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writingfromkitchenator · 4 years

Text

Sirius ~ Ask Me

1,300 Followers Challenge!

Round 2

Masterlist

Requested by Anon

Words: 1,931

Warnings: Neutral Reader, neutral arsehole OC, fake dating, fluff, supportive Sirius, supportive friends, brief magic fight

“Sirius, can I talk to you for a second?”

Sirius, James, Remus and Peter looked up from dining table, finding you standing there, looking just a touch nervous. If it had been anyone else, one of them would've made some sort of comment, but this demeanour was so unlike you, they all knew better.

“Yeah, sure.” Sirius said, standing and grabbing a slice of toast.

A look of relief crossed your expression before you lead the way out. Behind you, James nudged Sirius, with a wink, and Sirius rolled his eyes at him, quickly following.

You led him away from the Great Hall and into the nearest classroom, quickly checking to make sure no one was around.

Inside, your anxious only seemed to increase.

Sirius threw what was left of his toast into the bin. “Are you alright Y/N? What's going on?”

You let out a shaky breath before meeting his gaze. “I just want to start this by saying, I'll completely understand if you say no.”

He blinks, pink tinging his cheeks a little, but he nods. “Okay...”

“I...” You sighed and wrapped your arms around yourself. “Look, you've probably heard that Robin has been asking me out for a while now?”

It was no secret. “A few times if I've heard correctly.”

You nod and start to pace the room. “I keep saying no, I'm not interested, but for whatever reason they have it in their head that that means they can keep on trying. It's getting to the point that I'm extremely uncomfortable and I don't know what else to do about this.”

“A good hex would sort them out.” Sirius said flatly.

“Yeah, and get me into trouble at the same time,” You frowned. “Do you know how much shit my parents would get at work if I did that? They work together, and they aren't easy to get along with at the best of times.”

Sirius frowns. “Okay, so what do you need me to do?”

Your hesitation was clear, and your hands wrung together a little. “As I said, you can say no, but it seems the only to get Robin to stop to show I'm already with someone else.”

He stares at you, trying to keep his expression blank. “You want to date me?”

“Unofficially,” You said quickly. “We just...pretend that we're dating. Just till Robin backs off.”

“Huh,” He said thoughtfully, still keeping his expression blank. “And why would you ask me this?”

“Because James is already dating Lily, and Peter and Remus can't act for shit.” You said. “You're the only one I trust with this Sirius.”

Sirius wasn't a fan of this, he knew it was probably a bad idea, but there was something about you saying you trusted him that made him chase all those other thoughts away. “Okay, I'll do it.”

Your eyebrows shot up. “Just like that?”

He smiled. “Just like that. Although, do me a favour?”

You nod, still stunned.

“Don't tell Remus he can't act. He'll get most upset.”

The laughter felt good, and you shook your head, smiling. “Not a word.”

News went around the school like wild fire that you and Sirius were dating. Sirius Black, the local flirt, had finally settled in with someone. The two of you played along with it, but both of you were aware that there was a furious glare often sent your way.

After a particularly bad Potions lesson, Sirius caught up to you and wrapped a friendly arm around your shoulders. “You okay?”

“I'd be better if Robin hadn't been glaring daggers into my back all lesson.” You grumbled. “I have no idea how I got through that lesson.”

Sirius hums thoughtfully. “Well, how about we head to Hogsmead this weekend? Just the two of us.” He added quickly at your nervous look, knowing that you wanted to keep this as quiet as possible, it less likely to blow up in your faces then.

You sighed. “I don't know Sirius...it could bring more trouble.”

He gives your shoulders a squeeze. “That's what I'm here for. Everyone knows trouble is my middle name by now.”

It took a little bit more convincing, but after Transfiguration was no better, you agreed, just wanting to away from him.

The Three Broomsticks was relatively quiet considering how many students were out and about, but you certainly weren't complaining, relaxing as you sat in the chair next to Sirius. You couldn't even begin to put into words what this was all doing to you, but you more than grateful for Sirius' support.

“Thanks Sirius,” You said quietly, earning a surprised look from him. “I really did need this.”

He smiled. “No need to thank me Y/N. If that clod can't accept this, then there is something wrong.”

You sighed, leaning on yours hands. “I do wonder if Robin knows.”

Sirius raised an eyebrow. “How? I certainly haven't said anything, and I really doubt you have. We're the only two that know.”

“I don't know, it's just something about...” You trailed off and shook your head. “You're right. It's not possible.”

Sirius does a look around the pub and sees more than a few students that spoke a lot to Robin, a cheeky grin coming to him.

He nudges you gently. “You know, there is something we could do that would get tongues wagging.”

You looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

Sirius’ grin widens, and he sends you a wink. “We could make out.”

There was an awkward pause before you laughed, looking away shyly. “No, I don't want a kiss.”

Sirius chuckled. “You never know, you might like it.”

“While I'm sure your kissing is more than remarkable,” You said, purposefully looking at your drink. “It's not currently the most important thing on my mind.”

You felt him shift closer, his arm snaking around the back of your chair, his voice low. “Something else then?”

Laughing, you glance at him, finding him grinning. “You are terrible.”

Sirius shrugs, his smile not dropping as he moves comfortably back into his own. “I must have something going for me, or you wouldn't have asked otherwise.”

You smile at him, feeling genuinely happy, more than you had in a while. Then your smile dropped and Sirius quickly followed your gaze to the door.

Robin stepped inside.

“Oh, you've got to be kidding me.”

Robin strides over, looking smug. “So, this is the happy couple is it?”

“Why can't you just leave me alone?” You asked, annoyed. “I'm sure you have better things to do than plague my every step.”

“Oh, I do have better things to do,” Robin said, eyes on Sirius. “Including putting this bastard back in his place.”

“I'd like to see you try,” Sirius said lightly. “You aren't the only one with friends.”

Robin sneers. “Oh, you look all alone here, little Black, and if this is the only one to win Y/N over, then so be it.”

“No one is winning anyone over,” You said coldly. “Because I remain uninterested, no matter what you keep telling yourself.”

But Robin smirks. “Oh? You haven't heard? Little Black has been trying to earn your attentions here for a while. It may seem like his crush has worked, at least a little, but I wonder just how much dark magic was involved in it.”

“None.” You and Sirius both said, Sirius' face going a little pale.

“I'm here of my own volition,” You said. “And you better learn to respect that.”

Robin scoffed. “Like you would know anything about dark magic. We all know that you ride the coattails of everyone else in class.”

Heat flared in your cheeks, but you didn’t get a chance to respond as Sirius stands, his hands shaking.

“Says the one who’s only in some classes because Mummy and Daddy paid the school.”

Robin’s face went incredibly pale, very aware that several people were now looking over. “Like you would know anything about it. Why don’t you stick to your waste of space of a family in practising dark magic?”

Sirius reached for his wand, but he didn’t have to say anything, four spells hitting Robin at once, knocking them almost immediately out cold, several screams from other students sounding.

“I suggest the rest of you stay out of this,” James said, wand twirling in his fingers. “This prat had this coming. When someone says no, they mean it.”

Sirius stared at him, Remus and Peter next to him, slipping their own wands away. “What are you guys doing here?”

James grins and shrugs. “Seems like you needs a hand.” He nods at you. “Y/N too.”

Sirius frowns and looks at you, your wand still raised, breathing hard. He smiles and gently takes your hand, pushing your hand down. “I think you can put that down now. Pretty sure Robin won’t be getting up for a while.”

You swallowed and slowly slipped your wand away. “O-okay.”

“Hey,” Sirius brought your gaze to his. “You didn’t do anything wrong. That arsehole deserved it.”

“Damn right they did,” James was crouching next to Robin now, poking them with his wand. “We’ll get them out of sight for you, and don’t worry, we’ll take the fall from the teachers.”

Remus snorts, helping James pick up Robin as Peter moves and opens the door. “You mean I will offer an explanation that the teachers will mostly believe, but we’ll still all get detention. Again.”

James chuckles. “Come on Remus, you haven’t had a dull moment with us yet.”

You and Sirius watched them leave, Sirius letting out a low chuckle, shaking his head. “They are terrible. Can’t keep to themselves at all.”

“Does Remus really lie to the teachers that much?” You asked, watching as the rest of the students started going back to their drinks, as if not much had happened at all.

Sirius grins. “He is a much better actor than you give him credit for.”

You look at him, wanting to laugh, but still feeling in shock over it all, and not entirely sure what to process first. “So…you’ve liked me for a while huh?”

His grin falters and he rubs the back of his neck, pink flushing his cheeks. “I…well…maybe?”

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” You frowned at him. “Why did you agree to help me?”

Sirius shrugs. “I never thought you’d ever like me back, and I agreed because you’re still my friend. My feelings aside, I didn’t like seeing you so uncomfortable and in trouble, and the fact that you trusted me enough to ask me…”

You stared at him for a long moment, Sirius carefully avoiding your gaze. Slowly, you rested your hand on his. “Ask me.”

He looked at you, frowning slightly. “What?”

“Ask me.” You gave a small smile. “Properly. Without the expectation of covering my arse from a douchebag.”

Sirius opened his mouth a few times, before his frown deepened. “Technically you asked me that.”

You giggled. “Well, now I’m giving you a chance.”

Slowly, his frown eased and he smiled, moving a little closer. “Y/N…would you like to go out with me? For real this time.”

Smiling shyly, you nod. “Yeah, yeah I would. I’m sorry I put you through this.”

Sirius chuckled, his arm wrapping around your shoulders. “Don’t be, I did agree, and if anything, we both learnt we can already play the couple really well.”

Giggling, you felt yourself relax into him, and while you were still worried about what the consequences of hexing Robin would be, with Sirius here, it all just felt a little bit better.

#1300 followers challenge #round 2 #harry potter #sirius black #sirius #Sirius Black x neutral reader #sirius x neutral reader #sirius black x reader #sirius x reader

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qiankunfics · 4 years

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JohnKun Masterlist - Part 1

AO3

1. rearranged by renjaune -

Summary: johnny has to share a room with his long-time crush thanks to haechan Rating: Explicit Status: One-shot

2. Wow, Bulge by lunalius J

Summary: Johnny's always dreamed of getting a soulmate tattoo and meeting his other half. The hand the Fates end up dealing him is not so dreamy. Rating: Teen Status: One-shot

3. The Blue Antonov by tentography

Summary: Kun runs a small bookstore and Johnny, a famous actor, stumbles into his life. Yes, this is absolutely a Notting Hill AU. Rating: Teen Status: On-going

4. don't take my breath away too soon by sofarsoperfect

Summary: Like if he falls asleep he really has to start saying goodbye to the NCT 2020 era and he’s not sure he’s ready to do that yet. Rating: Teen Status: One-shot

5. put me right in my place by sofarsoperfect

Summary: “I am,” he replies. His voice is soft and velvety, warm and syrupy. Johnny leans down to nudge their noses together, Kun smiling softly as he does so. Rating: Explicit Status: One-shot Trigger: Kinks

6. An Open Wound by lunalius

Summary: Kun's life is thrown off balance when he stumbles upon a dying Youngho. Rating: Mature Status: One-shot Trigger: Blood & Injury

7. You're an Idiot (but you're My Idiot) by samuraiseonghwa

Summary: Sometimes disasters make the best dates. Rating: General Status: One-Shot

8. from one shadow to another by rowenabane

Summary: Kun has the audacity to smile. “Oh, Johnny,” he says. “You really are a man after my own heart.” Rating: Mature Status: One-Shot Trigger: Blood & Injury

9. Indebted by lunalius

Summary: Johnny has three credit cards, of which one is frozen into an ice block for his own good. Rating: Teen Status: One-Shot Trigger: Possible irresponsible spending

10. you warmly melted me by blazingsirius

Summary: For a while, Qian Kun’s life is a bumbling mess between juggling his Master’s study, working as a budding producer, and being a single father. Johnny Suh came somewhere in between and suddenly everything felt okay. Rating: General Status: One-Shot

11. Here Comes The Prince, The Royal Frogness by blazingsirius

Summary: Prince Johnny was forced to attend a ball his parents held to find him a partner, but he found a way to escape the ball, which ended with a wrongful meeting with a magical being that put him in a curse. Somehow, a (literally) poor guy, Kun, got dragged into the mess. And oh, they’re both frogs now. Rating: General Status: One-shot

12. Addictive Frequency by Sakunade

Summary: Johnny misses Kun, misses spending time together and having the younger in his bed. Kun is beautiful, perfect, and has the most delicious ass Johnny's ever seen. Rating: Explicit Status: One-Shot

13. brightest light by tentography

Summary: Their summer had only just begun when Kun asks him to stay beneath the neon lights of the 7-eleven, bathing them in an electric mix of fluorescent white and bright orange-green-red. Rating: Teen Status: On-going

14. johrny (horny 4 johnny) by borntovixx

Summary: Johnny lifts weights without wearing a shirt and Kun can't stop staring at his muscles flexing – is it advisable to ask your crush if you could to lick his abs pretty please? It definitely isn't, but Kun's brain short-circuits and gives in to the cacoethes. Rating: Teen Status: One-Shot

15. cream stuffed buns by farthendur

Summary: straight frat bros johnjae discover they feel real weird around neighborhood baker and DILF kun. Rating: Explicit Status: On-going

16. in all glory by farthendur

Summary: Captain Qian Kun and First Officer Johnny Suh spend an intimate and spicy night in their quarters. What could possibly ruin it? Rating: Explicit Status: One-Shot

17. We Got Married International - Johnny and Kun by jhengchie

Summary: We got married International edition with Johnny as the member of the popular KPOP idol group Limitless and Kun is the beloved Chinese soloist Rating: General Status: One-Shot

18. dubrovnik by lowkeyamen

Summary: Johnny takes off to Croatia, and meets someone from his past he didn't even recognise. Rating: Explicit Status: Completed *trans!Kun

19. this will be by sofarsoperfect

Summary: “When we do trade them back,” Johnny says and the inevitably of it makes Kun’s stomach twist in knots, “we really have to find something better.” (Parent Trap AU) Rating: Teen Status: One-Shot

20. The Moonlight after Midnight by writesinfontuwu

Summary: They shared a memorable night in Osaka two years ago. Now they are reunited for NCT2020, Johnny feels his heart thumping in his chest again. Rating: Explicit Status: One-Shot

21. Up or Down by lamarina

Summary: Caught between a cute TA and a foreign language credit, what's a guy to do? Rating: Teen Status: One-Shot

22. Is this a scoop? - in the eyes of Mark Lee by cherrycitrus_blossom

Summary: Who is that customer and what relationship does he have with Johnny to make his eyes light up in delight when he walks through the door? Rating: General Status: One-Shot

23. I Love You Still by nu-exo (Nekohime)

Summary: JohnKun Agent AU Rating: Explicit Status: One-Shot

24. turn the lights on by jeanheir

Summary: Kun’s soft snores fill the room, the other man sleeping peacefully without a care in the world. It’s almost cruel, how unbothered he seems. Rating: General Status: One-Shot

25. Bad Kind of Player by Sakunade

Summary: The plan was supposed to be easy - count cards, win money, and be done with it. Except Kun chose the wrong casino, one under the control of Seo Youngho, known as Johnny, the rising head of the Gyeonghui jo-pok. Rating: Explicit Status: Completed Trigger: Kinks

26. red, gold (burning) by tentography

Summary: Kun Qian and the Audacity Of This Bitch (HP AU!) Rating: Teen Status: Completed

27. In-Sync Heartbeats by mezzaluna_ch

Summary: This is the piece he plays every time he wants to escape reality in haste. This is the piece he plays every time he thinks of Johnny. Now, Johnny is the one playing it. Rating: Teen Status: One-Shot

28. I Owe You by seungwanxndxnly

Summary: Only Johnny's big crush on Kun can hold him back. Rating: Teen Status: One-Shot

29. superluminal by wentz

Summary: A man who can only be the captain of the smuggling vessel stands at the top of the ship's ramp, cutting a roguish picture as he leans with one arm against one of the hydraulic pillars. He looks supremely dashing. Kun dislikes him on sight. Rating: Mature Status: One-Shot

30. Shoot For the Moon by lunalius

Summary: Kun wants to go to space. He's got a plan to get there, and he's following it to a tee. Rating: Explicit Status: Completed

31. he was a superhero, he was a seamstress, can i make it any more obvious by fvckradio

Summary: Superhero Kun with Seamstress Johnny Rating: Teen Status: One-Shot Trigger: Mentions of blood and injury

32. just a touch of your love by seonho

Summary: Kun is rather mild in his kinks — not entirely vanilla, but then again, certainly nothing as scandalous as having his blood sucked out of him. (Vampire) Johnny Suh, however, poses a very tempting threat to those convictions. Rating: Explicit Status: One-Shot Trigger: Blood

33. So I Can Fix Your Hand, I'll Be Your Handyman by IsabelArmuelles

Summary: Johnny dislikes his landlady but is very much crushing on her step-son, the handyman. Rating: Teen Status: One-Shot

34. connect the dots, baby! by rowenabane

Summary: Johnny suspects Kun of being a serial killer. Rating: Teen Status: One-Shot

35. Countercurrent Exchange by indiecheetah

Summary: Johnny wasn’t exactly a believer. He never thought monsters or cryptids were real, always finding those stories amusing at best. But even all of his years of knowledge of marine life could not explain this creature. Rating: Teen Status: One-Shot

36. Inevitably Loving You by occultclysms

Summary: Prince Kun and Celebrity Johnny fake date. Rating: Teen Status: One-Shot

37. i'm stepping on the cracks (i feel fine) by sofarsoperfect

Summary: Sprite Kun and Human Johnny - Kun seeks refuge with Johnny ;) Rating: Explicit Status: One-Shot

38. Domestic Bliss by cobalamincosel

Summary: Johnny and Kun work through a divorce. Rating: Explicit Status: One-Shot

39. you say my name like i have never heard before by sofarsoperfect

Summary: Mafia Johnny with Kun Rating: Explicit Status: One-Shot Trigger: Mafia-related triggers and homophobia

40. love me harder by sofarsoperfect

Summary: kun is fine, he's not even that resentful of his past or of johnny and he's doing really well and it's fine. except that one thing leads to another and it's totally, absolutely not fine at all. Rating: Explicit Status: Completed

41. Emotional Distancing by lunalius

Summary: A global pandemic puts a dent in Kun's Green Card plans, but not in the way he expected. Rating: General Status: One-Shot

42. Domino by cobalamincosel

Summary: Kun and Johnny get back together after a break up. Rating: Mature Status: One-Shot

43. and the next, and the next by jenhyung

Summary: Childhood friends Kun and Johnny meet again. Rating: General Status: Completed

44. would you mind by jokheiz

Summary: Single dad Kun crushing on his co-worker Johnny. Rating: General Status: One-Shot

45. Charmed by lunalius

Summary: So no, he wasn’t blind. He was well aware that Johnny Suh had a crush on him. (HP AU) Rating: Teen Status: One-Shot

46. you got what i want, boy (and i want it) by sofarsoperfect

Summary: JohnKun PWP Rating: Explicit Status: One-Shot

47. Flower Boy by bananaboatt

Summary: Kun wants a really cute flower crown for his coronation, Johnny is a real big sucker for his boyfriend. Rating: General Status: One-Shot

48. head first by jenhyung

Summary: Youngho crushes hard. Rating: General Status: One-Shot

49. In the Middle of the Night by kittensuh

Summary: Kun knows him, reads him like he’s an open book conveniently placed on Professor Qian’s podium for him to consume in all of his glory. Rating: Explicit Status: One-Shot

50. Altered States by unnameable

Summary: When Johnny’s sexual dry spell has lasted for longer than he can recall, Ten suggests Kun, a erotic hypnotist, instead of helping him get laid. Johnny forgets about the ridiculous suggestion until he meets Kun at one of Ten’s parties a few months later. Rating: Explicit Status: One-Shot

#johnkun #masterlist #part1 #johnny #kun #qian kun

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vore-scientist · 4 years

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Hey Little SongBird

[Sfw safe soft M/m GT vore]

A Tale of the Mystic Woods

Premise: A bard is in desperate need of a story. Can he sing his way out of being eaten by the evil giant wizard known as Yonah HaEsh? Well. No. But perhaps he can sing his way out of the wizard’s stomach? A fun little adventure for sure.

Story is First Person (The Bard’s) POV. He’s a expressive narrator.

Warnings: big Fear.play during the vore scene! This is a thief style story. Yonah, if you don’t know, is very convincing when he says he kills people. And because he has no quick and easy safety spell, his treats sometimes end up a little bit well, not di.ges/-ted but slight skin irritation happens from time to time. Yes some pain, but no permanent harm! Yonah’s very practiced at making sure they are A-OK!

Ok onto the story!

---

I hate the stereotype of bards being horny tricksters who use their voices to seduce people into infidelity. Any such stories are complete poppycock and base slander. Bards are more than pretty faces and lovely voices. We are first and foremost story tellers, entertainers! Actors and chroniclers! Often risking life and limb to get you the stories you love so much. Those fancy sword moves and fight dances you see on stage aren’t just for show.

But still. Going into the Mystic Woods in search of my next story was not a great idea. Solo-ing an adventure into such a dangerous realm was asking for death, with no one around who could tell of it. And yet, I had run out of new material and was desperate. Why didn’t I just purchase rights from another bard through the guild, you might ask? Clever, very clever, but that’s what low rankers do. The Apprentices, the Journeyers. Not Masters such as I.

At least, not ones who are blacklisted from the guild for not properly crediting a story. How was I to know it wasn’t public domain! It seemed pretty generic to me.

Another problem with being blacklisted? No one wants to adventure with you. Not anyone high ranking enough to help me anyways.

Regardless, to earn back my place in the guild I needed a new story, an impressive story. So I gathered my supplies and took the first teleport to the City of Luster, closest city in the Kingdom of Orr to the Mystic Woods. Sure, other cities exist at its borders, but Luster is the only one with a direct path into the Woods. A path that is safe, to a point.

It’s also a great place to get a few last minute supplies. For example, a small ukulele. My previous instrument, my precious goldenrod Oud, was repossessed by the guild. I needed something cheap and lightweight. And also I was banned from purchasing from most craftsfolk because, and I’m sure you’re tired of hearing this, I'm Blacklisted.

Luster is so large that I was able to find the ukulele in a pawn shop. I wasn’t after a ukulele, that’s just what was there.

Right! I was ready to go.

Whistling the first ever song I wrote, and tuning my new old ukulele, I set off down the road.

And Into the Woods.

---

Maybe I should lower my standards? Surely the guild won't be too hard on me?

Or perhaps it would just take more than a day and night in the woods to find a story.

The first day I found some gnomes preparing for a small feast of the half-moon glory. I was confident that something would happen at the party. Something had to go wrong, and maybe a hero—maybe I—would save the day! Or night, as it would be night. No such luck—it was a very nice celebration, absolutely no issues. Wasted a day!!

Not that I’m on a time limit.

The gnomes were so nice, and they made the most delightful floral scented cakes. They enjoyed my songs and tales about heroic gnomes and I left their camp with a flower crown and a sack of cakes.

I felt like today I would find a story!

Nope.

In this forest of wonder and magic and monsters and secrets, I ran into nothing. I even played music to attract trouble but Nooooooooo, guess even the beasts of the woods knew I was blacklisted!

It was late afternoon when I found some interesting deer tracks and decided to follow.

Bards aren’t known for our stealth but I’m going to tell you a secret. What’s the guild gonna do! Blacklist me?

Anyways the secret is: certain Bards learn to play notes and pitches that cancel out our footsteps and create silence.

I followed the prints to find a small herd of very interesting deer!

They had really interesting patterns, each one slightly different but only if you looked closely. That meant I needed a closer look.

So focused on the deer I didn’t watch my feet and I tripped. The deer ran off.

“HEY!” a shrill voice called from somewhere in the trees, “What did you do that for?”

No idea who was yelling at me but I was taking no chances, and like the deer I bolted. But not fast enough, not nimble enough.

An arrow shot by my leg and stuck in the ground. I stopped. And stood perfectly still.

“Idiot.” the voice was now right behind me!

I turned. And looked down. It was an elf! With plum purple skin and dark green hair.

And they were laughing.

Then another elf fell from the trees to land silently next to the first. This one had dark green skin and straw yellow hair. Their long ears were standing straight up reaching higher than my eyes.

They were laughing too.

“What’s so funny?”

“You responded to ‘idiot’!” Said the purple one.

Ugh. Elves!!

Then they got suddenly more serious.

“Can’t believe it! We’ve been hunting those deer before the sun even rose and you happened to trip when we got them in our sights!”

“I’m... sorry?”

The second elf elbowed the first, “He couldn’t have known we were there, Damian! Not his fault!” She spoke in elvish but I’m fluent.

The first elf, Damian, looked up and half groaned half sighed, “and I suppose, Bridget, that I should apologize to the human for almost shooting him?”

I don’t know why I spoke up but I did.

“It was an impressive warning shot!”

Damian’s ears stood up again then folded back and a little red flush appeared on the purple cheeks. As did on Bridget’s but for a different reason.

“Yes. Warning shot,” they said.

This time I managed to keep my mouth shut. Not a smart idea to quip about an elf’s hunting prowess. I still wasn’t happy to learn they were trying to shoot me!

“You’re an adventurer?” Asked Bridget. “What’s your name?

“A bard!” I said. “I’m, um, Ophir!”

“Need a place to stay tonight, Ophir?”

The shadows were lengthening, I hadn’t noticed. And then my stomach growled.

“I sure do. But are you sure? I mean I did scare the deer-“

Damian shouldered their bow and nodded, “It wouldn’t be very elven to leave a stranger in the woods.”

Even not hunting they moved so silently I couldn’t take my eyes off them as I followed them to their village. We stopped by the temple, as it is the respectful thing to do when entering the village. It was set up for fall, done up in browns and oranges and paper chains. On the altar was a single brown leaf. The first one seen by a member of the village.

I’m not elvish but I still prayed to Autumn for my hometown to have a bountiful harvest.

I sat on the floor in the common dining hall as my new… friends, sat on stools made of tree stumps. They may not have caught any deer but there was some sort of roasted meat concoction wrapped in sugary leaves, crystallized to give it crunch, making a sweet and savory combination I’d never experienced before. The same sugar crispy leaves were used to scoop a sort of nut and vegetable curry. Delightful! I could write a song just about the food.

I of course told them why I was in the woods, since they were curious.

And they told everyone how I tripped and fell, exaggerating it greatly. All the elves laughed but knowing elves I was better off. They enjoyed slapstick comedy. The fact that I was able to laugh at myself seemed to gain me favor.

One elf, with lighter green skin and dark brown hair laughed like the rest and yet, their eyes were deep in thought. They were a strange one, I think. Even by elf standards they had a strange name.

Jacuzzi? Who names themselves Jacuzzi?

Then they spoke.

“So, Ophir, you need a story?” They asked. I nodded.

“I think I can help you,” they said, “at the very least point you in the right direction.”

At their words a lot of the company got quiet.

“If you’re that desperate, there’s,” they paused, as if they were still considering whether or not to tell me. “A wizard. If you encounter him, you’re sure to get a proper story.”

I couldn’t think why this made the elf act so strange, plenty of mages made it their job to participate in tales. Though, with wizards they were usually evil, if not a member of an adventuring party. Nonetheless! A story about a wizard sounded fantastic.

“Where does-“ I stopped myself from finishing that stupid sentence. Nowhere in the Mystic Woods stayed put so asking for directions was complete folly.

“What’s the best way to, uh, find him?”

Jacuzzi shrugged “The birds have the most up to date information. But you’ll know it’s his place when you find the tower in the garden.”

Lots of wizards had towers, few had gardens. That was more of a witch thing.

“He’ll be there? Tonight?”

“Probably, he can't- well he’ll be there. If not tonight then by the morning. Don’t mess with his things.”

Sound advice.

“Hold on tonight?” Damian re-entered the conversation. “Are you mad? Traveling the forest at night is dangerous! Especially alone.”

“So? I’m trying to get into trouble. Doesn’t make a difference if I find it at the tower or on my way.”

My confidence wasn’t entirely fake. I had a good meal, I wasn’t tired. I could knock this out by morning!

“Thank you, for everything.”

I swear I heard giggling as I departed. If these elves were pulling one over on me well! I don’t know what I would do but I’ll think of something. I had a wizard to find.

It wasn’t long before I realized why I should have waited for morning.

No! Birds!

From whom could I ask directions? A rodent? They were never as helpful. The sun was about to set. It was only early autumn, the days were still a decent length, but it would be dark real soon. No birds, no people.

Wait. I spoke too soon. There were footsteps. It was a slim chance but maybe they could help me.

“Young man, what are you doing? Don’t you know it’s dangerous to be out at night alone?”

The voice had a deep and soft quality that wasn’t human. But they were speaking Orrian. Really folks, dont meet strangers in the forest that you can’t see. They’re usually evil witches or sorcerers or cyclops ogres. Yeah, one-eyed ogres are skilled talkers, luring people to them. It was only after I answered I realized this could be an ogre.

“Aren’t you out alone too?”

“Why yes-” the voice was closer and then I saw them.

Thankfully it wasn’t and ogre. But it was a witch, and a dwarf one. Uncommon. Probably not evil. It did explain why they were confidently out at night. Dwarves had pretty amazing night vision. They had the traditional black robe and hat, and a cat sat down beside them. It was a really large cat, which was amusing next to the short witch. Their long braided beard was decorated with trinkets, which was a quaint look I must admit.

“But I live here.”

I stood up straight, which I guess was a bit rude.

“How do you know I don’t?” I stammered, “I could!”

The dwarf stroked their beard, “I guess it’s possible, do you?”

I sighed and slouched, “No…”

“But I am looking for trouble.” I explained my story and the dwarf listened, smiling kindly.

“So the elves told me I would be guaranteed a story if I found this wizard who has a tower and a garden-”

The witch’s eyebrows raised.

“- you know this wizard?”

The cat mrowed loudly, his tail swishing on the forest floor a bit faster.

“I do indeed,” there was an extreme fondness in their voice.

“And you know where he is?”

The witch laughed, “I’d say this was coincidence, but in these parts there are too many of those to be truly coincidental. I do in fact know the current location, and it’s close by.”

“Really!” I almost danced with excitement.

Unlike the elves the dwarf had no hesitations. They pointed me in the right direction, and informed me of a few roadblocks and landmarks.

“If you hurry you should be just in time for dessert,” they said, waving as I wasted no more time in heading off.

“Thanks so much!” I turned on my lantern and my back on the witch.

Oh if I had only thought about the implications of their last words to me.

Hilarious. In hindsight.

Nevermind that now, I’m sure you’re already laughing. Hahaha.

Finding the tower was easy with the witch’s directions. They’d even told me the thorns were fake and the vines safe to climb up. That should have raised red flags, or some color, but I was so focused on achieving my goal.

Now, we bards aren’t really known for our… physical abilities beyond dance. We can fight sure, but a fifty-foot climb is gonna leave most bards gasping for breath. I'm proud to say I was merely on the cusp of wheezing, though I was having difficulty standing.

I needed to rest. So I lay on the windowsill.

Which I failed to notice stretched so that I could more than easily lie down. The cool night air and stone felt so nice. I looked into the tower.

And my heart stopped.

I’d gotten a brief glimpse before nearly passing out, but it was different now.

Exactly the same.

But.

Bigger.

You might know, my readers, that wizards are all human. All of them. Non-humans aren’t allowed to attend the academy. I’m sure those like I, being a quarter fairy, might be let in, but... This- this giant sized workshop didn’t make any sense. A giant could not be a wizard no way. Why would the elves say this was a wizard’s tower? Did they not understand the difference between wizard, witch, and sorcerer?

But the dwarf witch, they had to know! They had not corrected me. Plus, the workshop did have a very wizard feel to it.

What was going on here?

I needed a moment to process so I rolled over to look outside. Looking inside made my head hurt.

But a Giant Wizard. If that were real, what a story! If it were fake, then well, a giant mage is still exciting. I looked once more into the room. Three desks, one for material prepping and alchemy, one that looked like the main workbench, and one… like a spare workbench? It was not very organized compared to the other. And shelves full of things I could not identify.

And on the floor, an open trap door with stairs leading down. Down to where the wizard must be.

I was thankful I had noticed the shift in scale, or I surely would have fallen 15 feet onto the floor. Instead I got out my grappling hook and rope and rappelled down. With a flick, the hook dislodged. This place was large, I would need it again.

I could have spent hours in this room, just taking in the immense magical collection, but that wasn’t why I was there. And I heard noises from down the stairs. Water? Clinking metal? I took each stair one at a time, slowly making my way deeper into the tower.

Either the kitchen just happened to be one floor down or this stairwell was enchanted to take you to the floor you were thinking about. For just as I reached the landing I saw the massive doorframe that led into what was clearly a kitchen and small dining room. Small for the giant, who was at the sink washing pots, pans, and other things.

He certainly looked like a wizard! A tall wide brimmed hat with a curling point, and robes that matched the garish colors and patterns. He had a neatly trimmed goatee and mutton chops, and long curly black hair tied behind his back. On his handsomely large nose rested thick square spectacles. Not only was he tall, he was just plain large.

I know I talked about the false stereotypes of bards, but we weren't the only profession with them. People tended to think of Wizards as more delicate, as they spent all their time studying, never going out, forgetting meals. But this, man, for he looked more human than giant except for being over 20ft tall, well the only word for it was burly.

I’d never imagined a wizard who, if you removed his wizard robes, put him in a flannel shirt and handed him an axe would be a picture perfect lumberjack. Now such a wizard was right before my very eyes.

Suddenly I was not so confident. I should have lost my nerve back at the window, when I saw the scale of the workshop. But it just didn’t hit me until I saw the giant. I’ve seen giants before, they are actually larger than this person, that made him seem more dangerous.

Oh.

Oh no.

This wasn’t just any wizard, or any giant.

This one was evil.

Maybe I could just leave! Yeah. I would just get the fuck out of here. I was not prepared to handle an evil giant wizard.

I made my decision a bit too late. The giant stopped cleaning a plate to look up and sniff the air.

Shit.

It was futile to run, but it was my only option. I didn’t even make it up two stairs before the giant roared with delight.

“FEE FI FO FUM!”

No no no! Not that!

“I SMELL THE BLOOD OF THE HUMAN KIND!”

Well technically I was quarter fairy but-

“IT MATTERS NOT THE THINGS YOU STOLE, I’LL CAPTURE YOU AND SWALLOW YOU WHOLE.”

Yeah… I should not have come here. Evil giants tend to eat people. I’d had a small hope that this smaller giant, who was very likely a proper wizard, wouldn’t.

He made it to the stairwell in a few seconds and scooped me up in one hand, holding me up to his face.

“How convenient,” he smiled, revealing very giant-like fangs. His breath was horrible. “I was just thinking I needed some dessert.”

I cursed the witch from earlier. They knew! They knew he would want to eat me! But the witch wasn’t here, wasn’t my problem right now.

“Please! Mister Wizard, I did not steal anything, I am no thief! I’m a bard!”

The giant raised his eyebrows, but did not set me down, instead he turned and walked down the stairs.

“A bard?” he asked, “what’s your name?”

“Ophir Shel Peh!” I said.

The giant tapped his chin. “Hm. Yes I would say you probably are a bard! I don’t get many of those.”

The room he entered was some sort of living room. But I didn’t really have the capacity to take in any details other than the chair that he sat down in.

“I wonder if bards taste any different from thieves!” he said with excitement that made my heart drop to my feet.

“Please, please don’t eat me!” I begged. “I just wanted a story!”

“Hm,”he placed me on the coffee table but did not let me go. Instead he started removing my gear, everything except my clothing. Things were going from bad to worse. “What do you mean?”

I didn’t have much hope of surviving but he wasn’t eating me just yet, and he was clearly open to conversing.

“Well! Either I would tell the tale of my adventure here, or, you could give me a tale, perhaps in exchange for something?”

The giant laughed, “you came here on your own to challenge me? So you could tell your tale?”

I nodded.

“Very foolish,” he growled, “But I could tell you a story.”

“Really?!”

“Not that you would ever get to tell it.” he continued, “since I’m going to eat you.”

He sounded like he’d really made up his mind about that. But the longer he talked the more time I had to think of a way out of this. I didn’t want to point out that him eating me defeated the purpose of him telling me a story in the first place.

“It’s a good one too. Surely you were surprised to find me a half-giant and wizard.”

I nodded again, a bit more dumbfounded. Half giant explained a lot already.

“But if I tell you how I ended up here, you must promise not to tell it until his mystical majesty is dead. Or I am.”

What?

“Are you dying?”

The giant looked wistful. “No. But I’m a villain. I could die any day. The next person who comes into my tower could be the one who kills me.”

“And you’ll finally get what's coming to you I guess,” I said. “Like I’ll even be able to tell it since I’ll be one of your victims.”

The giant laughed, “oh yes, of course. Cause I’m going to eat you! Like I have many others before.”

Great. I shouldn’t have said anything.

He scooped me up again and placed me on the armrest. Then he let me go. But i didn’t dare try to run.

“I guess I could start at the beginning, when I decided to become a wizard.” he mused, “The life story of Yonah HaEsh.”

He leaned back, looking up at the ceiling, and then down at me.

“How foolish I was. I mean obviously I succeeded but it was still foolish.”

You know how I said I would spend the time while he rambled to think of a way out of this? Well his story was certainly long enough. Gods, wizards don’t leave out details! They have no concept of narrative flow!

And yet. It was riveting. His human father was a fire witch and that got him interested in magic. So he disguised himself as human to attend school. He was found out eventually, expelled and arrested for infiltrating the kingdom as a dangerous magical monster. He was almost executed before he was offered a job here in the tower! And amazingly, the Grand Master of the school had taken pity on him and allowed him to continue his studies here and graduate, earning the right to call himself a wizard.

The point is I forgot about escaping. Until he started to wrap up his story.

“Never intended to become evil. But it suits me!” He said brightly.

That brought me back to reality. Evil. Giant!

I was in his hand again, not so tightly this time but still secure. Face to face. He was smiling again and chuckling.

“Especially since it means I get to eat people!”

“You're so surprised you’re evil but I’m not!”

I think he knew I was stalling more but didn’t care.

“How so?”

“You spent years among smallfolk! You have smallfolk friends! And you’re perfectly fine eating us?”

He snorted “it was smallfolk that expelled me from school, that nearly executed me for trying to learn magic! And for trapping me here, in my tower. Make no mistake, this gilded cage is still a cage.”

There really was no going back.

“Now your time's up, and I’m hungry.”

I still screamed! Who wouldn’t! I was sure he was going to have to bite me in half to eat me even if his earlier proclamation was to swallow me whole.

I barely fit in his mouth, ribs pressed into his lower teeth and it hurt! His saliva soaked me through so quickly I could only imagine how good I tasted. I tried to brace myself on his teeth but my hands slipped between the jaws. Even more distressing he was definitely enjoying my struggles and flavor.

Then I was upside down! And even in the tight space I slipped towards his throat. I put my hands forward to try and stop but it was so slick they slid down into his throat, along with my shoulders, as he swallowed.

The air was crushed out of my lungs and I dared not scream. It was hard, as I knew where I was headed, and I was surrounded by hot rubbery flesh that shoved at me, eager to get me to my destination.

A massive throbbing against my face told me I was passing by his heart. It was at this point he took another swallow and my feet slipped into his throat, my hands… they touched air. Thick. Hot air.

And then so did my face and I made the mistake of gasping for breath. As the air smelled of vomit, and I remembered the wizard was cleaning up from dinner when I arrived. I was smelling the remains of that meal. Oh gods if he had eaten me right away I would have been sitting in food! It was a small bit of reprise, I guess. That the giant decided to talk for a couple of hours.

My feet were still in the esophagus when my face pressed against the opposite wall of the stomach. It was slimy like I couldn’t believe! I pulled my feet free and oriented myself so that I was sitting upright.

This must be what it feels like to be kidnapped in a sack. A sack that was going to be dunked in acid.

“You awake in there?” said a deep rumbling voice from above, and I felt a sharp nudge. Great. He wasn’t done with me, and I failed a bit in protest. “Ha! That’s better, I go through all the trouble of swallowing you down, the least you can do is struggle and scream a bit.”

“If I do that, I’ll run out of air quicker!” I squawked. Though I suspected I would start crying soon enough. Either just out of despair or because of the pain.

I wasn’t feeling anything yet except for slime and heat, so it wasn’t likely to be a quick death. Depending on how long it took for digestion to work on a whole human, I might run out of air and pass out first. That would be nice, less painful. Unconscious I would feel nothing. I would much prefer that- oh.

“Mr Wizard,” In that moment I’d forgotten his name, thought I wouldn’t need it if I was going to die.

Another jab at my side. “Yes, my tasty little bard?”

“Can I make a final request?”

The entire chamber squished and bounced a bit, and I imagined the giant heaving a sigh and sitting back in his chair.

“That depends on the request.”

“I- I want to sing one last song. But I need my ukulele, can you-” I kind of shuddered, but it wasn’t like an heirloom or something, “swallow it for me?”

There was a long pause, or it felt long because my timeline was now so short.

“I'm not a fan of eating objects,” he said, then heaved another sigh, “but I suppose I can do that.”

I felt him lean over and then heard a sickening gulp. If I was going to die I was going to die singing with an instrument in my arms!

I plucked a few cords and shook out as much of the drool as I could.

“Your voice isn’t magical is it?” Asked the giant as I tuned the ukulele.

I smiled “No, it is. I’ve got some Fey ancestry. Never really tested its power. Mostly I’ve played monsters to sleep. Or made a crowd cry with an opening line. People tell me that when I weave a tale it’s as if they were there first hand. Not so useful when you’re already eaten.”

Unless he’s so moved by my song that he takes pity. But I didn’t say that out loud.

“Well, just make it a nice song. I’ve got sensitive ears.”

Ok… I had a momentary thought of singing so loudly and so sharply that his ears bled. But then I realized he was making a threat. He could make my death much much worse. My original song was fine.

I strummed the ukulele, it sounded so odd in the stomach. And maybe it couldn’t penetrate out so well. I used a little magic to boost it. I don’t always use magic, except for my naturally magical voice, but I figured…

This would be my last performance. And it would be for my murderer. Still, I was compelled to make it a good one.

I’d already made it through the first instrumental bars, and I took a breath of the rancid air.

In the quiet mystic morning When the sun’s just graced the land O’er the horizon, lies a story And it begs to take my hand

Now that summer’s ceased its gleaming And the harvest’s past its prime In adventure i've found meaning But I’ll be homeward bound in time

Bind me not, to the pasture Chain me not to the town Set me free to find my calling And I’ll return to you somehow

As the first instrumental break started I turned my attention to the giant’s response. It was hard to evaluate from inside of him. As far as I could tell, I wasn’t hitting my mark.

If you find it’s me you're missing And you’re hoping I’ll return To your thoughts I’ll soon be listing On the road I’ll stop and turn

It was starting to hurt a bit now, I hadn't noticed it at first since when I perform I tend to feel all floaty and numb, but now pain penetrated my fog. I directed it into my voice and I cried out.

For the wind has set me racing As my journey now begins To leave the path I’ll be retracing When I’m homeward bound again

Bind me not, to the pasture Chain me not to the town Set me free to find my calling And I’ll return to you somehow

The second, and last, instrumental break. Did I feel shaking around me? Was this working? Breathing was becoming harder, my skin stung. My shoulders, elbows, and knees ached too, this was a horrible position. The fluid level was rising. But I didn’t stop. I would finish this song.

I was practically sobbing at this point but my song rang out.

In the quiet Mystic morning When the moon has gone to bed When adventure’s lost its meaning…

I’ll be homeward bound

Again

With the last few notes from my mouth, I gripped the ukulele so hard it almost cracked.

Then the chamber jerked. I heard heavy breaths. Again. Was that a sniff?

Was he crying? Please. Gods of music.

“Dammit,” he hissed and sniffed again, “Fine. I’m letting you go. Stupid bard.”

My brain was so frozen with elation I couldn’t actually believe it until it was happening. Not until I was physically forced back up the way I’d come. I slid out of the giant’s mouth and into shallow warm water. I took deep breaths of the clean air. And Yonah continued to retch as I got my bearings.

We were back in the kitchen, I was in the sink! Wait where was- The giant let out a horrible sound like a cat with a hairball and with a plop, my ukulele joined me in the bath.

Now Yonah looked at me, eyes red and puffy, some tear streaks down his face. Though he had just violently thrown up.

“Congratulations, Ophir the bard,” he spat, but he was grinning, “You have your story.”

I- I blinked in astonishment. He was right. I’d trekked through the woods, hung out with gnomes, got led to my near doom by elves and a witch, and sang so sorrowfully I made the evil man-eating giant cry and let me go.

“Th-thank you-” I said, and I let him help me out of the sink and onto a towel to dry.

“I should be thanking you!” he said. “Dessert and entertainment all in one!”

The fact that he still thought of me as food wasn’t reassuring but I didn’t think he was going to eat me again. In fact, Yonah’s entire demeanor had changed, he wasn’t so harsh looking, his voice was softer.

“Would you like some tea? That helps after a near-death experience.”

He didn’t wait for my response but went to get the tea leaves and pot.

“Hold on!” I said, but he didn’t stop making tea. “Did you even intend on killing me?”

He smiled as he put the pot on the stove and lit it with a snap of his fingers and a flash in his eyes.

“No, not really, you’re not a thief.” Yonah laughed at some joke that only he got.

“So why-” I mean he could have gotten me to sing before swallowing me whole.

“Your fairy blood.” I looked confused, “I could smell it on you, sweet and magical. I wasn't going to pass up such a special treat.”

If there was a god who could erase horrifying knowledge from the mind I would have prayed to them.

“Then- did my song do anything?” I choked like I was back in his stomach, unable to breathe.

It was clear he saw the distress in my face, that I was not as good a bard as I thought I was.

“My tears were real, little bard. I didn’t expect to be moved so much. Even if I had meant to kill you... you might have convinced me otherwise.”

The teapot whistled and he went to take care of it. I sat down. I was so lucky. Had the elves known he would spare me? Was that why they were laughing? This was some convoluted prank? And the witch, how were they in on it? Not that it mattered, their reasons and motivations weren’t important for my story.

Then I remembered, “Your story!” I said, rather loudly.

He stopped what he was doing, which was carefully using magic to pour a cup for me. “Yes?”

“I'm not dead! I can tell your story!” I stood back up, one hand on my hip the other pointing, “That’s why you let me go isn’t it.”

“Sure,” he shrugged, “That definitely factored into it.”

Motherfucker! This also meant I wasn’t done with him. He was getting out a smaller place setting for me to sit at but I didn’t sit down, or drink the tea.

“I need- I need to write it all down!” I said, “I have a good memory, but I was under duress before. I need to hear it again. And write it down."

The wizard smiled again, showing his teeth, but this time it did not scare me.

“Then let’s take this upstairs, shall we?”

He held out his hand and without hesitation I sat on it. I was placed on his shoulder and he took me, and the tea, to the workshop.

Amazingly he had a few blank notebooks that were human sized, and human sized pens. Nice ones too. And a human sized desk? The set up was perfect.

“Since I have until either you or the king dies, I can do proper research. I’ll need names and places and dates! And your parents, if you know how they met, that would make a great prologue!”

We worked well into the night. My cup of tea got cold.

[FIN] if you liked PLEASE REBLOG!

REBLOGS HELP SPREAD MY WORK! I also love knowing that people read my stories! My askbox and DMs are OPEN!!! let me know!!!

[Thanks for reading! please reblog! Or message me telling me what you think! I crave feedback! For more mystic woods go to vore-scientist.tumblr.com/tagged/mystic+woods+story or search ‘mystic woods story’]

FOR REFERENCE, HERE’S HOW THE SONG SOUNDS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VooU55wzSEc

#safe vore #soft vore #sfw vore #g/t vore #nonfatal vore #extreme cuddling #PLASE REBLOG

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inkribbon796 · 4 years

Text

Little Wonders Ch. 1

Chapter 1: Let Your Clarity Define You in the End

Summary: Dark goes house cleaning to flush out a dangerous mole in his network.

Chapters: 1, 2

Dark was outside his office, talking with Google when Logan walked out of his office. There were a couple papers in his hands that the Entity was reading through.

“Is this everything?” Dark asked Google as Logan came to stop a non-confrontational distance away. Logan had only been working for Dark for a little over eight months now, but he’d learned enough about him to tell Dark was already in a bad mood. All Logan could do was stand and wait to either be abruptly dismissed from the meeting he was supposed to go to, or for Dark to usher him inside.

“Yes, he wasn’t doing too much before he disappears from Florida state records,” Google answered calmly, his eyes tracking to Logan before smiling and looking back at Dark. “You’re certain I can’t take care of him myself?”

“Bim is in a hunting mood,” Dark refused. “If you’re lucky, you can keep the brain.”

“Unfortunate, but I’ll have to accept it,” Google allowed and then walked away.

“Ahh, Sanders,” Dark gave a small smile as his attention turned to Logan. “I was a bit worried that you had left early.”

“I leave on average at 2200 hours,” Logan commented walking into the office when Dark silently ushered him inside. He slowly closed the door behind him.

“Sit down, I won’t keep you long,” Dark promised, hands knit behind his back as he strode to sit behind his own desk. “I’ve been looking over your notes concerning my Lost One’s files. Some very useful ideas, wish I could still use them.”

“Did something happen?” Logan was braced for the bad news and an even later night.

“Yes, three of my Lost Ones were arrested, and Yancy is on parole,” Dark admitted calmly. “The whole mess was taken care of an hour ago.”

“I didn’t even know you had left,” Logan admitted. “I assume they are none the worse for wear.”

“Apart from Bim’s overdramatics, they’re all fine, the heroes were too busy thinking they were being coerced to start roughing them up,” Dark commented. “I honestly had nothing to worry about.”

“That’s good news,” Logan agreed.

“It is,” Dark replied in a thoughtful, rueful tone. “But the heroes know a bit too much about Yancy, which means we’ve got a bit of a fly on the wall in my network because they know things Yancy never told them.”

Before Logan could fully decide what to say or give options on how to help smooth over the problem, his chair was abruptly spun around which surprised Logan because he hadn’t heard anyone coming up behind him and hadn’t thought the chair was designed to spin.

Even through the distractions, Logan knew he was probably on a short list of suspicious individuals. The person he came face to face with was familiar but not in a way Logan could place.

“Hey Lo,” Orange smiled as he looked at Logan. “Having fun playing dress-up? That’s usually Princey’s thing.”

The Side frowned when he saw the guarded but uncertain look on Logan’s face. “Huh?”

Logan was braced for something, trying to remember where he’d seen this person before.

Dark came up behind them, “Something wrong?”

“He doesn’t remember me,” Orange answered, he took Logan by the lapels of his suit, which Logan immediately and indignantly tried to pull away from him. “Come on, Lo, you know me? Remember?”

“Oh,” Dark recognized, and put his aura on the top of Logan’s head, his aura lightly searching for something until he found it. The Entity pulled off another aura, almost like a mesh of spell work that kept Logan complacent and unaware of what he was doing, and Dark could practically feel the Host’s magic all over it.

As Dark’s aura subsumed the other aura Logan had a disoriented look to him before his laser focus landed on Orange and he startled in his grip. “Unhand me!”

“Nah, you’re already in deep shit, where would you swim to?” Orange grinned, Logan pressed back into the chair as Orange leaned over him, hands on the chair arms.

“Enough,” Dark cut in, using his aura to rotate back to look at Logan. “So, Mr. Sanders, is there any part of your resume that you weren’t lying on?”

“My distain for disorder and puns,” Logan answered.

Dark moved his hand and Logan felt something like a hand on the front of his throat, phantom claws on the soft flesh of his throat. “You of all people should know how I feel about moles, Thomas.”

“What?” Logan was barely able to still talk without claws sinking into his throat. “My name is Logan.”

The pressure in his throat abated for a brief second, but Logan wasn’t allowed to feel much of anything when Dark scored his aura claws down. Logan cried out, his cheek burning with sharp pain, and it felt wet. The Logical Side presumed it was with his own blood. The panicking part of his brain wanted to call out for Patton or Roman, he was acutely aware he wasn’t wearing his communicator.

“AAHHHHHH!” Logan screamed, and Dark physically grabbed Logan by the throat, pinning him to the chair, a bunch of papers in his hands.

“Thomas F. Sanders, date of birth: April 24, 1989. Gainesville, Florida.” Dark began casually reading off the paper and Logan tried to fight off the wave of palpable fear. Dark had gone looking for Logan and found Thomas instead.

Logan wasn’t sure what was worse. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to lie and make Dark believe he really was Thomas . . . and after this was all said and done, hope Dark would toss the papers away and not look deeper into them.

But Dark was always good at spotting lies.

“I am not Thomas,” Logan decided. “He doesn’t exist, Orange, you know my name is not Thomas, do not participate in this pointless charade.”

“Hmm,” Orange hummed, grabbing Logan by the hair and forcing him to look up, “nope, you’re Thomas alright, that dopey optimism, that personality that people can’t help but love!”

“Faksehood!” Logan shouted at Orange. “I am not Thomas.”

Orange slapped Logan on the cheek that was still bleeding. Dark was sitting behind his desk again, the quick change disorienting Logan a bit.

Dark was still looking at the papers, “You never told me you were an actor. A couple Community Playhouse credits in Gainesville, Hot Mikado, ooh, Singing in the Rain. I hate that one.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Orange paused in his sadism to question Dark, his face twisting up in the only Thomas-like display that Logan had ever seen from the other Side.

“I hate actors,” Dark scoffed, balling up an entire page and tossing it into the trash bin. “Wil adores the movie, but Singing is the Rain is about actors, which means I hate it all the more.”

“Harsh,” Orange scoffed. “Bad date?”

Dark glared at Orange, “I’m not going to humor that statement.”

“You know I am not Thomas,” Logan reminded Orange, his anger consuming his fear. “Why are you helping with what I assume will be my death. This will affect you as well.”

“Not as much as you think,” Orange smiled.

“Why are you insisting I’m Thomas?” Logan demanded. “Insisting such is offensive and incognizant.”

“Well unlike the others who want to fight over that name, Princey’s got all those social skills, and Pop’s is an emotional basket case. But you,” Orange tapped Logan on the nose, “have all those memories like going to school, Thomas’s folks, stuff like that. So if anything happens to those pesky little things, Thomas will die. Even if all the others fuse and try, they’ll never have those memories. Even if Princey rehearses until he believes his own performance they can’t bring them back. So if you die, it’s a win-win.”

Logan had been listening to Orange gloat and jeer and he hated that he had the gall to wear Thomas’s face while he said it. So he did something impulsive in his pain and anger, he spat in Orange’s face, moving to punch him but Orange was faster, slamming his fist into Logan’s face.

Over and over again.

The other Side was trying to get at the bloody scratches already present. In the scuffle Logan’s glasses were knocked free and Orange stomped on them, almost like a pained connection, Logan felt it when he heard the frame crack.

“You know, I’m sick and tired of Thomas this and Thomas that. News flash, Teach, he would have hated and been afraid of me. Why should I want to go back to that, to being so thoroughly buried I may as well have now existed to him? The best thing that ever happened to me was when he was broken apart and I was taken away from you.”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Dark cut in, his aura wrapped around one of Orange’s arms. What Logan couldn’t see because of his destroyed glasses, was the knife he’d pulled. “I need him alive for a bit longer and you’ve said your peace.”

“I thought you were going to off him,” Orange scoffed.

“Not quite yet,” Dark flicked his wrists and a Void portal ripped open, forcing Orange from the room.

“So, Logan,” a dark shape moved in front of Logan’s vision again as Dark sat down in front of him. He heard a tearing of paper.

“Regardless of who you were,” Dark clipped what remained of Logan’s glasses to the front of his shirt. “It’s time for you to choose, Sanders. The heroes, or me.”

“I think my decision would have been obvious,” Logan told him. “You and your network are deplorable and I have greatly enjoyed my work in helping to dismantle it.”

Dark clicked his tongue, “Regrettable.”

Logan felt Dark aura tighten around him and the chair like a snake and Logan just braced to get his neck snapped. He hoped it would be quick and he wouldn’t feel it.

To Logan’s mounting tension he was pulled through a Void portal and Dark was bringing him down what seemed to be a dark corridor. Logan had the ability to gaze around and wished that he could see where he was. It looked interesting.

“Trying to figure out where you are,” Dark mused proudly.

“My habit is to obtain information on new places or experiences,” Logan explained.

“Well,” Dark sounded smug, “no need to bother with that tonight.”

At that moment Dark caught movement down one of the tunnels and he threw his aura to scare the creature or person off. Logan tensed when he felt Dark’s aura curl up around him before the Entity struck.

“I hate the rats around here, I swear the magic from that old hag makes them grow bigger by the day,” Dark scoffed in disgust.

“You are going to have me eaten?” Logan asked tensely, fear bubbling back up onto his mind.

“Not by the rats,” Dark corrected. Dark opened a steel door, his aura moving into the cracks to open it from the inside, the rusted gears grinding loudly.

“Finally!” Bim shouted when the door opened, he was polishing his already immaculate scalpels and knives. Dark noted the darker eyes, sharper teeth, and almost sunken eyes. “I’m starving here, Old Man.”

“Yes, I merely had to pick him up for you,” Dark set Logan’s chair down, his hands on his shoulders. “He meets your outrageous standards, I hope.”

Bim looked at Logan and smiled and ravenous excitement, “Oh, what did he do?”

“Does he work or should I slit his throat now and be done with it?” Dark demanded harshly, the door being locked and sealed behind them.

“Yeah, yeah, just let me get the table open,” Bim said, and Logan heard the clicking of metal, his heart was racing.

“Well Sanders, I look forward to seeing which hero is missing in the coming weeks,” Dark smiled as he whispered quietly into Logan’s ears, patting him once on his shoulder.

Logan felt Dark’s aura grab him and began fighting it, trying to reach for anything but Dark dropped him onto a metal table. His wrists locked into a tight metal cuff at the top and his ankles locked into a similar cuff at the bottom. He had almost no room to struggle.

“Do not leave evidence,” Dark ordered his progeny. “The heroes will come looking for this one.”

“Shit, it’s like this is my first rodeo,” Bim scoffed.

“I mean it, be responsible,” Dark ordered and Logan heard the Void being ripped open, leaving him alone with Bim.

#Superhero AU #Masks and Maladies #Thomas Sanders #Markiplier #Logan Sanders #Darkiplier #Googleplier #Orange Side #Bim Trimmer #magic #death threats #angst #resentment

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anotheroneatstheass · 5 years

Text

Somebody To Love - Part One

So something went wrong and it looked like this got deleted so I’m reposting it whilst I finish off part two.

Synopsis here (It’s ended up changing a bit from this)

Like I’ve already said this is the first thing I’ve written in so long so if you have any comments or criticisms let me know.

Word count: 3k+ Warnings: Swearing, drinking, smoking, hints at smut. Probably some spelling/grammer mistakes

Walking the red carpet was something you had dreamed about for as long as you could remember. You’d spent your whole life desperately wanting to become an actress but as the years went on you realised just how difficult it was. Of course you studied Drama at school and university in an attempt to make your dream a reality, but by the age of 25 you were working three crappy jobs just so you could help pay rent. Those jobs stopping you ever having enough time to eat or sleep, never mind attending any auditions. That was why you were so eager to grab at any opportunity that could have lead you closer to this goal.

–One month before filming–

For the past few weeks, all Katie had been able to talk about was the fact that there was going to be a film about her favourite band, Queen. When she found out her uncle would be working on set as some kind or producer her excitement reached a whole new level. Immediately she began begging him for any kind of job or even just a chance to visit the set and see an actual film being made however every time she asked he gave her the same answer. He’d ask around. Katie had begun to lose hope of being able to attend the set during the months they’d be filming, that was until she finally got a phone call from someone else on the set. You sighed as she sat there on the phone for almost an hour. Looking between her and the paused film you both had been watching as she continued talking to whoever was disrupting your movie.

After what felt like forever she finally hung up, turning to look at you with a massive grin on her face. “Y/n, guess what?” She said acting extremely giddy before continuing “We’re going to be on that set, they’ve given us both jobs!” She jumped up and down with excitement as you laughed watching her. It would be a lie if you said you weren’t excited about it also.

You spent the next year hanging out on set and in rehearsals. You originally thought you’d be spending all day getting coffee and making sure everything was perfect for picky actors, but it was far different than that. Most of the time you were messing around during the boy’s breaks and heading to the pub at the end of the week. You had grown close to the cast, very close to a certain blonde in particular. A day didn’t go past without you and Ben messaging each other. The rest of your little group liked to mock the pair of you for this, often calling you ‘The Couple’ of the group. You both laughed it off each time it happened. Truth be told you were completely fine with this, Ben was kind, smart, cute. What’s not to like about him? But he regularly reminded you and the others that you were just friends, even if you often hoped he’d say something different.

It was finally the night of the London premiere. After all those months of hard work you’d watched the boys go through, you were finally going to see the finished product on the big screen. You’d been invited along, officially as their assistants again but it would have felt weird if you hadn’t come along. You looked down as you held their belongings, a reminder that you weren’t there promoting a film you were in like you desperately wanted to, but if this was going to be the closest you’d get then you would be fine with that. You kept looking over at the boys as they continued posing for pictures, occasionally picking up one of their phones and taking pictures of each other to annoy them once they got their phones back.

“Y/n!” Katie exclaimed, nudging you. It seemed you’d stopped posing with her to stare at the boys, one in particular. You’d be lying if you said they didn’t look attractive, especially all dressed up for the premiere, but your eyes had fallen on Ben. It felt as if he was teasing you with the way he looked so good in his suit, particularly with the sheer shirt he had chosen. It wasn’t long before she was waving her hand in front of your face trying to pull your eyes away from him and over to her. You moved your head, pretending you weren’t doing anything.

“Yes?” you said as innocent as possible, not realising your cheeks had gone red.

“You’re staring at Ben again” Katie wasn’t wrong, but you didn’t want anyone to know about the crush you felt for him.

“What do you mean ‘again’?” You said continuing to walk.

“Y/n, you can barely keep your eyes off him.” She smirked. You ignored her this time as Gwilym came over to get his phone from the two of you so he could take some photos. You mumbled something about not wanting to talk about it as you both started making your way inside to find your seats

You both sat down in your seats, looking over at the empty seats around the pair of you. The boys had to wait until the hundreds of people outside had all found their seats before they could even start the interview part. You turned and looked at Katie as she scrolled through her phone “So is Joe coming over again tonight?” You asked praying she’d say no. A couple months into filming Joe and Katie started dating in secret and as cute as they were together they’d made you despise the fact that you had to share a wall with them.

“Well, we need to celebrate his new film don’t we?” She said smirking back at you only to be met by you rolling your eyes at her answer. “You know you could try and get with someone tonight at the party?” She continued looking around trying to see if any of the guests were near-by. It wasn’t going to be a huge party seeing as the boys all had press interviews the next day, but you were excited to get pissed. Who was going to see you hungover?

“You know just once you could go to Joe’s flat?” You replied ignoring her comment about getting with someone. You used to do things like that, hooking up with anyone who was willing. But now you wanted proper relationships, meaningful ones. Not drunkenly waking up next to a stranger.

Eventually, everyone had found their seats and the film was playing the iconic 20th-Century Fox logo. You and Katie mimed the guitar silently giggling with each other as the cast all joined you and sat down. You looked over at Ben beside you as his leg bobbed up and down. He was clearly nervous. You smiled at him and rested your hand on his knee and giving it a quick squeeze. There’s no need to be worried.” you said smiling up at him before taking your hand away. A few seconds later you glanced over at him to see him staring at where your hand had been. You understood why he was so nervous. It was one thing to play a character for a film, but to play a real person who was sat just behind you watching the film must have been on a whole different level of terrifying.

You were on your feet joining in with the standing ovation as soon as the end credits began. You watched the boys shake hands and hug the people around them as you continued clapping. Eventually, they turned around to the two of you, Joe going straight over to Katie. You smiled watching them whispering to each other as you hugged the rest of the cast, eventually getting to Ben as he finished talking to Roger. You wrapped your arms around him as he pulled you closer. “That was so good” you mumbled against his chest as he moved his hand up to wipe away the tears you didn’t realise had started streaming down your face.

“Told you you would cry. You owe me £20″ He held out his hand, reminding you of the bet you had made the week before.

“I’m not going to give you money because I cried, that's not fair,” you said stepping back as you wiped your face. “I’ll buy you a drink later but I’m not giving you £20″ you said laughing. He agreed before turning around at the sound of his name being called by someone wanting to congratulate him.

It took an hour leaving the premiere, you were just thankful you didn’t have to walk too far to the party. You followed your friends over to a table at the back of the room as everyone tried to squeeze themselves around it. You all took it in turns buying rounds for the table, slowly losing count of how many drinks you’d all had, but the mountain of empty glasses that had appeared in front of you all was certainly a huge guess that you’d be hungover the next day. You sat there joking with your friends, occasionally looking over at Ben to see him staring ahead in silence.

After twenty minutes had gone without him saying anything you stood up, trying to hide the wobble as you did so, and held your hand out for Ben. “I’m going for a smoke, want to come with?” You stared at him waiting for him to agree as he eventually put his hand in yours as he stood up, leading you both outside in silence.

You watched him as he pulled a cigarette out and lit it, you doing the same. “What's up Ben? You’re supposed to be celebrating but I’ve barely heard a word from you tonight.” You said watching his face to see if he would even answer you.

“I’m fine” he mumbled not looking at you. You sighed stepping closer to him “You can tell me anything you know” you said putting a hand on his arm.

“I said I’m fine!” He snapped looking at you. You were shocked. Ben never acted in any way other than kind towards you. You mumbled something about going back inside as you turned around and put your cigarette out, heading towards the door. His hand on your wrist stopped you though as pulled you back towards him. “I’m sorry, I just don’t want to talk about it.” He said looking away from your face.

You pulled out another cigarette for yourself after barely smoking your last one as the pair of you stood there in silence. A few minutes passed before you turned to him “You should grow your hair out. You looked cute as Roger” you muttered looking up at his hair. He always looked nice but you couldn’t help but remember all the times you saw him walking around on set in the wig.

“You thought I looked cute?” Ben said with a smirk playing on his lips. You looked at him not knowing quite how to answer that without making it obvious about your feelings towards him. The blush spreading across your face, however, made it very obvious.

“Yeah…it really suited you. I heard the girl behind us saying you looked cute, just thought you’d like to know” you said hoping he didn’t think it was coming from you.

Ben laughed a little bit still looking at you. “You looked cute in it as well,” He said pulling out his phone to find the picture of you both wearing matching wigs.

“I can’t believe you saved that” You said laughing as you grabbed the phone from his hands looking at it “You were supposed to be filming then you weren’t supposed to see us trying on the wigs” You said thinking back on that day, the sight of the boys losing it as they walked in on you and Katie trying them on is something that always made you laugh.

The two of you discussed the set with each other, remembering funny stories and laughing at them all over again. “Did you enjoy the movie?” Ben asked you suddenly, turning to face you with his body as he leaned against the wall. Even the most mundane things suddenly seemed hot when he did it.

“I already told you I loved it.” You said thinking back to your tears at the premiere. “Which reminds me, you are still owed a drink” You continued saying heading back towards the door with Ben.

You’d barely touched the door handle when your friends swung it open as they left the party. “I thought you went home?” Gwilym looked over at the pair of you as you laughed at Joe stumble towards the taxi rank as he leaned on Katie. “No, we were actually just about to go get some more drinks, are you all leaving?” You said frowning as they all nodded.

“Gwil and Rami are being boring I want to drink more” Joe shouted, clearly not realising how drunk he was.

“You’ve had enough love, c’mon lets go home” Katie tried to pull Joe away as he started walking over, shouting something about needing to say bye to Ben. You chuckled at their childish behaviour, Joe acting like he was never going to see his friend again as he pulled him in for a hug.

As they all drove away you and Ben walked back inside. It was significantly quieter now, causing you both to realise you’d spent a lot longer outside than you originally thought. You stood next to Ben at the bar as he spoke to the bartender too quietly for you to hear.

“What the fuck did you order?” You said in shock as you watched the bartender pour two drinks and an unnecessary amount of shots, “Who do you suppose is going to drink those?”

“We are” Ben laughed at your angry face as he passed you a shot. “C’mon you can’t make me drink all ten, that would kill me” He smirked watching you bring it up to your face to smell it. You watched Ben to make sure he was going to drink his shot as well before drinking it, swallowing it before you could properly taste it. It burnt your throat as it went down, but barely a second later Ben was putting another in your hand.

Ben continued buying drinks, not letting you pay once. You had no idea how many you had had by this point but you weren’t about to start complaining. You stayed at the party downing drinks and shots until you picked up your phone realising it was 2:30am. You put your empty glass on the table as you stood up, nearly falling straight back in your chair. “Ben,” you said getting his attention and showing him the time “We need to go, you have interviews in the morning.” You grabbed your bag as you waited for Ben to finish his drink.

The pair of you stumbled outside, heading towards the same Taxi rank your friends has gone to earlier in the night. You stood there shivering waiting for one to take you home as Ben wrapped his arms around you. “You’re freezing,” he said pulling you closer to him as you wrapped your arms around his waist looking up at him. “What? Have I got something on my face?” He said seeing you staring up at him. You mumbled a no, but didn't take your eyes off of him.

You both stood there in silence, enjoying each others company until the taxi arrived. You climbed in after Ben, immediately leaning onto him and closing your eyes as he told the driver where to go. You wrapped an arm around his waist as he gently ran his hand along your back.

You woke up twenty minutes later to Ben shaking you lightly “Y/n…y/n we’re here” He said as he gave the taxi driver his money. Ben sighed as you leaned on to him more not wanting to wake up. All of a sudden you felt his arms snake around you as he picked you up, carrying out of the taxi. You laughed wrapping your arms around his neck “Ben! What are you doing?” You kicked your legs careful not to actually hit him until he put you down outside your door. “Why didn’t you stay in that taxi?” You said watching the taxi drive away. “How the hell do you suppose you’re going to get home?” You sighed as you began digging around your purse for your keys.

Ben shrugged “I’ll walk, its not that far.” he said watching you struggle to get your key in the door in your drunken state.

“It’ll take you like two hours, you can sleep on the sofa.” You said as you opened the door to see Katie standing there watching you. “Ah so you finally got the door open” She laughed. You jumped back not expecting to see her and pushed Ben away so she wouldn’t see him. You weren’t in the mood for anything she might have said to the two of you.

“I thought you’d be in bed, didn’t you say you were celebrating tonight?” You asked hinting at what she had said earlier about her and Joe’s activities for the night.

“Yeah we were going to but then he passed out as soon as he got in there. I thought you’d be getting some action, to be honest, you’re never this late.” She said laughing at you, not knowing Ben was stood there listening.

“And who do you suppose I’d be doing that with,” You said before quickly adding “Don’t answer that” before she had the chance to tell you exactly who you knew she would say.

Katie just laughed at you as she began walking away “I’m going to bed, and shut the damn door would you?” You waited until she was in her room before pulling Ben back into your flat.

“So who does she think you’d be sleeping with that you clearly don’t want me to know about?” Ben said smirking knowing exactly who she meant.

You blushed not wanting to tell him as you pulled him into your apartment. All of a sudden you were pulled back, your body landing onto Ben’s pushing him down on to the floor. “Fuck!” you yelled as you both hit the floor. You looked down at Ben laughing a bit “What was that for?”

Now it was Ben’s turn to be silent as he looked up at you, looking into your eyes before down at your lips. You bit your lip watching his eyes move across your face. After what felt like forever you felt his hands grabbing either side of your face and pulling you closer to his, kissing you passionately. The two of you kept going, making out on the floor in the hallway, before you eventually pulled away, desperate for air. You continued to look at his face “What was that for?” you muttered against his lips. Before he had a chance to open his mouth and answer you heard a noise coming from the other end of the hall. You jumped up as quick as you could in your current state, pulling Ben up with you, and quickly ran into your room slamming the door behind you.

You looked over at Ben again as he leaned in to kiss you, wrapping his arms around your waist as yours went straight up to his hair, wrapping it around your fingers. You could taste the alcohol on his lips as he ran his tongue across your lip. You moaned as he slipped his tongue in, moving your bodies even closer to each other. His hands moved over to the zip on your dress as he began leaving kisses along your neck. You slipped your arms out of it letting it fall to the ground and made a start in unbuttoning Ben’s shirt. You’re hands immediately went to his chest as you moaned from his warm hands meeting your cold body.

The rest of the night became a drunken blur. In fact, when you first woke up the next morning you didn’t even remember anything happening, that was until you heard the snoring from next to you. You rolled over and saw him lying with his back towards you, however the soft snores leaving him told you he was still asleep. In your shock you pulled the covers over you and jumped back, causing you to fall off the bed with a bang. You prayed that you didn’t wake him up but of course it did. You watched him look around a bit, trying to work out where he was before his eyes landed on you trying to hide your naked body under the blanket. “Y/n” he mumbled looking at you “did we…?” he looked back around. There were clothes flung everywhere, it looked as if a bomb had hit your room it was so messy. You didn’t even answer Ben, wanting to simply pretend he wasn’t there. You couldn’t believe you had done it.

The pair of you got dressed in silence, Ben putting on the same clothes he had on the night before whilst you opted for some pyjama shorts and a jumper, before opening your bedroom door in an attempt to sneak him out, however that was harder than you imagined. You were immediately met with Katie and Joe staring at you both from the kitchen.

“Fun night?” Joe said laughing at the two of you. Well, now you were well and truly fucked.

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voltron-queen-140 · 6 years

Text

We'll. With season 7 finished, I'm going to give a review in as much detail as I can in case anyone wants to hear my opinion.

I'm going to try my hardest to be respectful when I talk about this season so please hear me out before you yell at me, and if you disagree please be respectful in explaining why. I am open to debate but not an argument or aggression.

First off, I would like to commend this season for actually making me tear up or scream into a pillow once again. Lance's reunion with his family? Sobbing. The "the Paladins are dead" fake-out? I genuinely fell for it. Thinking it was a way to bump off the old Paladins and replace them, perhaps with the MFEs. It would make sence, you have the smart one, the reckless one, the leader, and the other guy who's personality I just don't get. Combine that with Veronica and you suddenly have 5 capable pilots. Just something to think about.

Now. On to the rest of my opinion. There are a mix of good and bad points in this so please bare with me, I'm not full of hate for this season.

I'm am, however, angry about the "idk how it happened don't question it" excuse about the Atlas, but, it might be addressed in season 8, so we'll pop that to the side and hope for the best.

Secondly, everything seemed... rushed and unexplained. With the entire season. They had 13 episodes to play with but they still treated it like two half seasons (note the 2 part episode in the middle of the season and the resolute ending for the second of those two episodes) Of course this may have been because it was planned to be a half season but their scheduling was messed around. In which case, I get it, but they've had half seasons before and they executed them much better. I feel like this may have been down to the fact that they realised they were running out of episodes to complete everything they were hoping to get in. I'm hoping season 8 feels a little less rushed and a little more fleshed out.

Colleen Holt is a badass, let me just throw that out there. Can we all agree that the Holt family is a family of badass super geniuses? Because they are. As a side note, has Sam Holt's voice actor changed? Genuine question. He sounds like Bing Bong from Inside Out and the entire time I was struggling to take him seriously.

The Feud? Seemed forced. "We have to have a chill episode! Quick, throw out ideas!" "An all knowing being drags the Paladins into a game show!" "Great! Let's do it!" I thought it was going to be a "hey universe, we're not dead!" Publicity stunt, but no, they made it weird. And they called Lance "the dumb one" lol no thanks. But, we got to see Pidge be a badass, Keith be an artist, Family Drama from the Zarkon family, and there is enough shipping fuel for Keith x Allura, Lance x Keith and Pidge x Hunk to keep them all floating for a while.

Now, onto shipping stuff. I'm not an anti so please don't expect my opinions to be showing hate to any ship, I'm simply going to express my opinion in a polite a way as possible. If you're an anti or you're looking to stir up shit, go ahead and block me right now. I don't want to be seeing any of your content and you'd be doing me a favour.

Anyway; no hate directed at Allurance shippers, or the ship itself, you guys are great and the ship has potential to be to, but in my personal opinion the emotions from Allura are coming out of nowhere. Feel free to provide evidence on why that is not the case by the way, so long as you are respectful. But personally, it feels like her feelings sprouted pretty much from nothing since Lotor left. I'm also not the biggest fan of the "if you pester the person enough they'll come around" trope so perhaps I'm looking at it from that angle so not seeing it for what it is.

Introducing Adam and having the fandom hype over him before promptly killing him off? Dick move Voltron. Dick move. But, at least there is LGBTQ+ rep right? That's something guys!

Keith and Acxa (or however it's spelled)?? I'm??? I don't personally see it, maybe because they've only interacted a handful of times and most of them were during a fight? I'm not sure. But personally, I'm not a fan. I don't understand where her feelings came from, I always saw her actions as a "a life for a life" kind of thing, but hey, what do I know. The show writers probably have stuff planned that may change my mind of the ship.

Punk? Well, I'm not sure what Bex was talking about with all this:

Because the only shipping fule I'm seeing is from The Feud. Maybe season 8 will bring surprises!

Laith? Sorry guys, I'm a Laith shipper, but, it's dead in canon. The Feud gave us content and we had a couple of moments but it seems like Allurance and Keith x Acxa are the ships they're going with. But that's okay! Show respect to those ships and don't start wars over it! We still have fanfictions and fanart!

The same goes for Sheith shippers! If they do go for Keith and Acxa then you guys can still keep shipping Sheith! Go for gold! Keep your heads up and don't lose hope!

Hunay? Living for it! We had barely any interaction but we got a cute reunion so I'M LIVING! We better see more of Shay in season 8!

Ezor x Zethrid? YES PLEASE!!

Okay, it's safe to start reading again if you wanted to skip over the shippy part!

We got Matt! Well, 30 seconds or so of him, but we got him!

Which brings me to the thing that is really rubbing me the wrong way. The time skip. I'm sorry? What? Was that properly addressed? Like at all? We got a rushed explanation that frankly was more of a "this happened, get over it" kind of thing but other then that? We didn't really hear from it again? Other then Lance's family saying "you're the same" it wasn't really... fleshed out as well as it could have been. I'm still hazy on how it happened but hey ho, maybe if I rewatch the season I'll understand better.

Did anyone else call that Veronica was Lance's sister before it was announced?

James Griffin. James blooming Griffin. His character was not well introduced in my eyes. One second he's glaring at Keith and yelling that Voltron doesn't understand the chain of command or whatever, the next he's helping those very people disobey orders. The very thing he was telling them not to do! Was his reasoning behind that explained? Like? At all? Was it just because he didn’t want to see them get hurt?

Seriously, did anyone else get fooled by the “the paladins are dead” thing or was that just me? I wasn’t fooled at first but the more Shiro went on the more I was like “Uh... is this for real now?”

How in Alfor’s name did Shiro survive that crash on the galra ship?! HOW?! I NEED ACTUAL ANSWERS! He was outside the ship, he should have burned up! At the very least the impact would have killed him surely! HE WAS OUTSIDE OF THE SHIP!

We didn’t see a Hunk family reunion, which is actually upsetting, but at least we know more about his past.

“I was trying to save earth” -_- of course you were Admiral Sanda. But that was a super naive move. Like. Really. How on earth (insert drum and cymbal sounds here) did you think that would work? “Lets ignore all the info we got from the people who have been fighting this war on the front lines and go with a plan that I, the person who has only heard about this second hand, have come up with. That will work.”

I’m not hating Iverson anymore so THAT’S SOMETHING!

Romelle is such a relatable character.

COSMO I WAS HOPING THAT WAS HIS NAME!

Coran Coran the gorgeous man doesn’t get enough credit.

Was I the only one that forgot Allura wore a crown and wondered what the hell the thing that dropped to the floor was until I saw her put the gem in Shiro’s arm?

Shiro’s new arm? Awesome! I seriously love it! And the fight with Sendek? I live for it!

Kroila in season 5: I’ll never leave you again.

Kroila now: I’m sorry I have to go.

I’ll just leave that there. I get why she left, she wanted to find and fix the blade and all, but like? That probably hurt Keith a heck of a lot.

I felt like there were less edge-of-your-seat moments this season though, it felt a lot like “oh okay, so they got hit by a ray that kills planets and survived? Okay then, they can survive anything now.” and that sort of stopped me feeling worried about them for the rest of the season, right up until the memorial part.

I really feel like Hunk’s daydream about passing on the yellow lion is foreshadowing. Be it at the start of next season, be it at the end or be it a spin off series, I really feel like the lions are going to get passed to the MFEs. They have the personalities for it. The smart one (Leifsdottir) in green, the reckless girl (Rizavi) in red, the silent one (Kinkade) in yellow, the leader (James) in black and Veronica in blue. It would fit.

The animation quality was amazing though and I’m seriously loving where the plot is heading! I’m just hoping that this will come to a satisfying close in season 8 because I feel like there is a lot for them to do in just 13 more episodes.

All in all I personally didn’t find this season to be the best season, that’s still season 6 hands down, but it was a solid season plot line wise. I like where we ended up. I’m not 100% sure I like how we got there, with all the questions that this season raised and barely any answers, but it got there. I feel like it could have been more fleshed out but hey, they have time restraints and a limited number of episodes, and this is a show designed for kids.

Now, we wait for the last season.

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creative-type · 6 years

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The Murder of Arthur Wright V

First Last AO3 AN: Sorry for the delay. Writers block and lots of overtime at work meant little productivity. For those who care for such things, Anansi is named after the mythological trickster character popular in West African folklore.

Chapter Five: Anansi of a Thousand Faces

The sun was beginning to set as Margot set a brisk pace for the waterfront. Two days had passed since she had last met with Cain, and she was starting to get antsy. It turned out finding someone who could change their appearance at will was more difficult than it sounded. It was unfortunate that in the wake of Master Wright’s death that the mage’s conference had been cancelled—at least then Margot would have some idea of where to start looking. As it was she wasn’t sure Anansi was still in the city.

She stopped in front a small playhouse at the edge of the entertainment district. As far as leads went it wasn’t much, yet it was the best she had. None of her contacts at the Academy knew where Anansi was or where they would be traveling next. There had been no ads of upcoming plays in the paper. The rumor mill surrounding the mysterious actor had gone strangely silent.

Margot had almost given up hope when the professor of illusion made mention of a colleague who knew of a man who had seen a superlative performance given by an unknown actor working out of a little hole in the wall. Supposedly magic had been involved.

It seemed like an absurd story, but Margot was loath to go back to Cain emptyhanded. She was acutely aware that she had wandered to the rougher side of town. The looks she got here were of an entirely different sort than she was used to. The people here could sniff out a stranger faster than a bloodhound and were naturally suspicious of people they didn’t know.

Margot was more worried about keeping a low profile than her personal safety. There was no way of knowing if Anansi was actually inside, but if they were Margot didn’t want to draw attention to herself.

The bill outside of the theater advertised a man named Yotarou. Usually shows advertised any magic that would be a part of the performance, but there was no mention of any illusions. Even so, there was a surprisingly large crowd for a weeknight show. Margot paid the fee and squeezed into the rapidly filling playhouse, which was little more than a glorified bar with a stage at the back of the room. The air was dark and smoky and buzzing with a dozen different conversations. Margot settled near the back as she waited for the show to begin, settling in an empty stool at the end of the bar.

A minute or two passed when Margot noticed a man mustering the courage to approach her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him down his drink in a single gulp, slamming the glass down as he rose to his feet. One of his friends clapped him soundly on the back and gave him a friendly push Margot’s way.

She didn’t have time for this. Margot called on her magic with a twitch of her fingers. There was plenty of water in the air this close to the river, more than enough for her to work with. Margot’s palm warmed pleasantly as coaxed the heat from the microscopic all around her into her hand, taking just enough to send a chill through the air.

At the same time Margot fixed the would-be suitor with an icy glare, making sure he got a good look at her scars. The man stopped dead in his tracks. To his credit he got the message without any further trouble, turning abruptly to walk red-faced to the direction of the restrooms.

“That was nicely done.”

Margot turned to the bartender just as Yotarou took the stage. He kneeled on a pillow at the center of the stage armed with only a paper fan and began a long-winded tale about two parents who decide to give their newborn son twelve first names after being unable to decide on just one.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Margot said.

“Not many have that much control over their magic,” the bartender murmured. “May I get you something to drink?”’

“Not tonight,” Margot said. “I’m just here for the show.”

“Ah, a fan of the fallen words?” he asked. “I don’t blame you. It’s a rare art, not often seen this far west. Do you have a favorite master?”

The question meant nothing to Margot, and she shook her head. “I’m just learning.”

“It’s a wise man who admits their ignorance,” the bartender said. “Or woman, I suppose. Now listen, the best part is coming up.”

Yotarou’s voice rose to a fever-pitch as he reached the climax of his story. The boy with the long name was knocked unconscious after getting into a fight with a friend. The friend rushed off for help, but was forced to use the boy’s full name with everyone he came across, and by the time he came back the boy had completely recovered from the injury.

The story wasn’t suited to Margot’s sense of humor, but Yotarou’s exaggerated caricature elicited a quiet chuckle as the crowd burst into applause. Yotarou bowed to his audience, paused to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and launched eagerly into his next tale.

“Amateur,” the bartender said, wrinkling their nose in distaste.

“You didn’t find it funny?” Margot asked.

“Three times he botched the name, and he should have made a greater distinction between the boy and his friend. Each character should be unique.”

Margot turned to face the bartender, but the space he had been occupying was empty, with a single drink sitting on the bar the only indication he had ever been there in the first place. She tried to find where he had gone, but it was as if he had vanished into thin air.

“On the house, darling,” a voice whispered in Margot’s ear. “Enjoy the rest of the show, I’ve seen all I need.”

Magic. Margot searched for its source, but her trace was overwhelmed by the spells used to light the stage and the charms warding against fire and theft. Utterly dumbfounded Margot looked down at the drink he had left her. It was one of those elaborate mixed drinks that Lyra could down by the gallon. She hadn’t even seen him mix it.

Unless…

Once again Margot called upon her magic. Somewhere in the back of her mind she heard the audience burst into laughter, but she no longer was paying any attention to Yotarou’s stories. She touched the glass with a finger that glowed with soft aquamarine light, stifling a gasp as it passed right through.

It was an illusion, one of the most sophisticated she had ever seen. Carefully she dismissed the spell and touched it again, this time her fingers feeling the contour of the glass, the liquid inside rippling with the sudden movement.

Illusionary magic was difficult because the spells either had to be meticulously planned and continuously maintained by the caster. The more senses that were engaged with by the illusion the more difficult it was to cast and the more energy it required to maintain. Margot picked up the glass and swirled the contents, noting that the drink was for all intents and purposes indistinguishable from reality.

The spell was still active, and an active spell could always be traced back to its caster. Margot murmured the words to a trace under her breath, tracing a sigil over the glass. A golden thread formed around the glass and led to the entrance of the playhouse.

Margot pushed through the crowed and followed the thread outside and down the street. It led her two blocks north, the golden light growing in intensity as she neared the source of the spell. Margot paused when she reached a small diner and scanned the crowd for the bartender. The thread pulsed gently in her hands and then, suddenly, it vanished.

“Very neatly done. I like your style.”

Margot whirled to the voice. Sitting on the patio outside the diner was…not her bartender. A figure dressed in rough-spun cotton beckoned her forward, a lazy grin on his (or was it her? Margot couldn’t tell) face. Their features were unassuming and plain.

But there was no mistaking that voice. Margot sat in the offered chair. “Unless I’m terribly mistaken, do I have the pleasure of speaking with Anansi?”

Black eyes glittered with amusement. “You do.”

“I thought you would be preforming tonight,” Margot said.

“Who says I haven’t been?” Anansi leaned on their elbows. Long, spiderlike fingers intertwined together. “When I heard whispers a professor from the Kempeston Academy wished to speak with me I had to make sure it was worth my time.” Anansi’s lips quirked in the smile of a teacher indulging a favored student. “That spell was clever. I’ve not seen it before.”

“I work at a school for magic. Knowing how to trace a spell is an unfortunate necessity,” Margot said wryly. “How did you know I’m a professor?”

“I make it my business to know who wants to find me, darling. Time is a finite resource; it has never been my habit to waste mine.” The smile transformed into a sharp, biting smirk, amusement shifting to menace. “So far you’ve been interesting enough to be worth my while. Please do not prove me wrong.”

“I had some questions about your performance before the mage’s conference,” Margot said.

“You’ll have to be more specific, darling.”

Margot hesitated a moment, before saying, “I suppose it would be more accurate to say I was wondering about what happened afterword. This might seem like a strange question, but did you speak with Master Arthur Wright?”

Anansi’s eyebrows crept up toward their hairline. “I did not. Why go through all the trouble of finding me only to ask about a man I’ve never met?”

“I’m acquainted with Master Wright’s son. He said that his father wanted to talk with you after your performance.”

“So he sent you to find out what his daddy wanted?” Anansi said disbelievingly.

“Felix Wright was nearly blinded by the explosion. It will be some time before he’s fully recovered,” Margot said, choosing her words carefully. It didn’t seem wise to let Anansi know she was investigating a possible murder. “I said I would ask as a favor to him.”

“That is strangely kind of you,” Anansi said.

“I didn’t realize you would be this difficult to find when I agreed,” Margot admitted.

Anansi laughed. “Fair enough. I’m sorry to say that Felix is wrong. I know Arthur Wright only by reputation,” Anansi consulted a battered pocket watch. “Now, I have no interest speaking about a dead man who I’ve never met, but it seems a shame to leave you with nothing to show for your efforts. I’ll answer three questions, and no more.”

Margot drummed her fingers against the table as she thought. She couldn’t tell if Anansi was lying, or if this was some sort of test. Either way she didn’t want to waste what little opportunity she had.

Her first instinct was simply to ask more about Master Wright, but Margot discarded that idea as foolishness. If Anansi was telling the truth then they likely knew nothing about the murder of Arthur Wright. If they were lying then there was no way they would answer a direct inquiry.

Finally Margot settled on a question. “Whose face did you wear when you preformed The Death of Desdemona?”

“You say it as if I’ve stolen something,” Anansi chuckled. “And the answer is no one in particular. I take inspiration from those around me, but my faces are all my own. The part called for a female, so I created one that I felt would resonate with the audience. It’s trickier than you might think—academia is disproportionately elvish, so one might think that an elf would be best suited for the role, but there are those sticks in the mud who would call it a travesty to let a young elvish lady anywhere near the stage.” Anansi grinned wolfishly. “That was what decided it, in the end. I always enjoy knocking on the door of the closeminded.”

“Really?” Margot said.

“No society is perfect, and there are times people need reminded of that fact,” Anansi said. “I’ve performed in the orcish Lowlands as a runt and the Deephome Mountains as a beardless dwarf.” Anansi shrugged, a picture of worldly wisdom. “It’s a balancing act. I can’t afford to distract too much from the performances or alienate my audience completely lest no one hire me, illusions or no. But the benefit of having a thousand faces means I always have the right mask no matter the situation.”

Margot nodded slowly in understanding. “So to be clear, your character wasn’t physically based on anyone that you know.”

“Nothing is new under the sun, darling,” Anansi said. “I’m sure there were features that resembled people I’ve seen or worked with in the past, but as a whole the character of Desdemona was my own. Next question, please, and be careful as it’s your last.”

“But I’ve only asked one,” Margot said.

“If that was your intention then you ought to be more careful with your diction,” Anansi said. “After I said I enjoy knocking on the door of the closeminded you said, ‘really?’ with the inflection of a question—a question which I answered as promised.”

A flare of anger tore through Margot at the abuse of technicality, but then Anansi rested their chin on a hand and waited patiently, a look of angelic innocence on their face. Margot swallowed her argument, and with enormous effort managed a smile of her own. It was a smile she’d perfected during her post-graduate studies, perfectly civil and with an edge that could kill a man with a single look.

“You’re right. Unfortunately not all of us are destined for the stage,” she said sweetly. “In that case, where would the best way I could get into contact with you if I needed to speak with you again?”

Anansi blinked, a startled expression flashing briefly across their face. Then they laughed, surprisingly rich and full. So full that Margot suspected it was genuine.

“Oh, I like you,” Anansi said, wiping away a tear of mirth from the corner of their eye. “Well done, darling, well done. Luckily for you I’m planning to stay in the city for another five days. Look for me at the Red Griffin Inn after the noon bell. For a half-penny I’ll tell you whatever story you want to know.”

Anansi got to their feet and shook Margot’s hand warmly. “A final piece of advice, darling, free of charge. Reputation is a man’s greatest and most fragile mask. Look behind it at your own risk.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Margot asked.

“It means I would think very carefully before taking on errands for Felix Wright. You might not like what you find.”

#The Murder of Arthur Wright #daughter of the lilies #Dotl #dotl fanfiction #Margot

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motherlyra · 6 years

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Venom-o-us: First contact

I just started reading the comics for Venom and have been falling in love, so here is something I knocked out in a few days. This originally was going to be a story with reader falling in love with Eddie as Venom, but I realized I much rather just date Vemon than Eddie or anyone else, so I cut out the middle man. Hope you enjoy!

Ao3 | Ko-fi | Patreon

...

Another smile, another day you avoid death.

At least that’s how it seems to go in your current workplace. Every day you deal with the people no one else wants to deal with, and act as the barrier between a possible serial killer and the other employees. You deter robbers, scare away creeps, and welcome regulars, all with the same flash of white teeth.

A receptionist.

You watch the latest potential customer smile back to you, grab a pamphlet to the business, and walk away. Soon as the door shut behind them you relaxed back into your rolling chair with a sigh, and rubbed at your sore cheeks. Yeah, okay, so maybe this isn’t what you pictured your life to be like once you moved to New York, but at least you were lucky enough to nab this job. It paid a couple bucks above minimum wage, came with the illusionary title of “Administrative Assistant,” and graciously, all of the free chocolate you cared for.

Which when it came down to it, wasn’t that much, but it was the thought that counts.

You grabbed one of the Kisses from the glass bowl next to your computer, deciding that the sugar might help your current mood. Though you still took your time with it, methodically pulling at the loose corners of the silver wrapping to release the chocolate within without tearing the foil. You freed the kiss, sat it on your tongue to melt at its on pleasure, and continued to smooth the wrinkles out of the square foil. Boredom was never in shortage at this job as well, it turns out. But better to be bored and safe than in danger and face to face with a monster.

After aliens attacked New York a few years ago things have been even more strange in the city. New types of hazardous people were showing up more often, it was like playing Freak of the Week every monday. Thankfully the chances of encountering one of the freaks yourself were incredibly small, despite being in New York.

Nobody thinks of robbing a massage therapy business. And why would they? Most customers come in for a few hours and only bring a credit card. At max you handle a few hundred cash every few days, but that gets sent away before building up enough to risk going to jail for. So you were safe, bored, and had very low risk. A dream job by anyone’s standards in New York.

“Having fun?” A voice slapped you out of your thoughts, and you quickly sat up and put your hand over the perfectly flattened square foil. You looked up to see your boss looking down at you from the other side of the counter.

“Y-yes. I mean, I already finished all of today’s paperwork.” You quickly adjust your shoulders and look at your boss, motioning to the small folder of client forms next to the computer. “I was just waiting to put them in the file cabinets until later today, when less people are likely to walk in.” You clarified quickly, trying to make sure you didn’t make your boss regret hiring you.

She eyed the folder with a slight smile, before she walked past the counter to grab her purse. “I’m out for lunch.” She said and quickly left you alone once more in reception area. Your eyes followed her out the door and past the window, and you noticed the tv across the walkway showing the news.

Another superhero fight was going on it would seem. It was hard to see with the passersby continuously blocking your view, but from what you could see you could tell Spiderman was the focus. Something blurry and green appeared every few seconds you could actually see the tv, but that only narrowed down the villians to half you knew of. If it even was one of the usuals, hell, it might be someone entirely new.

The door slammed open, causing you to jump in your seat and look to the visitor. A man with a leather jacket -never a good sign- and long black hair glanced into the business a moment before looking back and closing the door as he stepped in. You could feel your chest hammering from the bells ringing in your head, but you bit down your thoughts and stood up at the desk, placing a well practiced smile on your face.

“Hello, how can I help you?” You risked a looking towards the computer, not seeing any new clients for at least the next half hour. The man walked further into the room with the barest hint of a limp, turning his eyes all about, but you noticed that he focused more on the windows than the interior of the room.

So, he was hiding from someone. That wasn’t good either.

“Uhh, this is the-” He glanced around again, but you could tell his actions were calculated. It takes an actor to recognize another. “Massage place?” He asked with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. You noticed a single bead of sweat on his brow, and the lump in your stomach grew heavier.

“Yep!” You kept your voice high and cheery. Stall for time. If he is hiding from someone, it means someone more dangerous could be coming. It would be better to just wait it out and not draw attention to here. “I don’t see anyone on our schedule for a while, so I assume you were looking to book an appointment?”

He thought a moment before adjusting his jacket and speaking up. “Not quite, I was looking for possibly a gift certificate? It’s for someone else.” The thoughtful pause between his words made his act even more obvious to you. “How much can thirty get me?”

Your smile faltered for a second. He must have never even been in one of these places before if he thought thirty dollars would be enough for anything. “Not much, I’m afraid.” You pulled out a pamphlet and opened the flap to show the prices of the massages. “Our half hour option is thirty-eight dollars, and we go up from there. I suppose we do offer a twenty minute chair massage for twenty-five, but if this is a gift I wouldn’t recommend that.”

“I see.” His eyes flashed down the paper faster than you think anyone could actually read, before he pulled it closer to him and leaned against the counter, casually keeping his back to the door. You watched as his baggy eyes glanced past you to the window once more, and he reached into his pocket.

Your anxiety skyrocketed for a moment before he pulled out his wallet and started fingering through the cash. He pulled out two twenties and put them on the desk. “Alright, give me a card for the half hour then.” You nodded, quickly reaching back for the envelope and thick cardstock.

“Is there anyone I should make this out to?” You asked, deftly writing in the amount for the card and the date.

“Ah, no don’t worry about that. Their name is hard to spell.” He said, and you left that part of the card blank.

You looked up to hand him the gift card, “Alrighty, well here you go, Mister…” You waited for his name in the most polite way you could think, just in case. He looked like he was about to answer, when the wall next to you exploded.

The ground hit you hard, but not as hard as the shower of bricks that came crashing down on you. Smoke filled the air with a ringing alarm, but the floor you were on seemed to spin as you desperately tried to hold onto a conscious thought.

What was happening?

You heard voices shouting, and glass breaking. You blinked and blinked, finally clearing your vision enough to see utter chaos outside the window, and where the wall used to be, you noticed. The man was nowhere to be seen, people outside were scrambling around in panic as flames licked the sides of the buildings. Someone covered in green metal towered above and shoved people out of the way, looking wildly around and shouting things too quickly to make out. The ringing sound in the air seemed stronger when he glanced in your direction, and you realized that it wasn’t the alarm going off, it was his suit.

He quickly turned around and darted off, the ringing sound quieting when he did. The pain surrounding your body started to register, but you couldn’t call out for help. Your mouth opened, only for no sound to escape you. Your vision started to tunnel, and you realized you weren’t breathing.

You inhaled, or tried to, and felt your lungs refuse to fill. Your ribs couldn’t move, and you realized the overwhelming weight you felt on you were the bricks from the wall, and you couldn’t push them off. Trying as hard as you could, you willed for your hand to move to maybe signal someone, but only burning sharp pains replied.

Then you saw him.

Spiderman.

The red suited hero stood out in your blurry view as he stopped between the buildings and looked at the disaster area. You felt your hope rise as the white what you assumed were his eyes turned to your direction. Yes! Over here! You opened your mouth wider, feeling the slightest bit of air enter your lungs. Almost enough for something.

A chunk of darkness fell from the sky, and the blurry spiderman caught it before dropping it beside him, blocking your view to him. No! He didn’t notice you. If only you could call out, he could save you! You weazed out a breath, trying not to focus on the building pain threatening to make you black out.

Can save you.

A voice whispered next to you, and you couldn’t tell who it was coming from. You started to notice your limbs getting cold, probably blood. You tried to reply. You didn’t want to die.

Then live.

The voice spoke again, and you felt the coldness surrounding you even tighter. The edges of the pain started to lift away, and your vision finally turned to darkness. The last thought you had was of the silent disappointment that a hero didn’t save you in your one time of need.

You gasped out, flailing in your bed and kicking the sheets around your feet, before you fell hard onto the floor of your apartment. You breathed hard, heart hammering in your chest as you sat in a cold sweat. Thoughts raced in your head in too many directions for you to make sense of anything. You were at work moments ago, and there was some creep buying a gift certificate, and then… then… nothing. Your brain reached out for what came next, but there was nothing there.

You looked at your arms, seeing them shake in the nighttime streetlight coming in from outside. They were fine. Why wouldn’t they be? You shook your head and took a deep breath, trying to steady yourself. You couldn’t remember anything after the man. Were you drugged? You didn’t think you would have drank anything around customers, but who knows what else could have possibly happened.

Maybe you just zoned out hardcore at work after that point, and nothing happened. One could hope at least. Resting your head in your hands for a moment, you let yourself cool off in the cold night air.

Nothing happened. You were fine. You didn’t feel hurt or otherwise wrong. In fact, you felt great. You might work for a massage therapy place, but working on the computer all day always left your shoulders sore, until now apparently. Were you sleeping that good?

Why were you awake anyway? You weren’t having a nightmare… Not that you remember your dreams much anymore. You hated waking up in the middle of the night, there was never anything else to do other than scroll social media, and that only kept you awake longer.

But it seemed like it was your only current option to get rid of your jitteriness.

You reached out to your nightstand, only to not feel your phone in its usual spot. You blinked, confused, and reached again. Nothing in the surrounding area. You finally turned on the lamp beside your bed and saw that the stand was empty, no sight of your phone. Could you have forgotten it at work? Very unlikely.

You stood up to look at your jacket, only to now notice you were still in your work clothes. How embarrassing. You were grateful you didn’t have any roommates to notice at least.

“Pajamas, then tv.” You whispered to yourself, starting a simple to-do list to survive the night. Walking to the dresser you found yourself thinking about your freshly cleaned favorite pajamas, but once you placed your hands on the drawer you felt the clothing on you tighten. You gasped and stepped back, looking down in time to watch as the work outfit seemed to liquify and pull itself in different directions, and solidifying into your pajamas.

You froze, not exactly sure what the proper reaction to this was supposed to be. A lump in your throat appeared, and you gently tried to swallow it down. “Huh.” Your voice was higher than you intended. You looked around the dark room, double checking just to make sure no one else was here. Nope, no prank crew, no cameras.

Were you a mutant? All of a sudden? The rest of your family was mutants free, but who knows if you got a gene. The gene… that gave you the lack luster power to change outfits. Disappointing, if that was really your superpower. Didn’t mutants get powers when they are younger though? Questions filtered through your head, and it was becoming too much.

Be calm.

The voice spoke, and you did the exact opposite of what it ordered. You yelped and fell to the ground, quickly crawling over to your nightstand and grabbing the bat you had propped against it. You looked around wildly for the source of the voice.

We are safe now. No harm.

You could hear how heavy you were breathing in the empty room, and could feel the sweat trickle down your neck. “We?” You asked out loud, not sure if you were going crazy. You knew you were a stressed person, but this was a bit much.

Yes. We are safe. We saved ourselves, where Spiderman has failed.

Confusion made you lower the bat, thinking about those words. All in a rush, the events came back to you. The explosion. The weight of bricks. The green armored man. Spiderman not noticing you.

You fell back onto your rear at the memories, eyes wide as you brought a hand to your mouth. Deep anger started to build up in the back of your mind, but you knew it wasn’t yours. “Who… who are you?” You asked.

You felt moisture at your eyes, and felt like you were crying. You touched your cheek and pulled back your hand, seeing sticky black ink drip on an arch. Before your panic could rise, blackness filled your vision.

Then you were falling.

But you weren’t yourself. You were… it , whatever it was. The land around you wasn’t earth, it was too orange, too broken. Dangerous animals were fighting below you, and you realized you weren’t falling, you were flying. Then you were violently hit, and space rushed past you. Things flashed black, and you found yourself alone, weak, until he showed up.

He who was so heroic, putting himself in harm's way for the benefit of others.

He who took care of you, taking every chance to use you and enjoy the power you gave him.

He who you grew attached to, as you gave him everything you were.

He who betrayed you.

Spiderman .

You felt the heartbreak of your only weakness being used against you as the one you trusted ripped you to pieces. He tore you off, and left you in the dirt weak and about to die. Until… Until another showed up. Only for spiderman do do the same to you yet again.

The story repeats. You are ripped from people that appreciate you, ones that abuse you, ones that know nothing and ones that know everything about you. Finally the memories slow down, showing a man with long black hair and a leather jacket, the same man that was in your business, getting ahold of you. You trusted him to be good, he was a soldier, someone trained to protect others! And yet, when you desperately granted him power in order for your own survival, he turned it against others, even one he considered a friend. He killed and slaughtered despite you saying no, but he wouldn’t let you go.

Until he was weakened, and chased, and hunted.

We have to save them, they are innocent! You-it-they- shouted. Your other refused, hurting enough on his own, he did not care for the innocent caught in the blast. And so when the sound came and stripped you from him, you took your chance to save the innocent.

That innocent was you.

Actually you.

The blackness pulled itself out of your vision and you gasped for breath. You flexed your fingers, trying to ground yourself in reality, trying to remember who you were. You touched your face, bringing yourself back to your own mind, your own memories.

“You are… Venom?”

We are Venom.

The correction weighed heavy in your gut as you realized the gravity of the situation. You saw how the symbiote, which somehow you knew it was called that now, bonded with a host. They were loyal, they protected whoever their other was. And that other, was now you.

You sat in silence for a moment, slowly mulling over your thoughts, before realizing that they were what saved you from death earlier. “I suppose… I should thank you?” You awkwardly asked, still not sure if you were having the craziest dream ever.

No thanking necessary. We are both innocents Spiderman have failed.

The anger built up again, and you felt the heartbreak from the memories ache in your chest. “He’s less of a hero than I thought, huh?” You asked quietly, recalling the blurry figure being too busy to save you. Sure, in theory you could understand him not being able to reach everyone when things happened, but you couldn’t stop your disappointment from building. He was right there , he only needed to look in your direction and you were sure he would have seen you buried under those bricks.

He is a hero. Does not make him good.

There was a hint of respect in the voice, or was that something more? It was obvious Venom hated Spiderman because how he treated them, but at the same time the desire to be a hero itself was there. One of the good guys, to save people, and bring hope to others. And now it burned in your veins like it did back when you were young.

Superheroes and villains were always so intriguing to you, but you could never fantasize about being a hero for long. The world is too big, too powerful for you to pretend that you could have a impact. There were people that change the shape of earth around them or bend metal with their thoughts, who would have noticed a plain human receptionist stand up to them, when even modern cops didn’t even stand a chance? The most you could ever do is pretend to be a deterrent for mildly threatening humans to protect other employees, but you knew you purposely avoided looking at any sort of news because of how useless it made you feel. You weren’t even considered strong for a human. You were average.

But now? Now you had leverage. You had something that could make a difference. The thought of it thrilled you. “Can… can we be a hero now? Now that I have you?”

Indeed. We would protect others.

You felt the rush of excitement with the idea of your childhood dream coming true. It felt childish, something that you didn’t deserve, something impossible. And yet, memories that didn’t belong to you played in the back of your mind. Memories of fighting monsters you didn’t know existed, memories of saving an underground civilization, memories of being more powerful than you could have dreamt of. Just the thought of how strong Venom was in his past hosts made your mouth salivate.

Huh. You wondered if that was a side effect of wearing an alien as pajamas.

You wiped your mouth and swallowed, quickly standing up to go to the bathroom. Dream or not, you were ready to charge right ahead with all of… this. “Alright, show me what you… we look like.” You spoke, pulling the sliding mirror open for you to get a full body view of yourself.

The pajamas pulled and liquified once more, before darkening and cold black tendrils started climbing across your body. It was rather horrifying to watch, but you stood there and accepted it. Either Venom had already worked itself into you brain to be used to it, or you were much more okay with intimate relationships with aliens than you realized.

The tendrils stacked and climbed up your neck, quickly coating your skin before covering your eyes and mouth. You felt trapped in darkness for just a second, before you felt yourself change .

You could feel yourself moving, shifting, as your center of balanced changed and you start to topple forward. Your hand instinctively reaches out in front of you and hits the mirror, catching you as your vision pulls from black to white, before fading to normal… but the shadows of the room don’t look quite as dark as they should. You looked into the mirror, to find yourself face to face with a monster.

You couldn’t even recognize yourself. For one, you were big . You were never one to work out, but Venom seemed to supply the muscles on their own. They weren’t nearly as big as in some of the memories they showed you, but still incredibly impressive. You were also much taller, at least by a foot, if not more.

The oily darkness coated your skin, or maybe it was your skin now, you couldn’t quite tell at this point, but the white logo of the spider splayed proudly on your chest, its long legs trailing down your ribs and arms, ending at your hands. And oh my, your hands. They were dangerous looking. Strong, sharp, and deft. The nails on those things looked like they could cut through metal without issue. You brought a hand to your face and observed it closer in the mirror.

Large, messy, white eyes were a defining feature for your face, as they seemed to take up nearly half of it. They looked like blobby versions of Spiderman’s mask, if a bit more wicked looking. The other half of your face consisted of a monstrous mouth, which was utterly overflowing with sharp, even more dangerous looking teeth. You ran a nail across them, observing quietly, before opening your mouth.

Like everything else in this change, it was big. You could open your mouth way further than you should be able to, in fact it might be the most unnerving thing about the change, strangely enough. You snap your jaw shut and stand back from the mirror, taking a moment to settle in this new skin.

“We don’t exactly look… Heroic. I can see why we- you had a hard time.” You stumbled on your words, getting caught up just looking at all of the defined muscles in your arms alone. “But this…think we could get used to this.” You smiled, seeing your jaw pull back in an unnatural way.

“Let’s go for a test run.”

#venom/reader #reader insert #Venom #fanfic #self insert #okay this is a lot more self indulgent than I usually do #But I enjoyed writing it lol #please let me know what you guys think because I was planning on at least another chapter #Venom deserves love #Venom o us

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mst3kproject · 6 years

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The Beach Girls and the Monster

This movie stars Sue Casey from Catalina Caper and Elaine DuPont from I was a Teenage Werewolf, but I really don’t think I have to justify reviewing a movie called The Beach Girls and the Monster on an MST3K blog. The only people who are going to want a movie called The Beach Girls and the Monster are people who are fascinated by godawful movies. Let us proceed.

A beach party is interrupted when one of its choreographically-challenged bikini babes is strangled by a seaweed-draped fish monster that even the Horror of Party Beach would laugh at. The cops find mysterious footprints, which local scientist Dr. Lindsay declares belong to the South American Fantigua fish, a known man-eater! Dr. Lindsay also takes the opportunity to rant about how the killer was doubtless one of those good-for-nothing surfer kids his son Rich hangs around with. Then we take a right turn from The Horror of Party Beach into General Hospital as we get a taste of life in the Lindsay household. Not only are Rich and his father at odds over whether surfing is a worthwhile hobby, Rich’s stepmother Vicki is playing the two against each other while cheating on her husband at every turn, including with Rich’s friend Mark, a struggling artist who rents their spare room.

I’m going to stop there, because your brain is probably lagging behind as it tries to process the ‘fish footprints’ plot point. Yeah, no kidding, that’s in the movie – the footprints of a fish! Is Fantigua supposed to be the scientific name of the Creature from the Black Lagoon? I mean, yeah, there are fish that can crawl across land for short distances, but they still don’t have feet.

That’s not even the weirdest thing in the movie, either. The first victim, a girl called Bunny, had at one point posed for a sculpture Mark was working on. After she dies, he gives the piece to her parents as a gift… which is nice enough, except that the sculpture is of Bunny as a sexy mermaid! What the fuck, dude?

At one of the beach party scenes, we have to listen to Rich sing an uninspired and unmemorable ballad called More than Wanting You. The nicest thing I can say about this song is that it’s still better than the music in Wild Guitar. Immediately afterwards, however, we’re treated to a much more entertaining nonsense song called There’s a Monster in the Surf, which is sung by Rich’s girlfriend and a lion hand puppet wielded by a guy in a fake beard. I have no explanation for that. None.

There’s the bit where Mark’s walking on the beach and comes across a group of girls wiggling their butts at the camera in time to music. There’s nobody else around, they never notice him watching them, and they’re totally separate from the party he arrives at later in the evening. They’re just there, in a way that suggests they’re like the rocks and the waves – they’ve been on this beach since the beginning of time and will be until the mountains crumble. I wonder if they’re a PokeStop.

There’s the jazz interlude when Vicki comes home drunk and staggers around the house for a while before being attacked by the monster, which was lying in wait for her at the top of the stairs (again – yes, this happens). The music suggests we’re supposed to be watching a strip show or something but all we’re doing is sitting there looking at Vicki’s ass as she pours herself a drink and reads a love letter. I can tell it’s supposed to be sexy but the only reaction it actually gets out of me is huh?

Huh? is my major reaction to Vicki as a character, actually. The first time we meet her, she’s trying to cozy up to Rich, who tells her to get lost. Then she accuses Dr. Lindsay of loving Rich more than he loves her, and tries to turn him against Rich’s friend Mark. Then she goes to pose for Mark, who really just seems to want to get on with the sculpture he’s making of her, but she comes on to him, kisses him, and then rejects him and calls him names. She cheats on her husband and tells him its too late to save their relationship – and throughout all of this, there’s never any sense that she has a goal. The only thing I can imagine all this behaviour leading up to is becoming a rich divorcee, but the idea of a divorce is never even brought up. As far as I can tell, she just likes messing with people’s emotions.

With all this interpersonal drama going on throughout the movie, it’s actually easy to forget about the monster. After its first murder it vanishes into the woodwork and never makes another appearance until almost the end of the movie – and the end of this movie is a letdown on almost more levels than I can actually count. In order to discuss this I’m obviously going to have to spoil it, but I have a hard time believing anybody cares about spoiling themselves for The Beach Girls and the Monster.

All right, so the monster kills a guy on the beach and Mark helpfully frames himself by being present, stealing a police car, and driving home, because he suspects that Dr. Lindsay has something to do with the monster – after all, we’ve heard Rich talk about his father’s papers on mutations in sea life! The monster kills Vicki, then goes after Mark, who stabs it with a kitchen knife and rips its head off, revealing… Dr. Lindsay in a stupid monster costume! Dr. Lindsay then steals Rich’s girlfriends car and drives off in pain, and the police chase him until he goes over a cliff and explodes. Roll credits.

There is almost more disappointment here than I think I can encompass in my remaining review space. First of all, we were told about the man-eating fish and then about science experiments that can mutate animals to several times their normal size. I don’t know about anybody else, but I was expecting that Dr. Lindsay had either created a fish monster or else had temporarily turned himself into one. Nope, he’s just a dude in a monster suit. I guess this was an attempt at a misdirection? Okay, sure, but if you’re going to misdirect your audience, it should go without saying that the real answer needs to be cooler than the fake one! Shriek of the Mutilated also had its monster turn out to be a guy in a costume, but that was a cover for a cult of cannibals!

Then there’s the explanation of why Dr. Lindsay did this. It’s never spelled out for us explicitly, but it seems like his motive was to scare Rich away from hanging out with the beach crowd so that the two of them could spend more time doing science together!

And there’s the car crash ending. Car crashes are like house fires in Frankenstein movies… they’re a way of ending the story without anybody actually having to do anything. The entire ending is calculated to avoid anybody suffering any consequences or Rich, who is technically our protagonist, actually having to behave like a hero. Mark stabs his attacker, but dies immediately afterwards so that he can’t be held responsible for a murder, even one committed in self-defense. His death also means that Rich no longer needs to look after his struggling friend. Dr. Lindsay runs away so that Rich cannot confront him or ask why he has done these things. The car crash finishes him off so that there’ll be no need to bother with an arrest or a trial or anything, and Vicki’s death means that Rich will inherit everything. Everybody who was making Rich’s life complicated is dead and now he gets all his daddy’s money and can do whatever he likes.

This is not what the audience wants at the end of this story. The middle of this story wasn’t what we wanted from this movie anyway – we wanted a story about a seaweed-covered fish monster killing people in swimsuits. If the reason we’ve spent so much time with the Lindsay family instead is because the monster is actually Rich’s dad in a costume, we need to deal with that. Having him drive over a cliff is a way of not dealing with it. The cop telling Rich ‘he thought he was doing it for you’ isn’t anything like the same as having Dr. Lindsay himself say, ‘I was doing it for you!’. Closing on a shot of Rich staring at the burning car doesn’t tell us what effect all this is going to have on him. It’s all a giant cop-out!

There are a million other little weird things here. There’s the movie’s insistence on calling Dr. Lindsay an oceanographer when everything we’re told about his research clearly makes him a marine biologist. The photograph of Rich that sits on his father’s desk is clearly one of actor Arnold Lessing’s headshots. There’s the wallpaper that from a distance looks like it’s covered in emojis. There’s surfing footage that serves the exact same non-purpose as the wrestling in Samson vs the Vampire Women. It all sucks.

Is there anything nice I can say about The Beach Girls and the Monster? Well… there is one thing. This is the only movie I can think of where the monster has a perfectly gender-neutral body count. Dr. Lindsay kills exactly four people: Mark, Vicki, and surfer kids Bunny and Tom. Two men, two women, and like Bunny, Tom was killed in his swimsuit with the only visible injuries being some scratches to his face. Is this an intentional statement on how women are treated in monster movies? I fucking doubt it. Not in a film with this many jiggling ass shots.

#mst3k #reviews #episodes that never were #the beach girls and the monster #manly beach dance #it's beginning to look a lot like fishmen #60s

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calliecat93 · 6 years

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RvB16 Episode 5 Review: Headshots

So far this season we’ve had time travel, alien Gods, pizza quests, and Tucker cockblocking himself twice at the same time. I’d say so far so good! The question now is what crazy shenanigans will our heroes get into next? Let's find out!

Overview

So last episode, Sarge wanted to try undoing the past again, but this time round up some recruits to ensure success. I wasn’t sure if it was going to go anywhere... but Joe proved me wrong! Simmons informs us through his log that they’re now in the near present (I guess at some former Red Base from the looks of it) and Sarge has rounded up three historical figures. Agent John, Agent George, and Agent Alex. In other words John Wayne, President George Washington (from how it sounds before the Revolutionary War ended), and a dying Alexander the Great. Well, that’s certainly a dream team I never would have thought up.

So what does Sarge plan to do now? Try Broken Ridge again? Nah, at least not for the moment. Instead, they’re going to go back to Season 15 and kill Temple back when they first met the Blues and Reds. Why? Well, Sarge wants to undo Temple convincing him to turn on the others because he still feels guilty about it, though he tries to not admit that it was him even though Simmons already knows. Of course, only George has any combat experience since John is an actor with a tough guy persona and Alex is... well, dying. But they’re gonna go for it anyways. So off to Season 15 they go!

Well... Simmons has one major concern first. Remember back in Episode 2 when Donut said that the portals could only fit two grown men at a time? Well, Simmons is concerned about what will happen with five people going in at once. But when does Sarge play the safe way? So they all go through and things seem okay with them having arrived at the initial meeting of the two teams... except Simmons points out that they were supposed to get there before their past selves showed up. Naturally, Simmons isn’t keen on the idea of his past self getting killed since he’d cease to exist and wants to back out. Sarge, however, decides to press on ‘cause... it’s Sarge, do I need to make an explanation as to why?

So George creates a plan that Sarge likes and ignores Simmons’ protests about accidentally killing their past selves, deciding that the risk is worth it. John proposes a simpler plan of causing a distraction, then getting in close and shooting Temple and therefore getting rid of that risk. They go for it by sending Alex out, which lets Sarge reach Temple and shoot him at point blank. Everyone panics as Sarge does his victory dance (aka, BEST PART OF THE EPISODE) and... Jax cuts the scene... yep, you heard me right. Jax calls cut. So remember during the S15 credits when Jax proposed the entire events as a feature film? Well... looks like Joe found a use for it. So yeah... Sarge killed an actor while Temple is still sitting in a jail cell with his fish. WELP.

Jax is pissed cause... you know, his scene got messed up, but cheers up upon recognizing Sarge and Simmons. So I imagine that those reading this who haven't seen the episode (which... why are you reading this and spoiling yourself? If you are a FIRST Member, GO WATCH IT NOW!) are probably very confused. Weren’t the Reds supposed to go back in time? Not forward? Well, we’ll come back to that later. For now, Sarge is upset that he didn’t get asked to be in the movie because as we learned in that Reservoir Dogs episode in S14, Sarge always wanted to be in a film. Jax explains that he DID try to reach out to them... but no one could find them for a year now. So yeah, they are one year in the future.

Anyways, Jax gives a tour of the set with everyone wearing armor because Halo/Jax forces them. Jax is also pretty much now the angry director which absolutely makes sense... though I wonder if Joe (who is Jax’s VA) did this so that he could vent his potential frustrations about directing the show XD Hey, we all get stressed and need to let it out. Jax is also pretty much trying to turn RvB into this universe’s version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe... that explains all the Norse God references... that we haven’t had in a while. When Jax leaves to deal with a problem, Simmons figures that they got sent forward in time due to the portal being unable to handle more than two men. He also hints that they spent a year gathering the recruits, so they are in the present... yes I know that is confusing as Hell, but it’s time travel. We were going to get confused at some point. Also... I guess that means Wash should be okay by now and I imagine that he and Carolina are NOT taking the guys being missing this long well. Hopefully, we see that soon... please?

But anyways, the Temple actor is dead... but he got caught in a scandal so if anything Jax gets free press. Sarge tries to get Jax to hire him... but Jax isn’t sure and then gets called away to deal with wardrobe. So Sarge gets Agent John to help him stage a scene in order to convince Jax to hire him. Yeah, do that against one of the most well known Old West actors. Simmons finds this stupid, but he can’t stop it. Sarge goes for it... and sucks. Like... REALLY sucks. Jax casts John cause... you know, famous professional actor and all. Sorry Sarge, stick to shotguns instead of headshots. Jax’s movie goes forward. This gets Simmons to throw in the towel regarding science and Sarge feels betrayed by one of his old heroes. So yeah, pretty much everyone has either given up on the mission or, in Caboose's case, has interpreted the mission wrong. So everything is officially off the rails now my friends... or is it?

After what’s felt like forever, we FINALLY cut back to the Cosmic Gods. We finally get to see the head God we only got a glimpse of in Episode 1... and he is HUGE. Kalirama and a bunch of other Gods are there too as well as the golfing guy whose color scheme seems to spell out that he’s going to be the Loki. The designs of these guys are great by the way, all of them having either an orange or green color scheme and armors that give them a distinctly alien feel to them. There’s also this weird echo sound effect added to the voices that make them sound other-worldly. It’s just really well done.

So as we established before, the pizza quest has invoked a prophecy that spells out the end of the universe. Golfing Guy seems excited about it, but the Head God who we learn is named King Atlus Arcadius Rex, isn’t having any of the bullshit. We learn that it’s been eons since the Cosmic Gods interfered with human affairs and there is a reference to the three Fates of Greek mythology, but none of them have spoken for a long while. This is concerning to Atlus, who fears that the Reds and Blues have been having help from within which is causing this. Golfing Guy admits it was him, but really he’s just being an asshole and it’s hinted that he may be the Trickster God that Kalirama mentioned in her debut.

Atlus shuts everyone up, saying that the Reds and Blues antics are weakening the chains that bind him, aka who I am assuming is the true antagonist. We’ll get more into that in the review section. For now, Atlus swears that one the Reds and Blues appear again, he’ll have Muggins find them and then he shall kill them personally. Kalirama says that they can't cause they’re under his protection (whether she’s referring to Donut or someone else IDK), but this doesn't deter Atlus who makes it very clear that no matter what, his will shall be carried out.

Review

That got a lot longer than I had intended. So I wasn’t sure how to feel about the episode on my first watch... but TBF I’m about that with anything I watch. The second watch through though was a LOT more enjoyable, especially for review purposes. I honestly did not know what to talk about aside from the ending at first, but man I have so much to say about Sarge and Simmons now.

So let's do Simmons first. It’s been interesting seeing him stuck with Sarge this season. Because so far, while he has been going along with Sarge’s plans, he’s clearly not happy with it. He’s been either confused or just plain annoyed at Sarge’s antics and train of logic. Words cannot express how happy I am to see Simmons like this. Like yeah, he’s still going along with it, but compare this to Simmons in Blood Gulch. Regardless of how nonsensical Sarge was, he went with it without any question. He was a suck-up who would do ANYTHING for Sarge's approval. But as we saw with Chorus and Season 15, he’s become a lot more independent. Heck, the only reason he seems to be going with Sarge’s plan is for scientific purposes and because... well it’s either that or be stranded in the past. Plus at least it was an attempt at fixing the past, so they were trying to follow the mission. I’m kind of disappointed that Simmons didn’t finally blow up at him cause, but I guess that can come later now that he’s tossed science out the window, Still, I am so happy to see how far he’s come.

Sarge... it’s interesting really. First, it’s good to see that he still feels guilty for his actions last season, even if he doesn’t want to admit it. Him also feeling bad about killing an actor, even if he won’t admit it was him, is also good. Like it looks like Joe is hitting on that flaw specifically: Sarge’s inability to admit fault. Even last season, when Sarge did admit that he was wrong, he still couldn’t promise that he wouldn’t do it again. It was still a big step, but it shows that Sarge still has a lot of problems. Add that to the last PSA and.. yeah when you really think about it, Sarge has issues. A LOT of issues. It feels like he fucked up so many times that the only way that he can deal with it is to ignore that it was his own fault if he can't just blame something else. Him wanting to kill Temple to undo what he did makes sense and really illustrates how much it really weighs on him. IDK if this is to get Sarge past this or just Sarge being Sarge, but still, it’s incredibly noticeable in this episode.

Heck going off that, it really feels like Joe is putting a lot of emphasis on the Reds having issues. Donut is pretty much God, Grif’s got his vendetta against adventure and trying to ignore it, Sarge has his inability to admit guilt despite how much he feels, and Simmons... actually he’s probably the most stable ATM since he’s mostly grown out of his kissass phase. The Blues have had it more light-hearted in comparison and... I AM SO HAPPY! RED TEAM FOCUS HELL YES! I love the Blues, but they’ve had PLENTY of focus and same with Wash and Carolina. They’ve had their issues focused on and have had character development for years now. Last season felt like it was closing the book on it to make room for Red Team Problem. I think it’s pretty universally agreed that the Reds have gotten the shaft pretty hard since... well, pretty much the beginning. They’ve had some good moments and have had some character development (Simmons’ growing independence, Sarge coming to terms with the Reds and Blues war being a lie, Grif realizing that he doesn’t want to be alone) but it feels like there’s a larger push to give them more development this time over the Blues. This makes me SO happy you have no idea. Thank you Joe!

Alright, so Sarge’s recruits! They are exactly what I would expect from him. He mentioned John Wayne in Episode 2, and of course he would be a fan of him. A tough southern film star? I imagine that Sarge has a copy of every John Wayne movie ever, even the horrible Genghis Khan one. George Washington is a well-renowned war hero and probably one of the first American heroes, so that makes sense. And Alexander the Great was known for being a great militant and conquer, so that also makes sense.... too bad they pulled him while he was dying. So two well-known militants and essentially Sarge’s childhood hero. Yeah, all of these choices fit perfectly for Sarge. I approve! I mean history got flushed down the toilet, but eh, I’m sure they’ll work it out.

So with this episode, it looks like everyone has given up on Donut’s message. Grif never cared to begin with and is still on the pizza quest with Doc unable to convince him otherwise. Caboose interpreted it wrong and Lopez can’t do anything about it. Tucker and Sister are likely banging the Game of Thrones cast by now. And with this, Sarge and Simmons are fed up and call bullshit to science. So... I have zero idea what’s going to happen now. Personally, I hope we cut to Wash and Carolina to give the Reds and Blues a break, plus if it’s been a year now then I imagine that they’re turning every planet in the universe over trying to find them. Oh and sidenote, Jax was great in this episode. I know that some found him annoying and yeah the film references could be a little too much, but making him a frustrated film director who flip-flops between being cheery and pissed off at everything works SO WELL. But anyways, IDK if Sarge and Simmons are going to stick around in the present or send everyone back to their respective time periods, we’ll see. Hopefully, the next episode progresses the plot in some way.

Alright, I’ve held on long enough. Let's talk about the ending. Holy shit, the ending. So it looks like we have a hodgepodge of various mythologies. Kalirama is based off Hindu myth, Golfing Guy seems based off Loki who is Norse and known as a trickster, Huggins and Muggins we’ve already established as being based off Odin’s ravens so Norse also, and Atlas seems based off all the king-esque Gods like Zeus (Greek), Jupiter (Roman), Odin (Norse), etc. IDK who everyone else may be based on since we didn't have enough time with them. I already talked about the designs, color scheme, and audio so not much else to say there, other than to again say I love it. And that I also want a cast list because I NEED to know who all these voice actors are.

So based off of Atlas’ words, here is my thought. IDT these guys are evil. They’re clearly the antagonists because they’re going to try to kill the Reds and Blues, but they are at most morally gray. I think that whoever it is they’re trying to keep sealed away somehow managed to save Donut and convinced him that he was God and the others were evil. Who he is could be based on anyone like Hades, Satan, pretty much any kind of evil God or God of Death that exists. But clearly, they tricked Donut to send the Reds and Blues across time so that it can weaken whatever is keeping him imprisoned and allow him to free himself. I have zero idea how that works, but we’ll learn soon enough. So... kind of annoying that the Reds and Blues are being tricked AGAIN, but TBF the circumstances are WAAAY different from when it was Felix and Temple. Very least they’re going off Donut (who also isn’t with them... also WTF happened to him since Kalirama is clearly fine?!) instead of the manipulator being right under their noses.

Final Thoughts

It was good! It’s pretty much a filler episode aside from the last few minutes, but enjoyable filler. I feel like Joe is both trying to establish how the guns/the portals work as well as to just get the silly time travel antics out of the way before going forward with the plot. The ending seems to hint that the plot is going to hit soon. As I said, we'll hopefully see the Freelancers next since it’s been four episodes now and it’ll give the Reds and Blues a breather. Regardless, it was a fun episode and I really enjoyed it. Plus Sarge’s victory dance. That in itself made this episode perfection.

#rvb #rvb16 #rvb16 spoilers #rvb reviews

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movietvtechgeeks · 7 years

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Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/supernatural-various-sundry-villains-kill-darlings/

'Supernatural' Various & Sundry Villains: Kill Your Darlings

Okay, I’m going to be upfront, I was ready to be super underwhelmed by last week’s Supernatural episode “Various & Sundry Villains.” All of the promotion focused on the love spell, and frankly, we’ve been there, done that. In fact, I’m shocked that showrunner Andrew Dabb let this pitch go to script given that he wrote the controversial episode “Season 7 Time for a Wedding”, an episode that I can honestly say has only one truly redeeming quality: Leslie Odom, Jr. was in it. While this was arguably derivative of that episode, giving this the go ahead was risky on Dabb’s part. It paid off for writer, Steve Yockey, because this love spell outing was much better than the last. In the opening of this episode we meet the Plum sisters, and I hate to say this, but despite watching this episode three times I don’t actually remember their first names and I could barely tell them apart anyway, so we’ll just call the one Dean “falls in love with” Harley Quinn and the other one we’ll call… Harley Quinn’s little sister? Yeah, sure, why not? Between the cutesy valley girl verbiage and the bloody sledgehammer, I’m sure we were supposed to get an Arkham Asylum vibe off these two. At least, I really hope that was the intention. I’ll be honest, I was not impressed with these characters and I’m not sure if it was off writing, off casting, or off directing, but they felt really forced. From their overly stereotypical Millenial way of speaking to their overtly blatant mirroring of Sam and Dean (yes, we get it, one is younger and brainy, they other is older and protective, they’re obsessed with their dead mom and it could go badly, was that a hammer they were using or an anvil?) the Plum sisters, unlike their Winchester counterparts, came off as grating. Maybe they were supposed to? Again, I hope so. I will say that as a horror buff I enjoyed the return of Rowena’s mad dog spell and the demise of the Plum sisters at each other’s hands. I saw a lot of people say it was too much, too gratuitous, too gory. And perhaps it was, but given the movies I regularly watch and enjoy, well, I embraced it. While I will say I’m glad the love spell portion of the episode was short-lived, it’s always fun to see Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki show off their comedy elbow chops; Ackles with the perfectly timed glibness he brings to Dean Winchester and Padalecki’s Sam Winchester, ever the earnest Abbott to Ackles’ Costello, was subtle, stoic faced gold. Ackles and Padalecki got to play off each other magnificently in this episode; from Dean walking in practically floating on a love cloud, to Sam trying desperately to remind Dean they’ve been down this weird love spell road before, to Ackles’ delivery of “‘cause she’s got a sister”, to their tussle in front of the Impala (though, dang, these boys horseplay hard given the butt dent Sam left on the hood after Dean rushed him) the two actors smoothly show how well they work together no matter the material. But the star of this episode was Rowena. Her entrance was stellar, and she stole every scene. Ruth Connell is delightful in this role and for the most part (we’ll get to that later) I was glad to see her back because I was sorry to lose her last season, especially in such a cheap, off-screen way. I’m hard-pressed to fall for new characters, but Rowena is one that I really enjoy. Connell was able to give us comedy and tragedy in this episode, going from snark to desperation fluidly. I also have to give Steve Yockey heaps of credit for having Rowena not only ask about Crowley but allowing her to have an outburst about his death. Hearing her say that she’d rather have him alive than to have died a hero hit really close to home given that the lack of Mark Sheppard as Crowley has been quite the gaping hole this season. Take a note from Yockey, other writers, because I’m still waiting for Castiel to ask about Meg… Speaking of Castiel, he and Lucifer were locked up. Now they aren’t. And like, they had a whole big penis to penis measurement contest and Castiel for some reason tried to hurt Lucifer by telling him that Jack doesn’t even look like him, which… um, Lucifer is in the image of a seasons dead vessel so, of course, he doesn’t look like him. And also, when did you get to know so much about Jack, Castiel? I think maybe the writer accidentally gave Misha Collins some of Sam’s lines to say. If I sound like I was less than moved by any of these scenes, it’s because I wasn’t. The scenes weren’t objectively bad or anything, and not only has Mark Pellegrino has found his footing as Lucifer again, but he and Collins play extremely well off each other. Unfortunately, their scenes simply didn’t mesh well with the “A” plot and the dichotomy crashed the episode’s momentum. Although, I did enjoy both characters reminding each other what untrustworthy, hypocritical screw-ups both have been. Again, I appreciate it when Supernatural is self-aware like that because fallibility gives depth and interest. Now, you didn’t think I was going to review this episode and not talk about Sam and Rowena sharing their trauma, did you? Because that was a scene that many Supernatural fans have waited years for. In season 11, Sam was forced to not only work with Lucifer, but he had to allow Lucifer into his home, into his room, and wasn’t allowed to voice any grievances about it and while Padalecki did a phenomenal job adding little twitches and moments of tight body language and subtle distance, it was all too obvious that the writers were wary of taking Sam’s trauma seriously because at the time Lucifer was possessing Castiel’s body and the “Cassifer" version of Lucifer was played mostly as a joke throughout that entire arc, nothing but a bratty teenager throwing a tantrum, while Sam Winchester, the boy who had every reason to rip into both Lucifer and God, just stood on the sidelines silently like he was totally fine. But he wasn’t, he hasn’t been, and watching Sam and Rowena both delve into the trauma and abuse they experienced at Lucifer’s hand was fantastically written and acted. Yockey was able to give the characters just enough for them to convey, through their tone, inflections, and facial expressions how much they were, no are, broken by the Devil himself. Having them both admit to seeing Lucifer’s real face, while giving no descriptive details was brilliant. Both Padalecki and Connell were able to communicate to the audience how horrific it was for their characters without any unnecessary detail. Such a great “show, don’t tell” moment; it’s so much more frightening for the viewer to fill in the blanks. And Sam explaining that it isn’t that he’s okay, it’s that he never gets the chance to fully deal with his trauma because the world is always falling apart was both heartbreaking and much needed, not only for Sam to say it but for the audience to hear it. At the end of this episode we got to see the other side of the Ackles/Padalecki chemistry, their ability to rip your heart out, when Sam and Dean have a frank discussion back at the bunker about what to do going forward. Dean knowing that Sam gave Rowena the spell she wanted and instead of yelling and belittling him, he’s simply honest and direct with him and doesn’t question Sam when he says that if Rowena played him again, he’ll personally kill her. It was also good to hear Sam be open with Dean about how defeated he feels, about how he tried to mask that with conviction and hope, but that he can’t fake it til he makes it anymore. And while Dean’s words of encouragement and confidence may seemingly ring hollow to Sam, it’s not because Sam doesn’t have faith in Dean, it’s that right now he can’t see where Dean is coming from. Dean knows, because characters have told him for years, how important he and Sam are, how they keep this world spinning, but Sam has never heard it directly, not from God, not from Amara, not from Death, not from Billie. Those declarations have only been uttered to Dean and then conveyed by Dean to Sam, so Dean knows that they’ll figure out a way, that it’s basically destiny and Sam has no choice but to take Dean’s word for it. I could go on and on about the isolation of Sam Winchester, but that’s an article for a different day. [caption id="attachment_53290" align="aligncenter" width="696"] Photo: Home of the Nutty[/caption] Overall, this was a mytharc episode done well, slightly overstuffed as most mytharc episodes are, but coherent and well paced with a fantastic blend of horror, levity, and angst. That said, the last thing I want to touch on for this episode is something that was absolutely no fault of the writer, Steve Yockey, but I think is an increasing problem on Supernatural; the element of surprise is gone, as are the stakes. Supernatural was once known as a show where rocks fell, and everyone died. It was also a show where Jim Beaver once hid his reprisal of Bobby Singer by trying to convince fandom that he was in Vancouver shooting an abominable snowman movie so that his return to the show wasn’t spoiled Fast forward just a few years and the cast, crew, and network PR are spoiling character reveals weeks, even months in advance. Instead of being shocked by Rowena’s return we all went into this episode waiting for her appearance, and while we saw Castiel stab Lucifer with an angel blade; saw the red light go out of Lucifer’s eyes; it’s all for naught. Lucifer is the focus of the promo that aired right after the episode, and the synopsis for the next episode lays out exactly what he’ll be up to. Even last season finale, no one believed Castiel was actually permanently dead. Hell, it took Mark Sheppard declaring that he refuses to ever reprise his role for fans to believe Crowley was truly dead. No stakes means no emotional payoff. No secrecy means no shock and awe. Take a page from some of the greats, Supernatural, including yourself: what’s dead should stay dead, so kill your darlings and if you must bring them back, stop telegraphing their returns. Check out this week's Supernatural Devil's Bargain trailer above.

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

#Featured #Jared Padalecki #Jensen Ackles #Mark Pellegrino #Misha Collins #Ruth Connell #Supernatural

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bearofstarlight · 7 years

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Recap 9/8

I never done one of these before so please forgive spelling and grammar mistakes I also wrote this at a stupid time at night. Not really sure what info is what people want.

So yesterday was the first time seeing the new cast, I hadn't seen the show since Cast Change. I hadn't read any reviews of the new cast. I honestly wanted to wait until the cast had settled before seeing it again. But that all changed, I didn't expect to win Friday Forty last week.

I was quite attached to the original cast, so it felt weird seeing new actors, but moment it started it became exciting.

I took a picture of the cast board I didn't really look at who was on, because I don't know the cast that well. But then people started messaging me wantinf me to let them know what Gideon Turner was like.I didn't realize it was his debut as Harry. So it was very excited to see him perform.

I had no idea Gideon Turner would be so handsome, I really enjoyed watching him, his voice is very similar to Stuart. Hes a calmer Harry and is trying to please. A nice little gesture I noticed was when they were at King Cross, Harry had hes arm around Ginny shoulders, while he was talking she took his hand that was on her shoulder and kissed it.A very sweet gesture from Emma. I could feel she was trying to encourage and support Gideon through the show.

Theo and Samuel they are incredible together and you can see they are great friends off stage as well. I can even see them as a old married couple, in the way they argue which is endearing to watch. Give them time and I bet these two will do wondrous things with the roles.

Anyway back to Gideon Turner, he had a couple of issue when it came to the Blanket scene was Theo. I believed he forgot most of his lines cause he ad lib a whole chunk of dialogue about the gifts and why he gave Lily and James the gifes and that James had been harping on about having the invisible cloak. He then started talking about the blanket and how he got it and that wasnt from Dudley but he gave it a slightly different backstory. but credit where to due it showed how well he knows the story. He slowly steered the dialogue back on track so Theo could say something because he was listening and giving a couple word answers. And the blanket was just being thrown back of forth between the two. Then the argument started which got heated. Gideon isnt as shouty as Jamie but you could feel his anger. Theo getting angry and upset.

Rakie is good but I really miss Noma as Hermione. Love Tom as Ron, He got such great comic timing and I look forward to seeing where he takes the role.

Ive always love James Howard as Draco, for me he looks so much like a Malfoy. (But then yesterday I released he could play an Elf like in Lord Of The Rings, so maybe if they do another stage version, he would be ideal casting, he just regal and has a presents) I was so excited when he was announced to take over full time. But now I'm really excited to see Ed White because Ive heard hes very good looking and a great Draco.

In the begin I wasn't sure on April as Delphi but by they end I thought she was fantastic, scary and so good as evil, just what the character need but I do love Annabel as well.But I'm still waiting for someone to do a less shouty Delphi and more like Hannibal Lector/ Moriarty etc just a mash of all the best baddies.

Anyway back to Gideon Turner, he didn't make anymore mistakes during the show. His conversation with Dumbledore was great, he faced Dumbledore the whole time and didn't break down until the end like he was holding it back until Dumbledore left. Hes also doesn't slam his hand on the desk and doesn't slam the file down either. He just walks on and starts looking throw the files before Dumbledore entered.

Side note:I think casting Martin as Dumbledore was a wonderful decision. I love his Dumbledore, hes softly spoken and just full of love.Hes is the Dumbledore I imagine when I read the books now.

I found the audience very unresponsive in Part 1 they were hardly laughing at anything, but during part 2 they woke up.I really funny moment was when Samuel fixed time and is back in reality. He calls out every name, getting very excited and happy to see everyone, when he sees his Dad he goes to give him a hug but Draco has a look as is to say ‘you are soaking wet, don't you dare.’ Got a great reaction from the audience.

Rakie had a great moment too, when Scorpius tells her shes Minister of Magic.She turns to Snape puts her hand on her hips and as says ‘Im Minister Of Magic’ it was like her say ‘See told you, I’m a excellent witch’. I liked the New Snape as well.

For Godrics Hollow, Gideon didn't Scream like Jamie P,he just broke down and collapsed to the ground with Theo and Emma hugging him. Maybe in time he will become more braver in throwing himself out especially in the fight with Delphi.

Yet again I love the chemistry between Theo and Samuel. The Staircase scene was adorable and sweet,

Last scene was lovely and endearing to watch between Harry and Albus. I really hope I get to see Gideon again, I think he will turn into a fine Harry.

If there's any specific detail you want to know message me and Ill try my best.

#hpcc #cursedchild #review recap

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santamadredidios · 7 years

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SPN Finale Thoughts

I already said I’d share this, so here goes. I’ll talk about both episodes, but I’ll keep it short about 12x22, because even though there’s lots of stuff to mention there, in comparison to 12x23 it was literally relaxing to watch. Spoilers below.

12x22: Who We Are

In this episode, the BMoL are wiped out (finally!), or at least the branch of them that went to America and made a huge mess. To be honest, I liked that this storyline was more present than the myth arcs usually are, but mostly I found the BMoL rather annoying. Yes, it was a nice change of scenery to have some human antagonists this season, but to me their storyline was never as intriguing as the Nephilim myth arc, as the double finale perfectly displayed. 12x22 was great, I loved it, but it was not epic (12x23 was, but I’ll get to this in a minute). I can’t think of a single scene in this episode that I didn’t thorougly enjoy - all of the character development, the feelings (and Ketch finally bit it). Jody survived, but we didn’t get to see Eileen again, which I had been hoping for a little. Ketch killed Toni, and I was even a bit upset about this, but not that much honestly. Dean finally got to use the grenade launcher, faced his past, his most internal emotions, reconciled with his Mom, and don’t get me started on that group hug in the end. (Clearly, this episode set a completely wrong tone for 12x23, but to be honest so did the first 35 minutes of 12x23) My favourite scene however was back at Jody’s house, Sam’s speech in front of the other hunters (he did the “we - no, I” thing that so many people have been talking about regarding Destiel and brodependency); I was so so proud of him in that moment. And then Dean, choosing to stay behind and admitting openly that Sam is ready to be on his own: this was such a big step for both of them and it was beautiful, and then the BMoL were wiped out, Mary was saved and killed Ketch, Dean forgave her, Sam forgave her, group hug, credits. And then 12x23 came and hit everybody in the face.

12x23: All Along The Watchtower

If we combine these two episodes, it totally justifies the red wedding comment, but for me, 12x23 was a Red Wedding on its own. There are many points to address in this episode, and I’ll try to do it chronologically.

First of all, Rowena. No doubt, she deserved better than an off-screen death, but let’s not forget we haven’t seen a corpse that could be actually identified as her. Okay, there are multiple hints that the burnt figure on the ground is really her (her phone, her bag, the hair in Lucifer’s hand), but no body - no death. Also, why is nobody talking about the fact that the opening of this scene was super creepy, we see Rowena’s buzzing phone and her ringtone is this happy beepy tune, and then the camera wanders off to blood splats across the table and the floor... (Headcanon: what we heard is Rowena’s ringtone just for Sam, because of that “do I have my own ringtone?” in 12x11)

Crowley. Oh my. He just shows up at the bunker, complete with snarky comments, and doesn’t even leave out the fabulous tale of Crowley And The Rat. He admits his mistake (hybris even) regarding Lucifer, tells the Winchesters that he actually hates being the King of Hell, and then promises to close the gates of hell if they help him defeat Lucifer. To me, this whole season has been one big Crowley redemption arc, and in the end, he dies a hero’s death, sacrificing his life for a spell to lock Lucifer in that apocalypse AU. We don’t know if it was his spell that actually closed the portal, or the birth of the Nephilim, but I think that doesn’t really matter here. His intentions do: he died, saving the Winchesters and the rest of the world from Lucifer and a Lucifer-influenced Nephilim, and atoning for his own mistake. His last words: “Bye, boys.” I’m not crying, you are. The king is dead, all hail the king.

Lucifer. Mark Pellegrino said “if you didn’t hate me before, you will after this.” And god, do I. Most of the season I just found him annoying, whatever vessel he was in, but now I just wish him a slow and painful death, preferably at the hands of Team Free Will, because being locked in the apocalypse AU is far too good for him.

The Nephilim. (okay, this isn’t chronological anymore, but I’m saving the most important for last) We didn’t get to see him until the last five seconds, and that was super creepy. The burning footsteps, the shady figure in the dark, the golden eyes, that smile... apart from that creepy evil smile, he actually seemed scared to me, curled up in that dark corner, but now I don’t know what to think. I really like the fact that he’s not a baby, because I didn’t anticipate that, and apparently none of the characters did either. He looked teen-aged to me (but let’s be honest here, we didn’t really see him), but the actor in the opening credits, Alexander Calvert, who must have been playing him because who else, is 26 years old already, so he might be grown-up. Just as an aside, I don’t like the name Jack in general, and even less so as the name of Lucifer’s child. I hope they’ll stick with something else.

Cas. (*clears throat*) Cas. (*starts sobbing uncontrollably*) CAS! Alright, I’ll calm down. Still this was one of the most painful things to watch in like, ever. I had my suspicions about Cas dying, but on tumblr people referred to it as the “annual Cas panic” and told everybody to calm down, nothing was going to happen, WELL LOOK HOW THAT TURNED OUT! When Cas came storming through that portal towards Lucifer and Sam had to drag Dean away from him and back to their world, I thought for sure that Cas would get stuck in the apocalypse AU, and when he popped out again, I was so happy and relieved, and I guess that’s why it hit me so much harder when Lucifer stabbed him from behind. I’m not kidding, I screamed. Like, loud. I don’t think I’ve ever screamed at my TV before, but this time I did. I was in complete shock for the remaining minutes, and Dean collapsing next to Cas’ body broke me completely. Crowley’s death may have been painful, but it was nowhere near this, because at least his death made sense, whereas Cas’ death was uttlery pointless. It was just Lucifer breaking Daddy’s toys and sewing destruction. Cas was killed in front of the people he calls his family, the people he loves most in the entire world, and who love him just as much as he loves them, but he never really knew that. And Dean’s reaction makes it so much more painful, because you can literally see his world shattering when he screams “NO!” when Lucifer stabs Cas, and you can see everything breaking inside and out as he looks at Cas’ body and collapses next to him, not caring about anything else, while Sam runs off looking for the newborn Nephilim.(According to Jensen, we haven’t even seen Dean’s full reaction yet) As painful as it is, this just stresses Destiel (and fits perfectly with @tinkdw ’s break up theory), and honestly I can’t wait for Dean’s reaction when Cas comes back (after two days we basically have confirmation that he’ll be back :D). Even before Jared’s whoopsie at JIBcon and Misha’s tweet that “Cas has a future”, I was pretty positive that he’d come back, although there was something seemingly final about his death: this is the first time he’s died an actual “angel death”, white light/grace, wings burned into the ground and all. It’s his fifth time dying (I think), and it was certainly the most painful one, including Dean’s reaction. They have come so much further in their relationship this season, with the mixtape scene and all, but Dean still hasn’t reciprocated Cas’ “I love you” from 12x12. Back then, when Cas was dying, Dean was in total denial (as I will be from now on till October, when I won’t need to be anymore hopefully), but now he has to face this, he has to face Cas’ death, and he has to face his feelings for Cas. And as painful as that might be at first, you bet he won’t hold himself back anymore when Cas comes back after this.

#spn spoilers #spn season 12 #season 12 finale #cas #destiel #meta #dean loves cas #team free will #rowena #crowley #lucifer #season 13 spoilers

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wellimhavinga3outof10day · 8 years

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Lost Lullabies - Chapter Twelve

Description: Mickey Milkovich, former child star turned action movie star, runs into his old co-star, Ian Gallagher, out on the street in the middle of a winter night. When Mickey takes him in, he doesn’t realize that Ian has the power to completely turn his new life upside down.

Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

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Ian didn’t want to go back to set at all. It had only taken him a week to realize what a terrible fucking idea it had been to accept the role, but by then he’d already signed his life away. It was a lot of money. It was more money than he’d ever had in his entire life – hell, more money than his entire family had had in their collective lives. But that didn’t mean he was ready to see all the people he had run away from, all the people who had tried to help him after the show went down the drain, all the people who used to think he’d be the big name and Mickey would be the coked-up one-hit-wonder. It didn’t mean he would ever be ready to walk back onto a set opposite Mickey Milkovich and act like the guy was his best friend.

He’d lost track of how many times he’d apologized, how many voicemails he’d left. The week he’d spent in Mickey’s apartment felt like a dream. How close they’d been to crossing the line between friends and lovers felt like a fucking hallucination. Ian had never in his life been more sure that Mickey hated him and that included the moment when Ian had come out to him.

He remembered it now, on his way to the set on a bus. He was standing, one hand on the wobbly handhold that didn’t really help his balance at all. He kept getting shaken out of the memory by the movements of the bus, but the moment played back like it’d happened yesterday.

Ten years old, sitting across from each other on Ian’s bed, whispering so that they wouldn’t wake his brothers. It was the first time Mickey had spent the night. Fiona had walked him over to his house after dinner, heard something she didn’t like the sound of, and marched him right back. Ian had never been happier to see Mickey, even if Mickey had looked smaller than ever, eyes on the floor, tears glistening in his blue eyes. And this, the boy who hadn’t been able to cry on command no matter what the director said to him.

Ian had coaxed Mickey out of his shell, out of whatever horror he was hiding from, and had gotten him wrapped up in a heated game of truth or dare. A game of truth or dare too explicit for their ages, but they’d grown up in the Southside. Hell, Ian had seen his parents having sex in the kitchen by that age. Mickey had seen a lot worse.

The question had been would you rather fuck Tabitha or Christie? and Ian had answered honestly with the word, neither. Mickey had stared at him for a long moment like he had just admitted to giving away nuclear launch codes. Before he could ask what the fuck was wrong with Ian, Ian had said, I think I like boys.

Mickey had then let loose a thread of curses so violent Ian hadn’t even heard most of them before. Then he refused to sleep in Ian’s bed, demanded to be taken home that instant, made such a racket that Lip had woken up and thrown a pillow at them. Ian didn’t say a word, just waited until Fiona had come to check on them and taken Mickey home when he begged her to.

Ian remembered the first day on set after that less clearly. He remembered the director telling Mickey to perk up, that Ian was his best friend, remember? He remembered three weeks where Mickey didn’t talk to him outside of rehearsing lines or taping scenes. Then he remembered coming out to one of the producers when they told him that the plot line between him and Christie was going to start getting more romantic. When they threatened to fire him, he remembered Mickey cussing them out and saying he’d quit on the spot if that happened.

Mickey had always had his back, just like Ian had always had his. Until the moment that they hadn’t, things had gone to shit, and nine years had passed without them seeing each other. Ian wondered if today on set would be better or worse than the day after he told Mickey he was gay.

The bus came to a stop five blocks from the studio and Ian jumped off. He walked the rest of the way, picked up his pace when he checked the time, and arrived at the gate with the tips of his fingers frozen blue. The guard let him in, called someone in a golf cart to pick him up and bring him to the set, and then he was dropped off at the doors.

He remembered the set blurrily, like even being there years earlier had been a dream, and shook off the feeling. Without the drugs, he’d been having some weird withdrawal symptoms. Blurred vision. Nausea. Racing thoughts. Rapid speech. A libido through the fucking roof. He hadn’t been sleeping well either, but maybe that was the reason for the other symptoms.

A PA greeted him at the door and walked him around the set. As he went, he waved to the other actors he passed. He found he recognized most of them – Gabe, who’d played his dad, Christie, his love interest, even Mark, who’d been their third friend – but they didn’t wave back. The chilly reception didn’t surprise him. He’d made the rest of them look bad when he went off the rails.

He was dropped at the door to his dressing room with a copy of the schedule for the day. He paused to read it, ticked off the scenes in his head. He had memorized most of the script a week ago but still had it with him just in case the atmosphere of the set threw him off. And it was throwing him off big time. Being in the same place made him feel like he was having déjà vu or a weird dream. He wished they had chosen a different building.

No one spoke to him until he got over to Set C – the coffee shop. There the director ran him through the things he should have been told yesterday – what colour tape was his mark, how many cameras they were working with, what he could and couldn’t touch on set. He knew asking to start late had been a bad idea but yesterday had been Carl’s last day of leave from military school. He hadn’t wanted to miss him.

About ten minutes into the set rundown, Mickey appeared and Ian stopped hearing anything the director said. His heart started to beat harder in his chest and he had to swallow the lump in his throat. It had been a month. A month without Mickey and somehow Mickey managed to look even better in that time. Maybe when he was on set, he was on a diet, and therefore immediately looked better, but Ian didn’t know if that was it. It just seemed like Mickey glowed. Maybe his natural place was on a movie set. Maybe he had found his calling early on in life.

“Hey,” Mickey said when he reached them. He gave Ian a brief nod and then focused his attention on the director. Ian followed his lead even though part of him just wanted to pull Mickey aside and apologize profusely and promise to never talk to him again as long as he didn’t ignore him for the entire three months they were filming.

The director finished his spiel – he had a lot of tips on how to do the scene right and Ian immediately remembered why he had hated the guy – and waved them onto their marks so the cameras could set up.

Ian let the silence linger between him and Mickey for just a touch longer than was comfortable. Then he said, “So, about the whole kind of forcing you into this thing—”

“Don’t mention it.” Mickey looked at his feet.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Mickey said. He met Ian’s eyes briefly, then looked away. “Disney pays, man.”

“I know.”

A hint of a smile crept onto Mickey’s lips. “You’re doing good?”

“I’m clean.”

“Good.”

“Mick, I—”

“Ready?” The director called. Ian shut his mouth. “Set. Action!”

They dove into the scene – an argument that happened about halfway through the movie over the fact that Mickey’s character, Lance, wanted to drop out of the babysitting business in order to “really start his life.” Ian had taken issue with this part of the script because, well, the fact that two grown men had been running a babysitting business throughout all of college was creepy as fuck. The response he’d gotten was “get your mind out of the gutter, this is Disney.”

The director called cut on them several times, got them to start at different points in the scene. To Mickey’s credit, he didn’t break once, had all his lines memorized, and didn’t even trip over a single word. Ian thought that, due to his lack of experience, he was keeping up pretty well. He didn’t really know why the director kept telling them to restart.

They’d been at it almost half an hour and barely managed to get past the first three lines of the five minute scene. When the director yelled cut again, Mickey stepped back and rubbed his hand over his lips. “Again,” the director called, “from the top.”

“Fuck that,” Mickey said.

Ian knew he had no standing to agree, but he was glad Mickey’d finally opened his mouth about it. He was getting tired from being on his feet, from the bright stage lights, from saying the same twelve words over and over and over again. He felt like he was wearing a hole in his vocal chords.

Mickey stepped towards the director, but not off set. “At least tell us what’s fucking wrong this time so we can stop this bullshit.”

The director almost looked shocked, then he seemed to remember who he was working with. After a moment, he nodded and got up off his chair to join them on set. “You wanna know what you’re doing wrong?” he said, like it was a challenge. “You really want me to spell it out for you?”

Mickey took a step towards the guy, looked ready to fucking deck him. Ian placed a hand on his shoulder to pull him back.

“This,” the director said, gesturing to where they were touching, “is the fucking problem.”

Mickey glanced over his shoulder at Ian, like he hadn’t registered the pressure of his hand at all. Instead of shaking him off, he looked back at the director. “The problem is that we’re touching each other? I haven’t touched him fucking once.”

“The problem is you two look like you’re about five seconds from going at it against the fucking windows.”

Mickey raised his eyebrows.

Ian blinked and spared a glance at the tired extras.

“Excuse me?” Mickey said.

“Look, I couldn’t tell you this when you were kids, because it would have been inappropriate, but we’re all grown-ups now, right? So you wanna know the real reason they cancelled your show? It’s because they couldn’t tape two fucking seconds of film where the two of you didn’t look like you were head over heels for each other. But, reboot, they thought, hey, they’re older and haven’t seen each other in ten years and even if they still have feelings for each other, they might be able to fucking hide it better now. But apparently not.”

Mickey looked away with a shocked expression and then looked back up with the kind of smile on his face that Ian knew meant back the fuck up. He tightened his grip on Mickey’s shoulder, but didn’t know what good it would do. After all, Mickey was the star. Maybe if he decked the director, the director would be fired, not him.

“If this was the kind of perverted shit going on in your head when we were kids, I don’t wanna know what’s in your brain now,” Mickey said. “But I’ll tell you—”

“No.” The director held up a hand that miraculously silenced Mickey. “I’ll tell you. You might be a big fucking name, but I’ve been in this business longer. You wanna hit me? Fine. It’s not gonna fix anything. So you want to know what I really wanted to scream at you when you two little shits were filming scenes nine years ago?” The director raised an eyebrow like he was waiting for one of them to ask. Ian looked to Mickey. Mickey glared daggers at the director. “Fine. I’ll tell you. Either learn to goddamn act or go fuck it out of your system.”

Mickey’s silence was icy, burning.

Ian took his hand off of him.

“Take five,” the director said. “Come back without the fucking puppy dog eyes.”

Mickey stormed off. Ian hesitated a moment before going after him.

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#gallavich #shameless #Ian Gallagher #mickey milkovich #ian x mickey #mine #3outof10 fanfic #chapter twelve #lost lullabies

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