legs and smiling up at him. “Happy coming-back-from-the-moon anniversary, Uncle Spaceboy!” She called cheerfully.

Luther let out a laugh and looked over at you. “I… You did this?” He asked lowly.

You nodded.

“Thank you.” His smile was soft and pure, and you felt your love for him grow. He leaned down and picked Claire up. “Thank you!” He said, louder now. “Thank you, everyone!”

“Well, to be fair, we’re also celebrating the death of our old man,” Five added, sipping a margarita that he’d gotten from…somewhere.

“That’s…” Luther titled his head to the side. “…fine, too…”

“Come on, Luther, have a drink! Ben and I want to live vicariously through you!” Klaus said, gesturing towards the bar you’d set up in the kitchen.

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Diego called, “Hold up—I see presents!”

“I’d like to see that dining set,” Grace chimed in, a perfect smile on her face.

“Maybe later, Mom,” Vanya said kindly, “I think Luther should open up his presents first.”

Luther looked over at you, unsure, and you smiled back. “Come on, baby,” you beckoned him, holding your hand out, “Let’s start with what Claire brought you…”

“She picked it out all by herself,” Allison explained.

Luther sat on the couch, Claire on his lap, you on one side, and his Mom on the other. Diego grabbed as many gifts as he could and brought them over while Klaus delivered the rest. You heard the click of a camera and looked up to see Vanya’s girlfriend taking a photo. It took a while for Luther to unwrap all of his presents—partly because the Hargreeves had a mass amount of wealth and therefore had no idea how to just get one gift, and partly because Luther held your hand the entire time.

He showed his thanks for each and every gift with a hug (which Vanya’s girlfriend—who was apparently quite the shutterbug—got on camera), and shyly told stories about his time on the moon to an entranced Claire. Claire got him a huge Luther teddy bear, complete with the coat, Vanya and her girlfriend got him a painting set—he was getting into canvas a lot lately, and Ben got him a nice set of sci-fi books that you knew were right up his alley. Allison got Luther a nice new coat and a pair of shoes, as well as a new record player and a few records to go with it. Diego bought him a sword, for some reason, and a pair of brand-new boxing gloves (“come see me at the gym,” he’s said, “I’ll show you how to use ‘em, big boy”). Grace got him a beautiful journaling set with parchment, different colored ink pens, and even a peacock feather quill. Pogo gave him some tapes from when they were all younger and a gift card to Griddy’s Doughnuts—he’d always known about their nighttime excursions there. Klaus bought Luther a scrapbook, stamps, glitter, and an insane amount of stickers as well as a pink umbrella, a Rihanna poster with your face glued over hers, a Ryan Reynolds poster with Luther’s picture glued over his face, and a tiny toy monkey playing the maracas. Luther loved it. Five got him a bottle of fine whiskey, a gorgeous tie, a coupon for a shoe-shining place, a framed, moving portrait of the moon, more records for the record player (he and Allison clearly talked when they were out shopping), environmentally friendly paintbrushes, DVD sets of Friends, The Office, Superstore, The X-Files, and Parks and Rec, and a pair of leather gloves.

Luther loved it all.

“Last present!” Klaus announced, lifting the box over his head as he brought it over to Luther. “This one is from Y/N!”

“Honey, you didn’t have to get me anything,” Luther said, looking at you with wide eyes.

“She really didn’t,” Five drawled, “she threw this whole party together for you…”

“…Invited everyone over,” Allison added.

“And planned it out so me and Mom would keep you busy all day,” Diego put a finger up, “You really don’t deserve her, brother,” he said with a smile.

“I’ve been trying to seduce her for months,” Klaus sighed dramatically, “but she’s just so very in love with you, Luther.” He put a hand on his forehead. “Such a waste.”

“Shut up, Klaus,” you giggled, turning to Luther, “Don’t worry, the only Hargreeves I’d ever leave you for is Vanya,” you said with a wink, “…maybe Ben.”

Everyone laughed, and you leaned against Luther’s shoulder, feeling overwhelmingly happy. “They’re right, you know,” he said, voice low and words just for you, “I don’t deserve you.”

You smiled up at him. “Yes, you do. Open your gift.”

He did, and you watched his eyes grow wide once more. You had gotten him something simple, a portrait-sized canvas photo of the two of you the day you’d bought your house, grinning and holding onto one another with the “SOLD” sign in the background. The realtor had taken it for you, saying that she had never seen a happier couple. Luther looked over at you, eyes wet, and reached out for your hand, holding it firmly in his own. “I love you.”

You opened your mouth, ready to say it back like you always did, but you were interrupted by the oohs and awws and clapping from the Hargreeves siblings (and Claire). Grace had her hand over her heart, smiling at the two of you, while Pogo shook his head and laughed. Even Five was cheering. You leaned over and kissed Luther, earning another round of applause from his brothers and sister. You couldn’t stop smiling. “I love you, too.”

It became a tradition after that, celebrating this anniversary. Every year you threw a “surprise” party for Luther, and every year, on the day of his father’s death, Luther was surrounded by the people who truly loved and cared for him. After a while, Luther—your sweet, thoughtful Luther—started bringing presents of his own to these things, a gift for you, a new CD for Vanya, a space helmet for Claire, neon pink earplugs for Klaus, things like that. Then it became a day where you all would bring gifts for each other, so you started drawing names at random to see who would shop for who—you all started to look forward to it more than Christmas. And every year, as you looked over at the man you loved, you saw another layer of him revealed. Before long, it was all too easy to see beyond his appearance, other people—strangers—stopped gawking at the bumbling giant with his shoulders hunched over, and instead happily greeted Spaceboy as he stood tall, walking with an easy confidence, hand in yours. Sometimes people asked about his size, but mostly they wanted to know about the Umbrella Academy and his siblings…and sometimes…

…They asked about the matching rings on your fingers…

…or the roundness of your belly.

And the two of you happily answered.

*******************************************************************************************

This is probably gonna be the only time I write for Luther (probably), so please let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!

Taglist: @lexxierave @loveintheroyalfamily @suchatinyinfinity@fanfictionrecommendations-com @maxslime-blog @elanor-of-imladris@songforhema @lucielandss @fandomlifeandeverythingelse @themadhatter92@realduckvader @the-blind-assassin-12 @christinawxxx @anabella-baby @blackcoffeeandgreenteaforme @luminex3 @littlemermaidprobz @ashkuuuu@luckysstrikes @carlaangel86 @floralpeaceofmind @dylanobrusso@teacuplotus @iaintnofurry @thesumofmychoices @ymariejp @its-my-little-dumpster-fire @mrsjaxtellerfan @whovianayesha @holamor @drinix @rhabakoli @stories-you-wont-hear @king4thesirens @starkrobb@marauderskeeper @charlylama @thesandbeneathmytoes @gollyderek @something-tofightfor @banditthewriter @binbons-is-theloml

#luther hargreeves #luther hargreeves x reader #luther hargreeves imagine #tua #the umbrella academy

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