#he has installed new ones but did it a little weird and i couldn't for the life of me figure it out

[what-have-i-unleashed]

in your eyes

let's go another mermaid-bunny installment! featuring dust watching killer sleep like a creep.

(cw: stalking behaviors, paranoia)

killer has to admit, the right-hand man to his new owner is kind of a creep.

the weird thing is that the guy often just ignores killer and pretends he isn't in the room with him at all. so killer does the same to him, no feelings harmed. but whenever killer feels a prick at his neck, he will turn to look just in time to see the usual dull white eyelights intensely focused on him for just a millisecond before they break away and look at something else.

killer knows a predator when he sees one.

but dust never acts upon his position over killer. he only watches from afar, as killer gets more acquainted with cross and horror, the other two under nightmare's employment. horror is a bit of a mean character, but cross balances that with a healthy dose of niceties that killer hasn't seen in a while. all in all, not too bad of an arrangement. anything would be better than the situation he had with chara.

that doesn't mean everything is nice and dandy, of course. the first thing killer took note of on his first night in the castle was that while they have their individual rooms, there are no locks. something about "we're all trusted comrades here, aren't we" and all that jazz - killer couldn't be bothered to pay attention to an obvious lie. so killer spent pretty much the first three days having what little shut-eye he could have against the door of his room, with his knife held tightly inside his jacket. on the second night, he could hear it - the light footsteps that stopped just outside of his room, the soft clacking of someone trying to twist the handle and open the door. killer was jolted awake immediately, but he stayed still, waiting for the maybe-intruder to force themself into his room. but they never did. instead, after a few attempts, they gave up and walked away. killer stayed wide awake for hours until the next day came, vigilantly guarding his door the whole time.

he didn't confront dust, nor does he have any intention of doing so just yet. but he's sure that there is no one else in this castle who can move as silently as dust does.

creep, the voice in his head, eerily similar to chara, scoffs. killer, sitting on the couch next to horror, looks up from his phone. there is dust again, coming down from the stairs. and their eyes meet for a second before dust angles his head and goes past the communal area, disappearing into the hallway.

"what's his problem?" killer asks aloud. horror pauses in his little wood carving project to look at him.

"just ignore him. he's like that all the time."

"what? being a weirdo?"

"like you have any place to say," horror mutters, back to his carving.

"funny. last i remember, i'm not the one prowling the halls at night like a glorified janitor."

"he does that," horror muses. "he doesn't sleep much. just don't get in his way during nights. you won't like the aftermath."

"heh," killer props his chin on his knees. "now i'm curious."

horror only gives him a side-eye. "seriously, don't provoke him."

"sure thing," killer smiles at his comrade. horror doesn't look like he believes him. truth to be told, killer doesn't either.

you're a dumbass for doing this, the chara-voice in his head bemoans. killer ignores it as always, snuggling into the surprisingly cozy blankets on his surprisingly comfortable bed. do you want to get killed by that insane murderer?

well, that's what he's trying to find out here. he can't figure out what dust wants with him, and the quicker he knows the better. lying down on the bed with one hand under the pillow where his trusty knife is, killer closes his eyes and slows his breathing. a trick he learns from his before-times. comes in handy whenever chara is around.

time trickles by as killer stays still in his bed. seconds stretch into minutes into hours. eventually killer hears it - the slow creak of a door opening and closing. he could hear the footsteps approaching him, just stopping at the foot of the bed. his hand tightens around the handle of the knife. there's no more sounds, not even the rustling of clothes. it sounds like dust is just standing there, watching him sleep. he could feel the eyelights burning into his form, like a colony of ants crawling onto his body. creepy, but not the worst thing to endure.

things get interesting when dust decides to move. but not towards killer. sounds like he's perusing killer's room, as if searching for something. killer wouldn't know - he doesn't have anything of importance in here except for his share of clothes and some trophies he stole from chara. killer listens to dust moving around his room and finally stopping right next to the bed, just behind killer's turned back. killer can't sense any intent, with his soul being like that and all, but he has a feeling dust wouldn't do anything further than watching him anyway. something pangs in his chest, a sensation he cannot pin down exactly. it's... uncomfortable.

he counts in his head how long dust stands there - about three hours and eleven minutes - before leaving. he waits for a few minutes before springing out of his bed to check around his room. he can't find any camera yet. his room looks unchanged as far as he knows. none of the clothes was taken away. his secret stash hasn't been discovered yet - the unfortunate finder will have their hand stuck in a bear trap already.

so all in all, killer still doesn't get why dust is stalking him. great.

maybe it's time to get proactive then.

[siconetribal]

Put it on My Tab (16)

Pairing: Jason Todd x Fem!reader

Warning:

Backpack newbie, All the green flags, It is time for...the talk

A/N:

I originally came on here about 45 minutes ago to post this and got completely side tracked and distracted by a draft that was just staring at me for days. (I normally don't see it on the app and I might have been avoiding it because I couldn't decide on what to choose.) Anyways, without further ado, the next installment!

Please comment/like/reblog. If you’d like to be tagged moving forward, please let me know!

As always, a huge thank you and shout out to @harlequin-hangout for the amazing banners you made for me.

If you’re new to the story, please check out the master post for the rest of the chapters.

Jason waited patiently for her to climb on. He watched her shuffle bit by bit closer to him and his bike. He could not see her face because of the helmet, but he did not have to. He knew the type of face she must be making, and he had to keep his composure to not laugh at how cute this all was. Y/N was not the first innocent young woman he has dealt with, nor the first one to sass him back. She was a weird combination of the two that was uniquely her, and that is what drew him to her. Normally, someone like her would have never spoken to someone like him. Their worlds would have never collided. In reality, anyway. The fact that she’s IAmBatman still throws me for a loop. I would’ve bet big money it was one of the other Robins trolling me. He was about to ask if she needed help when he felt his bike shift from the added weight and her arms squeeze him tight, in what probably was her version of a death grip but ended up as more of a bear hug for him. Yeah, I’ve been squeezed harder by worse. I don’t mind this. He lightly patted her arms.

“I promise, I won’t do anything to scare you. Just follow my body and don’t be too stiff, ok?” He looked over his shoulder to see her try to look up at him, but his helmet was not doing her any favors. He snorted out a chocked laugh and quickly looked forward once more. “Sorry, sorry,” he reached back and hooked his hand under her thigh by her knee, tugging her leg up to rest her foot on a proper place. The motion had her scooting closer, and she jumped again when he pulled her other leg. “Keep your feet here and just enjoy the ride. Did you want me to put on some music? I have Bluetooth in my helmet. It won’t be easy to talk, since you won’t be able to hear well.”

“Music is fine, but how will you hear?” She spoke a little louder to not come out muffled.

“I’ll be fine, I rather you be comfortable.” Yup, she’s definitely having trouble hearing me. “Do you listen to anything in particular?”

“Anything is fine by me, but I tend to do more 90s rock. Linkin Park, Coldplay, or My Chemical Romance are always appreciated.” 

“Really?” He looked over his shoulder again to see if she was lying, but was met with his helmet. Right, I forgot about that. He rolled his eyes at his little lapse in memory. Didn’t expect that list from her. She really knows how to surprise me every time. He searched around a bit and managed to build a small playlist of songs for her to listen to. “Let me know if this is too loud.” He played a song and waited until they found a good setting for her. “Hold tight when the music starts and just move with me, ok?” He secured his phone and pulled out his red half mask that covered his mouth.

I don’t think any of the guys I’ve dated have ever been this considerate. He’s not a textbook gentleman, but he’s pretty close. Y/N was genuinely surprised with how much care he was taking with her. She was nervous that he may find her burdensome and tried not to cause much trouble. The tug on her legs caught her off guard, literally pulling her from her thoughts and scooting her closer to him. His voice was a bit muffled, but she was not sure which made it worse: the beating of her heart that was now magically in her ears or the helmet. Either way, she managed to figure out what he was saying and answer.

“Do you listen to anything in particular?”

“Anything is fine by me, but I tend to do more 90s rock. Linkin Park, Coldplay, or My Chemical Romance are always appreciated.” Is that weird to say? Maybe I should've said something more pop or indie? But I like them and they’re my go-to music.

“Really?” she felt him twist, so she looked up, or at least tried to but could only see part of his face.

How do people ride with big, clunky things like these? Then again, this is his size, so it’s probably not so big or clunky to him. She reasoned. 

Soon enough, everything seemed settled and as soon as the music started, she tightly held onto him. As promised, he kept to an easy speed which allowed her to take in her surroundings. It was not as scary as she thought it would be. The cars that zipped by were not the best, but Jason clearly knew what he was doing and avoided all trouble. At a red light there was a car revving its engine and some passengers were heckling them, but he seemed to just ignore it.

I wonder, would he have responded to them if I wasn’t here? They’re pretty annoying. This is the third light they’ve stopped at with us and are still trying to get a rise out of him. She frowned, unable to hear them thanks to the music. A bunch of rowdy losers. She tightened her grip on Jason. The pat to her arms surprised her, but it was reassuring. Cici’s right, I need to talk to him about the bill. He’s not going to throw a fit and storm off. 

Y/N looked up as they pulled into a parking lot. It was a diner she had seen on a few of the bus rides when the usual bus was not running. She had always thought about stopping by, but it was always a fleeting thought until she saw it again.

“We’re here,” she heard him as the music stopped. “You climb off first, I’ll keep the bike balanced.” She quickly followed his instructions and managed to get off without fumbling, much to her own surprise. Feeling proud, she stood a little taller and pulled off the helmet

“Not so bad, right?” He grinned, his mask hidden in his jacket once more.

“I’ll admit, not as scary as everyone makes it out to be. You were a textbook motorcyclist. I thank you for not trying to give me a heart attack.”

“Bikes get a bad rep, couldn’t let that happen again. Want your bag? It’ll be safe here if not.” Y/N hesitated for a moment. If he does end up freaking out on me, I’ll lose my things. It’s unlikely he would, but I can’t risk it. Who knows what’ll happen. 4k isn’t just some simple bake sale change. “Yeah, I probably should. My phone is there. I should have it on me in case Cici tries to reach me.”

“Say no more,” he carefully handed it to her and took his helmet in return. “C’mon, let’s get some grub. I'm starving!” He led the way inside.

“Well look who it is, back again? Oh, you’re not alone this time?” Y/N looked up at the sound of the gruff voice to a big older guy standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

“Hey Charlie, what can I say, I like your food. Yeah, I brought a friend, we’ll seat ourselves.” Jason hooked his arm around her shoulders and led her to a booth where there were not as many people. A young woman came around with the sticky laminated menus, pouting at the sight of Y/N. It was evident that the waitress was interested in the handsome regular and Y/N was not off to a good start.

Better not do anything to get her spitting in my food. She nervously smiled, picking up the menu.

Jason watched Y/N as she looked over the choices, a small smile tugging at his lips as he recalled how proud she looked when she dismounted his bike with ease. He was nervous that she may not have liked the ride because of the overcompensating teens that were trying to get him to race, but she had yet to say anything so he let it be 

Those dumbasses were lucky they were allowed to keep up with me. I'd been impossible to catch if I was alone. I’m just glad she wasn't annoyed by them. The ride was peaceful aside from that. She was not stiff and followed his lead well, which was great for him. Feeling her pressed against his back made him realize just how much smaller she was compared to him. She was not frail or sickly, but she was comparably weaker than him or many of the other females he has worked with. Then again, none of them are run-of-the-mill either. He realized the unfair comparison. It was different though, a good difference. He could not really put his finger on why it mattered, but it had. Instead of stressing on it, he let the thought come and go.

When they reached the diner, he asked her about her belongings and she hesitated. She was clearly weighing the risks and benefits. It was not shrewd, it was logical. Even though he was a secret vigilante, she should be cautious. If he was anyone else, she could have been a lot of trouble. Hearing her answer was a relief. He had no intention of just up and leaving her, but anything could happen. Duty could call, and he would need to go, and she would be stuck here. The idea of abandoning her did not sit well with him, and he could not figure out why.

Regardless, everything is going pretty smoothly for now, maybe we can have a decent conversation. I need to bring up the money, but she’s yet to even ask for my name. What does a guy gotta do to be inquired about around here!?  He propped an elbow on the table and glared at her reflection in the window, chin resting in his hand.

“So, I suppose I should start with a name, huh?” His ears perked up at the words, and he quickly turned to face her. “We’ve obviously met a bunch of times, but I didn’t really think we’d ever meet again after so I never bothered. My name's Y/N Y/LN, what’s yours?”

Did I hear right? Did she just and then just? Have I died? Like actually died-died?  “Took you long enough,” he grinned. “Nice to meet you officially, my name is Jason Todd. Now I can change your contact name from ‘Trouble Magnet Barista’ to your actual name.”

“You did not,” he showed her his phone and she whacked him with the menu. He laughed as he dodged the hit.

“You refused to give me your name. What was I supposed to call you? The Expensive Inquisition? Or D.I.D. #1?” He smirked as she scowled at him. “You have no one to blame but yourself for that.”

“I should change your name to Sir Questions-a-lot.” He heard her grumble as she took out her phone and changed his name while he changed hers in his phone. “Something tells you wanted to say more than just your name, what’s up?”

Y/N stared at the words on the menu but paid them no attention. She needed to get her thoughts in order and strike up the conversation without insulting or angering him. It’s not every day some chick comes demanding a large sum of money like that. She glanced at him over the top of the menu. Well for normal people anyway. Trust fund kids with a playboy father might have people knocking on their door all the time. I need to make sure he knows I'm not one of those people.

“So, I suppose I should start with a name, huh?” She finally built up the courage to speak up. “We’ve obviously met a bunch of times, but I didn’t really think we’d ever meet again after so I never bothered. My name's Y/N Y/LN, what’s yours?” She anxiously waited for his response as he simply stared at her with wide eyes. Oh no, did I do that wrong? How else was I supposed to do it? I can’t just say ‘hi’ like we weren’t just with each other!

“Took you long enough,” he grinned. “Nice to meet you officially, my name is Jason Todd. Now I can change your contact name from ‘Trouble Magnet Barista’ to your actual name.”

“You did not,” she gasped when he showed her the screen and she swung the first thing in her hands, which was the floppy menu. Sadly he was able to avoid the feeble strike.

Y/N stiffened at his reminder of why she even brought up their names. He was right. She made the decision to talk to him about the hotel bill. Jason had to have known he broke the machine, but was unaware of the bill that followed. How else would he be so carefree?

“Yes, there is something else.” She set her weapon down and took a deep breath. Just rip it off like a bandaid. “The hotel we stayed at,” she paused for a moment, shifting her gaze from his face to the table. “They contacted me that weekend and told me there was damage to the room. I know you didn’t do it on purpose, but the price to pay is really steep. I won’t demand you to pay all of it since I’ve already started paying it off, but I’d appreciate it if you’d help me with the rest. Which is why I’ve been working like crazy to cover the costs, but it’s slow progress and the hotel is starting to get annoyed with how slow the progress is. Not only that, but I’m afraid they’ll throw me into collections, which will only cause more problems. I wasn’t trying to hide it from you, nor did I want to blame you, but Cici and I are already living tight as is.” She tried to speak as calmly as possible, but her tempo sped up a bit towards the end as her nerves got the best of her. There, I said it! Now all she had to do was wait for him to respond.

Tag: @vbecker10 @wordsfromshona @harlequin-hangout @harpy-space @tild3ath @gone-batty-fics @princessbl0ss0m @dakotali  @antiquecultistst

[skaruresonic]

The double standard gets more annoying when you realize fandom don't ACTUALLY care for canon...if it means abitrarily bringing back chars or reffing stuff

Like, fans are mad Iizuka didn't know what Choco Island from Tails Advejtures was regarding Forces dev. Ignoring that it's NOT a game made by Sonic Team, and very blatantly contradicts Tails having low self esteem and being bullied before he met Sonic (then you have other Aspect Games do dumb shit that contradicts Sonic Team stuff, along with weird rehash of Green Hill). I'm aware Sonic Channel recently reffed it last year, but notably don't mention events of the game. Same for Fang being canonized, Triple Trouble isn't mentioned

People hype up Emerl being in the Shadow short ignoring that the literal diary entries note that Shadow wasn't even awakened yet. At least one can argue that Doom was mem hacking, but people genuinely believe that the memory is legit and don't care cuz "OMG, SHADOW VS EMERL FIGHT"

Same for people treating Neo Metal as a basic Super Form that can kick Sonic's ass, when no, it's just a recepticle to gaining DNA needed to tutn inyo a Perfect Chaos based form

A lot of this really just boils down to "canon be damned, I want char fights, or any game is canon cuz Aaron Webber said so"

It's a mess

People hype up Emerl being in the Shadow short ignoring that the literal diary entries note that Shadow wasn't even awakened yet.

Admittedly I couldn't remember the content of Gerald's Battle diary entries, so I had to look them up. Reading through them, I realized that Shadow fighting Emerl renders Gerald's problems nonsensical in hindsight due to the way establishing Links works, as stated by Battle.

In addition, Gerald says it was the researchers who managed to subdue Emerl and seal him away. For some reason, the researchers kept giving Emerl more and more weapons to absorb:

---

Journal 5

The higher ups are threatening to shut down this research facility. I had no choice but to hand them the Gizoid to buy more time for my research. I tried to be careful and commanded it to never absorb any dangerous technologies. However, I have heard that other researchers have been making the Gizoid absorb weapons. Apparently, the way to cause the Gizoid to form a new "Link" is to show it power that surpasses that of its former master. While this poses immense danger, I cannot risk losing Maria.

---

Journal 6

My worst fears have come true. The Gizoid has absorbed enough weaponry and technology that it has started to go out of control. The resulting rampage resulted in the destruction of most of the "Ark." ... I have deciphered the rest of the stone tablet. It says, "When the Gizoid had learned all that it could, it became a god of wrath, and all was destroyed." The researchers somehow managed to subdue the Gizoid and sealed it away. Luckily, it only had one "Chaos Emerald" installed. If it were to have all 7 Emeralds installed, it might destroy the whole planet. The Gizoid is too much of a liability. I tried destroying its core, but nothing I did worked. I understand too little of the technology that built him. My best hope is to try and reprogram its AI into a free-willed, emotions-based AI...

---

Assuming this fight is indeed real, and that Shadow wins, that raises an entire slew of problems.

If Shadow fights Emerl, and inadvertently establishes a Link with the Gizoid by defeating him, Gerald's dilemma vanishes instantly.

All Gerald would have to do then is order Emerl to follow Shadow the way Sonic did:

Therefore, Gerald would have no reason to "try and reprogram its AI into a free-willed, emotions-based AI" in a last-ditch effort to bring the Gizoid to heel. He would have had no reason to install the final program or a soul identical to Maria's into Emerl. The events of Sonic Battle would never happen in the first place. Shadow's interference would have rendered his efforts moot.

tfw the fight is so peak that it threatens to break canon

Now, again, granted, this scenario is predicated on the assumptions that

A.) the fight is real; if it isn't, I just have to question why our time is being wasted on a fake scenario,

and B.) Shadow wins the fight. If he loses and Emerl goes on to destroy the ARK, that'd be another issue - how do the researchers manage to subdue him where Shadow cannot? And wouldn't that kind of feed into Shadow's complex about being unable to protect Maria?

Idk, the implications become weird and untenable the more you think about them. Maybe Black Doom really is sticking Shadow in a scenario where he makes him feel as WEEEEEAK as a certain masked villain, but I must ask once again what the point of that is. I ain't playing SxS Gens just to watch this motherfucker get woobified, you know what I mean?

---

I'm aware Sonic Channel recently reffed it last year, but notably don't mention events of the game.

Just because ST references things doesn't necessarily make them canon.

(coughs)

---

Same for people treating Neo Metal as a basic Super Form that can kick Sonic's ass, when no, it's just a recepticle to gaining DNA needed to tutn inyo a Perfect Chaos based form

A Super form? Why?

Metal couldn't complete his transformation without everyone's data and Chaos' ability to metamorphize. In Charmy's words: "Incomplete freak!"

---

A lot of this really just boils down to "canon be damned, I want char fights, or any game is canon cuz Aaron Webber said so"

It's a mess

Peak fiction often hinges on the aesthetics of a scene rather than the logistics. Who cares if Shadow fighting Emerl is so acanonical that it has the potential to retcon Sonic Battle as an entire game? It feels right, therefore it must be right.

Personally, I feel like it detracts from both Shadow's backstory and the ARK's unique identity as a research facility somewhat to have all of these disparate elements link (pun not intended) back to Shadow in some way. The ARK needs to be able to stand as a bastion of scientific progress on its own merits, with all the implications that brings to the table, and not just be regarded solely as Shadow's birthplace.

It should be stressed that the ARK developed tools of destruction alongside projects of medicine and healing. That is worth taking into consideration when examining the colony's purpose as a whole.

When people speak about the colony's darker underbelly, they tend to portray its horrors as those of unethical medical experimentation. In actuality, the real horrors reside more in the general territory of the politics of WMD development. "What the fuck did they have to create a planet-destroying cannon for? Who commissioned it? Why? What was its intended use?"

SA2 and Battle both touched upon the dangers of weapons of mass destruction. In particular, the ethical considerations and mindset of those who created them. These themes reflected the cultural anxiety of the early aughts concerning their development and use.

SA2 is more subtle in that it leaves Gerald's motivations in developing such a weapon ambiguous - Eggman raising questions of whether it was Gerald's legacy and intent to destroy mankind. Battle, on the other hand, is so blatantly anti-war that you're practically hearing War Pigs by Sabbath in the background.

The Gizoid counts as a WMD. Nothing can prevent it from going on a rampage and destroying everything, and flexing your power in order to retain control only escalates risk the more you do it. The only real effective countermeasure Gerald could think of was to give it a soul to dissuade it from ever pressing the nuke launch button. Or, in more allegorical terms, temper one's destructive impulses via conscience.

It takes Eggman forcibly overpowering and dehumanizing Emerl in order to reduce him to a WMD again. Except he loses control of Emerl immediately thereafter and winds up having his Final Egg Blaster getting aimed at the Earth without his consent, much like how nuclear bombs cause indiscriminate destruction.

It's such a brilliant and multi-tiered message, artfully delivered by Battle. Which is why it becomes undercut if we can have Shadow solve Gerald's problem in an instant.

[semper-legens]

44. Five Nights At Freddy's: The Silver Eyes, by Scott Cawthon and Kira Breed-Wrisley

Owned?: No, library Page count: My summary: Ten years ago, Charlie's friend Michael was killed at the pizzeria that was her father's baby. Now, she's returned to the town where she grew up for the memorial, alongside the friends she's since drifted apart from. But when they break into the abandoned Freddy's, it seems that the disappearances weren't buried with Michael and the other children. The animatronics are alive. And there's a killer on the loose… My rating: 2.5/5 My commentary:

So, Five Nights at Freddy's. That sure is a game. The background to me reading this is that I watched the film with a friend not too long ago, and it was surprisingly good. That, plus an excellent video essay by NezumiVA, got me interested in FNaF lore, and I wanted to take the plunge and see what the books were like for myself. Now, don't get me wrong. FNaF is not necessarily a good game series - it's too bogged down in its own lore and mystery, and the ongoing narrative just becomes more and more convoluted with each installment. Plus, Scott Cawthon himself is a conservative Republican who has donated to the Republican party and is anti-choice. Screw him. Still, I find FNaF in and of itself to be an interesting case of an internet horror series, and the progenitor of the 'twisted children's mascot' style of survival horror game. I'd heard the books went some weird directions, so why not borrow them from the library? So without further ado - it's The Silver Eyes.

And how did I find it? Mostly, bland. To be expected, really. The thing about FNaF is that it does, in fact, work really well in the medium that it is in - that of a jumpscare-heavy suspenseful horror game. All of the lore is backstory and background that gets hinted at through the actual game And I'm talking about the first game here. A common criticism of FNaF as it develops is that it gets bogged down in creating new Twists And Turns and piling lore upon lore upon lore. You can't adapt FNaF as-is into a book; literary jumpscares aren't really a thing. So what we instead have is a standard horror/coming of age story. A seventeen year old returns to her hometown, a place tied up in family history, a place that still holds a lot of mysteries about her past. But surprise! The monster that plagued her childhood is still here, and now she has to defeat it! The narrative doesn't really deviate from this basic premise, which is…alright. Like, it's fine. Paint by numbers horror, but largely inoffensive.

There were three things that greatly annoyed me about this book, however, and I will complain about all of them in turn! One, there were too many characters. Charlie is accompanied by her friends John, Jessica, Carlton, Lamar, Marla, and Marla's little brother Jason. So that's seven characters to get to know, and half of them feel sidelined. I couldn't tell you the first thing about Lamar and Marla, Carlton is mostly just The Snarky One, and Jessica's not that much more fleshed out than John, who gets deuteragonist status by virtue of being Charlie's sort-of love interest. You could cut half of this cast and the narrative would not suffer even the tiniest bit. Add to them the secondary characters like Afton and Carlton's family and Henry Emily, and you've got way too many people to keep track of.

Second, there were so many choices in the story that weren't justified or fall apart with any sort of scrutiny. Charlie had a twin brother who was killed when they were small; somehow, she didn't know about this until now? Nobody mentioned it to her? Carlton's dad refuses to look for him after he goes missing in Freddy's and leaves it a full night on the flimsy premise that Carlton is probably just pulling a prank, which is just an artificial way to create peril that made no sense. But the gold medal for this goes to the killer himself, William Afton. See, in the first game, we don't need to know why Afton murdered a bunch of kids - that part is just backstory to the idea that the animatronics are haunted. But here, we have serial killer Afton who just loves snatching and killing kids…because? There's not even a basic excuse for his behaviour, I guess we're just supposed to understand that he's evil or something and not think any more about it. But at the end, when he kidnaps Carlton, he just puts him in a springlock suit and leaves him there, which of course means that Carlton later escapes. Other people, he just murders, but that day he decides not to? For…some reason? He has no motive, he just does things that are meant to be creepy, and that's it. No nuance. Which, again, can work when it's just backstory for a video game whose whole point is to avoid getting jumpscared. Not so in this sort of prose narrative.

And finally, not all that surprisingly for FNaF, the narrative just takes a left turn into copaganda in the middle. Carlton's dad, a police officer, expresses that they knew that Afton was responsible for the deaths, but they didn't have enough evidence to convict him so he got away with it. Well, specifically they say that they can't convict him without bodies, but there's been murder convictions without bodies before in real life? But anyway, the fact that the narrative validates this sort of opinion by having Afton be an evil murderer who murders evilly feeds into that copaganda viewpoint of 'if only police were allowed to be tougher then those evil murderers would stop walking free'. Basically advocating for a police state. It was baffling, I had to put the book down for a minute when I read it because it felt like Cawthon jumping onto a soapbox just to be conservative for a moment. Gross.

Next up, the life of a godkiller, and those she loves.

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC Review: Salt Kiss by Sierra Simone

5/5. Out now!

Vibes: retellings, VIRGIN BODYGUARDS, two angry black cats falling in love with a golden retriever, local man never reads the room ever.

When PTSD-ridden veteran Tristan Thomas is offered a job as the bodyguard to his step-uncle, kink club owner Mark Trevena, it seems like the change he needs. The problem: Mark turns out to be quite dangerous, and Tristan turns out to be quite smitten. As the two engage in an ill-advised affair, he falls deeper and deeper, knowing Mark has secrets he refuses to tell. One of those secrets? Turns out to be a fiancee, Isolde. For Tristan, escorting her across the sea to Mark seems like a nightmare. But the more get gets to know her--the more he he realizes he's not just falling for Mark, but Isolde as well.

I have been dying to read this ever since I knocked out New Camelot earlier this year. Nobody does a menage romance better than Sierra Simone, and this kick off a new series once again retells an Arthurian legend--but in a very different way from New Camelot.

I will advise: if you haven't read New Camelot, this book will have spoilers for that trilogy (and it's a fucking banger, so go read it). Additionally, I feel you are missing out a LOT if you don't read the "prequel novella" (aka first book) Salt in the Wound first. This shorter installment details Mark and Isolde's early "courtship", if you can call it that.

Anyway, I fucking loved this, let's get into it.

Quick Takes:

--Mark Trevena has been hyped throughout Sierra Simone's New Camelot-verse. I mean, he made Maxen Colchester try a butt plug. (And yes, Tristan is absolutely, physically, Baby Ash. In terms of personality... couldn't be further from him.) Does he live up to the hype? Yes, though I will say (and this is obviously on purpose) we still don't know a lot about him. He's snakey and sexy and a bit weird and boyishly excited about doing his little cat burglar things. He clearly controls a lot, but he also very clearly does not have control of nearly as much as Tristan thinks he does. This works, because for all that Tristan has experienced so much violence, psychologically and emotionally he's still something of a babe in the woods. Yes, Mark is hypercompetent and powerful, but you just feeeeeel the disaster lurking under the surface.

Which is one of many ways in which Sierra Simone distinguishes between the dynamic of Ash, Embry and Greer, compared to Mark, Tristan, and Isolde (Auden, St. Sebastian, and Poe were a whole other thing). Ash? Did have his shit together for much of New Camelot. Like, he was doing some galaxy brained shit, but until things really started to get out of control towards the end of the second book, he is like, the ultimate dom. He's got it together, he has the attention of his subs, he handles their specific individual needs, he puts them first.

Mark... is more chaotic. I think he very much wants to be a puppet master, and in some ways he genuinely is. But emotionally, you get these glimpses that suggest he's balancing on a knife's edge; and with Isolde in mind in particular, I don't think this is all going to work out exactly as he planned. At all. Which is delicious to read, right?

--Related: Mark is not a daddy, stop this slander of Mark and to daddies, he is a dominant (and I'll be real! I don't think he's as harsh a dominant as Ash or Auden) but not all doms are dom daddies, let's get this straight.

--While this is the beginning of a clear MMF series, you don't actually see the menage a trois on the page just yet. The first two thirds of this book are really Mark and Tristan getting to know each other and falling in love. The last third is the instant attraction between Tristan and Isolde. I knew this going in, and I was a bit concerned about the balance between relationships, and Mark/Tristan being favored over Tristan/Isolde. This is a frequent issue with MMF books--readers prioritize the MM over the F, and the girl is basically window dressing. I find that Sierra pretty much always avoids this, but still.

After reading, I totally get it. First off, a lot of that Mark/Tristan pagetime is, understandably, not only Tristan falling in love with Mark but Tristan becoming acquainted with kink, which is obviously going to figure into the triad dynamic. Tristan is a virgin when the book begins, and again, in many ways remarkably sheltered. So while you totally get this bond he and Mark develop, their pagetime is more than that.

Whereas Tristan and Isolde are pretty much all Tristan and Isolde. And it makes sense that while it takes a good amount of time for Mark to give in to Tristan's desires because of all the complex dynamics at play... And Mark being Mark... Tristan and Isolde can throw themselves headlong into this passionate, super horny affair in which, in many ways, they're both venting their emotional issues onto each other. It's like a breath of fresh air for them, a release (literal and metaphorical) they both need. And so it makes total sense to me that they connect as easily as they do. Neither of them have that easy connection with Mark, but as Tristan's employer and Isolde's fiance, he's accessible to both of them in a way they can't be to each other. Yet on an purely emotional level, their mutual bond is simple, straightforward; it's just thwarted by obligations practical and otherwise.

--You're in Tristan's head for the entire book, and it's a pretty head. I love the contrast of someone who's really good at killing and violence being so bighearted and sensitive. It really evokes the legends surrounding the original Tristan. Yes, he can fuck a dude up, but he just wants to fall in love and please and sing his little hymns.

I also just super enjoyed how many times Tristan would just let clear and present warnings sail over his head. The allusions to Mark's previous bodyguard Doing Stuff with him? Tristan didn't hear them. Everyone trying to suggest that Mark is getting married? Tristan doesn't notice. Mark telling Tristan to "be him" with Isolde? Repeatedly? Tristan sincerely does not get it. Himbo lovers, this may be a book for you.

--We still haven't experienced Isolde in her full form, in my opinion. Mark hasn't seen her for two years when this book begins, and she's a total stranger to Tristan. There's an underlying sense of both masochism and sadism in Isolde. She's someone who enjoys the pain, but on a much deeper level, seems capable of inflicting it. I definitely get the sense that Mark isn't the only one who's going to be fucking with Tristan's head, and I'm frankly about it.

--This series is being pitched as darker than New Camelot; and I will say, so far, I don't see that? But considering how dark Thornchapel (which is also in the same 'verse, albeit more tangentially) got, I trust and believe Sierra Simone can ramp it up. However, this first book is truly one where you the reader stumble into it knowing no more than Tristan does. You are fresh and new, as he is fresh and new. Even if you've read New Camelot, I feel like you're really stepping into an entirely different part of that world.

--I personally love the angst of a good "love triangle to MMF" angle, and we're most definitely getting that here. The way in which everybody is in love or at least close to it, while nobody is actually willing to admit it? Um, absolutely.

The Sex:

It's Sierra Simone, so obviously the sex is 10/10. She writes the best sex scenes in romance, for me. They're erotic and daring and explicit, but also so emotionally revealing and poetic? Her characters truly connect through sex, accessing a level of soulfulness and, like, honestly? Spirituality during sex.

With that in mind, people do fuck in church in this one--like I said, it's Sierra Simone. Tristan and Mark have a very intense sexual relationship that does involve D/s, though understandably, it's not quite as kinky as what other Sierra characters have gotten up to. Mark is very tender with Tristan's precious virginity (.... more emotionally than physically) which? Right now? Kinda makes him more of a soft dom than Ash or Auden. Or Father Bell, really.

I'm sure this will be completely subverted when Honey Cut comes out.

I really appreciated this book exploring things we don't see often in these big, sweeping romances--M/M breeding kink, which obviously is A Thing, but we often don't see it, I think, because there's this huge emphasis on heroes being hypermasculine. Which in some ways I enjoy, right? But here, Tristan is masculine and.... also wants to be bred. And he wants to breed Isolde. The duality of man!!!

Also--the face sitting scene was great. That's all.

It's just a different take on kink than we've seen in Sierra's other books. I think she also manages to give all her characters' sex styles, as it were, unique spins; but Salt Kiss's take felt particularly different from the other triad books she's written in that sense.

I'll also add--I was impressed by the tension-building moments in this book, especially with Tristan and Isolde. Neither of these relationships are truly slow burns in terms of time covered. But Tristan and Isolde definitely burn faster than Tristan and Mark, yet somehow Sierra made the tension so tight and delayed-feeling. There is a moment... when Isolde is wearing her swimsuit... and Tristan notices a thing... I gasped like it was the Pride and Prejudice hand flex. It might be my Pride and Prejudice hand flex. In a very different way.

I just super loved this. It definitely has more story to cover. You don't end on a one and done happy ending--we'll have to work for it a bit more with this trilogy. But I have a feeling that it will be worth it.

(And I cannot wait for the slutty vellum overlay version of this book.)

Thanks to Bloom Books and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[the-firebird69]

So it took my character because he couldn't be president as Arnold Schwarzenegger but really these Max are screwed around with us a lot and he looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger but he doesn't look like Arnold Schwarzenegger now meaning Schwarzenegger looks different than him and sounds different and has a different behavior and I looked in the tour around the same time and Schwarzenegger is a Mac it's really weird and these two are very kind of nasty and it might be short

Bja

So it is this is amazing having a hair show no it's the Daytona 500 that's just amazing and they look like regular cars and they sort of art I haven't seen it for a long time either and they adapt regular cars now we're going to make super cars and they have a roll cage and it's essential oil and it's really strong it's integral and we're going to make it for Friday that's going to be intense okay we are going to have our fun and it's going to work we having a lot of stuff to do little bugs are coming out we need a solution

Hera

We do have one this place is too buggy and he's got to have money and new duds and a new house

He might get a house from the people who built his mom's house because it works and feel so many couple small problems and it may have been someone who messed with it after the HVAC system we looked at it it looked like someone changed it and we did find out if it's true hell no but let's see if we see installer HVAC installer and we know who that was and they're not doing it anymore and he did on purpose cuz he's an a****** and it's starting her son and it's this idiot Trump he's getting out of here his committing those murders and he's going down and he was doing it also on Stan's people and others out here in Florida

Thor Freya

Olympus

[turnyourgays]

The Usher Foundation 1: Route 66

Hey, this is a fanfiction centered on the Magnus Institute's American counterpart, the Usher Foundation. It takes place in another universe - neither the one we know and love from the Magnus Archives series nor [spoilers] where they sent the fears, but a third one, that also has the fears. I know that feels confusing but I've got my canonical reason for that planned out, so if this first installment does well then you'll get plenty of that intricate lore.

[Smartphone recorder chimes]

[ARCHIVIST clears his throat]

If you're a researcher doing a paper on spookies, congratulations, you've found the very first Usher Foundation audio statement. I'm Donovan Ellis...[sigh]...'Chief Experience Organizer' of the Usher Foundation, Washington D.C. The boss just did a pretty substantial reorganization of the place - "..needs a hip coat of paint!" he told us, which includes me dusting off the statements and putting them on the cloud. In audio form; for reasons he danced around until I gave up. On the subject...

Statement of Nicholas Sill, regarding the highway between Amarillo and Albuquerque. Originally given November 17th, 2009. Audio recorded July 4th, 2022. Statement begins.

--

I learned to drive at 16, and I haven't stopped since. I'm from New York - upstate, not the city - and every year when the weather gets nippy I hop in the car and drive south down to Savannah, Georgia, then west (and north) all the way to San Francisco, stopping in my favorite cities and landmarks along the way. People think I'm insane to go all that way every year, but I never felt more free than on the road.

Until this year's trip. It was going great at first. I had a great kebab in Atlanta, saw some live music in Nashville, and after hanging out with a girl in Amarillo I was feeling on top of the world as I slid back onto the highway. The first odd thing came just before that, though. I was at an intersection, and a man dressed in a noticeably badly fitting suit was on the side of the road next to a stall that read 'DIRT OF GOD $1 / jar'. I thrive on weird social interactions, personally. Gives me stories to tell when I get home. So I rolled down my window and caught his attention, asking him what 'dirt of god' was. He shuffled awkwardly over to my car; he had very stiff legs. He was bald on the top of his head, but the hair growing on the sides was shoulder-length. He was very, very sunburned. He offered his hand, and I shook it with a smile. Up close, I noticed that his suit wasn't just too large, it was sagging. All his pockets were bulging, filled to the brim with something. He told me: 'God blessed that dirt much as he blessed this whole country'. He said it so earnestly. It felt folksy and quaint. Cozy. So I bought a jar and went on my way. I was excited for a good souvenir, but I regretted it barely a half hour later. It stunk. Like hell. I cracked the windows to help it waft out, but it barely made a dent in the, just, thickness of it. It was the smell of dirt after rain without the nostalgia. Without the fresh plants to accompany it. Just the desert. I opened my window, all the way this time, and chucked the jar.

It wasn't long before the haze started. At first, I assumed a gust of wind had blown up some dust. And then I thought a dust storm must be forming. But that wasn't it. It was a dust devil, a little tornado of sand and dirt, following alongside my car even as I accelerated faster and faster. But it span slow. Very slow, grains of it tickling the paint off my car. It then expanded gradually, not just twisting beside but twisting around. It covered my windshield, so I couldn't keep driving. I pulled over and lay down in my backseat, waiting for it to pass.

But I couldn't rest. What had once been a gentle spinning became a terrifying whirlwind. It whipped against the windows, against the roof and doors, clanging unbelievably loud. Worse, it started to blow through the air conditioner, bringing with it the smell. It wasn't just harassing me from the outside, it was choking me from the inside. The car groaned as it became gorged with dry dust, and even through my shallow breathing I realized that the car was now actively sinking. The sunlight could barely be seen through the windshield, and I watched in horror as the brown darkness rose from the bottom all the way to the top, eating the little remaining light as my car buckled and dented inwards. The windows shattered, and dirt flooded my car, my gasp of shock becoming my last clear breath for a long, long while. I crawled wildly through the ground. Every time I thought I'd gotten through a window I felt another piece of the interior, somehow turning myself around back into my flooded car over and over again, still sinking.

I barely remember what happened next. I was in a stupor of...starvation. And there was no air. But the next thing I knew I was being pulled from the ground and back into the open air. The guy who saved me called himself 'Watchman Kohr', and he gave me a ride to the airport. I meant to fly back to New York, but I decided to come here. I'm not ready for my yearly vacation to be over, even if I can't even think about getting into a car without hyperventilating. I think I'll catch a train back to New York.

--

Statement ends. The enigmatic 'Watchmen' make an appearance here, the completely un-researchable organization due to their shared name with a popular graphic novel. What we know is that they operate all over North America in apparently equal frequency, and that several people who've encountered them - Mr. Sill excluded - note their eyes as their most well-defined feature.

I'll be honest, I would be tempted to file Mr. Sill's experience under 'sudden psychotic break paired with odd weather', but the presence of a Watchman gives it more weight. I had Yvonne and Logan follow up on Mr. Sill, who - according to his Facebook - seems to have moved to New York City, and hasn't left since he got there in early 2010.

Recording ends.

[iamasimperyk]

Hurt(Part 3) -Nate Jacobs

Warnings: Cheating, slightly smut (?), revenge, not proof-read

Summary: Nate cheats again and you find out. Afterwards, you show him what he lost.

A.N; The general idea, which I am really thankful for, I got from @gogoloni

Part 1 Part 2

For a week, your life was great. Nate and your relationship went awesome. You have never seen him so soft before, but you liked this side.

Currently, you and Maddy were sitting in her room, talking about the new clothes she got last Friday. The problem was you couldn't really concentrate since Nate told you after his practice. The problem was that it ended already an hour ago, and you were worried.

"I mean, can you believe this?" Maddy asked, pulling you out of your thoughts.

"I am sorry. What did you say?" You asked her, to which she just rolled her eyes.

"Seriously, what's wrong with you? You have been acting weird since I got here." She replied, annoyed.

You slowly stood up, walking around the room nervously. Maddy looked at you confused but didn't say anything, trying her best not to get angry at your weird behaviour.

"I am scared that something has happened to Nate. He was supposed to text me after practice but didn't do it." You whispered without looking at her.

You hated talking with her about Nate because you never knew how it affected her.

She let out a loud sigh and stood up from the bed, walking over to you, "Bitch, he is an asshole, and I would like to tell you he isn't cheating, but-"

You interrupted her quickly, "No, he wouldn't do that to me."

Maddy seemed to think for a moment before she turned around to get her phone, "You know when Nate and I were together, he always wanted to know where I am, so he installed some app on my phone. In my opinion, it was unfair that just he knew where I was, so I also downloaded the app on his phone while he was asleep."

You were surprised that Nate didn't want you to have such an app till now.

"And why are you telling me this?" You asked her, playing with one of the pillows on the bed.

She rolled her eyes, "I deleted the app but since I never told him that he also had the app, I still have his location."

Even if you found it weird, your eyes lit up with hope, "So you can tell me where he is?"

She nodded and tapped something on her phone before her eyebrows furrowed. You looked at her, confused but also worried.

"Maddy?" You said quietly, to which she handed you her phone.

'Nate' was written in black, bold letters over a small dot on the screen, and he was at- Cassie's house?

"That has to be a mistake, Maddy. Nate isn't at Cas'. That's impossible." You laughed, trying to make the situation more comfortable again.

"Call him, and I will call her. When they are doing what I think they do, he will walk out of the room to talk to you. When we do that, we will see it on the app." She said, looking at you.

You called Nate with shaking hands while Maddy called Cassie, still having the location app open.

It took some time for Cassie to pick up, but you couldn't concentrate on that since the little dot on Maddy's screen moved a bit before Nate also picked up.

"H-Hi, Nate. I just wanted to make sure you are okay since you didn't call me." You tried your best not to cry.

"Fuck, yeah, sorry, I am already at home, helping my mom with some shit. I will be at yours a bit later." He lied, breathing heavily.

"I am sorry, but I will sleep at Maddy's today. We will see each other in school." You mumbled.

He remained silent for a few seconds, "Fine. I got to go. Love you."

"Love you too." You tried to say without any voice crake before you hung up.

Maddy also ended her call with Cassie before she quickly hugged you tight. You started to sob, not understanding why he would cheat on you.

"He doesn't deserve you. Do you know how to hurt him the best? By pretending not to care. Break up with him, dress like a fucking hooker and ignore, but tease him." She smirked, looking at you.

Wiping away your tears, you chuckled without any emotions, "I am not like you. I can't do that."

"You can and you will. Let's pick an outfit for tomorrow." She grabbed your phone and texted Nate it was over before she pulled you to her wardrobe. You didn't ask what she texted him exactly.

----

You stood in front of the mirror, wearing a tight dark blue, long-sleeved crop top, which made your cleavage look perfect, a black legging which was a bit looser at the bottom, but tight around your ass and some sneakers. Maddy did your make-up similar to hers and curled your hair.

You looked good, but it wasn't something you usually wore.

Nate texted you the whole night, but you didn't respond. It wasn't like you didn't want to, but Maddy told you everything you have to do, to hurt him. And to hurt him was everything you wanted right now.

"Let's go, bitch." Maddy giggled, taking your hand before you two walked to school.

As you two walked through the hallways, everybody looked at you, amazed by your appearance.

On the side of the corridor, you saw Nate hand in hand with Cassie. You couldn't believe it. He texted you all night but already had a new girlfriend.

You gave Maddy a small nod before the two of you walked straight forward, passing your ex-boyfriend and ex-friend. In the corner of your eye, you saw Nate looking at you, but you didn't even blink.

----

Days turned into weeks, and you were still playing that little game. Every day you dressed more and more like a slut hooker. You ignored all his messages and calls. Whenever he got the chance to talk to you, you turned him down and just walked away. But then there were also moments where you teased him, be it with your outfit, with bending down, flirting with other guys or just a simple lick over your lip. All of it turned him crazy and mad, and you knew it. That was your advantage.

Nate, on the other hand, wasn't happy with Cassie. He only used her to release his anger and his cum. He missed you terribly, and the things you did make him insane. He never saw that side of you, but he couldn't say he wasn't turned on.

When Nate saw you flirting with one of his teammates, the anger rose inside of him. But when that guy touched your ass, he lost it completely. Nate made his way over to the two of you, grabbed the guy by his collar and pulled him away from you before he pushed him against the lockers.

"Don't ever fucking touch her again, or I will make your life a living hell." He hissed at him, and the boy nodded quickly.

Nate let go of him, and the guy ran away as fast as he could.

"What the fuck! He was going to ask me out any moment." You scoffed, to which Nate was shocked. You never talked like that to anyone, especially not to him.

"Y/N, I will say it only once, so you better listen. I miss you, and I am sorry for cheating. I am an asshole, and I don't deserve you." He mumbled, not daring to look at you.

No double you were surprised by his words, "You are right. You don't deserve me, so stop getting on my nerves and fuck your bimbo again."

"You can stop your little play. We both know you aren't like that. You are scared in the dark, you hate when others talk bad about someone, and you love to help others." Nate told you, trying his best to get some sense into you.

"Yeah, in the past. The breakup changed me, but you don't have to worry about that anymore since I am not yours." You smirked, standing on your tippy-toes to look more intimidating.

He leaned down, an amused grin appearing on his lips, "Oh really?"

Before you could even react, he pressed his lips onto yours. You immediately melted into the kiss, which got heated pretty fast.

Nate picked you up while you wrapped your legs around his torso. Slowly he moved his hands down your lower back to your ass, squeezing it.

A small moan escaped your lips, and even if you knew it was wrong, it felt nothing but right.

After a few more minutes, Nate let you down again before he reached down to your skirt, wanting to take it off, but you stopped him.

"You have a girlfriend, Jacobs." You smirked and turned around to leave, but Nate grabbed your wrist and turned you around once more.

"I always get what I want, and we both know that." He whispered into your ear.

You pulled away from his grip and rolled your eyes, heading out of the changing room.

You weren't sure if you would ever take Nate back again. Anyway, you were fine at the moment, and that was the most important thing.

[gangrenados]

Yandere Jason Todd

I have to say that these are a bunch of multiples ideas, so it might a little bit dispersed.

Warning: murder, kidnapping, manipulation

I don't condone any of this behavior, we all know this is a really shitty thing to do.

Matthew Daddario as Jason fancast cuz I like it!!

▪Let's start with something simple: Jason is a very possessive and over protective yandere who doesn't fear to kill whoever dares to put themselves between him and you, especially if they're rivals.

▪There's a big difference when it comes to how he'll be with you depending on what state of his life he's in.

•Fresh of out of the Pit Jason will obsess over you for the sole reason that he wants to posses something in order to feel like he has gained some control over his life.

° Jason doesn't love you, you're just an object that he use to feel in control so he will manhandle you and break you as he pleases.

°It's hard for him to realize that what he's doing is wrong and by the time he finally accepts it, you'll probably be death or in a terrible mind state.

°Jason will have succeed in breaking you and he will punish himself about it.

•Arkham Knight Jason see you as a something that he needs to possess in order to feel human and loved again. He almost worships you as a higher being.

°Jason will hold on you in dear life, hoping that your company will make him feel better.

° Jason is more mindful over your needs and what you might feel about him and being held hostage, those thoughts makes him deeply insecure and sick to his stomach. However, Jason can't bring himself to let you go, he needs you.

°He wouldn't hurt you on purpose, but rather will choose to threaten you with breaking all your bones or killing those you love.

°This applies when he's jealous. Jason will pin you up against wall and point a gun at you as he cries and screams why was the cause for you to betray him.

°You always knew Jason was by far more strong than you but having him towering over you in the middle of a breakdown as he waves around a loaded gun is making you panic.

°Jason wouldn't kill you, but he know where to shoot without killing. You're gonna suffer with him if you don't start to give him answers.

°This version of Jason is mentally and emotionally unstable, he's more likely to breakdown and cause chaos since he can't fully control what he's feeling or how to process it.

°Jason might worship you and treat you as if you were made of glass, but he might kill you in one of his anger rampages.

• Red Hood Jason in the other hand is in a better mental place so it's less likely that he'll hurt you out of an emotional decontrol.

° Also there's the fact that, as that his Arkham Knight version, Jason prefers to use threads to keep you under his control rather than physical punishments. However, he'll use them if your being too defiant.

His punishments tend to be: isolation, spanking, making you use a collar shock, etc

°Jason doesn't see you as an object that will make him feel better, he genuinely loves and cares for you.

°He's deeply afraid that something bad will happen to you if he's not there to protect you.

°Jason see you as a defenseless, naive person who needs him to survive. He's gonna be your savior and lover even if you don't want him to.

°Oh don't try to escape, he'll find you pretty easily and drag you back to the safe house as he scolds you for being such a stupid brat. And if someone else was helping you escape? Jason will kill them in front of you to show you a lesson.

°He might nice and caring to you, but Jason doesn't tolerate when a darling talks back or defy him.

He doesn't like a bratty darling since it makes him think you don't trust him enough. Jason truly believes he knows what's better for you, so it's not gonna end well if you question his decisions.

°Might pull up a dirty move to make you stay, like hiring some goons to scare you if you decide to leave him. So Red Hood can come, kill them and be your hero!

°One thing to keep in mind is that all of his version are deeply insecure and touched deprived. They might want to hold you and kiss you, but it's gonna be a long way until they finally don't hesitate to do such thing.

°Their distan and pretty close to you at the same time. This goes more with the Arkham Knight and Red Hood though.

I'm gonna keep talking about the Red Hood version, so keep reading!

▪Jason wants you and will have you, he doesn't care how far he has to go for that to become true.

▪He wants to know every little single detail about you, it doesn't matter if they're insignificant.

▪So he will study you and take notes about your preferences, your weaknesses, what you like and what not and what are those little habits you have so internalized that you don't even notice you make.

▪It will lead to a point that Jason will know you better than you think to know yourself.

▪He will set cameras and a security system in your house and you will notice that Red Hood has been appearing too much near your neighborhood lately...weird.

▪Also the crippling sensation that someone is watching has been being so persistent when you go out.

▪You have tried to calm yourself down saying that it's normal since you live in a city like Gotham, but that doesn't make it any better.

▪Also lately you don't feel alone when you're in your apartment. You don't feel alone at all to be honest and it's creeping you out.

▪And what about this new guy in your life? He looks so mysterious and bad boy-ish, also wow he's pretty damn handsome and easy to talk to! How this guy can be friend of yours!?

▪Yeah, Jason got over his doubts and went out of his way to reach to you and be part of your life (with you knowing this time)

▪There's something we have to address here: at the beginning Jason couldn't accept that what he was doing was wrong. He didn't even want to acknowledge that he was deeply infatuated with you.

▪Jason didn't mean for this crush to go that far and the idea of what he's really doing, looking through the cameras he installed in your room, was making him sick.

▪However, he couldn't be away from you for long, if something happened to you it would drive him crazy, since the idea that you weren't there was enough to make anxiety paralyze his entire body.

▪Jason needs to protect you like he needs to breathe. It's not an option but a vital necessity.

▪What happens is that Jason's mind is torn between the voice that tells him to watch you closely and the one who's screaming at him and begging to stop all of this.

▪ Jason wants to possess you so he can keep the dangerous world away from you, is better than the rational part of his mind that tells him that what he is doing is foolish and will end badly.

▪But to be honest here, Jason doesn't pay much attention to the rational side of his brain unless he has a breakdown since he's more sensitive and open to those sad thoughts.

▪During one of those breakdowns were the main reason why he took you one night after about a month of overthinking every decision he has made so far and the numbing that he might lose you if he doesn't do something drastical.

▪So during a seemingly normal night in Gotham, when the rain soaked everything in it's path and made your warm bed even comfortable than ever, an exalted Red Hood broke into your apartment to kidnap you.

▪He didn't leave any space for doubt, so without hesitation he pricked your neck with a needle and carried to one of his safe houses.

▪Jason feels like he can breath again now that you're on his bed, sleeping fondly thanks to the tranquilizer.

▪You look so beautiful and innocent, it only reassures Jason that what he did was the right thing.

▪You need him to protect you from the horrible things of the world, it's more than obvious that you can't take care of yourself and Jason is more than glad to keep you safe.

▪Yeah, that's all he wants in reality. Jason doesn't give a fuck if you don't love him right away since he have the hope that one day you'll understand and finally accept his love and devotion for you and you'll do the same.

[bookwyrminspiration]

#I forgot that Biana was described (by fitz) as clumsy#I don't think it's ever been brought up since

Judging by my relationship with my sister Biana tripped over something once and Fitz calls her clumsy for the rest of eternity

Fitz: *pushes Biana down the stairs*

Fitz: wow, I can't believe you're so clumsy

okay but also!! Given how different Fitz and Biana's relationship is in the first book, this seems much more plausible than it would be in a later installment. I mean, they're still like actual kids in the first book, joking around with each other and happy and teasing each other. it's a little jarring coming from the ending of Unlocked back to book 1 where they're all little kids just having fun.

Fitz teases Sophie about sleeping through breakfast and lunch, Biana is just vibing and thinks this new girl is weird and tries to avoid her in a very child-like no we're not friends kind of way, Dex is there like "hello! I have a lot of energy!! and talk a lot! wanna be friends?" My point is that they're at a point in their lives before everything went so drastically bad and they got caught up in the world's problems far too young, so petty little sibling things like labeling Biana clumsy after a single incident is much more likely.

Now, if Biana were to trip and Fitz to call her clumsy, it'd be like in the middle of a tense moment and written like "the dreary atmosphere lifted for a moment, everyone cracking a slight smile. But it couldn't hold the [big problem] back for long," and then they'd move on.

but back to your point. Biana has never really shown any sign of being clumsy that I can remember throughout the entire series, so this one line in the only proof we have that she could be. So what did she do to earn this title from Fitz? Did she just annoy him one day and he decided he'd find the one insult she'd hate (clumsy being the opposite of the beauty and grace she's supposed to be) and use it against her with no actual evidence? Was she clumsy as a child and he's going to remind her of it forever?

This singular line goes against everything Shannon says about Biana later and it is never explained I have so many questions.

[penthesilea1623]

No question just a thought to share. The other day I went crosseyed trying to install DAI Frost mods I quit and reread some of my favorite fanfics instead. I get to where Anabel gets a little handsy with Justice and thint it's just too bad she couldn't turn him into acute, if albeit grumpy puppy, or maybe a kitten. Anders would appreacite a kitten.

This has so many interesting possibilities.

That Anders in an attempt to rid himself of Justice 'transfers' Justice into a nearby kitten that has escaped the fate of most cats in Darktown. Most of the time he's a perfectly content little tabby cat, but when injustice occurs... well lets just say there are new rumors of a beast living in dark town that glows blue and grows in size, surrounded by swirls of light and smoke with razor claws and teeth that shred and a roar that sounds more human than beast. When the healer is told these tales he laughs them off but some notice that he casts a worried glance at his cat, a cat that is far too well fed and healthy for one fed only on the scraps one finds in darktown. The cat ignores them all, grooming himself while lying on the healer's desk, purring loudly.

That somehow, Anabel, her magic growing more powerful, attempts the same spell, and they can never decide if it was intentional or not, but from that point on when Anders loses control he is actually transformed into a kitten, spitting, hissing, outraged, and completely uncontrollable, until Anabel thinks to carry around a bag of catnip with her.

And how did they find this spell? Neither Anders nor Anabel quite remember. They have memories of a...boy? Maybe it’s a spirit, Anders thinks.  Maybe it’s a demon with a weird sense of humor, Anabel says with a smirk. But they both have the sense that whatever he, it, was, they just wanted to help.

And why a cat? 

Anders likes cats, the spirit says, ducking his head down and hiding behind the brim of his oversized hat, before he vanishes.

[notfeelingthyaster]

Imagine (Son of Hades! Percy; Godswapped! Big Three's kids (6/7) or (11/12)

House of Hades Pt.2 - In the Argo II

Hello darlings! Before reading this, there's at least other 11 parts - and I almost had to divide this into two - check on the masterpost - but don't be sad is ending :(

First - I have no idea if I'll divide Blood of Olympus in two because I hate the climax Rick wrote - so probably? Also not sure if I'll need an epilogue - we're not delving into TOA, though.

Second - I'll keep writing! I have a handful of ideas that I want to do next - and the next AU will have Female! Percy - so keep logging in!

Check on the warnings before proceeding, and good reading :))

To say that things are tense in the Argo II is downplaying the major depression the ship seemed to be sunk in since Perseus fell.

Leo and, surprisingly, Nico are the only ones who are able to get anything done in the first couple of days, but they aren't fooling anyone - the white eyes of the son of Zeus seem to be every day a little more bloodshot, and more than one fire happens without no explanation.

Annabeth didn't stop crying for a second - even throughout Will's examination of her and her brother - for at least 12 hours. Then she crashed for another 12 hours - and when Annabeth woke up, she was enraged.

She is going to bring the damned statue back to Camp - and then she will kick her mother's ass. That's her best friend, not collateral damage.

And when her dumbass of a best friend comes back, Annabeth is going to kick his ass too. How dare he fall - for her, not even his closest friend - into freaking Tartarus?

Frank is devastated - he and Piper are coping by planning the future - how they can spend the summer at Camp and live in Nova Roma, how they'll visit Perseus if he decides to go to college in the mortal world. It feels a little like denial.

Hazel and Jason are coping in the totally opposite way. Where Leo and Nico are fueling themselves with determination, Annabeth is anger personified and the other two went in the road of negation - they're both in a deep state of panic.

The sea became too dangerous to travel - the tides answering to Jason's turbulent emotions - and any metal on board keeps exploding or becoming so fueled with energy that no one but Nico and Hazel can touch it.

They pray together - for Neptune, Jupiter, Pluto, Letum, any god that Perseus ever helped (a lot of them) - for his protection. Jason holds evening prayers - just like in Nova Roma - and they offer anything, everything, for Percy to be alive. Everyone goes.

Except for Will, who is in a whole other league. The moment that he arrived at Camp, Percy was the one to settle him, and calm him, and take care of him. It was a side of him no other person in this ship had ever seen - Nico got in Camp in the worst timing possible, and all the others were pretty independent when they met Perseus.

But Will remembers - the nights with hot chocolate, Percy's warm sweaters, a pair of blue gloves messing his hair, the anxiety when the boy left for school, just for him to keep IMing Will every evening - and he misses Percy.

After the Labyrinth, the war, the losses, they reconnected - the prejudices against Percy's parentage long gone - and it felt like nothing ever changed.

It was Percy who helped him coming out for his mother. It was Percy that held Will after he lost Sibele - a daughter of Momus - to her injuries. It was Percy, always Percy.

Percy is much more of a father then Apollo - and much better as a brother then some of Will's siblings. So Will just locks himself up in his infirmary - and grieves. It's weird in such a hard mission to remember that Will is just fifteen and that he is a veteran of war.

The mood lingers, even when they start fighting regularly against the Apennines - and isn't this a whole other mess.

The mountain spirits are pissed - because Hades/Pluto and his wife are really pissed. It's Malcolm - the only one with a phone and a good connection to the internet - that tells them that the world started having earthquakes every few days.

The mortals are confused because most of these are not even close to the tectonic plates - and none of those cause turmoil at the sea. It's just Hades - mightly pissed his only son is beyond even his reach.

Three days in fighting the Ourae - who don't like having their mountains shaken over and over again - the sky also starts thundering. Coincidentally, it's July 30th - they've been traveling for twenty-two days - which also marks Thesmophoria - the greek festival of harvest.

But, alas, nothing is blooming. Persephone is as dangerous as her husband - and Demeter seems to follow her daughter's lead. With the Earth corrupted - the crops aren't growing.

Jason doesn't blame his matron - he is not really happy himself. Besides praying for Perseus' safety, he spends most of his days in patrol against boulders and rocks of all things.

Leo barely sleeps - too busy keeping the ship from falling apart - and Nico is, most of the time, right behind him keeping the ship steady. They try using canons and fail miserably. There's no way to fight against mountains - it's like Dom Quixote fighting against the windmills.

The others, even Will, rotate between fighting rocks and sleeping. Four days after Thesmophoria, Leo decides it's enough, turns the ship around, and solves to not cross the Apennines.

He just hopes Perseus can last another seven days.

Hazel - the only one awake, because this is supposed to be her patrol and Leo finds her the most reasonable out of all their friends, who would probably insist on keep fighting the freaking mountains - is praying. Like always.

Leo doesn't know how he feels about praying. His extended family was very catholic - they prayed for a god that they couldn't see or touch. But Leo met the gods - or, if Annabeth is to be believed, one set of them - and he doesn't like them.

They're petty children who have no care for the fate of their children - the ones who fight for them, go on their errands, keep them alive, y'know. Leo doesn't want to praise them. He doesn't think they deserve it.

But Hazel's prayers are answered when her venti, Tempest, appears aboard. Hazel tells Leo to go on without her - she'll be back soon.

He is concerned for her - like always. Of all new people, Leo seems to be the closest to her - his overall cheeriness and electric behavior are endearing to her, a light in these dark times. Sometimes, his smile makes her flush - just like Frank's did and still does.

Hazel mounts Tempest and the venti takes her, through mountains and hills, to a door. There's mist curling at her ankles and a chill in her spine.

She isn't very thrilled by meeting Trivia - Hazel heard stories of her greek son by Perseus, who seemed to hold the guy in high standard, but she knows gods. The goddess of magic wants something.

Trivia is an imposing woman - taller than Hazel, she has the same midnight skin as Perseus, though hers looks purple-ish, and her eyes are entire universes - stars bloom in her irises and twin moons rise in her pupils.

The goddess is fickle - she seems to be there and not, at the same time. Ghostly. There's three of them, then one, then five.

Trivia beacons to the daughter of Jupiter and she follows, the cursed little girl she is. The goddess offers her three options: Perseus, prone in the ground as she, Leo, and Annabeth battle an invisible foe, the two demigod installments at war, or the Argo II.

Hazel chooses the Argo II, but she promises herself, and the goddess, that she will save Perseus, and that no demigod blood will be spilled by other demigod's hand. Not again.

She will learn how to control the Mist. But Trivia is very mistaken if she thinks Hazel is going to become her acolyte. She remembers well what happened last time - she died.

The Argo II is traveling without much hassle - when they're crossing Monte Falterona, in the Campigna National Park, they are attacked by a new mountain spirit - and this one talks.

"Get Pluto his brat back, you useless halflings!"

Like the boulders the immortal is throwing at them will help. Leo screams this back at the mountain, who is not impressed at all.

Their next foe is in San Marino - a chimera. Most popular knowledge is wrong about those monsters: chimeras are not just goat-lion-snake mixes. They are an amalgamation of any three or more animals.

This one, in particular, is a very... candid mix of a Pyrenean chamois, a monk-seal, a mouflon, and a goose. Not very lethal or hazardous - just very angry. It's the first time they hear Annabeth laugh since Perseus fell.

While Malcolm is chasing and being chased around by an evil goat-goose-seal-weirdass deer chimera that he is fending off with an encyclopedia, the others can't even bring themselves to help. It's ridiculous - the thing is not even big. It's just ugly and it sounds like a honking clown.

Eventually, they get around to killing the clown chimera - it honks as it vanishes - and following route to Bologna. Frank tries to mutate to the chimera during the travel - to different levels of failure - which makes everyone laugh.

Thanks to their two encounters, the crew gets to Bologna at two in the afternoon.

Frank can't help counting the days as they pass him by. He is not the only one - he can see Annabeth muttering the time every now and then - but it feels like a countdown. Can Perseus survive one more week in Tartarus?

Even with the pressing worry for his lost friend, he can't stop thinking about Hazel and Leo. The two of them are thick as thieves - and Frank wants in.

But he knows it's wrong - Leo is a boy. Hazel is younger. Leo bares a power that could kill him. Hazel is his best friend. They're two people. - but he sees them flirting and can't keep his eyes to himself.

It's wrong. Soldiers aren't supposed to date men. Men who dated men are prostitutes, entertainers. Less. And two people at the same time? Outside of a bedroom? Preposterous.

Frank wishes he was more like Perseus. Perseus is all about duty: he would eventually marry Reyna. Or Annabeth, or other pretty and intelligent warrior, and have two point five kids with a picket fence.

But no. Here he is - midday, they are stopping for lunch, and he can't keep his eyes off Leo and Hazel - who are quietly chatting in the other end of the long table.

Frank ponders what would they think. Would the two be repulsed? Would they laugh at him? He can deal with laughter. Their disgust, however, would cut his heart in half.

Nico is in a very similar, and yet completely different, situation. He has been in love - or as close as love could be when you never dated the person - with Perseus Jackson.

He knows it's okay to be gay - he is friends with Will and Jake. He lives on CHB since he was a pre-teen. Perseus himself was - is - queer.

But the thing is, he'll never have a chance with him. Not the chance he is longing for gods know how long. He failed Perseus yet again - he let the demigod fall.

Perseus can have anyone. Perfect Annabeth Chase, Shrewd Reyna Arellano, Magic Alabaster Torrington, anyone. And he wouldn't have a problem with that - no. The problem is that he can't make a choice. Because he is in Tartarus.

Because Nico. Let. Him. Fall.

He isn't even sure if he let Perseus fall on purpose. A part of his mind knew someone would have to go. It was always meant to be Perseus. Did he purposefully let him go?

The rational part of his mind knew that if he tried to fly them off, all he would accomplish is falling into Tartarus with Perseus, probably dragging Annabeth with them.

But the guilt creeps into his heart - again, yet again, Perseus suffers for something he did or failed to do. He can't sleep. He doesn't know how anyone can eat.

A rock for him in these difficult times has been Jason. The son of Neptune seems to be as affected as Hazel or Annabeth - but Nico would never be able to rely on them.

Hazel has her own problems - a lot of them since Trivia appeared - and Annabeth is a painful reminder of everything Nico is unable to have.

Jason, however, is different. They had dreams of each other - something about their conquests, Nico didn't pay attention - and that apparently brought them close. Jason, differently from Annabeth, isn't a competition. He isn't vying for Percy's attention and love.

He is just a close friend - like Nico pretends to be most of the time - incredibly worried about the son of Hades. Nico would tell Jason about how he feels - but the militar roman's sensibilities might not be adjusted to the greeks' freedom yet.

Nico, however, is also not the only one with heart problems. Piper finds himself entranced by Annabeth Chase - even when she knows, she knows because of her powers, that Annabeth is painfully straight.

And Piper knows it's not love - it's the heat of the upcoming war and the hormones of being cooped up with just other teenagers for twenty days. She sees the blossoms of young lovers everywhere.

The yearning between Leo, Hazel, and Frank; Nico and Jason unconsciously sharing long-term crushes on Perseus; Will missing Jake and his parental figure;

She wishes she was more like Malcolm. Malcolm is asexual - besides being the only other transexual person on board.

Before this war spiked from nothing, the boy was just back from his mission for Hermaphroditus - a two-month search for a missing choker. He is still adapting to his body - it's bigger and broader and he doesn't have to wear a binder. Piper thinks it's amazing - he tells her it isn't that easy.

It's not a slow transition. One second your body is something - and then it isn't. One morning, the demigod caught him holding a red binder in his hands. Sometimes, she sees a shot of testosterone tucked in his pocket.

One day, he was a boy stuck in a girl's body. Then, he wasn't anymore. He has the body he dreamed of for forever - and it's difficult accepting it. Malcolm tells her is not exactly body dysphoria - is just difficult to conciliate.

Piper thinks after this, she'll get her body. After all of this, she deserves it - her body, all hers, with boobs and a killer jawline. Maybe then, it'll be easier to like girls as well. Maybe then, she'll shave half of her head and get a piercing. And maybe, a couple of tattoos.

But while this doesn't happen, she is whining to her asexual friend about her crush in his sister. Malcolm crushes her with logic - "Annabeth has only shown interest in men. She might be bi or pan or even a lesbian, but the odds aren't on your favor" - and she tries to put the blonde out of her mind.

Lunch, however, is a little ridiculous for her. As a daughter of love herself, that table is such a mess of yearning and pining and infatuations.

Malcolm seems to be the only rational - but even he is a little flushed. Piper totally saw that picture of Mitchell in his drawer last week.

She couldn't blame him really - her brother is hot. All demigods are - in very different ways of course, but their godly blood made them more or less otherworldly compared to mortals. Didn't matter their ethnicity, their gender, if they're disabled or not - they are all hot.

Piper, however, doesn't spend all her time freaking over hot people. She is a teenager with a friend who has a good connection to the internet, so she does that a lot - but most of her time these days is looking at Katoptris.

She's waiting for a vision of Perseus. Anything - just proof that he is alive, that he hasn't curled in a ball on whatever is the ground down there and went mad.

It doesn't come. She is looking at this ridiculous lunch table, eating vegetarian burgers, and waiting. Just as it seems like her dagger starts glowing gold - two monkey twins sweep down and steal it. And Leo's tool belt and Archimedes' Sphere.

Piper is really pissed. She wants this mission to end - she wants to find Perseus and stop Gaea, and that's her magical item. It's important. So she and Leo go after the twin monkeys.

Using one of the armory's javelin - for lack of a better option - they sprint over roofs and marketplaces. Bologna is a beautiful city - but they have no time.

They corner the twin monkeys, get their things back - and some things pertaining to a god of harvest - Triptolemus. Perhaps if they make an offer to him, Demeter and Persephone will be more cooperative. Maybe Persephone will be able to calm her husband.

Piper really doubts it. If she learned anything in the nineteen days she traveled with Perseus, is that he calls Persephone "Kore" or "Mater". The only other person he refers to with such open childish joy is his own mother, Sally.

The guy IMed both of them twice a week - enough that Piper knows their voices. While Hades isn't high in the demigod's list of people, his wife seemed to be at least number #2.

But they go back to the ship and relay their plan anyway. They set route to Venice. In the hour that it takes them to get there, they're delayed twice: once by the personification of River Ádige - which enabled them to pass until Jason helped with a small problem - and then by a couple of ventis - which Hazel sent off.

Frank, Annabeth, Hazel and Nico venture into the drowned city - Piper declines to go, saying that she is waiting for Katoptris to cooperate - being Nico the only one who actually speaks Italian in the ship.

The city is infested with anteater-like herbivorous monsters called katoplebones, which are pointedly not from the Greek pantheon. It's pretty rare for monsters to cross pantheons - and the Egyptians are pretty good in keeping them under lock and key - but sometimes, this happens.

They aren't capacitated to deal with those. Annabeth has half a mind to call the Kanes and demand an explanation. Pretty sure they were possessed by the gods to avoid this kind of situation.

She doesn't have much time to think - Hazel is quickly overwhelmed by the poisonous breath of the cows. Of course - is there anything in Egypt that isn't connected to snakes?

They find Triptolemus - who is not thrilled with their presence. Demeter - his mistress - and her daughter are distraught by Perseus' missing status - and he blames Annabeth and Nico for it.

Annabeth tries to persuade him - after all, they have Jason on board, and he is blessed by Ceres. Triptolemus - a very greek god - is not swayed.

"Your trickster words shall not fool me, daughter of Athena."

That's how Annabeth became a rosemary bush - good for memory and brainpower. Nico, when he tried to fight back, became a corn crop.

Mars is whispering in Frank's mind - he is not really fond of his father but uses his help to kill the evil Egyptian cows and get a python for the god's chariot.

He can't let Hazel die. He can't see the light go off her eyes - to see the same pain reflected in Leo's eyes. But Frank is so using Nico's stunt as a corn plant as blackmail material later. Not with Annabeth thought - she would stab him.

Triptolemus, pleased, turns Nico and Annabeth back to human and heals Hazel. Then, he tells them they have to eat barley cakes - so they can survive the poison needed to enter the house of the dead.

Proceeding south down the Adriatic toward Greece, a journey that should take about half a day, the crew of the Argo II is first accosted in Koper - a city on the coast of Slovenia - by four monocerus in the middle of the night.

Monocerus, in Leo's very succinct explanation, are "evil unicorns with big feet that can't fly and shouldn't be in a flying ship".

Whoever, the monsters apparently don't care where they should or not be - and Annabeth - still reeling for her time as rosemary - takes two of them out, keeping the horns as a prize. Nico takes one, who is so beat that leaves nothing, and Malcolm kills one with a handgun.

It's not the most practical weapon, because celestial bronze is not that easy to fabricate/find/obtain - so to use it in bullets that will explode and render it unusable it's kind of a desperate - but it's the first thing he could get - Malcolm's double tessen was being repaired by Leo.

Because yes - not only was the twenty years old able to fight with normal blades, he also fights with freaking fans made of iron.

After the run-in with the evil unicorns - Annabeth looks really cool covered in gold blood and curved silver horns in her hands - they proceed across Croatia.

It goes well for about thirty minutes - in Zadar, they cross paths with Sciron. Sciron is a bandit and outlaw, who - for some reason, is assisted by a giant predatory sea turtle.

While Hazel tricks him into throwing himself off the cliff using her new-discovered Mist, Jason talks to the turtle. It says its name is Chelone - that it's the turtle who took Aphrodite Ourania from the depths of the sea to the shores of Cythera - when she was still young, with remains of other goddesses in her anima - Innana and Ishtar.

He convinces the turtle to stop killing people - mainly by saying that he should hunt elsewhere, deeper onto the sea. It may become a problem for his father, but Jason has bigger issues right now.

They go to sleep, and Hazel dreams. She expects any god to come - but who comes to her is none other than Pluto and his wife, Proserpina.

Proserpina is shrouded in black, and her eyes are not green - but yellowish, like dead leaves. She talks - and tells Hazel that the Doors of Death are in the bottom of the Necromanteion - her powers over metal energy would guide her - and will be guarded by Pasiphae, vengeful of Pluto - and, by default, Perseus - for the lack of punishment for Minos.

Her husband is a silent presence by her side. He is not in mourning... probably. It's difficult to tell, as he is always in black. But his eyes hold a weight easy for Hazel to understand - he just lost a son to the abyss. No matter that Perseus might be alive - he wouldn't get back whole and safe.

Proserpina ends her dream by telling her to wake up Piper - the goddess is putting all her strength to send a vision of Perseus to Katoptris - they need one much more than her, seeing that they are able to interfere.

What Piper sees don't tell them a lot - Perseus seems mostly okay, with some sort of companion that Nico says it might be Iapetus, a brand new scar over his face and a bad limp.

It's the last they'll see of him until their eventual meeting face to face, but it gives them hope.

Annabeth herself has a dream - a dream that the Romans give the statue to the greeks. She sends an iris message to Rachel - so she can meet personally with Reyna.

Reyna, on the other side of the world, mounts her pegasus, Scipio, and leaves. Not only her co-praetor is in freaking Tartarus, but they are on the verge of two simultaneous wars. They need peace.

As soon as she is out of the roman range, however, she sends an iris message to Jason - telling him to go to their hero's place of rest - she had a vision from Mars. That she will meet them in Greece. Jason tells Leo to set course for Split, in Croatia. There's a roman scepter there.

Of all of them, the most capacitated for this mission are Frank and Jason, who are both educated Romans, and Nico, who can fly - a very good power to have in unstable ruins.

They're confronted by Favonious, who takes them to his master, Cupid, in Dalmatia. Nothing good can come of talking to the personification of love - such an old concept that the god has been reborn twice.

"Well, well, well"

"What do we have here?"

Jason falls onto the ground - "You think you found true love, haven't you? But alas, I was where you last expected me" - and he hates love, for that single moment.

"I shall give you what you want, Romans, if each of you is able to tell me - who do you love the most?"

Nico trembles - guilt is a difficult pill to swallow - and Frank visibly wants to bolt out of there.

"Oh, are you afraid? But there's no hiding in the face of true love"

Jason - always the brave one - gives a look at Frank. His friend never met the greeks. He might hate Jason after this.

But they need this scepter.

"Perseus Jackson"

Two heads whips in his direction - one unbelievingly, and the other distressed.

"Ah, love crafted in dreams - the perfect mix between me and my wife. Tell me, Jason Grace, was it bad when he looked upon you and saw naught but a myth?"

A laugh creeps upon Jason's spine, and he turns around. His blade hits something hard, and he is on the floor again.

"Such luck, to be able to even graze love. Perhaps yours is the purest of all - not yet tainted by failures and mistakes. On that note, why don't you go next, Nico di Angelo?"

Nico shivers - he... they have no time for that. That is unnecessary drama - to cause unnecessary problems.

A memory rushes to the front of Jason's mind - that quick chat with Reyna in Nova Roma. "The blond girl, Di Angelo"

Nico loves Perseus. It rushes to Jason now - the way that the younger boy stared adoringly at the son of Hades. The drunkness of his lovesick gaze. The despair when Perseus fell.

"Tell them Nico di Angelo" Cupid prompts "Tell them all about your guilt, your mistakes, the way you let him down, again and again, and again."

Nico floats a little off the ground. It's years of pain and sorrow that won't bring Perseus back.

"Will you fly off yet again, in the face of rivalry? Will you be my next servant - just like Favonious, consumed by jealousy, Nico di Angelo?"

Jason sees the memories. Nico screaming at Perseus. Grover reluctantly telling him about their adventures. The way he betrayed Percy - and a dozen more scenes he never saw from Nico's perspective, only Percy's, that made him unable to speak.

"It's okay Nico... I.... I get it."

It's painful to utter these words - it's almost like he is giving up Perseus. But they have a war to get through - and then, when the other demigod is back, they can figure this out.

"P-Perseus Jackson"

And then it's Frank's turn. But Frank is as pale as a ghost - he seems to be close to vomiting.

"It's a costly thing isn't it, looking at the true face of love. Now it's the turn of the brave son of Mars. Will you tell your friends easily, or shall you be a coward like the son of Zeus?"

Frank doesn't talk. Jason doesn't understand why - it's Hazel, isn't it? Is it because of Nico? He mentions talking to the son of Zeus, but Di Angelo doesn't look at him - the Cupid knew very well how to play his game.

"Come on. Tell them - tell them of whom you think before you sleep and who dominates your first thoughts every morning."

"You don't scare me"

"Oh, I scare you very, very much. Face me. Be honest."

"H-Hazel. Levesque."

"That's just half my question, little half-blood. If you want to lead the roman legions, you must answer it fully."

"I love H-Hazel. She is the one I think before I sleep and when I wake up."

"Still hiding. You're not strong enough, Frank Zhang."

Frank tries to charge at the wind, but it just mocks him. It's weird seeing Frank crying - it looks like the world is crumbling at his feet.

Jason, yet again, doesn't understand. Nico is also confused - he looks between the Romans as if he never saw any of them before. But then it dawns on the son of Zeus.

"Not only my sister. That's why you keep gazing at them, isn't it?"

All the fighting and denial leave Frank at once. His sword clangs in the ground.

"I love both Hazel and Leo. Together." He spits out, still trembling. "That's the truth. Are you happy now?"

"I wouldn't say Love always makes you happy. It can make you incredibly sad, sometimes. But you have faced it now. It's the only true way to conquer me."

Cupid appears - in a flash of white wings. It might be the god Jason hates the most - his eyes seem to penetrate his very soul. There's a scepter in his hand.

"Only a true child of Mars Ultor can yield it. It's your destiny, Frank Zhang."

Then he promptly disappears. The demigods look at each other - there's a flurry of emotions deep inside their chests. Frank looked at both of them, waiting for an attack, or for them to start fighting.

"No one has to know" He starts "I'm s-so-..."

He doesn't end. There are copious tears rolling through his face - his cheeks are a deep shade of red. A sob escapes his throat.

"P-please, p-pleased-don't t-te-tell anyone." Frank sobs, and it's such a jarring sight that both Nico and Jason rally to reassure him, leaving their own issues aside.

"There's nothing wrong with loving two people at once. No one will have a problem with it, Frank - fuck, this isn't Nova Roma. Most of us are greek."

"Hazel would hate me though. This is unnatural- I- I can't."

"You don't know that. Hazel loves you, Frank"

But the son of Mars just keeps crying until they both promise not to tell another soul what they saw. It's enough for the weird atmosphere to return.

Midway in the trek back to the ship - a six-hour walk - Nico is too riled up to safely fly with two people and none of them being too fond of air right now - Frank summons enough power to ask the question.

"So... uh... hm... Perseus?... like, uh, I can see the appeal-... but... both?... forget I asked, just....uh oh, sorry."

Jason and Nico pointedly avoid looking at each other. It's very bizarre - Jason knows a lot about Perseus, but now he knows Perseus also from Nico's perspective - and this is all messy.

They go back to the ship, relay to Annabeth that they got the scepter, and immediately go back to their cabins - to cry, to scream, to think.

It's been a day and a half - and they're still eleven hours off Epirus. Leo is pissed - because not only their three heavy-hitters are pissed at something and won't communicate, and they're of course.

Emerging from the infirmary for something other than to eat and mend people is finally Will - at least. He takes patrol in place of Nico - the boy quietly mumbled at his friend that they had a run-in with Cupid. Will can imagine how that went.

He doesn't have a clue about Frank - but Jason and Nico? They have the same long-lasting crush on Perseus - everyone on board knows that. Except, apparently, for each other. And Perseus - because his mentor/kind of brother/bother figure is a dumbass.

When they're passing through the coast of Albany, they're attacked by Khione - who is still very pissed her ex-lover's son doesn't want to spend eternity frozen with her. Leo ends up being sent away - for the distress of both Hazel and Frank and the anger of his best friends, Piper and Jason.

Piper ends up stabbing Khione - while Frank transforms into the giant dragon and burns her - making her unable to freeze them. Eventually, she runs away.

Leo, however, wakes up on an island. There's a sad girl at his side - she is using a modern blue dress, and there's a crown of black flowers upon her head.

"You were not the one I was expecting."

The son of Hephaestus wants to scream. Well, he didn't want to be whatever here is either! But her face is so sad - her gaze down to her bare feet. She seemed to be crying. He settles for asking who is her.

"I... I am sorry. My name is Calypso. This is Ogygia."

It startles him. Mainly because he has heard this name before around camp - wasn't she supposed to be freed?

"What happened to you?"

The immortal girl relays her tale - how she got freed for a year, and then the war started. The gods - Zeus - didn't trust her not to turn against them. So they locked her up - she was not the only one. Leto, Themis, Rhea - good titans or their offspring. Locked away.

She, after a year of freedom that Perseus got her, was back into her old shackles. Calypso is waiting for him for months now - but she thinks he forgot her.

So Leo tells her what happened - the bits he knows anyway. Juno/Hera, Nova Roma, the mission. Calypso seems calmer. They stay together for a while - friends it seems.

Calypso tells him about her year - about how she wanted to explore the world. She tells him she wanted to join Artemis' hunt - but, courtesy of Odysseys, she is no maiden.

He tells her about Hazel and Frank, Perseus, and the love hexagons he doesn't even know he is in - omitting the part that he is now in Tartarus. They talk about Festus - Calypso tells him about how his father is good to hear - how he came to visit, sometimes.

A week passes, maybe a week and a half. Leo vows to take Calypso off the island once the war ends, and she believes - once, a hero as brave as Leo made her the same promise, and stuck with it through the end.

In Cancun, Africa, Jason and Nico are having daily audiences with Auster, the Roman god of the south wind, in connection with the Seven being able to proceed on their way to Epirus - seeing that their ship is all broken and they have no Leo.

Auster is indolent and seems increasingly disinclined to cooperate with Jason and Nico: he dislikes the son of Zeus, and the wind never had a good relationship with the sea. Annabeth also tries her hand at it - but it's rebuffed at every turn. Piper is prohibited from entering the palace because of her magic voice.

Jason and Nico - even though they aren't speaking to each other - have for a long time admitted they don't fit completely at either camp. Jason is still too militar for CHB. Nico is too old for CHB. Both are too free with their personal lives for Nova Roma.

Auster agrees to meet with them and tells them to commit to one side - greek or roman. They deny it - they're both. The gods are both, they have been thrust in a war of both sides, they commune with gods on both aspects and they ask them to run errands for both pantheons. They have the right to be both.

Auster is not happy with this - mainly because he believes they should keep the sides separated. But it's the first time Nico and Jason agree on something - and they fight together for it. No god has the right to define those petty things when the demigods are fighting their war.

Auster merges with his greek counterpart Notus - an amalgamation of both his carefree and his militar side - and sends The Seven on their way when coerced by the threat of a hurricane and a typhoon.

He sends them to Valletta, Malta, where they find the Argo II fully repaired and in the harbor. In the port, on a small cafe, there's Leo - sitting and raging internally against the gods, who once again, fucked up something.

They trade stories, and Leo just rages more. He isn't sure how Perseus didn't ally himself with Kronos in the first war if that was the bullshit he had to deal with every day.

First Khione, then Zeus locking Calypso up, then this Notus guy - they are a week and a half late. Is Perseus still alive after nineteen days in the Pit? Is he sane? Did he tried to get out - and they weren't there?

It's with a shocking gasp from Annabeth that they realize that Perseus's birthday is in three days. They have been traveling together for thirty-seven days now - and they have to get Perseus out of Tartarus before the 18th, at least. Is the minimum.

It takes them a day to get to Epirus. There are enough monsters in their way to start a menagerie - Gaea is actively trying to stall them, so there must be a reason. Perseus might be alive.

Arriving at the Necromanteion, which they learn is just a very fancy name for catacombs, Hazel, Frank, Leo, Annabeth, Will, and Piper descend into the ruins, leaving Nico and Jason - who are both completely useless under the earth - behind with Malcolm - who, since Arachne, is pretty much claustrophobic.

They eat the barley cakes to protect themselves against the toxic potion they must drink in order to enter the temple. It's difficult to swallow poison - it burns as it goes down.

The mist tries to confuse them at every turn - Hazel diverts it. Her power over metal energy guides them - she can feel the basis of the building, way down where they are.

Katoptris burns in Piper's hand. It shows her Perseus' face - he looks cadaveric, shrouded in death. Sometimes he flickers, like a ghost - but he is alive, and heading to the Doors just like they are.

It's enough to spur them forward. Perseus is doing the same journey - from a much difficult side. They will meet in the middle.

Earthquakes strike the caverns, making part of the floor collapse. In a side, Piper and Will, surrounded by monsters in all sides. In the other, Frank, Leo, Hazel and Annabeth. The son of Mars doesn't think twice - the scepter.

He uses the Scepter of Diocletian to summon ghostly Roman soldiers, and as a Legatus Legionis, he does have the power to command all of them. It would be more controlled if he was Praetor, but the actual Praetor is Perseus, and so, in his absence, Frank will have to do.

The tunnel collapses. Hazel. Leo. They might be dead - but Frank can't panic right now. They are alive. They will protect each other, they have Annabeth Chase with them. Hazel controls the mist - everything will be just fine.

Anger grew in his chest. Those are his friends, his... his loved ones. This freaking ruin don't get to kill them before Frank summons enough courage to submit himself to the ridiculousness of telling them.

Hazel wants to cry - they left Frank behind. He might be dead - they might be all dead. Leo isn't much better. For all that Zhang seems to hate him, his infatuation with the Canadian never disappeared.

Annabeth however, is practical. She tells them Frank will be fine - the guy can transform into a dragon. Or a chimera. Probably a poisonous one, after the stunt in Venice. He has an army - it's okay.

Pasiphae is a bitch. Leo hates the woman - she reminds him of Aunt Rosa. Or Juno. Or Lady Muddy herself. He and Annabeth let Hazel do the majority of the talking - but both of them bristle as the Doors shake.

An unauthorized presence. Perseus actually did it - they have twelve minutes, in accord to Annabeth - who Leo knows better than to doubt - to open the Doors. Or he is dead, lost forever.

"It's a pity Gaea needs a son of the Earth and a daughter of the Sea... But none of you are children of the Underworld or the ocean, are you? Not even the acolyte of Trivia."

Everything indicates that she'll open the door herself - but Annabeth can't risk she whisking Perseus away to Gaea before they can reach him. So she sneaks past with her cap while they fight.

Pasiphae goes down to Hazel's illusions. Annabeth opens the Doors, before cutting the chains as Hazel and Leo distract Clytius. Perseus stumbles out, a giant tiger in his heels.

Leo didn't think he would ever see a harsher picture. The tall boy was still muscular - but gaunt as if he hadn't eaten since the fall. There were scars everywhere.

He couldn't look more - Clytius is threatening Perseus, but both Annabeth and the tiger stay in his way. Trivia appears - but they aren't truly winning until Piper, Will, and Frank are able to reach them through Hazel's magic.

Will goes immediately to Perseus' side - there's panic in his eyes. Leo can't see much this far - he hopes the son of Hades isn't dead. Piper and Frank fight alongside them. Annabeth is still hovering protectively over her best friend's prone body.

There's not much need for help - between Hazel and Trivia, the bulk of Clytius powers are unusable. The shared power of Piper (love is never where you expect it), Frank (and his undead soldiers), a very angry Annabeth, and Leo is just overkill.

They win. Will is feeding Perseus ambrosia - there's something really wrong because there are tear tracks in the blonde's face. Leo comes closer - their friends follow.

Perseus is destroyed. He looks like he has been through hell - there's a scar crossing his face and his eyes are sunken in. But that's not where it stops.

Leo's gaze goes down, to the ragged clothes that are barely recognizable - the sweatpants he was convinced to wear to go underground, the once-green sweater - and sees what is missing.

Where Perseus' leg once was, there's a metal one. The boy is curled in the fetal position - his metal leg sticks out like a sore thumb, and it looks like he might cry if he wasn't so dehydrated. The tiger nudges its head against the boy's leg and growls at them, but it doesn't attack.

"I... I can't touch him. I touched him and he started panicking... I... We have to take him back to the ship. He is stable, but..."

Frank picks up Perseus in a bride-carry - a month ago, he wouldn't be able to do it. But now, he is stronger - and Perseus must weight ninety pounds wet.

The tiger follows - when they cross to the daylight, they can see it's not a normal tiger. Annabeth - with a distraught look in her face - tells them it's a skeleton tiger. Probably a saber-tooth.

They go back on board - Piper goes up to call Nico, so he can fly Perseus into the ship. He does, but the expression in his face is so crushing Leo almost wishes they had delayed it by destroying property and landing the ship on the street.

The mood of the ship is yet again somber. No one wants to leave the infirmary - but Will forces them to rotate, so as to not overwhelm Perseus. Hypocrite - he is living in there.

Leo, Malcolm, and Piper - the least close to Percy, even though they are friends - let the others take the bulk of the shifts. Annabeth, Nico, and Jason almost get into blows about it - she wins on the fact that she knows Perseus longer.

It's difficult to IM both Rachel - who is a minute away from depression since he fell - and Lady Persephone. It's even harder to tell Sally - they leave the task to Annabeth.

They harbor for two days, waiting for Reyna. She appears from the sky during dinnertime - her horse has to be euthanized almost immediately after a run with the spirit mountains.

They talk - and end up deciding that she will take the statue back to Camp with Malcolm, the most resourceful out of them. Percy would be the logical solution - taking him out of Gaea's reach - but the son of Hades would probably be unable to shadow travel so soon.

While this happens, the others will set course to Athens - to stop Gaea and destroy the Giants. For now, they eat.

Midway through their meal, Will comes into the board - everyone knows what it means. Perseus is awake - on his birthday to boot. They take their food to the infirmary - to see the boy looking at the ceiling.

He gives them a faint smile, but no one misses the way he curls into himself any time there's someone a little too close. Perseus relays his tale - it's heavily edited, Annabeth can tell.

But he tells them about the leg - but not how he lost it - about the tiger - the name is Small Bob, but he doesn't talk about Bob - and about the firewater - but not how he got the injuries.

Small Bob never leaves Perseus's side. The demigod insists that he wants to go outside - he ate enough ambrosia and drank enough nectar that even some of his scars are gone. Not the one in his face though. Will let him go - but Annabeth thinks that he just asked out of courtesy.

He doesn't have green eyes anymore - they darkened to a point they can't distinguish his pupil. They observe as he sits calmly in the deck, metal leg sticking out, and strokes the head of the tiger, who is acting more or less like a giant house cat.

None of them miss the tracks of tears across his face, or the look he gives the night sky - it's bittersweet.

"Bob says hello"

[pbandjesse]

I just got so super tired in the last hour. I don't even know why! But it was an excellent day overall. I felt a lot better. I mean I am still stressed but like. I think that stealed me up for this morning.

I slept. Fine. Getting to sleep was terrible. I cried a lot. I was just so tired but also so upset. I eventually fell asleep. And woke up every couple hours because I was anxious.

I woke up and got dressed and felt very powerful. My outfit was just so good and also my boots were great. Made me feel strong. And very quickly we were off and on the road to the dealership.

On the ride there I quickly got an estimate for our car for a trade in value. I wanted a number in my pocket. I texted with dad. It made me feel a little better to have him hear what the plan was.

And then we were there. Ryan, the dealer, was very nice. He said to take a drive while they got paperwork set up. And it was fun. Also terrifying. My blind spot in this car is very different then the old car. I almost merged into someone! WIth only 7 miles on the whole car! I was a little shaken up so me and James switched and they drove for a while. We did some just driving and checking out about the car. It was fun.

We got back to the dealership and that's when the stupid game starts. I don't understand why cars are sold like this. It almost feels like if it was written in a story it would feel fake. First thing we talked about the trade in. The Camery is 10 years old. Is covered in scratches. Has a dent in the side. Has a torn seat. A wear thing on the dashboard. The ceiling fabric is thumb tacked up. The breaks screach and it thumps when you break. So they offered us $.1500. But I have the estimate number in my pocket. And so with that I was able to get them to give us $3000 instead. And then the interest rate we were able to get down almost a whole percent.

And then!! After we signed everything we went to finalize it with the financial guy and we were able to get a few more extras for discounted. I was super proud of us. There was one issue of me not knowing where the title was. I am sure we will find it here. Just wasn't something I was aware of, I thought the registration and the title were the same sheet but it is apparently a blue sheet somewhere. I think I know what he is talking about but honestly. Not sure. They just ordered a new one. It was like $20. So its all good.

We went outside to take our last things from the Camery and put them in the Crosstreck. A few people were complimenting the car. Felt neat. Ryan took our picture with my instax. Got a kick out of that. We chatted for a few more minutes and then we had our new car. Felt so weird.

We left there and went right to target to get a few groceries and things for camping next week. I called dad and we talked. It was good to hear him. He sounded a little weak but it made me feel a lot more secure. I love him. I don't want him to be hurting.

Once we were off the phone me and James just worked on getting thing things we needed. Including new pillows. But mostly camp foods.

We got pretty much everything. But we would have to stop at our local grocery store as well when we couldn't find a couple things. Ah well.

Between those two stops we got lunch at a diner. The food was excellent and the waitress was really nice. But we both lost a lot of energy. All the adrenilin from the morning was gone. And we were both very tired.

We would go downtown and James would run in the post office to get us postcard stamps so we could get the first batch of engagement cards in the mail. We would go to the grocery store. And then it was home.

We unpacked everything. James put things away. I would work on figuring out what we should keep in the car. We kept to much stuff in there before. I found a cargo net that dad must have had in the camery. So I went to install that. And put our air compressor and some bungee cords and jumper cables and a picnic blanket and some grocery bags. And then I put some stickers on the brand new baby car because I cannot be stopped or tamed.

I would work on some packing for camping after that. James helped me bring everything down and I would reorganize everything so we wouldn't have to worry. I am pretty pleased. I love packing.

I would do a little styling. And working on gathering addresses. James was making us indian food. And once it was done the flavors were great even if the chick peas were a little to hard still. The naan was great.

And then we were making the cards. We had a great system. James printed all the addresses and names on a business card template. So we could just cut them out and tape them on. I would put the stamps on, James would cut tape, I would attach the addresses. It was an excellent system. We have way to many cards but whatever. I am really excited about them regardless. We will just use whatever left over for something else. Save the dates maybe? Just would need to print something new for the back. Or we will just have to many and know better for next time.

I took a bath while James went for a bike ride. And then we would play video games for a little bit. But I was having trouble even keeping my eyes open. So now I am going to go get ready to go to sleep. I hope tomorrow is a beautiful day.

Sleep well everyone. Goodnight!!

[revchainsaw]

Bumblebee (2018)

Good Evening worshippers, and welcome! Today the Cult of Cult goes a little more mainstream than usual. It's been a while since i've tackled a big Hollywood superhero film. But I do believe that these sorts of films will be remembered fondly my small groups of people in the future, especially the smaller films that are being overshadowed by the big bad MCU, films like 2018s Bumblebee.

The Messsage

Bumblebee was originally released as a prequel to the Transformers franchise that had started all the way back in 2007. However, reboots had really hit the market as a way to breath new life into struggling franchises, and the Transformers series had already gone to just about every absurd extreme you could imagine. No changes were made to the movie as it was released, but with it's more childish and heartfelt tone, and a new aesthetic that was softer, smoother, and all around just generally more pleasing to the eye, I think it was a wise choice to rebrand Bumblebee as a new beginning.

Our story is of two friends from two very different worlds and how they came together. Our first character is Bumblebee, then known as B- number sign/it doesn't really matter. Not yet Bumblebee is a soldier set with securing a safe location for the Autobots to regroup and make their home as they suffer a pretty serious defeat on cybertron at the hands of the tyrannical Decepticons. Optimus Prime, here again voiced by Peter Cullen and looking so much more like himself, assigns this task to Bumblebee promising him that they will meet him there when the time comes. Then Optimus fucks off for the rest of the run time making way for our little hero.

Bumblebee lands on Earth and is immediately set upon by John Cena and his military goon squad. It probably would have been wise for Bumblebee to avoid John Cena but in his defense, he couldn't see him. Hardy har har. In his attempt to flee his voice box is damaged, he seeks sanctuary by taking the form of a run down little VW bug, and suffers from amnesia.

Then we have Charlie. Charlie is not like other girls. She likes cars, all the retro music, which wasn't retro when the movie takes place, so I'm supposed to just think she's a rocker but it kinda seems like she'll listen to just about anything. I think in 2018 liking Motorhead and The Smiths (who are used ad nauseum in this movie) is perfectly common, but I feel like in the 80s that was a much different and much older attitude to take.

Anyway Charlie's poor family lives in a super fucking nice house and are poor because the dialogue keeps insisting they are so it must be true despite all the shit they have that actually poor people would sell blood and teeth to attain, but hell, this is Hollywood and Hollywood poor is like regular people upper middle class. Charlies family is so poor that instead of giving her a one time graduation/birthday present to buy a part for a car she already has, they just give her a moped, She also spends all her time at a pull apart where the manager (who might be her uncle that wasn't super clear) is willing to just give her a Volkswagen so I don't understand why she didn't already have the project car up and running. Whatever, it's a plot contrivance. All you need to know is that Charlie is tenacious and hard around the edges cuz her dad is dead and she's not yet mature enough to process that in a healthy way. Maybe her character arch will teach her to let others in, we'll have to find out.

There's also a wacky nerd named Memo, and some bad guys, and John Cena. They are all also pretty archetypal and contrived and don't really do anything of note that isn't just filling a beat that this kind of movie needs to walk. Charlie starts Bumblebee up, discovers he's a robot and the two begin to bond. Charlie learns to make a friend, and bumblebee is learning about himself. They get into hijinks and get revenge on a bully girl who makes Regina George look like a saint, she pretty much only picks on Charlie exclusively for having a dead dad.

The moment Bumblebee is woken back up, some technology goof em up that both he and Charlie are unaware of brings two Decepticon baddies into the picture. I don't remember their names, but since I love The Venture Brothers let's say they can be "Jet Boy and Jet Girl". Jet Boy and Jet Girl are sometimes cars, sometimes various flying military vehicles, and they make friends with the deep state and plan to get all the adrenochrome from all the orphans, or just to go find Bumblebee and beat his ass good cuz their bad guys. Let me tell y'all though, Jet Boy and Jet Girl are so bad that they don't even care that the government is listening when they reveal that they are planning on bringing a Decepticon Invasion and after they rough up Bumblebee real good they are going to destroy all life on this planet. So they start by killing a military scientist.

John Cena is after Bumblebee and he's homies with Jet Boy and Jet Girl until the military scientist butt dials him and he hears the evil plan. John Cena goes from heel to face and helps Bumblebee and Charlie save the day. It's a giant CG clusterfuck climax a la any superhero film in the last 10 years and I basically stopped watching. BumbleBee pulls a Hellraiser on Jet Boy, and then he hits Jet Girl with a freaking boat. Charlie uses her diving skills do dive down and save him, but he's a Giant Robot and he was okay and it was literally pointless for her to to except as a way to show that her character has completed her arch by doing the thing that was representative of her connection with her lost father.

Bumblebee turns into the Camaro from the first movie, meets up with Optimus prime, and the stage is set for this prequel to squeeze more prequels out. So it wasn't very creative, but was it bad? Let's find out.

Please Stand to receive the Benediction.

Best Aspect: Transform the Franchise

Bumblebee was directed by Travis Knight of Laika fame and it shows. This movie marks a stylistic change in the transformers franchise, as in it doesn't look like utter dog shit, but it also represents in many ways a tonal shift. It does hold on to a lot of gross sleaze that has unfortunately been forcibly jammed into the DNA of the franchise but it also attempts to be a more heartfelt entry. The characters of Bumblebee might all be sort of a waste of time, but at least they are doing something with emotions, even if the emotions of the characters are only explored as deeply as a children's cartoon I'm glad they are there. In the previous installments the only thing the characters did between running from action piece to seizure inducing action piece was drool over underage girls like a bunch of chimpanzees at the facility where they test experimental E.D. meds. It was nice to see that at least somewhat tampered. This transformers movie feels more like it's for kids and young teenagers, and strangely that more friendly tone makes for a much less juvenile product.

Worst Aspect: Remember I Love the 80s from the 2000s

I hope you really like Stranger Things. I do, but because Stranger Things was so successful it' s going to be everywhere. Not true Stranger Things just 80s nostalgia porn. This 80s nostalgia is going to be forced on you whether you like it or not, and it's not going to be fun. It's gonna be in your shows, in your music, in your Sunday like Bacon in 2010. It's that or Marvel Franchise Brand Whedonisms. Bumblebee is that brave movie that says, "Why not both?" It would seem fitting that a property as quintessentially 80s as Transformers should feel completely comfortable doing a period piece set in the 80's but it's so fucking half hearted it's depressing. It wasn't done to appreciate the roots of the IP, it was done to cash in on a trend and it feels it. All they did was throw up a date and insufferably force an 80s soundtrack down your throat as if that was enough to convince you that this movie needed to be set during this time. Other than that you could have told me this film was set in 2007 and I couldn't tell you any different.

Best Character: Charlie's an Angel

I liked Charlie. Sure her Arc is predictable, her taste is dumb, and she isn't exactly a master of her own destiny to any degree. But at least she is a woman in a transformers movie who's got something going on. Sure she's defined entirely by grief, but that sure is better than pretending that being able to work on cars is a feminist character trait instead of a weird fetish thing. They certainly do that thing with Charlie, but at least it's not the only thing they throw at the wall. Bumblebee is by no means out of the woods in this department, but it garners a lot of goodwill for trying. Like a racist uncle who just started his journey out of ignorance, but hasn't yet realized he has to stop asking mortifying questions to the barista at Starbucks. Okay, maybe that's an extreme metaphor. I'm saying that perhaps Charlie is not a great character but she's a great character for a Transfomers movie.

Worst Character: It's JOOOOHHHNNNN CEEEENA!!!!

Why is John Cena in this movie? I don't hate the guy, but his character seems pointless. You could remove him from the movie completely and replace him with any one of the random military goons at any point and it changes nothing. What was with that dumb salute at the end? It seems like they put him in this movie in post and it was just to pump up cast list. I wish he was given anything to work with. I can't remember his characters name, and it's not like John Cena did a bad job, I was just annoyed every time they kept giving him hero shots. I felt like I was watching a trailer for a different movie.

Best Actor: Optimal Primo!

Every time Peter Cullen speaks I want to listen. There's a reason they haven't had Chris Pratt or somebody with a bigger name come in and take over the role at this point. He's why the audience keep coming back. Peter Cullen IS Optimus Prime, and there's no changing that. He also wins twice. He's the best actor in the movie AND he's barely in the movie. Good call Peter.

Worst Actor: Mean Girls 2, Meaner and Girlier

I don't want to be cruel so I'm not going to go into to much detail, but there's an actress in this film who's performance is so mustache twirlingly evil and stupid that it ruined my suspension of disbelief when i knew going in that i was about to endure a 2 hour toy commercial about robots that turn into cars. Beldar Conehead was a more convincing human being than Tina.

Best Effect: Goo Be Gone

I really appreciated when the bad guys shot the government nerd into a blast of snot. That was pretty fun for me. Best part of the movie hands down.

Worst Effect: Live Action?

Bumblebee is a cartoon. It's a great looking cartoon but it doesn't sell itself that way. If we were doing a Roger Rabbit thing I'd have no gripes. However, I think CG is just getting worse. I'm criticizing this and it's still lightyears better than the previous entry's on the franchise. No transformation or fight sequence in Bumble Bee had me straining to make sense of what I was looking at. I think it was a great idea to start using some basic shapes and outlines to these characters, and return somewhat to their 80s designs. But at certain points, especially when there were no humans in the shot, i was pretty convinced I was watching Clone Wars. There may not be anyway around this, as the Transformers concept might not be able to be pulled off in any more effective manner. It's a minor gripe, but I just didn't think it looked like anything other than a very expensive cartoon, and in this franchise that's a compliment, because it least it looked like SOMETHING!

Best Scene: Space Opera

I am not a Transformers fan. I missed the boat on the cartoon as a kid. I would sometimes catch it at friends houses but I was more into Batman, Star Wars, and Ninja Turtles. By the time I came onto the scene the world had moved on to Beast Wars. I did one day arbitrarily decide that my favorite Transformer was Sound Wave. He looked great in this. I am a big fan of the return to form with a lot of the character designs in this. They really did keep the things that worked from the other adaptations, and they are steadily removing the things that didn't. For this reason, the scenes on Cybertron, particularly the battle with Soundwave (i prefer for personal reasons) looked great and were exciting to watch. I remember thinking Cybertron used to look like a Marilyn Manson shot a music video from inside to dumpster. This is so much better.

Worst Scene: Blocking the Box

There's a scene in Bumblebee where Charlie's family decides the best way to save their daughter was to cause a pile up of vehicles in an intersection, and it's pure contrived writing that saved any character in that sequence from being killed in a horrific traffic accident. It was stupid, played for laughs, and it wasn't exciting as much as it was anxiety inducing. I also thought that there was no reason the covert military group covering up extraterrestrial life wouldn't just disappear this family of fucking morons in their little piece of shit car. The logic of the scene was just so childish like, "No they won't hit me, I'm a good person."

Summary

Bumblebee may be remembered fondly in a decade. I think especially if the Transformers franchise were to end here. It didn't get the publicity of the other films, and that really is a shame. For my money, this was the best Transformers movie so far. I was very tempted to give Bumblebee a C, it does just enough to right what was wrong from the other movies to make me appreciate all that work. This movie has heart, and if you are at all into Transformers then l think you should see it. It's still pretty stupid, and pretty basic. It's not offering anything new to the genre, and it feels like a commercial for more movies. I really wish we could just get movies that want to tell a story. I thought it over and decided that it wasn't fair not to grade Bumblebee on it's own merits. Bumblebee is substantially better than the films that preceded it, but that's not saying a lot, when the films that preceded it are joyless exercises in self abuse.

Overall Grade: D

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Old friend': New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !

"Old friend"

"I'm proud to be who I am now, of my thoughts and to be with the woman I love,"

Chapter Summary: Yirina is moving, without having eaten, to Century House to apologize to Park for her behavior from last night but things will lead her & Park to be meeting...a old friend in town...

Link of the Picrew used !

To read it on AO3, click here!

Words : +3700

Taglist : @snowgoldwaylon , @clxudtea , @efingart

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I didn't eat anything when I stepped out of the apartment, not even a simple slice of bread with jam on it, not even after Zasha told me to do so, and honestly, right now, I did not want to eat until I've got to sort off something...and that something was to go see Park herself at Century House and apologize for my actions last night, I'm the one to blame because I didn't say anything to the moment I go out of Peter's apartment until this morning, I'm the one to blame to be acting like that, I can be stupid...and I was stupid during that moment.

That was the only thought that was crossing inside my brain at the moment I started to walk outside the building through the streets of London...I needed to forgive myself, that's the main thing for me to do now. I couldn't look myself at the numerous windows & mirrors around me, prompting me to keep my eyes away from them until I was in front of the MI6 building, this time avoiding everyone's look on me and not putting my eyes on the others, keeping my mind focused to excuse myself.

Once the elevator was on the floor of our office, I didn't let the doors getting fully open that I was already out of it, walking almost as if my life was depending on how fast I was doing it to reach the office and I arrived in front of the door, opening but then, as I thought that I would see Park at her desk working, no one was actually here in this room, she wasn't here and the only thing I could perceive is the silence of the room...a silence that was interrupted every one second by the white clock on the wall near my desk.

My mind at the moment was trying to not panic at not seeing Park in here as I walk inside the room that was still looking the same when we came here to grab the necessary things before leaving for Peter's place: nothing was removed, nothing was new on our desks despite the boxes that the cleaning crew had to bring here, that was very weird...

"Excuse me?" The voice of a woman interrupted me as I was leaning on my desk to look over Park's desk, making me turn my head around to the door, discovering a woman with glasses, brown hair, and wearing a big leather jacket, sounding a bit german in her voice. "Miss Grigoriev?"

"Yes?" I whispered in a low voice at her.

"Hmm, sorry to bother you but there are some reports miss Park asked about Harry Stone," She announced, showing me the files that she was holding in her arms.

"Good," I simply said, my eyes moving away from her, almost sounding annoyed. "You can put them on her desk, I don't know where she is actually," I suggested, pointing with my hand towards Park's desk and it's without a word that the woman complied, walking inside the room to reach the desk and putting the reports on the only empty space on Park's desk.

"Here you go," The woman breathed after she put them on the desk, turning around to look at me but then, I've got a flash in front of my eyes, remembering something...

"Wait, do I know you?" I asked her, moving away from my desk. "Are you called Sam?" I demanded, starting to remember to have seen that woman a long time ago and it was in here, in that very building.

"Yes, that's my nickname," She replied with a smile to me, starting to go back to the door as I was intrigued by this 'Sam' "Name's Samantha but...I assume that you don't need to know more about me," She added before she got her hands on the door to close it, seemingly leaving alone but I needed to know.

"Wait!" I raised my voice to stop, walking fast to reach the door and open it, wanting to stop her to go away as her presence and her words were intriguing but when I open the door, she wasn't at my sight, as if she vanished into thin air...as if she never existed..."What the hell?" I mumbled to myself.

Confusion was the only word of that little weird situation while I was closing the door, wondering who was this woman I saw once a long time ago without remembering when but that's strange: a brown-haired woman sounding german, disappearing like that...that's strange...Without any other thoughts, my attention got into the reports she brought here on Park's desk, and to try to forget that situation, I decided to see them closely.

In fact, instead of multiple reports as this Sam claimed to be, there were actually only one but looking pretty big & rather combining a bit of everything and I took a look at it: it was mostly talking about Stone's family and that wasn't good to see: he had two siblings who disappeared at a young age, his parents died when he was imprisoned, and then, his choice of either spending his time in prison or joining the SAS, he took the latter one.

Then, after I closed the report, finding nothing else, my eyes went suddenly on a little yellow note that was on a document and I took it...'We need to talk, come to the underground parking, the same car we used last night, it's urgent! P.' That note...it was written by Park herself, recognizing her own handwriting on it.

"Dammit," I said, discovering that Park was in fact here but she was waiting for me somewhere else, causing me to take the jacket that I took off before that 'Sam' came in and left the office.

If she wrote this and she wasn't here, that means it's very important but it was still strange that she was doing it like that. I tried to figure out what's wrong by using the stairs to go down instead of using the elevator despite it was faster, exhausting me a bit before I arrived at the underground parking floor, walking towards the parking place that the car that I & Park used was, her waiting for me over there.

I then got delighted on my face for a few seconds when I saw Park in that car, sitting on the driver's seat, the delight going away when my original thoughts came back, my apologies needed to be done as I approach the car at its front passenger side.

"Park?" I said as I open the door, hearing the radio of the car on and, staying neutral on her face, not saying a simple word or turning her head at me. "Hey, Park, are you alright?" I asked her but no responses from her before I installed myself on the passenger seat, finally reacting as she shut down the radio that was going to pass some news.

"You're okay, Yirina?" She spoke up, sounding worried but looking outside at the wing mirror of her side.

"Listen, I'm sorry about...last night," I went straight to the subject, avoiding her question and wanting to apologize to her now. "It was stupid to not talk and tell you what's wrong but...I wasn't feeling alright," I continued, her not willing to stop me in my words. "Seeing you...in that state and what I saw in that place...that make me bad but I'm the one to apologize,"

"You know well that I'm the one that start it, you just said it yourself," She told me, releasing a little breath out of her mouth.

"I...no, you're not the one to blame, I am," I exclaimed, looking at her while putting my arms down on my lap. "I'm just trying to..." I was then interrupted when Park moved her right hand above my left one. "I...I'm sorry," I muttered, trying to find my word at this, her touch feeling a bit different than before.

"I am too," She whispered, finally turning her head at me, seeing her eyes that were almost dried up, as if she cried a lot. "I'm accepting everything from you but is my forgiveness acceptable?" She demanded and I nodded.

"Listen, it's been months that I said that you were forgiven, stop telling yourself that you're not forgiven, you...are," I reminded her, giving her a little recomforting grin that she managed to do on her face. "Just...stop about it, okay?"

"I will," She muttered before she moved in for a kiss that she was supposedly meant to be on my cheek but my head was still looking at her, making it a kiss on the lips that surprised her. "I...thanks for that," She said, sounding better in a few moments after the kiss, passing her hand through her face to remove the bit of hair on it.

"It's okay," I smiled at her after the kiss, blushing a bit before my eyes went on the front to look outside the car, wondering now why we were here and not in our office. "So, why are we here?" I asked directly.

"It's important," Park responded, moving her hands on her lap and tapping with her left fingers on her legs. "After what I learned, we can't talk in our office and Zasha's one," She added.

"Why that?" I demanded.

"It happens that the CIA has some...bugs inside our respective offices," She answered, my eyes going wide at this revelation. "They've been listening to us talking about Perseus & the situation since a long time,"

"Ears & eyes everywhere in London," I mumbled, remembering perfectly this 'Alex' words to us when he met with us two days ago. "They weren't joking on it," I said loudly.

"Five minutes after our cleaning crew got away, guess who arrived at the same place," Park moved her right hand to reach something behind on the backseat before taking in it, a simple picture she shows to me, seeing on it this 'Alex' with some people arriving at Peter's apartment. "One of our men forgot something and I had to go back before he saw them arrive, he took a picture and got away before been caught," She explained the context, keeping the picture in her hand.

"That's how they manage to know about the situation: by listening to us," I guessed as Park got the picture back behind us. "But if they know that, they know other things like...Liliya's origins and more..." I presumed, thinking that this little bugs problem is occurring for a long time.

"I guess that too," Park joined me on that idea, taking a deep breath after saying that. "Instead of having the boxes from Peter's place in our office, I decided to move them in a safer place," She gestured with her head towards the back of the car. "Put them in the trunk of the car, the only place the CIA can't look at,"

"Better than nothing," I admitted, looking with her at the back until I resume to look in front of me. "Are we going to study them now?" I questioned her but she shook her head.

"No...not for the moment," She replied as she moves her hand again on the backseat to grab something. "Before, we have to talk...to an old friend," She added before she put on my lap a medium-sized black bag like that without telling me more, prompting me to open it, discovering a tracking device, along with a little tracker.

"What is it for?" I asked her, taking in my hand the little tracker.

"Remember Lukas Ritter?" She asked me back, making me turn my head slowly towards her in curiosity, remembering that man perfectly in my head as I nod to her. "I was told by some MI5 agents when I arrive here that they managed to find a place that he always goes every morning in London," She explained, putting back the tracker in the bag. "So, I gathered some useful equipment for us and I'm sure that he can help us to...know where Stone & the other Perseus agents are hiding,"

"Yeah, can be very useful indeed," I smirked at this as Park was already starting the car engine, ready to drive away. "Where is it by the way?"

"In the Farringdon neighborhood," She responded, putting her hands on the steering wheel and starting to move the car. "I'm sure that we will get what we need," She affirmed as I put the bag at my feet, now wondering how that improvised mission will happen.

Even with that new thing to do, I was still astonished to learn that our offices were rigged with micros by the CIA, realizing how they succeeded to know about Stone & the situation in London: just by installing micros in Century House and hear us talking about it, very simple...and more like a big bad move from them, wanting to cut their ears off once we go back in our office but it would be tempting and not the best thing to do...for the moment now.

Now, I was in a car with Park after I managed to apologize along with her in the streets of London, going into the direction of where our 'insider' Lukas Ritter used to go and the means of proceeding on how we could manage to get the tracker on him was going to be discussed once we got at our destination and that destination was in fact a pub called 'The Old Bank of England'. Park got ourselves in a good parking space that was in sight of the pub's entrance.

"He should be coming soon," Park observed the entrance, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel before she stopped doing that. "Here is he," She discreetly pointed near the entrance, seeing Lukas Ritter in the same clothes the day we first met him, looking alone.

"What now?" I demanded.

"Well, that's the thing, how should we proceed?" She demanded at me back, turning her head around at me. "He can recognize us the second we step inside that pub," She added.

"Yeah, he can recognize us," I repeated, letting a little sigh out of my mouth before something turned on in my head. "Of course, he doesn't know that we know,"

"Uhm...I'm not following you here," Park narrowed her eyes at me, holding the steering wheel as I got myself well to look at her.

"We know that he lied to us and fled our control in Moscow but...does he know that he's wanted by us?" I suggested. "He proclaimed that he needed to go into hiding and if he's here, maybe that...he would like to 'talk' about defecting," I continued on that idea, thinking that Lukas doesn't know that we're seeing him as an enemy.

"Oh...I see," Park was like enlighten to hear me out. "You're saying that...one of us should go in there, saying things to make him convince that we're dumb to continue to buy in his lies and put the tracker on," I nodded at her to that.

"I'm going in," I volunteered myself, leaning to open the bag at my feet to take the little tracker with me.

"Are you sure? I can go if you want," Park proposed.

"Nah, I'm fine, don't worry," I told her with a smile, putting the tracker inside a pocket of my jacket before opening my door. "I'll not be too long, don't worry," I reassured her, making a little wink to her before I close the door, leaving myself outside to join the pub.

I took a deep breath before I could bring myself to walk away from the car and to engage myself on the pedestrian crossing to go to the pub that was on the other side of the street and without any hesitation when I arrived in front of the entrance that I open it, discovering a very traditional place and very charming to see, filled with people but that wasn't the main thing to think here, now trying to find Lukas around and that wasn't so hard to do, he was sitting with his back against me at the end of the main room as a waiter was finishing to bring him something to drink & eat.

"Ein guter Kaffee zum Start in den Tag, [Good coffee to start the day,]" I heard him speaking in German when I was arriving behind him at his table, observing a little muffin with him.

"Can't say better about that matter," I spoke up, getting myself at his sight and as I thought, he was looking to get chocked himself with the sip of his own coffee.

"What the..." He tried to say, taking a little tissue in his hands to clean up his lips, his eyes focused on me. "How...miss Grigoriev?" He was still sounding shocked to see me standing near him.

"I'm surprised to see you here as you are too with me," I exclaimed before pointing out at the seat in front of him. "Can I sit?" I asked him.

"Uhm..."

"I'm pretty sure that you don't want to make a scene in here, right?" I presumed, seeing him hesitant to let me sit before he nodded, gesturing with his hands to the seat. "Good, that's better," I said with a smile before sitting down on the seat, not removing my eyes from him. "So...Lukas, what a pleasure to greet you in England,"

"I'm...how did you find me?" He demanded, his hands trembling before he pulled them on his lap below the table.

"We can thank the MI5 for that," I replied, starting to act as the perfect dumb agent that still believes in his innocence. "Said that our insider in the KGB entered England but we don't know exactly why," I explained, getting my hands on the table for that. "And besides, hanging out in a pub where some of their agents are going, not a good idea," I lied, trying to find in my head some ideas to make him believe that we don't really know about him.

"Scheisse! [Shit!]" He cursed, mumbling with a low voice as he turned his head to look at the people in the pub, thinking some of them were MI5 agents...good lie indeed..."And I thought that I was discreet," He sighed before turning around again. "Okay, I'll tell you,"

"Then, tell me," I breathed, seeing him clear his throat to talk, knowing that what he will say isn't true.

"Well, Perseus...managed to find out that I became a snitch even after I had to go into hiding," He started, taking a sip of his coffee as I was staying attentive. "I escaped one of their bases in Russia but I had to travel through some countries before reaching London, Perseus having put a price on my head," He resumed, taking a look outside for a second.

"So, if I heard right, you're asking for us to protect you from Perseus, right?" I presumed and he nodded at me clearly. "Hmm, I don't know if it's believable but your presence shows that you're saying the truth," I told him, putting my hand below my chin, fainting to think about it.

"Oh, thanks," He breathed, sounding relieved. "You don't know how much it's meaning to me," He added another lie, knowing he was here for another reason than to 'defect'.

"You helped us well, that's a lot from you," I exclaimed, grabbing the tracker discreetly with my right hand before I move it to tap on his shoulder, mimicking that he did good and taking the chance of putting the tracker in a good place: right below the collar of his jacket, a place that was out of sight of anyone. "You maybe want to know that Stone isn't longer alive, we killed him in Cuba," I decided to get into acting even dumber, giving him the illusion that we don't know about Stone's resurgence.

"Oh, good," Lukas simply said but his hands around his cup of coffee started to look a bit to hold the cup firmly, urging to crush it with his hands...Stone is certainly close to him...."Guess that it's good riddance for you & miss Park," He admitted, getting his eyes on me.

"Of course, it's good," I confirmed to him before looking around, having done my job here. "Well, why don't you...come to Century House when you're willing to? We can sort off your situation and protect you," I proposed before my eyes went on that muffin he took, having not eaten since I woke up. "Uhm...can I take it? I can even give some money to have another one," I demanded.

"Uhm...why...why not?" He reluctantly agreed on my little proposition, sighing before he gave me his own muffin with some chocolate chips on the top of it. "And...giving me your money?" He demanded.

"Sorry but I don't have my wallet now," I excused myself, having never got a wallet since...a long time with me. "Maybe I can give you the money when you will come to Century House," I suggested, taking directly a bite on the muffin and that, it was so good to taste something today. "Now, I'll leave you to your own coffee, remember that we don't forget what you did for us," I muttered to him before I decides to walk away from him, not even waving at him and having managed to steal his own muffin...what a chance...

Not only that but the tracker was now on him and by luck, it could bring us right to the lair of where he & his little friends of Perseus are hiding in London and I was simply smiling about it, enjoying my muffin on the way back to the car Park was waiting for me and I only got inside at my seat that I saw her with the little tracking device with a green dot blinking multiple times...

"It's working, the tracker is ready to..." Park said before turning around to see me taking a bite of the remains of the muffin. "Uhm...how..."

"I managed to stole it from Lukas before leaving, didn't eat anything this morning," I replied before she could even ask her question to know how I got my hands on that precious muffin. "Well now, we'll know where he is going to hide," I exclaimed, getting my eyes on the tracking device.

"Yes but now, we should go back to Century House, we'll be better," Park suggested before she hand over on my lap the device, letting her control to start the car, putting our seatbelts first as I was thinking of what happened in that pub...

I love when a little improvised plan comes together...

[fortunatelyhauntedblackcherry]

Moonshine - A Beetlejuice Fanfiction 06

Warning: swearing, tiny bit of angst, anger issues, Beetlejuice being a jerk... Well that part isn't new isn't it 🙄😂

During the next week, Beetlejuice set to work. He started off with little pranks, playing with the lights, appearing in the corner of the girls' eyes. Then all of a sudden their hifi-system started acting all weird. Random screams and stops appeared during the songs they played.

Soon after that, Beetlejuice realized that Rei absolutely hated summer and being hot. She put the AC in her room on max, and growled everytime she had to go out, where there was no air conditioning. So, obviously, magically the AC in her room started blowing boiling hot air instead of cold. This made Rei furious, which caused Beetlejuice to laugh like a maniac.

Later that day, the Roomba attacked Sirius. Then everyone else. The next day the hairdryer sucked a part of Sofía's hair in, which she had to cut off because it just couldn't stop pulling it in. She was screaming in anger, while Beetlejuice was floating around her with a wicked smile.

But nothing bad ever happened to Ari.

When Beetlejuice wasn't acting all mischievous, and Ari wasn't at rehearsal or work, he was hanging out with her. They talked a lot. From disliked foods to favourite songs, they chatted about everything, although, somehow, they both avoided talking about their "origin stories".

- I'm honestly surprised you're not fed up with me yet. - he said once when they were sitting on the roof. He told her how easily she could climb out, and that it's a great place to be alone. - I know I'm a burden... Even my mom thinks that. - his voice got lower and a streak of purple appeared in his bright green hair. - I hate her so much.

- Your mom is an idiot. - said Ari in a sharp voice. Deep down she somehow knew Beetlejuice was broken like her, and it made her angry. She sighed, and continued on a calmer note. - You're fun, and not a burden at all. - she let out a small laugh. - Besides, you're the first "person" who's not weirded out by my horror and death obsession. And it just feels so good to talk to you. Like, you get me. So why would I be fed up with you? - Beetlejuice didn't answer. Just smiled and bit his lower lip as the purple streak changed light pink in his hair. - Anyways, what do you want to watch tonight? - Ari put on some of her favourite movies and series on autoplay every night on her laptop for Beetlejuice to watch while she was sleeping. In such a short time it became a habit, just like Ari putting Minerva in her cage so she wouldn't harass Beetlejuice during the night. These little gestures made Beetlejuice feel accepted. Someone actually made him a part of their life... Even though Ari didn't see him. Yet.

But since every rose has its thorn, Ari made some ground rules too, which BJ was not very fond of, but he obeyed anyways. He couldn't watch her or any of her sisters get undressed, or dressed, or go into the bathrooms with them cause, "ew, B., don't be a creep". Ari didn't know that he didn't care about Sofía and Rei getting naked, since the only one that he was interested in and made him rock hard was Edgar Allan Poe's daughter, the other two sisters were not hectic enough for him. Although, he couldn't sneak up on his chosen little breather, since she somehow always knew when he was there.

- You feel like an iceberg, thought I wouldn't know you're creeping around again? - said Ari with a laugh once, when Beetlejuice wanted to beat his meat to her taking a shower. - Now get out before I perform an exorcism on ya, Bug.

One day, when Ari left in the afternoon, Beetlejuice decided to wreck a little havoc. Sofía just came back from taking pictures for her new project, and decided she would develop them (she was working in an old fashioned way many times). They were made for a new exhibition about abandoned places, and the cemetery nearby was a perfect location for that. Yes, mainstream, but hipsters adored her work and usage of light so she got away with it.

Too bad Beetlejuice decided to haunt her that day.

Sirius was out on a walk with Rei and Minerva was minding her own business (she got kind of used to the demon at that point, although, once a day she still wanted to claw his eyes out), so he did whatever he wanted. He stepped into Sofía's room after her with a huge smile.

The walls in Sofi's room were light lavender (which were hardly visible because of the photoes she put on them), the ceiling was white, and there were 2 windows, framed by leaf-patterned tawny curtains. The hardwood floor was covered in fluffy, white carpet. In the corner, there was a kingsized bed with purple covers on it, and above that, shelves full of memorabilia. On the left of the bed, there was a window, a sandcoloured nightstand, and in the far corner, next to the door, a white commode. On the other side of the bed, there was a pretty white vanity with a mirror and a huge mess on it. Sofía kept her stuff for traveling under this, which made her almost fall over several times. On the opposite wall, she installed her workspace: a high quality PC, a cabinet full of props for photoshooting and everything she needed for her cameras. On the right, there was a white wardrobe closet with a built-in mirror. But the best part of the room was behind the closet. Sofía made herself a darkroom where she could develop her photos. She probably didn't think about a nasty demon trying to set her hair on point.

Beetlejuice followed Sofi into the darkroom. She started to work on the pictures, and BJ took his time. He waited for the right moment. He watched Sofía develop photos some days ago, so he knew when were the pictures the most vulnerable.

She prepared her chemicals, poured them into trays, then set out to choose her negative. Beetlejuice was standing on tiptoe to see perfectly what was going on, since Sofi was at least a head taller than him.

Sofía did the focusing on her image, enlarged the picture, then made a testprint. Oh how pretty it was. The whole vibe it was giving off was so grim. Beetlejuice was giggling as the girl started preparing the final image. She put the first picture in the developer tray.

- Oh what a shame it would be if something would have happened to this picture... - Beetlejuice sighed sarcastically. - What an absolute tragedy it would be. - he looked up at the red safelight. His sharp canines were flashing as he smiled. - Just a tiny bit of light and... - he signaled with his hand and the red bulb shattered into pieces, leaving a bright white light behind. - ...it's gone.

- The fuck... - proclaimed Sofi as she changed the lightbulb. The one she got out was burning hot.

- Yeah, all of a sudden too much electricity flowed into it, which made it shatter... - Beetlejuice giggled. - ...how awful... - the girl put her hair in a bun and started working again. - What a shame it would be if that happened again... - and half a minute after Sofía put the new photo in the developer, the lightbulb exploded again. Now it was even scintillating. - Oops.

Sofi let out an angry growl and tried again. Beetlejuice hopped up on one of the tables and with a smile on his face, he shattered the next bulb.

- STOP IT YOU ASSHOLE! - she screamed in anger as she kicked the table Beetlejuice was sitting on. That only made him laugh more.

- What an agressive little breather you are, Sofía. Shame on you, calling good old BJ like that... - the girl was turning around constantly. - You cannot see me, nor hear me. What are your plans with this spinning? You're gonna get sick, babes... - and with that, he made the light-thread, which was still in the socket, shine bright like a star.

- LISTEN HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT, I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU WANT, I'M GONNA SMUDGING STICK YOUR ASS OUT!!! - he made the light even brighter.

- Sweetheart, you can't. That shit hurts and it hurts even more to be called out like that, but, guess what? - he floated next to Sofía, and whispered into her ear. - I'll stay here forever!

And with that, he shattered the light-thread, and left a swearing, furious girl behind.