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mrsdeanwinchester19 · 4 years ago

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Talk is Cheap

Written for @imanuglywombat 4k writing challenge

Pairing: Bucky x reader

Word Count: 4.2k

Summary: Bucky takes his wife on a second honeymoon after their first was cut short. During the trip, an unexpected visitor arrives

Type: Fluff with some scary parts

Warnings: Gun violence, mentions of holocaust, mentions of sex trafficking, like 1 swear word

Author’s Note: The story mentioned about a Holocaust victim is 100% true, I know the woman personally

Prompt: Mountain moodboard/ Talk is cheap by Nick Murphy; Talk is cheap my darling/ When you’re feeling right at home/ I wanna make you move with confidence/ I wanna be with you alone

Actions speak louder than words. It means jumping in front of a bullet, rather than just saying I would take a bullet for you. This is a lesson I learned the hard way, but ironically, it also turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me.

My now ex-boyfriend David and I were at a bank on a regular day of the week, going to pull out some money out for a vacation fund. Five masked men came into the bank, armed and shouting for everyone to get down. I got on my knees slowly and put my hands behind my head as they instructed us to do.

One of the robbers walked up to the front counter and pointed his gun at the teller. “Open the vault,” he says in a low voice.

“I can’t sir. The vault can only be opened by a fingerprint scan and none of our fingerprints are registered in the system to open it. I’m only authorized to pull out $15,000 at once,” she replies, close to tears.

“Fine then, get to work on that, and you-“ he says, pointing his gun to a young man standing next to the coin counting machine, “There has to be an override code for the vault somewhere in the bank. Open all the offices for my men to look. Ares! Apollo! Go with him!” Two of the men follow the man to the offices in the upstairs half of the bank, both pointing their guns to his back.

While the teller was gathering as much money as she could, one of the men came over to my boyfriend and me. “Give me your phone and your wallet,” he says to me.

“I don’t have them,” I say honestly. “You can check if you don’t believe me.”

It’s then that I notice the emblem on his jacket. A red skull with six tentacles coming out of it. A symbol that always confused me, because a hydra has multiple heads, not tentacles like an octopus. It makes sense now why the leader called two of them the names of Greek gods, considering the hydra is from Greek mythology. However, as a historian and not a mythologist, it’s a symbol I learned about when we discussed Nazi Germany, where HYDRA got its start. This isn’t just regular HYDRA then, it’s their small elite force that robs banks to pay for their diabolical schemes. I let out an aggravated huff of breath when I realize who it is we’re dealing with, horrified that they’ve come back after Captain America took them down TWICE.

“Stand up,” he says. I slowly get to my feet. “Turn around.” I do as he says, a tear escaping my cheek as I realize he’s going to kill me, considering this is how many are executed when a socialist regime takes over a country. I interviewed a woman once who fled Poland when they were invaded by the Nazis, and she spoke of a time when she was in the woods picking berries and saw a group of Jewish people in front of a trench, and Nazis shot them into the trench one by one.

“And you, stand up,” he says, and from the corner of my eye, I see my boyfriend standing up as well. We look over at him and I can see the same fear reflected in his eyes, though they don’t tell him to turn around. “Lift her shirt up.”

My eyebrows furrow in confusion as I feel David’s hands grasp the hem of my red blouse and start slowing lifting it. He lifts it up to where my bra strap is on my back, before the man stops him. “Turn around again lady,” he instructs, before telling David to lift my shirt again. Now I understand what he’s doing, he’s checking to make sure I don’t have a phone, wallet, or gun hidden in the waistband of my pants. He lifts it up to just under my bra again, but the man motions for him to raise it a little higher. He brings it above my bra, showing my cleavage. I close my eyes in embarrassment.

“Women don’t actually keep money in their bras anymore,” I say bitterly once I’ve opened my eyes.

“Don’t get sassy with me miss. You can put her shirt down now.” He turns to my boyfriend. “Where’s your phone and wallet?”

David’s eyes flitter to mine for a brief second. “I don’t have mine either.”

“I don’t believe that,” he says venomously.

A new voice shouts, “Zeus, we found the manual key for the vault!”

They’re using code names, which means there’s a chance they’ll let us go, because we can’t identify their faces or give real names. However, once they get the money, there’s also a high chance that they kill all witnesses. Or, if the teller pressed a silent alarm and the police are already here, they could keep us as hostages for hours.

As the man pointing the gun at us is distracted by the person who found the key, David steps behind me, shoves me towards the man, and tries to run to the front door. The person sees movement, shoots blindly, and an intense pain bursts from my abdomen. I fall over, and the man shoots David in the back before he reaches the door.

I hear someone outside shout “Shots fired!” and the doors burst open. A familiar red, white, and blue shield comes through the door, followed by a suit of red and gold metal, and a man dressed in all black, a gun bigger than the robbers’ held by his metal arm. The robbers don’t shoot the other few people in the bank, considering Iron Man has miniature missiles on his shoulders aimed at each of them.

“They say third time’s a charm, maybe you’ll actually stay dead this time,” Captain America says.

“Mmmm, not your best work,” Iron Man says to him.

Captain America ignores him, “Put down your guns.” They put down their guns, but two of the men fall over. They must still keep poison pills in their teeth. The police run in and arrest the three men who didn’t kill themselves, while Captain America and Iron Man look at David to see if he’s alive. The man in black rushes over to me and puts his flesh hand on my wound, causing me to groan in pain. “She needs an ambulance!”

“You’re Bucky Barnes,” I say, recognizing him from my history classes.

“Yeah, I am,” he says, clearly surprised I recognized him.

“I’m a historian…with a concentration on World…War II,” I say through gasping breaths.

“Alright doll, just save your energy, you can’t go to sleep,” he replies gently, as if he’s soothing a small child.

“I always…knew…you were the good guy,” I say slowly before the world goes black.

“Almost done packing babe?” Bucky asks, peeking his head into our room.

“I just finished packing my clothes. Did you pack the weapon bag?” I ask. Some people think it’s weird that we bring a bag of weapons on vacations, but when your husband is an ex-assassin with 80+ years of enemies, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

“No, I told you this place is so safe we don’t even need guns,” he replies, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist.

I sigh, “Alright if you say so. I’m just happy we’re going on a relaxing vacation. You’ve had too many missions lately and my job has been stressful as well.” Columbia University asked museums in the area for a historian who could teach a class about World War II, and to apply for the job, we have to write a dissertation. Luckily, I have someone from World War II with me to answer any questions I have, but it’s taken up a lot of my time.

“Relaxing, but also exciting!”

“What?” I ask, exasperated. “Bucky I need time to lounge around on a beach or cuddle by a fireplace in a cabin or something. This is supposed to be our second honeymoon.”

Our first honeymoon had been to Belize. About halfway through our trip, duty called. We called the rest of the Avengers and spent the rest of our honeymoon breaking up a huge sex trafficking ring. We saved over 30 girls, and were happy about it, but our honeymoon was supposed to be our time to celebrate our marriage away from crime. And we love the team to pieces, but it was also our time to be away from them and the tower. They say bad guys don’t take days off, but I had at least hoped the world could survive without my husband for a while. I’m no agent or Avenger, but after Bucky and I started dating, he taught me over 100 different ways to defend myself, helped me train, taught me about guns and how to properly use them, and how to disarm a gunman within seconds. I was able to help destroy the sex trafficking ring by being bait, which was scary, but I trusted Bucky and the rest of the team to keep me from harm; and they did.

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head, doll. It’ll be relaxing during the day, but exciting at night because I have a bunch of new things I want to try in the bedroom,” he says, nibbling on my earlobe.

It tickles and I giggle. “You got some kinks you didn’t tell me about before we were married?” I ask jokingly.

He spins me around to face him before gently pushing me on the bed. “I didn’t want to scare you off before,” he says playfully, dropping onto me but not letting his full weight land on me. He grabs my wrists and pins them above my head. “Now that you’re legally bound to me, if you want to leave, it’s gonna cost ya.” I laugh and he flashes a brilliant smile. He leans his head down and starts kissing me deeply.

“Hey guys I-woah, sorry!” Steve’s voice says, panicked.

“Steve, you’re fine, Bucky’s just being silly. We’re decent!” I say, pushing Bucky off of me and sitting up.

He walks back into the room, face flushed from embarrassment. “Sorry, I just came to say that I filled your gas tank and took the liberty of putting your bags in the car, except that one,” he says, pointing to my duffel bag.

“Oh thank you Steve!” I say.

“Would you like me to take that one for you as well?”

Bucky replies before I do, “No, I’ve got it! You’re not the only gentlemen around here Steve. I can be chivalrous too, she’s my wife.”

Steve raises his hands in surrender, gives a small smile, and backs away.

“You didn’t have to be so sassy,” I say, lightly slapping his bicep.

“Steve always interrupts us right when things were about to get good,” he pouts.

“No, things were not about to get good. The door was wide open and we need to leave so we can get there before dark.”

“You are excited, aren’t you?” he asks rhetorically.

“I’m just happy you’re actually taking me on this second honeymoon.”

“I said I would!”

“I know, I’m just used to people saying they would do things and then not following through,” I say, thinking back to David, who was always making empty promises. I then compare it to Bucky, who has kept every promise he’s ever made me.

I sit mostly upright in my hospital bed, mindlessly flipping through channels. I stop Law and Order: SVU, but quickly change the channel when a character is shot. Baseball it is. There are two small taps on my door. “Come in,” I say.

A nurse walks in the door. “You have a visitor here to see you.” She walks back out the door, and Bucky Barnes takes her place.

“Hi,” I breathe out and a smile breaks out across my face. “What are you doing here?”

He frowns slightly, but then fixes his expression. “You were pretty out of it in the ambulance, but you regained consciousness for a little while. I told you I would come visit you in the hospital. I hope that’s ok. I brought you these,” he says, holding up a colorful bouquet of wildflowers.

“It’s completely ok, and thank you so much, that’s so sweet of you.”

“I figured you could use a little something to brighten the place up, but it looks like I’m not the only one who had the idea,” he says, gesturing to the three other bouquets that my family and my coworkers sent me.

He sets the vase down on the bedside table. I lean over a tiny bit take a deep breathe to try and smell them, since I can’t twist my torso over to them. However, once I do, I grab my neck and start gasping for air. His eyes widen with worry. “Sunflowers…allergic,” I spit out.

“Oh shit, I’ll go get a nurse!” he says, quickly standing up.

My gasping turns to laughing, and he stops, turning around. “I was kidding. You should’ve seen your face,” I say. I begin laughing harder when he pouts, but immediately regret it. “OW!” I put a pillow over my stomach to keep a little pressure on the wound.

He lets out an exaggerated sigh and rolls his eyes, but is smiling. “At least you have a sense of humor.”

“They say laughter is the best medicine, though maybe that isn’t true when you have a GSW on your abdomen.”

“You’re just lucky it didn’t hit any major organs. How long is your sentence?” he asks.

“If this is jail, it’s a pretty nice one. And they said at least two weeks, but it might go longer. If it had hit major organs, they said it would’ve been 5 weeks, if not more.” He hums in agreement but doesn’t say anything, so I continue. “Hey, if I ask you this, will you be honest with me? Everybody around me has been walking on eggshells and avoiding answering this question, so I can probably guess what the answer is.”

He looks apprehensive but says, “I can try. What’s up?”

“My boyfriend, David, is he dead?”

Bucky looks around uncomfortably, “Look, I don’t know if I’m the right person to ask this to…”

“If you’re worried you’ll break my heart with the news, don’t be. Because whether he’s alive or dead, the relationship is over.”

“Why do you say that?” he asks, eyes narrowed in both suspicion and confusion.

“Because he’s the reason I’m in this hospital bed. He pushed me towards the shooter so he could run away. He’s a coward. So if he is dead, then whatever. I know it’s poor to speak ill of the deceased, but he did try to sacrifice me to save himself. And if he’s alive, it’s over. He showed his true colors.”

He doesn’t speak for a few seconds. Probably trying to figure out how to best phrase it, or find out if I actually mean what I said. He very quietly says, “He didn’t make it. The bullet hit his right lung and it collapsed; they weren’t able to save him. He went through 3 hours of surgery before his heart gave out.”

“Thank you,” I say.

“For what?”

“Being honest with me. I’m a little tougher than people give me credit for.”

A small smile creeps onto his face. “I’m sure you are.”

“Talk is cheap, my darling. Anyone can say something and not mean it. My ma taught me never to break promises if I can help it,” Bucky says.

“Your mom sounds like a lovely lady,” I say, giving his cheek a kiss. “I wish I could have met her. I wish I could’ve met your father too. And your siblings.”

“Steve is just as much my brother as my actual siblings were, so at least you met one family member of mine. But my folks woulda loved you. Ma would be happy to see I finally settled down with an amazing woman, and maybe a baby on the way soon?” he asks hopefully.

“Buck, I told you I want to wait until two years after we got married, then I’ll pop out as many babies as you want, as long as that number isn’t over 5. 5 is the absolute most I would have.”

“I think 3 would be good. But I still want to get started as soon as possible!”

“Ugh, Bucky, what am I gonna do with you?” I rhetorically ask, laughing.

“I could make a list,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows. “But c’mon doll, I’m not getting any younger here!”

“Oh please, you’re over 100. I think you can wait one more year. They say waiting two years is good for your marriage when the stress from babies comes because then you have more happy times to look back on.”

“Oh screw the studies,” he says, sitting on the bed. He lightly grabs my hips and pulls me to stand between his legs. “My parents got married and nine months later I popped out, and they were still married when I went to war. It doesn’t matter how long you wait before having kids, it’s the people. You gotta be willing to work through the hard times.”

“And you know I am,” I say, running my fingers through his hair. “But we should get going. We can continue this conversation when we’re back. I want to be alone with you.”

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“Ok, this text from Steve says the key is hidden in the bear’s mouth,” Bucky says. He grabs my hand and we walk up to the plain but nice cabin. It’s sunset, so it isn’t quite dark out, but there’s not enough light to be outside. There’s a small statue of a bear sitting on a stump on the front porch that says WELCOME. Bucky reaches in the bears slightly open mouth and pulls out a key. “That’s deeper than it looks.”

He unlocks the front door and I’m about to walk in but he stops me. “What? Tony said the place wasn’t booby trapped,” I say. This is Tony’s cabin, but Steve acted as a mediator between Bucky and Tony. Tony allows him on the team and to live in the tower, but he won’t go out of his way to talk to him. Cordial but not friendly.

“No it’s not that.” He suddenly picks me up bridal style. “Gotta carry my wife across the threshold.”

“Oh please Bucky, that’s for when you move into your first house together, not a honeymoon redo.”

“I don’t care, I’m gonna do it anyways,” he says.

“You’re ridiculous,” I say as he sets me down inside. As he shuts the door, I look around. An open concept downstairs area with a high end kitchen. The living room has a vaulted ceiling and an enormous fireplace. At the end of the living room there’s a staircase that leads to what I’m assuming is the bedrooms.

“So should we unpack tonight or wait until tomorrow and just go to bed?” Bucky asks.

“Bed? But I’m not tir-oh,” I say when I see him giving me a suggestive look, biting his lip. “You know what, let’s go to bed.” He picks me up and starts running towards the master bedroom.

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A loud bang wakes me from my sleep. I lift my head, listening, and am about to go back to bed, thinking I imagined it when I hear the sound of glass shattering. Is someone breaking in? I sit up, holding the blanket to my bare chest and listen more. It’s silent for a few seconds but then thumps like footsteps are heard. “Bucky,” I say, nudging my husband’s arm. He grunts in response. “Bucky!” I say, shaking his arm harder.

“Go back t’sleep,” he mumbles. I grab my pillow and slam it on his face. He wakes up immediately. “What?” he asks, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

“I think someone’s in the house,” I whisper.

“Babe, it’s probably just house settling noises. Let’s cuddle until we fall back asleep,” he says, laying down and grabbing my waist in an attempt to pull me back down to the bed too, but I resist. The distinct sound of a frying pan being dropped on the door makes him shoot up in bed. “Ok, nevermind, those aren’t house settling noises. You stay here, I’ll go check it out.” He climbs out of bed and grabs his joggers off the floor. He quietly steps into those before going over to his nightstand and grabbing a knife. He flips it in his hand before gripping it tightly.

“I thought you said no weapons,” I whisper.

“I said no guns, not no weapons. Plus, this was already here; I left it here when Steve and I went on our fishing trip.”

As he walks out, I grab his t-shirt and my underwear and throw them on just in case we have to run. I nervously clutch the sheets as I wait for Bucky to come back. After about 15 seconds, the door noiselessly opens and Bucky walks through, looking oddly calm. He shuts the door behind him. “Y/N, call 911.”

I grab my phone from the nightstand and quickly dial 911. As I do that, Bucky grabs an armchair and puts it in front of the door.

“911 what’s your emergency?”

Bucky pulls the phone from my ear because he didn’t tell me what’s wrong. He starts speaking quietly. “Hi, we’re in the Stark cabin out on 360th street. There’s bears in our kitchen.”

Are you serious I mouth at him. He nods his head. I can hear the woman on the phone tell us to stay in our bedroom, stay quiet, and that officers will be right out. He thanks her and hangs up. He gently sets the phone down on the nightstand and sits down in front of me on the bed, facing away, blocking me in case the bear breaks into our room. I wrap my arms around his bare waist and set my chin on his shoulder. “How many bears are there?”

“Three. There were two cubs pulling things out of the cabinets and I was planning to just scare them away when I saw momma bear coming through the door. I came back up here after I saw her, and I’m not about to knife fight a bear. I must not have closed the door fully when we got here.”

“You promised this trip would be safe, you broke your first promise.”

He turns around and gives me a disbelieving look. I shrug my shoulders and then give him a small smile so he knows I was just joking around. I lift my hands from his flat stomach up to his shoulders. “Bucky you’re really tense,” I say quietly.

“Because there’s a family of bears downstairs!” he harshly whispers.

“But the police are on their way, they’ll take care of it. They probably deal with this kind of stuff all the time.” I begin rubbing his shoulders and he relaxes a little, but just barely.

After about 10 minutes, and more sounds of things breaking, we can see red and blue flashing lights coming from the window, but no siren. They probably didn’t turn it on so the bears wouldn’t get agitated. There are three distinct thuds heard. A few minutes pass and someone calls out “You guys can come out!”

“I’ll go talk to them, you stay here, you’re not dressed and we left out bags in the car.” He walks out the door and I can hear him greet the officer. I decide I want to see what’s going on, so I grab a throw blanket and wrap it around myself before following Bucky. He turns around when he hears me coming down the stairs and holds out his hand for me like Jack on the Titanic. I grab his hand so I don’t trip over the blanket.

I look around and see the entire downstairs in disarray. The couch that probably cost my entire salary is shredded with stuffing hanging out everywhere and a broken lamp next to it. Glasses are broken on the kitchen floor and pots have been pulled out of the cabinets. The fridge door is open and food is littered on the floor around it. Chairs are turned over and the hardwood floors are scratched up. I look outside and see all three bears in cages.

The officer is explaining what happened. “When we arrived and shot the momma bear with a tranq dart, the baby bears freaked out and started tearing up the sofa. We got them as quick as we could so that they didn’t destroy even more things. They’ll be relocated and hopefully won’t come back to this house.”

“Thank you, officer,” Bucky says. The officer bows his head and leaves.

We silently look around for a moment before I say, “Tony’s gonna kill us.”

“Yep.”

“Well, you were right, this trip is exciting at night!”

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #avengers #imagine #vacation #winter soldier #white wolf #steve rogers #ironman #captain america #tony stark #writing challenge #fluff #uglywombat4kchallenge

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cosmiclatte28 · 4 years ago

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TEMPO (racer reader x sehun, nct, exo) #3

Hi you made it this far...

read the previous chapters here 1 / 2

Meanwhile..

“Yes Kai! It’s a big win tonight. Come on let’s party. Drinks are on Kai tonight!” Baekhyun cheers loudly when Kai returns to them with the money.

“Easy game tonight?” Lay speaks up.

Kai ponders for a moment “It’s a rough game.. I’m surprised by the 127 racer. It’s a girl right? I saw her small body .. I must say she’s a tough one. Though I managed to kick her and made her lost her balance. She fell right before the finish line.”

“Not really a gentleman are you?” Chanyeol teases him. “Anyways it’s a competition. Someone’s bound to win and someone’s bound to lose. Tonight the spotlight is yours! Shall we party?”

Kai, Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Lay, and the others made their way to the nearest bar to celebrate Kai’s first win in the new cage.

“I think I saw Sehun earlier.. he has changed! He goes to street racing now.. what is he doing..” Lay blurts out when they finished several bottles down.

“Oh right! You saw him too? I thought I was seeing things.” Kai abruptly sit up straight.

“Maybe it’s someone like Sehun. I don’t think this place is his style.” Baekhyun cuts the wild imaginations and the two men seem to agree they’re just seeing things.

Kai becomes the new star player after (y/n). Because (y/n) is in hiatus.. Kai actually dominates the track. Yuta does beat him in most of the races, but in other programs where Yuta did not sign up, Kai is the favorite player.

Apparently for Kai, the competitors here are too easy for him. He is looking for that one player. The mysterious girl he knocked off on his first race. He knows she’s not playing probably because of what he did, but Kai has never seen her properly. Let alone know her name or status here. Funny how deep in his heart he feels bad whenever he remembers the scene. Kai knows it’s coward for him to kick a girl opponent.. and most importantly she looks smaller than the other players.

After finishing his race, he walks to Kris who acts as his manager and asks “Hyung. Do you know where is the 127 girl that I beat on my first race here?”

“Oh that girl.. she’s on break. Her left hand is fractured.. she’s actually the ace player here before you come.”

“Whose team is she in?” Kai looks around the crowd.

“I’m pretty sure that young boys.. over there.. sharp gazes tight pants leather jackets.. pink and purple hair” Kris points to Taeyong and Jaehyun.

“Wait.. I know them..” Kai puts his vision to the small group. He knows the other two.. it’s Johnny and Yuta.

“Apparently the brunette boy is also their racer for the short track program. He beats you several time right?” Kris shifts his gaze to the small team too.

Kai nods “Yeah. Yuta is a tough racer. Where is their ace.. shouldn’t she come and watch?”

Kris shrugs his shoulder “I don’t know Kai.. anyways I see Sehun was with them on that day.”

Kai freezes in his place. So he and Lay were not seeing things. Sehun was there on that day. Hmm funny how the world makes them see each other again.

“I’m curious. What makes a boy like Sehun jumps into this muddy lifestyle.” Kai grins slyly.

That keeps on going on until one day.. (y/n) is back on track. Kai has his golden opportunity to talk with her and ask her some more about herself. She welcomes him nicely.. without realizing Kai is actually an enemy of Sehun.. the man she starts to grow fond with.

“You’re too young to be here.” Kai puts on his favorite boy mask. I mean he’s a homme fatale. Of course girls will get head over heels for him… and this cute racer in front of him catches his attention since day one.

“That’s what people will always say as their first impression. I’m seventeen. Legal to drive.” She proudly smirks.

Kai chuckles “Let’s make a deal.”

“What deal? I’m on for challenges.” She arrogantly folds her hand on her chest.

It’s been a while since someone dares to challenge and mess up with her.. people all stop challenging her when they know the real color of this cute girl. Plus Kai looks tempting and nice.

“We play fair and square tonight. If you win I’ll let you do what you want.. if I win.. you’ll do what I want you to do.” Kai raises his brow.

“Does that means you’re ready to be my personal butler? I really need one right now and you look perfect!” She puts on her cat eyes. Kai definitely curses in his heart when he melts at those eyes.

He sighs. Of course her bets will be something silly like this.. she’s seventeen after all. What do you expect Kai.

He sighs “Okay. And if I win.. you’ll do what I want. I’ll think about it later.”

“Don’t bother thinking. You’ll be my butler! For a whole month! Be prepared Kai.” She playfully pinches his cheek and walks away to Sehun. Kai’s eyes follow her and he smiles in secret when he sees Sehun.

Old friend he missed. Is there any way to annoy him again? Maybe by winning the race and force her to be his girl? Or just by losing and being her personal butler. That means Kai will have more time with her than Sehun did right? And with his skills he can make sure Sehun knows about it and gets jealous.

Kai laughs hysterically to himself and make his way to his team. He told them to bet low on him, tonight he has a plan. The whole team just follow his words. They know Kai is probably up for a silly business deals he made for fun.

The race starts, after a secret goodluck kiss from Sehun, (y/n) sits on her bike and glances at Kai. She growls her engine and winks when the MC queue the count down. The number hits one and they all push their gas to the limit.

Tonight marks the first return of the Ace Queen (y/n) and she lives to her name. The money tonight is a huge amount, people are excited seeing Kai and (y/n) in the race together once again.. the fact that she wins brings her over the moon, not because of the money, but the silly deal she made with Kai.

She quickly slips away when no one is watching and Kai sees her move, so he swiftly make his way too. The two meet again on the same quiet spot they talked earlier.

“Congratulations Ace! You really played nice today. I’m sad yet honored to lose before you.” Kai jokingly gets down on one of his knee and looks deep into her eyes.

She blushes from the intense stare. Kai is really attractive and cool. Different from Sehun who makes her feel comfortable, she feels a burning desire in her heart and turning stomach whenever Kai throws her that smoldering look.

“Okay Kai! You’re officially my butler for one month! Give me your number.”

“Eager are we? Smooth way to get my number.” Kai winks.

“Not that! I need your number to call you if I need anything.” Kai inputs his number to her phone and place it under the name Kai, “Perfect! Now get ready to answer my calls in random times. We should meet to make more agreements. I don’t want my butler to be lazy and a handful.”

Kai begins to regret his choice. If she’s only bossing over him, where’s the fun? But he’ll see how this go.

“Alright Kai oppa.. see you!” she waves her hand and jogs to her team.

Kai happily descends to his friends and acts like nothing happens.

(y/n) keeps the deal in secret. The whole world knows if Jaehyun heard this, he won’t allow his sister to have a butler like Kai. Come on people like Jaehyun knows how dangerous Kai and his populations are. So she keeps it low to herself.

(y/n) POV

I return to my small apartment alone. My friends live in another floor, but I have a small studio for myself. Maybe because I enjoy living alone with my mess. Oh yeah Jaehyun has been lecturing me about cleaning my room, but I’m a busy girl. I have no time to clean my mess. Morning until noon I study at school, then I have a lesson date with Sehun (since he treated me every time.. I cannot turn the offer down.. it’s a good way to save money) then at night I have to study for my tests and do my works just to make it in time to race the night and earn my money. Then I will go home, smoke a bit, and sleep my 6 hours sleep and wake up and repeat the cycle. Except some days I don’t race.

So having Kai as my butler.. means a free house cleaner, chef, and laundry man.

I welcome him on a peaceful Monday night. He shows up by 7 and we agree on our rules.

“No feelings attached… no complaining… no sleeping in my room… and no inappropriate acts.”

He easily agrees and I told him he will have to help me for my cleaning, laundry, and maybe cooking. But turns out he can’t cook, so I have to cook by myself to avoid food poisoning.

“(Y/n) I swear.. your room is super unlike you. How can a cute girl like you live in this dirty room?!” Kai is shocked when he needs to start cleaning.

I shrug my shoulder as I pick one stick of cigarette and lights it up “I’m busy.. and I have not enough time to clean up.”

Kai stops his activity of vacuuming when he sees me blows a smoke “You.. you even smoke!”

I Roll my eyes “Like you yourself don’t… come on Kai.. you’re not my boyfriend or my father.. don’t lecture me.”

“I mean.. I did not expect anything like this coming from you..” He continues vacuuming.

I grin “Nice. That means you will not try to win my heart. A good sign.. I can sleep peacefully without worrying you will take the chance to fuck me.”

Kai smirks “Be careful.. I never said I don’t like girls like that.. besides these things might have turned me on.”

I Hit his back “Cut it off. There’s more to do.”

After vacuuming the floors, he cleans up the cigarette buds while wondering “Do you really finish this much? It’s like two box worth of buds..”

“No.. my brother and his friends sometimes come here.. they smoke too.. plus my friends.. everyone leaves their buds here.. so don’t think I’m that maniac. I have to live a week with this one box.. my money is limited to number of races I won remember?”

Kai seems to get it now.. that I am living half independently. My parents are still funding my tuition fees and apartment rental costs, but for my exclusives I have to earn my own money.

“Why don’t you share a room with your brother? I heard he’s a tidy guy.” Kai actually knows Jaehyun and the others: they were once on the same dance group, but Kai left to focus on his racing more.

“Seriously.. they share a house for 4 people. I have no more space. And I am not living with those loud boys. I mean I also can’t live peacefully seeing Taeyong’s handsome face.. Yuta’s smile and Johnny’s attention. I’ll fail all my tests and make it awkward. “

Kai laughs at my tacky remarks. But deep inside his heart, Kai finds this small girl interesting and challenging.

They talk more and laugh about many different things. She told Kai that for the laundry, she has separated the piles of the private ones and the ones he can clean. She told him which basket he has to take for laundry, the soap and softener she likes, and Kai notes how adorable she is when she gets happy over small things : like the smell of her softener.

“Which floor is it again?”

“Fifth floor. Now go. I’ll cook us some ramyeon. I’m sure you’re hungry.. besides you did quite well.”

Kai finds her unique and adorable rather than annoying. He sees her as the living proof of younger sister he had always imagined. Cute but at the same time sassy and playful.

After an hour, he returns with a pile of clean and fresh laundry. She also finishes cooking the meal and welcomes Kai to sit across her.

“Thanks! I thought you’ll let me eat on the floor.”

she laughs “Aigo.. I’m not that mean. Let’s eat.”

They dig in and afterwards the clock shows it’s already 9.30. Kai knows the rule, he got to go home. That’s the manners. She offers him a cigarette and he accepts it. With that one lighted bar, Kai goes home with a warm heart and big smile.

ON the other hand, (y/n) is busy replying the texts Sehun sent but she did not reply before.

Chapter 4

#sehun x you #sehun x reader #sehun imagine #tempo #yuta #jaehyun #johnny #kai #taeyong #jaehyun x reader #taeyong x reader #nct fanfic #nct imagines #exo imagines #exo fanfic #nct fanfiction #nct imagine masterlist #nct #exo

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chicagocityofclans · 4 years ago

Photo

Good Evening City of Clans,

As we discussed on Discord, due to inactivity, we have decided to end the Starter Prompt early. On Friday, February 19th at 9 am CST we will be ending the Starter Prompt and dropping threads. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause muns and muses. Our dash has threads that have been open and ongoing since December. These threads are beginning to overlap. A mass thread drop will be refreshing and show the effects of the Starter Prompt.

To aid in making this transition smooth, we’ve attached a recap of the Starter Prompt and a few major events that have taken course since December. Below the ‘Keeping Reading’ will be every Original Character who has joined Chicago that might not be on written bios; Upcoming plots and major plots that are now set in motion; Full recap of the 10 Starter Prompts; and new main RPG links to check out.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions and/or concerns. Also, be on the lookout for our Favorites Prompt coming out on Saturday.

New Arrivals Update

The following people have arrived in Chicago since December.

Inez Sparks: Inez is a newly written human shifter that has been established in Chicago for decades. She might not have connections to prewritten bios but she has connections to the local human shifters. Please refer to her bios for these connections.

Gendry Kingsley: Gendry is a witch who is over a millennia-old. He has returned to Chicago after being gone for about a decade. He might not have connections to prewritten bios but he has connections to the local supernatural community. Please refer to his bios for these connections.

Siobhan Cooke: Siobhan is a newly written Kodiak Bear shifter who has lived in Chicago and been a part of Clan Heavy for her entire life. She might not have connections to prewritten bios but she has connections to Clan Heavy. Please refer to her bio for these connections.

Ella Greene: Ella is a newly written hyena that was born and raised outside of Chicago. She was recently bitten and turned into a hyena. She might not have connections to prewritten bios but she has connections to local Hyena Clan. Please refer to her bio for these connections.

Tiggy Krieger: Tiggy was scouted out by a local seeker, Emmett Wilhelm, to join the Chicago supernatural population. She is a warlock with the power of disintegration and is now mentoring under Garrett Cleirigh.

Luke Corvinus: Luke’s pack was killed senselessly by hunters. He is a coywolf who came to Chicago in search of Anton and has joined the Nimble Clan. He is debating joining the local Wolf Clan but refuses to do so without Anton.

Dante Parisi: Dante is a grizzly bear and a member of Michael Johnansen’s old pack. Dante alone with 36 moose, 20 assorted bears, 8 mountain goats, multiple families of bison, reindeers, and rams moved to Chicago and joined Clan Heavy after they had trouble adjusting in Wyoming.

Natasha Mahoney: Natasha is a human shifter that moved to Chicago from Nashville. She moved along with her sister to be closer with her long-distance boyfriend, Sirius Cobic, and to work as a supernatural lawyer.

General Plot Updates

Clan Rat has found out about the Underground being truly poisoned and the Vampire Seethe Master is asking for retribution from the entire clan for the damage and heartache they’ve caused.

The local Human Shifters have confessed that a handful of human cops, detectives, judges, and internal affairs (law enforcement) know about the Supernatural. While the immortal three could care less, a majority of the Animal Shifter Council is furious and are in the works of planning a Council meeting to discuss possible consequences.

The Lasiter Mark has officially been added to the Codex. Updates on the main are soon to follow.

Gretchen Sims has finally officially taken the head position of Clan Hyena. Nada Rajui has returned to his position as 2nd and Liaison.

Scorpius Getta has told the supernatural community about plans for Hotel Winona and asked for Witches and Warlocks to lend a hand.

Garrett Cleirigh has campaigned for the open warlock seat on the council and has been granted the seat.

Starter Prompt Recap

Below is a recap of what happened during the unfinished Starter Prompt.

Bess

Bess found out about vampires. Dan killed a Comic book store owner and Bess caught him in the act. Dan eventually convinced her to help him clean up the mess. He promised her they would see again before running from the freshly cleaned-up scene.

Bess has possibly found out about magic users. She found Lyra on the scene of a deadly B&E (breaking and entering). Lyra followed a spirit that was begging for help when Bess showed up. Lyra explained to Bess that she thought she heard someone in the backroom calling out for help before eventually teleporting away.

Bess found out about the supernatural. Inez was trying to cover up a hyena attack when Bess showed up on the scene. The owner of a Comic Book store was bitten and in the process of changing as Inez tried to come up with a cover story for Bess. During this Bess was attacked by a shifted hyena whom Inez shot dead as a result. Bess was bleeding from the head when Inez reported that there was an officer down and that they needed an ambulance. Inez stayed on the scene to explain things to the responding human shifter cop.

Ainsley

Rhiannon found Ainsley as a fox and took her home to heal her. She believed her to be a real fox and was simply wanting to help out an injured animal. Ainsley shifted back to her human form once Rhiannon had her healed and Rhiannon offered her a change of clothes and a ride back to her home.

Patch found a fox being attacked by a wild coyote and saved her. He brought her home and cared for her thinking she was a real fox. He eventually called on Judson to help him and it was an awkward moment when he found out his new pet, Maid Marian, was actually Ainsley from Clan Nimble. Judson volunteered to take Ainsley home as Patch wrapped his head around having bathe a grown woman in her shifted form.

Peter saved Ainsley from a coyote attack. He caught the color of her white eyes earlier on and knew she was a nimble shifter. He talked her into shifting back to her human form but Ainsley soon passed out after. Giving her his jacket, Peter took her to the hospital and contacted Clan Nimble. He stayed long enough to give a police report and retell the story to Percy before leaving.

Conrad

Lyra was found by Ben’s ghost and led to where Conrad was laying. She decided to help him out of the Underground, and this led to Conrad finding out that Lyra could speak and see Ben, who had died over a year ago. Lyra explained that her powers allowed her to see and speak with the spirits of the dead.

Conrad was found unconscious and naked by Kris, who ran to Jaxson and Sam, who were visiting the Underground, for help. Jaxson took charge of the situation and ordered an evacuation of the Underground. Jaxson and Sam started to feel symptoms of whatever poison that was still lingering around Conrad as they carried him out of the Underground. Kris was waiting for them when they got out and drove them to one of the safehouses.

Getta, Petra, and Sadie found Conrad unconscious and naked Underground. Getta ordered one of their magical healers to heal Conrad. They explained to Conrad what happened to him and the poisonous gas that plagues the Underground. Geta got in contact with the Human Shifter to escort Conrad out of the Underground, after having Conrad sign a waiver, acknowledging that he was not attacked by anyone Underground.

Winnie found Conrad naked and unconscious in the Underground. She woke him up with her powers and after the two realized one another were Supernaturals he trusted her enough to get him out. Conrad shifted and Winnie carried him out in her pocket. He had her drop him off not far from a safe house. After she left he scurried in and passed out again.

Kudzai found Conrad naked and unconscious in the Underground. She teleported him to her home and began healing him. After he regained consciousness, Kudzai contacted Nick who came to pick him up.

Monty

Emmett got Monty to help with his search for a dangerous witch he was searching for. She was arrested and punished by the Council. Patch and Monty are tasked with coming up with a cover-up story for the Nimbles News report and their own police and autopsy reports.

Duke was taken to Isaac. Monty did not believe that Duke had a twin brother that was the culprit. Isaac explained that Duke indeed had a twin brother and asked for the charges for the destruction of property to be dropped.

Asa was taken to Clara. Clara’s reaction wasn’t the best, therefore, Monty didn’t stick around for long and made sure to erase all evidence.

Ebony was taken to Alexus who happened to be with Grant at the moment. Monty told them of what happened that there will possibly be charges rung up against her if the animal shifter wanted.

Kudzai

Asa was injured due to Ebony but got away. He was found on the side of the road where he had fallen and was taken to the ER where Kudzai worked. She performed surgery on him and he is mending.

Zack was injured in a clan dispute. Kudzai healed Zack’s minor injuries enough to wake him up and ask a few questions before preparing him for surgery. Zack asked for his wife, Sarah, to be called and waited for her to arrive before proceeding with the procedure. Zack had a bruised liver and had to have an exploratory laparoscopic procedure to examine the extent of the damage. Kudzai surgically and magically fixed Zack’s severe blood loss, a forming infection, and a slight problem forming in his bile ducts. The procedure was successful but Zack remained in the hospital under Kudzai care for a few days. Since Zack refused to age, Kudzai, with the help of Rhiannon had to slowly heal him and make it look like he was aging to trick the on-duty human nurses.

Peter was injured in an attack by fellow wolves who were attempting to take his position. He allowed Kudzai to begin to heal him and asked that she contact Garrett Cleirigh. Who quickly teleported there and teleported Peter away. There was no discharge order and no patient, so Kudzai had to come up with a cover story, causing more tension between the two council members.

Cassandra was unconscious when she arrived. Kudzai made quick work of healing her and contacted her emergency contact Helenus. Kudzai has asked that Cassandra return for a checkup since the reasoning behind her unconsciousness was inconclusive.

Ebony

Helo was setting up new surveillance for CAMO when Ebony came out in full gear and began running after him. He eventually played it off like he was human, and swore not to tell anyone she chased him if she let him go. He is unsure if she bought the ruse or not. Ebony doesn’t fully buy Helo’s story and plans on getting security surveillance up soon. She has also reached out to her neighbors about a suspicious kid around the neighborhood that she thinks might break in; knowing they will more than likely call the cops if he shows his face around there again.

Ebony has made it aware that she wants to take over the family and went on a hunt to prove her intentions. Sam saw Ebony prowling around the younger Jackal shifters she was watching and decided to lead her off of them. This led to a chase in the park where the two women fought. Sam was able to change into her rat form and slip away from the hunter. She sustained mild injuries but declined to admit how she got them to others in her pack out of embarrassment that a hunter got some hits in. Ebony is trying to figure out what kind of supernatural the girl was. One moment she was there and another moment she had vanished. She is hoping to trail the girl in the future and find out more.

Ebony was chasing Asa on a hunch that he was an animal shifter. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it but she was guessing that he was something big and powerful by the way he moved through the trees. Ebony eventually caught up with Asa and held his attention with a crossbow pointed at his heart. She was able to do a brief interrogation before Asa attacked then gave her the slip. Asa made it to the ER with a crossbow injury and a few other cuts and bruises.

Lyra

Neaera got a recording of Lyra performing a ritual in the woods. While Lyra was able to bind the spirit but she didn’t finish her ritual due. Neaera played dumb and ran from the scene. She replayed what she got to Ray and Louis. GOLD plans on returning to the scene of the ritual to see if they can gather more information and they also plan on putting an expert group on Lyra.

Talia walked in on Lyra performing a ritual by chance. The disruption was enough for one of the spirits to escape. Talia and Lyra spent the entire night recapturing the escaped spirit. Lyra finished her ritual but it was under the close watch of Talia and Roman; whom Talia talked Lyra into calling.

Averill watched Lyra work from the darkness of the woods, randomly, but a scream from somewhere else distracted the both of them. They would later find out it was a scream from a hunter hunting down an animal shifter. Lyra had asked that Averill help her catch the elemental spirits that escaped during the short distraction for her ritual. The two formed a somewhat awkward bond while hunting down and summoning the last two spirits needed for the ritual.

Ken

Ken managed to get out of the Underground without too many consequences thanks to Arthur. He called Judson once out of the Underground and Judson teleported to his aid. Once Judson saw that it was Arthur that had helped Ken, Ken learned that Arthur was a good friend of Roman’s, who had made Ken’s work life a living nightmare.

Isabetta was unaffected by Ken’s powers. She easily picked him out of the crowd as the possible culprit which Ken confessed to and had no power over what was happening. Offering to help him out and into a Lyft or Uber, Isabetta and Ken made their way out of the underground while avoiding people who were obviously affected by his power. Ken may have given Isabetta his number and address as a thank you gesture. He also offered to get her a wine bottle filled with the blood of an aged witch or warlock with the power of her choice.

Rachel was working on her homework Underground when she noticed all of the non-vampires were acting strange. She was ready to bold, not wanting anyone to think she had anything to do with it when she nearly tripped over Ken. They met before and striking up a conversation wasn’t hard. Rachel found out that it was Ken causing all of the commotions and that his powers don't work on her. With the help of Fiona and Aleksander, Rachel was able to help Ken from the Underground and contact Simon who took Ken home.

Skylar

Skylar accidentally pulled water out of Kate’s water bottle. She witnessed the water act almost animatedly and when Skylar ran into the nearest store, Kate followed. There she was met with the sight of her long-term crush, Ryan Cleirigh. He sent Skylar away to Judson and then invited Kate up to his apartment to explain what she saw.

Skylar lost control of her powers when she found out she was locked out of her apartment building. Minsky tried to help her calm down but Skylar’s magic had the best of her. She saw Minsky as a threat and the key her magic was forming eventually turned into a knife. Minsky managed to talk her down and Skylar apologized before making a run for Judson’s shop. She explained what happened to Judson, who gave her Minsky’s number, and Skylar personally called him to apologize again.

Fenrin saved Skylar from exposing herself when she accidentally used her magic in public. He triggered a fire hydrant to go off and made his escape with Skylar. Both had heard of each other from mutual contacts caused Skylar to be more relaxed than she would have with anyone else. Fenrin offered to buy her a coffee to calm her nerves as she waited for Audo, Ryan, or Judson to return home. Fenrin and Skylar talked about their shared powers and got to know each other.

Kudzai witnessed Skylar’s accidental magic. Being older and a Council member, Kudzai was able to send a spell causing the water to evaporate. She and Skylar walked around the block before Kudzai offered to teleport inside of Skylar’s apartment. While they were walking, Kudzai was able to calm Skylar’s nerves and assure her that things like that happened all the time. Skylar has never thought about joining the medical field but they had exchanged numbers and Kudzai told Skylar to contact her if she ever wanted to talk about it.

Skylar’s magic had a mind of its own and unknowingly pulled coffee from two Starbucks cups Lyra was holding to form a key for her apartment. Lyra’s soothing and calming tone helped Skylar calm down enough to stop her oncoming panic attack. With instructions from Lyra, Skylar was able to place the coffee back into the coffee cups but insisted on buying Lyra new ones.

Michael

Asa heard about what was happening at the zoo and went to help Michael with crowd control. Michael and Asa lost sight of each other when the human shifters finally stepped in after someone tried to climb over a gated area. However, when Michael returned to the Hotel, and sought out Asa and thanked him for his help.

Clara saw Michael’s speech and the outcome on social media. She went to help but somehow the two got into a heated dispute. A few choice words were said and Michael has been avoiding Clara like a plague.

Hailey lost track of where she was and ended up in a rioting crowd that Michael was trying to talk the crowd down and keep the peace. Michael explained what was happening to her but was quickly pulled away from her by someone else.

Ebony was tracking someone to the zoo when she ran into the big crowd. Michael tried to explain what was happening to her but she clearly wasn’t buying what he was selling. Michael doesn’t know she’s a hunter but wrote down his Twitter information on a flyer he gave her. He would like to continue to pick her brain but it is only if she follows him or reaches out to him.

New Links and Pages

Most Wanted Connections - New Tag

Most Wanted Connections Application - New Page

Monthly Plot Updates - New Navi Section

Rules Page - Update 02/12/2021

Taken Face Claims - Updated 02/18/2021

Masterlist Update (Missing Ella Greene) - Coming Soon

#cofcupdates #Major Update

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headoverjojo · 5 years ago

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Maybe Bucci gang’s reaction to a mermaid S/O? Like, they have a mission to the beach and BOOM mermaid

Hi there honey! Aaaaa more mer, more mer, yay!!! Thank you for your request :3 I hope you’ll like it!!

Bruno’s gang with a mermaid s/o

(Under the cut for length!)

Bruno Bucciarati

Bruno always loved the sea with all his might, but he never imagined that the sea could love him back with the same strength. He never imagined that the s/o he loves so much, with all his heart, was a mermaid! He also didn’t know that mermaids could live on land, but legends could be wrong in many ways. He noticed that his s/o loved a lot to go to the beach, but he supposed it was a common love for the sea, as he had too, nothing more!

This until a fatidic mission. They had to infiltrate in a building situated on an artificial island not so far from the land, but it was so guarded that going near on a boat was impossible: the only possible way was to infiltrate from underwater, but how? Renting a small submarine? Renting sub mutes? Even underwater it was guarded… this until his s/o, seeing that such an important mission was in danger, revealed her secret. She entered the water, revealing her real nature: a scaled tail replaced her legs, grills opened on her neck and a thin membrane extended between her fingers. Bruno almost cannot breath. His s/o… his s/o was a mermaid. A real mermaid, it wasn’t a stand work. They snapped him out of his staring, hurring him up to enter the water and hold on them: they had a mission to do!!

After the mission was successfully fulfilled, Bruno had finally the time to admire his s/o, asking them about how it was to be a mermaid, about their life in the sea… from then on, boat trips are common: Bruno stops the boat far from the coast, and, when they’re alone, they can finally swim around, human and mermaid, land and sea united in the name of love.

Leone Abbacchio

Even if he didn’t love the sea as much as Bruno, watching the floating water always had the almost magic effect to calm him down. The sea was a certain point: it was always here, no matter what was happening to him, the sea was always here with his calming sound. His quiet love for sea didn’t go unnoticed: a creature straight from the sea came from the water for the love they felt for him and to stay at his side: his beloved and cherished s/o.

He didn’t know about his s/o’s special nature until an important mission: Abbacchio had to investigate with his Moody Blues on a sequestered boat, but they had to get on it unnoticed: it was fundamental for the good success of the mission. While Abbacchio was mulling over how do it, since it was heavily guarded, his s/o came with the only possible solution at the moment: using their real nature to sneak on the boat. They said to hurry and come in the water, but Abbacchio stopped on his tracks when he noticed that they were… different. Their hands had membranes and they had… grills on their shoulder blades, like sharks. A glimpse of their scaled tail was the last thing he needed to finally see the truth: they were a mermaid. A real one, not a stand-like one. But it wasn’t time to marvel about it: Abbacchio regained his control in few minutes and quickly swam near them, letting them grab him and dive down, swimming fastly to the boat and the main part of the mission.

After that mission, Abbacchio wants to ask them so many things. How is it possible? He thought mermaids were just legends and that, especially, they could live just in the water… but hearing that the love they felt for him gave them legs to walk on legs and at his side completely undone him. He never felt so loved and special, never in his life. He’s absolutely not going to reject them, just… he begs them to not keep secrets like this from him anymore. He understands that this secret had to be protected, but he hates secrets, especially if he trusts someone: they can trust him as much as he trusts them. Their secret is more than safe with him.

Guido Mista

Mista never crazily loved the sea, nor he despised it; he was pretty neutral about it. He liked to go to spend chill afternoons by the sea, watching the waves -he especially loved to see the sun setting down in the sea-, sometimes walking on the shore… Mista, however, was always really respectful of sea and beach, always picking up trash when he spotted it. He didn’t know that his respect was returned and that a creature from the sea loved him so much to willingly leave their home to stay near him: his precious s/o.

Mista never suspected about his s/o’s real nature -they loved the sea way more than him, but he wasn’t going to question it: everyone loved what they preferred- until they found themselves trapped in a corner, their back and left side framed by a high metallic barrier and the sea on their right side. They hadn’t chances, even the Pistols couldn’t take down every target… they had to escape, and quickly, but how? Mista wasn’t a great swimmer, he wouldn’t have done even a couple of meter before being shot down. But his s/o had the situation under their control: they grabbed his hand and dragged him with them in the sea, diving down, down… Mista couldn’t even free himself, their grip was too strong! But then he saw: he saw their tail, he saw the grills on their neck, and they were swimming so fast, so far from their enemies… the travel lasted not even twenty seconds and they fastly brought him to the surface, to let him breath, holding him tightly, as he, too, was holding them for his dear life. A mermaid… his s/o was a mermaid!!

Guido is extremely fascinated by their real nature. He asks how it is to live under the sea, if they have a family, why, in case, they left them for him… he can’t help but to feel loved and special, when they say they’d do it a thousand times more, if it means to be with him. Still, he hates the thought of them far from their family, so he decides that, if they want, they can rent a boat every week, so they can be safely far from the coast and go to see their family. They can’t believe it, they’re touched to the point of tears: their love for Guido grows bigger and bigger, fueled by his good heart and sweetness. They really couldn’t choose a better human as boyfriend!

Narancia Ghirga

Narancia, of course, knew what mermaids were, as he listened to many stories about them. He found them interesting, but he never thought a lot about them, especially when he had a free day and it was summer: it meant beach day! Narancia loved water, he loved to splash and swim and play in water with his friends. He had so much fun in the sea! And the sea had fun watching him play, as the mermaid that chose to leave their home to become his friend and then his lover, his s/o, his most precious treasure.

He absolutely didn’t have even the slightest suspicion that his s/o was a mermaid until, during a mission, they were on the run on a secluded deck; Aerosmith was shooting like crazy to their trackers, Narancia’s hand was tightly wrapped around his s/o’s one as they were running… but, unfortunately, his pendant, the only memory he had of his mother, flew off in the water. Narancia whined in despair and frustration, knowing that it was likely lost forever. The only memory he had of his mom… knowing how important the pendant was, his s/o freed their hand from his and dived in the waves, not hearing Narancia’s screams or Aerosmith’s shooting anymore. Narancia, while they were down, had shot down everyone and was frantically waiting for them to emerge, it was passed too much time… were they drowned? Oh god, what could he do, he had to go, he had to search for them…. but, before he could dive as well, his s/o emerged, with his pendant safely in their hand. And that was the moment he saw it: their tail, their scales, the grills… they were a mermaid, as the legends he always heard from fishermen.

Narancia’s very curious about his s/o’s true nature! How is it to be a mermaid? How fast can they swim? Can they talk with fishes? A lot of his questions make them laugh in sincere amusement. He’s so cute and excited! They love to take him with them to some good spots and play with him in water, laughing and hugging and twirling in the waves, sometimes they even do swim races! Who wins gets a kiss. Narancia’s never be so fine in losing to someone, as now he has to kiss them!

Pannacotta Fugo

Fugo learned about mermaids, or sirens, while studying the Odyssey, but he never was found of that type of sirens. He preferred the classic mermaids with fish tail and human torso! He also loved the sea, as it always had been a constant presence in his life, to the point that he was missing more the sea than his parents, when he was studying at Bologna university. Sea always helped him to calm down, its constant movements and sound always tamed his anger… he felt a deep love and respect for the sea, and those feelings were returned; his s/o, who decided to give their love to him and just to him was the embodiment of this sentiment.

Even with his great intelligence, Fugo never found out about his s/o’s secret until they were assigned to a mission by the sea. Things went crazy in little time, the enemies were too many, a gas pipe broke and then exploded in a crimson blazed rose that put them in the corner, Purple Haze’s poison -Fugo had to call it out, or they would have died- was coming near… it was a desperate situation. The only way to escape was the sea, but would they have swimmed fast enough to not be touched by the poison? Fugo didn’t think so. It was also night, so they hadn’t the sunlight to help them… it was more than desperate. It was a certain death situation. This until his s/o dragged him in the water, down, down, swimming at inhuman speed. And it couldn’t be otherwise, Fugo noticed, widening his eyes: they had a tail instead of legs, and scales, membranes between their fingers, grills on their neck… a mermaid. They were a mermaid. And they were his precious s/o. And they were saving him. His brain needed more than one minute, even when they were now safe, to elaborate it all.

Even if his s/o’s major worry was a break between them, it didn’t happen. Fugo loved them deeply and, well, he could understand why they kept it secret, the fear to be rejected… he reassured them that he wasn’t going to leave them; being a mermaid wasn’t surely enough to scare him away, he said, making them finally laugh. He loved to see them swimming in the sea, to see them in their true form, the happiness in their face… Fugo sat on the rocks, looking at them, smiling softly when they swam near him, bringing him a pretty shell or taking him to see some particular fish. He loves to listen to their knowledge about marine life! He’d spend hours listening to them talking about the life under the sea…

Giorno Giovanna

Giorno always had a special relationship with sea. He was born in Japan, an archipelago; then he moved to Naples, a city by the sea. Sea was always present in Giorno’s life and he didn’t let a single day pass without looking at it, or, even better, without passing in front of it, deeply breathing the salty smell of water. Sometimes, if he had had a really rough day, he sad on the rocks, confiding his anguishes and fears to the sea; he ignored that the sea was indeed listening to him and that the love and care the sea felt for him were embodied in his future s/o, a mermaid who chose to bring joy in his life and to stay forever at his side.

Giorno, even if he has seen incredible things, even if he has a Requiem Stand and a Consigliere who lives in a turtle, has a bit of difficult to believe to mermaids and other legendary creatures’ existence. Another thing the young Don had difficult to do was swimming. He never properly learned how to swim and this could have been fatal, during that unfortunate mission. Giorno and his s/o were fighting side by side, but Giorno, as always, was caring more about his s/o than about himself. Seeing them being charged by an enemy, he instinctively sent Gold Experience Requiem to protect them, but, doing so, he lowered his guard and he was thrown in the sea. Giorno immediately started to reel, desperately trying to keep his face out of water, to breath, but he was panicking, there was water everywhere, he was going down and down… until he felt rightly held by a familiar embrace and then being taken away at great speed. Looking around, and gripping at the arms for his dear life, he saw that his saviour was his s/o and that they… they weren’t swimming, or, better, they weren’t swimming as a human: they had a tail and, he noticed, grills on their neck, and scales under their eyes and on their hands… in that moment, he found out and immediately accepted mermaids’ existence. How could he deny it, when he had a mermaid in front of him?

Giorno’s utterly fascinated by his s/o’s true nature. They’re so elegant, so powerful… now that he knows they’re a sea creature, he does his best to go with them on boat trips at least once a week, so they can finally stay a while in their natural habitat. He’s even willing to let them teach him to swim! So he can go with them to explore Naples’ bay sea caves, guided by his s/o. He also loves to study with them fishes, small sea creatures, other than octopuses, jellyfishes… everything about sea life fascinates him! And exploring it with his s/o makes everything more beautiful!

#jjba #vento aureo #bruno's gang #bruno bucciarati #leone abbacchio #guido mista #narancia ghirga #pannacotta fugo #giorno giovanna #neutral s/o #mermaid s/o #mermaid au #fantasy au #headcanons #sfw #anon ask

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johnwatsonblog-co-uk · 6 years ago

Text

The Great Game

1st April

Sorry for the delay in posting. I needed a few days to get my head around what just happened.

It began, as everything did, with a big bang. There was apparently a gas leak in the house across the street. Of course, my time living with Sherlock means I know how meaningless the word 'apparently' can be.

The police investigated and discovered that the house had been wired with explosives. The only other thing they found inside the house was a box. And inside the box was an envelope.

And inside the envelope was, of all things, a bright pink phone. Regular readers of my blog might remember the case I called 'A Study In Pink' . Needless to say, it was a bit of a surprise.

As is my sudden use of phrases like "regular readers of my blog". It seems I'm starting to enjoy writing up my life. It helps, though, when I discover that half of Scotland Yard are reading it. More on that later!

So, we switched on the phone and there was a message.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Five beeps or pips. Sherlock knew immediately that it was a warning. There were these secret societies who used to send five orange pips to people as a threat. There was also a picture of an empty flat which Sherlock recognised. It was downstairs. 221C Baker Street! We rushed over there and discovered a pair of trainers.

And then the pink phone rang. It was a woman. She was crying. It turns out that whoever was organising all this had arranged for this woman to be kidnapped and wrapped in explosives. If she didn't say exactly what she was told to say... Sherlock, naturally, was immediately caught up in the adventure. Didn't even register that some innocent person somewhere was going through Hell. The crying woman told us we had twelve hours to solve the first problem.

We went to Barts so that Sherlock could examine the trainers. I, as usual, didn't have a clue what the question was never mind the answer. We met up with Molly Hooper who introduced us to her boyfriend, Jim. Apparently, he worked in IT. There's that word 'apparently' again. Oh, and I've just seen how they first met.

Anyway, Jim left and Sherlock revealed to Molly that the bloke was clearly gay. As usual, he didn't care that this might, you know, not exactly be what she wanted to hear!

So, back to the trainers. Sherlock naturally got me to humiliate myself by examining them myself and getting everything wrong. He told me that they were twenty years old and that the pollen on them revealed they were from Sussex. Then he remembered a name - Carl Powers, a boy who had died when Sherlock was a kid. Everyone had assumed it was a tragic swimming accident but Sherlock was always confused by the boy's missing trainers. Now they'd turned up twenty years later and addressed to him. Sherlock discovered traces of Clostridium botulinim on Carl's trainers and concluded that he'd been murdered - the poison having been introduced to Carl's eczema medicine. Sherlock needed to let the killer know he'd worked it out so he typed a message on his website. I know some of you were confused by his bizarre posts the other day (posts regarding Raoul de Santos).

The crying woman then phoned again and was allowed to tell us where she was. The police found her and she was ok. Sherlock pissed me off though. He described the whole set-up as elegant. I asked him what he meant and he said that "I can't be the only person to get bored". Clearly, the killer was targeting him directly and he loved it.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Another message. Another photo. This time it was of an abandoned sports car. The phone rang. It was a man, as terrified as the woman had been earlier. He told us we had eight hours. ████████████ from Scotland Yard located the car and Sherlock examined it. It had been hired from a company called Janus Cars by a man called ████████████████ - a man who had disappeared. This one was pretty straightforward for Sherlock. Just one chat with the missing man's wife and a visit to Janus Cars and he had it all wrapped up. It was a simple insurance scam. Again, he posted the answer on his blog. The man wrapped in explosives was found and released. Turns out he'd been in central London. God, if Sherlock had got it wrong... The other thing is, like I say, he was enjoying it. Him and this mysterious killer were playing a game. Me, Mrs H, the people with the bombs, everyone else, we were just pawns. I thought back to a name we'd heard a couple of times - Moriarty. Could this be him? When I mentioned this, Sherlock's eyes lit up.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Another message. A third photo. This time it was someone I recognised but Sherlock didn't have a clue who she was. It's nice to occasionally be the clever one. The picture was of the recently deceased Connie Prince . Apparently, she'd died as a result of a tetanus infection but clearly our killer was suggesting otherwise. Again, we received a phone call. This time it was an old woman - and she was blind. I mean, who would do that? How could anyone do that? I went along to visit Connie's brother, Kenny. Sherlock went onto some internet forums and, with his usual tact and diplomacy, got answers that way . Between us, we worked out that while Connie's death had been made to look like the result of a tetanus infection, it had actually been caused by poison - their houseboy, ████████, had overdosed her on Botox! It would have almost been funny were it not for what happened next. Sherlock posted a message to his blog and, like before, the old woman called us. But this one made a mistake. She started to tell us about the man who'd tied her up and... He blew her up.

She lived in a block of flats. In Glasgow. Twelve people died.

I still can't quite get my head around it. This game between Sherlock and his... nemesis? Is that the right word? Twelve totally random innocent people had died because of it. I got so angry with Sherlock that morning. He didn't care. He admitted it. He just didn't care. As he pointed out, caring wouldn't save lives. I asked him if he found it easy not to care and he said yes. It was that simple. Maybe Sally Donovan is right. Maybe he is a freak.

Beep. Beep.

Another photo. This time of the Thames. Sherlock called Scotland Yard and they told him about a body that had been pulled out of the river. We went along and within minutes, Sherlock had worked out he was a security guard and that he was probably linked to a lost painting that had recently been rediscovered and put on display at the Hickman Gallery. Oh, and he revealed that the painting was a fake. I could explain how he did it but I think it's one of those 'you had to be there' moments. He also worked out what had killed the security guard. I say 'what' although technically it was 'who'. But, having seen the man, 'what' is probably a better definition. He was an assassin known as the Golem. He killed people by squeezing the air out of their body with his bare hands! Why he would have done this to some poor security guard was still a mystery so I went to the guy's flat and discovered a voicemail message from a Professor █████████. She had called him in response to him having discovered that something somewhere was wrong. The only other clue was that he was into astronomy. Sherlock worked out that the Golem had killed the security guard because he'd worked out that the painting was a fake. We concluded that Professor █████████ worked at a planetarium and rushed over there. But we were too late. The Golem was there and it killed her. Then, it attacked Sherlock. I don't think I've actually seen him scared before. Me, I was bricking it! I'd seen horror in Afghanistan. But this man was barely human. He really was a monster! I managed to rescue Sherlock (by whacking the Golem with my gun - I never said I was subtle) but the creature got away.

We returned to the gallery and Sherlock confronted the curator. She denied everything - insisting that the painting was real - and there didn't seem to be much we could do. Then the phone rang once more.

It was a child.

The child started to count down from ten. Sherlock was screaming into the phone that the painting was a fake but the killer clearly wanted proof. Sherlock stared at the painting as the child continued to count down to his own death. And then Sherlock, at the last minute, worked it out. It was how the security guard had guessed it was a fake and why he'd phoned a professor at a planetarium. There was a supernova in the painting that didn't appear in our skies until 1858. Therefore, the painting couldn't have been painted by an artist living in the 1640s. The child stopped counting.

The curator admitted that she'd arranged for the painting to be created. She'd been put in touch with various people and they'd all seemed to be working for one man. You've guessed it. Moriarty.

Back at the flat, and we waited for another call. Nothing seemed to be happening though so I decided to visit my girlfriend, Sarah. I had just left the flat when a taxi pulled up alongside me. The taxi driver asked if I wanted a lift but I told him I was getting the Tube. He then said that he hadn't been asking me, he'd been telling me. I looked at him and I saw the gun pointing at me and so I got into the taxi.

They must have knocked me out because the next thing I can remember is waking up to the smell of chlorine. I was in a sports centre, near the swimming pool. And I was wearing a bomb. I could feel it under the jacket they'd put me in. Then a voice sounded in my ear and I realised I was wearing some kind of earpiece. It said that I knew the drill and I was to repeat word-for-word what he said otherwise I'd never be writing my blog again.

I was made to walk out into the swimming pool area where, I discovered, Sherlock was waiting. The voice in my ear, which I vaguely recognised, told me to say some stuff - which, I realised, gave the impression that I was behind it all. That I, John Watson, was Moriarty. I could see the look in Sherlock's eyes - a flash of, not anger, but hurt. For a second, he looked like a little, lost child. I should have been horrified that he'd even doubt me for a second but, to be honest, it was so refreshingly human of him. He actually did value our friendship. He did, despite himself, care. Then he saw the explosives on me and he realised what was happening.

And at that moment, out stepped Moriarty. It was Jim. Molly Hooper's boyfriend from the IT department at Barts! Even that little meeting had been part of the game. The two men talked, both clearly pleased to, at last, be face to face. Again, I felt like a pawn in their game. Especially when a laser sight appeared on my chest. One wrong move and some stranger in the dark would shoot the explosives. I watched as they talked. Jim Moriarty was the total opposite to Sherlock but they were also so very alike. He was a consulting criminal. People came to him and he arranged whatever they wanted. And while they talked, I stood there wearing enough explosives to kill all of us. I was the only one who seemed even aware of this. Suddenly, I grabbed Moriarty. I knew that his assistant (his John Watson?) wouldn't kill him. But the laser sight simply moved to Sherlock's head and I was forced to let go. For a second, I wondered if Sherlock would have done the same for me but then all I knew for certain was, at that moment, I knew I was going to die.

Except I didn't because Moriarty changed his mind. He said that he'd kill Sherlock one day but that, for now, he was letting us go. It really was just a game to him. He left and Sherlock ripped the explosives off of me. We were getting our breath back when suddenly so many laser sights appeared. Moriarty returned and said he had changed his mind again!! We were going to die, after all. Sherlock simply pointed his gun at the discarded explosives. If we were going to die, so was Moriarty.

I held my breath for what seemed like months. I had no idea what either of them would do. Moriarty clearly had no discernible human feelings and Sherlock had claimed not to care. Could this be it? Was I really going to die? In a sports centre?

Which is when Moriarty's phone rang. He took the call and called off his gunman. He was letting us live. And, as I finally breathed out, he left.

And that's how Sherlock Holmes and I lived to see another day.

16 comments

Haha! You're the April fool! You posted this after midday!!

Harry Watson 01 April 12:11

It's all true, Harry!

John Watson 01 April 12:22

PMSL!!!

Harry Watson 01 April 12:24

I don't even want to know what that means.

John Watson 01 April 12:30

That's amazing mate!

Harry Watson 01 April 12:36

Sherlock Holmes is a genius!!

Jacob Sowersby 01 April 12:37

your writing style is terrible

theimprobableone 01 April 12:38

*comment deleted*

Harry Watson 01 April 12:39

How rude!

Marie Turner 01 April 13:12

It's me, Mrs Hudson again.

Marie Turner 01 April 13:13

Shall we just get you a computer for Christmas, Mrs H?

John Watson 01 April 13:14

I do like a good story.

Anonymous 01 April 13:25

Still alive then?

Sherlock Holmes 01 April 13:28

Oh, very much so. See you soon.

Anonymous 01 April 13:33

I'm still so sad about Connie :(

Joy 01 April 13:56

Do feel free to call me, when you get a moment, John.

Sarah Sawyer 02 April 01:03

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travllingbunny · 6 years ago

Text

The 100 6x02: Red Sun Rising

This is my second time watching this episode - I first saw it a month ago, together with 6x01, when they leaked, and I’m glad I saw the two of them together, because I had mixed feelings on 6x01, but 6x02 was amazing.

This is what I wanted from season 6, and what I hope to see more of: character-focused episodes with characters forced to deal with their issues and repressed feelings, likely due to weird goings-on on the planet - like Day Trip on overdrive. The episode also had very interesting flashbacks to the history of the people on the planet, descendants of the Eligius III mission, and hints about many of the mysteries of the planet.

The toxin was a great way to shake up the characters and their relationships and for repressed issues to come to light. My theory on why Murphy was the only one who turned out to be unaffected is that the toxin brings our repressed issues and resentments, but Murphy indulges in negativity and bitterness towards both himself and others when he's in the normal state of mind, so he was fine. Instead, he showed the nicer, more heroic side of him. Which, one may argue, is what he is repressing.

Speaking of which, I’m still not sure what exactly to think about Murphy’s complaints against Clarke. Some people have argued that all of them make sense in a way - from Murphy’s point of view, anyway. But the things he mentioned range from perfectly legitimate complaints to things I can’t make sense of. And most of them are incredibly skewed and one-sided views of events - similar to what happens when haters in the fandom try to mount arguments to prove a character is horrible. Like blaming Clarke for Bellamy hanging him, because she kind of caused it by blaming Murphy for Wells’ death (as if it’s hard to understand why she lost it over her best friend’s death, after Murphy had threatened Wells), even though she didn’t expect people to actually try to kill him, and did her best to stop it; or blaming her for tying up him and Emori and planning to test her in the radiation chamber (which was actually done by a bunch of people including Abby, Miller, Jackson, now-dead Roan, and Raven didn’t exactly do anything to stop it except verbally protest), even though she instead decided to test herself and risk her life (and was the only one who volunteered for it - while Emori got another guy tested and killed). And I can’t even make sense of the remark about him being tied up while she was with Lexa, and why he called himself “disposable in her games”. WTF? How is Titus kidnapping and torturing him Clarke’s fault? It’s been argued that he blames her for leaving him with Ontari after she left with the Flame to look for Luna, but that’s not what he said. And I’m really done with people using the nickname “Commander of Death” as an insult. Clarke got it because she did everything to save the Delinquents, Raven, Abby, Kane and others, while Murphy was off on a pointless road trip with Jaha. Also, irradiating Mount Weather was the right decision, because the only alternative was letting the Mountain Men win and kill everyone, and finally, Bellamy and Monty also made the same decision and bear the same responsibility for killing all of the Mountain Men.

So, I’m not sure if Murphy really meant all he said, or was just being a d1ck as usual, venting his frustrations and trying to get a rise out of people. But the moment he saw Clarke trying to kill herself, he did everything to stop her, and later they were saving each other when Bellamy went psycho and attacked them both.

I loved the callback to 3x05 Hakeldama. (”People die when I’m in charge.... Isn’t that what you said?”) Clarke remembers Bellamy's words, even after 6+ years. She was obviously quite hurt and thought about it a lot, even though they've never discussed it since.

Clarke's hallucination reminded me a lot of what ALIE!Raven told her in 3x11 - the same idea of her being poison to others and causing the deaths of people close to her. (Although this time Wells and Finn were not explicitly mentioned - only Jake Griffin and Lexa were - among people close to her that died, but they were arguably indirectly mentioned as Clarke’s hallucination said that people die trying to protect you. The idea that Jake’s actions were motivated by wanting his daughter to think of him as a good guy is something we haven’t heard before. It may be a sign that Clarke does not completely idealize him as she seemed to do. I’ve said in my season 4 rewatch reviews that season 4 (and 3b) mentions of Lexa seemed pretty idealized, but those since have made more sense: in season 5, the mention of Lexa’s betrayal at Mount Weather and long-delayed apology, and now, “Lexa died for the same reason” (wanting Clarke to see her as a good guy) is accurate to what their relationship was like in season 3, which indicates that Clarke is .) On some level, Clarke really has internalized the idea that she needs to save the others from herself, as these are now the things her own subconsciousness is telling her, which she heard as the voice of her mother, telling her to kill herself so she wouldn’t get Madi killed..

It would be interesting to know what exactly Bellamy's hallucination was. He attacked Murphy and Clarke, but he was talking weird/confused stuff about trying to save people. Bellamy's guiding motivation has always been trying to save people, and feeling bad for failing to do it. But I'm sure he also has repressed resentment towards Clarke, even though he forgave her for leaving him last season - he may not have fully forgiven her in his heart. And I'm sure he also has unresolved feelings from the time he blamed himself for leaving her behind and he believed she was dead. He said something weird about how he won't be the one to die this time - but he wasn't. No doubt he's also been annoyed with Murphy quite often, even though they are friends (as of season 5) and we saw Bellamy try to help Murphy to be more positive and love himself in 5x01, but he probably sometimes just felt fed up with Murphy's disruptive and negative behavior. His hallucination seems to have made Murphy a real threat to the group in Bellamy's mind. "I'm saving us, from both of you".

Bellamy also yelled at Clarke, just as he was stepping from the doors of the room where Echo was locked up with Emori, “In case you didn’t notice, Clarke, I don’t need you anymore” - words likely to hurt her as this is something she feared and at one point came to believe during season 5. But it also felt a lot like what we like to call “protesting too much”. Interesting thing to note, Bellamy never told Clarke that he needed her, at any point during the 5+ seasons - it was always Clarke telling him she needed him, or that they needed each other, which he did not deny.

Echo's hallucination and Emori's taunting were both about the fact that Echo is always the follower who does everything for whatever 'master' she attaches herself to. Finally a meaningful character moment for her. The voices she heard were talking about things we'll probably see more of in her flashbacks. She may have an identity crisis and will probably have to try to figure out who she is on her own.

Side note: There is speculation that Echo may have been the one who killed Costia, Lexa's girlfriend, who, as we know, was tortured and killed at Nia's orders and then her head was left in Lexa's bed. This may be the case because the line "Bring me her head" was stressed and repeated twice. At this point, this wouldn't have any bearing on the plot, but it would be a little reveal for the audience to connect some things from the past.)

Emori's hallucination was all about people trying to kill her, which makes sense with her backstory. First she attacked Murphy because she thought he was going to kill her, then she warned Echo and Clarke that Bellamy would kill them all. But she also cruelly taunted Echo, just like Bellamy taunted Murphy and Clarke.

Miller is another person besides Clarke who was turning the violence on himself. During his psychosis, he was yelling that he didn't want to finish like Obika - the man who died last season after being infected by the mutated worms (eww). He was trying to get the bugs/worms out of his skin - which is also connected to his guilt over the things he did and participated in as Blodreina's follower. Jackson also believed Miller had bugs under his skin and was stabbing him to try to get them out. He and Miller were sharing the same hallucination (what is known as folie a deux, shared psychosis, or literally, madness shared by two). As they pointed out in their conversation in 6x01, Miller was the one who did things, while Jackson felt guilty for not stopping things - and not he was trying to intervene save his boyfriend, in his capacity as a doctor.

Clarke and Bellamy are likely to have some interesting conversations next episode, after they woke up, and Bellamy was obviously shocked by realizing what he did to her and to Murphy, and that she had to stab him to stop him.

BTW, now we know what the writers came up with to explain Bob Morley’s leg injury.

Interesting visual of Bellamy, Clarke and Murphy after Clarke had knocked them out all with a gas:

Octavia is in a really bad emotional place. She clearly feels guilty,,but won't admit it, and instead lashes out, blames and antagonizes the others, provoking them to punish her - even kill her. In the season 5 finale, she wanted a redemptive heroic death, but didn't get it. Living with her guilt, admitting her mistakes, changing, that's much harder. She would rather die.

Also, Octavia on her knees, asking for death, was reminiscent of Bellamy in Day Trip during his hallucination. Is Octavia finally going to have the character development he had seasons ago? But first, she needs to realize that sins don't get "washed away" if you're successful in your intention to get your people to their destination, which seemed to have been her guiding idea during season 5 and the reason why she was so obsessed with being the one to take them to Eden.

Diyoza was amazing as always. I usually don't like to use the word "badass", but what else do I call her? She's direct, no-nonsense, a great military strategist, snarky... what's not to love?

Madi had quite a badass entrance, too. We’ll see how she’ll deal with her ambiguous role of being officially a Commander, while the adults are actually making leadership decisions and leaving her behind to be protected as a child, but Gaia found a nice way to make it look different when she agreed with Abby’s decision to leave her in the ship for protection with “You’re too important, Heda”.

Abby showed her ruthless side when she blackmailed Diyoza with the option of not helping with the birth of her child, and when just sat there while Octavia was getting beaten up, and only finally intervened when she was about to get killed, and Jordan and Niylah were yelling at her to stop it... and even that may have been because she had it pointed out that this was what Octavia wanted. She probably has a lot of rage from Kane's clinical death/almost-death that Octavia kind of caused.

The surviving hijacker said that the trees eat the bugs.(They have eaten them all by now) Interesting planet.

The hijackers are all Nightbloods, as you would expect from descendants of the Eligius mission. So who is the radiation fence supposed to keep out? If the people in the woods are red-bloods, how did that happen?

The hijackers were really concerned with the dead bodies, and in a way that seems to go way beyond normal reverence for human remains. Diyoza told the survivor "Newsflash, they're dead", but I think these people have a way of recreating dead people by cloning or something similar - however, they would also need a way to recreate the consciousness, because otherwise, clones are just identical twins, not the same people.

A lot of the evidence for this comes from the flashback, which was really interesting and full of reveals:

The Eligius mission was on the planet 236 years ago, which means they came to the planet before the first nuclear apocalypse, which happened 229 years ago (97 years + about 6 months that passed from 1x01 to 4x13 + 6 years + 125 years).

Josephine Ada Lightbourne (they made sure that we know that’s her name) and her astronaut father (played by Sean Maguire) are strikingly similar to Clarke and her father, and not just physically. She even draws like Clarke. I still think that Lightbournes may be related to the Griffins, If they are not, then this was deliberately done to draw the parallels.

Josephine Ada Lightbourne is also the name of the author of the Red Sun Rising book - even though the book could have only been written after the first psychosis incident that we see in the flashback, and it seemed that Josie got killed by her father during his psychosis, alongside her mother a bunch of other people.

Speculation based on info from the trailers, promo and details about the next episode:

Josephine was a taxonomist, and her boyfriend, Dr Gabriel Santiago, was a geneticist, and the next episode is called "Children of Gabriel"... Gabriel also mentioned that they have embryos for reproduction, which means they brought fully formed embryos to the planet, or created them there. But if they have been trying to replicate dead humans for two centuries (since Sean Maguire's character killed so many of the members of the mission), they have to have some sort of a method of transferring consciousness, too, because otherwise, clones are just like identical twins, not the same people. Russell (JR Bourne), the leader of the people from the Sanctum, is obviously the descendant of Maguire’s character, both because of his looks and because the trailer revealed his last name Lightbourne.

My impression, based on the info from trailers etc., is that Russell's people are elitist, self-righteous a-holes who decide that only some are 'worthy' to live in their "Paradise". But it's interesting that "Lightbourne" means something very similar to "Lucifer" (or vice versa - the latter is "light bearer"). This doesn't exactly scream trustworthy good guys, and neither does the attitude we see from the trailer, or the fact that they dress like people from the Capitol and live in something that looks like a castle from a Renaissance Fair. And if they really do have a way of re-creating dead humans, would put a whole new meaning to the whole Sanctum thing and the divide between those within and those outside (the people in the woods?) that Russell's people have exiled/are not letting in as unworthy! Stakes are really high if they are basically deciding who the chosen ones are with the right to "live forever".

Rating: 9.5/10

#the 100 #the 100 6x02 #red sun rising #the 100 season 6 #clarke griffin #bellamy blake #octavia blake #john murphy #emori #charmaine diyoza #nate miller #eric jackson #echo #echo kom azgeda #abby griffin #madi griffin #gaia #gaia kom trikru

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namjoonsteeth · 7 years ago

Text

Circles (Part 1)

Summary:

Like watching a movie and already knowing the end No matter how hard we try to run away We’re always in the same place Always come back to me Again in the same place In the end, like this Back in place again Why is it so hard to leave Again in the same place - G Soul Circles

Paring: Dabin X FC (Jasmine)

Word Count: 2.1k

He’s drunk, Jasmine,” I shouldn’t have answered my phone. The only time Christian calls me is if it’s about Dabin. Considering we never actually grew to like each other, despite how much time we spent together, we didn’t make it a habit to speak. Over the last year though, his name has popped up on my phone more times than when I was actually dating his best friend for two years.

“I’m busy, Christian,”

I look over at my date who is busy grating a block of parmesan cheese over the pasta we spent n hour making. Dinner was finally done, the movie we’d ordered already set up, the condoms in my purse begging me to free them.

“He’s asking for you,” he sighs. “He’s-,”

He pauses, exhaling a large overdramatic breath.

“He’s been crying, Jasmine. Please, just come get him. You know he’s good for the gas money,”

“I’m on a fucking date,” I whisper harshly. I didn’t mean to be cruel. Not to Christian at least who hasn’t done anything wrong other than letting him get this far.

“That fucking explains it,” he says quietly.

It stings. It burns. It ignites a fire in my chest. He has no right to do this every fucking time. He’s selfish. He’s an asshole. He’s the one who broke up with me.

“What do you want me to do?” I sigh, already scanning Lucas’s apartment for my things.

“Just come get him, take him back to yours, calm him down,”

“I’m not his babysitter, Christian. That’s your job, remember?” I say bitterly. As shameful as it is, how close they are really used to irk me. If he wasn’t with me, he was with Rome. If I called him, Christian was always in the background reminding him that they had work to do. If I wanted to spend the night at his place, Christian was usually the first person I saw in the morning as Dabin sleeps too late even for me.

“I can’t take him back to mine. Nicole has-,”

“Fuck, I know, Christian. Whatever it is going on with your girlfriend, once again you can’t take care of your best friend,”

It’s harsh again, I know. I’m frustrated.

Ironically, I don’t think Nicole is particularly fond of Dabin either. I was always protective when Christian had to choose her over Dabin.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I’m just...this has to stop, Christian,”

“I’ll see you in a little bit,” Christian says hopefully.

“Yeah,” I say, clicking the call off.

I look behind me again. Lucas unties the adorable apron from around his waist and reaches up to grab two plates from his cabinet. How organized everything is here always freaked me out. I’m not used to neat boys. I’m used to Christian’s protein powders taking up half of the coffee-stained counter that had at least one empty americano plastic cup. I’m also not used to real matching dishes in a man’s house.

He’s good for me, I tell myself. I’m going to ruin this because of my ex-boyfriend who I run to save whenever he calls. Sighing, I get up and grab my purse while slipping on my heels.

Lucas looks up at me a frown on his pretty face.

“Is everything ok?”

I shake my head. My fingers pick at the strap of my bag. Dabin used to laugh at the point in all my straps that shows my nervous habit. This is a new bag, I scold myself forcing my hands to drop along with my eyes.

“I’m really sorry, Lucas,” I begin.

What’s your excuse Jasmine? My ex-boyfriend is drunk and crying in a bar because he misses me and for the third time in half as many months, I’m going to take him back to mine because I’m the only person he has to take care of him.

“My friend is really drunk at a bar right now. I have to go get him,”

He doesn’t even blink at the fact that I’m leaving to go to another man. He just moves to grab his keys off the counter.

“Jesus, Jasmine, I’ll take you before he gets himself in trouble,”

He’s nice. He’s really totally nice. I’ve always had a thing for genuinely sweet guys. Dabin is sweet. He’s nice too. He’s not Lucas nice and maybe that’s why I’m choosing him.

“It’s my ex-boyfriend, Lucas,”

He pauses for a second before shrugging. “It’s fine,”

I sigh. “No, it’s not fine because this is going to happen again and every time I’m going to leave and go get him because we’re all each other has really. Eventually, it’ll come between us and I’ll still choose Dabin and I don’t want to put you through that,”

His head tilts adorably. “Are you, are you breaking up with me?”

I nod slowly. I feel bad. I feel angry. With myself mostly.

“I’ll call you in the morning, Jasmine,” he says finally.

“Lucas-,”

He interrupts me. “Just go do what you have to do. I’ll call you,”

Lucas is one of the ones who won’t realize what I’m saying until he shows up at my apartment and sees Dabin half naked on my couch. Still, I don’t have time right now to give him anything else. I leave, turning my head when he tries to kiss me. Luckily for Dabin, Lucas lives halfway between the bar and my place. It only takes me twenty minutes to get to him.

I park my car and make it to the bar just half-past nine. I spot Christian right away, mainly because eyes usually follows his every move. I move toward him as quickly as I can in these heels. He’s hunched over someone, patting them on the back. Dabin. My heart sinks. Despite everything, I ache.

I cross my arms over my chest psuedo-protectively.

“Hey,”

Christian turns, his brown eyes brightening when he sees me. He moves out of the way so I can get to Dabin. His cheek is pressed against the bar, one hand tunnels through his hair while another grips an empty shot glass.

“What the fuck is wrong with you guys?” I whisper, shaking my head. They’re both at fault. Christian for letting it go this far and Dabin for yet again being an idiot.

“Dabin,” I call.

He doesn’t move. I lean over to the other side to step into his line of vision. His eyes are squeezed shut like he’s trying to hide in plain sight.

“Can she see me?” He slurs. He’s cute even when he’s shit face drunk. The hand that’s been funneling through his hair moves down to cover his face. I roll my eyes and pull the hand. I actively ignore how his skin pulses against mine when I touch him.

“Let’s go,” I say. “Can I have two bottles of water?” I call out to the bartender. He nods and hands me two bottles shaking his head when I try to hand him a wad of cash I pull out.

“I swear I’ll leave you here. Let’s go,” I instruct again.

His eyes pop open, he lifts his head and turns his whole body, his arms wrap around my waist as he holds me tight against him. His shoulders start to shake, and I drop my head back.

I can’t cry. Not right now. Not here. I try to talk to him calmer, coasting him to come with me.

“Dabin, just come with me,”

He looks up at me, his watery eyes blinking. “I’m sorry, Jasmine. Are you mad at me? I’m mad at me. You should just leave me here. I don’t,” He hiccups. “Deserve you. I don’t deserve you,” he repeats the phrase, his tears coming down slowly.

My eyes burn with every tear that soaks through my dress. I can’t keep doing this to myself. This is the last time, I promise while wiping my eyes quickly. I pull at his arms until he stands. I shoot Christian a glare before leaving with my arms around Dabin’s waist and his arm on my shoulder.

Luckily get him seated and buckled isn’t hard. He falls asleep as soon as I start driving. He wakes up when we’re just about ten minutes from my place. His head taps against my window, only stopping to take large sips of his water. He’s sober enough to be embarrassed now. The air in the car is filled with tension from everything he doesn’t say and everything I don’t yell.

I never yell. Not at him. I can’t bring myself to do it. Why can’t I just hold him accountable for his actions?

I grip the steering wheel tight in my hand.

“You can’t keep doing this to me,” I whisper. My throat feels dry from all the tears I’ve been keeping back.

“I know,” he says softly. “I’m sorry,”

“I can’t be in your life like this anymore, Dabin. Not when-,” I still love you. I cut myself off quickly.

“I’m sorry, Jasmine,”

“Are you, though? It seems to me that you’re fine with keeping me around just so I can come clean up after you,”

Dabin stops banging his head on my window and looks straight ahead out the windshield. For however long we’ve been together I never got tuned to his thoughts. I can pick up his mood, but I would never be able to tell you exactly what he’s thinking. I used to think that it was because weren’t able to get close, but that’s not it. That’s just him. He knows how to hide well.

“Have you ever heard of classical conditioning?”

I roll my eyes because I know where he’s going. He’s not wrong but right now I don’t give a damn about Pavlov and his dog. I pull my lip between my teeth a habit that happens when I’m trying to hold my tongue. Snapping on him does nothing. Telling him that he’s slowly turning into a dependent mess won’t help either.

“I was on a date, Dabin. I was with my boyfriend in his apartment about to eat pasta because for the first time in a long time I wanted to be with someone else,” I sigh as I come to a stop at a red light.

“And then you call and it’s like I’m Pavlov’s dog again. I see Christian’s stupid name and dopamine just shoots up to my brain because it’s you. Because for some reason my dumbass is ok with you being a douchebag because at least I get to see you again. At least you want me again,”

Dabin looks at me for the first time since he got in my car. His dark hair is a little longer, his full lips a usually pretty pink are so pale like he’s been gnawing on them.

“Don’t come,”

“What,”

He pushes his hands through his hair and drops his hair back on the seat. His eyes close again.

“Next time just don’t come,”

“Fuck, Dabin. You think I’m going to just let you fucking die of alcohol poisoning. Get your shit together and then I won’t have to stop my life every single fucking time,”

We’re silent for the rest of the ride home. I know he’s still too drunk to have a real conversation. And I’m hungry, tired, and if I’m honest sexual frustrated. I park in my building’s lot and wait for him to get out. He moves slowly, still stumbling a little but at least he can walk on his own. Still, I hook an arm around his waist so he doesn’t fall and knock his head.

When we get up to my place I let us in. I watch as he flops on my couch, his head thrown back and eyes shut. I roll my eyes in frustration and go to get him some Advil, blankets, and a pillow from my room. I set it all in his lap before going into my room to get ready for bed.

I leave my door open so I can see him from my bed. This is what you do for people you love. You take care of them. You make sure they’re safe and comfortable. But there’s a limit. There shouldn’t be and obviously, right now there isn’t but I run every time he calls; only to be reminded in the morning when he’s gone before I wake up that nothings changed. It’s a cycle of that we’re stuck in. And as much as I could yell and scream, as bad as he feels in the morning, nothing will ever change.

When he’s this close again, as bad as it seems, I know that I don’t want it to.

#hong dabin #dpr live #dprteam #christian yu #khh scenarios #khh imagines #park-jaybum writes

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phantom-le6 · 3 years ago

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Episode Reviews - Batman: The Animated Series Season 1 (5 of 10)

Our next instalment of episodes from Batman: The Animated Series season 1 will bring us to a major highlight episode of the series, but first we begin with an introduction to another Batman’s various foes.

Episode 27: Mad as a Hatter

Plot (as given by me):

Wayne Enterprises scientist Jervis Tetch has been neglecting development of microchips to enhance the potential of the human brain, focusing instead on similar technology that acts to allow one person to control others. While Bruce Wayne is accommodating to Tetch, his supervisor Dr Cates is far less understanding. Tetch is comforted by co-worker Alice Pleasance, with whom Tetch is smitten but unable to obtain due to her having a boyfriend.

In private, Tetch contemplates either leaving Alice alone or using his mind control devices on her, but neither option appeals to him; he can’t give up on her, but he doesn’t want her to be a mindless shell either. However, when he learns Alice has had a fight with her boyfriend and the relationship is over, Tetch decides to woo her. He takes her out for a night on the town, dressing himself up to resemble the Mad Hatter from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and using mind-control devices to make other people serve him, creating the impression he is a man of great reputation in Gotham. Along the way, he uses two of the devices to stop two muggers and tells them to jump off a bridge.

The attempted suicide draws the attention of Batman, who saves the criminals and recognises the technology involved as Tetch’s work. The next day, Tetch is infuriated to learn that after his ‘date’ with Alice, her boyfriend apologised and proposed to her, resulting in them becoming engaged. At the same time, Cates informs Tetch that Wayne wants to see him. As a result, Tetch takes control of Cates and leaves, then takes control of Alice’s boyfriend to make him break their engagement off. That evening, Tetch tries to woo Alice again, but he is confronted at her apartment by Batman. Forced to even greater extremes, Tetch sets two mind-controlled henchmen dressed as the Walrus and the Carpenter on Batman, then puts a mind control device on Alice before fleeing with her.

Examining one of the Mad Hatter-style mind control cards and learning the card component came from Storybook Land, a literary-based park, Batman goes there to confront Tetch. Battling his way through an army of mind-controlled people, among them Billy and Dr Cates, and overcoming various wonderland-themed obstacles, Batman finally subdues Tetch. Billy removes Alice’s mind-control headband, freeing her while Tetch watches brokenheartedly from where a Jabberwock statue has him pinned.

Review:

The Mad Hatter is apparently a Batman villain who has been around for a long time according to Wikipedia, going right back to an initial appearance in comics back in 1948. However, unlike some of Batman’s other rogues he doesn’t get draw as much attention when it comes to adaptations. Certainly, his only appearances in Batman films have been the animated direct-to-home-release ones, but he’s managed to make a few good showings in TV show adaptations, this one included. The basic elements of his character, namely an obsession with the works of Lewis Carol in general and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in particular, and mind-controlling people are both incorporated into this episode. However, the episode incorrectly shortens the book title to Alice in Wonderland, doubtless due to Disney and others shortening it in adaptations before this.

It’s a decent introductory episode, and while we can initially empathise a little with Tetch over the unrequited love aspect of his story, his increasingly disturbing use of mind control to win the day for himself swiftly puts his creep factor through the roof. While his motives remain understandable throughout, his methods simply make him someone you’re not going to really feel for by about half-way through at the latest. Overall, I’d give the whole thing 8 out of 10.

Episode 28: Dream in Darkness

Plot (as given by me):

Batman is trapped in a cell at Arkham Asylum, restrained in a straitjacket and not being listened to by the doctors as he warns them of imminent danger to Gotham. A few days before, Batman interfered with someone’s plans to poison the water supply of a local spa, and in the process was exposed to some kind of gaseous chemical. Initially believing himself to be unaffected, Batman later began to experience terrifying hallucinations. Batman later gained confirmation that he was affected from Dr Wu, the hospital doctor treating the would-be saboteur. However, as treatment would put Batman out of action for too long, the dark knight proceeded to Arkham, having deduced the gas to be the Scarecrow’s work.

Crashing the Batmobile due to another hallucination, Batman has now been admitted to Arkham, where the staff are clueless to Scarecrow’s escape. However, when a check of Scarecrow’s room reveals he has escaped, Batman deduces he is actually beneath the asylum. There is a river running through the caverns under the asylum that provides Gotham with water, and Scarecrow is going to put his fear chemicals in the water; the attempt on the spa was a test-run for this. The doctors try to stop Batman due to him still being affected by the fear chemicals, but he is ultimately able to overcome them and get to the caverns.

In the caverns, Batman battles the Scarecrow’s men and his own hallucinations to foil Scarecrow’s plan, and in the process, Scarecrow is exposed to his own chemicals. While Scarecrow is returned to the care of the asylum, Batman finally takes the treatment back in the Batcave and sleeps.

Review:

This is an ok Scarecrow episode whose plot mirrors part of what would end up being the overall story of the 2005 film Batman Begins. It’s also kind of interesting to see Batman being treated as an asylum inmate, although the episode doesn’t really explore the premise as fully as a live-action Batman show might. In fact, this is a key reason why I’d like to see someone do a live-action Batman show instead of a Bruce Wayne/Jim Gordon prequel like Gotham or a spin-off character show like Batwoman. Batman is a character that makes for better TV fodder than film fodder, but sadly no TV show fully does him justice. Even this series, iconic as it is, falls short at times because of its animated and supposedly child-friendly nature. All in all, I’d give this episode 6 out of 10.

Episode 29: Eternal Youth

Plot (as given by me):

As Bruce Wayne angrily threatens to fire one of his executives for making a deal with a slash-and-burn company, he and Alfred stumble upon a video invitation to the ‘Eternal Youth Spa’ in Bruce’s mail. The video invites Bruce for a free weekend at the spa, but Bruce declines. Instead, Alfred is convinced to go along with his lady friend Maggie. At the spa, they are welcomed by scientist Dr Daphne Demeter, who has imbued everything at the spa with a restorative chemical she called Demetrite. Alfred is sceptical at first, but changes his mind upon sampling the spa’s food and water.

Meanwhile, Batman learns a number of corporate executives have disappeared, and when he investigates, he finds one has received the same video invite to the spa that he did. He calls Alfred, who claims the executive in question checked out some weeks ago and has seen nothing untoward, but Batman remains unconvinced. When Alfred returns, he becomes something of a green fanatic, continuing to consume Demetrite and filling the Batcave with plants. However, when Alfred collapses, Batman grows even more concerned and begins an analysis of the Demetrite. Batman’s analysis reveals the chemical can turn human plasma into plant matter, and when he tries to warn Alfred, he finds that his butler has left.

Alfred and Maggie have been drawn back to the spa, but soon find themselves transformed into trees. When Batman follows, it turns out Dr Demeter is actually Poison Ivy; she has been luring corporate executives to her spa to turn them into trees as punishment for business decisions that caused devastation to plant life. Apparently, Alfred and Maggie were targeted in Bruce Wayne’s absence due to the brief-lived deal with the slash-and-burn operation, but Ivy explains her victims are only covering in a tree-like exo-skeleton at the moment; a full transformation will take months of additional spraying.

Ivy then tries to have Batman transformed, but he’s coated his uniform with a herbicidal antidote. He quickly subdues Ivy’s henchwomen, but in trying to tackle Ivy, the chemical enzyme is spilled and causes a massive tree to grow, pinning Ivy to the roof of the spa’s greenhouse before crashing through. In the aftermath, Ivy’s henchwomen are arrested and her victims cured, but Ivy herself is missing. Later, Bruce tries to cheer Alfred and Maggie up with the ill-chosen gift of a plant.

Review:

Out first Poison Ivy episode since she was introduced very early in the series, and to be honest it’s not a great follow-up. Again, we have a mystery that isn’t really a mystery because Ivy’s involvement is given away very early on, making it a boring slog as you watch Batman try to catch up with what the audience already knows. We also have the random one-off character of Maggie as a possible love interest for Alfred…why? Based on my knowledge of the comics, not only does she seem to be a one-off character for the show, but in the comics Alfred had a bit of a love interest in Dr Leslie Thompkins. To my mind, putting both of Bruce’s surrogate parents would have made far more sense. I’m giving this one a meagre 4 out of 10 and hoping for better on the next episode.

Episode 30: Perchance to Dream

Plot (as given by me):

Batman pursues some criminals into a warehouse, but is then knocked out. Coming to back at Wayne Manor, he finds that everything has changed; the Batcave is gone, he’s engaged to Selina Kyle and his parents are still alive. Even stranger, while Bruce is talking with Selina at Wayne Enterprises, they both see Batman intervene in foiling a jewellery heist. Going to see Dr Leslie Thompkins as the only doctor he can trust, Bruce is lead to believe his life as Batman was a disassociation fantasy, something he created to compensate for his hollow life as a rich playboy.

Bruce is ready to embrace this until he tries to read something and finds all the words are jumbled and make no sense. Realising this is all somehow linked to the Batman, Bruce runs away, picking up supplies at a sporting goods store but then abandoning them to escape the police. Finding his way to a belltower he knows to be part of the Batman’s nightly patrol, Bruce confronts “Batman”, and discovers Jervis Tetch, AKA the Mad Hatter, behind the mask. It turns out Bruce, the real Batman, is in a dream machine created by Tetch. The machine reveals nothing to the outside world, so Bruce’s dual identity remains safe; its purpose is to create an ideal reality the occupant of the machine won’t want to escape.

Bruce deduced that he was in a dream based on his inability to dream, claiming that reading was a function of the opposite side of the brain to the one generating dreams. He refuses to live a lie and further deduces that killing himself in the dreamscape will awaken him in the real world. To that end, he hurls himself from the top of the bell tower, and reawakens in the warehouse as Batman. Quickly defeating Tetch’s henchmen, Batman demands to know why Tetch put him in the dream machine. Breaking down into tears, Tetch reveals he was so desperate to have the Batman not interfere with his life, he was willing to give his foe any life he wanted.

Review:

For the first time since the early episodes of this show, we have a Batman villain making a return appearance only a few episodes after they initially show up, and unlike the recent Poison Ivy episode, the mystery isn’t revealed too early. It takes a while to discover what is behind Bruce suddenly not being Batman, but even then, the episode isn’t quite as well-executed as it could be. Part of this is based on an episode of Justice League Unlimited, which used a similar concept but to better effect. However, a far larger part is based on a graphic novel in the Justice League series entitled ‘Divided We Fall’.

The graphic novel in question occurs right after ‘Tower of Babel’, a story arc in which contingency plans created by Batman for taking down his fellow heroes were stolen and used by Ra’s Al Ghul. In the climax of the follow-up arc, an energy-based being known as Id was altering reality based on the wishes of people it encountered. One wish, made by Superman, was that the members of the Justice League didn’t have to have dual identities that made it difficult for the team members to trust each other. As a result of that wish, those members of the league who had dual identities became split into their separate identities.

The split didn’t last because the members found that each half of themselves stabilised the other, and in Batman’s case, the Batman persona was a vessel through which Bruce Wayne could direct his aggression and frustration over being helpless to save his parents. Now granted, that story came to the comics years after this episode, but for me it’s the definitive idea of how Bruce would react to not being Batman if you didn’t go back and change history to achieve that. Bruce would never come close to accepting not being Batman in any situation where he had any memory, any awareness of being Batman, and as such I can’t buy into even the brief moments where he ends up being ok with it. It’s just not who he is, plain and simple. My end score for this episode is 5 out of 10.

Episode 31: The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy

Plot (as given by me):

When bearer bonds ear-marked for humanitarian aid are coerced from a diplomatic courier by means of a death trap, Batman suspects the involvement of one Josiah Wormwood, also known as The Interrogator. To confirm Wormwood is in Gotham, Batman visits Baron Wacklaw Josek, an associate of Wormwood’s, and tries to intimidate him into leaving Gotham for a while. Later, Wormwood meets with Josek, who asks him to obtain the Batman’s cape and cowl. Wormwood wants to know why Josek wants them, but Josek will only reveal this if Wormwood will tell him who hired him to steal the bearer bonds, something Wormwood refuses to disclose.

Batman is later summoned to Gotham Police Headquarters by Commissioner Gordon via the Bat-Signal, where he learns one of Wormwood’s rhyming riddle invitations has been left. The note leads Batman to Traintown, a heritage railway park where Wormwood tries to use the trains as a death-trap. However, Batman is more resourceful than Wormwood expected and escapes, forcing Wormwood to prepare a second trap. This time, he sets the death trap at DeLarue’s Wax Museum, and this time the trap proves too much for Batman, forcing him to hand over his cape and cowl. As a precaution, Batman has a secondary mask under his cowl, so his dual identity is not revealed.

At Josek’s office, Wormwood makes his delivery and his desire to know what Josek will do with the cape and cowl prompts him to finally explain the bearer bond theft. At this point, it is revealed that the Josek Wormwood dealt with was really Batman in disguise; the real Josek left Gotham as Batman had earlier insisted. Wormwood tries to escape with the key that is required to retrieve the bonds, but Batman battles him and ultimately defeats him. The bonds are recovered and Wormwood sent to prison, where Batman sends him his cape and cowl with a rhyming riddle-clue note of his own.

Review:

After a stretch of several proper Batman rogues, it can be nice to get an episode that takes a break and does something different, but this episode isn’t the best break the show could have gone for. The riddle-style clues, while meant to be more rhymes than riddles, shouldn’t have been just because they’re a hallmark of the Riddler (who the show had yet to introduce its version of) or Cluemaster (a more lucid professional criminal who copied the Riddler’s M.O. in the comics to avoid suspicion). I also don’t like the ending where Batman sends his own riddle clue in return; it’s too silly an action to come from a character like Batman, which just makes me think no one took this episode seriously. It seems to just be a ‘let’s put Batman in a bunch of death traps because we’ve not done enough of these’. People, for goodness’ sake, if you want a show about a DC superhero getting out of death traps, make a show for Mr Miracle. I give this episode 4 out of 10.

Episode 32: Robin’s Reckoning (Part 1)

Plot (as given by me):

A stake-out at a construction site results in Batman and Robin tackling a gang of protection racketeers in the bones of an incomplete skyscraper. Capturing one of the criminals for interrogation, the dynamic duo press him for the name of the person running the protection rackets in Gotham. The criminal gives up the name of Billy Marin, which prompts Batman to dismiss Robin to grab the Batmobile, using the time alone with the criminal to extract more information. Batman then returns Robin to the Batcaver before leaving again, refusing to explain his sudden shift in attitude.

Suspecting the mention of Marin’s name is what caused Batman’s sudden change in attitude, Robin looks up the name on the Batcaver computer, and learns that Billy Marin is an alias for Tony Zucco. Robin then flashes back to his childhood; back then he was Dick Grayson, one-third of the Flying Graysons trapeze act at Haley’s Circus. His parents were the other two-thirds of the act. One day, the young Dick saw Tony Zucco arguing with Mr Haley, who refused to pay protection money to Zucco, prompting Zucco to threaten Haley in return.

That night during a charity event for the Wayne Foundation, Dick’s parents fell to their deaths as a result of Zucco sabotaging the trapeze ropes. Having been in the audience, Bruce Wayne remained behind and learned from Jim Gordon that the boy had no family, and while the circus folks wanted to take Dick in, his status as a material witness to the crime meant he could be in danger. As a result, Bruce offered to take Dick into his care at Wayne Manor. Dick was given the room that was Bruce’s as a child.

Meanwhile, Batman experiences his own flashback to the same period in time. Leaving Dick in the capable hands of Alfred, Bruce went out looking for Zucco as Batman. Going undercover to some back-alley street gambling, he learned Zucco was being sheltered by his uncle Arnold Stromwell, and proceeded to press Stromwell on the matter as Batman. Leaving behind a bug, Batman listened in as Stromwell disowned Zucco, but he was then discovered by one of Stromwell’s guard. In the ensuing conflict, Zucco made his mistake. Back at Wayne Manor, Alfred convinced Bruce to give more time to Dick, and the two orphans bonded over their shared loss.

In the present, Robin radios Batman in anger, demanding that he be allowed to be in on finally apprehending Zucco. Batman refuses and cuts the radio link, prompting Robin to head out on the Bat-cycle. Alfred tries to convince Robin that he should listen to Batman, but Robin states before leaving that he can’t do that this time, and maybe never again.

Review:

It’s been a long time coming, indeed too long in my view, but finally we have a Robin origin episode, and it’s a two-part story as well. More to the point, it’s the origin arc for the original Robin. By this time in comics, Dick Grayson had left the role of Robin behind to become Nightwing, Jason Todd had been introduced, revised via the ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ reboot event and killed by the Joker, and Tim Drake was the third Robin, and it would have been very easy for the series to play to the times as they had incorporating elements from the Tim Burton films. However, the series made the smart move and stuck with the longer-standing original, and apparently the part 1 instalment resulted in the series winning an Emmy award.

The episode is great on a few fronts. Not only does it really honour the classic origins of Robin, but it also takes some visual cues from major works in Batman’s comic-book history. There’s also a solid effort to keep the origin story flashbacks consistent with the series by incorporating crime boss Arnold Stromwell from a previous episode. The censorship standards for the show also forced the series to depict the deaths of the Graysons in a stylised manner that makes the scene more effective, and on top of that, you have the contrast of the strained present-day relationship between Robin and Batman, and the earlier, more caring relationship between Bruce and Dick.

Throw in the show’s usual high-quality voice-acting and it’s an episode that I can understand the award-winning status of. At last, we’re back to an episode where I can hand down full marks, even with a pesky part 1 in the title. 10 out of 10 and on to part 2.

Episode 33: Robin’s Reckoning (Part 2)

Plot (as given by me):

Robin attempts to follow Batman to Zucco, but Batman detects this and cuts off whatever means Robin was using to do this. Refusing to bow out, Robin reflects how he managed to find Zucco unaided once before. Some days after Bruce and Dick began to bond with each other, Jim Gordon informed him that Zucco might be trying to skip town. If so, it might prevent Zucco being brought to justice, but could also ensure Dick’s safety as his material witness status would mean nothing without a suspect to charge. Overhearing this, Dick decided to take matters into his own hands.

Running away from Wayne Manor, Dick tried to track down Zucco on the pretence of Zucco being a relation. After saving a prostitute from her abusive pimp, and being treated to dinner at a diner to repay him, Dick learned Zucco was seen coming and going from an abandoned building nearby. Heading to the building, Dick learned Zucco was packing to leave and tried to call the police, but accidentally tipped Zucco off to his presence. Zucco was prevented from harming Dick by the arrival of Batman, and in the ensuing scuffle Dick fell into a channel of water. Batman opted to save Dick over capturing Zucco, then took Dick back to the Batcave, revealing himself to be Bruce Wayne in the process. This signalled Bruce’s intention to have Dick stay with him and become his apprentice.

In the present, Robin cold-calls Zucco from the home of the arrested saboteur to obtain Zucco’s address. However, Zucco is already paranoid from his run-in with Batman years ago, and when he hears noises overhead, he strafes the ceiling of his apartment with machine gun fire. It turns out the noise was Batman, and when the gunfire causes the ceiling to collapse, the dark knight badly injures his knee upon landing. However, Zucco’s panicked firing has made him run out of bullets, and Batman escapes under cover of a smoke bomb.

However, Batman does not get far and is soon pursued through the abandoned boardwalk carnival nearby by Zucco and his men. Zucco, scared to insanity after several years looking over his shoulder, prepares to fire through his men on the carousel in order to get Batman, but before he can, Robin appears. Using the Bat-cycle, he drags Zucco down to the end of the pier, where he then gains the upper hand over the gangster and begins to smack him around.

Batman calls out to Robin to stop, causing Robin to angrily yell that Batman can’t know what he’s feeling. However, the moment he says this, Robin realises Batman knows precisely how he feels and apologises. As Zucco is finally taken into police custody, Robin concludes Batman tried to keep him off the Zucco case because he was worried Robin would cross the line and try to kill Zucco. However, Batman reveals that he actually tried to keep Robin away out of fear Zucco would kill Robin. Making amends, the two heroes head home.

Review:

Part 2 of this episode does a good job bringing part 1 to a decent, satisfying conclusion for the most part. Like the show’s makers, however, I feel more should have been worked in showing Dick actually becoming Robin and seeing him grow up, but sadly this episode doesn’t deliver on that, and nor do any subsequent episodes. Frankly, I think that’s a pity, and it would be nice if Warner Brothers and DC could put together a film or series set between this episode’s flashback and the present day of this show detailing the early years of this Robin. That aside, it’s a good part 2 episode, but the lack of young Robin moments means I can’t quite give it top marks. This time, it’s only 9 out of 10 that I’m prepared to bestow.

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storytime-reviews · 7 years ago

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My 2017 Book Reviews

This is my masterlist of the books I’ve reviewed this year. For the full list of books I’ve read this year, including rereads, check out my Goodreads.

Unfortunately these days I don’t get as much time to read due to lots of uni study, which includes lots of readings and dissertation writing! Hopefully next year I’ll be able to read more, especially because I finish my dissertation halfway through the year.

FICTION:

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum by Heinrich Boll [5 Stars] {reread}

A young woman's association with a hunted man makes her the target of a journalist determined to grab headlines by portraying her as an evil woman. As the attacks on her escalate and she becomes the victim of anonymous threats, Katharina sees only one way out of her nightmare. Turning the mystery genre on its head, the novel begins with the confession of a crime, drawing the reader into a web of sensationalism, character assassination, and the unavoidable eruption of violence.

Hover Car Racer by Matthew Reilly [5 Stars] {reread}

Meet Jason Chaser, hover car racer. He's won himself a place at the International Race School, where racers either make it on to the Pro Circuit - or they crash and burn. But he's an outsider. He's younger than the other racers. His car, the Argonaut, is older. And on top of that, someone doesn't want him to succeed at the School and will do anything to stop him. Now Jason Chaser isn't just fighting for his place on the starting line, he's racing for his life.

Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo [5 Stars]

Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker has been offered wealth beyond his wildest dreams. But to claim it, he'll have to pull off a seemingly impossible heist: Break into the notorious Ice Court (a military stronghold that has never been breached) Retrieve a hostage (who could unleash magical havoc on the world) Survive long enough to collect his reward (and spend it) Kaz needs a crew desperate enough to take on this suicide mission and dangerous enough to get the job done - and he knows exactly who: six of the deadliest outcasts the city has to offer. Together, they just might be unstoppable - if they don't kill each other first.

The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan [5 Stars]

Zeus has punished his son Apollo--god of the sun, music, archery, poetry, and more--by casting him down to earth in the form of a gawky, acne-covered sixteen-year-old mortal named Lester. The only way Apollo can reclaim his rightful place on Mount Olympus is by restoring several Oracles that have gone dark. What is affecting the Oracles, and how can Apollo/Lester do anything about them without his powers? After experiencing a series of dangerous--and frankly, humiliating--trials at Camp Half-Blood, Lester must now leave the relative safety of the demigod training ground and embark on a hair-raising journey across North America.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas [5 Stars]

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin-one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

Origin by Dan Brown [5 Stars]

Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, arrives at the ultramodern Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao to attend a major announcement—the unveiling of a discovery that “will change the face of science forever.”

The evening’s host is Edmond Kirsch, a forty-year-old billionaire and futurist whose dazzling high-tech inventions and audacious predictions have made him a renowned global figure. Kirsch, who was one of Langdon’s first students at Harvard two decades earlier, is about to reveal an astonishing breakthrough … one that will answer two of the fundamental questions of human existence…

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan [5 Stars]

Crazy Rich Asians is the outrageously funny debut novel about three super-rich, pedigreed Chinese families and the gossip, backbiting, and scheming that occurs when the heir to one of the most massive fortunes in Asia brings home his ABC (American-born Chinese) girlfriend to the wedding of the season.

When Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home, long drives to explore the island, and quality time with the man she might one day marry. What she doesn't know is that Nick's family home happens to look like a palace, that she'll ride in more private planes than cars, and that with one of Asia's most eligible bachelors on her arm, Rachel might as well have a target on her back.

Heartless by Marissa Meyer [4 Stars]

Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland and a favourite of the unmarried King, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, she wants to open a shop and create delectable pastries. But for her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for a woman who could be a queen…

Three Dark Crowns By Kendare Blake [4 Stars]

In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions. But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose … it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins. The last queen standing gets the crown.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater [4 Stars]

Every year, the Scorpio Races are run on the beaches of Skarmouth. Every year, the sea washes blood from the sand. To race the savage water horses can mean death, but the danger is irresistible.

When Puck enters the races to save her family, she is drawn to the mysterious Sean, the only person on the island capable of taming the beasts.

A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab [3 Stars]

Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black. Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they’ll never see. It’s a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

Genuine Fraud by E Lockhart [3 Stars]

Imogen is an heiress, a runaway, and a cheat. Jule is a fighter, a chameleon, and a liar.

Imogen is done pretending to be perfect, and Jule refuses to go back to the person she once was. Somewhere between the mansions of Martha’s Vineyard and the shores of Cabo San Lucas, their intense friendship takes a dark turn.

The Selection and The Elite by Keira Cass [3 Stars + 2 Stars]

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon…

The Martian by Andy Weir [2 Stars]

I’m stranded on Mars. I have no way to communicate with Earth. I’m in a Habitat designed to last 31 days. If the Oxygenator breaks down, I’ll suffocate. If the Water Reclaimer breaks down, I’ll die of thirst. If the Hab breaches, I’ll just kind of explode. If none of those things happen, I’ll eventually run out of food and starve to death. So yeah. I’m screwed.

NON-FICTION:

Yassmin’s Story by Yassmin Abdel-Magied [5 Stars]

Frank, fearless, funny, articulate, and inspiring, Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a young Muslim dynamo offering a bracing breath of fresh air—and hope. At 21, Yassmin found herself working on a remote Australian oil and gas rig; she was the only woman and certainly the only Sudanese-Egyptian-Australian background Muslim woman.

With her hijab quickly christened a "tea cosy," there could not be a more unlikely place on earth for a young Muslim woman to want to be. This is the story of how she got there, where she is going, and how she wants the world to change.

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly [5 Stars]

Before John Glenn orbited the Earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of professionals worked as “Human Computers,” calculating the flight paths that would enable these historic achievements. Among these were a coterie of bright, talented African-American women.

Segregated from their white counterparts by Jim Crow laws, these “colored computers,” as they were known, used slide rules, adding machines, and pencil and paper to support America’s fledgling aeronautics industry, and helped write the equations that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert [5 Stars]

Over the last half-billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs.

This time around, the cataclysm is us.

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson [2 Stars]

While you wait for your morning coffee to brew, for the bus, the train, or a plane to arrive, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry will reveal just what you need to be fluent and ready for the next cosmic headlines: from the Big Bang to black holes, from quarks to quantum mechanics, and from the search for planets to the search for life in the universe.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson [1 Star]

A ‘self help’ book on how supposedly your life will be better if you stop trying to be positive all the time. Mostly descends into narcissistic drivel.

#booklr #bookblr #books #reading #new years eve #masterlist #book review #2017 book reviews #2017 #personal #uni

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tube-thoughts-blog · 7 years ago

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Vol. 10

zero stars - terrible, 1/2 a star - dull, 1 star - folly, 1 1/2 stars - lacking, 2 stars - fair, 2 1/2 stars - decent, 3 stars - terrific

Killer Couples: Toybox Killings *An interstate prostitute escapes from a Truth or Consequences, New Mexico "rape dungeon" after being held hostage by a near retirement park ranger party animal and his much younger but still nearing middle aged yet still a white trash party girl at heart lover and willing accomplice. Oxygen network thrives on this kind of investigative murder porn, but gives mixed signals when the show's main sponsor is Oxygen's previews for a feel good family sitcom featuring Damon Wayans.* either zero or 2 stars

Breaking Greenville: You Are Now Safe *An orange tanned, obnoxious news anchor goes weird on the air and starts having a midlife crisis while talking inappropriately to the viewers about his pending divorce. The same guy brings together his news crew, in his small apt, to give them facial masks and it gets surreal looking at newspeople being reality tv stars buying for fifteen minutes of fame with these strange painted faces. Then, a nerdy meteorologist gives an awkward report from a tornado bunker, followed by a spunky morning reporter trying her hardest to be serious for a story of a church burning. A news veteran, with a walrus mustache, gives the spunky reporter advice, while inhaling a chocolate covered donut, to cover more stories about happy topics like food.* close to 2 1/2 stars

Crossballs, the debate show: Plastic Surgery, Nip-pocalypse *Put a bag over your head, if you must, but don't put a butterfly tattoo on your ankle.* close to 3 stars

The Ben Stiller Show: Season 1 Episode 12 *"There's nothing like being part of the team. That feeling that you're just an insignificant part of a much larger scheme." All for one and one for all. You can't handle the truth or pull the sword from the stone. "Human flesh is the ultimate fun food."* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

Look Around You: Ghosts *They're there in their room.* close to 3 stars

Hippies: Muddy Hippies *Pitching a tent with the socialist state, landing in doo doo, and selling out to the bank.* 2 1/2 stars

The Gong Show with Dave Attell: Season 1 Episode 4 *The original Gong Show had acts more absurd and interesting than 20 something hipster nerd that's kind of good at yo yo or stripper catholic school chick lesbo act that's entertaining only at bachelor and frat parties.* running from 1 to close to 2 stars

=== Ghosts Adventures, Aftershocks with Zak Bagans: Zozo

*D-bag Zak puts on a sports jacket over his muscle shirt to give some former haunted people, from the show, a bit of paranormal therapy, Dr. Phil style.

The poor sap on this episode gets hammered with accusations that his conjuring of a demon via a oujia board (available at toy stores and gag gift shops in malls nationwide) led to his ex-wife having an affair with the nasty spirit and to her current stay in jail.

You can't make this stuff up. Oh, wait... you can, and they did, and it's as laughable to watch as it sounds.

Also, and I'm not making this up, there's some kind of contention, that needed to be explained by host and guest, about said lady's crotch odor actually not being her fault and instead was a sulfur smell from the pits of hell.

No kidding.*

1 star

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

---- 12:01 Beyond --- Episode #5 --- Love Is Sex Misspelled ---------

*RKO cartoon - Cupid Gets His Man: An all out Cherub amorous assault on an old maid and an old bachelor.* 2 stars

*Old school, praise-filled promo for the cult classic Dr. Caligari 1989.* 3 stars

*Mr. Lobo sends one out to the lovers who like to "cop a feel."* 2 1/2 stars

*"Eavesdrop on America's darkest secrets." Intimate Secrets "Adults only. $2.00 per minute. Classic sleazy 900 number phone service.* 3 stars

*Ninja the Mission Force - "N" Is For Ninja: "Keep your money in your shoe." and your heart off your pajama sleeve.* close to 3 stars

*Super retro anti-drug cartoon circa late 60s or early 70s from Hanna Barbera.* 3 stars

*Republic Pictures Serials - The Crimson Ghost in Chapt. 5 'Flaming Death': Collision course on a collision course.* 2 stars

*Ballroom Dance Floor (interesting music video inspired by the Great Gatsby.* 2 1/2 stars

*Grindhouse trailer showing an "Oath of Green Blood."* 2 1/2 stars

*Mr. Lobo romances a potted plant.* between 2 and 2 1/2 stars

*A big costume heart shows up and sings to Mr. Lobo and his potted lady.* 2 1/2 stars

*Tom Sizemore in "Bad Love": Tom is Lenny -a lowlife, jealous, pathetic, controlling, abusive, mostly terrible lover/boyfriend to this short-haired city chick, who could do much better but is too dumb to try, in a saxophone and soft piano filled skid row setting softcore sex in the mid 90s romance flick.* close to 2 1/2 stars

*Videotape advertisement for satellite signal descrambler to have "American eXXXtasy" available to all those using a video cipher 2 for only a few hundred bucks. Get all the porn you want, same as an average schmoe in a trucker hat and a plaid shirt.* 3 stars

*A colorized King Kong goes car shopping for a Volkswagen to haul his captive sweetie around in a 1960s or early 70s car advertisement.* close to 3 stars

*Mr. Lobo can't get any privacy or satisfaction from the invasive Heart mascot, a cloud of poisonous urinal cake gas, or a post-apocalyptic plant lady mishap.* 2 stars

*Classic TNT Monstervision theme song, sung by Joe Bob Briggs, intro video where Joe Bob can't get any love from the hot, white trash bimbo TNT "Mail Girl."* 3 stars

*"Red Nightmare": Jack Webb stands on suburban street corners, staring into windows, abducting family men, who won't get in line and act like a good American, sending them to Soviet society where their freedoms are stripped away. Jack Webb is too ignorant to see the irony of his own thoughts and actions.* 1 star

*Superman in "Jungle Drums": "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!" Superman saves Lois from stereotype African savages who are trying to sacrifice her for not spilling top U.S. Navy ship location secrets to the savages' Nazi overlords." 3 stars

*"Women fear being raped, but it's double the fear if it's in outerspace and by aliens." in this grindhouse quality trailer for "Insemenoid."* 3 stars

*Colorful, quirky, scale model filled XXX outerspace adventure with horny space women, Harry Potter look-a-like with his Hogwarts professor sidekick, and overtly gay alien ship's computer voice. "Spaced Out." a grindhouse style trailer.* 3 stars

*"Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders" another retro trailer.* 3 stars

*Mr. Lobo is the last man on earth, left to his own devices -licking telephone receivers.* close to 2 1/2 stars

*Zero stars for the annoying voice over lady who complained during everyone of her intros. Was an enhancement the first few episodes of 1201, but for this episode it was a real detraction. Not sure if it was part of the act, or if it was a legitimate show of feelings. Either way, it sucked. Get rid of it, and her, if necessary.*

===========================================================

VH1 sneak preview "Hot Grits" *Another insipid reality mess featuring "good looking" people, this time the cast being overprivileged 20 somethings from the southern United States (A number of other cable networks have similar shows. So, it's already a tired premise.) and VH1 really is daring its idiotic viewers to "hate watch" the awful people and antics on this steaming vomit, served in a bowl, excuse for a tv show.* zero stars

Red Letter Media presents Best of the Worst: Blood Debts, The Tomb, and Undefeatable *Generic Charles Bronson with a tiny cannon and a wife named simply "his wife" in the movie's credits, then a Indiana Jones rip off that has nearly zero action... limited stars' screentime... and phone filled exposition, followed finally by a mom jeans karate lady in a universe where everyone knows karate and an eyeball ripping out serial rapist is on the loose.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

American Horror Story - Asylum: Continuum *Communal state of delusion.* 3 stars

Crossballs, the debate show: Hellphones versus Interthreat *Electronic etiquette.* close to 3 stars

Forensic Files: Bitter Potion *Poisoned by Pie. Scratch that. Poisoned by Coca-Cola. Better yet, poisoned by a member of MENSA. A real 'Walter White type' chemist / former meth cook.* 3 stars

Weird Science: Fatal Lisa *"Getting it on (on the hood of a Dodge Viper, which is true love)" with a genie who won't take no for an answer.* 3 stars

Wizards and Warriors: Night of Terror *For the night is long and filled with spiders.* 3 stars

Swamp Thing: The Prometheus Parabola *John Wayne and Arcane have a tech-war shootout showdown.* either 1 or 3 stars

Viper: Firehawk *"Beware the Bandersnatch" Urban assault and compromising situations of a vehicular nature.* either 1 1/2 stars or close to 3 stars

Spicy City: Manos Hands *Redbeans, bongo musica, and bruja? brewha?* close to 3 stars

X Files: Darkness Falls *Pitch black.* 3 stars

Crossballs, the debate show: Mother Earth Bitch *Throwing a live chicken, wearing a jet pack, into the air is not pollution.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

Forensic Files: Fatal Fungus *Mold takes hold in the ghetto.* 2 1/2 stars

Gargoyles: Reawakening *Castle and community.* close to 3 stars

Hill Street Blues: Gatorbait *Passive aggressive "Prelude to oblivion."* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

Robocop the series: Trouble In Delta City *Strange side effects. Tame violence and hokey characters are just fine when the satire is funny and biting.* close to 3 stars

The Gong Show with Dave Attell: Season 1 episode 5 *This show is so far removed from the spirit of the original Gong Show that it reminds one of a skanky Hard Rock Cafe amateur talent night. Adam Sandler's production company "Happy Madison" is in charge of the show, so that says something about the quality and the reason why this episode featured two unworthy, obnoxious female friends of his who were also "actresses" in one of his terrible movies (Something something Zohan).* 1 1/2 stars

Everything Is Terrible -----------------

*Family Easter Hell!: "Because he lives, we can face tomorrow. Now, here's an egg." A decorated egg.* 3 stars

*Christ Or Die: Too busy to hear about salvation? Think it's nonsense? Boom, comically horrible death without redemption.* 3 stars

*Jesus Has A Big Dick!: #BOING!# "That's right!" Gitty up, little doggie.* 3 stars

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

VH1 Classic --- Pop Up Video --- Episode 3

*Meredith Brooks - "Bitch": A female dog was the first earth creature to orbit in outerspace.* 3 stars with pop ups 2 1/2 stars without pop ups

*Gin Blossoms - "Allison Road": According the the U.S. Census Bureau, you are watching television right now.* 3 plus stars with pop ups 3 stars without pop ups

*Madonna - "Take A Bow": Madonna wanted to get knocked up by Dennis Rodman. True fact. And true that she is as pretentious as this gorgeous 90s artsy music video.* 3 plus stars with pop ups 3 stars without pop ups

*Milli Vanilli - "Girl You Know It's True": The only thing true about Milli Vanilli was they were both lip syncing.* 3 plus stars with pop ups 3 stars (guilty pleasure) without pop ups

*Bobby McFerrin - "Don't Worry, Be Happy": "Happiness is a psychiatric disorder."* 3 plus stars with pop ups 3 stars without pop ups

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

Look Around You: Sulphur *"9 hundred billion, billion, billion, billion matches."* 3 stars

Twitch City: People Who Fight Too Much *"Alleged spontaneous nature of..." dynamics.* 3 stars

Crossballs, the debate show: Voting, Electile Dysfunction *Don't "Rock the Vote!" More people coupon than vote. Voting should be fun like the lottery or the Pepsi Challenge.* 3 stars

The Ben Stiller Show: season 1 episode 13 *"Doomed souls wander the earth, unfit for either Heaven or Hell." Special guest Howie Mandell, and a Jeffersons reunion.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

"Bad Dudes Versus Dragon Ninja" (A Data East arcade game) *In 2015, Islamic terrorists are beheading innocents, Hillary is once again running for the highest office in the land, and a moron lands a gyrocopter on the lawn of the capitol building. In the 1980s, we had a president named "Ronnie" and he was kidnapped by ninjas.* close to 3 stars

"Shaq Fu" (*Brought to us by PEPSI and ego*) *Shaq wanders into an Oriental antiques shop, the kind that would sell a Mogwai to a stupid Westerner. The little old man sends him to retrieve a golden child from an ancient realm where Shaq ventures across what looks like the map from Super Mario World for the SNES and there he beats up voodoo women, cat women, and stereotype Universal style monsters.* 2 stars

Hippies: Disgusting Hippies *Young punks think Simon Pegg's hippie newsletter editor character is a cunt.* 3 stars

Weird Science: Killer Party *"Did you just turn my parents into teenage party animals!?!"* 3 stars

The Greatest American Hero: Reseda Rose *First off, it's crummy being an 80s kid with a flakey parent who won't spend her weekend with a kid at the zoo, 'cause she's too busy with her acting in commercials career. Then The Greatest American Hero breaks Superman's privacy rule by using his x-ray vision powers to peak through walls at a cocktail waitress hogtied by Russian undercover spies.* close to 3 stars

The Gong Show with Dave Attell: Season 1 Episode 6 *More b list celebrities flirting with Las Vegas "rawker" looking skanks and trying way too hard to be edgy talent/comedy routines.* between 1 1/2 and 2 stars

Bob and Margaret: The Dental Convention *Oral hypnotism. Bob's "matter of fact" attitude charms the masses and puts off his smarmy, new age dental clinic dental school classmate at a dental convention in Frankfurt, Germany.* close to 3 stars

Flinch (Vertigo - DC Comics) ------

*Mostly White: Women lose their small child during the insipid panic surrounding a big department store's Christmas rush. Reminds one of a more bleak Storm of the Century by Stephen King.* close to 3 stars

*The Harvester: Surgery of harvesting a deadbeat's organs goes through, even with the moral dilemma of the supposed braindead deadbeat not being dead.* 2 1/2 stars

*Sitter!: A neurotic slacker gets stuck babysitting his thug friend's wrapped in plastic dead stripper girlfriend's body that he shows up at his apartment with.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

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

--- The Ben Stiller Show: Unaired Sketches

*An absurd and kooky wrestling characters battle royale. Ben dresses up like a deformed Ron Perlman and along with Bob Odenkirk and Andy Dick predicts the sad, pathetic lives of what would become "furries" in a mascot competition.

'Hard Edition,' a Hard Copy tabloid tv show parody keeps catching a horny, teenage Andy Dick whacking off to nudey magazines.

Three's Company era Don Knotts portrayed by Andy Dick joins a spandex wearing and lasso swinging Ben Stiller infomercial workout expert and his dominatrix.

Bob Odenkirk is a creepy, conspiracy theorist sitting on a bench in a park rambling about cancer, Dick Clark, Elvis, adult diaper cartels, tainted peanut butter assassinations.*

(I can see why some of these didn't make the cut, but still funny.)

3 stars

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

Crossballs, the debate show: Sex Battle USA *A flamboyant pansexual Matt Besser character gets bitchy with a conservative reverend who believes the sexes should act their sex. A feminist has to explain the 1964 Civil Rights act allowed for women's rights not to be sexually exploited in the workplace. Ha. A business consultant thinks that the WNBA should dress their ladies like the Lingerie Football League so that they'll stop be unsuccessful in the ratings and attendance. A crazy inventor presents a robot vagina for the workplace.* close to 3 stars

Battletoads in Battlemaniacs (SNES) *So we've got an evil sorceress Latoya Jackson look-a-like, a turkey behind a computer terminal, and a jacked up toad zipping its way through hordes of pig-beasts wearing amateur wrestling singlets and viking helmets, raccoons with magnets, moles on checker board pieces all through fast flying obstacles and platform puzzle levels, like one where the toad has to hang on for a ride on the back of two tropical snakes through the holes of their tunnel nest. A rare gem alongside Donkey Kong Country and Rayman.* close to 3 stars

Death Rattle #18 (Kitchen Sink Comix) -------

*Bulto the Cow Camp, Thirty Years Later....: Historical and allegorical tales of ancient deposits of precious minerals sought by 19th century men of manifest destiny with gold and silver twinkling in their beady eyes.* 3 stars

*The Old Wisconsin That I Knew: Musings of an early 20th century bigot thinking back on when he and the white man could exploit and show unpunished cruelty to the red man out in the frontier of Wisconsin. Thanks to nature's natural ways, a cruel fate meets the old bastard in the most bleak and darkly poetic way possible, spilling his guts before his eyes and leaving his bones to be drenched by pounding rains and dried by the menacing sun.* 3 stars

*Small Acts of Revenge: A loner, whose overbearing parents still haunt him from the grave, tries to escape reality into the grotesque world of Tales from the Crypt style comics. That is when he's not being haunted by the gruesome visages of the victims of his wrongfully applied revenge.* close to 3 stars

*When I Grow Up: Kids playing make believe, on a suburban lawn, see a shooting star. A somber girl makes a wish, and strangely they begin aging and acting out the drama of their teenage through adulthood to middle age and death life sorrows.* close to 3 stars

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

The Angry Video Game Nerd: Atari Porn *In the early days of videogames, designers were happy just to be able to pixelate penises, humping, and ejaculating. It was that immature. Take history's tragic a-hole, General Custer, and have him dodging arrows so that he can poke a naked Indian chick tied to a cactus. Have a guy jerking off on top of a building with willing naked bimbos below to catch his falling semen. How bout a topless witch squirting milk to men with their goobers poking out of their pants? Or even a juvenile fantasy of a poorly pixelated naked chick stalking a neighborhood and breaking into houses to hump men in their sleep?* 1 star for the shitty games 3 stars for Nerd enduring the absurdity of it all

Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City (Electronic Arts for Super Nintendo) *When Michael Jordan was the most exciting athlete in the world, he was careful about how he had his image used. He'd play Larry Bird in a ridiculous game of h-o-r-s-e for a Big Mac or Pepsi, and he'd sell overpriced sneakers in an arthouse commercial co-starring and directed by Spike Lee, but you couldn't live out your dreams of being like Mike in basketball videogames like the awesome arcade dunkfest NBA JAM. No. At the time, you could play this game and bounce a basketball around a haunted, flooded, bat infested house / dungeon to platform hop and rescue Michael Jordan's NBA All Star team-mates.* 1 1/2 stars

Look Around You: Music *Don't play the forbidden notes.* 2 1/2 stars

Obscurus Lupa Presents: Pocket Ninja *If you were an 80s or early 90s kid, you were a martial arts spazz. You watched Ninja Turtles, you watched 3 Ninjas (barf), Surf Ninjas (laughs). and you were a threat to kick another kid or adult in the nuts while stupidly attempting karate. This one, Pocket Ninja, is a relic of its time. It's a cheap and direct to video IMDB bottom 100 "movie" featuring poor editing, awful slapstick in place of entertaining chop sockey, bad acting 90s brats, and a lot of taking itself not serious at all while thinking it's funny when it's not.* 2 1/2 stars for Obscurus Lupa's review and 1 star for the movie clips

=== Dead Rising *2006* (All story cutscenes in movie form)

*I'm not here to discuss the sandbox gameplay.

The cutscenes play like any other zombie outbreak flick, and nicely, with the usual mad science government conspiracy gone wrong.

This time with a theme of Americans' insatiable lust for red blooded meat and the abuse of the third world to get it.

Like with their Resident Evil series, Capcom nails the ambiance of a survival horror story with the crawling up on your shoulder sounds and music cues, and the mall setting is a nice homage to Dawn of the Dead.

Expect over the top acting performances from the CGI created stars and voice actors.

But unfortunately like more recent Capcom survival horror games it strays off the path with too big of a narrative scope and not knowing when to stop and what genre to stay in

(zombie wasps, Oriental stereotype psychopath butchers and grocery store managers gone mad, and an ending involving a military jeep battle with a tank commanded by the type of military a-hole like in Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket).

Other than that it fits in nicely with the zombie revival craze of the 2000s.*

2 1/2 stars

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

Xenophage, Alien Bloodsport (Story Mode) *A "faces of meth" David Duchovny look-a-like, in a Canadian tuxedo, along with a Gillian Anderson look-a-like, both get abducted by the United Federation of Planets & Hokey Outer Space Martial Arts Tournaments. Nick (Duchovny) is midly disturbed by this. Think Mortal Kombat meets Celebrity Deathmatch levels of uncanny valley faces on the two humans. Of course, these two everyday Joe and Jane pair can hurl energy blasts from the palms of their hands, as requirement by all fighting games. The lizard / insect alien creature designs are at least visually interesting and deserve to belong in a better mid-90s sci fi PC game.* 1 star

River City Ransom (NES) *This game lives up to its name. You pretty much walk along the streets, by a river, in a nice Japanese (posing for American, I guess?) city, getting hit in the back of the head by "student" thugs, with street gang weapons, as you try to rescue your girlfriend from a high ranking crime lord named Slick. Sounds like the plot for many other 80s beat 'em ups / karate movies, and it is. Charming little title with the bite sized NES and cute little Japanese flare, including a bad side of town called "Generic Guy Territory" or something along those lines. And don't worry about the enemies, because our hero has a superfast kick attack that would make Street Fighter's Chun Li's loins quiver.* 2 1/2 stars

"No Exit" (Amiga) *A 2D fighter that looks like it pre-dates both Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. More like Mortal Kombat, though, and a possible influence (?) on the series. It contains small character sprites but they can perform special moves like turning into killer fish and screaming banshee faces. There's even a hilarious finishing move sequence where the loser walks around headless, with the head floating just there, before they collapse into a pool of blood and electric sparks. The backgrounds are dark and gothic with demonic statues and menacing trees with faces, again like Mortal Kombat. Also there's an intro screen / possible box art with a regular Joe street fighting man set against a dark and gritty cityscape with the 'Satanic-goat-horned' image of what must be the main villain against the background, and that's just pure exploitation goodness for ya.* 2 1/2 stars

Everything Is Terrible: 2 Minute Super Soul Brother *"Doing it" in the name of science (?), money (?), bulletproof skin, mad science midgets, and big tittied blonde women.* 3 stars

Mortal Kombat: Defenders of Stupidity *Kombat krazy white chick special operative in gymnastics attire, untrustorthy ninjas of all kinds of variety, bumbling super computer wizard Native American stereotypes, and a black dude with bionic arms who calls a Thunder God the unflattering insult name of "girlfriend."* 3 stars

Eternal Champions (Sega Genesis) *A 1920s gangster, who knows kung fu, is teleported to a mystical martial arts tournament after his death. Fight against trident wielding mer-men, prehistoric brutes, neo ninja chicks, and cyborg dudes in a colorful Street Fighter 2 clone.* between 2 and 2 1/2 stars

Red Letter Media presents Best of the Worst ---------

*Ghetto Blaster: An urban warfare expert returns to his home city and finds it full of crime. After the convenience store robbery death of his dad and the brutal burning to death of his old black man friend (and his alley cat), the guy decides to take action. Pulling off mildly harmful clown pranks on the goofy acting gang bullies around town.* either 1 star or 2 stars

*Terror In Beverly Hills: "Terrorists have kidnapped the President's daughter and are holding her hostage in the old bean factory." (PfffHAA!) Cue keyboard cat-lady and Frank (totally not Sylvester) Stallone.* either 1 star or between 2 and 2 1/2 stars

*Killing American Style: Elephant Man look-a-like Robert Zadar and his gang of escaped convicts and sex perverts pull off a violent / half assed home invasion "thriller" at the home of a Rico Suave look-a-like and Steven Segal martial arts expert.* either zero stars (uncomfortable family murder / rape), 1 star, or 2 stars

Red Letter Media agrees that Terror In Beverly Hills is Best of the Worst

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

Natsume and Milton Bradley present "Abadox" *Imagine Metroid for the NES, only with monsters ripped from the minds of H.R. Giger and Clive Barker.* 3 stars

"Guardians of the Hood" (Atari Arcade) 1992 *Some Jersey Shore rejects battle their way through a poorly digitized bad side of town filled with hookers and gangbangers and flashing perverts. Cheered on by a haggard looking gym owner similar to Mickey from Rocky. And unconvincingly menaced by a lipstick wearing model in "guy drag." In a tacky twist ending (to go along with the tacky rest of the game), the "Big Boss" (the model) takes off her old school gangster disguise and has a final fight with our steroid muscled and orange tan heroes while she wears dominatrix attire.* 1star

Everything Is Terrible: 3 Minute Bulletproof *Gary Busey invents and overuses the catchphrase "butthorn." Whatever that means.* 3 stars

"Kakuto Chojin" (X-BOX) *In the early 2000s, industrial techno noise & nu-metal guitar riffs were a grating chorus to America's bleeding eardrums, and the same "xtremez" who enjoyed this were likely to take Fight Club literally. This game represents the kind of turn of Y2K, gritty, urban fist to face revivals supposedly going on in back alleys and parking garages across cities nationwide. Gritty, but pretty in the same way Ninja Gaiden could be on the X-Box hardware. And featuring a nice presentation effect of having the camera do a 360 degree slow motion pan around each KO. The most memorable thing about the game is the controversy around one character's Muslim extremist dialogue in the game. This lead to it being pretty much dead on arrival in the American videogame climate of the early days after 9/11.* between 2 and 2 1/2 stars

"JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" (Dreamcast) *Over the top manga presentation style with characters drawn in the same way mannequins' faces are both appealing and appalling. Each fighter fights alongside a spirit / avatar being / creature. It's like the Monty Python cartoon, but creepier, cousin to all the other highly animated 2D Japanese fighting games of the 90s. Funniest moment, that I witnessed, being when a steam-roller gets dropped on a pug sized dog character and the opponent begins pounding the steam-roller, with his fists, as the dog whimpers beneath.* 2 1/2 stars

"Dark Edge" Sega 1992 (Arcade) *Set in a sprite art pixelated and nifty cyberpunk dystopia. Battle it out as leather clad ninja chicks on hoverboards, mech dudes with missiles and flying torpedo dive attacks, biological monsters, another guy in a monkey-fighting-style inspired mech suit, and a final boss that's a techno ghoul nightmare like out of Frank Miller's Ronin. Fighters can move around each other giving the illusion of early 3D gameplay, and featuring the upbeat style of 90s Japanese video game music and bad "Engrish" phrases like "Wound One" instead of round one.* close to 2 1/2 stars

"Strider" Capcom (Arcade) *"All sons of old gods die!" Pretty dramatic, eh? Well, if Emperor Palpatine made a deal with space pirates, Amazon women, and robotic commies you wouldn't need no Jedi, Wonder Woman, Captain America, or Flash Gordon to save the day. Just take one arcade token and about 15 minutes and let a wall climbing ninja do what the galactic rebels couldn't do in a trilogy of movies.* close to 3 stars

Everything Is Terrible: 3 Minute Netforce *'So dated that it's funny' fearmongering about the dangers of global e-terror during the early days of the internet.* 3 stars

---- Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 (Nintendo 64)

*The world of pro wrestling is a niche part of entertainment culture.

Fans watch it for a variety of reasons:

kids who enjoy the heroic action, adults (who never grew up) for a more nostalgic reason, fandom fans who admire the celebrity surrounding the hunky dudes and buxom babes of the sport (er... sports-entertainment), and the internet wrestling community who dissect the current product and the past eras of the product and consider it an artform with varying degrees of level of quality of product and performance.

Well, you can't get more niche than a Japanese version of pro wrestling and a pro wrestling game that was made in the late 90s.

The popular AKI "No Mercy" wrestling engine featuring a legendary wrestler and anime character "Tiger Mask Number 2" and portrayed by a legendary Japanese wrestler (Misawa) who tragically died while performing his "art."

In this game, it's made weirder by the fact the game features a crowd of cardboard cut out Japanese wrestling fans.

Yeah, pro wrestling is niche, and weird, but it's fun, just like this wrestling game featuring great action and a great game engine that's had a lasting appeal of fun gameplay to play or watch for close to two decades.*

3 stars

============================================================

"Buriki One" (SNK) 1999 *Remember that scene in the movie "Lost In Translation" where Bill Murray couldn't get the tone right for his Japanese whiskey commercial? That's sort of what this game is like and that weird period of time when combat sports mayhem was trying to figure out just how to go about what would eventually become mixed martial arts like the UFC. Different styles of throwdown meet here, on the mat, including everything from karate to pro wrestling to low impact elderly ancient Chinese exercise technique (jk). It's interesting, but it works about as well and is almost as boring as the first time these different styles of sport met when boxing clashed with karate in the infamous Ali versus Inoki fight where one challenger, afraid of the other's fists, chose to lie on the ring floor and kick at the other like a scared rabbit.* either 1/2 a star or close to 2 1/2 stars

"3 Count Bout" (SNK) *Superficial and on the surface is a stigma when it comes to video game graphics. As soon as developers could make 3D and fans could get their hands on it, we entered into a trying time. Blocky and often ugly characters replaced sprite animation because it was the new thing. Dreary attempts at 3D environments were as fun to look at as getting about an inch away from a dirty, grey concrete wall and cracking your skull against it. Things have improved from those early days of 3D graphic experimentation, but at the time, I would have rathered stuck with something like this game. An early 1990s arcade button smasher featuring colorful kabuki ninjas throwing big bad Mad Max movie inspired bruisers around & into electrified deathtraps in a cheesy, and dated, --beat'em up-- 'eye candy' grappler.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

---- "Real Bout Fatal Fury Special" --Level 7 Ultra Hard-- (SNK Arcade)

*Playing as a Jacki Chan inspired Hong Kong super-cop wielding a set of nunchaku through a series of scantly clad karate babes, little old sensei who morphs into huge muscle bound badass, and dance fighting dudes from the Caribbean.

Finally beating the purple haired Euro-dictator-themed final boss, one would think that an arcade battler would be done munching one's quarters.

But think again. During the celebrating credits, the music changes to a wind instrumental samurai movie sounding theme and one is transported through a series of sliding open doors featuring beautiful classic Japanese artwork of feudal warriors.

It stops at a martial arts badass with his back turned towards the camera and standing amidst huge samurai warrior oni statues in a menacingly eerie flame lit dojo.

It's secret final boss, by the name of Geese Howard, who looks like a handsome American corp executive or presidential candidate and is ripped with muscles and decked out in kung fu threads.

The screen reads the bold words "Nightmare," as he precedes to backfist you in the mush and charge up monster truck tire sized energy blasts to pummel and embarass you with and make you feel like a loser, even though you beat the game.

It's cheap, you feel like a klutz, but it's pure unadulterated martial arts tournament cliche movie/game exploitation goodness to the last clud to the floor in agonizing defeat.*

3 stars

=========================================================

"Ninja Master's" (SNK/ADK) 1996 *From an artistic eye viewpoint, feudal Japan was one moody place. In this setting, one might witness a lone swordsman standing in a rainstorm with a flash of lightning to reveal ninja assassins creeping up on him, or a samurai sword clash in front of a desolate and overgrown farm overran by crows, then maybe another bloody encounter on a lone pier watched over by a willow tree above other trees in the newly flooded river with mountains in the distance, an honorable duel to the death might come in a cave filled with bats, and moonlit temples often played host to battles with evil samurai overlords like the dreaded Nobunaga and his sentient, burning blade.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

"Weaponlord" (Namco for the SNES) *Long before Namco mastered weapon based combat games with the Soul Calibur series, they jumped in on the Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat 2D fighter action. What it boils down to is stone aged brutes bashing other stone aged brutes, Viking women, and demonic brutes in the skull with swords, axes, and huge rocks tied to huge clubs with leather. Featuring an artistic style similar to a Frank Frazetta drawing -thanks to comic arist Simon Bisley who is famous for his dark fantasy artwork in Judge Dredd & Lobo. Eyecandy for fans of 1980s heavy metal album covers, sword and sorcery flicks of the same era, and readers of Conan the Barbarian pulps and comics.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

---"Sexy fights and brutal deaths in" **The Black Heart** (indie) *An indie (Mugen, a form of online fighting game mashup creator and sharing service) 2D fighting game with over the top super moves similar to Marvel vs. Capcom. However, darker than Capcom's own horror based fighter Darkstalkers. Inspired by the more bloody Silent Hill, Hellraiser, and the Japanese ghost genre of The Ring. It does feature a few comical characters like a twig man who smokes pot and wears a green suit like another silly horror villain in Warwick Davis's Leprechaun. Also there's a sexy "fan service" spider-lady who looks like something out of a Tim Burton stop motion movie.* 2 1/2 stars

"Abobo's Big Adventure" (New Grounds & I-Mockery) *The alternate history imagined tale of a random baddie from the arcade and NES classic "Double Dragon." The bald, mean faced, and lovingly dumb, newly protagonist murders his way through tons of classic NES game characters. It's a tribute / parody with a very morbidly entertaining sense of humor.* 3 stars

"Martial Masters" 2001 *Playing like a brightly colored cousin to Capcom or SNK fighters, but featuring a setting and cast from China of old. Gorgeously pastoral with scenes of old men sweeping the floors of temples as cranes pose gently near about, a monkey boy and his actual monkey friends dancing around, and children sitting in a meadow playing with and feeding a panda that's rolling to and fro for their amusement, along with the typical market scenes of the genre. For fans, like myself, of Shaw Brothers kung fu movies and modern fare like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.* close to 3 stars

Everything is Terrible: 3 Minute Unborn 2 *Overly dramatic bad horror movie about a killer baby that's such a horrible looking prop that it's even harder to take seriously than it already would be. Ends with mom having had enough and elbowing monster baby in the face, several hard times, before blowing herself and junior (and even more unbelievably the house) up with the old homemade explosive device in the microwave trick.* either 1 star or 3 stars

Dave's Nostalgia Trip: "Big Bang Pro Wrestling" (SNK) Neo Geo Pocket Color --2000-- *For a handheld wrestling game this has a nice presentation. The crowd is lively, the tunes have a headbobbing gentleness that's not so grating, and the action packs a bang (even if the game is bite sized). Any pro wrestling game where you can pull off a top rope moonsault has an instant fun factor.* close to 3 stars

Weird Science: Sex Ed *"You don't understand the meaning of the words funky cold medina, shoop a doop, zoom uh zoom zoom in the boom boom."* 2 1/2 stars

Manimal: High Stakes *Wild horses couldn't chase as much tail as Manimal.* either 1 star or close to 3 stars

Ed the Happy Clown: Issue 6 of 9 (Drawn & Quarterly Publications) *A micro-dimension has been discovered when the tiny head of another dimension's Earth's president Ronald Reagan appears as the penis head of a loser named Ed. Tiny pygmie savages, of the city, want to worship it as a penis god. And a tv show/government agency of science wants to investigate this other dimension, but they turn against the whole idea, rather violently, when they discover the only way to again contact this other dimension is to put the other dimension's Ron Reagan into a dimensional gateway that also happens to be the anus of a dead man. It's not the necrophillia that they have a problem with, it's the homosexuality.* 3 stars

"Burn: Cycle" (Phillips Compact Disc Interactive) --1994-- *"Sol Cutter has something on his mind... ...in two hours it's going to explode!" You kind of know what to expect from a dated full motion videogame when you hear something like that as a tag line. This one has all the cliches of the cyberpunk 90s genre: cityscape right out of BladeRunner only with poor 90s cgi, flying cars, high tech espionage plot, sinister new-age cult, cyber addiction, hipster nite club with neo-jazz music, and a main character who narrates his broken down in the gutter life like a noir tragic figure. It's like Johnny Mneumonic (sp?) with an "Everybody betray me!" Tommy Wiseau level of bad acting, yet dull.* between 1 1/2 and 2 stars

Super Star Wars --SNES-- (Lucas Arts) *Storywise, it's the even more juvenile imagined parts of Episode 4 turned into a run and gun sidescroller. But in reality, it's set in a galaxy far, far away. A very long time ago before the edited special editions and prequels killed most of the magic of the series. And before Disney dug up the holy corpse to cash in on it. It's Luke blasting first and asking questions never, pulling an Annie Starkiller and wasting countless lives of Jawas, Sandpeople, and Stormtroopers. He hadn't really got a handle on the whole more peaceful side of the force yet. You can get Chewbacca (for a more whimsical approach) or Han (for a more morally ambiguous path). Still, it feels rather repetitive and very Duke Nuke'em instead of Jedi Knight or loveable space rascals.* 2 stars

"Mace: The Dark Age" (N64) *Some would say this 3D brawler wants badly to be either Killer Instinct or Mortal Kombat. Especially with a voice announcer who demands "Execution!" after the final round. But you can't totally dislike a game that puts a dwarf in a steampunk powered war-mech built out of ale barrels and carrying a Thor hammer and spiked mace as weapons.* close to 2 1/2 stars

The Gong Show with Dave Attell: Season 1 Episode 7 *It all feels a little too rehearsed. Everyone of the contestants has an edgy or alt-2000s carnival act. Where are the true weirdos and not these phonies?* 2 stars

Spicy City: Tears of a Clone *One in a million girl with a one in a million genetic code. But not anymore, and hardly worth the trouble. Still, you kind of feel for her.* 3 stars

From Dusk Till Dawn, the series: Self Contained *Owed a soul and a crossing over.* close to 3 stars

Farscape: Family Ties *A cross between the lunar landing and Return of the Jedi, only more bleak.* 3 stars

Attack On Titan: Episode 1 *Taking the tired concept of refuge from a horde of cannibalistic humanoids (zombies) and turning it on its head. This time instead of thousands of zombies clawing outside a wall or a building, it's giant, mindless humanoid cannibals clawing outside a giant wall. The people inside are shaken from their sense of comfort when one is big enough to bring even the huge walls down for the first time in a 100 years or something. Made even more entertaining by the grandiose over the top anime style acting and voice performances. Also, this show reminds me of SouthPark, for some reason (maybe the kids?), and that's definitely a good thing.* 3 stars

Everything Is Terrible: 3 Minute Death Drug *Angel Dust makes Miami Vice's Phil Michael Thomas go crazy and destroy a supermarket.* either 1 star or 3 stars

"Nasty Hero" circa 1980s or officially 1987 via 'The Private Movie Company Inc.' (ooh fancy) *A real Neandertal is released from the slammer after being framed for a crime he didn't commit. Now he's out for ridiculous action movie revenge. He always wears a dirty wife beater or mechanic's shirt (hence the name Nasty Hero, I guess). He'll have to take down the blackmarket sports car ring of obnoxious yuppies out to make his life a living hell. The main douchebag is even after his old flame Yolanda (*snickers*). Set in the "So 80s it hurts!" time period in the thousand flushes blue toilet bowl of America that is known as Florida. And featuring a ton of bad movie cliches and homo-erotic moments. Still, the cheese and action goes down easy.* close to 2 1/2 stars

Heart She Holler: Fear Is Dog Spelled Bassackwards *Perversion of the conversion. Regular folk, n-word, chicken dinner.* 2 1/2 stars

Kung Fu, the series: The Soul is the Warrior *A rose grows beyond the wall.* 3 stars

--- "Daraku Tenshi, The Fallen Angels" (Psikyo) 1998

*Usually fighting games don't have a uniting theme when it comes to stages.

If they can animate it, then they'll fight anywhere from the jungle to outerspace.

Even if it doesn't make any sense.

Here is not the case. The setting being a decade after a major cataclysm leaves a west coast city, with an obvious Asian influence, in the climate of a cesspool and never recovering from the disaster.

It makes sense then that a dirty karate master, who is followed around by flies, would fight in a dingy back alley near the trash dumpsters in which he'd fight cats for his supper.

Or a somber, rainy graveyard which would be filled with victims of the earthquake.

The criminal element, like crazed kung fu dudes in leather jackets and hired gunmen, would go for the little bit of human blood left in encounters in dingy bars that are in disrepair and haven't seen a patron in years.

Fat, mutated freaks would fly into fight in tire filled junkyards with the rubble of the never cleaned away destroyed city as the backdrop skyline.

It really has a beautiful art style.*

3 stars

====================================================

"Mortal Kombat versus DC Universe" (Warner Bros.) --2008-- *Most modern videogames play like movies, but they often find a hard time defining whatever generic protagonist is the lead. The lead usually designed by committee to fit the bland tastes of a mass audience. Fighting games and superhero comics don't have the problem of generic characters. They're usually bold. This game plays like a movie and has an ensemble of really bold characters. But these two "universes" don't mesh together out of a "Gee, what if?" concept put down on paper. I applaud the cinematic effort, which the MK team would improve on somewhat in the sequel/reboot (Mortal Kombat 2011). Still here, it's awkward and filled with unintentionally funny moments and dialogue (a lot of it laughed at by The Joker who almost seems in on how ridiculous it all is). either 1 star or close to 2 1/2 stars

---- "Samurai Showdown" II thru V-Special (SNK)

*In my early teens, during the 90s, I was an Mortal Kombat fan.

I wish I would have had better taste. The gore and juvenile humor and dark fantasy appealed to my angst ridden desires.

At my local arcade, no one crowded around the Street Fighter machine. Even the Marvel versus Capcom series didn't appeal to me, though a few years earlier, I was a big fan of the X-Men cartoon.

Nope, me and the neighborhood kids craved blood, guts, farts, glimpses of titties, gangster rap, Beavis & Butthead, Summer blockbuster movies, alt-rawk.

In my early 20s, I started appreciating Samurai movies on cable, and in my later 20s, I began reading Lone Wolf & Cub samurai manga.

During the 16 bit 2-D fighting game craze, I wish I had been sopisticated enough to have taken notice to this highly artistic, and yet still bloody and fun, take on Samurai and a fighting game.

It does a lot of what made Mortal Kombat appealing to my teen tastes, but with a master stroke that has the lasting effect of standing the test of time as true art and not mindless "junkfood" fun that really has more of a nostalgia appreciation value (like Mortal Kombat).

3 stars

=================================================================

--- Jason Vorhees special guest character in "Mortal Kombat X" --2015--

*My generation had a lot of movie boogeyman.

They were so much in our young, collective conscious that they were almost urban legends seemingly lurking in the woods at the end of the street.

Kids, today, could care less. When, the internet "nerd culture" began reporting on this horror icon coming to a fighting videogame, the comments sections below the articles read something like this, "Laaame, LOL, who'z this f@g, no one wants thhis hockey face lozer INOURGAME!!!!"

To that I say, this guy invented "fatalities," kid.

He was figuring out ways to dismember long before there was even a Mortal Kombat or the outrage of a fatality in a videogame.

More than that, you were probably not even alive or were in diapers when Mortal Kombat was originally popular.

Jason even had a videogame that was terrible, but still gave my generation, including me, nightmares.

I remember, to get nostalgic again, the first time I saw it. It was at my weird next door neighbors.

The dad had an artificial leg and beat his kids and made them go to bed before dark.

But for some reason he was nice to any kid not his. Even weirder he had an NES that seemed to be more his than his kids.

He showed me, and another neighbor kid (not his), the Friday the 13th NES game, and seeing a hockey mask wearing purple-boogeyman stalk victims in 8-bit had me eyeing the door to escape not just the creepy one-legged neighbor but this pixelated killer.

Cheers to Jason's return to videogames and to the collective conscious of dumb, videogame playing youth everywhere.

Even if they don't appreciate it.*

2 1/2 stars

=================================================================

"Tattoo Assassins" (Data East) 1995 *This "game" strived for infamy, and fell into obscurity, never being released. Out of shame, I'm sure. Surprisingly, Back to the Future screenwriter Bob Gale came up with some ideas for it. It almost shows in a tongue in cheek way. It all seems like a big joke parodying the 90's over the top media in the same way almost that Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers did. Except this is more Looney Tunes than anything with racial stereotypes and absurdity out the wazoo. With characters based off the likes of tabloid trash like Tonya Harding and boasting to have thousands of supermoves like turning an opponent into a famous painting, farting random objects from one's anus, and comic nudity. There's also some nonsense about magical tattoos that thought tattoos wouldn't be tacky enough so they're the cause of the supermoves and are animated like they were created using Microsoft paint by a special needs person. Also, the game's mascot is a sad-faced eastern looking religious figure in an adult diaper.* 1 star (so bad it's almost good)

=== Wrestling Society X (MTV)

*For a brief moment, in the 90s, pro-wrestling was "edgy."

As absurd as that sounds. "The Rock" & "Stone Cold" were household names, much to the disappontment of concerned parents groups and tabloid hysteria news.

Pro-wrestling's punk rock moment all seems ridiculous now in retrospect.

The WWE went back to a family friendly product in order to sell t-shirts and toys.

So, who was to satisfy the wrestling dreams of backyard idiots who were jumping off of grandma's house onto a pillow filled with rocks?

MTV stepped in with its timeless formula of stupidity for the youth.

They aired, again briefly, an "underground" wrestling tv show filled with constant explosions, constant loud music, and constant shouting....

Goth kids, pregnant teens, musclehead niteclub douches, rednecks amped up on Mountain Dew, and wiggers across America, in the mid-2000s, rejoiced...

well, maybe not rejoiced.

More like they barely took notice with all their attention disorders, or skateboard trick injury videos taking place, and myspace photo sessions in the bathroom mirror.*

zero stars

============================================================

"Bad Street Brawler" -NES- (Mattel Inc. & Beam Software) --1989-- *"Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you!" Trouble, I guess, means a metrosexual "badass" with a yellow flat-top hairdo, black sunglasses with the yellow city lights reflecting in them, a yellow tanktop, wearing only yellow underwear (no pants), and cute knee high yellow boots. Hello Yellow! Most of his attacks look like danceclub moves and he spends a lot of time fondling enemies and dogs.* either 1 star or close to 2 1/2 stars

"Dead Man Calling" --Junji Ito-- (Manga) *The ghoulish projection of a death row inmate haunts the family of his victims. Seeking forgiveness. A nightmarish meditation on grief and revenge.* close to 3 stars

Forensic Files: The Blood Trail *A failing farmer, in the quiet English countryside, stages a bizarre seies of crimes, around his property, including blowing up his wife in a homemade carbombing, putting a severed sheep's head and threatening note on his own fence, and poorly attempting to make it look like his "deranged" neighbor visited one evening and tried to kill him with a boxcutter, forcing him to shoot the neighbor in "self defense" with a shotgun.* 2 1/2 stars

Freddy's Nightmare: Freddy Something ----------------

*A jobless yuppie, with an extreme fear of the dark, goes nuts working in the sewers for the eccentric old guy from Gremlins.* 2 1/2 stars

*A lowlife owner, of a 1980s videostore, gets "Scrooged" by a self-help Billy Ocean wannabe that the lowlife ripped off in his typical jerk fashion.* 2 1/2 stars

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Forever Knight: Dance by the Light of the Moon *A black-hearted seductress tries to manipulate our reformed from evil detective, much like she does with every other poor male.* between 2 1/2 and 3 stars

----- Croooow Plays: Way of the Warrior (3DO)

*Video-blogs used to play videogames for a blogger's web audience are called "Let's plays."

Let's get that out of the way.

I personally prefer video reviewers like SpoonyExperiment, AngryVideoGameNerd, ObscurasLupa, and so on.

The reviewers take the time to find something' interesting about the game or movie to actually critique and even write jokes, scenarios, pick out certain clips from what they're reviewing, and put it all into a usually enjoyable package.

"Let's play" bloggers seem to have a level of vanity where they think they can just sit down and roll the camera and do it "on the fly."

It hardly ever works, and is often annoying, frustrating, and dull.

They struggle to play the game and find something interesting to talk about it, other than their ineptitude or frustration, and their random attempts at humor are painfully bad.

One "let's play" celebrity named PewdiePie has hit stardom with his awful brand of yelling unfunny nonsense while playing a game live, unedited garbage and SouthPark took notice satirizing it and him.

It's almost as bad as when during the 90s hack videogame programmers took the cheap digitized graphics craze to its overkill by hiring their handful of what I'm guessing were party friends or the local community theater rejects to be physical "actors" as horribly over the top generic stereotype characters in shitty disc format vidja lames.

Our let's player, Croooow, struggles to "let's play" and also entertain in his "let's play" video.*

zero stars for the game

and 1/2 a star for Croooow

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Forensic Files: Charred Remains *A male stripper cremates a former playboy playmate over a cocaine sharing night gone wrong.* 2 stars (zero for the exploitation of the cremated remains)

American Horror Story - Coven: Protect the Coven *Fried green blood fetishes.* 3 stars minus 1 star for the Twilight romance feel good ending

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shadylake-blog · 5 years ago

Photo

I never knew this kind of misery could exist until this year. Grief is overwhelming. I can easily say this has been the worst year for my family. Every day I try and give thanks that no one else is dead, or dying (well even that is not true a couple family members not doing so well with their health but they do not have cancer or anything that awful, so I should be grateful right?) I have learned being a better person does not make your life easier. Karma does not exist. My sweet poor baby brother, only 4 years younger than me died in January to start my year off. He would be 22 right now if he would have been alive for his birthday this month. I used to love the rain, now I have mixed feelings. That day I knew something bad was going to happen. I wrote the date two times for various things and got chills each time I wrote it. I watched The Butterfly Effect, which used to be one of my favorite movies until that happened, thinking about how true it was. He passed a semi truck with a car in front of them on that rainy night in January heading west towards the coast, that day it just rained and rained and rained. It was 10PM and dark. I was on the exact same spot on the road 10 minutes before the accident, about 10 miles outside of town. He hydroplaned, rolled and managed to defy physics and come back the other direction and rolled into a telephone pole that hit the drivers side. Completely demolished the car. Passenger was unscathed. He had a pulse for 20 minutes on scene, and was never taken to a hospital at all to even attempt to revive him. Just thrown into a body bag once pulse had stopped... makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it. At midnight I realized I had 36 missed calls from my mom and step-dad. I was busy arguing with my controlling gas lighting “boyfriend” about tattoos, he was made that I got them. I was thinking someone got pulled over for driving while suspended or something. I never thought about my brother dying, not once my entire life. My mom blubbered “He is dead,” I said “What do you mean?” “He is dead your brother is dead he got in a car wreck” “No it can not be him are you sure?” “Yes I am sure” (can barely understand her both of us just completely blubbering and hysterical now) “How do you know did you see him?” “The police came and told me, his wallet was on him it was his car.” Now having never dealt with death in any way shape or form, not even a distant cousin, I did not know how to react other than scream. I had a slight hope maybe someone stole his car and wallet, because the passenger was not one of his friends I knew, it was someone I had never even heard my brother talk about. But I cried and screamed for days and days and days. The next morning I immediately went out to the crash sight which was right behind my moms house across a big field and put up a cross on the pole. It was still pouring, I had another one drying at home with his name on it. The scene was horrific. They left all of his costs and personal belongings just strung out all over the side of the road.PIECES OF SHIT. After they let him bleed out. Puddles of blood all over the ground in the mud. His car title, personal mail, the coats he had on that night (the passenger posted a photo of them before they left and ten minutes later he was dying) other things he had in his car like work clothes and nails and tools, he was a roofer. He always had those rings of nails everywhere. Just left out like hes worthless trash. The lack of respect for a dead 21 year old kid you did not even take to the hospital...Fucking disgusting. I went out and cleaned everything up. I could not even see my brother until Wednesday, 4 days later. It was a Saturday night when it happened. Towing company would not even let us look at his car until Tuesday. My step-dad, mother and I looked at the car in complete horror. It looked like it been crushed. How the passenger escaped unscathed I really have no idea the entire dashboard was caved in, windshield gone. Blood all over the drivers seat and floor where they just let him lay there and bleed out. Somehow his weed pipe (that was under the passenger seat in a toolbox he was not smoking and he does not drink) was not broken, neither was his phone which was smashed in between the drivers seat and console but it was cracked. We always told each other our passwords in case something like this happened never thinking we would actually have to use it... That day he asked probably 20 people to go all day including his girlfriend, and he could not get anyone to go until 10 o'clock at night when the passenger had said sure I will go. The last thing his girlfriend said to him was “I wish you would go kill yourself”, they had been together for 3 years. I know that when people are arguing they say things like that, I do not hold it against her but its unfortunate she has to live with that being the last thing she said to him. His steering wheel and dashboard were so crushed the keys had to be forcibly removed, I still carry the sideways key around on my key chain because this has made me completely insane, as if I did not struggle enough with depression and anxiety before this from constantly being broke trying to raise a child on my own and never having daycare. That is a story for another day. But this has really fucked me up. He was not a sibling I occasionally see on the holidays, that’s who I called when I really just needed a friend. We went camping and hiking all the time together. We never sat on our phones when we went so we hardly had any pictures together. He was always there for me as a child and an adult, even though I was such a bitch when we were younger. He was always so good to me, the best brother anyone could ever ask for. I hear these people talk about the things their brothers do them, and I am like my brother would have never done that to me... He was such a good person even when people did him wrong. He had a heart of gold and was so unique he had so much potential and was just starting to grow up. Besides my child, there is no other person in the world I loved more than him. I have two other siblings but they are 14 and 11 years younger than me. I love them but I do not share the same bond and he was my only full sibling. When I actually finally got to see him at the morgue (and I was the only family member that even went to see him the rest found it too “traumatizing” I wanted to see what the hell happened) my stomach sank. It was definitely him. My poor little brother, laying on a fucking slab. I just kissed his forehead over and over wishing I could somehow blow the life back into him... I know that can never happen. He will rot in the ground forever. It was just a slight dent on his head under his hair. His beautiful brown hair. You will never convince me he should have not tried to have been saved. I have seen people survive way worse injuries but they were taken to a hospital. They literally just let him lay there until his pulse stopped. I’m too poor to afford an attorney. Just like my grandpa that I never met, but I have been told by my entire family he was beat by a bunch of police officers and left to die in the hospital. My grandmas mom was overdosed in Tylenol at the hospital and her sister died of alcohol poisoning because the hospital would not treat her. Why are the poor just left to die? Because the poor can not afford lawyers, and they know it. I visited him almost every day for the 2 weeks in the morgue, we did not exactly have 5 grand laying around for a funeral so I had to gather some money before the services. I felt awful letting him stay in a morgue that long, but my other choice was cremation which I do not believe in. I wanted it to do it as my native american ancestors did which was bury him outside in a cave but its illegal. I have seen too many cremations where people get the wrong ashes when the DNA test them and I wanted a proper burial, and a place to visit him. We built the casket since I was not paying an additional 5 grand for a wooden box with pillows in it. My stepdad found old redwood on the farm and various other woods to build it with. My brother would have liked it, because he loved to fall trees. He did it for fun almost every time we went to the woods. “Sis, lets go to the woods so I can cut down a tree.” He called me Sis even as an adult. The handles were made out of deer antlers, his first deer that he killed. I bought him a red comforter set because that was his favorite color. I dressed him in his banana pajama pants and his work shirt, because he loved roofing, and one of his cozy flannels. I hope you're cozy brother. Lots of people showed up to the funeral. At least 100 people. My boss and coworker, my brothers coworkers, all my family, even distant family we never really speak to like my grandpas brother. People I did not know. My moms ex husband (my other siblings father) and his parents came. It was a very sad day, watching my grandparents cry as he went into the ground. Everyone took turns getting up to speak. I did as well, but it took so much courage for me to get up there in front of everyone and not bawl and bawl and bawl. I have never seen so many grown men cry in my life until that day. I tried so hard not to bawl but when he went into the ground I lost it, everyone did. We waited until he was buried and smoked a joint on his grave and planted some flowers even though it was freezing and raining and cold. I really did everything I could to make sure he had a proper burial. The celebration of life was a week later, another day we had to put fake smiles on our faces and socialize. What is amazing is how many people it united. But it comes back to The Butterfly Effect, if I would have said hey lets hangout. If I would have been on that road ten minutes later, because I was right fucking there right before it happened. If anyone else would have said they would go and he would have left earlier. Most importantly, if they would have taken him to a hospital and actually tried to do something instead of letting him lay there until his pulse stopped and then throwing him into a body bag. I will never, ever forget him and will never let his legacy die.

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feelingdylano · 7 years ago

Text

The Other Side (Stiles Romance Sequel) ~Chapter 1~

“What in the hell were you three thinking?” the sheriff blurted the minute he stepped out of his truck and made his way toward the scene.

“I got it,” I stated softly with a kind smile as I took over for the paramedic and continued to splint Stiles’ wrist while I gave him an amused, but rather ‘I told you so’ sort of look.

“We were just trying to help,” Scott shrugged with a chuckle.

“Why don’t you try to help me understand what the hell happened here?” The Sheriff lowered his voice into a whispered scorn.

“Right,” Stiles winced as I gave the Velcro strap one last tug and dropped my hold on him. “Well, we were trying to gently persuade him to pull over.”

The sheriff gave us a skeptical sort of look as the flashbacks of Scott barely hanging off the hood of a speeding van while he raised his claws and growled menacingly at its driver, began coming back to the surfaces of our memories as if they had just happened only seconds ago rather than minutes. I pursed my lips as I attempted to hide my rather amused smile.

“He was getting away,” Scott answered with a scrunched up, apologetic look.

“He got away,” Mr. Stilinski nodded with a roll of his eyes.

“Right because he’s obviously some sort of criminal mastermind, Dad!” Stiles raised his voice in attempt to convince the sheriff. The poor, frustrated man sighed heavily and began walking away from the three teenagers.

“Uh huh,” Mr. Stilinski huffed as he circled over to the double doors of the van, “You guys wanna guess what the stolen merchandise is?” He slowly turned back to us with raised brows and crossed arms as the double doors revealed silver tanks. “Hmmm?”

“Critical lifesaving medical equipment?” Stiles tried to guess. The sheriff raised a finger.

“No.”

“Poison gas?” The boy continued as I turned to him, unable to keep myself from grinning this time. He was oblivious to what actually stood behind that van, which made it all the more amusing. My boyfriend, ladies and gentlemen.

“Nope,” Mr. Stilinski shook his head.

“Filled with drugs?” Stiles tried one last time before the sheriff leaned forward on the soles of his feet and shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Helium,” he answered quietly.

“He—helium?” Stiles stammered, blinking rapidly as his lips thinned.

“Helium,” I repeated with a nod as I crossed my arms and looked up to my rather confused boyfriend.

“This could be a good thing,” Scott stated the minute we hit the road, making our way back home.

“That we saved helium?” Stiles rolled his eyes, still angered by the fact. Both Scott and I chuckled.

“I mean that… they don’t need us anymore,” Scott responded, keeping his eyes forward as he continued to drive the jeep.

“Yeah, well, they need us. They just don’t know it,” Stiles scoffed as he crossed his arms and shuffled back into his seat rather stubbornly.

“Babe, don’t be like that,” I chuckled. “Scott’s right. Maybe it’s for the best.”

“Don’t tell me you’re on his side,” he shot me a glare, which only caused me to smile even bigger as shook my head and mouth an ‘I love you,’ which in turn, Stiles finally was able to crack a smile.

“I mean, we’re all going off to college soon,” Scott continued. “So, Beacon Hills is gonna have to survive without us.”

“Beacon Hills will burn to the ground without us,” Stiles muttered as he turned back to face the road along with Scott. “Especially without you.” His eyes flickered back to me through the rearview mirror.

“I think it can manage a few years without me,” I shrugged as my smile faded only slightly. “I want to go to college, Stiles. I mean, I want to be able to come back one day and I will, but first I want to get the chance to live a normal college life. Once I do that, then I’ll come back and accept full responsibility as Guardian of Beacon Hills, but only after I’ve finished getting my degree.”

“Face it, Stiles,” Scott turned to him as he gave a small grimace and shook his head, “they don’t need us.”

There was a soft buzzing before Stiles’ brows merged together and he quickly began patting around his body in attempt to find its source. As he pulled out his phone, his eyes simply widened in slight surprise. He quickly turned over the screen, his Dad’s contact name shinning ever so brightly through the glass as the phone continued to buzz.

“They need us!” He almost cheered, which only caused me to roll my eyes and grin.

I took the lead between the two boys as we entered the station, having caught glance of the young boy that was seated in the middle of the sheriff’s office.

“Alex,” Mr. Stilinski breathed out as he kneeled down to eye level with the boy. “You know we’re having trouble locating your parents… and since you can’t remember anything—we have—a method.” He stated almost hesitantly. “An unusual method that might help you remember. But I need you to be okay with it. I also need you to know that it’s probably going to hurt.”

“I don’t care, I just want to find my mom and dad,” Alex spoke up through his shaky voice. Almost as if on cue, the sheriff turned to face us the minute we came to a stop just outside his office.

Stiles stood back with arms crossed while his dad circled around Scott and I. The boy stared at me nervously before I gently reached out for his hand and held it in mine. I smiled softly and reassuringly as I gave him a light squeeze.

“If it’s too much for you, you can squeeze as hard as you can.”

Alex nodded as he pressed his lips together. The boy couldn’t have been older than thirteen.

“You ready?” Scott asked as we both kept our kneeled positions in front of the poor boy. Alex turned to him and simply nodded once again.

“I’m right here, okay?” I assured. Alex took in a shaky deep breath as Scott flicked his hand and allowed his claws to protrude. With a sharp gasp, the alpha finally managed to dig his way through the boy’s neck. I held on tighter as Alex squeezed my hand with all his might the minute his eyes rolled back into his head.

My whole body suddenly tensed up as my vision became blurred by the sudden familiar silver glow. Without even realizing it, I was suddenly living through this boy’s memories.

I gasped as I was instantly strapped down to the back seat of a moving car, my eyes quickly flickering all over as I patted myself around, feeling just how real the memory actually was.

“I told you we shouldn’t have taken him to an R-rated movie,” a woman spoke from the passenger side.

“I wasn’t scared,” a voice suddenly resonated, causing me to jump as I turned to notice Alex sitting around rather anxiously.

“Well, I was terrified,” A man responded as he continued to drive.

“Alex’s parents,” I whispered to myself as I looked between the two adults seated in the front.

“Maybe we shouldn’t take me to R-rated movies.”

The woman gave a small giggle before her smile faded as she turned back rather worriedly to her son.

“You weren’t scared? Not even just a little?” she pressed on.

“Maybe a little,” Alex sighed.

Turning to face the front, my eyes grew wide as the woman cried out in fear and the man managed to stomp on the breaks just in time. A few feet ahead, a dark shadow blocked the middle of the road. My body tensed slightly while I leaned forward and squinted as I tried to catch a better glimpse. The sight of a black horse caught my attention the minute my eyes adjusted to the darkness. However, something about the scene did not seem… ordinary.

The horse raised itself, shifting its weight on its hind legs while it whinnied angrily and kicked about for a moment before dropping back down with a huff. It’s rider suddenly dropped at its side, something about his demeanor seemed almost ominous. My breathing started to hitch as I watched him slowly pull out a gun from its hostler. At my side, Alex turned to me, almost as if in that moment, he knew I was there.

“Drive!” The woman gasped as the rider finally pointed the head of its gun toward the car, while slowly approaching. However, as much as he tried, the man couldn’t get the gears to engage. “DRIVE!” She shrilled. The shift knob would not budge. “Get down!” The woman cried out as she turned to her son. He obeyed as she shrieked in panic.

The scene continued to play out before me. Pressing my lips together, I took in a deep breath before reaching out for my seatbelt, having decided I need to get a better look at the man approaching. However, I was thrown back as he shot an odd sort of bullet that went straight through the windshield. My arms quickly flew over my face in attempt to protect myself from the shattering glass, but even then, I tried to fight through just to get a better glimpse. However, before I could, a loud gasp ripped through my chest as the figure leaped onto the hood of the car and yanked at the man without a struggle, the action causing him to literally disappear into thin air. The panic began setting in as I looked around and noticed the rider had vanished as well. What in the hell was going on?

The woman screamed and sobbed in panic as she had just witnessed her husband’s disappearance.

“NO!” I cried out as the rider seemed to appear again, this time, ripping the passenger door out of its hinges before reaching in for the woman. She tried to crawl her way back, attempted to save herself, but she merely looked into the eyes of her son one last time before being dragged away, and ultimately vanishing into thin air just like her husband.

I gasped and flew back and away from the boy and into my Stiles’ arms as he fell back onto the wooden floor, holding me close to his body while I pulled myself into him, seeming almost frightened. Something about that rider. The feeling I got when I tried to look at him. It was disconcerting.

“What did you see?” he asked, seeming alarmed. He quickly cupped my face as he tried to get me to calm my fast-paced breathing. “What did you see?” He repeated the question as he turned to his panting best friend.

“A guy on a horse,” Scott responded.

“A horse?” Stiles questioned, his brows merging.

“He—he had a gun,” I stammered.

“Okay, a guy with a gun. That sounds like my department, not yours,” the sheriff stated as he looked to the three of us.

“What about his parents? What happened to them?” Stiles pressed on, keeping his eyes on Scott.

“I—I don’t know that’s all I remember—”

“Okay, well, this is guy with a gun, guys. I’ll take over from here—”

“No,” I shook my head. “You’re wrong.”

Everybody turned to me as my body continued to shake.

“They’re coming back,” Alex suddenly spoke up, having regained consciousness as he slowly raised his head and looked to us. “They’re coming for me…”

I took in a deep breath as I shut my eyes and concentrated, trying to will myself into having some sort of vision. However, the more I forced it, the further I seemed to get away from what we set out to do.

“Anything?” Stiles asked impatiently. My brows furrowed as I raised a finger, keeping my eyes shut. His body tensed behind me, the excitement literally radiating off him. I didn’t need to have my eyes open to notice it.

“Mmm,” I hummed as I slowly reopened my eyes.

“What?” He asked eagerly.

“Nope,” I pursed my lips as I turned to my boyfriend.

“What? What do you mean ‘nope’?!” His brows furrowed, his annoyance obvious.

“I mean, nope,” I shrugged as I reached for the car door and sitting myself in the backseat.

“Nothing on my end either,” Lydia sighed. Stiles huffed as he sat himself in the backseat, while my best friend continued to hover around the car. I reached out for his hand, intertwining my fingers with his as I noticed his expression. He was desperate to solve the mystery.

“Maybe we were all wrong,” I muttered. “Maybe it wasn’t the supernatural that took Alex’s parents.”

There was a howl coming from the distance before we stepped out of the car and watched as a small coyote began running toward us. Scott made his way closer as Lydia grabbed hold of a pile of clothes the minute Malia shifted back into her human self.

“I don’t think they’re dead,” Lydia sighed as she unfolded the shirt and handed it to the naked girl.

“They’re dead,” Malia argued. “Probably torn apart. The only thing I don’t get is why there’s no blood.”

“They’re not dead, if they were dead, I would sense it,” Lydia shook her head.

“They’re dead,” Malia persisted.

“Not dead. If they were, I would have seen it,” I agreed with Lydia. “As far as I know, they’ve only been taken—”

“And presumably dead by now,” Malia rolled her eyes as she continued to change into her clothes. “If they were alive I would smell it.”

“Yeah, I’m not getting anything either,” Scott sighed.

“Scott, what are you talking about? You were in his head for four minutes? You and Adelyn both. I timed it,” Stiles’ brows merged as he turned to his best friend.

“Well, it’s not an exact science,” Scott shrugged. “And he’s a kid, maybe he’s too freaked out to remember.”

“Why does it matter if they’re dead?” Malia asked aloud as she slipped into her shoes. “Dead is dead.”

“Okay, if it’s just a robbery, we can’t help them. And if it’s something supernatural, my dad can’t help them,” Stiles pointed out.

“It sounds like you want it to be supernatural,” Lydia pointed out.

“He does want it to be supernatural,” I sighed heavily as I crossed my arms.

“It’s been three months since anything’s happened.”

“And it’s been a nice break, Stiles. Leave it alone,” Lydia rolled her eyes.

“You—you can’t tell me this is just some series of IMPOSSIBLE coincidences?”

I grimaced as I kept my eyes on my boyfriend.

“All I’m saying is maybe if it isn’t supernatural, then that wouldn’t be so bad,” Lydia argued back, finally rolling her eyes and walking away from the rest of us along with Malia.

Stiles’ jaw dropped as he took a few steps forward before I reached out for his wrist and pulled him back.

“Let them go,” I muttered.

Stiles took in a deep breath as he looked to Scott, who only shrugged before he sighed out heavily in disappointment. We both watched as the boy marched his way toward the car, opened door, and sat himself on the driver’s seat before slamming it shut. I grimaced once again as I walked my way toward my boyfriend, Scott following along.

“You’re staring at a broken windshield,” the boy sighed as he looked to his best friend. Stiles brows merged together as he kept his eyes forward.

“There’s something wrong with it,” he grumbled.

“It’s broken,” Scott pointed out with a chuckle. My brows furrowed as I looked around at the various other cars with broken windshields. “And it wasn’t a magic bullet. It was a regular bullet that blew out a regular windshield.” Scott turned to a car just behind him and pointed. “Just like that one, and that one next to it—”

“No,” I shook my head.

“What?” Scott asked, his brows merging as well.

“You’re wrong,” I said, looking up to him.

“What do you mean?”

“The pattern,” I pointed out. “All of them have the clear bullet mark still etched through the windshield, but none of them are completely shattered like this one. The rest of them are still intact. There’s a clear difference.”

Both boys looked to me in surprise before they quickly turned back to the missing windshield. Stiles quickly reached for a piece of glass sticking out just above the dashboard. His brows furrowed as he examined it.

“Magic bullet,” he muttered.

Later that night, I relaxed under my boyfriend’s hold, his warm breath brushing against me, and his touch keeping me lulled in a safe trance. Or so I thought.

“Adelyn…”

My body seemed to tense for a moment as Stiles slipped his hand away from my body and shifted onto his other side.

“Adelyn. Wake up.”

There was a moment of silence, and I nearly sighed in relief before the voice grew louder in my ear drums, almost demanding.

“Wake up.”

I sat up with a gasp, my eyes starting their usual silver glow as I groggily looked up. My whole body froze and a cold shiver ran down my spine as I saw the ghostly image that stood before me, reflecting familiar eyes.

“D—Dad?” I whispered. His lips curved into a delightful smile before he nodded. “How—?”

“There isn’t much time,” he cut me off. “I’ve come to warn you.”

My brows furrowed as I took in his worried grey eyes, but his features were so angelic it was hard to tell just how pained he was. He didn’t even look as if he had aged.

“They’re coming.”

“Who?”

“And there’s no stopping them,” he disregarded my question.

“What? What are you talking about? Who? Who are they?” I asked, my brows merging even further.

“I—I’m not sure I can tell you that just yet,” he muttered. “All I can say is that they’re coming to Beacon Hills.”

“Why?”

“Because…” He stopped himself, seeming almost hesitant. “Because of you.”

“I don’t understand. How are you able to communicate with me? I—I thought you were…” I couldn’t even bring myself to finish the sentence as his expression saddened.

“You’ve grown so much since the last time I saw you.”

There was a prickling sensation that took over my eyes as I stared at his ghostly image. I couldn’t believe I was actually in the presence of my father, my real father.

“I’m only here to warn you,” he paused for a moment. “Dark times are coming. And you should prepare for the worst.”

With that he turned his back to me, taking a step toward the door.

“Wait,” I called out, my heart beat racing. “Don’t go.”

He stopped, turning back to me with a small smile.

“You carry a part of me with you. And you always will,” he muttered. “I’ll always be with you, daughter of mine. Always.”

Without another word, his ghostly image finally disappeared and my glowing eyes returned to their normal shade of grey. My body soon began to shake with oncoming sobs, mixed emotions hitting me all at once. That was the first time I had ever gotten the chance to interact with my father. The first time I had met him in person as he was. It was brief, but I felt grateful for the impossible chance.

“Adelyn?” Stiles’ groggy voice called out as he shuffled over to me. It took him a moment to realize what was going on before he sat up and immediately wrapped his arms around me. “Hey, hey, hey. What’s wrong?”

“I saw him, Stiles,” I spoke through a breathy sob. “I saw Ezekiel. I saw my dad…”

“What?” His brows furrowed. “How? Were you dreaming?”

“No, I wasn’t. He was real. He was here,” I said, looking up to him.

“How is that possible? I thought he was—”

“I know,” I sniffled.

“Come here,” he whispered, pulling me closer.

I sat over the school picnic tables set in our patio, the next day, watching in amusement as Stiles continuously ruined Malia’s attempt to take a decent yearbook picture.

“Did you take your yearbook photo already?” Lydia asked with a smile as she sat herself next to me.

“Of course,” I responded, motioning to my carefully picked outfit and makeup.

“UGH!” Malia groaned as she pushed on Stiles toward us. “You ruined it!”

“Why would I want to ruin your yearbook photo?” Stiles asked as Malia sat herself next to Lydia, directly on the table.

“Maybe because you haven’t signed up for your own photo yet?” Malia shrugged in annoyance.

“Yes, I did,” Stiles argued back, pulling out his form as I stood up and kissed his cheek.

“I helped him fill it out,” I chuckled as he turned to me with a smile and pecking my lips.

“Oh, good job. You guys did wonderful,” Malia pointed out sarcastically. “It’s blank.”

“Uh—”

“What?” I asked, quickly turning over and taking hold of the slip and noticing Malia was right. “That can’t be right…” I muttered to myself as my brows merged.

“Or maybe you’re sublimating the stress of graduating by avoiding key milestones,” Scott pointed out as he finally turned away from his textbook and faced us. I pressed my lips together as I finally relaxed and fought against my own snort, while the rest of the group stared at him in disbelief. “Psych paper,” he said casually.

“Oh,” Lydia breathed out, finally understanding.

“Good to know all those vocab sessions paid off, Scottie,” I finally chuckled as I crossed my arms. Scott winked toward me with a smile.

“Okay, so, the deputies searched the car,” Stiles began, brushing through as he went straight to his point. “No slugs. No exit hole. The address that Alex gave my dad is an abandoned house.” He raised an arm as he looked to all of us. “C’mon! Missing parents? Suspicious guy on a horseback? Magic bullet? Who’s coming with?!”

“I’ve got to retake my photos,” Malia shrugged.

“Yeah, not interested,” Lydia made a face as she shook her head.

Stiles turned his hopeful gaze to his best friend.

“I cannot miss anymore classes—”

“Scott,” Stiles almost said pleadingly.

“I missed thirty-eight!”

“Scott.”

“And Lydia’s mom is the only reason I’m still in school!”

The two boys almost seemed to argue.

“I can go after school,” Scott tried to compromise.

Stiles finally turned back to me as I shook my head.

“Sorry babe, I have this group project next period that’s worth fifty percent of my grade and I can’t bail out on them,” I said almost apologetically.

“You know what?! Forget it. I’ll take Liam!” Stiles raised his hands and shook his head as he turned toward the beta, who sat on a bench just a few feet away, his face deep into his girlfriend’s mouth as they continued to make out.

“Oh God, he really needs to breathe,” I said making a face. “Liam, breathe! Before you pass out again…”

The two teenagers pulled away as they turned to me. Liam groaned in embarrassment as Hayden stared at me rather oddly.

“Breathe,” I inhaled and motioned to my chest before Stiles reached out for me, hindering my movements. I turned to him sharply.

“What?”

“Yeah, I’m not taking Liam,” Stiles grumbled. “And would you let the boy live? He’s perfectly capable of taking care of himself without you. I swear, you baby the kid too much.”

“I do not baby him too much!” I tried to argue back.

“Hey! Can I get a candid?” Sydney suddenly interrupted as she came waltzing toward us with her camera.

“Uh, no—”

“Yeah, sure!” Scott cut Stiles’ protest as he reached out for him and sat him down next to him, while Lydia reached out for me and sat me down next to her.

“Okay, fine,” Stiles grumbled, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the same piece of glass from the previous night and handing it to Scott, “if you can explain to me why this is blue, I’ll let it go.”

Scott’s brows merged as he stared down at the piece of glass before looking up as Sydney spoke.

“Okay, everyone smile,” she grinned behind her camera.

At my other side, Stiles finally relaxed as he reached for my waist and pulled me close while I gently rested my head over his shoulder. Lydia scoot herself closer while Malia kept her place over the table and Scott moved in on Stiles’ other side. We all grinned and posed for the camera before the girl finally managed to get a good shot.

I hugged my books against my chest while I walked next to Scott as he held the piece of glass and Stiles followed closely at his side.

“Maybe I should ask Mr. Douglas about it,” I suggested.

“Who’s Mr. Douglas?” Scott asked, his brows merging.

“Oh, he’s just the cute, new physics teacher I’m helping this semester,” I shrugged as I turned to him.

“What? What cute, new physics teacher?” Stiles squinted his gaze toward me, his jealousy clear as he followed my stare.

“Him,” I nodded as I watched the tall, handsome blonde teacher make his way through the hallway, his brilliant smile only growing as he took notice of me.

“Hey, Adelyn! Will you be able to come in and give me a hand tomorrow morning?” He asked.

“Yes, of course, Mr. Douglas,” I smiled politely.

“Thank you so much! I definitely need it. I’ll see you then!” He winked toward me.

“Okay, I’m starting to regret you signing up to become his assistant,” Stiles grumbled.

“Would you relax? It’s not like we’re doing anything outside of the classroom,” I rolled my eyes as I smirked toward my boyfriend. “Except maybe go for make out sessions in the storage closet every now and then.”

“What?!”

“I’m kidding,” I laughed. “You’re so easy to mess with.”

“Not funny,” Stiles glared before I raised myself to peck his lips.

“I—I think I’ve got it covered,” Scott stammered, trying to break through the awkwardness. “I already asked my advanced biology teacher.”

“And what did she say?” Stiles asked, his brows merging as he turned back to his best friend.

“A chemical reaction could cause a tint,” he sighed out. “She thinks it’s possible for the muzzle flash of a gun to include copper, barium, and cesium through superheated gases. Which could burn blue and green and tint the glass.”

“So… thirty-nine?” Stiles asked, his lips curving as we began making our way toward the double doors. Scott grimaced as he looked around the hallway.

“Thirty-nine,” he sighed.

“Okay, well I’ll see you guys when you get back—”

“Oh, no, no, no. You’re coming with too,” Stiles forced a laugh as he gripped my hand and lead the way. I groaned as I followed behind and pushed through the double doors along with them, quickly making our way toward the jeep.

“Fine!”

We had managed to take a few steps out into the patio before Mrs. Martin gripped at the boy’s backpacks and began pushing us back into the school building. Stiles groaned out in disappointment.

“Neither one of you are going anywhere,” she said rather sternly as she turned to the alpha. “Thirty-eight classes, Scott. I had to beg the superintendent.”

“Mrs. Martin, Scott and Adelyn are sworn protectors of Beacon Hills,” Stiles tried to argue.

“Officially, this is true,” I pointed out as I raised my brows and held one finger up.

“Well, you can protect it at three thirty!” She rolled her eyes as she let go of the boys and we all continued to walk in the opposite direction. Stiles and Scott both sighed heavily.

“We’re not waiting till three thirty,” Stiles muttered toward us.

I sighed as I rested my chin over my hand and continued to watch the clock on our last period of the day. At my side, both Scott and Stiles watched intently as well. However, the longer the clock continued to tick, the thinner my boyfriend’s patience was starting to get. He pressed his lips together as he raised a hand to the bridge of his nose and flicked at the clock in annoyance, almost as if the act itself would magically cause it to move on faster. I kept my attention on the documentary that continued to play at the front of the classroom. My brows furrowed as my mind began wandering.

“Remember,” My father’s voice echoed. “They’re coming… Remember…”

I stood up straighter in my seat, my skin curling with goosebumps as his voice continued to repeat itself like some sort of broken record.

Remember.

The white noise of a static screen suddenly burst through my eardrums, causing me to shut my eyes and raise both hands up to the side of my head in pain. My body began to shake, and my breathing came out in low, ragged huffs as my heart beat raced against my chest.

Something’s coming… Remember.

Reopening my eyes, I kept them low as I fought against the haziness that overcame my sight. I struggled against their silver glow as I kept my hands over my ears before I noticed I was no longer in the classroom, but instead in some sort of abandoned train station. A strong gust of wind hit as I slowly looked up, watching the scene morphing into something else this time. My breathing hitched as my gaze met with the same horse rider that took Alex’s parents. I jumped as two neighing horses marched their way next to the one horseman that stood in midst of it all. Loud thunder roared in the background and I felt each of their silent stares land on me.

“Adelyn?” Stiles called out. I jumped with a gasp and quickly turned to him, suddenly realizing I was back in class. “Whoa, your—Adelyn, your eyes. They’re still glowing.”

I jumped once again as the school bell finally rang, signaling our school day was finally over. Taking in a deep breath, I shut my eyes momentarily in attempt to turn them back to normal and steady myself.

“You okay?” Scott asked as the two boys stood up and hovered over my desk.

“I’m fine,” I muttered, finally looking back up to them as I took up my stuff. “Let’s go.” I said, pushing my way through and past the two boys as they stared between one another.

Shutting the jeep door, we each took a few steps forward before coming to a stop and looking up into the abandoned house.

“That’s not creepy at all,” Stiles commented toward us as he handed Scott a flashlight.

“Not at all,” I sighed as I took a flashlight of my own and was the first to start making my way toward the house.

The door creaked agonizingly as it opened and granted us entrance to the empty shell of a house. Each of our footsteps seemed heavy over the wooden floors as the whole place groaned with abandonment. This couldn’t possibly have been the house Alex was talking about.

Scott immediately took the lead, making his way toward the dining room, before noticing that there was still a table and a few plates set out in the middle of the dusty cobwebs. The alpha turned to us, his expression almost somber as he looked to Stiles.

“You wanna split up?” he asked.

“Uh, absolutely not,” Stiles shook his head.

My brows furrowed as I heard footsteps coming from upstairs. We all immediately turned to the source and started making our way up.

“Maybe Alex got the address wrong,” Scott began as we looked through the various empty bedrooms.

“Or he lied,” Stiles shrugged.

“Why would he lie?” I asked, keeping my brows merged as I turned to him.

We all stopped as we came to the end of the hallway, each of our eyes landing on the last door. The only one that remained closed. Stiles took the lead this time as he slowly began reaching for the clear knob. I held my breath as he finally managed to push it open. My eyes widened as I took in the modern bedroom that laid behind the rusted door.

“He didn’t lie,” Stiles sighed as we all stepped in, shutting off our flashlights as we did.

“Why didn’t the cops say anything about this?”

“They don’t know it’s here,” Stiles said, turning to face us. “They can’t come in without a warrant and there’s no owner of records to serve a warrant to, so unless there was some kind of threat of imminent danger, they wouldn’t come in.”

Both Scott and I tensed as the sound of an unlocking door echoed in through to our heightened sense of hearing.

“What?” Stiles asked.

“I think I heard something,” Scott muttered as he turned back to the door and started to head out. I stood back as I waited for my boyfriend to reach the doorway before heading out. However, before he could, something managed to catch his attention as he did a double take and turned to notice a few frames hanging on the left side of the room.

“What is it?” I asked, my brows merging as he began stepping toward them.

“These pictures,” he pointed as I drew myself closer behind him. “They all seem to be missing something.”

I pressed my lips together as I tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear and got a closer look, noticing the young boy standing around by himself in majority of the frames. At my side, Stiles quickly turned over to face the bed, his eyes focused on the floor as his breathing began to quicken its pace in slight nervousness. I turned back to him and watched in curiosity as he made his way over and bent down to get a good look under the bed. As he slowly raised the sheet, his body tensed the moment he caught sight of something.

“Stiles,” I called out to him as he didn’t budge. “Stiles!”

He quickly jumped back and looked up, his eyes glued to the other side of the bed in sheer terror, almost as if expecting something to jump out at him.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, quickly kneeling and reaching out for him. He turned to me, his chest heaving up and down before slowly getting back on his feet.

“N—Nothing,” he stammered. “We should get out.”

“What?”

“We should get out, now,” he rushed, taking my hand and running out of the room, shutting the door behind us.

“Stiles!” I called out as he tugged on me and I nearly lost my balance. He came to a sudden stop as his eyes glued to something that stood in middle of the hallway. My brows merged as I looked around, but only came up blank. I slightly stepped back as a sudden rush of wind brushed against my skin, sending chills down my back. Stiles began to shake, suddenly seeming uneasy.

“Wait,” he exhaled. “NO!”

“Stiles!” I shrieked as he threw himself over me protectively. Stiles ducked and held me down. Shutting my eyes, I felt him jump as a clear gunshot sounded out in the middle of a hallway. Gasping, I quickly tried to squint through the chaos, expecting to finally see the source of it all, but instead, finding that the hallway was still as empty as before. Another gunshot sounded out and I jumped, this time wrapping my arms around Stiles as the debris fell over his head. Something was obviously targeting him. I held him close before everything finally calmed down and the sound of rushing footsteps made their way toward us.

“What? What happened?!” Scott asked.

“He was here,” Stiles panted, “He shot at us.” He turned back to face the closed door, his expression only mirroring my own as we both realized there wasn’t a single scratch on the surface despite the chaos we had both so clearly experienced. “It was one of the guys you saw in Alex’s memory.”

“Did you see him?” Scott turned to me.

“I—I heard the gunshots, but I didn’t see anything,” I stammered.

“Whoa, you saw the guy who took Alex’s parents?” Mason suddenly asked, making his presence known, along with Liam.

“No, no, no. They weren’t just taken,” Stiles shook his head, attempting to calm his breathing. “They were—they were made to disappear. That’s why there’s no furniture, that’s why they weren’t in any of the photos. They were erased.”

We all stared at one another for a moment before Stiles turned to the closed door and pushed it open. I pressed my lips together as I realized everything had been taken, much like everything else in the house.

“I keep feeling like it’s familiar,” Stiles grumbled as he continued to flip through the pages of a book. “Like I’ve heard it before.”

“Well, maybe we have,” I shrugged. “What I don’t get is why I wasn’t able to see anything.”

“Maybe they’re like these sorts of demons that are invisible to the angel side of you,” Stiles said, looking up to me from the page he held onto.

“Wouldn’t it make more sense if I could see them because of my angel side?” I chuckled.

Stiles puckered his lips as he thought it over.

“Yeah, that probably makes more sense,” he muttered before going back to his book, the seriousness setting in once again. “There’s gotta be a reason why. There’s gotta be.”

I jumped as he shut the book and a clap of thunder echoed along with it. My body stiffened as I remembered the vision from before.

“Adelyn?”

Remember…

A loud neigh ripped through the silence, causing me to quickly look back up to my boyfriend.

“The Ghost Riders,” I breathed out. “That’s it. That’s gotta be it.”

“What’s it?” Stiles asked, his brows merging.

“The Wild Hunt,” I said, looking up to my boyfriend. “They come by storm, riding horses and they take people. They collect the souls of anyone who stands in their way.”

“You are brilliant,” Stiles almost grinned in relief as he stood up and took me in his arms. I giggled as he kissed my face all over before making his way down to my lips. “This is why I love you!” He shouted as he began running toward his jeep. “We need to tell Scott!”

“Scott! Scott!” Stiles called out as we both ran up to the alpha after his lacrosse practice. “Hey! Hey. It’s called the Wild Hunt.”

“It’s a Germanic myth,” I panted as we both finally reached him.

“Only, apparently, it’s real. Like every other myth in this town that should just really remain a nightmare,” Stiles said, attempting to catch his breath.

“The guy on the horse?” Scott asked as we came to a sudden stop at the underpass of the school.

“Yeah, they’re called the Ghost Riders,” I continued for my boyfriend.

“Hang on one second,” Stiles quickly turned to a group of freshmen making their way past us with their gear on. “Hey! That’s my jersey! Where’d you get that?”

“Coach gave it to me at practice,” the boy simply stated as he continued his walk.

“We had practice?!” Stiles turned sharply to his best friend, raising his hand and motioning rather angrily. “Why doesn’t anyone tell me anything?!”

Scott quickly reached out for the boy in attempt to calm him.

“Why would the Ghost Riders want to take Alex’s parents?” He asked.

“Because that’s what they do,” Stiles sighed. “They take people, okay? They run around collecting souls. And once they take you, you’re gone.”

“But it’s not just you, it’s everything about you,” Scott nodded, finally getting the idea.

“Yeah, like how they took Alex’s room,” Stiles sighed.

“Alex,” I gasped, turning to the two boys. “He’s next!”

I panted as we all ran in through the sheriff’s department and toward the lock up, where Officer Clark stood by. My brows furrowed as I looked in through an empty cell. He was gone.

“Where’s the kid? What happened to him?” Stiles began, turning to Clark.

“What kid?” she asked, seeming thrown off by the question.

“Alex,” I responded. “The boy from the car wreck whose parents went missing last night.”

“Who’s Alex?” she asked, her brows merging even further.

“Clark, listen to me. He was here, okay?” Stiles began, stepping toward the deputy, who only stared at him in disbelief. “You met him.”

“Where’s the sheriff?” Scott asked.

“He got called out to the high school. They found a body,” she said, turning to the alpha for a second before turning back to Stiles. “No one’s been in lock-up all day. Check for yourself.” She handed the boy the clipboard before walking away.

I drew myself closer to my boyfriend as he flipped through every single page, but only finding it to be completely blank.

“He’s not on here. They took him,” Stiles whispered as he dropped the clipboard and rested his hands over the counter.

“I shouldn’t have left him alone,” Scott muttered guiltily as he turned back to us.

“None of us should have,” I grimaced. “We should have left someone to keep an eye on him.”

“He knew they were coming for him,” Stiles shook his head.

“What if they’re coming back for everyone else who was on that road?” Scott questioned.

“Then we already know who’s next,” I muttered as Stiles turned back toward us.

“Liam and Hayden,” Scott seemed to gasp.

We all sprinted toward the school, noticing the various of cop cars and their flashing red and blue lights. Both Scott and Stiles came to a stop as we looked around, but didn’t seem to come across the two teenagers.

“I’ll check the quad,” Scott panted from behind. “Let me know if you guys find them. Or see if your dad knows anything.”

“Yeah, okay,” Stiles nodded. The boy had barely taken a few steps forward before being stopped. “Hey, Scott. Wait. Um—I just—” He took in a deep breath before trying to find the right words. “I just wanted to say—um—”

“Tell me later,” Scott nodded as he pated Stiles’ shoulder before running off in the opposite direction.

“Yeah, alright,” he breathed out.

“C’mon,” I said, taking up his hand and attempting to run, but before I could, we were stopped by a pair of hands.

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Slow it down you two,” Mrs. Martin nearly shouted.

“Sorry!” I apologized.

“Sorry, Mrs. Martin. Hey, have you seen Liam and Hayden?” Stiles asked. “Or actually, forget that, have you seen my dad?”

“Who?” Her brows merged together, not knowing what he was talking about.

“My dad. He’s here because of the body,” Stiles tried to explain.

“How do you know about the body?” Mrs. Martin’s expression hardened.

“His dad is the sheriff,” I muttered, my own brows furrowing as I turned to my boyfriend, my stomach almost dropping as I was starting to recognize the pattern.

“Mrs. Martin, are you okay?” Stiles asked in slight panic. Her eyes shifted toward the doorway as the medics passed by with the body.

“Just… wait here,” she instructed before walking off and leaving us behind.

I took hold of Stiles’ hand before slowly backing away while he kept his eyes on the doorway.

“We should go,” I said, picking up my pace and setting out once more.

We both ran as fast as our legs could take us, searching frantically around the school before finally turning a corner and coming across Mason.

“Mason! Mason!” Stiles almost shouted in glee, causing the teenager to stop right in his tracks. “Where’s Liam—?” His question was cut off as the beta turned the corner just in time. “Liam! Okay! There you go!” The boy reached out for the two teenagers. “Liam and Hayden! Perfect! You two—you two have to listen to me right now. Alex is gone just like his parents, okay?” We all turned to him as he moved around frantically. “The Ghost Riders took him, so you guys, you can’t be alone. You gotta stick with Scott or with me because I can see them.”

The two teenagers turned to me with the confused gazes before pointing up to Stiles.

“Adelyn, who—who is he?” Hayden asked.

“Wait… what?” I asked, my heart dropping.

“Do you even go to this school?” Mason asked, turning his attention to my boyfriend.

“What’s your name?” Liam asked.

Stiles stumbled back, his chest heaving up and down as he was starting to connect the dots himself. I looked up in time to watch as the sheriff dismissed a few deputies and began walking our way.

“The sheriff,” I breathed out. However, before I could say anything, Stiles pushed his way through the teenagers and set out for his dad. “Stiles! Wait!” I cried out, running after him.

“Son, you okay?” Mr. Stilinski asked, holding out a hand toward the boy the minute he caught up to him. As I reached the two, I sighed out in relief the minute Stiles threw himself into his father.

“Oh thank God,” he breathed out, hugging him tightly. “Thank God!”

“What’s going on?”

“Everyone’s forgetting—everyone’s forgetting everything and I’m—”

“Okay, slow down, slow down,” Mr. Stilinski nodded as the two pulled away. “We’ll figure this out, together.”

“Okay,” Stiles breathed out, attempting to steady his breathing.

“Now, why don’t you tell me your name?” The sheriff asked. My heart dropped and I quickly reached for Stiles as he backed away from his own dad. However, before I could fully grasp onto the boy, he pulled out his phone and turned his back to me.

“Stiles—”

“Hey,” Scott’s voice responded on the other line.

“Scott? Where are you? Where are you right now?!” He panicked.

“Who is this?” Scott asked.

“No,” I breathed out. Stiles’ body froze, taking everything in all at once, not bothering to move for a moment before slowly putting the phone down as he kept his back turned to me.

“It’s me. I’m next,” he whispered.

“Stiles,” I called out him, snapping him out of his daze before he turned to me, his eyes wide in relief.

“Adelyn,” he breathed out, turning to me before taking me up in his arms. “You—you… you still haven’t forgotten—”

“Stiles, I’ve been with you this whole time. I—”

I cut myself off.

“Stiles, they’re coming for you,” I muttered, my eyes tearing up as I looked up to him. “They’re coming…”

“We need to go,” he said, cupping my face. “We need to get out of here. You’re the only one left. You’re the only one who still knows who I am.”

I gasped and tensed as my eyes flashed for a split second. A loud bray seemed to tear through the silence of the hallway.

“They’re here,” I whispered.

“We’ve gotta go,” Stiles licked his lips for a moment before taking my hand and running out the double doors. “C’mon!” I came to a sudden stop as we reached the outskirts of the school, a cool, chilling breeze brushing against us as Stiles froze in place, a look of horror crossing his features as his gaze locked onto something just behind me.

“Adelyn, do—do you see him?” he stammered, turning my body so I could face whatever he was seeing. My brows merged as I looked around, but only came up blank.

“I don’t see anything,” I panted.

“You don’t see the guy on the horse?” he asked.

“No,” I shook my head, my eyes watering up as I began to panic. “Stiles, if you can see them, that means—”

“No, no, I know,” he cut me off, taking a hold of my face as he tried to calm me down. “They’re coming for me. You need to get away from me—”

“No,” I shook my head as I pushed his hands away from my face, holding onto him rather tightly. “I won’t leave you. I—I can protect you.”

“Adelyn, you know you can’t do that,” Stiles lowered his voice. “You have to go—”

“I won’t leave you!” I protested.

Stiles hesitated for a moment before taking hold of my hand and running the opposite direction. “Alright, c’mon!”

I pushed my legs to go on faster while trying to keep up with my boyfriend. He turned back and grunted in panic as he continued to push on me to not stop. My brows furrowed as I faintly caught onto the sound of a galloping horse just a few steps behind.

“This way, this way,” Stiles pulled on me as he changed direction. There was a loud neigh and Stiles came to an instant halt. “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Okay, this way!” He turned around and tried to run again, but was stopped by whatever he was seeing.

“Stiles!” I shouted as he kept a hand against my own and turned in circles. “I can create a shield—maybe—maybe I can—”

“No, no, don’t do anything,” he panicked. “They’re everywhere. C’mon! C’mon!”

“Stiles!” I cried out as he began tugging my hand forward, trying to get me to keep running.

“Just don’t do anything. Don’t look at them, don’t scream, don’t try to create a shield,” he shouted as he pulled me forward and allowed himself to fall back. “They’ll try and take you too, just don’t look at them!”

We both caught sight of the jeep, quickly picking up our pace once we did.

“But—”

“I can’t let them take you too, okay?” Stiles panted as he ran over to the driver’s side. I quickly jumped in and watched as the boy fumbled around nervously with the keys.

“Stiles,” I called out to him as he looked up, tensing as he realized something. “Where are they?”

“We’re surrounded,” he muttered, lowering his gaze onto the steering wheel and putting the keys down.

“What? What are you doing?” I panicked. “We need to go! We need to get you somewhere safe! I can try to protect you—”

“There’s not time,” Stiles breathed out, turning to me.

“Stiles, no. We—we have to go—”

“It’s too late. I’m going to be erased, okay? Just like Alex. You’re going to forget me,” Stiles shook.

“No,” I panted, tears welling up in my eyes as my voice trembled. “Don’t say that.”

“You will. Find a way to remember me, okay?” he took my hand in his. “Promise me that you’ll find a way to remember.” Stiles muttered, intertwining his fingers with my own.

“I could never forget you…”

“But you will,” he continued.

“Stiles, don’t. I—I can protect you, I—I can—”

“Adelyn,” he cut me off as he cupped my face, wiping away at the single tear that managed to escape with his thumb. “Find a way to remember me.”

“No, Stiles, please,” I pleaded, fighting back my sobs.

“Remember how we first met, and how much of a stuttering mess I was around you,” he chuckled, dropping one hand to the crook of my neck as I nodded. “You were the first girl willing to put up with my Star Wars obsession and heavy doses of sarcasm without turning the other way and running as far from me like every other normal girl would have.” I huffed a chuckle through my sob. He paused as he licked his lips. “Remember how you saved my life?”

There was a moment of silence as I put my hand over his ever so lovingly.

“You saved my life too,” I whimpered.

“Adelyn,” his voice lowered as his expression softened. “You were the first girl I’ve loved. The only girl, I’ll always love. Adelyn…” His throat constricted as he seemed to fight back his own tears. “—remember… I want you to remember that I’m madly in love with you.”

“Stiles—”

He leaned forward, pressing his forehead against mine. His body shook as he began inching his lips toward my own. However, before they could meet, I felt his grip loosen before ultimately letting go.

“STILES!” I cried out as his body flew back and disappeared behind the closing jeep door. “STILES!”

My body shook with oncoming sobs. I had lost him. He was gone and I had no idea how to get him back.

The following morning, the school bell rang as I slowly made my way through the double doors and into the crowded hallway. My brows furrowed as I looked around, somehow feeling lost as my gaze met with my friends.

“You okay?” Malia asked, popping up just before me.

“You look a little pale,” Lydia added. “Are you feeling sick?”

“No,” I shook my head, “I just… I have this feeling like I forgot something.”

“Like what?” Scott asked, making his way toward us.

“I don’t know,” I muttered as my stomach dropped. “I can’t remember.”

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2

(A/N: I’M BACK~! I’m so sorry for the lack of updates lately I’m currently stuck with shitty wifi so I gotta make do with what I got, but I promise I will try to post more frequently once I get a better hang of things! Anyways, the title has been inspired by Ruelle’s song The Other Side, so feel free to listen to it. It’s been my current obsession. Anyways, sorry for any mistakes, hope you guys enjoy this season, and as always happy reading!)

56 notes · View notes

furederiko · 7 years ago

Photo

It took three episodes to build up my interest, and another three to tear it down apart... *sigh*

As usual, my internet has been acting up all day. To the point that I've already postponed this to go up tomorrow (October 21st). But since the internet gets better, and the post is pretty much done, I've decided to just publish it today despite being a few hours late. Just in case my internet goes bad again during the weekend. Here goes...

05 - "My Secret Identity"

- Remember how the preview in episode 4 teased that Souichi could be working for Faust, and became its traitor? Well... that was undoubtedly misleading. - This episode confirmed that Souichi was the astronaut who discovered Pandora's Box, and indeed triggered the Skywall Disaster (but not on his free will? Hmmm) to steal two of its panels. But he wasn't working for Faust! He delivered one of the panel in exchange for Misora, who was held captive. It explained why and how Misora was able to 'purify' the Smash Essence, because she was part of Faust's experiment. Unfortunately, this also blatantly pointed out the writing's flaw. If being a shut-in was because Misora is still being hunted by Faust, then wouldn't apearing as net idol to search for underground information... recklessly gave herself away? I mean, it's not like she's wearing a mask or significant costume that would disguised her in any way. - At the same time, plot-driver Sawa also had an important discovery. Sentou's past! Ooookay, turns out it was NOT that important. Sentou Kiryuu's real name was Tarou Satou, and he was an eccentric band member alongside his equally goofy and sloppy schoolmate Tatsuya Kishida (played by Tarou Pinboke). Their band was called "Lynks", a name as plain as his real one. I know, right? What an underwhelming reveal. Perhaps the show attempted this reveal to be a comedy, but as I've repeatedly said, humour is definitely its weakest link. Meh... - The more important bit of information was the day he disappeared: September 5th. 'Tarou' was going to test out for a new drug, or something, which might explained how he got abducted by Faust. But of course, before Tatsuya was able to tell more, our baddie Blood Stalk (yes, it's 'Stalk' and not 'Stark') showed up and... ended up snatching him away. Looks like Tatsuya's annoyingly bad dental arrangement was a sign of doom all along. Naturally, he ended up as the episode's MotW/Smash. Predictable much? - Oh well, at least the fight between Build and Stalk was neat. Stalk blocked the former's "VORTEX FINISH" (yes, 'Vortex' and not 'Voltech') very easily, and expressed his desire to see Build... grow stronger. Wait, what? I wonder what truly is Faust's goal here? Hmmm. By the way, Gentoku and Utsumi were at it again. Since Stalk was in the same scene, obviously neither of them was its true identity. There's that. - New Full Bottle debuted. Comic Full Bottle? For a supposed science-based Rider, this show really goes beyond science. Comic didn't fit the biological/tech angle, unless... that's never the case from the start? Could it be, it's our fault for expecting or assuming too much too soon? - Once again, Ryuuga (who indeed is sleeping on the SAME bed. Does the show have so little of a budget, it can't afford separate rooms?) pulled off Comic's Best Match... with Ninja. HUH? "Naruto"-inspired? Thankfully, NinninComic form was impressive both in design and action. I loved the color scheme, and the 'Ninjitsu'-style attacks (like duplication and some others) were cool. This is definitely the most useful form so far. The show was about to end in a good note, until... - Sentou was carelessly caught off guard by Ryuuga once again (no kidding! TWICE already), who knocked him down and turned Tatsuya back into a Smash. Yep, I didn't know that's actually possible. Misora was to be blamed, as she's the one who planted this wrong idea to Ryuuga's simpleton's head. Would Sentou react in a hostile way because of this? The answer is in the next episode...

Overall: This was an underwhelming episode. I was kind of hoping for a powerful reveal about Sentou's past, but it wasn't even that important. Instead, the good part came for Souichi and Misora, who unfortunately were brushed off fairly quickly to pave way for Tatsuya's arrival. The butt-head argument between Tatsuya and Ryuuga was nice and all, as they seemed to by vying for Sentou's attention. But overall, this episode wasn't as strong as the previous three that have managed to grab my attention. So to be honest... I'm disappointed.

06 - "In the Belly of the Beast!"

- Let's continue. Unnecessary long 'previous episode' review aside, how would you expect Sentou to react for Ryuuga's action? Well... not as 'fun' nor 'tense' as I had imagined. Perhaps because Sentou had less memory with Tatsuya, and had spent more time with Ryuuga instead? Hmmm. - Ryuuga's plan actually worked. Re-Smash-ed Tatsuya wandered back to Faust secret base! But sadly Build had to come and save his ass again, which led to their bickering scene (with a touch of fist-fight). This was however, an important scene. We got to see that the Build Driver somehow only worked with Sentou, as Ryuuga got electrocuted when he tried to use it. It led Sentou to tinker a sentient gadget called Cross-Z Dragon for Ryuuga, so he could utilize the power of his Dragon Full Bottle. Yep, it's definitely the second step for him to become Kamen Rider Cross-Z (that's the official romanization). For now however, it worked as some sort of pet/babysitter... that has the ability to suck poison from Ryuuga's body. CONVENIENT! - Hazard Level? Night Rogue felt Blood Stalk has been trying to raise Build's level, and didn't seem pleased about it. These Faust duo are definitely toying with Build... and also Ryuuga (Stalk openly used plural for Build) in their own way. But what for? I still couldn't get it. - Hey, Sentou's working at the Institute! Now that's a rare sight. LOL. Seeing his employee hard at work, Gentoku openly shared more information about Takumi Katsuragi, and about the gas emitting from Sky Wall that they branded as Nebula Gas. Utsumi seemed unsure to hand out Katsuragi's research to Sentou, but Gentoku didn't mind. And responded with a... suspicious smile? He's totally up for something here. Could he be secretly leading Sentou to pinpoint the... Faust Lab? That seemed to be the case. Cunning Gentoku totally knew more than he should've. Was he in cahoots with Stalk? - Sentou and Ryuuga discovered the base. It's the lab where they were experimented on! Home sweet home, huh? It's interesting that only halfway through episode 6, and we've already in the enemy's headquarters. This was FAST, so Sentou's identity arc might be wrapped pretty soon. But this show have got to be kidding me! The lab was on the verge of exploding (following Build's berserk against Stalk), and the Faust soldiers were trying to transport the other victims of human experiment... yet Sentou and Ryuuga went into a long emotional private talk instead? YIKES. This show tends to choose bad timing for this kind of scene, and this might be the most ridiculous example. It's like audience was expected to assume that time froze or something like that, until they've done their heart to heart talk... *sigh*. - The episode ended in a more baffling manner. After being rescued, Tatsuya opened up that Sentou could have been the real culprit in Katsuragi's supposed-murder. How so? Because Tatsuya dropped him off at Katsuragi's apartment, precisely an hour before Ryuuga arrived there. It could be an attempt for a cliffhanger, but it felt forced instead. And it got more irritating, as Blood Stalk walked into a brand new Faust lab facility while talking in the phone with... *drumrolls* Gentoku. Nope, that's not where it annoyed me. It's what was shown afterwards in the preview! Because... wait for it, following a commerical break that somehow included the Faust "Trans-Steam Gun" and "Steam Blade" in it (Over-Time's fansub didn't include this, but it was in broadcast), we got to see Gentoku using a Full Bottle, revealing that he is... *sigh*

Overall: Way to go, TOEI! You always ruin the fun of discovery by showing too much on the next episode's preview, and you've done it again with this one. To put it worse, the startlingly problematic second half was just part of other major issues I had with this episode. It felt messy and well, missed out plenty of potentials to actually surprise audience in a positive way. That exaggerated chit-chat scene between Sawa and Misora about boyfriends, extras (those other victims) who ridiculously acted very poorly, and Sentou's supposed emotional explosion that never felt believable? And then that spoilerish preview? What a bummer... *sigh*.

07 - "The True Face of Night Rogue"

- Let's address the biggest, gigantic elephant in the room right away. Gentoku Himuro. The charming Gentoku who sleazily tried to harrass Sawa while spreading suspicious smirks and grunts every now and then, is indeed, totally, undeniably Night Rogue. So basically, this series does the complete obvious, by rehashing the exact same trope of last year (remember Kamen Rider Genm?). This is well... such a let-down, because I admittedly expected it to be different, if not better. Unlike Build's brother show Kyuranger that continues to prove its forte of being enjoyable and unexpectedly surprising over and over again, Build is sequing through the predictable path instead. - Not sure how I feel about it, but this reveal officially made Gentoku's entire movements more and more confusing to follow. Is Night Rogue really the leader of Faust? Then why would he follow Stalk's every order, as if he's the second in command? Before this, we saw him being fascinated with Stalk's action, and then in this episode, they butted heads and got into a disagreement. He claimed to Sentou that he fired Katsuragi for doing illegal human experiments, but he obviously has been doing it himself. What's that about? Does he have dual personality? - I understood that he's aiming to build Kamen Rider for military purposes. But if he has known Sentou is Build from the beginning, why have he and Utsumi been pretending in the Institute that they didn't have a clue? Spilling out details one after another, leaking information to the 'enemy', while in various occasions looked so desperate to capture them (Gentoku's weird reaction in episode 5 in particular, just felt all wrong). Inconsistent much? Hmmm... could he be intentionally toying with Build? Didn't seem so, and that's... pointless anyway. Not to mention, WHY OH WHY? Build kept using new Full Bottles (doesn't take a genius to figure out that he has Misora who can purify them, as well as the Pandora's Panel that Faust is looking for), then why didn't Gentoku just follow him to Cafe Nascita, and scored multiple jackpots? He DID easily follow Sentou and Ryuuga to stop them from going to the dry-soiled Hokuto region, right? Confusing! *sigh* - I guess Gentoku's first transformation sequence and the "MIST MATCH" tagline was meant to look cool, but it sure didn't feel that way and came off as unnecessarily flashy. Interestingly, he outpaced Ryuuga to become the official 2nd rider of the show. A fact that made me speechless. - Also, I'm calling it now. Blood Stalk is none other than Katsuragi. Who else, right? Why on Earth would his actor be promoted into a recurring cast recently. It signaled that he's way more important than just mere cameo (remember Kamen Rider Para-DX?). The way Stalk boldly proclaimed Takumi to be the founder of Faust, was way too suspicious anyway. Just like Gaim and Ex-Aid, looks like everyone who's not comic reliefs might end up becoming a Rider. - Thankfully, Takumi's mother Kyoka Katsuragi (played by Komura Hiro) became a highlight to this episode. Ignoring the odd facts that led Sentou to Hokuto (how would Takumi even bothered to give out obvious hints via his logs, one that would shockingly be deduced as anagram? How is that even scientific? Also, another cosplay joke for Ryuuga... *sigh*), the drama bit between the middle-aged local teacher and Ryuuga was moving. This was the woman who thought of Ryuuga as her son's killer, but had to swallow the bitter pill when she learned who was truly the evil one. - There were other good points. Cross-Z Dragon was the episode's MVP, by aiding in the battle against that child-based Smash. I also digged the fact that the Rocket Full Bottle actually belonged to Stalk, and was not Sentou's to begin with. The switched ownership was neat, and shook things up a little. Ryuuga and his knack for Best Matches was another delight to see. - RocketPanda form however? Not a good looking form that resembled "Kamen Rider Fourze" too much, but in an ugly way. And the show once again broke its own rule, this time through the reversed naming order. Another inconsistency?

Overall: On one hand, the show 'succeeded' in trying to make audience continue guessing whether Gentoku is Rogue or not. On the other hand, the road towards that was shaky, flawed, and the outcome was merely another underwhelming 'Meh' at best. It didn't feel like a surprising twist, simply because the show didn't even try to smartfully plotted it as one. Heck, it was already openly revealed on the preview *sigh*. I developed good faith after seeing how the show evolved from episode 2 to 4, yet it took episode 5 to 7 to burn them all down and left me bitter in disappointment. With poorly handled characters, shift of tones that doesn't flow well, and writings that feel surprisingly sloppy, this show just does not feel enjoyable and promising to me anymore. Many have pointed out that it might be too early to drop a Tokusatsu show around this number of episodes, because things usually gets better and only truly shapes up in the second arc. But I'm not sure I have the patience to go much farther... *sigh. For now, I'll stick around for just another 2 episodes. If my interest isn't picking up by then, I'm definitely shelving this series for good. That's not a threat, by the way. Just an acknowledgement that this show is just... NOT my BEST MATCH. Next Episode: That hedgehog is on FIREEEEE... PS: Eiji & Ankh! Dark-haired Takeru!! Human-Kouta!!! And Gentarou!!!! At least that "Kamen Rider Heisei Generations FINAL" movie looks like an interesting mash-ups...

Episode 05 Score: 7,3 out of 10 Episode 06 Score: 7,1 out of 10 Episode 07 Score: 6,9 out of 10

All images are screencaptured from the series, provided by the FanSubber Over-Time. "Kamen Rider Build" is produced by TOEI, and airs every Sunday on TV-Asahi. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.

#tokusatsu #kamen rider #kamen rider build #review

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