#i can't remember if it's ever stated what tom does. i don't think so.

[adhd-merlin]

obviously there will be some tension between tom and mo for a while given mo fucked his wife but I like to think tom would get along with gal. at some point around christmas they all meet for a "family" dinner organised by gwen because she wants to see her granddaughter and she doesn't give a shit if its gonna be awkward. the vibes are extremely off because arthur is there, and again. mo fucked tom's wife. but at some point after dinner mo and jude are with the kids, cooing at their daughter. arthur is giving an oscar-worthy performance in the role of the ex-husband who is Completely Over It while helping gwen clear the table. tom and gal are making polite small talk in the living room and tom asks gal about their work. somehow gal ends up talking about how they hacked the home office database at sixteen and tom is genuinely impressed. then gal asks tom about his job and he's like "oh I'm an accountant". gal's like "i see. do you enjoy it?" and tom's like "I wouldn't say that, no." then it's awkward again. but later when they're going home gal turns to mo and says "you know, I like tom. he's cool". and unbeknown to them tom is turning to jude while driving to tell her "interesting character that gal. did you know they hacked the home office"

[motherfuckingmaneater]

24. Things you said when we were alone for Belladolphus

prompt.

I think i'm in love with you. He says it so quietly she can't be sure if he's said it at all or some strange machination of her mind has been so desperate to hear those words from another that she's projecting onto the other constant in her life. He's always been such a good friend. She turns, grey eyes studious, scrutinising. She wants to ask why. He looks so gorgeous in his Quidditch robes. He kisses her before she can ask. Handsome boy, she thinks to herself as she winds her fingers into his hair and kisses him back. If I can't have him, thank Merlin I've got you.

It's not yours, it's his. He knew somewhere deep down. Of course. Bellatrix wasn't home often enough, they were in the midst of a war, they dropped onto their bed and fell asleep sometimes fully clothed let alone had the chance to make love. Merlin, of course it's his. It hurts him, but he doesn’t show a hint of the tears that he wants to spill. He understands and she’s gone. When he next sees him, she has a beautiful little thing in her arms that looks just like her. Her eyes are indistinguishable from His however, he doesn’t remember his face as well as Bellatrix does, but he’s seen old pictures. Tom Riddle is staring back out of those eyes. There’ll be no mistake. Bellatrix’s child is not her husbands. 

I don't think we're going to win. She snaps her gaze to him. That's not an option. She hisses and snarls, how can he say such a thing? He holds his ground. He's no coward, he'll go down fighting. He'll always be an exceptional Death Eater in his own right. But. . . he'll always follow Bellatrix. He sees the truth, where she's blindly devoted.

I missed you. Her voice cracks a little when she says it. She touches his beard, studies his face. She leans in and kisses him. She tastes the same he realises, black tea and mint. it could make him cry, feeling her against his skin. He refrains still. He smells the same, cedar wood and fresh water. She falls asleep perfectly comfortable in his arms, feeling his body, kissing his skin. They’ve rotted together, and they’ll heal together, touch by touch, kiss by kiss.

I'm sorry I could never love you the same way I loved him. It wounds him, it wounds her too. She says it with tears in her eyes. He only nods, he can't bring himself to answer her. He understands. It's the last thing she ever tells him. Its the last time she kisses him, but she kisses him hard. She spends the last night of her life with her Master. The only one allowed near him in his fractured state, she’s his only reprieve from the madness his mind has dwindled to. His right hand, his student, his army commander, his heir's mother, his only lover. Rodolphus watches her fight just like Lord Voldemort does, three at a time. She is so very deeply ingrained in the dark arts, she could rival him, Rodolphus thinks. He watches them communicate in the same impossibly exquisite way, magic crackling, laughing, bloodied. She has always been Lord Voldemort's most prized possession, even if he convinces himself otherwise. She dies in battle while Rodolphus captive and restrained, her body laid beside her Master's body. It's what she wanted, and now finally his tears come. 

[kneecoal-mooma]

Marauders' Map + The Twins Headcanon

Okay but like. How did Fred and George know that the password to the map was "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good?" There was no way they guessed that.

But then I remembered that when Snape was trying to get answers out of the map, the Marauders sent him a message that was essentially telling him to F off.

Basically, that got me thinking. What if the Marauders sensed that Fred and George would use the map for what it was made for and told them the password?

Obviously from canon, we know Fred and George stole the map from Filch's office. They would probably tap their wands on the parchment and say something like, "Fred and George Weasley command you to reveal your secrets".

And the soul of the map would realise that the twins would use it for pranks, so the Marauders would write back a message like; 'Mr. Moony officially recognises Mr. and Mr. Weasley as his fellow troublemakers. Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Moony. The Marauders are blessed to have met the company of Mr. and Mr. Weasley. Mr. Padfoot would like to add that he is absolutely convinced Mr. and Mr. Weasley would use this map for a "good cause". Mr. Wormtail is pleased to grant you access; "We solemnly swear that we are up to no good".

Fred and George would obviously tap the parchment again and say "We solemnly swear that we are up to no good" and see the map for what it really is.

But can you imagine Fred and George talking to the Marauders like Ginny did to the diary?

Fred + George: *taps parchment* Merlin, Snape put us in detention again!

The Marauders: Oh no, how disgusting! Does he not see your potential?? 😩

I feel like they would get really attached to bad mouthing Snape with the Marauders. (Also, I feel like this is how the Marauders find out that Snape has become a teacher, because in "Prisoner of Azkaban" it states "'Mr Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a Professor.'", but I have no idea how they knew he became a teacher in the first place.)

Fred and George would trust the map less after "The Chamber of Secrets", especially when Arthur says to Ginny something along the lines of; "If you can't see it's brain, you can't trust it."

Like, they obviously know the map is safe because they've had it for so many years at this point, but after what happened to Ginny, I don't think they were willing to risk it.

So they just give the map to Harry because why not 😭. Probably because they were like, "Eh, Harry saved Ginny, if the map actually is harmful, I'm sure he'll be fine-"

And the reason Harry never gets any messages from the Marauders was because Fred and George just straight up told him the passwords, so he never went through the process of tapping it and learning that way.

BASICALLY, the Marauders Map is kind of like Tom Riddle's diary but they don't actually split their souls because they don't give a rat's tail about that.

And you know that headcanon that when Fred dies, Sirius, James and Remus recruit him as the 4th Marauder? I feel like they would remember Map and be like, "Yes, this was the man our souls on earth trusted, so we trust you too."

[thegeminisage]

STAR TREK UPDATE TIME. last night we watched voy's "scorpion part i" and "the gift." I HAVE FINALLY MET SEVEN OF NINE

scorpion part ii:

ABSOLUTELY loved this one. idk why i was so surprised when seven turned out to be their borg liaison like i had no idea how they encountered her...i guess i was picturing them picking her up like a lost puppy because of hugh in tng

seven hot it must be said. we haven't gotten into the meat of it yet but i do like her. i was a little worried that after all this i wouldn't!

janeway dealing with the borg was sooo fun. literally her no-nonsense take-no-shit mode

i loved also that chakotay was the one to essentially borg meld with seven since he'd had the prior experience...mwah. give him a little borg trauma as a treat

i also really enjoyed janeway and chakotay realizing that seven was right - their fighting and going against each other is why they were losing. what if our future third reminded us that we needed to renew our wedding vows and we were both lost in space?

ESPECIALLY BECAUSE. like on what could have been her deathbed while she was slurring her words she made chakotay promise to do the thing. and immediately he decided to do the opposite even though it broke his heart. like SO TRUE they needed the reminder mom and dad were literally fighting

i have mixed feelings about janeway sort of forcing the detransition from borg onto seven. like yeah no human person wants to be borg especially not the little girl she was when she was assimilated but it's very hard to hear and ignore her wishes NOW when she's stating them so clearly, and when she's so obviously suffering. like i don't think she could have done any different or that i would have done any different but whew! rough

i also think chakotay was SICK with jealousy that tuvok got to go into the cube with janeway and he had to stay out on voyager. i bet tuvcok was so smug about it. idk why but it brings me so much joy to imagine them hating each other and as an extent maybe also fighting over janeway's affection, be it platonic or not

also, i can't remember if this was in this episode or the next one but the bit where seven was in her cell fucking SCREAMING na janeway was behind her grabbing her...sincerely hoping the dyke energy only gets better from here cuz that was gay as hell

the gift:

rip kes...i'll miss you

ik kes left bc they were having difficulties with the actress, but it still sucks that her exit was so dumb. like oh no her powers are going out of control and even though we fixed it every other time this time we can't! anyway bye!

i do appreciate the actresses crying for what felt like...you know, for real, during the goodbye. i almost welled up with them. and ten years closer to home!!! that's 13 years down, 57 to go...

kes is such a rare person in the voyager cast because she has so many connections. she's good friends with tom, she's gort tuvok and the emh as her mentors, janeway as like her fake mom, neelix as her romantic interest...she's connected to so many people. if you name anybody from the rest of the cast you'd get 2-3 connections at most. so it's sad to see her go

and like i hated neelix when he was with kes but their goodbye conversation was so lame. i still can't believe that's all we ever got about their breakup. fucking crazy

on the other hand, seven in this episode was so good, especially with like, b'elanna - her disdain and her sarcasm are useless against b'elanna who can dish it back out just as well and does not give one shit about seven's deal so long as she gets the ship working again. also? lots of women on screen during that scene. let's lez out.

and seven at the end remembering her favorite color :( i was surprised she relented in her willingness to be aboard so quickly - but it just shows that janeway genuinely did get through to her somehow. WOMEN!!!

TONIGHT: ds9's "a time to stand" and "rocks and shoals"

[sendandburn]

An Analysis of the hogwarts teachers

This iwas included in the Analysis of Severus Snape as a teacher but i decided to put it in a separete post 'cause i feared it would be to long for Tumblr.

"Fake Moody  [a Death Eater, but a Death Eater who fooled everyone, meaning his behavior was not that OOC for real Moody, whom Dumbledore hired]:

Transfigures Draco and slams him repeatedly against the stone floor while Draco is squealing in pain

tortures spiders with Crucio in front of Neville, which causes him such distress Hermione interrupts the lesson. Then, he “comforts” Neville. Now picture how Neville must have felt when he found out it was one of his parents’ torturers. That had to be more traumatic than watching your toad not get poisoned

curses students in class - “The rest of the class was very eager to leave; Moody had given them such a rigorous test of hex-deflection that many of them were nursing small injuries.” (r/harrypotter)

Ok , we don't know if the REAL Moody was even good at transfiguration so he might not have used that to punish Draco and as for the unforgivables....maybe...i mean, the reason Barty gave to show them that was a good one but Moody knew of the backgrounds of Harry and Neville so i'd like to think that he wouldn't use the unfogivables that affected them most with them in class.

"Flitwick:

does nothing about Luna’s bullying

has Seamus repeatedly write "I am a wizard, not a baboon brandishing a stick". The Irish were once openly compared to apes in England in the past, so that’s in extremely poor taste

Lavender bursts into tears during Charms, Flitwick doesn’t notice"

(r/harrypotter)

Ok, so i can't in good conscience say anything to defend him against points 2 and 3 'cause, quite frankly, there's no excuse for that, in fact point 2 makes him no better than Snape when he called Hermione the M word and he dosen't even have the excuse of once being anti-irish and trying to change,like Snpe does.

as for point 1 however the Harry Potter Wiki clearly states that when heads of houses decided to live at Hogwarts, they most likely had private quarters NEAR their House's common room. " note that it says Near, not In and as Luna's bullying happened In the dorms & common rooms, Flitwick would have no way of knowing about it unless she reported it, wich she never did.

"Trelawney:

predicts a death every year and generally distresses students with her predictions

To Hermione: “I don’t remember ever meeting a student whose mind was so hopelessly mundane.”

takes her anger about Umbridge’s performance review out on students: throws a book at Dean and Seamus, and thrusts another one so hard into Neville’s chest that he falls. She then calls the entire class a bunch of idiots: “You know what to do! Or am I such a substandard teacher that you have never learned how to open a book?”

Points 2 and 3 make her no better than Snape who is also often criticized by snaters for insulting his students, wich is funny if you consider that we clearly estabilished that he is not the only one who does this. As for predicting people's deaths, i understand that it's a part of her character, just like is a part of Snape's character to be snarky, however i can't help but think that she is incredibly stupid for doing that as it not only, as said distresses the students, but makes the theory that she is a fraud seem much more belivable.

"Slughorn:

starts an elitist club to promote his favorites and doesn't even bother to learn Ron's name. This clearly affects Ron (Molly is still raw about Arthur being excluded from the Slug Club, years later)

Ron is poisoned and he just stands there

was Tom Riddle’s mentor and his influence on Tom is apparent in Tom trying to become a teacher to influence young minds, and testing poisons on house elves; he is openly prejudiced, though non-violent. Further, Slytherins were groomed into the DEs under his nose." (r/harrypotter)

Ok, i'm not even going to defend him cause i never liked him and there are honestly no good arguments to defend his actions in any of those instances. Honestly, i can agree that Snape is a bad teacher but at least he never picked favorites or did nothing when a student was endagered in front of him.

"Dumbledore:

silenced student Snape after Sirius tried to kill him, and did not expel Sirius

His attitude toward Harry in OOTP was emotionally abusive

recruited students into the original Order while they were still his students in the Marauders era, and continued to use children for his war against Voldemort."

Look, i get silecing Snape as he didn't whant to put Remus in danger but Sirius punishment was fairly light in face of what he did, though i will disagree that he actively TRIED to kill Snape as the same point that was made in the original post about Snape and Trevor can be made about Sirius, to semi quote "Sirius  is competent enough that if he’d wanted Severus dead, he would be. " i mean....He is the son of Walburga OFF WITH THAT ELF'S HEAD Black and grew up having acess to more dark artefacts and dark arts spells than Snape could ever dream of having, thus it would be as the host of screen rant says " super easy,barerely an inconvenience" for Sirius to kill Severus without being caught. However, it was still Involuntary manslaughter and thus " a Friday afternoon detention for the rest of the year, along with being banned from playing Quidditch for the rest of the school year." is not a suitable punishment

As for Dumbledore in OOTP, i get that he was afraid that Voldemort could read Harry's mind but that could be solved by simply writting a porpusfully vague letter like " Harry, I'm afraid Voldemort can read your mind, that's why I can't look at you and I can't share my plans with you. I need you to trust me, I have a plan and the best thing you can do to help is put all your efforts in learning Occlumency. I would teach you myself but that may allow Voldemort to see my plans, but I happen to know of another expert at Occlumency who may be of help. You might not like him but he is by far the best person for this job. Don't worry, i will talk him into curbing down his behavior so that he is more civilized with you during those lessons"

There Harry won't know for sure who his teacher is going to be (thus neither will Voldemort ) but at least he won't be compleatly in the dark.

Point 3 was always something that irked me about him, but i suppose i can't say much as age is also not a factor in the recruitment of death eaters, though it can be noted that while Voldemort did manipulate his potential recruits, he never lied to them about what he expected of them wich can't be said about Dumbledore.

"Hagrid:

gives Dudley a tail because Dudley’s father insulted Dumbledore. Dudley has to get surgery to remove it. He intended to transfigure him into a pig

gets the Trio involved in his illegal and dangerous dragon hatching scheme, which results in them being caught and punished and in Ron being gravely injured, for which he blames Ron

calls Draco an idiot

first sends Draco and Neville alone, after the unicorn killer, then sends Harry and Draco alone, despite seeing that Draco is trying to cause trouble

sends Harry and Ron into the forest to speak with Aragog

Draco gets injured in Hagrid’s lesson

His blast-ended skrewts lesson result in multiple injured students

threatens Draco with transfiguration again after Moody’s stunt

asks Harry and Hermione to secretly look after his incredibly dangerous brother

makes a fuss about the Trio dropping his subject and guilt-trips them about it" (r/harrypotter)

ok so lets go in order:

Point 1: IRL, it was clearly another demonstration of Jk Rowlling's fatphobia. In potterverse, it was clearly irresponsible and constitutes as a violation of the status of secrecy as, although the Dursley's know about magic, the staff of the hospital where Dudley goes to remove his tail do not.

Point 2: once again, Irresponsible, but in character for Hagrid who seemingly fails to see how something like a Dragon could hurt the students.

Point 3: and Yet another teacher who insults his students ladies and gentlemen.

Point 4: One of his worst offences on this list, Investigating the Unicorn deaths was HIS JOB!!!! Honestly, call Snape what you will but he never used detentions to send students to get dangerous potion ingredients for him or set any detentions past curfew. Hagrid should have them do something like clean the owlery instead.

Point 5: i get that he though Aragog wouldn't eat them, wich is in character for him as he always sees dangerous creatures as inoffensive but he didn't know for sure and could have just told them to research Tom Riddle's geneology wich would have been just as effective and way less dangerous.

Point 6: Ok let's get this out of the way first: YES, Draco is partly to blame for this injury as he insulted Buckbeak when Hagrid specifically told him not to! However, in any class there will always, and i mean ALWAYS be a student that, for whatever reason, fails to follow instructions so if Draco hadn't said a word, you can bet that another student who wasn't paying attention would have! thus the end results would still be the same, with the only difference being how much power the parent's of said student have at the ministry and if they decide to press charges or not. The risk was always there and that's what he gets for bringing a XXX beast to a third year class.

"Lupin

endangers everyone for an entire year by covering up for a mass-murderer just to look good, even after said murderer has infiltrated the castle twice, once attacking and traumatizing the Fat Lady and once pulling a knife on Ron

is negligent with his Wolfsbane - Snape has to nag him about it. This leads to him transforming in front of the Trio

Hermione doesn’t get a chance to fight the boggart, leading to her first less than perfect grade, which affects her confidence well into her 5th year. As the DADA OWL exam included banishing a boggart, this is presumably why she doesn’t get the O she deserves

Has no apparent issue with executing Peter in front of three children" (r/harrypotter)

Point 1: Ok,so i believe that his reason for not telling people about Sirius being a dog animagus wasn't to, as the post said, "Look Good" but to be loyal to his friends whom,being who they were,probably made a pact in their first year to not tell any figure of authority about their mischiefs, wich included becoming animagus. Was it a bad decision? Yes,as he should have put the safety of his students above anything else but i understand his reason. it dosen't excuse it though.

Point 2: while i can understand that, as anyone would forget it with all that was happening, i can't defend him for that one.

Point 3: "his teaching style was obviously not good for Hermione, who got an E in DADA because she couldn't defeat a boggart, because she didn't get the same chance as everyone to practice in Y3. She remained insecure about her DADA skills, for no good reason" (pet_genius on reddit) Honestly, the fact that he let any of his students leave without having defeated their boggarts is something that i think no one could defend and is worrisome that, if it weren't for the Patronus lessons, Harry might not have gotten the chance to defeat his either.

Point 3: Ok i need to remind you that: LUPIN IS A WEREWOLF WHO DIDN'T TAKE WOLFSBANE AT THE TIME AND IT WAS THE NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON! meaning, the freaking Wolf while not in control of his body, was very active inside his mind and it, being an animal, dosen't care about the emotional impact Peter's execution could have had on the children and with it being so close to the front of Remus' mind, it was very capable of clouding Remus' rationality and common sense, making him focus only on his anger.

"McGonagall:

forces Harry to become Seeker without asking him if he wants to, threatening him with punishment if he doesn’t practice hard (in the process, ignores Draco’s attempt to steal Neville’s Remembrall)

pulls 1st-year Draco by his ear in addition to assigning detention and docking 20 points, doesn’t give points back or apologize when it turns out he wasn’t lying

sends 1st years to the Forbidden Forest to find a unicorn-slaying horror, in addition to docking the trio 150 points, thus making them a target for hatred, for breaking curfew

Doesn't notice 1st-year Ginny’s obvious distress

Allows Ron to study with a broken wand

catches Harry and Ron wandering the hallways alone, at a time when teachers escort students everywhere, and lets them get away with it because Harry lies that they’re going to see Hermione in the hospital wing; does not escort them there

Locks Nev out of the common room with a mass murderer on the loose for having his passwords stolen, a humiliating and dangerous punishment for something that's not Neville's fault, in addition to a ban from Hogsmeade visits and detention.

Lets Harry practice Quidditch outdoors in POA despite the danger he is in, because, as she explicitly says, she wants the Quidditch Cup

reacts to “Moody” torturing Draco by ordering Moody to take Draco to Snape to be punished some more, and doesn't check on him

humiliates Neville because she doesn’t want to look bad in front of the foreign delegations

punishes Harry for losing his temper with Umbridge, proceeds to do the same thing in front of him

admits she treated Peter poorly because he wasn't as talented as his friends

The worst two sets of troublemakers in school history were her charges and she failed to control them." (r/harrypotter)

Point 1: “threaten” changes the entire context. She says she “may change her mind about punishing him” but it’s not made to sound very serious, especially since she smiles immediately after that. " (Fae_Faye) That said, while, as Fae_Faye said, she might have allowed him to give up Quidditch after trying out should he want to, it wouldn't be Oc for her to pull a Voldemort emphasizing the fun and glory that Quidditch can bring more than the dangers it can cause,suibitably manipulating harry into trying out should he decide that he dosen't want to play or wants to wait for y2. Yes, she would respect his opinion should he make his denial clear but she would still try.

Point 2: "Pulling somebody by the ear is a common way for adults to punish children but the fact that physical abuse is extremely common does not make it right. Would you find it acceptable if your employer dragged you around by the ear if you spent too much time on break? No? Why not? Why would that be cause for a lawsuit, but not an adult doing it to a (physically much weaker) child in their care?

At worst, the child will actually come to believe that he deserves being psychically abused if he's done something wrong, which, later in life, will turn them into an adult who accepts domestic violence. (

At worst, the child will actually come to believe that he deserves being psychically abused if he's done something wrong, which, later in life, will turn them into an adult who accepts domestic violence. (Fae_Faye and to a lesser extent Vrajitoarea) Sure, she took more points of the trio than of Draco, but as his only misdeed was being out of the Snake's lair past curfew, a simple detention would have suficed.

Point 3: "There’s no evidence that McGonagall knew what the students were going to do for detention. It’s possible Hagrid asked for them without telling her why but the fact that she accepted to send three 11 y.o. to Hagrid, at 11 o'clock at night, without even asking what he would be doing with them? That's... somehow even worse.

Besides, Filch was the one McGonagall assigned to take them to Hagrid, and Filch knew what they'd be doing. Do you think Hagrid told Filch, whom he couldn't stand, but not McGonagall? And Filch didn't tell her either, for whatever reason?

About the point deduction –Harry and Hermione not only got into trouble themselves, but also put Neville and Draco into trouble as well, and already Harry and Draco have been troublemakers (having fights at the Hall over the Remembrall, breaking the rule about flying, and maybe some more- I can’t remember right now), so she was probably trying to discourage them from doing such a thing ever again by giving such a harsh punishment, especially since the school just recently had an issue with a troll on the loose and attacking students. In any case, Neville also had 50 points deducted, and Harry, Hermione, and Neville all became the target of bullying because of it. It doesn't matter what they did, putting a target on three 11 y.o. children's backs is wrong in itself. That it happened just for breaking curfew, and in addition to the detention in the FF, just makes it worse. (Fae_Faye and Vrajitoarea, semiquoted 'cause Vrajitoarea assumed Ron was involved)

Point 4: "Heads of Houses (i.e. real-life Housemasters) are parental stand-ins, and they're supposed to watch out exactly for this kind of situation. Ginny was visibly unwell, and Percy noticed, but couldn't force her to talk about it. Ron was a 12 y.o. child, he had no responsibility.But, anyway most people at that time were distressed with the opening of the Chamber, even the teachers. Which isn't an excuse. Checking up on 11 y.o. children who have just been separated from their families, for the first time in their lives, is the Head of House's job. After a superficial inquiry, it would have become clear that Ginny was having serious issues, which should have prompted further investigation." (Fae_Faye and Vrajitoarea)

Point 5: None of his teachers did anything about it. And Ron himself makes the decision not to get one because he doesn't want to suffer a howler: "Write home for another one," Harry suggested as the wand let off a volley of bangs like a firecracker. "Oh, yeah, and get another Howler back," said Ron, stuffing the now hissing wand into his bag. " `It's your own fault your wand got snapped-'" (Fae_Faye)

Point 6: McGonagall has no way of knowing that they’re lying; all she knows is that three thick friends have had one of their own petrified and so are desperate to see their friend. This scene showcases her empathy and kindness despite usually coming off as a disciplinarian. Also, the Hospital Wing is on the first floor and at the time McGonagall catches them, Harry and Ron were on the second – I don’t think it reflects that badly on her that she allowed them to go unescorted just one flight of stairs down, especially since she was rather too emotional at that time to think rationally (when Harry and Ron leave, McGonagall is tearing up and blowing her nose).(Fae_Faye)

Point 7: All McGonagall knows is that a boy habitually known for forgetting and misplacing things wrote down every password of the Gryffindor Common Room in the last week and then lost it while a mass murderer was on the loose and trying to get into the Gryffindor Common Room. Neville endangered every Gryffindor classmate of his by losing that parchment, and could have been the cause for all their deaths if Sirius had turned out to be the psychotic mass murderer he was painted as (especially since at that time, Ron was screaming about Sirius standing over him holding a knife). Sure, there were security trolls there to protect him ( “Poor Neville was forced to wait outside the common room every night for somebody to let him in, while the security trolls leered unpleasantly at him.” ) But, setting aside the sheer mental and emotional trauma Neville was experiencing by being forced to wait outside, fearing for his life, and to humiliate himself in front of his classmates by begging to be let inside his own "home"... Sirius Black was believed to be an extremely skilled killer, who walking around the castle without being seen. The trolls were not even a small guarantee that Sirius couldn't endanger Neville.

All this, for Neville supposedly having lost something (so, not a voluntary action, but the consequence of him being naturally forgetful, and of the fact that Cadogan was inventing harder and harder punishments, to the point that other students complained).

And Neville is an extremely sensitive child, so a punishment that would have been terrible for anyone, would be excruciating for him. McGonagall, as his Head of House, should know that. It's also extremely poor pedagogy - by having him there, it's a constant reminder to everyone else that he supposedly endangered their lives, which would prompt bullying." (Fae_Faye and Vrajitoarea)

Point 8: "Bad news, Harry. I've just been to see Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt. She -- er -- got a bit shirty with me. Told m' I'd got my priorities wrong. Seemed to think I cared more about winning the Cup than I do about you staying alive. Just because I told her I didn't care if it threw you off, as long as you caught the Snitch first." Wood shook his head in disbelief. "Honestly, the way she was yelling at me... you'd think I'd said something terrible... then I asked her how much longer she was going to keep it. He screwed up his face and imitated Professor McGonagall's severe voice. 'As long as necessary, Wood'..."*When it comes down to it, she clearly cares for Harry’s safety more than winning the Cup. I also doubt that Harry would have been in any danger out on the Quidditch field, since it’s part of the school, a wide open space and shooting spells at a person flying in the air would be almost impossible" (Fae_Faye)... so yeah that point is null and void but it is the only póint so far that is null and void.

Point 9: " I must say I don’t like how you word some of your points. McGonagall didn’t “order” Moody; she told him there were alternatives to transfiguring a student as punishment, which includes seeing their Head of House - and Moody immediately says he’ll do that.McGonagall’s reaction to “Moody torturing Draco” is thus: she "shrieks", drops her books, untransfigures Draco and then she scolds Moody "weakly". It’s made clear that she’s extremely stunned by what happened, still ,she didn't even bother to ask the Draco, who was visibly in pain, if he was OK, instead letting him be dragged away by his torturer, who was still threatening him." (Fae_Faye and Vrajitoarea)

Yes,his fall would probably not be considered serious but it dosen't change the fact that she should have asked about his wellbeing regardless of that: a scraped knee is not serious but it can still be painfull.

"In case of injury, you don't send the injured person to the "proper authorities", who will then send them to the hospital. Internal bleeding and ruptures are a thing.

About the pain, Draco might be slightly hurt by the ten-feet fall, but I doubt it's any more serious than a kid scraping their knee on the floor.

... repeatedly smashing someone into the floor isn't any more serious than a kid scraping their knee? Never mind the emotional trauma.

“I don’t think so!” roared Moody, pointing his wand at the ferret again—it flew ten feet into the air, fell with a smack to the floor, and then bounced upward once more. “I don’t like people who attack when their opponent’s back’s turned,” growled Moody as the ferret bounced higher and higher, squealing in pain. “Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do…” The ferret flew through the air, its legs and tail flailing helplessly. “Never—do—that—again—” said Moody, speaking each word as the ferret hit the stone floor and bounced upward again. [...] “Hello, Professor McGonagall,” said Moody calmly, bouncing the ferret still higher. [...] Draco Malfoy had reappeared, lying in a heap on the floor with his sleek blond hair all over his now brilliantly pink face. He got to his feet, wincing. [...] Malfoy, whose pale eyes were still watering with pain and humiliation, [weeks later] The Gryffindors roared with laughter. Malfoy flushed with anger, but apparently the memory of Moody’s punishment was still sufficiently painful to stop him from retorting.

It's made very clear that the experience was a truly traumatising one. (Vrajitoarea)

Point 10: "She scolds Neville for not being able to do a spell properly, and does so by mentioning the delegates. Neville has a history of endangering the class by melting his cauldrons (see PS, where the students have to climb on tables); Neville was supposed to have studied that particular potion over the summer; living in a magical household, he could have even practised brewing it (unlike a Muggle-born); Snape had also given them exact instructions as they were brewing; Snape is clearly frustrated with Neville's seeming intentional incompetence, and wants to make him learn - which is why he tells Neville he'll have to use the potion on Trevor - he tries to scare Neville into paying attention, because he thinks Neville can get better (not a good tactic for someone like Neville).

McGonagall, on the other hand, may belive in Neville ( as can be seen from the quote: You cannot pass an O.W.L.,” said Professor McGonagall grimly, “without serious application, practice, and study. I see no reason why everybody in this class should not achieve an O.W.L. in Transfiguration as long as they put in the work.” Neville made a sad little disbelieving noise. “Yes, you too, Longbottom,” said Professor McGonagall. “There’s nothing wrong with your work except lack of confidence." ) however, she never explains to him what he's doing wrong .

It's also mentioned that the only time she says something positive to Neville is in HBP, and then it's only because he was willing to die for Harry at the Ministry... which was actually the sort of reckless gesture that a teacher should not have been encouraging. If they had all stayed put, Sirius would have lived.

And, again, she was his Head of House - she was supposed to nurture him, help him gain self-confidence, not further undermine it.

She was often sharp with him, as she is with everybody. McGonagall holds all her students to high standards because she believes in them, and Peter probably didn’t meet those expectations often

(Fae_Faye and Vrajitoarea) Fae_Faye said and i agree that Minerva appears to not care what others think of her, but she knows that Neville does so her mentioning the delegates might have been done because she donse't want HIM to look bad in front of the foreign delegations.

Point 11: " There’s a difference. Harry is a student who can easily be punished by his professor for cheek and he is, after all, the person that the Ministry is trying to discredit as hard as they can. Though McGonagall’s job can be on the line, punishing her is a lot more difficult than with Harry, considering her stellar record of service in Hogwarts (thirty-nine years, wow). Their situations are nowhere near the same.

Point 12: "that is not what she said. Let’s see that quote, shall we? "Hero-worshipped Black and Potter,’ said Professor McGonagall. ‘Never quite in their league, talent-wise. I was often rather sharp with him. You can imagine how I – how I regret that now …’ She sounded as though she had a sudden head cold. ' She was often sharp with him, as she is with everybody. McGonagall holds all her students to high standards because she believes in them, and Peter probably didn’t meet those expectations often, , along with him being a troublemaker as part of the Marauders. She regrets her sharpness, as most people tend to regret their actions regarding a dead person, even if they were right in those actions." (Fae_Faye) and here we have the second null and void point.

Point 13: "She constantly tries. It’s not her fault that they are completely unwillingly to change and, no you can't use Lily's morals to imply James's. It's the sort of reasoning used to dismiss domestic abuse, for example - X can't possibly abuse Y, because Y is a good person who wouldn't stick with them/wouldn't tolerate a bad person.

Plenty of decent people are partnered with terrible ones.

Besides, in Y5, Lily downplayed James's actions, and even "almost smiled" at him tormenting Snape. JKR had also said she was already attracted to James, even while he was being the school bully. She wasn't a saint Sure, Plenty of people seemingly have a good relationship and marriage.

The Marauders, i.e. James's friends and accomplices, tell Harry, who is highly distressed, that his father's head "deflated a bit." Then admit that James lied to Lily (why would he, if he wasn't at fault), and continued hexing Snape behind her back (the idea that Snape was the initiator falls flat on its face, when Sirius admits James was the one to decide when the hexing would occur; similarly, if James had grown as a person, he could have just used the Map to avoid Snape).

James' maturity is, as far as I know, collaborated by every person who knew the two, except Snape, who is biased to hating James

It's not. Only Lupin and Sirius say James got better, and Sirius is the only person, throughout the books, to call James "a good person." Seriously.

Hadn’t people like Hagrid and Sirius told Harry how wonderful his father had been? (Yeah, well, look what Sirius was like himself, said a nagging voice inside Harry’s head… he was as bad, wasn’t he?)

Hagrid only says, to James's orphan son, that James was brave. Which he was, of course. The best that McGonagall has to say about James, while looking back through rose-tinted glasses, is that James was brilliant… and the leader of a gang.

“He is his father over again—”

“In looks, perhaps, but his deepest nature is much more like his mother’s.

Considering Dumbledore usually reflects the authorial voice, there you go.

As for James's behaviour post-Hogwarts, JKR wrote two short stories that portray James as reckless, arrogant, mocking of Muggles, and responsible for the collapse of Lily's relationship with Petunia. Which I honestly find weird, considering she clearly intended for James to have become decent, yet never got around to actually writing it.

In any case, "toning down the bullying and the sexual assaulting" != "becoming a good person."

I don't blame McGonagall for the Marauders' behaviour itself, just for the complete lack of consequences. I find it hard to believe she didn't know about t.On the other hand, Draco was Snape’s student but he never managed to make him a better person bu that's because Draco was the subject of heavy indoctrination, and Snape had the mission of pretending he agreed with said indoctrination. Draco actually acts behind Snape's back a lot, like in PoA, when he's taunting the Trio behind Snape's back, while pretending to be very injured in front of him."

Holly shit that was long! and looking back i find it interesting that Pomona and Aurora Sinistra were the only one's not criticized by the original post (not couinting  Septima Vector and Bathsheda Babbling who we don't see teaching cause the books were written in Harry's perspective and he never took their subjects), perhaps because they were the one's that actually deseve the title of best teacher at Hogwarts.

[endless-stream-of-word-soup]

[REVIEW] The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels - India Holton

★★★★★

Before anyone calls me a phony, the first book I review being a 5 star is a pure coincidence the rest will NOT be so lucky...

Spoilers Under Keep Reading

I don't even know where to begin with this novel, I went into reading it with extremely low cliché historical romance expectations and then it kicked me in the butt, told me to pull myself together and then dragged me along for the ride.

My initial opinion was very much formed on the fact that during the first few pages I was deeply and profoundly confused. You're dropped into this setting of fancy Victorian ladies at tea time and then suddenly BOOM an assassin! Now, this all becomes fine and dandy once you reread the blurb and tell yourself, 'aha yes, this is where the pirate aspect comes in' until once again BOOM the pirates fly houses! And this information is first introduced in a sentence along the lines of:

"There was this one maid but she stole a house and left her mistress."

I'm sorry- she stole a what?

What didn't help was how the constant references to tea almost made me put the book down multiple times. If there is anything I dislike in a novel its banal overused humour along the lines of -how funny would it be if we had the British people like drink tea all the time??-

Now here's where the flying houses come in, the fact that something so unconventional and flabbergasting is happening at the same time as this super cliché British nonsense somehow makes the humour work? Two negatives make a positive I suppose. And it works so well and it's just so ridiculous that its genuinely funny. As in, some of the lines in this novel would have me physically jumping out of my bed to find sticky notes so that I could tab excerpts to laugh at in the future, and as a master procrastinator I would usually not even think about tabbing a book.

A personal favourite scene of mine was when Constantinopla's grandmother was describing Tom Eames.

"Yesterday he offered to help with her math lessons. They spent all afternoon shut up in the library, toiling over multiplication. And last night I thought I heard Oply cry out, and so I went to her room, only to find Tom in his nightshirt at the door. He'd also heard the noise, he said and rushed to see if she was safe." He must have run dreadfully fast to get there before I did, considering his room is upstairs. Indeed the effort was apparent in his flushed face. Such a fine, upstanding young man."

Call me immature but this is hilarious.

But anyway, Oply and Tom are not the stars of this show. The real swooning and flirting happens in between Cecillia Bassingwaithe - a most elegant lady pirate- and Ned. He's just Ned.

No just kidding he's the assassin from before.

I don't even remember how that happened at this point, something about the queen and Cecillia's evil dad and Ned thinking Cecillia's mom is hot. He was a man of many identities. I believe he was also Oply's fencing tutor at one point. Again, hilarious, give me 10 more. Now how that all unfolds is up to you to remember/ find out, I'm just here to talk about what I liked.

Despite the many layers of humour, Ned and Cecillia's romance arc felt very genuine and serious; it gave their characters enough believable meat on their bones for me to be able to root for them even when some parts of their backstories were whacky.

Their arc also made way for the most beautiful YA sex scene I have ever read in my life. You see, being in the YA target audience often leaves a reader in a constant state of fear that they'll flip a page and all at once witness the most filthy, kinky and explicit 'spice' scene known to mankind. The issue with other novels is that generally the sex does not add anything to the plot, it is just a juicy little bit to get young women excited about mediocre writing. Joke's on you we're not stupid, we still realise you can't write, but I digress.

In Wisteria Society intercourse feels like the natural progression of Cecillia and Ned's relationship and it was cementing their love for one another. I also appreciated how it seemed to be a critique of purity culture during the Victorian era, with Cecillia feeling the need to apologise for experiencing sexual attraction.

The scene was also frankly written beautifully and dodged every increment of vulgarity that an intimate scene could entail. But that brings me to my next point, which is to say that India Holton is generally a brilliant writer. I don't know how she managed to implement humour into every inch of the book, during fight scenes, romance scenes, random conversations, even emotional scenes, and it felt appropriate each and every time. I fear I may have even snatched up some of those literary techniques for my own novels (still under construction and heavy self-scrutiny).

I would like to say that this book contributed to some other greater purpose or meaning but it really didn't, however it did what it was meant to achieve, and achieved it with flying colours. I was thoroughly entertained and swooning for hunky Ned myself. Therefore I still believe that this is a five star novel and probably one of my favourite books from this year.

1/12 Coming Up: Gild - Raven Kennedy

[hourglassian83]

Good morning!

I will share some of the unexpected I have experienced here.

I am going to talk about Bill, but there are others, so I'll write about that later.

When Bill was dealing with Elli, Ellie had come over for a second time to pay Bill. They had small piles of money on the kitchen table. I can't remember the amount, but it was thousands. Within this pile, there was a $100 bill with dried blood on it.

Bill actually ended up exchanging that bill with a gun shop owner sometime afterward.

After he was arrested, he had squirrel driving him nuts for a few months over the bird seed in the garage. This squirrel at first chewed through his door screen window and again when Bill placed a sheet of aluminum over it.

This squirrel was so annoying that I even went outside with birdseed to see if I could get it to stop.

You wouldn't think there was a connection, but the whole time that squirrel and that $100 bill kept coming to mind.

I don't know what it is, but I swear it's connected somehow.

Here's another one. The Eve.

Yeah, the alarm. On that day at 10:10am his alarm went off. Bill wasn't home, but I shut it off. It happened again at 12:12pm, but this time I couldn't shut it off. I had to unplug it from the back of the alarm and it stopped.

Bill had no problems before that. He wasn't even aware that his alarm was broken, and yet, later that evening he came home with an alarm that he got over at Vito's and stated that he knew his alarm was broken.

I know he didn't know. I live here. I am up in the morning and if and when his alarm ever does go off, I can clearly hear it. So, I don't know how he knew his alarm was broken when he hadn't used the alarm in months.

Besides his alarm going off that morning, when I checked it afterward, it worked fine.

So, you tell me what happened? Because I have no explanation for it whatsoever.

Here's the last for now. The night of Prophet!

Like I said before, I had a moment in here that felt like I was being taught a lesson.

The 3x that Bill came up to me went like this.

He was buying me cigs with Vito's money which is wrong, but I can't say anything because my hands are tied.

He was talking about making fun of Tom because Tom has this thing about having napkins touching his food, and Bill was over there saying how he was going to rub his food with it. Again, I couldn't say anything because my hands were tied.

(I am not 100% sure. I feel that his one is either a repeat of the second or something else, but there was a third time). I believe, he had come back and started talking about Vito's mental illness which he is arrogant to the core about it. Again, I can't say anything because my hands are tied.

For a short time afterward, I had to think about it. The right thing to do is to say something. I should say something. I feel it would put me in wrong with God and myself if I didn't, but I can't, because it could cost me my life and/or my home.

Then afterward, wisdom showed up and corrected my arrogance. I saw people that I once felt were monsters in the same position as I. Right there and then I forgave everyone because who knows what was going on with them at the time.

The experience was like the middle ground. It was non-threatening, but at the same time, I knew something was up because the environment had changed.

I am grateful for the experience because I was able to flush out that black in me, you know?

Here's a random one about that day. Before the hell cloud showed up in the evening, I was in the former bar room on the sofa and a little mosquito dropped dead out of thin air onto my leg. It was real. I picked it up and all.

I had never experienced it before, but now, Bloodsuckers come to mind. Any thoughts?

I am sure that bugs do drop dead in flight, but again, I've never experienced it.

Well, that is it for now, but I got more to ponder about. Until then, Ta!

[jodilin65]

Beauty may be a subjective thing, but what did Andy ever see in Stevie Nicks? She's so ordinary-looking. The bulk of his posts are Stevie and God-related, as usual. Well, some nice paintings are mixed in too.

I'll always love the guy, but even if he didn't frustrate me by believing everyone’s a liar and if he could remember the things I told him, what do we have in common except for some past funny memories? I don't think we've had much in common for the past 25 years or so, but hey, to each their own.

Vegging out in bed, talk-typing this entry with my phone in its new holder. The neck doesn't move as easily as I thought it would, but it's still a really nice thing to have. It’s definitely easier not needing to hold the phone. It does bounce a bit when I tap it, though.

Love my new lipstick too, and my new mug even more. Even Tom thinks the mug is really cool. Definitely want to get more sometime!

The mixer works well, and since I don't do shakes often, I can't wait to at least get some eggs and make scrambled eggs with it.

The only thing I don't like is the patchouli incense. It doesn't smell the least bit like patchouli.

My second package comes today with the rug-making stuff.

We had a storm earlier, but the loudest one, luckily, was after I got up. Even though nothing woke me up, I still woke up tired. Ironically, it comes after a cheat day. We went out to Walgreens yesterday, and I got a few caramel chews and we got a bag of Cheetos to share.

Another abortion ban is to go into effect, but again, they'll just go to other states or have the abortion pill mailed to them. If they can't get it mailed directly to them, they’ll just have someone else do it. I don't know what it is they think they're accomplishing other than, at worst, inconveniencing women. It's all about using religious delusions as a means of control. I wonder if they're trying to raise the birth rate too, which has been falling steadily for decades now. As if we need more people in the world!

Tom and I were talking about the US in general, and we're both so stunned by how much it's stepping back into the Dark Ages as the right-wing cancer creeps further into the country and the Democrats accomplish absolutely nothing. Whenever I used to think of this country, I would think of it in modern terms, being so advanced socially, technically, and in other ways. But it's not. Maybe it once was, but it certainly isn't now.

What floors me is that there are so many more people like me than there are extremists, yet the extremists are so powerful that it's like the rest of us are powerless to fight back against them. There are so many obvious wrongs in the world that people just don't seem interested in righting. Any idiot with half a brain can see that it's wrong for insurance companies or politicians to make our medical decisions for us and not us and our doctors, yet no one does a damn thing about it.

[myimaginarywonderland]

Okay, I actually want to try to do this, so: I have seen New Way Home two times now.

I have formed my opinion. If you haven't seen it spoilers. This is me trying to explain why I think the movie does yet doesn't work. If you just want fun posts, please scroll past.

I think a main problem with me is (and I think others feel this too): I don't know Tom's spiderman. With Tobey's and Andrew's spiderman I got a glimpse into their life. I was introduced from the very beginning into their life by themselves. They told their stories. Tom's spiderman comes in as Tony Stark's soldier to fight his battle. I am introduced to him from a perspective that isn't his own. And it continues to be like that until he gets his first movie. And still, Tony Stark is in that. I still don't get to know Tom's Peter by seeing Tom's peter on his own. He is always a toll in someone else's story.

And that feels like that the first two spiderman movies. I have to be honest I barely remember anything. That shouldn't happen. And it happens because I am watching him from someone else's perspective the entire time. And it has worked before! The first time we got introduced to Bucky, it was only from Steve's point of view. But, here comes to major difference, that character was also shown from other perspectives after he was established from on. We saw how Tony hated him,how Sam misstrusted him. We never get this with Peter. Why? Because he is never developed until he gets his first movie. The entire time he is just referred to as a kid, the spider boy, nothing more. There's no one besides Tony who he ever has any close interactions to or whose point of view from him we ever see. And then Endgame/the first spiderman happens. And the first really doesn't do much in terms of story telling. I get to know he is a teenager, he has a crush on some girl and so on. I get to know details but I still don't get to know him. And in Endgame he once again is just a pawn. Also, he barely interacts with strange and I am supposed to believe this all powerful wizard who meet him once tells him the location of his super hideout and offers to fix his life at their second meeting? Before anyone brings up the second movie, that one is entirely about Tony Stark. From the villain to the grief there's still no Peter.

Now, obviously the best for me have to be Ramis because of the story telling but I hold Andrew's movies close to my heart. And there, boom: I get Peter's outsider view, I see his family etc. I see him but most importantly he tells his own story.

The reason why the third movie doesn't work is because Tom has never had to carry a movie with this character on his own and yet he becomes the focal point. And not just a focal point like Andrew/Tobey where but he becomes the vocal point, the reason for all the old character coming back. And it doesn't work.

Now there's other flaws but this is a main one for me that I have felt since the second movie which was just meh for me.

The other flaws.

Let's start with the other person who made this mess, strange. Once again, I feel like he wasn't ready to be the center of the movie. Dr. Strange has his own back story and while I can absolutely believe that he would keep his eyes on Tom!Peter in some way, it just seems so far stretched to have them make this close relationship suddenly when they have interacted maybe twice? Their just isn't enough build up for it. I also feel like this was one of the worst ways to create the multi verse problems for strange by trying to fix a teenager life who quiet honestly should not have had any nuclear weapons and is in well enough of a developed state to know not to use them unless he wants to draw a giant amount of attention on himself.

So really, what this Peter should have had to deal with and I say this as someone who adored the cameos as they were the only good thing, was having to own his actions. Because while he didn't kill Mysterio, he did use those. And he can't just play with deadly things like that without excepting consequences. And they still could have had DareDevil there! He still could have been a lawyer and they could have actually used him for more than one season had the whole legal case (which should not have been the public thing that it was) actually been more than a mere mention.

Coming to the legal case and now I say this as just me: If a random teenage boy and some 30ish dude destroyed the tower bridge with a video like that, I could not have believed the old dude less or cared less. It's a bridge. Fix it. Most importantly, did no one check that it was faked? Because I feel like with modern scans you could easily detect that. Why does everyone just choose to gang up on these 16 year old to hate him when by now, he surely had to have had a reputation. Do you all remember the Green Goblin bridge scene from spiderman 1 or the iconic train scene from spiderman 2? Maybe the people of New York don't love him that much yet but surely had to have been some who would have reacted similar to that.

Furthermore, why is Happy the person of Stark Industries? Why is it him and not Pepper in that legal scandal? Where is she? This is her husband whose entire company is getting sued world wide and she just takes care of her child? Sure and let's happy handle everything.

Now let's get to MJ who once again has zero background. With Tobey's MJ we saw her home life, we saw her Hope's for a future and her relationship and for Tom's Mj we know nothing that isn't outright stated in the movie. She has a bad relationship to her mom? Okay why? What does she like? Why does she want to get into MIT? The absolute best backstory for a character will always be Andrew's Gwen but even Tobey's Gwen we knew more about than Mj.

What about Ned? Why is he literally only there to be a best friend and comic relief? What's the deal with his living conditions? Why couldn't we have gotten to know more about that? What are his plans? Where does he want to go?

What about May? Since when does she work in a shelter? Why couldn't we have seen that? What has she been doing? Why is she letting her nephew run around with grown ass man to fight monsters? Everyone Aunt May was always so concerned about Peter but trusted him which just feels like blind trust for this one.

Why was Spiderman able to overpower Strange?

Why does Ned have to have magic?

How were the Peter's actually drawn in.

What are the timelines for the characters?

Why does Peter want to cure them? Why was that a plot? Why did they undermine the great villain that was Doc Ock? I always wanted a redemption but they reduced him to a joke. You know how scared the entire city was? You know what made him great?

He wasn't crazy. He was a genius. A genius with no care. He was dedicated and ruthless which was such a big contrast to the Goblin who was crazy and emotional, a creature craving chaos and seeking revenge. Doc Ock was never about revenge, he was about power. And while I get that maybe Alfred Molina didn't want to do fighting scenes to show that, he wouldn't have to since his great acting already did!

But no, we just cure him and make him into...

Yeah. Not even a helper. He got cured, dipped and came back last minute to be seen as a redeemed. Great. We love a developed redemption.

And the Green Goblin. The only villain used right and he stole the show. The moment Willem DaFoe was there, there was no one else even close to being interesting. And I know this is partly because he is a legendary actor but he also just had such a great character. In fact, he might be the only one to get even more fleshed out. But it just feels so flat when the spiderman here is so set on kindness. The entire second chances speech is a mess. Because in the essence spiderman isn't kind. I wouldn't say that. He saw his rage, we saw him ready to hurt and kill people as soon as his loved ones were in danger. No, what makes spiderman a great hero is that while he is not kind, he cares. He cares so much about people and doing what is right. Kindness isn't really a play here. And I think that is what also throws me off. With Tobey we see him doing what he can with his power because it's right to him. With Andrew we see him doing what he can because he cares about people. He cared about Max, Harry, even Dr. Connors. But why does Tom do what he does? I don't know because I have never seen it.

Tom's spiderman was already established but they tried to do it again and it felt horribly. Why?

Because he couldn't change. He couldn't change because the entire movie was just about this person who know doing what they do and not facing the consequences. Which is why I like the Lizzard so much. He was so underused. Both Peters know that you can't always save people. Sometimes people don't want to be saved. But Peter had never learnt this lesson and he still doesn't because he just keeps trying to cure them. And in the end, are there really consequences? Yes he loses May. But she doesn't really die because of his actions. She dies because that's what she wanted to do. She dies because she believed that everyone could be saved? And does Tom!Peter learn? Does he realize that sometimes people are too far gone? That sometimes you can only stop people from doing worse?

No because in the end he still wins. He still cures them and he still gets them saved at least as far as he knows. (Which is also stupid because we never learn what actually happens. Does curing them save them or should we trust Strange when he says that sometimes people just die?)

And then the end hits us. Peter fucked up, the multiverse is breaking and ...

And we reverse it. Now, before you say anything: This is a huge consequence to his action, absolutely. But it also erases any progress he might have made. Why? Because he just gets forgotten. No one remembers. And that's not the point!

Because in Spiderman 1 and 3 we saw Tobey try that. We saw him trying to reverse the bad by killing a killer. And we saw how it did nothing.

And we should! Because something doesn't magically get fixed by something worse happening or someone trying to reverse it. But obviously it does because now we forget Peter and everything is fine, everyone is happy and we are back to what? Square one?

Was there ever a square one?

No because we never got to see his origin. And we didn't have to! But we also never got to see him live his life as spiderman while it wasn't for someone else.

And the rewinding feels a bit like just erasing the responsibility? Because while it doesn't change what happened, it once again takes away all blame from him at least to us as a viewer. There's guilt but that is bound to happen.

Remember The Amazing Spiderman 1? When Gwen lost her dad? And nothing was rewinded? And we saw the responsibility of what it means to be spiderman. Because not only was he not coming back, he was also lost from a family and he had asked a promise of Andrew. He had asked him. And the responsibility, the consequences were clear in so many ways. The police where missing their leader, kids where missing their father etc.

But with Peter erased? That burden is not shared. The guilt is just gone at least if we ignore it expect for him.

And also some other things:

Why get 5 great villains and not use them expect 2 one liners?

Why bring the spiderman back to have them fight Tom's fight? Another huge thing I had am tissue with. Because that's what it comes down to. While he might have had Gwen or Harry once, it was always Spiderman, Peter's job to fix those things alone.

And here he just gets two baby sitters?

Two people who clean up his mess?

Why did they not led up to Ned potentially fighting alongside Peter like Harry did? Or supporting him from the sidelines like Gwen? If MJ and Ned are so smart, how come they could not just have been developed more? We could have actually seen a team working with spiderman, something was have not seen before (at least not in the sort of Marvel irl spiderman.)

And now to my last point which was a problem I already had in Endgame and Infinity war: There were too many characters. There were too many storylines they tried to explain and couldn't because the movie did not just have the space. And to be honest, not wanting to talk down Tom at all because I think especially during the end of the movie he did amazing, if you have such a great actors as Wilem DaFoe and Andrew Garfield plus a beloved character like Tobey's spiderman return, you are just making sure no one actually cares about the main character since they all steal the show. They are one of the sole reasons why the movie did as amazing as it did. (And of course we can't forget Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx or any of the other OGs returning.) They made the movie and that should not be the case when none of them were ever even supposed to be the main character. (Or the main villain in most cases.)

This movie just felt like it was coming from 5 different directions, wanted to go everywhere and see all, get everything and instead turned around half way and left.

[pascalina]

The brothers' movie

11/07/2015

They don't use the same last name, but they are siblings. Pedro Pascal (40) the Chilean actor who starred in Game of Thrones and now has a starring role in the Netflix series Narcos, uses his mother's surname because it is easier to pronounce in English. 17 years younger, Lucas Balmaceda Pascal (23), also an actor, debuted in Los 80 and today stars in the TVN series Juana Brava. Here, both talk for the first time about their relationship, their love for cinema and their mutual admiration.

José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal was born in Chile, but a few months later he had to go into exile with his parents and his older sister, Javiera, to Denmark. It was the end of 1975. Thanks to the Rockefeller scholarship granted for his father, the doctor José Balmaceda Riera, a year later they moved to the United States: first they lived in San Antonio, Texas. Life there was just beginning and it was not easy.

Seventeen years later, in 1992, Lucas Balmaceda was born in Orange County, California, into the comfort of a family that was financially in its prime. His dad was at the peak of his career: as a fertility specialist and director of one of the University of California's reproductive health centers. But suddenly they moved back to Chile when Lucas was three years old and his brother Nicolas was eight. The two older ones stayed there. Pedro was already studying drama at Orange County High School of the Arts. Then he went to New York to study theater at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.

After a couple of small appearances in TV series, in 2014 he took the big leap in his career: he played Prince Oberyn in Game of Thrones, which made him world famous. Today, he has a starring role in the series Narcos. He is also filming a movie with Matt Damon and Willem Dafoe.

Fame came early for Lucas. After leaving Saint George High School in 2010, he studied theater at the Universidad Católica, and he began to shine: in year fourth, he starred in the theater play "La noche obstinada", by choreographer Pablo Rotemberg, and got a role in the successful television series Los 80 and today, in his last year, he is the co-star of Juana Brava, the new TVN nighttime series.

Scene one:

Lucas appears in Pedro's life

P: "I was 17 when Lucas was born. He was a baby when I left to go to university. I remember my first visit back and Lucas, who was not even two years old, was already the owner of the house. I remember those looks, wanting to tell me: 'I don't know who you are, but this is my house, mate.

To this day I have never seen that personality in another child. It was fascinating to see that wit in someone so small. Since he was a kid he had that fierce intelligence... The four siblings, Javiera, the eldest and the queen of the family; Nicolas, the doctor; Lucas and I are like a compact and consistent unit. I can't imagine life without them".

L: "Pedro was studying at the university in New York when I was born. When he went home for vacations to see the family, as I didn't know him, I thought: 'who is this guest, who is this weirdo who kisses my mother? She's mine!'. Back in Chile, every year Pedro came to visit us. It was the most entertaining thing in the world for me. He was much older and he would come with all the coolness, with all the culture of cinema, with horror movies that were not available here. Then we would watch them and play them out, we would do sketches. We would play that Pedro was a murderous monster and we would escape from him. We were each a character. He was very funny, he did voices, he impersonated people. He gets mad when I tell him, but I've always found that he has a Jim Carrey thing about him, he manages to make some impressive faces. When he came on, I couldn't stop watching him, he was too entertaining. We are all big movie buffs thanks to my dad. When I was three years old, he took my brothers and me to see Batman. I remember crying hysterically. I was very young, sensitive, and being in the cinema was like entering to another reality: loud noises, giant screen. I didn't understand anything.

Scene two

Transplanted

P: "What's Chilean about me and what's gringo about me is a very interesting question, because I don't think even at 40 years old I've been able to figure it out. I was raised and educated in the United States and socialized a lot with American pop culture, but Chilean pride has always been unwavering. My parents were exiled for eight years. So our visits to Chile were regular. My whole life I have lived in the United States and my whole life I have visited my relatives in Chile. However, since my siblings were raised in Chile, my connection to the country is much stronger today and it is something I am grateful for. Something that happens to me a lot is that when I say I've been in the U.S. my whole life, they say, "Well, you're a gringo then! And after a conversation in my fluent Spanish with a clear Chilean accent that same person turns around and says: I've been listening to you, you're Chilean!

L: "I am Chilean because I lived and grew up here since I was three years old, but at the same time I have a cultural disconnection: my parents lived 25 years in the United States, my brothers are gringos. My visual culture is super gringo, the TV shows I watched when I was a kid or the movies I watch to this day I understand them from that place: as an American. More than being born in the United States, I feel it's because of my family's background".

SCENE THREE:

The performance

P: "There were good years and bad years (when I started my acting career in the United States). Many years I was a waiter to supplement my income. But from a very young age I was auditioning for professional jobs. In my late twenties my career in the theater was relatively consistent. Then, when opportunities in television arose, I was consolidating and it became much easier to pay my expenses. I think that struggle, going through those situations, empowers you a lot and it's one of the things I'm enormously grateful for. And Game of Thrones was an incredible gift. It's the best role I've ever played and they're the best people I've ever worked with."

L: "It's Pedro's fault that I wanted to be an actor. But when I told him I wanted to study theater it was hard for him, more than anything, because he cares about me and studying theater is hard. You have to be very wise and have a super high self-esteem to take care of yourself. Pedro went through many things. If there is an actor who doesn't have contacts in the United States, it's him. Everything he has achieved is because of his work. That's why when people ask me why I don't go to the U.S., it's a resounding no. Being Pedro Pascal's little brother is not going to get me around the corner; I would have to be Tom Cruise's twin to achieve anything. Even so, Pedro had many failed career starts. In 2011, for example, he was offered a starring role in a series called Wonder Woman and it was eventually canceled. That's why, when Games of Thrones came up, I was like, wow! We were all freaking out, because Games of Thrones is like a worldwide trending topic. All the episodes he was in, we were all watching them together at my house, eating pizza or sushi."

SCENE FOUR:

Mutual lessons

P: "I try not to get too involved in anything Lucas does or how he does it. He has single-handedly created each of his experiences and is one of the most inspiring things I've ever seen. He loves his work and is continually developing his skills for television and theater, and eventually film. He executes like a real artist and, to be honest, it is more common for me to learn something from him than for him to learn something from me. I mean that very sincerely. Lucas reminds me to work hard and keeps me inspired. When I saw him in Los 80 I was incredibly proud, but not surprised. I was seeing something I had always known. The only advice I've given him is to not be such a workaholic, to take care of himself and to be proud of what he's accomplished and what he still has yet to accomplish. Deep down, I'm always going to be the protective big brother."

L: "Pedro is an object of admiration for me. What he says is law for me. Sometimes I ask him: 'Pedro, did you see that movie?' and he says: 'Yes, I didn't like it'. I tell him: 'Oh, I didn't like it either'. The nice thing about our relationship is that it happens so sporadically, once or twice a year, that the moments when we see each other are very intense. We either fight a lot or we love each other too much, but it's always like a story, like a movie. While he's there and I'm here, we talk a lot on WhatsApp and Facebook".

P: "With Lucas we always keep each other up to date on what movies to watch, what TV shows are good. I bug him all the time asking him about what's going on in his life and I'm always asking him about his perspective on things. Despite being away from each other for a long time, Lucas and I are very close and always have been. I see Lucas at the beginning of an amazing career, with an unwavering curiosity and passion. I love it when he confides in me about things he is enjoying or situations he is dealing with."

L: "I've never seen Pedro in theater, but I've been told he's tremendous. On camera, I find that he has a very intense look. He also has, and in that we are very similar, a very strong visual culture, the fact that we have always liked horror movies. He plays characters that hide something, dark characters. A great strength is that he is very sensual, he knows how to handle himself well from seduction".

P: "Lucas is brave, he's fearless. There's nothing he's not willing to try, he's never going to give up on a challenge, he's never going to leave something halfway, no matter what that means to him. Lucas is unstoppable.

Link interview

[charliedawn]

The Joke's on Us part 4

Warning : possessive behavior.

A dark shadow floats on top you and gently caresses your face.

" Soon..We'll be reunited, old friend."

Penny gasps, recognizing that shadow from the deep confines of his memories..Maturin had mentioned him when they were still friends.

" Shardik.."

At the mention of his name, the shadow quickly turns towards Penny whose breath stops. Shardik's smile widens and he floats on top of Penny to stare at him straight in the eyes.

" Ah..You must be one of the creatures Maturin created. A shame, I really thought you would be more..impressive ?"

Penny only snarls at him before responding with a threat.

" What were you doing ? I swear that if you touch her..I'll kill you."

The entity, far from being intimidated, only laughs loudly at Penny's menace which seems to amuse him more than anything.

" Really ? And how will you do that without your powers, Penny ? Don't forget that I am as powerful as you were and as old as Maturin. Funny, the old turtle really thought you and Pennywise could stop me when he is gone. Imagine how much he was disappointed when he realized that your hatred towards humanity was blinding you. He never got you those powers to use them against humans, or children..He wanted you to protect them. But, now that the old turtle is dead and you two are too weak to stop me. I'll be able to rule over that planet. I'll suck upon its energy until there is nothing left. I'll even start with you little charming town. Derry, is it ?"

Penny glares up at him, but had to admit that he can't protect you like this. Now that he is only human, he is happy, happier than he's ever been..but..The shadow chuckles evilly in the shell of his ear.

" That planet has been without order for much too long..It passed its life expectancy hundreds of years ago..But don't worry, as soon as I will have ate her, Maturin's powers will be in me and I will make sure to bring an end to humanity.."

Penny growls at the mention of you being eaten by Shardik and tries to jump on him with a roar.

" Don't you dare touch her !"

However, he suddenly wakes up, covered in sweat and sees that you are the one who woke him up. Your eyebrows are tensed in obvious worry and, without any words, Penny wraps his arms around you. He had felt fear before..but not like that..never like that..His heart is racing against his ribcage and he is holding onto you like it is the last time.

" P..Penny ? Are you alright ?"

Your question makes him open his eyes and come back to reality. You are running your hand gently on top of his head, smoothing his hair in the process to calm him down. He finally steps back and looks at Pennywise that had woken up as well. The both of them had felt it..He was coming back. You look at the both of them with a confused expression and finally ask, tired by the secrecy of both men.

" That's it. What's going on ? Why do you look so grave all of a sudden ?!"

Penny doesn't answer, he only stands up and gets out of the room without another word. You turn towards Pennywise, hoping for some kind of explanation. He doesn't peep either and only returns to the sofa that had become his bed for the time being. However, you don't let it go and sit in front of him with a determined look on your face.

" Now, you're going to tell me what's going on."

You didn't mean to make it sound like an order, but you couldn't just let them fend for themselves anymore. Pennywise finally turns towards you and sighs loudly before telling you what this was all about.

" Penny and I always had a very deep connection with Maturin, we could feel his presence and so could he. However, Maturin is not the only entity out there. The world has at least 12 entities guarding it. One of them being Shardik..Shardik is one of the twelve guardians of Beams that hold up The Dark Tower. It is a cyborg bear that stands over forty feet tall and one ugly unkillable bastard with more energy than millions of suns. He was pissed to know that I killed his brother and wanted to come and exterminate this planet on which lives his brother's murderer..But like many, he was scared of us. But now that we lost our powers ? He's coming, and with you being the turtle's successor ? We will all die for sure."

You lean against the back of your chair and sigh loudly. You only are a painting teacher..Of course he would crush you. But, that didn't mean you had to give up.

" Well, aren't you the optimist ?! Why don't you show me how to fight instead of complaining ?!"

He ignores you and only turns his back to you as he pretends to fall asleep again. You stand up and suddenly throws his blanket off. That get a reaction and you can hear a growl from him as he stands up to face you menacingly.

" Why ?! You want to know why ?! Because of this !"

He suddenly takes you by the shoulder and digs his thumb in your wounded flesh. You whine in pain and Pennywise immediately retracts his hand.

" Do you really think that you'll ever be able to vanquish Shardik the bear with a human body ?! He would squish you in an instant! Learn how to heal yourself, then we'll talk about your fighting skills.."

You glare at him: deep inside, you know he is right, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating. You humph at him before leaving the room to join your bedroom, but then, you hear someone crying upstairs. You follow the sound and find Penny, sitting on the floor and leaning against one of the corridor's wall. He looks up at you when he hears you approaching and you crouch by his side with a reassuring smile.

" Hey..We're going to be okay..Alright ?"

You try to comfort him, but he only sobs.

" What if..What if you can't beat him ? What if the only solution is for us to get back into who we were ?"

You sigh, knowing that if there were to be no other solution, you would have to break your promise..You would have to hurt them, one way or another.

" I guess I'll have to change you back. I know that I prefer you to have the choice but..If there are no other solution, I'll have to break my promise. I can't let you die. Not when I know I could have avoided it.."

You sit next to him and you both stay quiet for a moment, lost in your thoughts until Penny looks at you with his eyes full of uncertainty.

" And what if I don't want to get back to what I was ? What if I want to stay human ?"

You can't help but smile and tears start to build up in your eyes..Why couldn't the universe leave them alone ? You are so close to them finally accepting their new forms..

" Then, I'll guess it'll be my job to be sure that you don't have to."

He smiles back and before you know it, you are both holding hands. You don't try to get it out, even though you know that at any moment, Penny could come back to his old ways. You're not scared of him, you aren't even sure if you ever really were ? You don't even notice that Pennywise had climbed up the stairs and is now looking at the both of you from afar with a slight frown. He only turns away and waits when he is safe in is bed to grunt.

" What does she find in him..?"

Unaware that his eyes glow a slight orange in the dark for a second.

The next day, you decide that it's grocery shopping time. However, the two clowns are still sound asleep and you take the opportunity to get out alone. Once in the street, you take a breath of fresh air and start walking towards the shop, wondering what you should buy for the two men. You enter the shop and start looking around. You are lost in your thoughts and don't see another person coming in your direction. You suddenly collide with said person and look up to see a man with blue eyes and a nice smile.

" I'm sorry. I didn't see you there."

He extends his hand towards you and you take it with a grateful smile.

" No. It's me. I should have looked where I was going."

His smile widens as you shake his hand. He introduces himself.

" I'm Dan. I don't really know my way around here. I'm the new teacher from down the block."

You smiles politely and introduce yourself as well.

" I'm Y/N. Nice to meet you. I'm the Art teacher of the neighborhood."

His eyes seem to light up at the mention of you being an Art teacher.

" Really ?! You're the Art teacher ? My cousin never stops talking about you. Tom ?"

You seem to remember last time and wince at the memory. Seems like Tom hadn't said anything about the incident..You try your best to keep your composure and automatically feel that you need to make amends somehow.

" Do you want..Do you want a coffee ?"

He smiles again and nods.

" Sure ! Lead the way."

You take your groceries and pay them before getting out. You end up in a small coffee shop and both take what you want before sitting outside.

" I'm sorry. You must think it's weird that I never came before. I just moved in from the States so..Tom isn't even aware that I'm back yet."

Oh. Well, you still hoped that Tom hadn't talked to anyone about what had happened. You smile and shake you head.

" Not at all. Tom is a very nice boy and I always like to meet the families of my students. It helps to understand them better. Although, it's the first time I actually invite a member for a coffee."

" I should be honored then."

He takes a sip of his coffee before winking playfully at you. You blush and let a small chuckle.

" To tell you the truth..Tom and I have been quite distant since our older brother died. I do sometimes feel guilty for leaving him, but.."

You see that he is concerned and put you hand on his compassionately.

" I'm sorry..It must have hurt."

You had heard about Tom losing a brother, he did have a period when he could only draw dark things. Horrible things. It must have been a shock for everyone in his family. Dan smiles gratefully at you before answering.

" Don't worry. It's been a year now. I'm stronger than this."

You smile sadly at him, but then feel two very familiar shadows looming over you from behind. A hand grabs your shoulder and squeezes it in silent warning.

" Hi Y/N. Who is this ?"

Penny..And Pennywise is certainly not far behind. Dan stands up and stretches his hand towards them with a bright smile.

" Oh ! Sorry ! My name is Dan, I'm the brother of one of Y/N's students. And you are ?"

You are about to answer when Pennywise does it for you. He takes his hand and smiles forcefully.

" Pleasure. My name is Robert, and this is Bob. We're her roommates. Unfortunately, she seems to have forgotten about us this morning. You should have woke us up, Y/N. We would have helped you with the groceries."

He may sound calm, but you know better: the way he pronounces the last word makes you understand that he is pissed. Even Dan seems to understand as he retracts his hand and addresses you one last smile.

" Well..I should go. It was nice to meet you, Y/N."

However, he still writes something on a piece of paper and hands it to you.

"Here is my number, just in case."

He then gives one last nod in acknowledgement to the two men before turning and walking away. You have cold sweat running down your back as you can feel the murderous glares of the two clowns behind you.

" Let's go. Shall we ?"

Penny finally ask, more like commands as he grabs you harshly by the arm and drags you towards the house. You just have the time to get your bags. As soon as you are home, you run towards the kitchen and pretend to be busy with putting the grocery items on the shelves and in the fridge.

" W..What do you want for..?"

You don't have the time to finish your sentence as Pennywise suddenly comes behind you and wraps his arms around you.

" Now, princess..You're going to turn around and face us. We're not angry. We just want to talk."

"..Just want to talk..?"

You repeat with a broken voice, making sure that you heard right. Pennywise only nods slowly and you gulp loudly before turning around with your eyes closed tight.

" Come on, darling..You know that we want to see your eyes..Come on."

You tentatively open one eye, then the other in shock. They are not angry..They are very mad. You see that their eyes have changed colors and their skins are white..the same white than a few weeks ago. Suddenly, Penny takes you by the throat and pins you to the fridge while Pennywise presses his nose again your throat. He then inhales deeply and growls perceptibly.

" Looks like your little stunt hurt us more than we thought..I'm smelling your fear, sweetheart. And it smells delicious..One more minute, and we would have surely taken our true appearances back."

You don't understand. You hadn't hurt them, so why are they taking their clown forms back ?! Why are they angry even ?! You try to breathe, but Penny's mouth is against yours in a second..You open your eyes wide 'Everything makes sense now. They are jealous. Pain..They're in pain. You whimper when he bites your bottom lip. But, you don't open your mouth and he groans.

" You are going to open that mouth, sweet thing..Or I'm not sure you'll have a mouth to close at the end of the day.."

You open your eyes wide and tears are falling down your face. You don't have a choice but to open your mouth. But before he could do much, Pennywise gets a hold of him and throws him away from you.

" What the heck, Penny ?! When I said we were supposed to talk, I didn't mean by putting your tongue in her mouth ! Jeez ! Get a hold of yourself, kid !"

For a moment, shame and guilt seem to take a hold of Penny and he shakily stands back. He seems confused himself..Why did he do that ? Pennywise is taken aback by the clown's kiss..Where the heck did he even learn that from ?! Pennywise then returns to you, curled into a little ball on the floor and his heart tightens..Sh*t. They got carried away..Again. He sighs loudly and takes back his human form. Penny also loses his white skin and his yellow eyes. He wants to approach you but, you cry out.

" Don't touch me !"

Penny freezes and tries to nuzzle your neck as an apology, but you frown and push him back.

" No, Penny ! I'm angry ! You didn't have the right ! I didn't want you to be my first kiss ! I wanted someone who loved me !"

He looks up to Pennywise for help, but the older clown just shrugs. He has no idea of what to do..Truth is, he doesn't even know what all the problem is with "first kiss". He knows that a girl had to remain pure in order to marry when he was still alive..But he thought that rule had been abandoned long ago ? However, you seem very upset and Penny doesn't like it when you cry. He tries to think of a solution, of anything to make you forget what happened..He wants to get out the music box, but in your rage, you grab it and smash it against the wall. To your horror, you realize too late what you've done and Penny roars before pouncing on you, his teeths bare and ready to chomp on you. Pennywise tries to make him get off you, but he is too weak and Penny doesn't have any problem pushing him aside. However, Pennywise falls and knocks his head against a nearby table. You can see blood, and so does Penny. Penny quickly gets back to his human form and shakes Pennywise to wake him up.

" Pennywise ! What's going on ?!"

Pennywise only groans in pain when Penny shakes him again. You instantly come by his side and automatically feel the sweat covering his arms and forehead. You then see a strange mark on his neck and blood starts getting out from his nose, eyes and ears. You quickly unbutton his shirt and gasp in horror.

" Oh my God.."

He was covered by black sports that seemed to spread all over him like a..a disease.

" P..Pennywise. Did you have the..?"

" The black plague ?"

He guesses and you nod. He sighs and finally nods.

" Yes. It was not as bad as my family though.."

You bite your lower lip..By how fast it was spreading, he had a few hours at best. The disease seemed to have survived with him. You are about to call the ambulance when Pennywise stops you.

" Don't..Don't call the hospital. Those bastards won't know what to do..They're not prepared. Plus, they could get infected."

You sigh before remembering that..

" Pennywise..You bit me."

Your voice is shaking as you wonder if you will have it too..? Pennywyse's eyes widen and he curses.

" Sh*t. I have no idea.."

You have trouble breathing and put your hands in your pockets as you pace back and force, wondering what you should do ? You suddenly feel something inside your palm and quickly get it out to look at it. Sam's number..Inviting him could maybe break the deal and make them return to what they were ? Save them ? You shiver at the thought. Yes..But at what price ? You look back at Pennywise, his eyes are closed and his breathing very bad..You don't have a choice. You call him. It doesn't take you long to have him on the other side of the line.

" Hello ?"

" Sam ? Hey ! Could you come over ?"

You emphasize on his name, which make both of the clowns groan loudly in disapproval. However, they know what you're trying to do and don't try to stop you.

" Yeah ! Sure! I'll be right here !"

You force yourself to smile, still wanting to sound excited as to see him. However, the clowns seem to slowly change and growl loudly in the background. You hang off and look at them with a small sad smile.

" You know that it's the only way..Please, don't make this even more complicated than it really is."

Both clowns seem to understand your sacrifice and Pennywise slowly takes your hand with, for the first time in forever, tears in his eyes.

" Thank you, sweetheart."

You only nod and then, ask Penny to move him upstairs, as for Dan not to see him. He reluctantly agrees and helps you move the man upstairs. You then ask Penny to go hide in the basement. You prepare yourself and it doesn't take long for the doorbell to ring. You take a big breath before opening the door and letting Dan in. He looks around and finally smiles at you.

" Hi. So, what did you want to talk about ?"

You bite your lip and start thinking of a good reason for his presence.

" I..I just thought that it's been a long time since I've last had company and I wanted to see you again.."

He smiles and nods before sitting down on the couch. You gulp loudly before sitting beside him and looking at everything but him. He seems to catch on your nervousness and gently runs his hand on your back to soothe you.

" Hey, if you're not ready, I understand. I can wait and.."

" No !"

You hadn't meant to sound so desperate, but Pennywise was dying and you didn't know how to save him but to hurt him the only way you could. You take Dan by the collar and suddenly kiss him on the lips. He seems surprised at first, but reciprocates soon enough. You open your eyes and see that his are closed, he is actually enjoying the kiss. You smile. Maybe it wasn't so bad ? Penny and Pennywise would go down to the sewers and you would get to have a normal life back. However, you should have known that things wouldn't be so simple. Dan starts to be more persistent and slowly slides his hand up your thigh.

" No, Dan, wait.."

But he doesn't wait and only deepens the kiss to shut you up. Suddenly, someone pushes you apart harshly and you see Penny that took back his original form. He glares at Dan and growls menacingly before taking you in his arms and running in the basement. When he stops, you call him, nervous and scared that he would hurt you.

" Penny ?"

You ask, afraid that something had gone wrong..But, Penny only smiles with his multiple rows of very sharp teeths before answering you in his familiar high-pitched singing voice.

" ~I'm back.."

You smile in relief, but Penny suddenly takes you by the throat and you only have the time to look at him with widened eyes.

" Don't look at me like that..We wouldn't want Shardik to come and get you.."

When you fall into complete darkness, you barely hear Penny adding something in the shell of your ear.

" Don't worry. When all of this is over, we'll make sure to remind you who you truly belong to..You've been playing with us for too long, pet. With no humanity to abide by, there will be nothing to hold me back.."

Whereas upstairs, Pennywise enters the room transformed as you and takes Dan by the neck to kiss him harshly. However, when Dan opens his eyes, Pennywise is standing before him with a large grin.

" Surprise, shawty ! Not the person you were expecting, huh ? What ? Never kissed a clown before ? Remember that when the girl says no, it means no."

And then, without a warning, Pennywise sinks his teethes into Dan's shoulder. However, he doesn't scream. Pennywise feels something acid in his mouth and quickly steps back with a sour growl.

" You aren't human.."

Dan only chuckles before sitting on the couch in a nonchalant manner. His skin quickly turning to a pale shade of white and his eyes brighten almost mischievously.

" Man..Didn't think it would take you this long to figure it out.."

[garrettandoscargirlsblog]

Bad Memory

Summary: Here is my entry for @autumnleaves1991-blog,and @flightlessangelwings writing challenge. Takes place in the Channel 2 universe. The story is about a bad mission. One that Benny wants to forget.

Warning: blood and war are mentioned

There were memories of military life you want to remember. Like being chosen to be a part of Delta Force with your brother. Ever thought of meeting the love of your life. Benny thought about that day a lot. What stuck to him the most is how you held your own in sticky situations. Even tends to his wound after being shot. Doc's voice was so beautiful. So soothing when you calmed him down. That is how that bond between both of you began. Always protecting you from danger,and from Tom's remarks.

One night. Three of you were lounging around after a hard day. You were fast asleep on Benny's lap. His hand rubbing your side when he touches your nasty scar on your left side. Santi could see the tears in his eyes," Bro, can't stop thinking about how we almost lost her. Was supposed to protect her. We failed! If I haven't gone into the other room. She would have not been shot!" Santi tears up as well. He too has nightmares about that mission too. If they have not got into a fight about his involvement with a woman that was bad news. Was too proud to admit that you were right about her.

Their latest mission was in the Iranian desert. Will was in charge of the mission since Tom had to leave due to family issues. The mission was to secure a neighborhood from recent violence from the soldiers. Was a quiet night. You,Benny ,and Santi were on the roof of a building. Patrolling the area. While Frankie and Will were on foot. You and Santi were arguing about his fling. Tried to keep quiet. Benny looks at the two of you," can you least be quiet! Don't want the whole neighborhood here about Pope's conquest." You mouthed off," I'm sure they heard it. I know I did!" Benny rolls his eyes. Tried to make them focus on their task when he heard Will's voice on the radio," heads up. Nasties are approaching, be prepared for anything. " Benny answered his brother, " Roger that bro. Be careful." Three of you went down the stairs that lead to the street. Until you noticed a scream coming from a room. You went to check it out. Benny sees you,and pulls your arm," I'll go with you sweetheart. Need to protect you." You touched his cheek as you left," you go. I'll be fine. Go,and meet up with the others. " Santiago has a nasty feeling in his gut. Telling him that something doesn't seem right. He goes into the other rooms to check them out. Not till he hears a scream! Your scream. He rushes into the room when he sees you being held hostage by a young soldier. The young women are screaming behind you. You try to get out of the hold,but it was no use. Santi got out his radio to alert the others about your situation. Benny was the first to arrive. His eyes were full of fear. He knew he should have stayed with Doc. The soldier held onto you while he tried to leave the room. Both Benny and Santi tried to get to you. You yelled,``Don't worry about me! Save yourselves!" You had an opportunity to grab the gun that was aimed at you. He managed to get the gun when he shot you on your left side. Then he ran. Benny heard your screams. Rushing to your side. Bursting into tears," NO! Don't leave me sweetheart! You are gonna be fine. Gonna nurse your wound and get you to the hospital. Hold on, you hear me! " Santi rushes towards you. Getting to your med pack. Got out the clot kit,and cloth to clean the blood. He tells Benny to put his hand over the wound so he could get the patch over the wound.You rub Benny's cheek," don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Take my mind off the pain. Tell me a funny joke. Or even a story." While he does that. Both of them helped you up so they could get you to the jeep.

Will sees you. Told Frankie to burn rubber. Even in your wounded state you had enough strength to yell at Frankie to ease on the bumps. Your pain is getting bad. Wanted to close your eyes,but Benny and Santi were there to help you. Benny held onto your hand," want to tell you something doc,but I need to tell you that-!" You blacked out. Benny whimpers as he kisses your head " I'll always be by your side.please baby open your eyes!" Santi tears up too. He cant lose his teammate.not like that.

You woke up sometime later. With white sheets over your legs. Patch on your side. Then your friends asleep in the nearby chairs. Benny's head on the left side of you. Santi on your right. Your hand rubs Benny's head. He shots up," sweetheart! Oh my God! You are alive! How are you feeling?" You moan," felt like I got shot. Thanks for asking." That made the others laugh. That is a sign that you will be fine.

You woke up to your boys' voices. Listening to what they were talking about. Made you tear up. Turned so you could look into Benny's eyes and touch his cheek," I was stupid. Should have gone with you two. Never thought I'll put myself into that situation. That time. Was still proving myself." Santi sits up so he could put you in the middle. Both of them held you tightly. Both of them kiss your cheek. You are so lucky to have two of them in your life.

[rwood2477]

With all the negative attacks on President Trump I found this interesting FROM a Democrat..

This is something I’m asking you to read. It’s not for aggravation, debate or comment. If you comment I won’t answer. I’m just asking you to read what someone else wrote but I agree with mostly...

OPEN LETTER TO DEMOCRATS FROM A DEMOCRAT

I just have a few questions for you....Let me start with, I already know you don't like President Trump...that's a given,

SO

let's move on from that...

How about the division of America..

Do you really blame Trump for that?

How about when NONE of the DEMOCRATS showed up for his inauguration? Don't you think that started the division? He hadn't even been president yet, and EXCEPT for Clinton and Obama, not one democrat showed up....Is that when Trump divided America? Can you imagine if the REPUBLICANS didn't show up for Obama's inauguration because they lost??? Can you even start to imagine what would have happened?

How about when 19 minutes after Trump was inaugurated, the Washington Post declared the IMPEACHMENT CAMPAIGN has STARTED? Was that when Trump divided America?

How about when Nancy Pelosi ripped up Trump's state of the union right in front of the world, showing complete disrespect for the President of the United States? Did that bring the country together and is THAT when Trump divided America?

How about when America had to endure, 3 years and over 30 million dollars spent on trying to PROVE that Trump only won because of RUSSIAN COLLUSION and NOT because America voted him in and 17 Democrats did EVERYTHING in their power to PROVE that there was Russian Collusion...and came up with ZERO...? Was THAT when Trump divided America?

I can't even start to go over the NEGATIVE PRESS he's received since his surprise win...

Remember, the DONORS, the likes Bloomberg, who gave 27 million, Tom Steyer who gave 17 million, George Soros who gave 9 million and MANY MORE that gave MULTI-MILLIONS to Hillary, wanted a return on their investment...

Do you really think that donors give MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS just because they love Hillary?

NO, these weren't campaign donations, they were INVESTMENTS into what HILLARY had promised them when she became president....

They were so sure she would win and they would be SHOWERED with HUGE RETURNS, and when it didn't happen and they LOST all those millions, they went all out to TAKE TRUMP out of OFFICE by any means possible...

DID YOU KNOW that 90% of the Mainstream media and the corporations that own them, are owned by or run by BIG DEMOCRAT DONORS? You can verify all of that for yourselves...I did...

Since the moment Trump won, even before he was inaugurated, the mainstream media's reporting was 92% negative on Trump, do you know why?

It was those big donors that lost their dream of MILLIONS of dollars, on their returns that they were going to receive win Hillary was president and they weren't going to take that loss lightly...They needed to PUNISH TRUMP and those that VOTED HIM IN...

I've said this since the night he was elected...

"There is NOTHING the left won't do to take down our President”, our country and us, no low they won't go to, to get their power back", and sadly, we have seen this every single day since his election.

Let me ask you this...Have you ever listened to Trump or appreciated any accomplishment or campaign promises he's kept, have you ever gone to one of his rallies or have you just closed your mind to ANYTHING he does?

Please ask yourselves the following questions, if you dare...

What has Joe Biden done for America for the last 47 years that he's held an office?

What did Joe Biden ever do for BLACKS when HE and Obama were in office?

What has Joe Biden ever done in his entire life to create a private-sector job?

What has Joe Biden done to help the American middle class worker?

Let me also ask you this...Why do you think there are so many people tearing down statues, burning flag, beating up police officers, disrespecting our founders and hating our country?

It comes straight from our SCHOOLS that have slowly been tearing down our history...

If there is a teacher out there, please tell me the following:

Do you teach the truth that it was the DEMOCRATS that:

Were the KKK?

That the GRAND LEADER of the KKK was Robert Byrd, who was elected to congress and served for decades, and that it was Hillary, Bill, and Obama that gave his EULOGY praising him?

That the DEMOCRATS fought the Civil war to KEEP SLAVERY?

That the inner-city ghettoes were created by DEMOCRATS to keep control of slaves after they were freed?

That planned parenthood was founded in inner cities to CONTROL the BLACK POPULATION?

Is any of this in your history books?

Let me ask you this as well.

Can a student speak up when he/she disagrees with a teacher when they say that Trump is a horrible president or the electoral college has to be eliminated? Don't think so?

Well, I know a student that actually happened to...When the teacher said it had to be eliminated because Hillary lost, and he stated the reason it should stay,

She ripped him apart and gave the entire class a 5 hour test, and stated it was because he DARED to disagree with her...

Is that happening in your schools?

I'm only asking questions....I'd like your answers..

President Trump and his entire family has been vilified, demeaned and disrespected, for one reason and one reason only.......HE WON...

Have you noticed the DEMOCRATS only throw tantrums and OBJECT to everything he does and have NEVER ONCE gotten behind him or tried to work with him to help make America the best it can be?

WHY? They can't afford to get behind him...he would WIN AGAIN, and they can't let that happen....if he wins again, the Democrat party will be destroyed and they know it...

Did you notice that the "CAGES" the left claimed that Trump built to put Illegal children in, WERE BUILT BY OBAMA for the very purpose of PUTTING ILLEGAL CHILDREN IN?

Was THAT all over the news when Obama did it? The very same "CAGES"...but the media was silent!!

How about when Trump commuted Roger Stone's sentence,and was DEMONIZED 24/7 but NOT A WORD when Obama commuted 1715 inmates, which included 330 that he granted on his last day in office...

DID WE EVEN HEAR one WORD about it? Were there reporters even reporting it...NO! Just look at the difference in the reporting. By the way, since Trump's been in office he's commuted 10 people...compare that to Obama...Is that reporting fair?

How about when Biden and Obama allowed the H1N1, the SWINE FLU, to INFECT MILLIONS of Americans before declaring it a health emergency....

Was the press losing it's minds and calling it the OBAMAFLU AND BLAMING OBAMA and BIDEN for the spread ? SILENCE!

Compare this to the NEGATIVE COVERAGE that Trump got when, he immediately halted travel from China when, in February, Nancy Pelosi went to Chinatown and said come on down, or when DeBlasio, in March, said ride the subways and go to broadway...BUT those same people are blaming Trump for the spread of coronavirus..

A FINAL QUESTION:

What have the DEMOCRATS done to help make America the best, to get behind a president that works tirelessly to care about WE THE PEOPLE instead of using us as political pawns..

What have the democrats done for people of color EXCEPT for GIVING ILLEGALS more rights than citizens and having us pay for it...

JUST imagine what this country could accomplish if the Democrats worked with him on the economy, the coronavirus, the inner cities where he's created opportunity zones, job training etc.

When Trump tried to get school choice for inner-city students they ran Betsy Devoss out!! The dems running those innercity schools wanted no part of school choice.

Have you ever wondered why it's cities that have been run, for decades, that have the MOST HOMELESS, the MOST CRIME, the most MURDERS, the worst INNER CITY schools, ARE ALL RUN BY DEMOCRATS???

If you haven't started asking yourselves those questions, maybe you should..

As I said, my entire family used to be democrats, but NOT ONE will ever vote for a democrat again....They asked themselves the same questions and the answer was clear....

[vole-mon-amour]

OTP tag game.

Tagged by @captainjowl. You know for sure than I'm struggling to pick only 10 & fit them in here. But hell, that’s fun, thank you <3

Rules: Choose 10 OTPs BEFORE reading the questions, and then get to answering

1) Harry James Potter & Sirius Orion Black

2) Daniel Le Domas & Grace (Ready or Not 2019)

3) Samuel & Nathan Drake (Uncharted 4)

4) Corvo Attano & The Outsider (+probably Emily Kaldwin; Dishonored series)

5) Steve Grant Rogers & Bucky Buchanan Barnes (Marvel)

6) Tony Edward Stark & Peter Benjamin Parker (Marvel)

7) Handsome Jack & Rhys (Borderlands video game series)

8) Damon Salvatore & Elena Gilbert (TVD Books & a tv show)

9) Batman & Joker (in every universe, really)

10) Adam Jensen x Francis Pritchard (Deus Ex video game series)

1. Do you remember the episode/scene/chapter that you first started shipping 6?

I believe it didn't hit me before Spider-Man: Homecoming. Civil War was about Steve & Bucky for me, but when I saw that growing up Peter with Tony, their dynamic, chemistry. Tom & Robert are really just like that.

2. Have you ever read a fanfic about 2?

Lmao. I've read like 50% of the tag on AO3, I wrote my own & started a few wips on them. They are amazing. Plus, with that shitty canon? We didn't get enough of them & they deserved better, so it's only logical to save yourself with fanfiction.

3. Has a picture of 4 ever been your screen saver/profile picture/tumblr screen saver?

I was living with The Outsider icon on my twitter & tumblr. That one is still my Google profile picture I believe. Don't remember about having an icon with the two of them. Also had The Outsider as my lockscreen on my smartphone for a while.

4. If 7 were to suddenly break up today, what would your reaction be?

Funny how it fits canon, lmao. Rhys literally tried to erase Jack's AI in TFTBL, so I guess another day on Pandora, nothing new. They torture each other, they kiss each other, they kill other people in the process. It'll be fiiine.

5. Why is 1 so important?

I love them since the first time I met them, which was much more than 10 years ago, I don't even remember when. At some point they were the reason I was waking up & forcing myself to eat just to read more fanfiction & feel something. Even if I was drowning in pain (I was extremely depressed), it was still something. I read every fic I could find at that time. The depression that Harry went through, all these feelings, his love for Sirius. I was living through it, I could relate.

I'm currently drowning in these two again, though in a much healthier & happier state. I see their flaws & I know as much as I can. I see them differently as an adult. They saved me, they keep being my number one, I still consider making a tattoo of Padfoot/Sirius or of both Harry & Sirius together. I have many headcanons, ideas, I write fics about them. They are everything, you see? They were my choice when there was nothing, no one. They are HOME.

6. Is 9 a funny ship or a serious ship?

Both. There goes the dynamic of Jack & Rhys: torture, fighting, flirting, a lot of trauma. I'd definitely say that they are wild and comical sometimes, but they are definitely serious. With the Asylum, the mental health issues. There is so much more to it, the complexity of their relationship. The struggle of loving who you probably shouldn't (but hey, when does it work like that?) Thinking about Tettlate's Batman, about Batman: Europa & how Joker was: "You must be crazy, putting me in charge of the plan, letting me decide. Okay, well..."

Nah, they are entertaining, but this is a serious ship.

7. Out of all the ships listed, which ship has the most chemistry?

Are you kidding me? They are all the definition of CHEMISTRY. I'd say 5, but then go 2, 6, 7, 8. Come on. I'm not choosing. Most of they are WILD.

9. How many times have you read/watched the 10’s fandom?

The fandom itself? Idk. I found one of my favourite artists through this fandom. If it's about the characters themselves, I played the first game with the DLC from start to beginning, looking around every corner. Spent more than 60 hours in there. Watched a second game (my laptop can't run the game) and the DLC (obviously), since Francis is in the DLC & not in the main game. I have a tag for them on tumblr, I read fanfiction, I tried to write my own. I still follow Elias & want a third game. Elias liked my tweets about Adam and Jensen being an actual couple a few times. I'd say I interacted with all of this a lot? Still do, actually.

10. Which ship has lasted the longest?

5. Best friends since childhood, fought & died for each other, still found their way back to each other. "It would break your Captain's heart, to see what they did to you." That only the MENTION of Steve can pull Bucky out of this brain washing(ed?) state, distract him in the middle of a fight. When Steve died in the comics because of Sharon & Tony sent Natasha to take Steve's shield from Bucky because even Tony knew how much Steve means to Bucky. And Bucky was like: "Oh, I see what he did. Not happening!" Fought Natasha (that is his ex in the comics) & kept going for Steve's sake.

Well, you see the point, I can go on and on.

11. How many times, if ever, has 6 broken up?

They're not actually canon so none? They had a few fights: In Civil war (the comics), in Homecoming (the movie).  That only means that they’ve got history & love each other.

12. If the world was suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, which ship would make it out alive, 2 or 8?

As fierce Grace is, they wouldn't stand a chance against Damon & Elena. Those two had to deal with worst thing than brainless stupid zombies. On the other hand, if there were no alive humans to drink their blood... It's either an animal diet that Damon hates so much or I don't know? Still, they're faster & more powerful. Their bodies have advantage of healing the wounds as well.

13. Did 7 ever have to hide their relationship for any reason?

From some people, yeah. Don't tell Athena, don't tell Vaughn, don't tell Fiona. Though Rhys wasn't very subtle about it & Jack just doesn't give a fuck. You will probably end up dead if you disagree or bore him, or if you're useless.

"I can take you to the top, but you gotta know where the top is" & Rhys doesn't tell anybody until Jack makes him the President for like whole 20 minutes lol.

Fiona & Sasha: "This can't be happening." Sure it can, darling.

14. Is 4 still together?

I have a headcanon about The Outsider finding Emily & Corvo after Billie frees him from the Void. He doesn't have anybody & they are his only friends aside from a potential friendship with Billie. And if we don't consider TOTO dlc, they definitely are! The Outsider visits them both when they sleep & takes them to the void sometimes. How could he not?

15. Is 10 canon?

Not really but also sort of? Let's say that they really care about each other in canon, despite Adam pushing Francis away because of his trauma & fear that Megan caused him. :/

16. If all 10 ships were put into a couple’s Hunger Games, which couple would win?

Can you imagine wizards fighting extremely powerful vampires? Superheroes with venom in their bodies that make them super strong with people that made a deal with the Devil himself (hi Le Bail)? 5000 y.o. God and his lover that share his powers and an augmented human protecting his tired IT guy? Combine mental health issues to that, Jack and Rhys with Batman and Joker. Corvo & The Outsider would probably slay them all as Corvo and Emily did in both games with entire islands, though it will still be a slaughter anyway.

17. Has anybody ever tried to sabotage 5’s ship?

All the fucking time, lmaooo. I’m not even talking about it.

18. Which ship would you defend to the death and beyond?

I feel like I already did with Steve & Bucky after many Marvel movies (we're not even mentioning Endg*me, I fucking died & was dead for full 4-5 months).

19. Do you spend hours a day going through 3’s tumblr page?

I used to do that a few years back, but not anymore. There is not much content since the trilogy is finished.

20. If an evil witch descended from the sky and told you that you had to pick one of the ten ships to break up forever or else she’d break them all forever, which ship would you sink?

1 already went through it & fandom lives, so I'd say maybe 7? Rhys will find a way to bring Jack back & they are both so wild. It’s what happened in canon anyway. Jack kidnapped Lilith & forced her to do Angel's job, so I'd like to see that witch try at first. Jack is an immortal bastard. <3

Now that I think about it, Corvo would also deal with her in seconds as she waits to curse them.

As a conclusion: no one breaks up forever, we're killing the witch.

I tag: @ianmillkovichgallagher​ & @aledbr​

Whoever else wants to join the game, please do.

[nickyneshwrites]

Cold chapter 2

ITALICS=Thinking to themself

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

”So could you regale me with your amazing feat Nezumi-san, you say you fought with Shizu-chan”

”You mean how my boys and I completely beat that fuckers ass! Don't know why nobody else could do it especially you Orihara-san"

Izaya let out a dry laugh and plastered on the most believable smile he could muster in front of the would-be gang leader.

It was humans like these that made Izaya remember why he did-what he did,2 weeks...That's how long it had been since he last saw Shizuo, at first he thought the blond was just looking for some time alone- he was looking less angry and more down lately avoiding contact and sleeping in his old apartment instead of their shared flat, and Izaya didn't like that. He was worried and when he heard rumors of some small time gang having attacked and beaten the man (his Shizu-chan), and won a week ago, so he decided it was time to take action.

Days of searching, called in favors and the few broken fingers of a poor underling later Izaya had found and made contact with the leader of the...... It didn't even matter, they attacked his Shizuo.

”Nezumu-san as happy as I am for your victory, Shizuo isn't known to stay down for long” Izaya was fighting to hold his composure he was leaning against a grimy alley wall and fingering his switchblade in his coat's pocket.

The bastard had the gall to stand smugly in front of him.

”Ha from what I heard he goes down pretty easy for you.....”

’!!!!’ Izaya was not pleased...

He let out a mirthless chuckle, ”Nezumu-san no matter how much you boast and flatter I find it hard to believe that you and your crew single-handedly took out Shizuo Heiwajima, so lets cut the pleasantries and get real, where is he now?”.

The sentence was punctuated by a blade being pointed dangerously at the unsuspecting street urchin.

He looked worried, said Nezumi was new to the city and wasn't acquainted with Izaya’s brand of business and it was painfully obvious he thought Izaya was here in this decrepit alleyway to thank or congratulate him...there would be no such thing.

”T-tch like I said man we taught the bastard a lesson after interferin’ in our business and left ’im lying in ’der” the smug look his face fell as he noticed the informant skip closer his red eyes glinting.

”I didn't check to see if he left and I'd be surprised if he could walk after all we di-!!!”

All too late he saw the glint of silver fly towards him, but he did feel warm blood trickle down his side and tastes copper in his mouth as he bit into his tongue, then he saw the very pissed informant charge towards him and armed with another knife only to be kicked to his back.

”I think I've heard quite enough of that from you. It seems you misinterpreted your invitation here this time evening, because of YOU!!!”

Izaya pressed his leg on the handle of the knife stuck probably in Nezumi’s ribs eliciting a pained gasp.

”I can't find my Shizu-chan, so let me correct whatever wrong assumption is drifting around in that empty skull of yours”

He leaned down grabbing then twisting the knife he lodged in the urchins side.

”I'm.Going.To. Make.You.Disappear”

He drove the knife deeper while twisting and adding pressure on every syllable.

The urchin dared to gasp in pain and try to pull away begging for mercy ”S-STOP, I-WE DIDN’T KILL HIM, SO WHY GO AFTER ME!!!” He yelled as another knife was plunged straight through his hand pinning it to the alley floor.

Izaya laughed in the dark grimey alley and without thinking twice then answered.

”Because you touched my property....”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shadows...shadows everywhere, whisking up the walls, casting on the ground and climbing up his body moving to his head, trying to ensnare his mind, whispering the sweet nothings of doubt and self hate in his mind.

He remembers calling Tom telling him he didn't feel well-it was close enough to the truth.

He remembers the buzzing in his head, the numb limbs, the static in his ears.

He was wandering down the street everything was....grey his vision swam with this paste of grey the, people?. They were all more unfocused blobs, he had kept his head down too afraid to see looks of fear and distaste.

He was wet wasn't he....among a sea of shadows and umbrellas he saw his reflection in a shop window.......All he saw was grey.

Shizuo closed his eyes, where was he to look when all he saw was the demons of his mind crawling on the wall's.

Walls?...Where am I?...These aren't my walls...Not Izaya’s walls...Izaya!

What the hell is happening,why isn't he here!? I can't breath I can't think I need...

”Izay....!”

In his frazzled state, Shizuo failed to notice the syringe that was inserted in his arms and as the sedative worked in his system he fell limp on the bed.

The shaking hands of a young man in an lab coat dropped the syringe and quickly headed for the door, he opened the bolts and briskly made his way down to an office and wasted no time in entering.

”Did you do as I instructed” The voice sounded mildly irritated probably due to the fact that they wanted nothing to do with this mess.

”Y-yes S-shiki-dono he's put to sleep with enough sedative to put an elephant to sleep but with his uhm... Unique psysiology it'll only last about twenty four hours...”

Shiki sighed ”Thats good enough, it'll give me time to inform the informant of his whereabouts... Ever since the supposed defeat of Heweijima The fool has been harassing the city gangs more than normal I'm sure he was looking for the blonde”

He looked at the confused scientist.

”I thought that Heiwajima and Orihara hated each other,Heiwajima he was calling out for him... Are the two of them...like that?”

The scientist fidgeted under the intense gaze of the Awakusu-Kai member.

Shiki let out a loud huff then made a non-comital sound.

”It doesn't matter does it all that matters is that we give Orihara what he wants and we get that raging monster out of here what's wrong with him anyways......asides from the wounds he got from the fight”

The young man straightened as he realised the attention was back on him

”Its not my area of expertise but I believe he is going through some sort of delirious episode though I can't tell why” He mumbled out his answer and tried to get the words out as quickly and accurately as he could.

Shiki sat there and took in this new piece of information, what in the world would make someone like Heiwajima Shizuo have an episode....Hmm it seemed everyone did have their own issues.

”Interesting...”

”What was that Shiki-dono?”

Shiki just pointed to the doors.

”Nothing. You can leave now...Also if you breath a word of this outside this room, lets just say you won't be breathing for much long after”

The eyes of the prominent Awakusu-kai member bore deep into the young man.

”U-understood”

And then he left.

Shiki release a breath he didn't know he was holding then scratched his head.

”Ahh this is so much more trouble than it's worth That annoying informant owes me so much for this. But it might be worth a little if I can get him to stop rampaging around the city. Who would have guessed, it seems he cares more than he let on”

Interesting, very interesting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ao3~

Give me your opinion I hope you like it.

[honestlyimstilllivinginthe90s]

Impossible | Harrison Osterfield | Part 2

Warnings: Swearing, mild spoilers for Acotar, death, blood, no Harrison (mentioned)

Word Count: 1.6k

I woke up the following morning with a pounding headache and the sound of Tom chuckling. I groaned and rolled over onto my side, pulling the sheets over my head.

"I'm glad to see you're still alive. I was beginning to think that I might finally get some peace and quiet around here." Tom smirked as he leaned against the frame of my open bedroom door.

"You wish." I muttered. Tom sniggered.

"Your mother sent me to get you. You've been in bed all day. I-"

"Where's Bella?" I cut him off, he rolled his eyes.

"Your father is working, she's bringing him lunch. Anyway who wouldn't want to see my beautiful face when they wake up."

"Piss off, Tom." His laughter filled the room again. He grabbed ahold of my sheets and ripped them off me. I shrieked at the cold and jumped up, trying to take them off Tom.

"Tell me what happened last night and I'll consider giving you your sheets back."

"Bastard." I slumped back down, sitting with my legs crossed and arms folded like a little child getting scolded.

"Do you know how much trouble I got into last night because of you? Your father would have had my head if it wasn't for your mother. The least you owe me is an explanation." From Tom's tone I could tell he was pissed. But so was I.

"I owe you nothing! You're not my mother."

"My job was to bring you to the ball and back home. You're the princess. If anything was to happen to you, the High Lord would-" he cut himself off and looked at me, his gaze warm, "I would never forgive myself. Now tell your best friend what happened before this conversation goes all mushy-gushy and we start talking about feelings." I laughed.

"It's a long story." I stated. Tom sat down on the bed beside me and wrapped the sheets around me.

"I have all the time in the world."

I told him the whole story, leaving out Harrison's name. The last thing I needed was Tom putting out WANTED posters all over the Night Court.

"But it's stupid anyway. It was one night and I was naive to think that we will ever see each other again." I sigh.

Tom smiled at me, a warm and comforting smile. Not a smirk or sneer. An actual smile.

"Is my y/n in love? And with an Illyrian of all!" Tom chuckled, wrapping his arms around me.

"I am NOT in love!" I protested. "I don't even know the guy!"

"That didn't stop you from making out with him!" Tom held up his hands in a surrender.

I rolled my eyes at him and sighed. I had this pain in my chest, my heart longing to see Harrison again. The image of his eyes never left my mind. His touch burned into my skin. I never felt this way before. And I wanted the feeling to go but at the same time I never wanted to feel this way about anyone but Harrison.

"What am I going to do Tom? If Dad finds out ....." I slumped down against Tom's shoulder.

"Hey, it's going to be fine, okay. Your dad won't find out. I'll look for your man, I'm always in the Night Court anyway so your father won't question it. You just go about your life and leave the rest to me. Okay?" Tom lifted my head up to look into his eyes.

"Okay." I nodded.

"Good. I'll tell your mother that you're still sleeping. Shower and collect your thoughts. I'll come back to you tonight for dinner." He stood up and made his way to leave my bedroom. Just before he left, he paused and turned to me, his Illyrian wings, large and powerful, no longer tucked away.

"He never said his name, did he?" Tom asked.

"No." I lie. Names are a powerful thing in Prythian, the walls have ears and word travels fast. I can't risk saying his name.

Tom nodded once and then he was gone.

_________________________________________

"Good evening, y/n." My mother greeted as I took the seat on the dinner table across from Tom and beside my mother.

"Hello mother." I half smiled. All through the dinner I sat there praying that she wouldn't ask about last night. She didn't.

"Well you certainly enjoyed yourself last night. You've been asleep all day." My father stated from the head of the table after about an hour of silence.

"I was tired. You were young once, I'm sure you remember what balls are like." I replied as I dished another portion of roast chicken and vegetables onto my plate.

"But I was married when I was your age. You haven't even considered dating!" My father was already getting impatient.

"It was a ball father! Why, did you expect me to come home married?!" I snapped.

"Y/n!" My mother glared at me. I held her stare, stone-faced and furious.

"I need an heir! A man to rule this Court. If you would just marry-" My father's voice was raised.

"We talked about this. You have an heir." My mother interrupted, her voice calm and steady. I was surprised that she was standing up for me. She never usually does.

My father looked at her then switched his glance to Tom, who had been silent for most of this dinner.

"What do you think?" He asked Tom.

"Give her time. You shouldn't force her into an unhappy marriage. 6 months. 6 months for y/n to find a husband and get to know him." Tom offered, his voice stern but calm.

My father paused for a second, looked at me and said.

"One. One month to find a husband-"

"One month!!! That's crazy!! You can't-" I shouted.

"And get to know him otherwise I will choose for you. Understood?" He finished, his voice louder than mine. I glared at him and stood up, the chair falling over behind me.

"I heard you loud and clear." I grimaced, hatred and sarcasm intertwined with my words.

I turned and stormed out of the dinner hall.

_________________________________________

I stood on the balcony of my bedroom, the warm spring breeze gently blowing my h/c hair behind me. I watched the birds fly through the trees, weaving through the branches with so much grace and speed. I was in awe of how they did that. I was often jealous of them, of Tom and the Illyrians who have been blessed with wings.

"Your father doesn't mean any harm." I swiftly turned to my mother who was standing in the doorway to the balcony in a silk periwinkle dress.

"My father wants to control the only thing I thought that I would always have complete control over." I replied with icy calm.

My mother walked over to stand beside me.

"I always dreamed of falling in love. Of how it would feel, of the joys and having someone who would be on your side no matter what. And now he's taken that away too." I stated, my voice cracking half way through.

My mother said nothing and just hugged me. I instantly started crying.

"I just wish I wasn't his daughter. I wish I could have a normal life with freedom and....." my voice muffled in my mother's shoulder. She softly shushed me and ran her fingers through my hair.

"I know. I know." She whispered. "I was forced to marry too. And I was just as angry as you but I met your father and I eventually fell in love with him. And it took time but I love your father so much it was worth it. You will fall in love some day. And it will magical. I promise." I looked up into her eyes.

"I met this man at the ball and we danced. But I don't know where he is. I can't find him."

My mother cupped my cheek in her soft warm palm.

"You will. I know you will. You have that look in your eye. It's the look of a bird about break free and fly away from her nest." She gently kissed my forehead. "Fly away my darling. And find your masked man."

"I will."

She wiped away my tears and smiled, pride filled her eyes. Then she turned and walked out, leaving me standing on my balcony.

_________________________________________

I was awoken from my sleep by a scream. My eyes shot open, immediately watering thanks to the bright sunlight coming through my window. It was morning time, probably 7 or 8. I covered my eyes with my hand, trying to get used to the sunlight. I jumped out of my bed and ran to my bedroom door. It was thrown open before I reached it.

"Y/n! Thank the Cauldron!" My father's face was pale with worry. "I was working in my office, I heard you scream, I thought something happened to you!"

"It wasn't me who screamed." My heart was now pounding out of my chest. I ran out of the doorway, sprinting down the corridor to the one on the other side of the stairs, praying that what I thought was wrong. That's when I saw Bella standing in the doorway of the master bedroom, her hands over her mouth covering her sobs. She turned her head and saw me.

"Lady y/n, I'm so sorry. I-" She pointed a shaky finger into the bedroom. I ran to her side, choking back a sob when I saw what she was pointing at.

A body. A dead body on the bed. They were covered in blood and there was blood on the bedsheets and floor. The body was lying on its side, like she had been sleeping. The woman's long hair was covering her pale face but I instantly recognised who it was. It was the dead body of my mother.

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