#i kind of went with the more creepier ones so i kept the kid from sixth sense off

[goryhorroor]

horror → children

[souichioneshots]

Adult!Souichi x Reader 【2 day fic; Day 2】 NSFW!!

Lol here's part 2

Ya'll said you like detail

well, here's a lot of detail

this is super ooc for sure, but whatever there's like barely any adult!souichi porn so take this shit and leave me alone

byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

【MUST-READ DAY 1 + Binzo FIC To UNDERSTAND WHAT IS HAPPENING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!】

Souichi loudly sighed as he placed the hairdryer back on the counter. He was exhausted. What had started out as a good day turned to shit in a matter of minutes.

Closing his eyes, he recalled the events that had unfolded before him that afternoon.

After checking out of the hotel, you two still had another four hours to kill until the kimonos were ready for pickup. Although there wasn’t a lot to do in the little town you were in, there was a large home center that he had planned on going to soon. He needed to get some things for the haunt and some everyday items for his family. You claimed you’d never been to a home center before, so it should be fun.

At least, that’s what he initially thought.

He had left you alone for 1 minute to go get a cart. Seeing how heavily invested you were in reading the comic book he told you he liked as a kid, he figured that you wouldn’t notice. But he was dead wrong.

As he put the items he was holding into an empty cart, the lights of the store started to flicker. He heard people screaming and things being knocked over.

Leaving the cart, he rushed to where he had left you. But you weren’t there. Instead, your mask along with several broken mannequins took your place. There were drops of blood everywhere. You had been scratching yourself again. A nasty habit you had whenever you got anxious. Following the trail of blood and broken items, he finally found you. You were in the pet-item section of the store.

His eyes widened in shock as he saw you, floating ever so slightly off the floor. A group of Japanese horned beetles circled your floating body as you swayed back and forth, like a body that had been hung by its neck. All the other animals in the area, the rabbits, the birds, even the fish all laid dead on the floor surrounding you.

He was about to call out your name and try to calm you down, but then he saw your eyes.

They had gone completely black.

Blood dripped from your nose and to your lips as you smiled at him. A shiver traveled down his spine as you met his eyes.

¡¡¡∀ﻼ∀ﻼ∀ﻼ∀ﻼ∀ﻼ ¡¡ɘɿoʜʍ 'υoγ uɒc 'ɿɘʍob γɯ ʇυoʜʇᴉʍ ϱuᴉɘp quɒʇƨ ʇ,uɒC ¡γʇɿɘboɿb ɿᴉɘʜʇ ɘʌɘᴉɿʇɘɿ oʇ kcɒp ɘɯɒc γllɒuᴉt oʜʍ koo⅃ ˙llɘM llɘM llɘM

Souichi couldn’t understand a single word you were saying. His heart raced as he remembered what the man who sold you had said. If you were ever displeased, you could take the power of others away, and in extreme cases, their life force. From the looks of you and the dead animals around you, this seemed like an extreme case.

The lights above you flickered rapidly as you placed your feet on the ground and walked towards him.

He needed to do something fast. You were drawing too much attention to yourself. Drawing too much attention to him! He needed to run. If he ran fast enough, he might be able to reach his family and disappear just before you could get him.

Just as he was about to turn around and leave, tears started to run down your cheeks, making him stop. You put your hands out to reach for Souichi, but he backed away, afraid you were trying to trick him.

“I,ɯ ƨoɿɿγ˙˙˙ Ⴇou,ʇ˙˙˙⅃ɘɒʌɘ ɯɘ˙˙˙ I,ɯ˙˙˙Sorry…Please…” The whites in your eyes returned as tears endlessly streamed down your face.

The people who had been watching from afar made a commotion as you suddenly collapsed onto the ground. Blood seeped from your arms, legs, and nose as your eyes finally shut.

It took all the power Souichi could muster to make everyone in the store forget what had happened. He was able to pin everything on a couple of teenage pranksters, but he prayed that no one would ever look at the security footage from that day.

Seeing that it would not be the best idea to travel with the bloody body of an unconscious girl thrown over his shoulder. He rushed to the nearest hotel. Using his power to make you undetectable by the people around him, he brought you into the room you two were in now and allowed you to rest. However, you had awoken while he was showering.

You nearly scared him to death when you entered the shower fully clothed.

Your face was emotionless, eyes slightly puffy from crying too much, and dried blood was smeared all over your body. Seeing how your legs trembled from exhaustion he offered to help you wash up, something his older sister would usually do for you, but you refused, asking him to leave. Quickly finishing up, he left you alone.

He didn’t know how long it would be until you finished. But either way, he wasn’t exactly looking forward to it.

Walking over to the mini-fridge in the room, he took out a can of lemon-flavored Strong Zero and chugged it all down in one go. He held the still cold can up to his head as he tried to relax his mind.

He really didn’t think things through very well when he got you. He should have heeded that man’s warning. All of this just to get more powerful? There were dozens of other ways he could get the power he wanted. Ritual sacrifices, joining covens, deals with demons. But he just had to choose the ‘easy’ route.

If he didn’t do something soon, he might end up powerless or dead like your old masters.

Souichi let out a sound of surprise as he turned around to see that you had been standing behind him the entire time. Small puddles of water formed around you as water droplets dripped from your hair.

“Y-You’re done? Do you need help drying your hair?” He nervously asked.

He really hoped you couldn’t read minds. God knows he can’t take on anyone as powerful as you, especially after all he did today.

Keeping your eyes to the ground, you spoke in a small voice.

“Where did you go?...”

“Hmm? You told me to get out?” Souichi tilted his head to the side in confusion.

“No!” You gripped the hem of your pajama-yukata, trying to hold back your emotions. You sounded like you were on the verge of crying again.

“You left me alone…at the home center…You tricked me…” Your body trembled as you took deep-uneven breaths. “Why did you leave me…Did I do something wrong… I’m sorry if I did something to upset you… I just… Please… Tell me…”

Souichi’s eyes widened at your words. He couldn’t believe what you were saying.

The scene you made at the home center was all because of him. All because you thought he left you. Dumped you to fend for yourself in an environment you were completely unfamiliar with. He knew he could never truly understand how you felt, but he assumed that it must have felt worse than the time his grandmother left him alone with a family who doesn’t understand him or his abilities.

He felt horrible for actually thinking about leaving you back there.

“Y/N… I wasn’t trying to abandon you. I just went to get a cart to put the stuff in. I’m sorry…” You looked up at him with teary eyes as he explained what had truly happened.

Stepping forward, you wrapped your arms around his slim body.

“Promise you’ll never leave me again…” The sound of your voice was muffled a bit by his clothes.

“I Promise.” He put his pinkie out for you to wrap your own around.

Moving back a bit, you both looked at each other and chanting in unison.

「指きりげんまん　嘘ついたら針千本飲ます　指きった！」

As you let go of each other’s pinkies, a devilish smile grew across your face.

“You’re suddenly in a good mood.” He said, a little surprised by your sudden change in attitude.

“Fufufu. Of course, I am. After all, a promise between two witches is sacred.” Rushing to stand on top of the bed, you pointed and laughed at him. “Don’t blame me if you end up drinking a water bottle full of needles one day ~! Kakakaka!”

Souichi couldn’t help but laugh at how similar you sounded to him when he was younger. Even your laugh, although it suited you well, was forcefully done just so you could sound creepier. You were like a little clone of him.

As you stood taller than him, Souichi was now able to clearly see the scratch marks that traveled from your knees up into your yukata. They looked painful. Your arms weren’t looking so good either.

Going to a bag filled with supplies, he called for you to sit down. “We should heal those wounds before we go back home.”

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, you waited for the man to start the healing process. He was the only person you had ever met that was able to successfully do this.

“Where did you get this?” You asked as you examined the green bottle of gooey liquid labeled ‘100% Aloe Vera’.

“I went to the superstore while you were asleep.” Souichi replied as he kneeled in front of you and took your arm into his hands.

“Hmm…” Suddenly you gasped loudly, making Souichi jump a bit. “The kimonos!”

“Ah~ I got those too. I even went to eat sushi from that place we saw yesterday.”

“Ehh--!!” You exclaimed. “You’re lying!! I wanted to go too!”

“Well then maybe you shouldn’t have thrown a tantrum and blacked out at the home center.”

You huffed and looked away in annoyance as he continued to massage your left arm. The scars slowly faded away as he chanted and rubbed the skin.

“Geez…You should have just gone ahead and conquered Japan without me while you were out…” Souichi laughed as you mumbled under your breath.

“So…did you have fun?” You asked as he moved onto your right arm.

“Not really. The sushi was meh and those annoying old ladies kept asking where you were. They even tried to fit me for a kimono.”

“Did you get one?!” You excitedly asked. Souichi shook his head side to side, indicating that he did not.

“Aw…That’s a shame. I personally think you would look absolutely delicious in a kimono.” Souichi looked at you with a shocked expression, making you go into a panic.

“N-Not that kind of delicious!! I mean uh… Like …nnn…” You ran your hand through your hair as you tried to find the right word. “Handsome! You would look very handsome in a kimono…uuuu…” You brought your hand down to cover your face as Souichi laughed at your embarrassed expression. You’ve been saying a lot of weird things like that to him recently.

Finally finishing your arms, he moved down to your legs. Souichi’s heart suddenly started to race as you pulled your yukata up, allowing him properly to see the scratches he needed to heal on your legs.

Clearing his throat, he gave you the bottle. “I think you can do this part yourself.”

You looked up at the raven-haired man in confusion. “No, I can’t. I never learned how to do healing spells. If I did, do you think I would have been walking around with scratches and bite marks all over my body this whole time?” Souichi sighed at your statement. You were right.

“Fine… I can teach you how to do this if you want.” He said as he opened the bottle.

“Ok. Teach me.” You let out a sigh as Souichi poured the lotion on your legs. It stung at first, but that pain soon melted away.

Rubbing his hands over the markings, he explained the spell to you. You paid careful attention, repeating the chant right after him and watching as your skin healed before your very eyes.

Seeing that you still had a couple of scratches trailing to the back of your legs, he told you to flip over.

You immediately apologized when a small growl escaped you. Being put in a vulnerable position like this was not something you were used to.

As you finally calmed down, Souichi noticed your body slightly move on its own. Your body slid down a bit, trying to keep his fingers on the top half of your legs. His mouth started to feel dry when he saw that you weren’t wearing anything underneath your yukata.

Your legs closed ever so slightly as his hands moved dangerously close to your already slick pussy.

“I-It’s really important to heal all parts of the body…” He nervously explained as he gently rubbed his thumb against your pussy, clear fluid sticking to it as he pulled away.

Completely forgetting about the other scratches on your legs, Souichi focused himself on another part of your body.

“This spell helps with cuts, bruises, and even... muscle fatigue.”

“Fatigue...?” You repeated the word like you had no idea what it meant.

“This place seems to be pretty tight. You probably have a lot of built-up fatigue here…”

You tried to hold back your voice as he slid his index finger into you. Your legs trembled each time he pulled it back and almost out of you. Souichi could feel his member getting harder in his boxers as he continued to finger you. The wet-hot sensation of you wrapped around his finger was making his mind go fuzzy.

He wanted to go further.

Grabbing you by your waist, he flipped you back over. Your cheeks were red, and your chest was rising and falling at an uneven pace. Souichi licked his lips as he got back on his knees and brought his face closer to your pussy.

“You don’t always have to use your hands for this spell though…But…I’ll need to help you if you wanna try this method…”

You let out a shaky moan as he pressed his tongue against you. Souichi could taste the Aloe Vera he had rubbed on you as he pushed his tongue in between your folds.

His tongue was tingling, and his mind was slowly starting to forget how or why he even started doing this to you.

Bringing his hand down to his boxers, he freed his aching erection. Clear fluid dripped from the tip of his cock as he started to move his hand back and forth.

Jolts of pleasure surged through his body as he slipped his tongue inside you, rolling over your clit every time he pulled out. It was almost like you two were actually connected.

He can’t remember how many times he repeated this motion.

Your legs physically trembled as your breathing became more erratic. He could tell you were gonna cum soon. But he couldn’t hold himself back anymore.

Pushing himself off of you, Souichi spread your legs wide. He needed to cum inside you. He needed to make you his.

“Fuck…” Souichi pressed himself against your dripping entrance as he sped up his hands’ motions.

Why did you have to cover your face with your hands? He wanted to see your face when he came inside you.

“Ah~I’m cumming…” His body twitched downward as he pushed just the head of his cock in and poured his thick white seed into you.

A smile grew on his face as he looked down at the mess he had made of you. His seed seeped out of your pussy as he pulled himself out.

Moving to the empty space next to you, Souichi laid on his back. Your shoulders slightly touched as he moved even closer.

His heart was still racing from how amazing that felt. Even now his body felt like it was tingling.

Souichi closed his eyes as he tried to catch his breath.

Completely oblivious to the immense amount of power that was being transferred into him right now.

[reynie-muldoons]

'The Art of Conveyance and Round-Trippery' Liveblog!

Sorry this is a few days late!! I moved across the country this weekend, we drove like 13 hours within 2 days and we did a lot of heavy lifting. I'm exhausted, but the boxes are slowly emptying and I've been wanting to watch this episode so gd bad, so LESGO

Over halfway through the season!!!! That's absolutely surreal

1:11 oooh they're getting their royal fitting

1:22 LMAOO WTF 😂😂 Princess Diaries vibes

1:42 ✨CONFIDENCE✨

1:52 Alfonse is a perfect name for that guy HAHA

2:05 Nathaniel, my guy, you've made some points

2:11 "do you feel your power?" POWER RANGERS, GO

2:24 no no hesitation just prolly thinkin bout how he was caught cheatin

2:39 "can you not allow yourselves luxury?" okay fr I feel that I get Nice Things Guilt(tm) too easily

2:52 dayummmm let's talk about Sticky being a hat stall between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, mans is brave as fuck under extreme pressure and loyal to the point of putting himself on the line

3:15 bro Sticky getting some recognition. Love to see it, he deserves it

3:19 "is that a coincidence? Or written in the stars?" IS DR. CURTAIN CATCHING ON THAT THEY KNEW EACH OTHER BEFORE OR LIKEEEE

3:49 WHAT WORD AROUND CAMPUS 😭😭😭 MY BOYS ARE NOT A MISTAKE HOW DARE YOU

4:09 why doess the action of Dr. Curtain putting the sash on them seem so nefarious

4:36 I dont really understand the whole pastel yellow, blue, and pink palette of the school but the boys both look pretty okay in their vest-sash getup

4:42 THE OPENINGGGGG. This shit slaps.

5:41 Kate and Constance look so fucking cute in that shot, dont ask me why but hnnggggg

5:54 sash rope 😂😭 kate, honey, that's a reach

6:09 it might feel buttery, but, my guy, it also looks buttery. It's literally the color of butter. Get yourself some crisco

6:24 I find it kinda interesting that they made up new riddles for the show, I'm almost positive that that one wasn't in the book. Correct me if I'm wrong though

7:03 "I'm not gonna apologize for knowing things" the sass. the ✨confidence✨. living for it

7:03 If they build on that it sets Sticky up really nicely for the arc in the second book where he starts to show off a little

7:15 tiny Constance who is constantly dressed in pink with cute little braids is the perfect medium for the most morbid comments 😂😂

7:55 Martina's hot in her uniform. Can't prove me wrong.

8:15 why does that make me sad 🥺 eat with your friendssss. iirc they only talked about eating at the Messenger table in the books

8:26 dipshits forgot their lunches. Seems Constance is holding the communal braincell atm

8:50 anyone have Guiness on speed dial? Reynie and Sticky have a submission for them

9:25 oh hello this was alluded to in the preview!!! Morse code is compromised, rip

10:05 so are Jackson and Jillson stuck with night guard duty all the time?? They've been outside at night a lot

10:18 ahhhhhh the little blinkie light, stopppp

10:25 MILLIGANNNNN!!!

10:25 so is this the point where he starts staying on the island with them????

10:39 so are they just like "fuck it we'll do it right before sundown" ???? Like Jackson and Jillson are still gonna be on the lookout, they aren't gonna chill just because it's not fully dark

10:50 did the kids.....just not tell them that Mr. Bloom was on the island 😂 nice oversight guys

11:05 MADGE TIME MADGE TIME

11:05 remind me to tell you guys a story about Madge, I may or may not have done something irl a few years ago that would make y'all proud 😂😂😂

11:16 idk why but it makes me so happy that they kept Madge as a peregrine falcon

11:37 Rhonda, my love, you have my heart in your hands

11:46 roll credits

12:05 THE HEAD SHAKE HAHAHAH

12:06 Awww man, I was so excited for Milligan to be on the island .-. He must have been scoping out the inlet

12:07 "they're quite regal" A. I read the subtitles as "legal" the first time and that's somehow really in character for him, and B. IS MILLIGAN GOING TO NAME HER???!? HER MAJESTY???? PLEASE I WOULD LOVE THAT SO MUCH

12:15 his grimace KILLS ME

12:17 the hard cut from Nicholas in a brown setting and brown suit to Nathaniel in a blue setting and blue suit was lowkey striking

12:36 are they looking up Morse code 😳 can you imagine if they wrote down the message and are now decoding it

12:41 omfg all that for a HAT 🙃 I feel stupid

12:51 two things: 1. Those walls are atrocious, and 2. Yeah, talk about Morse code in a louder voice Connie girl, you're just in a public hallway

13:03 I'm sorry but those orange pillar things are not the vibe

13:03 the golden gate bridge called, they want their arches back

13:10 please let Kate climb the tower before the end of season 1. please.

13:22 y'all are about to be flying something else 😎

13:33 cleansing breaths

13:47 OH HELLO MESSENGER DUTY ALREADY??

14:06 what the heck is that teal pole for 😭😭

14:12 blindfold timeeee

I'm so sorry but I'm exhausted, it's 11:30 pm on Sunday night right now, I'll finish this episode tomorrow morning after I get some sleepies

~~

Good morningggg lesgetatit

14:50 "vomit of metal" ashhdjdjd

15:16 a wild Martina appears!

15:36 and if you folks look to your left, you'll see a wild Constance being the voice of reason once again

15:57 "lose the bucket" "I'm not gonna do that" HELL YEAH KATE

16:07 I get not having the bucket on the court lolol, I thought Martina was telling Kate to lose the bucket in general. Like, yeah, good luck convincing her to so that

16:35 show!Kate is much angrier than book!Kate and I'm still deciding how I feel about that. The Kate we've known from the books is a sunshine baby with looots of repressed trauma.

17:03 ......what is that. why is that.

17:11 WAIT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE REYNIE AHEHDJDJD

17:15 HI MADGE

17:41 the grand swell in the music makes me think it's going to go comically wrong

17:51 she's majestic because she's a queen 🥺

18:03 LMAO CALLED IT

18:14 Rhonda and Number Two getting at each other is such a sisterly thing to do 😂😂😂

18:37 ohhhhh? Someone's approaching? Miss Perumal perhaps????

18:45 YEAHHHHH BABY

18:50 PROTECTIVE MOM COMIN IN HOT!!!

19:22 THEYRE SO PRECIOUS 😭😭😭😭 I feel like I've been subconsciously starved for her and Mr. Benedict's interactions

19:36 died at that line in the one trailer

20:00 so Miss Perumal pulled a Sherlock Holmes. Love that for her

20:20 Cheri Tupintown??? Of all the aliases they could pick, Cheri Tupintown???

20:33 "Power in Truth Inc" that HAS to be something Rhonda came up with

21:01 you can literally watch Mr. Benedict realize that this is a woman not to be fucked with and he is CORRECT

21:23 "he's fine. Perfectly fine." At this, Mr. Benedict's pants caught aflame.

21:52 something about Constance sitting in on practice!!! It scratches an itch!!!!

22:19 "incorporate the helix. Live in the helix." Lord Helix is pleased with this offering.

22:26 so what I'm hearing is Kate is going to blow up on Constance for messing with the bucket

23:13 unrelated but Jillson'a shoes are cute

23:29 why does this room give off Johnny Depp's willy wonka vibes

24:13 that looks like a chair from a doctor's office waiting room 😭

25:29 they do be egg heads tho

26:02 baby girl, I have no idea why you're crying at weird art but let me dry your tears 🥺🥺

26:50 SHE FOUND ITTTT

27:27 okay Indiana Jones, go off

27:46 why did that kinda sound like Miss Perumal

28:43 the return of everyone's favorite, "enjoyable"

29:05 not that I'm not loving the ice breaker questions and the one-sided conversation, but I'm not loving it

29:22 oh so we're getting right into it aren't we

29:54 his eyes being open again makes this infinitely creepier

30:36 "where's your proof?" Miss Perumal doesnt fuck around!!!

31:29 you're telling me Constance has been there all day?? And Kate went to find her???? 🥺

31:58 oh so we're getting right to it then?? Kate addressing her independence and trust issues arc????

33:29 NEWS!!!!

33:49 CONSTANCE RIDING PIGGYBACK!!!!!!

34:04 okay, so they opened the murder hole, what are they gonna do now

34:59 Italian? 🤨 m'sir that is so fancy

34:59 fun story I learned Italian diction in college, so I know a little bit

35:16 "take your time" the whisperer says, immediately repeating the prompt to get the answer sooner

35:31 theeeeere it is

35:46 SOMETHING ABOUT THE WHISPERER SAYING "YOU ARE HOME" 😭😭😭 the show really played up the cult shit!!

36:02 Kate being protective of Constance 🥺

36:20 ohhh shit is it time for Connie girl to have double Reynie? Double Sticky?

36:36 STICKY

36:52 "what kind of nonsense?" HAVE THEY NOT ASKED THAT BEFORE THIS?????

37:14 "and your tiny brain can somehow pick it up!!" KATE STOP 😂😂😂

37:16 "I knew you had to be special in some way." WE DONT HAVE TIME TO UNPACK ALL OF THAT

37:51 she's right, this is disregard for their safety. The show made Mr. Benedict and his team a lot more back-alley and dishonest, and Miss Perumal has every reason to be pissed

38:30 oh good they finally remembered he has narcolepsy

39:38 and the best mom award goes to:

40:38 I was gonna say that this hallway is how I imagined the KEEP in riddle of ages but then I remembered that (spoilers) the Institute is the KEEP

40:46 oh, hello propoganda

41:10 that's the other person Rhonda couldn't contact, along with Mr. Bloom. This has to be the brainsweeping process

41:22 yeppppp

41:44 this dark doctor's office theme gives me horror movie vibes

42:22 ohhhh, so that's how they replaced that scene where the four of them jump in a crate to hide and Sticky drops his glasses in the open

42:47 and so we've come to the part of the story where Sticky and Reynie become infinitely more conflicted

42:47 and since we've reached that point..... can we have the white knight scene? Pretty please? Please Disney I'm begging you-

43:12 so Reynie just figured that out without Constance? :/

44:03 love the manipulation

44:31 I'm sorry, the farm?

44:35 farm and forest????

45:16 "the Emergency has served its purpose" 😳 well okay then murder man

45:39 "one thought, one purpose" the hive mind rises once more

45:48 LOVE THE MANIPULATION

46:07 "what have you done to earn anyone's trust?" VALID

46:26 "please do!" WHY AM I EMOTIONAL

47:06 "we still have the falcon" that you do 😂

47:19 AYYY HERE WE GO!!! Time for Milligan to stay on the island??

47:49 ohhhh Constance, casual telepath strikes again

48:16 "stop it, Kate!" OOOOHHHHH

48:53 that line ("it would be nice to be unburdened") would be funny as shit if not for the fact that Constance is a telepath unbeknownst to herself and can both subconsciously perceive people's thoughts and hear the subliminal messages

49:20 HI MRS. PERUMAL!!!

49:25 wow, she's really going through with it 😳 not that I doubted her, but still, that's dedication

49:39 OH SHIT

50:17 oh, so he's an asshole to SQ too. Got it. Torches and pitchforks? Ready to kick his ass?

50:40 "for the moment, anyway" FUCKIN WHAT

This episode was really good!!! They covered a LOT. I hope Miss Perumal comes back to the group and talks about her findings, I hope Milligan goes to get the kids and they tell him no, and I hope they get that classic 4-person Society brainstorming and binding time that hits that sweet spot

[devinescribe]

With The Memories

Chapter 3 to '100 Promises'

Chapter 2 | Chapter 4

Warnings: Swearing, violence, weapons, bullying, blood.

"Haha, come on (Y/N)! You don't want to miss this, do you?" The boy shouted excitedly. You two had gotten permission to go off to a festival by yourselves. He had been on a trip with his parents for two weeks, and it would be the first time you two saw each other since then. You giggled, running down the stairs. "No, give me a second!" You shouted back, basically jumping into his arms. He laughed as you hugged him, burying your head into the crook of his neck. "I missed you! I'm so glad you're back," you said gleefully. He smiled, letting you go to push up his glasses. "Well, let's get going," he said. You nodded, grabbing his hand as you two walked through the crowded streets of Tokyo.

"And there was this really cool arcade with tons of games! I was really surprised that they even let me go, but it was more of a way for me to let them have alone time. Well, it was more mom's idea than dad's, but still, I want to take you there one day!" He excitedly rambled about his trip. Over the past year, Niragi's mother had noticed the way she treated you and her son was wrong on so many levels. So, she apologized to you, saying that she knew what she had done was wrong, and that it was ok if you didn't forgive her. Forgiveness wasn't something that came easy to you, especially when it was someone who had wronged you so much. But once you saw that she was trying to change and making an effort be better, you did. "Aww, that's so cool Gigi!" You shouted. "(Y/N) that nickname is so embarrassing..." he muttered, the tips of his ears turning pink. You laughed softly, apologizing.

You two had walked around, going on different rides, and trying different games. You had won a lot of games, and so had Niragi. "I'll trade you 5 ring pops for your sour patch kids," you said, holding them out to him. "Hmm... ok!" He said, switching the sweets with you.

The last game Niragi played, he had decided to give the prize to you. "Oh, is that your girlfriend?" The person tending to the game stall asked. You both shook your heads. "My apologies, well, you won so pick your prize young man," they said. Niragi, being more attentive than most, saw how you had looked at one of the stuffed animals on the wall. He pointed to it, and they got it down for him. They winked at him, whispering a 'good luck', before letting you two on your way. "Here you go, (N/N)," he said, giving it to you. Your eyes lit up with joy. "You're giving it to me? But you won the game," you asked, hugging it tightly. "Because you deserve it. I left you for two weeks," he smiled, patting your head. "Thank you!" You chirped, grabbing his hand, leading him to other places around the festival.

Niragi stood on the roof after Chishiya left, remembering the memory. It had only been a few years ago, when you were both 16. Could you really be here in the Borderlands? Or did Chishiya find out about you through someone, and now was using you as a way to piss him off? Or as a way to find a weakness in him? He looked out towards the people partying below. "All so pathetic. Having a party every day, every night as if none of them die. As if none of them could die right now," he scoffed out loud to himself. He tried to make his mind think of anything else, but he couldn't. She was the only thing on his mind. The girl who had been by his side for years.

"Niragi! Where are you? This isn't funny anymore, come out!" You yelled into the darkness of the empty park. You two had started a game of hide and seek, but it had gotten late, and yous still hadn't found him. You began to worry about what had happened to him, but pushed the thoughts aside, beginning to look more. "Niragi! Niragi Suguru, if you don't come out, I'm leaving and the next time I see you, I'll beat your dumbass!" You threatened, feeling frightened of the darkness. There were a few streetlamps, which only made it creepier to you. You heard boisterous laughter and yelling, and decided to go find what was causing it. Maybe it was Niragi? You sped walk over to the noise, it getting louder as you went. You tried to walk as fast, but as quiet as you could. You walked closer, seeing it was the guys from school. You looked up the tree they kept throwing things at, seeing Niragi up there. You gasped quietly, looking around, seeing what you could do. You saw one of them had left their baseball bat over where you were, and grabbed it. You put it over your shoulder, walking to where they could see you. "Don't you have anything better to do?" You asked, looking disgusted at them. Niragi's eyes widened with excitement. He knew you were not a delicate little flower, and as much as he hated to admit it, you were braver than he ever was.

"Aw, look it's his little girlfriend," one of them taunted. "What are you? Five? And if I was? At least he would have one," you laughed. One of the boys charged at you, going to grab you, but you quickly swung the baseball bat at his arm. You heard a cracking noise, and laughed, hearing him howl in pain, rolling on the floor. The noise wasn't sickening to you. It made you feel... in control. "Strike 1!" You shouted, looking at Niragi with a smile. He laughed as well, seeing the people who tortured you two feel pain. Another one of them had thrown a rock at you, which you easily dogged. "Do better!" You taunted. Another one of them had tried to hit you, getting to close. You swung your bat, hitting him in the head. "Strike 2!" Niragi shouted from the tree, watching to see if you needed his help. He saw you smile at him again. He would help if you asked him to. But, he also knew how much fun you had putting people in their place. Well, outside of your house anyways.

You laughed, seeing as they were scared now. "You bitch!" The second to last boy yelled, throwing another rock at you. You smiled, hitting it back with the bat. It hit his nose, and he yelped in pain. You watched as blood dripped from his nose, onto his lip, and on to the ground below. "Strike three, you're out!" Both you and Niragi taunted together. The leader of the group, or as you like to call him, the biggest idiot of the group, was the last one left. He pulled something out of his pocket. "People like you piss me off. You always think you're so good until someone else has the upper hand. You've spent the last 3 years of our lives tormenting us, and now we finally have the courage to stand up for ourselves. No more defenseless little girl. No more playing nice," you said. Niragi noticed him pull something from his pocket, and quietly jumped down from the tree. He walked behind, and you saw him. Watching his movements. "You think you know it all. But I bet you didn't see this coming!" The guy yelled, pulling the pocket knife out, charging at you. 'Child's play' you thought, waiting for him to get closer before you threw the bat towards Niragi. He caught it, and you smiled psychotically, crouching down quickly. Niragi threw the bat, and it fell just in front of the boy. He didn't have time to stop his attack, so he tripped over the bat. You heard a scream, and looked over, seeing the knife had gone through his hand. Both you and Niragi laughed watching him squirm in pain. You two watched as blood poured out onto the floor bellow him. "Karma's a sweet woman!" You shouted, walking over to Niragi. He high-fived you with a laugh. "Just to be nice, I'm going to give you advice, don't pull out that knife, and go to the hospital. And don't mention us, because you will live long enough to regret it," you smirked, walking off with Niragi.

Niragi found himself laughing at the memory. "I was so useless in that instance... but her? No way. She'll survive here, I know it," he said to himself. He remembered how he thought you looked like a goddess in that moment. A saving grace for him. Not an angel, because you were far from holy, but a goddess of... well, he liked to call it karma. "Maybe... maybe I don't have to wait for a game to see her. If I know her, I know where she is," he whispered to himself. If anyone could survive these games, it would be you.

Last Boss had come up besides him. "My patrol is over?" Niragi guessed, looking at the man besides him. He only nodded. "Alrighty, well, good luck, I might be out late tonight, but don't worry because I'll be back with someone who could be highly useful to us," Niragi said. "Who might that be?'' Last Boss asked, quite curious. "(L/N) (Y/N). The most badass and clever girl I've ever met," Niragi stated with a smirk. "Is she good with weapons?" He asked. Niragi nodded. He knew you were skilled with those things. The world had let you to be. "Well, you should be telling Aguni and Hatter, not me, but she sounds interesting," Last Boss commented.

Niragi walked to the room where he expected Aguni and Hatter to be. They were there, sitting at the table, drinking some kind of liquor. "Hey, I got word from Chishiya of a talented player. I know who she is, what she can do, and have an idea of where she might be. I'm going out to find her, and bring her back here," Niragi said as soon as he went into the room. Hatter smiled his usual charming smile. "Her name? What relation she has to you and how long you've known her, as well as the skills you say she has?" Aguni questioned, keeping the stoic look on his face. "(L/N) (Y/N), I've known her for 8 almost 9 years, she's skilled in weapons, reading people, and quite intelligent as well as clever. She doesn't get attached easily, and would sacrifice others to achieve her goals, so a potentially strong player for hearts and diamonds games," Niragi stated. "Ooh, how interesting! I like her already. If you can find her bring her back, I'm sure she'd be quite good for the militals, wouldn't she?" Hatter asked, looking over at Aguni, who nodded. Niragi smirked, nodding and heading out.

Oh wow, what's this? (Y/N) isn't a scared little baby who can't do anything for herself? That's right bitches! (Your all very lovely, don't worry^_^) I got tired of (Y/N) always being a crybaby and being to weak for her own good, so we are attempting to make her a Harley Quinn type character, with the confidence of the boys at my school who thought I'd say yes when they asked me out, and the badass attitude of... well... me? I don't know, all I'm saying is, she isn't going to all like "Help me! I can't do anything for myself and everything scares me!" Kind of character. It's totally ok if your (Y/N) is like that, it's just I didn't want mine to be like that. No hate to anyone who makes theirs like what I described, you guys are amazing nonetheless!

[melchron]

Nightmare Time Episode 3 Thoughts

I usually save this for the end of my thoughts but I have to say this now. OMG MATT DAHAN!!! I WILL NEVER NOT BE IMPRESSED BY HIM! Usually with the episodes I catch 1 or 2 motifs but I swear I caught everyone this time. And they all fit so well. My attention was evenly split between the music and the story this time. It was so freaking good. Matt deserves all the awards like omg.

I think this is the least laggy the theme has been. Good job going all out for the last one!

I said to my mom "Did Shashona record this video?" and she did!! Great cinematography Shashona!!

I also pointed out the Tim's daddy mask. I said "Aww he's wearing a mask for his son!". I guess my mom got confused and forgot Tim's name because she thought I was talking about Dylan's (nonexistent) son.

THE DRILL PRESSES!!

LEX AND ETHAN

I kind of already knew this but I love that Ethan knows cars. I just likes that he has a hobby.

Lex cares about Tom so much I love it.

WHY DID JANE TRY TO KILL ETHAN?!?!?!? TOM DOESN'T WANT TO MAKE LOVE TO HIM!!!! DID SHE HAVE SOME PERSONAL REASONS LIKE WHY!?!??!

That Lexthan interaction was so cute. I love how he saw she was super sorry and scared and he just stopped being mad and comforted her. They are so cute I can't handle it!!

KENDALL!!! Ok so through out this whole thing I know everyone was excited for their favorite character to come back but I really just wanted to see Kendall again. I guess after BF I assumed we would never see her again because I couldn't see them working with children becoming a normal thing. But when the original cast announcement came out I got so happy to see her name. So I was super excited to see her.

Her covering her hair with a beanie looks better than the wig

UNCLE PAUL I'M SOFT I CAN'T HANDLE THIS!!!!!

Cineplex Teen is like Larry from tawog. I guess we should start calling him Obnoxious Teen then. Until we get a name.

I love that Tim immediately likes Becky. Wish I could say the same for my stepparents.

Santa Claus Is Going To High School bb. Also I want to hear the rest of that song. Also also how many wigs does Lauren own?

TONY GREEN

Why must they make love to this movie everytime? Can't we simply just watch it and make fun of like normal people? That way Tim can enjoy it too.

Good for Jane for making sure her son doesn't have to eat disgusting school lunch. She gets good mom points.

Aww Becky reassuring him he's not a Dummy

Becky is like really horny this episode. Honestly Tom's into so go ahead girl

JAIME IS JANE

OK OK OK SO Jane said they were driving home from her parents house. Which means they were still alive when Jane died. That was only a year and a half ago so the Perkins parents might have died more recently than we thought. It's like Spring of 2019 right? So Jane died around Fall 2017. I don't remember if this was said in the show (it probably was and I'm saying nothing new) but I think Black Friday takes place about a year after her death. Tgwdlm took place October 2018. They have to have died only a few months before then. How long had Emma been in Hatchetfield before tgwdlm? Maybe there is a possibility we can see a flashback of an interaction with her parents depending on how long it's been. Also that means Emma lost her whole family in the span of a few months omg. And Tim lost his mom and his grandparents in that time. I want to see how they grieved with all of that. Also I know I'm crossing universes here but Emma also almost died the same day Jane did. Some strange force must really have it out for the Perkins family. Good on Emma for surviving like a champ.

Ok so I thought they went scouting for girls because Jane didn't want the man she loved to have to devote the rest of his life to a car. I thought she was trying to help him move on. She was getting good lover points but those have since been redacted.

Jane is definitely bi and I love that for her. I don't care if she tried to kill her new crush. It was new enough for it to mean nothing.

GREENPEACE GIRL

Tom does look like a creep ngl

Jane reminds us she's a car a lot. Like girl we get it.

No. No. No. NO NO NO NO NO NO NOPE! We're not talking about it. I don't want to. I stared at James the whole and honestly same dude. I saw Nick in my peripheral vision and loved/hated that he was laughing. RIP to me watching this with my mom. RIP to Kendall. Actually rip to everyone who had to sit through that. RIP to Jaime and Dylan for having to perform that. RIP to the cursed rehearsals. Matt and Nick seriously took the time to sit down and write that. What the heck you two?!? This made me more uncomfy than the entirety of mamd and Ted's character combined. I wish I was exaggerating. Maybe this was just me but it felt longer than it needed to. The relief and worry I felt when Tim walked in is a feeling I can not explain. Glad he was clueless.

Tim sweetie I love you but SHUT UP

Jane is crazy and Jaime is doing such an amazing job at portraying that.

Yes Tom. Because grave digging is way crazier than possessed cars.

I asked my mom why the didn't just go grave digging for Jane's body but my mom said the body is probably all rotted and gross so that explains that.

Why didn't Becky just go inside? If she went far enough I doubt Jane would have been able to hit her even if she managed to break into the house. Also let's assume Becky's house had an upstairs. There, perfect safety.

Did Becky seriously die in the same woods as Stanley?

Ok so I thought the tree thing was a reference to little Irish girl Becky from the Black Friday sk10 stream. But now it seems like something more serious and bad happened so I'm curious.

DID JANE GET TOM ARRESTED?!?!? It seemed like she could drive herself at that point. Why not let him get out and get Becky yourself? Is this that self confidence thing Tom talked about?

Is she really about to have her son be obsessed with Ms. Becky for the rest of their lives or is she gonna tell him?

This next episode made me physically jump twice. I say literally a lot but I promise you I'm using it correctly when I say I literally jumped.

KENDALL'S SINGING

I saw the thing about the ukelele being a bday gift from the cast so this was super sweet

Ok personal time. My grandmother's name is Pamela and my mom decided to permanently cut ties with her a few months ago due to her abusive behavior. Me and my sibling are still allowed to talk to her whenever we please but we haven't seen her as much as we used to. I got kind of scared watching this with my mom because I was scared this would trigger something. She didn't say anything and I didn't want to bother her about if she was fine so I didn't say anything. Anyway this just kind of hit different for me.

JAIME'S RANGE OMG

"I want to be alone with my man." Ms what are you about to do to your Tv?

DON'T GIVE HER BEER

Duke seems chill. I like him.

LEX AND ETHAN GOT ARRESTED!?!?!? FOR SELLING HER PILLS!?!??! THAT SHE TOLD THEM TO SELL!?!?!? I HATE HER!!!

Does Ms. Foster have a type or is being male good enough?

Hannah's 14? I thought she was the same age as Tim. I could have sworn in the BF commentary track they said she was 9 or 10. Did my brain make that up?

How does Kim change her hair so quickly? She did this in episode 2 too? I could never. I am very impressed.

Curt and Kim talking over the phone while standing shoulder to shoulder was funnier than it should have been

Ms. Holloway is cool. YAY MOSTLY GOOD WITCHES

How does Ms. Holloway know? I need a backstory please!!

Ok so I saw Jon in his cape and thought he might be the with. But then I saw James in his cape I y'know stopped thinking that. Anyway I'm obsessed with Jon and James in capes. Kind of wish Corey had one too.

OH I JUST THOUGHT THIS AS I'M TYPING NOW ok so that tree she was talking to at the beginning was one of the tree people. I'm embarrassed it took me this long to realise it.

Hannah is way too calm about these talking trees and sometimes spider ladies. I respect that.

There was a lot of black and white theming in this episode. More than normal. It makes me more curious about what exactly Hannah's connection to it is.

Hannah almost died in her own mind. I was kinda hating Ms. Holloway in this moment because she forced Hannah to go into her mind. But I know she had to so I'm cool with her again.

THE STARLIGHT THEATER

Did she really say just don't be scared next time? Like miss some actual advice would help.

CAN MS. HOLLOWAY'S MIND LEAVE HANNAH ALONE?? Like I know you didn't get the reaction you wanted out of her but you're seriously gonna give up and go for a little girl instead. Pathetic.

"What's shakin', Banana?" That was the first time I jumped.

WIGGLY

What exactly is that 6-legged girl? I wish we had a visual. Also how couldn't Ms. Holloway help her? What was her issue? Npmd you got anything for me?

Wiley. Just seeing him come up. That was the second time I jumped.

Also everyone already said this but props to Joey for his commitment. Shaving in between episodes like omg sir you didn't have to go all out for this. But you did and I appreciate you for it. Also HE KEPT THE JACKET?? WHAT!??! Just fully committed to this character go off Joey!!

Usually I would laugh at stuff phasing through the green screen but this just made it creepier.

HOLLOWAY AND WILEY/WILBUR BACKSTORY PLEASE

But also I love how the script had him listed at Wilbur above his lines. I remember Nick called him Wilbur once in the commentary track (possibly by accident) but it's nice to have it in cannon. I don't remember I any of the characters called him Wilbur because I'm so used to seeing Wilbur and Wiley used interchangeably but this was just nice to have canonized.

DUKE PAY ATTENTION!! FREAKING USELESS RIGHT NOW!!!

Dang Wiley she was already being choked in the physical world you didn't have to choke her in her mind too calm down

YAY MORE DOLLS

NICK I WAS KIDDING ABOUT AN APOTHEOSIS DOLL

Is the mouth one (I see we've named him Nibbly. Good because his full name is too long to type out) gonna be the npmd villain? The pick color theme seems cool.

ANGELA'S TRANSITION THOUGH!!! Omg she switched roles seamlessly. And her voice too!! Go off Angela.

MARIAH IS WEBBY

This is random and unrelated but I never noticed how big Mariah's eyes were before.

So Webby and the Doll Gang are all siblings? I find it interesting that the were described to all where black. And Webby's color theme is white. Like how the good and bad ukeleles were white and black. This might sound really dumb see as we don't have a 100% accurate visual of the black and white but I wonder if Webby ever left would it be 100% black? Like if Wiggly went through the portal would it become a little less black? Does this make sense? Also I'm starting to see the black and white as less of a bad place. Its starting to see more ominously neutral.

Hannah's favorite show is He-Man no I do accept criticism.

Ms. Holloway is a nerd. She saw Hannah make the reference and was like "Huh. I f she likes He-Man maybe making this hat a reference will make her like me." She would only know if she watched the show. But then again she seems to be stuck in the 80s so maybe she just thinks that's what's popular with the kids.

MS. HOLLOWAY PLEASE GET LEX AND ETHAN BACK

AND ANOTHER GREAT SONG TO END IT OFF

This episode was......a lot. So much happened. Loved all of it. I am scared of Nick and Matt's minds but also incredibly grateful for them. As usual everyone's acting was top notch.

I love this episode.

Also I'm just gonna say it. Jon ruined Nick's season one reveal.

[kelyon]

Golden Rings 15: A Home

The Storybrooke sequel to Golden Cuffs

Mrs. Gold puts herself to bed

Read on AO3

Mrs. Gold rested her forehead against the passenger window of the squad car. The cold glass gave her something to focus on. Something real and solid in this swirling haze of booze and impossible facts.

Sheriff Swan was driving her home. Graham had done this, more times than she could remember. Whenever she was out making too much trouble to ignore, Graham would take her back to Mr. Gold. 

Emma Swan was taking her away from him.

Graham had always been quiet, but Emma kept trying to talk. Mrs. Gold kept her face to the window and let the words wash over her. 

“I know it’s hard to get out of a bad relationship. I can’t imagine what it’s like to get out of a bad marriage. But it’s really important that you learn to put yourself first. Put your own safety first. And if that means walking away--then you just gotta do the brave thing.”

Do the brave thing and bravery will follow. 

The words felt weird in her head, foreign and familiar at the same time. Like something she had known once, but forgotten. What was she remembering it from? A movie? Some hokey book she’d read as a kid?

Mrs. Gold had never cared much about being brave. It didn’t take courage to do what Mr. Gold ordered her to. If she was being honest with herself, she did tend to obey him out of fear--fear of disappointing him, fear of his disdain. Fear of losing everything he gave her, especially those scant, precious fragments of himself.

“And I will help you! I just need you to tell me you need help.” Emma Swan was still talking. “Just give me a reason. I’m not afraid to use excessive force.”

She looked up. “On Mr. Gold?”

Emma pulled into the driveway of Mr. Gold’s house and parked the car. “Why not give a wife beater a taste of his own medicine?”

“He’s is not--”

“Yeah, but he’s not a responsible dominant either,” Emma cut her off. “The kinky stuff is based around trust, so you gotta find someone who’s trustworthy. Good for you if you like pain play, but for the love of God, don’t give that kind of power to someone who isn’t going to care about you.”

“I told you in the station, the problem isn’t how Mr. Gold uses me. The problem is that he hasn’t done anything with me in months!” Fighting off tears, Mrs. Gold unbuckled her seat belt and tried to bolt out of the car.

She got two steps toward the house before everything got all spinny again and she had to slow down. Before she knew it, Sheriff Swan was beside her, holding her up by the elbow.

“Okay, lightweight, whatever you say.”

Mrs. Gold jerked her arm away. “I’m alright on my own.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” She was still walking beside her. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna tuck you into bed. Unless you invite me in or I have reason to believe a crime in progress, my jurisdiction ends at the front door.”   

“Whatever,” Mrs. Gold muttered. She had Mr. Gold’s keys in her coat pocket. The weight of them was like ballast on a sailboat. They steadied her. 

Emma followed behind her as she went up the porch steps. She waited by the door while Mrs. Gold fumbled with the keys. There were so many of them. Months ago, Mr. Gold had sent her out to have copies of the house and shop keys made for herself. That was one of the first strange things he’d done. Those keys were in her purse in the front hall. She still wasn’t used to letting herself come and go. Mr. Gold’s key was original to the house, a brass skeleton key from the 1890s. It wasn’t any trouble to open the door and walk in. 

“You gonna get the lights?” Emma asked.

“No,” Mrs. Gold held her head high. “I like the dark.”

Emma raised her eyebrows. “Guess that’s your choice. But before I go, I gotta say it again: Call me, if you need help. Or if you have questions about how other people do BDSM. Or if you just wanna talk. Okay?”

Safe in the darkness, Mrs. Gold gave a condescending smile and a nod. “Sounds great.” 

“Take care of yourself.”

“Sure,” she said. And shut the door. 

****

She didn’t turn the lights on as she made her way to the kitchen. Mr. Gold’s house was big enough and clean enough that she never worried about bumping into things or stumbling over a pile of clutter. Nothing like the place where she’d grown up--cramped and filthy, piled high with junk. They never wanted to throw anything away. You never knew when you might need something that you hadn’t used in ten years, but you knew it was wrong to waste money on getting a new one when there was a perfectly good one around here somewhere. 

Mr. Gold’s house was a better home than her father’s house had ever been.

She didn’t stop moving until she got the refrigerator. Wincing against the blinding light, she searched for a bottle of sparkling water. She put the cool glass against her swollen eyes and sighed. She kicked away her heels and leaned against the refrigerator door. When she drank, the bubbles popped sharply against the inside of her mouth. It was a needle-sharp pain, soothing in its way.

She’d never drunk sparkling water before she met Mr. Gold. They always used the tap, and if it tasted like dirt or sand, well that was just extra minerals. Not like they could do anything about it. If it tasted like chlorine or carcinogenic runoff from some factory upstream, they couldn’t do anything about that either. People like them just had to keep drinking what life gave them because they couldn’t afford anything better.

She’d have to go back to that--if anything happened between her and Mr. Gold. If he decided he didn’t want to be married to her anymore. Their pre-nuptial contract was very clear: If the marriage ended for any reason, Mr. Gold kept everything. Even her clothes and jewelry. Even her wedding ring.

And her father would have to start paying rent again. She’d never hear the end of that. Of course, she never heard the end of it when Mr. Gold told him he didn’t have to pay rent anymore. Or, more specifically, that whether or not he had to pay rent was entirely up to Mrs. Gold.

The idiot florist had hated hearing that. Mr. Gold had given his daughter financial control of his shop and his house. She could waive the rent or charge him double or kick him on the curb and burn the buildings to the ground as she saw fit. Her father had sputtered and raged and sworn a blue streak when he’d found out. But marrying Mr. Gold meant she didn’t have to listen to his tantrums anymore.

Would he take her back? If Mr. Gold kicked her out, would she even have the option of living with her father again? 

He’d told her she could, on the day that she left. Her father had said that she could always come back. But she knew that he meant she could leave Mr. Gold and apologize for the unforgivable crime of liking sex. She could live with her father if she was willing to put herself on his idea of good behavior. If she never told him what she really thought about anything. If she was willing to cook and clean and slave away in the flower shop just so the two of them could have enough money to scrape by. Like she was a fucking teenager again.

Shitty as it would be to be back in that house, it was probably better than being homeless.

She finished the bottle and threw it in the trash. She still hadn’t turned on any of the lights. She could walk around Mr. Gold’s house blindfolded. In fact she had, many times. And on her hands and knees. And on a leash. And with a ten-inch dildo in every hole she had. That was how Mrs. Gold paid rent. 

Do you have somebody you can stay with tonight?   

Emma Swan’s words had been ringing through her head since she’d first heard them outside of Granny’s. She’d told the Sheriff that she didn’t have anyone. That was probably true. No one who would pick her up at the police station, at least. No one who would want to deal with her while she was drunk and emotional. No one wanted Mrs. Gold when she was at her worst.

Not even Mr. Gold. 

****

The door to the bedroom was open. The bedroom, where all this trouble had begun. She’d had a dream that her husband loved her, and when she’d woken up, she’d tried to make it real.

But he had been dreaming about Belle. 

Belle.

The name had a weird echo in her mind. The other woman. Her husband’s lover. The only other person she could blame for her unhappiness. Was Mr. Gold thinking about Belle now? Would he tell Belle that he had spent a night in jail?

Would he tell her he had done it so Mrs. Gold wouldn’t have to?

In the bathroom, she ran a washcloth under hot water and pressed it against her face. Most of her makeup had been cried off earlier, so the wash was more for warmth. When Mrs. Gold looked at herself in the mirror, all she saw was her own exhaustion. Red eyes, flushed cheeks, quivering lips. Even cleaned up, she was still a mess.

But Mr. Gold had put himself in jail for her.

She looked closer at her reflection, so close that she pressed her forehead to the glass. So close that she couldn’t see the whole of her face. She was just an abstraction, broken apart into pieces. What about her was worth that kind of sacrifice? What about her was worth anything? In the mirror, she was nothing but pink skin, dark lashes, sky blue eyes.

Mama’s eyes.

Mrs. Gold jerked away from the mirror like it had electrocuted her. Maybe it had. Something had to happen to make her hear a voice in her head.

It was her own voice. Only sadder, more gentle. That was how her thoughts had been in the squad car too. And she’d heard it before then. Off and on, in little flashes just like this. She’d been hearing it for weeks. 

If there was anything creepier than hearing a voice in your head, it had to be agreeing with that voice. It was right, she did have Mom’s eyes. Sky-blue, just like Uncle Peter and  Andrew used to have. Just like Janine and Chloe still did.

But she had never thought of her mother as mama. That sounded like something from some historical drama where everyone wore ball gowns and corsets. Maybe she was being possessed by the spirit of a Regency aristocrat. Maybe one of her past lives was trying to communicate with her from beyond the grave.

Or maybe she was very, very drunk.

She turned the light off in the bathroom and peeled off her dress, then looked around her armoire for something she could sleep in. Mr. Gold had never bought her any comfortable pajamas, only negligees and skimpy short sets. In the past--which Mrs. Gold was about two weeks away from thinking of as “the good old days”--she’d rarely worn anything to bed. Once they got home, the only reason she wore clothes was so Mr. Gold could take them off. Especially her lingerie. Mr. Gold liked nothing more than to rip her underwear off her body and leave her in tattered rags before he fucked her 

Mara Trudine probably couldn’t have kept Sugar ‘n’ Spice in business if Mrs. Gold hadn’t needed to restock on panties every week. Well, that was one way to help out an old friend. 

There was one long sleeved tee-shirt in her wardrobe. It was mostly see-through, with a pattern of red velvet roses dotting the thin red mesh. In the magazine, the model had worn this shirt with a camisole underneath. Mrs. Gold was lucky if Mr. Gold let her wear a bra when she went out in this shirt. 

But it was the closest thing to comfortable that she had. A pair of leggings would keep her legs warm. Mrs. Gold didn’t own any sweatpants or yoga pants--or any pants at all for that matter. Mr. Gold had always treasured the ability to grab her whenever he wanted her. Skirts and dresses provided the best access, so that was all he let her buy. 

She sighed. Of course, that was in the past. The way Mr. Gold was acting now, he might as well have bought her a space suit to wear around town, helmet and all.

This was the first night she’d ever spent alone in this house. This was the first time she’d ever gotten into this bed and not expected Mr. Gold to join her. As she pulled back the quilt, Mrs. Gold was struck with a memory from last night: Her husband, trembling with rage, throwing this same blanket over her body before he left. She had tried to make love to him. She had tried to pretend to be Belle, just to get him to touch her. And he had seen it as a betrayal, a violation.

He was right.                    

Mrs. Gold knew that she had done wrong. Her actions were not just immoral, but incorrect. In trying to force her husband to be near her, she had only made him want to be further away. He had run away from her to the guest bedroom. Run and hid, like she was a monster.

Emma Swan kept trying to protect Mrs. Gold, but she didn’t understand. Mrs. Gold hadn’t just done wrong, she was wrong. She was the wrong person. It felt like she always had been. Wrong as a daughter, wrong as a friend, wrong as a student, wrong as a girlfriend. 

Wrong as a wife. 

For as long as she’d been married, she had told herself that the feeling of wrongness didn’t matter. No one’s opinion of her mattered except for Mr. Gold’s. She didn’t have to be good at anything else, as long as she was the slutwife he wanted. But over the past several months, he had made it clear how little he wanted anything to do with her. Maybe he hated her as much as everyone else in Storybrooke did. 

She couldn’t sleep in this bed. This was their marriage bed. If their marriage was broken she’d be better off sleeping on the floor. At the very least, she would follow in Mr. Gold’s footsteps and run away to the guest room. There, she knew, she wouldn’t have the memory of Mr. Gold hating her. If he thought of Belle while he had waited for sleep last night, she didn’t know it for certain. She wouldn’t have to think about it. 

With the lights still out, Mrs. Gold went across the hall to the other bedroom. Mr. Gold’s dressing gown hung from a hook behind the door. She buried her face in the silk and breathed in his scent. Before she could think about what she was doing, Mrs. Gold had wrapped the dressing gown around her body. She pulled it tightly over her shoulders, hugging herself, pretending Mr. Gold was holding her. Pretending that Mr. Gold would ever hold her again.

This bed was smaller than the one in their room. It felt less empty with only one person in it. The pillow smelled like Mr. Gold’s hair.

I love you.

The voice in her head again, saying what she wanted to say. She had never told Mr. Gold that she loved him. Until recently, she didn’t know that she had. Now the knowledge was a burden. It was an ache in her heart, a hole that would never be filled. 

Everything was over.

****

He leaves her in a swirl of wine-red smoke, at exactly the stroke of midnight. He goes, to walk into a trap the two of them have all but set themselves. He goes, to keep her safe from his enemies. He goes, to lay down the final pieces of the plan that will--someday--lead to their complete happiness. 

As he leaves, he keeps his face turned away from her. She understands. When he gets to where he is going, he will have to wear the mask of a devious trickster. Tears would spoil the effect.  

Her eyes are moist as she watches him disappear. 

Candlelight reflects the golden sparkles in the skin of his hands, the glinting crinkles of his hair. His leather-clad back has a dark gleam to it. He keeps his shoulders straight, his arms poised--ready to put on a show.

She cannot look away from him. She would say that she is memorizing him, but she already knows him by heart.

They will be together again.

She must believe that, even when he is gone from their home. She trusts her husband. She trusts the plan they have made together. She trusts herself. She will ensure that they are together again. She can do the brave thing and know that bravery will follow. Though the power she has is small and meager, there is enough determination in her to move the world if she needs to.

If Rumple needs her to. 

She cannot stay staring at the place where he was. There is work to be done. Her husband is doing his part of the plan, now she must do hers. 

Since she is already in the dining room of their castle, her first task is to fetch the chipped cup. It sits in a place of honor on top of the magical cupboard that creates their meals. 

The sight of this cup never fails to make her smile. She had dropped it, on the first of many times one of her master’s orders had shocked her. For a time, it was a shameful thing for her, a sign of failure. Over time, she had decided that she liked his orders, and that she wanted him to give her more. She had offered him the imperfect cup, and he had understood what she had wanted--and he had given it to her.  

When she had left, her lover had destroyed this room. He had smashed all the plates and cups, except for this. Later, he told her that he had wanted to throw it against the wall, but instead he had broken down in tears. He had it clutched to his chest when she found him in the dungeons.

Since the wedding, the meaning of the cup changed again. Now they serve each other, whenever they wish to play. The cup is imperfect, but it is beautiful because of what it means to them. It was the first object they shared together, even before their wedding rings.

She holds it delicately, as she walks to the next room. The night is dark, but torches light at her approach. Even if they didn’t, she knows the way. The castle is her home, and she walks without fear through every hallway. 

The small room at the end of the corridor holds everything Rumple has of his son. There are clothes and toys and even a few battered schoolbooks. This is the boy that he lost a lifetime ago. This is the boy that he will destroy the world to get back. She has never met Baelfire, but she loves him. She will do anything she can to reunite her husband with his son.

If she could, she would take everything in this room. The memories are so precious. She would give them to the boy, once they find him. But her husband has given her specific instructions, and she trusts him enough to follow them. Magic can be fickle, especially when there are too many variables. If they ask it for too much, there is a greater chance that something might go wrong, and an even higher price to pay. They will only need one object of Bae’s to be able to find him in the new world. She can only take the shawl.

It is yellow wool, a little ragged and dirty from belonging to a young boy. Her husband knitted it himself. She feels the love that was woven into every fiber of it. 

She cushions the chipped cup against the shawl and holds both objects in one hand. With her other hand, she draws out a single glove from the pocket of her gown. It is a magic glove, made of black velvet and her husband’s golden thread. As soon as it is on her hand, she is transported to the next room.

This is a room with no door. It can only be entered by using her husband’s magic. This is where he keeps things safe, including his secrets. This is where he stores the remains of his life before he had magic. 

There is a wide bed, stuffed with straw. A rough-hewn farm table with a bench and pair of stools at either end. A spinning wheel wound with simple yarn instead of the gold her husband is famous for spinning. She looks over these furnishings with familiarity and with fondness. She has been in this room many times before.

Often enough to know where to find what she seeks. 

A small table serves the function of a desk. It is piled high with papers, mostly drawings. Rumple’s first wife drew pictures of their son when he was a baby. And when the boy had grown older, he had developed the same talent. 

Her mental image of Baelfire comes from a sketch he made of himself: Wavy dark hair and steady dark eyes, a boy who has already suffered and struggled more than he ought to have, a boy who smiles rarely, but is rarely afraid. She would rather take that drawing than handle what lies on top of it.

The dagger that controls her husband is an evil thing, but he has made her the mistress of it. When he proposed, he gave her the dagger, and submitted to her all the power of the Dark One. Together, they have studied its magic, tested its limits. While she does enjoy having some authority over her beloved, the thought of anyone else using the dagger on him--or hurting him with it--is enough to make her blood boil.

She cannot allow that to happen. She cannot allow the dagger to fall into any hands but her own or Rumple’s. This is the only weapon that can hurt him. She will never allow him to be hurt. She holds the dagger to her chest, just like the shawl and the cup.

She takes off the magic glove and finds herself in the tower room where her husband does most of his work. He knew that he was leaving, so he has put away most of his potions and equipment. 

He may never see these things again.

Tears burn in her eyes. Stumbling to his work table, she lets their things slip from her arms. Her satchel is up here, Rumple must have placed it in this room. He gave her this satchel, the last time they were separated. The last time she had to leave her home. It is brown leather, with a design of a red rose blooming among the thorns.

She sets the cup and the shawl inside the satchel. Then she takes the dagger and slashes the glove to shreds. Golden sparks and wine-red smoke emanate from the glove as magic destroys magic. Now she will never be able to enter the safest room again. But neither will anyone else.

Everything she needs to carry fits inside the satchel. She could probably fit the entire potions cabinet and her husband’s spinning wheel inside and never feel the weight of it on her shoulders. 

Her mission is done, but she has no will to rest. Their bedroom is at the bottom of the stairs below this tower, but she cannot bring herself to go there now. She has never slept a full night in this castle without her husband, without at least expecting him to join her. Their marriage bed is large and luxurious. It will feel so empty without him. She cannot sleep there.

 She wanders over to the window. A waning moon and hundreds of stars cast a soft glow over her husband’s spinning wheel. When he needs to think, he will spin straw into gold, working continuously from dawn until darkness. A day’s work fills up a bobbin of thread, and he has more bobbins than she could ever count. They mark centuries of pensive isolation. He starts every spinning day with one empty, and the work isn’t over until it’s full. 

 But when she looks at the flyer, a bobbin is already waiting there, half-filled up with gold thread. 

For a moment, she is perplexed. It is unlike Rumple to leave a loose end. But then she smiles. She understands. Her husband has left her with a message. An unfilled bobbin means the day is not done. There is still more work to do.

They are not finished yet. 

[bakugous-abs]

Day 5 of Halloween 2020

~Brought to you today by Admin Bomb!

~~~

October First

Halloween. God, Bakugou couldn't tell if it was his favorite or least favorite time of the year. 

No, he definitely wasn't one to wear a costume and go out trick or treating. That time was way past him and he couldn't remember why and how the hell he was able to trust getting candy from strangers. Frankly that whole aspect of Halloween seemed so hypocritical!

Every other time of the year we’re told to not take candy from strangers. Never ever once were we allowed to take candy from them. But on this specific day? Sure! Go right ahead. Infact, take candy from MULTIPLE strangers!! Nothing could go wrong with that.

The countless reports of needles being stuck in licorice and suckers already being sucked in told a different story.

And the fucking  k i d s. They were so annoying. Screaming and running after each other. Throwing a fit when they didn't get the kind of candy they want or when their siblings got one extra piece. The snot and tears. It was so gross.

That part of Halloween, Bakugou said fuck off to.

However the scaring? And the terrified faces? That's something he could look forward to. 

Seeing the look of horror Pikachu got when he prayed on one of his fears was so exciting. The heightened anxiety in the Yuuei hallways made for some easy targets to make scream and run away.

That, is why Bakugou liked Halloween. 

“Yo Bakubro, we’re gonna head out and get our costumes. You wanna come with?” Kirishima barged into his room, flicking on the light.

“Fuck no.” Bakugou cursed. The sudden brightness was stinging his eyes, the red irises struggling to adjust to sudden change. “I already told you last week you dumbass, I don’t do trick or treating.”

Kirishima's shoulders visibly went limp, a pout occupying his lips. “Come on man, it’ll be fun. You even get to scare some little kids.”

“I can do that without the help of a costume. Now get out.”

He huffed. “If you say so, man. We’ll be back later! See ya.” And with that Bakugou's door shut with a click, the lights left on.

The blond cursed the redhead under his breath. Why was it so hard to shut off the light when they leave! He has it off every single time they open the door, so why not shut it off again when they leave!?

Bakugou got up to shut the light off, but stopped in his tracks when he noticed a letter on his neat floor. When did that get there? Did shitty-hair leave it there when he left?

It was a pretty white envelope with a splotch of red to the left of the center. As he got closer he read his name in very intricate cursive. Had it not been for the date in a nice fine print, and the fact that he didn't like anyone and fully expected no one to like him back, in the upper corner he would have assumed this was an old valentines letter.

He picked it up. What the fuck was this doing here? The handwriting was very obviously not Shittyhairs. His was too rough and sharp to ever resemble something like this. 

“10-1-xxxx <3 Bakugou”

Hesitantly, he turned it around and found a wax seal on the back. A simple circle, nothing more.

The letter was ripped open, the wax seal completely forgotten. If the letter inside got ripped, that wasn’t his problem. Unfortunately, the letter went completely unscathed.

He took it out and unfolded it, careful to hold it horizontally in case this was a prank gift from one of the dunces that called him his friend, but there was no such thing. Infact, the letter seemed virtually empty except for right smack dab in the middle. A small word written in what seemed to be a font designed to replicate human writing.

“Hi”

Bakugou's eyebrows crinkled. That's it? He turned the paper over, flipped it back, then turned it over once more. Nothing.

“Such a waste of fucking paper.” He muttered, crushing the note within his palm and lit off his explosions, a caramel scent wafting through the air and black smoke trailing along with it.

He threw what was left of it into his trash, dusted it off his hands, and flicked the lights back off.

Whoever wrote that letter had a pretty terrible sense of humor

~~~~~

October Second

Bakugou woke up the next morning like usual. Stretch, pop his joints and spark a few explosions, then sit up and get ready for school. The letter from yesterday lingered in the back of his mind, still annoyed that someone thought something like that would even be considered funny.

How the hell just writes a tiny Hi on a whole sheet of paper. Its such a fucking waste! It was irritating him more than anything.

That's why when he got a second letter this morning, also slid underneath his door, he just threw it on his bed to be dealt with later. He didn’t need to get any more pissed off about something before going to school and getting pissed off even more. No, that can wait till after he got his homework done.

And it did wait. During the day he completely forgot about the existence of the letter. Going to classes, almost blowing Dekus face off in training, shouting at the group that seemed to be stuck to his thighs, going to more classes. Completely normal.

But when he got home and locked himself in his room to do homework and calm down, he saw the letter on his bed and immediately became pissed again.

He marched on over to it and picked it, opening it in the same fashion he did yesterday and again, the letter managed to come out unscathed.

He opened the paper, preparing to see another waste of paper. Unfortunately the universe was granting his wishes, but not to the extent he was thinking.

This time, there was a sentence, a sentence that made his heart stop for a second. 

“You have lovely skin.”

What. The actual. Fuck.

Who the hell is this? Why are they talking about his skin? How do they know anything about his skin?

Subconsciously his eyes darted around him. Everything looked the exact same. He looked behind him, no one was there. But there was a nagging feeling in the middle of his back, like someone was staring there no matter where he turned.

Fuck this.

His eyes glided toward the balcony. The curtain were wide open. But they were facing the 1-B building. No one could be watching him…

The curtains were closed in a matter of seconds.

~~~~~

October Seventh

The letters kept coming. Every day they got creepier. Complimenting a feature about him and details this person would only know if they got close to him.

He was losing sleep. His eight hour nights shortening rapidly to only around four hours and it wasn't consecutive. 

Yesterday he became so sick of it he grabbed the five letters he had received, first still burnt in his trash can, and stomped down to the lounge room, confronting them of the letters asking whoever it was that was sending them to step the fuck up.

No one had any idea what he was talking about. 

He attacked all the girls first, not physically no, but yelling at them to confess who done it. No dude in their class would have this good of handwriting other than that belly button laser guy.

But he had no idea later, saying Bakugou was not exactly his type, which he got a yelling for as well.

Todays letter… wasnt any better than the last.

"This is almost as much fun as watching you sleep."

He held the latter in his hand, not noticing the grip slowly getting tighter and tighter, and suddenly the ends were crinkled and charred, the only thing left was a single word.

Fun.

~~~~~

October Fifteenth

Bakugou finally cracked and told the teachers about the letters. To say they overreacted was,,, actually just about right.

There were now teachers stationed on top of the buildings, around the perimeter, and on Bakugous floor.

He hated to admit it but having a few pro heroes there eased his edge a little. A felt safer. Safer than he had in the last two weeks.

But unfortunately, that wasnt enough.

For in the middle of the night, to his absolute horror, the rustling of paper was heard across his room.

His body went cold. Eyes wide as all hell. He used his feet to curl all his blanket away from the edges of his bed and under his legs and over his body. 

'Please,' his mind pleaded. 'Please fucking tell me thats not another letter.'

And to his absolute horror, when he sat up, just a little bit… there, visible in the light shining under the crack of his door, was a letter, with the same red heart and perfect cursive handwriting that spelled out his name.

"Please dont scream, they'll hear you"

~~~~~

October Twenty-sixth

Its been a few days since hes gone out of his room. The pros thought hed feel safer in his room where they could keep an eye on him but in reality.

Bakugou didnt feel safe at all.

Everywhere he went his anxiety told him someone was there. With beady eyes that went unblinking just… staring at him. Like he was a slab of meat for a hungry starving lion.

But he wasnt allowed to complain, even though he did, and was expected to remain still. 

He was expected to wait.

Wait.

And wait.

He didn't want to wait. He didn't want to be here anymore.

He was behind on his classes, but he couldn't focus long enough on the work to get it done anyway.

He had nothing else to distract him. Hes read through all his books, played all his games, watched all his movies. There was nothing else to do other than wait like a sitting duck.

So what the hell was he supposed to do?

And while he had his door shut, he finally broke down, tears streaming down his face and fear coursing through his veins as he knew, by the sound of paper sliding under his door, that he wasnt safe anywhere anymore.

"Dont struggle, I hate when they struggle"

~~~~~

October 31st. Halloween Night

Halloween...

Halloween. Bakugou hated Halloween.

He hated Halloween. He hated being scared. Scared all the time. 

He couldnt handle the sound of paper anymore. Not the sound of it wrinkling, folding, unfolding, ripping, he hated paper.

All kinds of paper.

Wrappers, notebook, printer.

It was all terrible.

And now… he can't even handle unwrapping his own candy.

Bakugou hated Halloween.

And has another letter slid under his door, now in direct daylight, and got up and looked at it.

The cursive was now just scratches. The heart too dark to be artificial. 

He opened it, slipping the paper out and reading the note. One word. Tiny in the middle of the paper, resembling the first ever note he got. One word.

'Bye…'

However, this time, when he turned the note over, he found something else. Another word- no, a sentence.

'Till next year… Bakugou Katsuki.'

And just like that, his body ran cold, and his vision went dark.

[peaches-are-sweet]

Quick story - masquerade ball’s

Back in the year 1717, it was quite normal to be invited to a ball hosted by a very high up person in status, and it was also very normal when you parents encouraged you to go, so that you may find a suitable young man or woman to marry and start a family.

So when the Wilkin’s got the sudden invitation to the last house on the road they were quite surprised.

“Mr Wilkin, it seems you’ve gotten an invitation to a masquerade ball from the Wright family requesting your presence tomorrow evening, its to be a fancy ball, and that you should were your best attire and invite all the fair maidens or young lads to enjoy an evening of delight” said our butter ,Earl.

“oh! a ball with the wright family?” exclaimed my younger sister Emily in delight of the sudden news.

“appears so...” thought my father 

“we have to go, we just have to. it would be improper and rude if we didn’t go” said my oldest sister Delila

“it would be good for us, considering we haven't been invited to much, this could give us the boost in society we need!” i said joining in on their conversation.

after a few more debates on the situation father finally concluded and agree w could go, and we were well over the moon about this.

soon the next day came then a couple of hours and soon enough me, and my two sisters are all dressed up and ready.

“say.. the Wright family has two sons right?” thought my father as he got into the carriage with us following right behind him 

“Yes, I believe so.. what where their names again?” said Delila 

“the oldest of the two is called William and the youngest is called john” said Emily 

“yes I remember them, isn't William the one with the right up attitude and that scowl is always plastered on his face. I'm pretty sure that half the people despise him but keep up a nice façade just because he's rich or something. john has always been the nice one out of them tow and quite a ladies man if I do say so myself” I said going on quite the rant, but its better to be safe than sorry when your introduced to them

“what about their parents (y/n)?” asked father 

“Well if I remember correctly their both still alive and well, the father can be mostly spotted in the book store just in the middle of the town, while the wife’s most favourite place is the garden just at the edge of town” I said trying to remember the gossip I heard  

“My dear (Y/n) you can’t just eavesdrop on people, and gather up all this information, talking to said person but much better!” exclaimed Delila 

“and less creepier” added Emily 

“alright alright can we all just be quite and put the masks on, were here” I said in defeat, I couldn’t be bothered to have this conversation when were heading to said persons house.

I must admit I thought that having a masquerade ball would help me convers in conversation but i am sadly mistaken, instead people are right up in your faces trying to distinguish who you are, and I must admit its making me quite uncomfortable. 

I’ve been trying to have a conversation with either of the wright brothers but it see like their completely ignoring me and having their interest in a young lad, who's’ name I couldn’t quite remember 

To add on this unfortunate situation, there's no sign of the Wright brothers anywhere when their the ones who hosted this ridiculous ball in the first pace, instead its the mother trying to keep the lively hood of the ball as happy as it could be while the father is gone and gotten himself drunk .

And I know that they must be trying their absolute hardest but this is utterly ridiculous.

I then decided to just walk outside for a while to clear my head before i burst, but before I could even step foot outside i caught a glamps of William, the oldest Wright brother, just wondering around in one of the many halls, not having a care in the world.

That's when I burst

‘how dare that son of Satan just wonder around and leave his guests to the care of his mother, ohh, I bet that his brother john is with him, messing around!’

its like my feet had a mind of its own and started walking in he opposite direction of the ball or outside for that matter and head to Mr wright in a ball of furry taking of my mask so he could see just haw angry i was with this.

but I stopped,

not because I had second thoughts 

not because a sudden force had stopped me 

but because of the body john was dragging past William to get the door outback, might I mention that it was a DEAD body

And can I mention the fact that William was holding a knife

and I don't think it was going to be used for making bread from the fact that the knife was covered in blood.

I could’ve ran and I wanted to so badly, I mean I didn't want to become victim number 2 of their little killing spree.

But due to my sudden clumsiness from witnessing this scene I dropped my mask that was in my hand causing an echo to ripple through the scene, in result making the wright brother head both turn to look at me in surprise.

The scene was tense, no one dared to say a thing and i felt like i was running out of time quickly, so i decided to speak up.

“WH-” but i was quickly dismissed but the sudden booming voice of my father’s outside trying to look for me “I’ve found you a young lad that would like to say hello!” he said and i could hear his voice coming closer

“Coming father!” i answered looking back before tuning back too the brothers an slowly picking up my mask and putting it on, I gave a swift nod before tuning back, picking up my dress a little and walking back to meet my father.

“oh there you are!” said my father in delight “like I said I’ve found someone who would like to talk with you, where have you been?”

“oh just walking around” i quickly answered hoping he wouldn’t prey on it 

“Alright, but hurry up, he's waiting” said my father while pushing me towards him

if I'm going to be honest here, i didn’t listen to single thing that the man was saying, i must admit he was good looking and smart and wealthy but the scene of the two brothers carrying the body and a bloody knife kept on replaying in my mind, which might of cause me to zone out and scare of the man off a little.

“Ladies and Gentleman!” said Mr Wright on the top of his elegant stairs accompanied by his wife and two sons “Thank you all, for coming and it has been an wonderful delight to have you here..”

as Mr Wright went on, I kind of zoned it out, well not on purpose it was actually the two pairs of eyes staring at me, in anticipation. it was clear they were worried that i would suddenly shout out about the killing I just saw ,I don't know what it was,

 I mean it could of been the people i has having this ball with was really annoying and seemed as stupid as a donkey, or the fact that the killing didn’t really alarm me..

who am I kidding it because I had a few requests of people I wanted gone, and since I had the upper hand in this situation. i smiled, i smiled back at them both of them, their faced quickly turning into one of quite confusion.

it was quite fun, confusing them and i couldn’t wait too see what I could do. 

[blue-bird-lamentation]

this the story post: melohax[.]tumblr[.]com/post/639167543643340800/warning-spoilers-ahoy-only-read-this-if-youve the game has like so many secret scenes it shocked me

Thank you so much for the link!!!

I really liked reading it. I tried to skip the hikikomori route part as I will try to calmly play it, but I‘ve read a few and, as a person who saw that seen of a man trying to cut a tree and saying “you’re not my son” it intrigued me a lot what kind of information I will get from there.

I’m still puzzled and still didn’t try to see what would happen if I collected the wrong letters and if I has opened the door to Mari.

I went far on this answer and wrote a lot of random topics that are also mentioned in that post and other things I remembered too. It’s still too messy, but my memory is fresh and I decided to write about what I was thinking, even if not organized. Sorry for using your ask, but I was inspired by the link, which I think it’s a very interesting reading. I’m also sorry for the mistakes and I may come back later to correct them. There are so many fascinating things in the game, and so many others I haven’t yet explored, besided I feel good writting all of this as it is kind of asfixiating to thing about it and not having anyone to discuss it with.

This game was a rollercoaster. I knew from the begining that the cute artstyle and the pastel colours in the begining were deceiving, especially when you start in a weird whitespace room and take a knife. Omori as a black and white coloured character among the other paster colours also felt weird.

One really interesting comment I received from my brother when he watched me playing a bit, in a fight, was  “oh your character is the real neutral one, the others seem happy” while all of them were in neutral mode. Also his happy expression was scary and he was the one who got to maniac aside from villains (at least for me). The fact he has a knife intrigued me a lot if I should really fight but at first it looked like there were no consequences (aside from feeling tremendously bad for being called bunny killer. Also about these little enemies, it’s interesting how many of them were bunnies when the person we find who has a bunny is Aubrey, which is also the girl from the group that is now “against us”, at least most of the time in the real world).

Also about the knife, there are two other moments that totally hit me:

- the suicide in whitespace, which could foreshadow his suicide in some routes, but is also the means to wake up;

- Kel and Aubrey in the real world who call us out for bringing a knife, which, since the begining, was the correct thing to do.

I really wonder a lot about his family and their decisions.

It’s been 4 years. I wonder if Sunny’s mom ever put him into some kind of therapy, I wonder if her absence was on purpose because she wanted him to say goodbye to his old friends one last time. I wonder if Kel’s visit wasn’t a coincidence. I wonder if Hero coming back was also part of a last chance to bring Sunny back. I don’t know if the other route answers it, but seeing the notes and messages that mother leaves, she seems to be worried about him. I would say a mix of worry and fear, so there must be some strong reason why she’s not there besides going to buy some furniture or whatever.

Saying this, I think only Sunny’s parents know more or less what happened, but not from their son’s mouth, from autopsy report perhaps. The house was adapted to the changes: no family picture, as opposed to what I saw in Kel’s house (and I wonder if it’s only because of Mari or also with his father too as described by the cutting tree scene. I had thought this was directed to Omori and not to Sunny, but this is also part of the dream realm, so it could be Sunny’s interpretation to the end of his parents marriage which was related to Mari’s death), Mari’s bed is gone (which made the scene when she knocks the door even creepier. I never got to open the door because I was scared, but I’m also curious). Also about the 4 years,  I liked the detail of the 4th floor sign in Last Resort, which was resting there on the floor, as the number is also cursed because it symbolizes death.

I find fascinating how the complexity of the situation is represented in the dream world. His team is composed by his old friends, which are human. Mari and Basil are also human but they weren’t totally present. Mari is the safe point and overprotective of Omori, but she is also the element who encourages him to face his fears. As he faces his fears, he unravels more information about what he repressed, also helped by the presence of the blackspace Basil. But it’s ironic as the more he unravels, the more corrupted the story seems to evolve, but also the more they lose the main purpose of rescuing Basil, which is more evident in the deeper well.

I believe the human figures are the most important to him, and then there are the elements that combine real world figures with fantasy, as the candyshop girl and the fiction space boyfriend. Each story is fascinating but it also makes you lose focus on what you were supposed to do. And in my case, there was a point where I just wanted to wander around in these stories because I was to afraid to face the real story that was masked by this fictional colourful world.

These olde friends represent perhaps what Sunny never wanted to have lost, but also what he does not want to face.

When Sunny woke up in the hospital, I first followed the kids, and no, that wasn’t the right path. That was the safe path, where there is no confrontation with reality. As it was when Sunny was with company. I think it is Aubrey who says he doesn’t like to be alone, and well, that was me the whole game, imploring to not be left alone, because once the character was alone, his world seemed to be corrupted by the black space, which was also a stepping stone to reach the truth, the dark truth.

And I really like how this is all Sunny’s mental effort, which, I would say, it’s helped by him leaving his house and meeting his friends once again, as well as facing Basil one more time.

I was really sad with how the story developed. What started I was assuming it was a facing your fears story, transformed into an overcoming someone’s death, which at first I thought it would be Basil’s, to go to Mari (which was a total mystery to me why had she died (my ingenuity believed it could have been some traffic accident or something else) at first), to go to save Basil again, but now with some dark remarks about the character himself. In the middle of this development, first time the character wakes up, it is clear that the dream world character is not the same as the real world one, age wise, but is part of him.

I had written that at first I was reluctant about the fights, but well, they were necessary to me to face the villains of each arc. But at the same time thery were never too difficult (I think the most difficult part to me was to be strong enough for the Dino Dig and the rest was pretty easy). When, at the end Sunny had to face Omori I was shocked. So, the guy I had been training which was very seemingly sadistic, did I simply train him so that if Sunny wanted to face his trauma, he would hunt him with his strenght? Like the stronger I made him, ther bigger the reluctance to overcome the past. And while this sadistic character seems to be what I would compare to a Chara in Undertale, to me it was the harsh self conscious, critical part of him who could never forgive for what he had done. And which was also manifested as the monster surrounding him and Basil. It was their perception that what they had done was unforgivable, but at the same time neither of them wanted to carry that burden alone: Sunny “forgot” it, Basil manifests it by making those toxic remarks like “you aren’t going to leave me alone again, are you?”.

I don’t know if we get to see more of Basil’s backstory but he also got me curious. I think that what both of them did was bad, but given what happened between Sunny and Mari, it was really hard to know how to face it. I don’t think it makes them willingly villains, but scared children who were very self conscious and didn’t know what would happen if people found it out.

However, hadn’t Basil been there, Sunny would have been found right away next to Mari’s corpse. So I wonder what led Basil to propose such idea and to make Sunny’s burden heavier, which made him ambiguity of his disappearance with the will to save him as a friend.

I don’t think it was an ill intention, but Basil created excuses to protect Sunny because he was important to him and to the group. As the photo album showed, Sunny was the younger element, seen as the baby of the group, and he was shy, but he loved his friends even if he looked the most expressionless.

I think these elements awoke in him the need to protect Sunny from the darkness that lied ahead his actions, but he didn’t realise how heavy of a burden that would be. At the same time he probably had some issued regardin expectations and self worth which probably told him that they could never be tied to such a cruel action, even if it was accidental.

In my perspective he didn’t see the dark shadow surrounding Sunny at the time, but he engraved the memory as an act not commited by Sunny but by something surrounding him, pretty much like when he started attacking him at the end.

I like to think that, good ending wise, the malevolent side, Omori is not necessarily a potential evil that was always within Sunny, but the self guilt and lack of self worth. The fact the Sunny wouldn’t leave the house and didn’t even take good care of his health shows it. He is self destructive, because guilt consumes him, not a person who needs to apply suffering in the outter world for his own satisfaction. The whole struggle is within Sunny and not ot become a bad person per se.

Some of Basil’s dialogue was too much for me, mainly when he kept repeating for Sunny to not leave him. However I totally understand why. Sunny covered the what had happened while Sunny had to live those years knowing what they had done, as if he was the only one carrying the burden.

It’s a real complicated story where everyone was the victim.

It was so hard to see how sad and angry Aubrey was, and how she had to make new friends to overcome, how alone she was all the time. How Kel kept being such a good person, however had to move away because he didn’t know how to face the others, afraid of being misinterpreted. Hero’s pictures with Mari break me everytime. “A match made in heaven” Basil had written in the description of one of the photos. The fact that he is the element in the group that cooks, but 4 years later he had given up. The fact he can’t face Mari’s grave. The way Kel describes his struggle over Mari’s death. The way he didn’t make new friends in college, although he says it was lack of time. Basil is completely broken and can’t even touch the camera anymore and tries to “destroy” the old memories, which Aubrey discovers. Sunny’s parents, as their life turned upside down. And probably everyone around was too afraid to know how to act around them.

I really like how despite everything, the human figure that Sunny creates of Mari is forgiveful and so cheerful. Mari is such a good influence that wants to help him overcome the trauma for himself (especially when she helps him overcoming the fear of drowning and calls him Sunny for the first time. The ways she asked for his forgiveness for pushing him so hard into playing the recital. It is still part of Sunny’s dream but it’s so in Mari’s character. I believe this part is also connected to the scene where we see her saving Sunny in the real world).

I will end this text here. I will eventually come back to it, and to the omori tag, because this is certainly a very good game with a lot of space for debate and reflection.

[digimonnetwork-project]

Episode VI

Previous episode

Welcome to the Network

If Aki kept opening up his bag to check on Lutrimon he was going to be caught for sure.  The partners had been inseparable since Aki had returned and proudly showed off his bright blue D-Gauntlet, and because Lutrimon was small enough to fit in his swimming bag, that meant they really were inseparable. Unless of course the teacher saw.

“Those two are going to make me sick.” Masato practically hissed, looking as though he were ready to throw his pencil carrier at Aki.

Isamu couldn’t blame him for his reaction, even though Wemicmon was a little too rowdy and loud to hide, he was starting to get a little jealous that Aki’s partner could fit in his bag. Silently Isamu sort of hoped the teacher would walk by and start asking questions.

“Don’t worry, I think Aki just didn’t want to leave her with the other Digimon because he’s excited. He probably won’t be taking her with him everywhere.” He said.

“Does he have to be feeding her under his desk though?” Ju added from Isamu’s other side, not quite able to hide her jealousy either, she’d never fit one of her partners in her bag, let alone both of them.

“Guys chill.” Isamu whispered.

“I don’t want to chill.” Masato growled, gripping his pen, either trying to calculate the trajectory to hit Aki in the head with it, or break it in half. “I want to meet my Digimon partner!”

“Be quiet,” Ju whispered over Isamu, “Digimon are supposed to be a secret!”

“You both are being too loud.” Isamu tried to tell them, but it was too late, the teacher looked their way.

“That’s it, you three have not been able to keep quiet all day.”  Ms. Mazawa scolded pointing at them and gesturing around the room, “Namura go sit over by Anami, and Ling, swap places with Nakano,”

The students in question all did as instructed, and the lesson continued, though Isamu, Masato and Ju all continued to send the occasional glare Aki’s way. Eventually Isamu resigned himself to his note taking and wondered once again if Ms. Mazawa was secretly a Hannya or some other demon of folklore.

Beside him, Kaiyo tapped her pen against his hand and pushed her paper closer to him. For a moment, Isamu was confused, but then he saw the question written on it. ‘What are Digimon?’

Realizing the trio had been speaking too loud, and aware that the Digimon were supposed to be a secret as Ju had said earlier, Isamu had no idea how to respond. After a moment he scribbled a vague reply, ‘It’s an internet thing’.

Kaiyo wrote back, ‘You mean like an MORPG?’

‘Yeah, kinda’ Isamu replied, technically it wasn’t a lie, the Network was accessible from the internet and the site looked kind of like a role play community if you didn’t have an account.

To his relief, Kaiyo didn’t press the matter, and the rest of the class went on in peace. Isamu forgot about the conversation as he headed to lunch to sit with his friends. They chose to eat in the courtyard, where the rest of the Digimon were waiting to see their partners for even this brief meeting. Most of the other students were inside, but just in case the Digimon stayed in the bush.

“My god, you were feeding her all morning, how in the world can she still be hungry?” Masato griped as Aki slipped more food to Lutrimon.

Ju gave a shrug, “Digimon eat a lot, it’s how they keep their power up, if they get too hungry they might not have the energy to fight, or could end up degenerating to a lower level.”

With this information, Aki looked ready to give Lutrimon all of his lunch, though the little otter seemed content with just his dessert. Isamu wasn’t as lucky as Wemicmon had already consumed half his lunch and eyed his box as if to sneak more while he wasn’t looking. Ju always seemed to pack enough food to share with her Digimon without them feeling the need to beg for more.

“There’s some good news, though.” Isamu said, “I got an e-mail this morning, from the Admins. It’s safe to go back to the Network. There’s still some damage and there’s a warning to keep an eye out for Bugs, but we could probably go right after school to find you a partner.”

Masato practically jumped off of the bench, probably seconds away from asking if they could just go now since they were on lunch, when the door opened and another student stepped out into the courtyard.

“Oh!” Kaiyo gasped, seeing the gathering. The Digimon had ducked out of sight but she clearly must have seen something. “Are the rabbits out on the campus already?” She asked, and Isamu gave a mental sigh of relief. It was awkward enough to have told her that Digimon was an internet thing, but to have to explain that he’d been lying would be very awkward.

“Yeah, rabbits.” Ju replied, a nervous bead of sweat slid down by her ear “They’re probably already on the other side of the courtyard by now, if you want to go take a look at them. That’s how they move around, running through the bushes, I mean.” She added.

Kaiyo smiled, a very sweet smile that made Isamu feel pretty bad about lying to such a kind girl, “No, that’s alright, I was just passing through. I’m meeting a friend for lunch!” She explained and moved on, waving to them as she walked by “See you guys when we get back to class.”

They waited until Kaiyo was out of earshot before letting out a collective sigh of relief and continued their discussion, “I know what you’re thinking, Masato, and no.” Ju said, “We wouldn’t have time to go now,  you might be able to talk to a few Digimon, but no way you could actually find a partner in the Network in the time we have. It’ll be better to just wait until after school and meet at my place.”

Masato looked disappointed but Isamu was distracted from the rest of the conversation when he saw a figure running across the roof of the school. It took him a moment to recognize Puckmon; the Digimon he and Ju had met at the cabin. He remembered that they had discussed the idea of convincing Puckmon to be Masato’s partner and almost said something, but the rookie level troublemaker vanished again in moments.

Isamu shook his head, besides, if the Network was open again surely they’d find someone a little more suitable for Masato there. He turned his attention to helping Ju describe what the Network was like and the prizes that were available to win in the games.

-

Out in the field, Kaiyo waited with her lunch box for her friend. The pair had only met a few days ago, but sharing meals with the little creature called Puckmon had become one of the highlights of Kaiyo’s day.  She could see him on the roof of the school and sat down on her uniform jacket as if it were a picnic blanket.

She was concerned about what Isamu had said earlier, about Digimon. Some kind of online game with a name so similar to her friend? It couldn’t be a coincidence, maybe Puckmon would have more answers for her. He jumped down from the roof and sprinted toward her with his hands out stretched.

“Please?” He said without being prompted.

Kaiyo smiled proudly at him, “Very good! I brought you something extra special today.” She said, patting the ground next to her, and opened up her lunch box to reveal home baked cupcakes with hand made icing, “I found this recipe for ‘Piñata’ cupcakes on an American website and Nana helped me with the conversions. Try one!”

“With pleasure!” Puckmon replied, tossing a whole cupcake in his mouth and chewing happily as he savored the fluffy treat seemingly without even noticing what exactly made it a Piñata cupcake. “It’s delicious!” He exclaimed happily.

Kaiyo laughed and let him have another “Take it one bite at a time, now. Do you notice anything?”

Puckmon did as he was told and took a smaller bite, his eyes widened to notice that there were little candies baked into the center. “Can I have another!?” He asked.

Kaiyo shook her head to his obvious disappointment, but Kaiyo insisted that they eat something healthy before they had any more dessert. Puckmon was happy to agree to those terms.

The small creature slowed down after eating two cupcakes, a sandwich and half an apple, but he kept looking toward the lunchbox to see if she had anything else tasty stashed away. Kaiyo withheld more until he finished his apple, waiting to see if he even wanted another cupcake after all that.

“Say, Puckmon? I have a question.” She said  after a moment and waited for him to grunt ‘what question?’ before she asked, “Are you a Digimon?”

He replied bluntly, “Of course I am. And you’re a human, what of it?”

Kaiyo blinked, “I just...I heard some kids in my class talking about you- them- Digimon. And I don’t understand, what exactly is a Digimon?”

“We’re exactly what we sound like,” Puckmon answered, “Digital Monsters.”

“Digital monsters, Digimon...Oh! Digi-mon, I get it.” Kaiyo beamed, “So you come from the internet then? Like out of a computer?”

“No, I come from the Digital World, the internet is a much creepier place, trust me.” Puckmon made a big show of shuttering, but laid back, “Still, the Digital World ain’t what it used to be, that’s why so many of Digimon are coming over here lately and looking for part-.” he cut himself off, “Never mind.”

“Wait, what’s going on in your world? You’re looking for what? Part time jobs?” The last part was intended as a joke, but Puckmon’s lips didn’t even twitch and her friend looked lost in thought..

He stood up suddenly, seemingly no longer interested in talking to her, or even eating, “I don’t need a Tamer. I’m good enough on my own!” He declared, more to himself than Kaiyo, though he turned to her with a nod, “Thanks for lunch.” He said and took off back toward the rooftop.

“Puckmon, wait!” Kaiyo shouted after him, but he didn’t slow down or look back.

With a sigh she closed her lunchbox and collected her jacket. Well, one question was answered, but now she had even more. She supposed if what Puckmon said was true about the Digimon coming from a Digital World then maybe Isamu was telling the truth about  them being an internet thing, she’d have to look them up tonight and see if she could get more answers.

If not, she could always ask Isamu again.

-

The lunch bell rang and the students all began filing back into class. The remaining subjects were boring and with the three talkative students separated there were no distractions either. It seemed like the day dragged on forever, but when the bell finally rang, Masato was the first one out of his seat.

Boy, the kid could really move when he wanted to. Masato rushed to the locker room to put on his casual clothes, if he was going to meet his partner today he wasn’t going to do it in this dumb uniform! Isamu and Aki followed behind him as well as a few other boys from their class, all eager to get out of their uniforms and into real clothes.

“So when we get to the Network, you’ll take me to the hub to get my entry prize and Ju will take Masato to see if they can find a partner.” Aki said aloud, recounting the discussion they’d had at lunch, “That’s the plan right?”

“Sounds like a good plan to me!” Lutrimon piped from the bag, “As long as I get to stretch my legs out, I feel like I’ve been stuck in here for days!”

Aki smiled, “I’ll let you out when we get to Ju’s, alright?”

Masato was more interested in talking to Ju about the Digimon that were looking for partners in the Network, “Anybody cool, like Nemaemon?”

“All Digimon are cool.” Ju corrected, “But if you mean big champion level ones, I’ve seen a few, but the shelter they gather at is always getting in new guests as some don’t find what they're looking for in a partner and leave, or meet just the right person. I can’t tell you who might be there when we talk to them.”

“I just want a partner that can kick big time butt!” Masato pumped the air, Isamu laughed while Ju rolled her eyes, Aki smiled at his friend’s enthusiasm but was a little busy with Lutrimon.

Ju let them in and showed them into her room where she booted up her computer and signed into the Network while Isamu opened the window to let the other Digimon in. The computer screen began to glow and Isamu grinned, “Here we go.”

The strange sensation of being sucked through the computer screen still made Isamu feel a little nauseated, but from the groans behind him, Isamu could tell that Aki and Masato had fared much worse. Good, that meant Masato could make it to the Network without a D-Gauntlet.

“Is it going to be like that every time?”  Aki pushed up his glasses, as Isamu pulled down his goggles to read about the Digimon in the plaza.

The city did not look like it had been under attack recently, aside from an occasional damage reading on his goggles, and a glitch or two on the street it looked brand new. Isamu didn’t know much about the Admins that had been repairing the Network for the last week, but they definitely knew what they were doing.

A large monitor that usually played live footage from the Coliseum had what seemed to be a news report about the attack. A grainy recording of a Digimon, the image wasn’t clear enough for his goggles to identify it, but Isamu didn’t need his analyzer to know that the Demon-like Digimon was clearly far more powerful than any he’d encountered yet. An ultimate level Digimon, maybe even a Mega.

As Masato and Aki continued to moan and clutch their sides. Ju waved at them, the only one of the group who didn’t look even a tiny bit dizzy. “You get used to it, I promise.” She said and started walking, “Come on, Masato, the Digimon who come to the Network looking for partners stay in a shelter a few blocks this way. Isamu, you remember where the hub is, right?”

The group split up, Ju led Masato to the shelter while Cannismon and Leptomon dashed ahead to keep the way clear if any Bugs showed up. She noticed with some dismay that while the Network seemed busy, there were not nearly as big of crowds wandering out. Could it be that word just hadn’t spread quite yet that the Network was open again?

“Here we are,” She announced, and looked in the door, once again a little disappointed to see that there weren’t that many Digimon in the shelter, and some of them looked pretty ragged and tired, like they desperately needed a Digicure.

Masato stepped inside and gasped in awe, “So who are these guys?” Clearly he still didn’t know Digimon well enough to see how sorry the group looked.

Still, each of them raised their heads at the sound of a human voice and a few of them came bounding over to meet their potential partner, just as eager as Masato himself was. “My name is Elecmon, I’m a mammal Digimon with electric abilities, as my name implies!”

“I’m a Bakemon, a ghost Digimon, and if anyone ever picks on you I’ll haunt them senseless with my evil charm!” Ju touched Masato’s shoulder to warn him that Bakemon was a Champion level virus Digimon and would probably be a bit much for him, but judging by Masato’s expression he didn’t need the warning.

Just as well, more Digimon were starting to swarm.“No pick me! I’m Penguinmon!”

“Tsukaimon!”

“Kamemon!”

Masato was quickly surrounded and Ju had to help him herd them all to tables and convince them to sit down and talk with him one at a time to see if something sparked between them. Ju was grateful Aki already had his partner, she wasn’t sure that the other boy could handle the crowding Digimon without getting overwhelmed, even Masato was starting to look like he was going to need a break before he found a partner.

-

Across the world, Liv had fallen asleep in her clothes with her phone in her hand. She was dreaming of playing with Scrofamon in the woods with her family when the phone vibrated a text message for her. Groggily she opened her eyes to see that it was still pitch black, whoever was texting her better have a good reason-

It was from Andromon, informing her that the Network was open again and asking if she was going to join the auction raid.  Liv made a mental countdown in her head, yes, this was the date that auction was supposed to be on. Some deep instinct made her want to agree immediately, but she stopped herself. Still, Andromon was her friend and she didn’t want to keep disappointing him.

It’s still super early here, I need to wake up first, but I’ll think about it. If I decide to, I’ll meet you in the usual place, but if not go without me. Liv texted and waited several minutes for an answer. Andromon didn’t reply.

Awake now, and with the Network open again, Liv couldn’t just go back to sleep and shook her partner awake, “Hey, you want to stretch your legs a bit?” She asked.

Scrofamon snorted, “No.” he replied, rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.

Liv gave a small chuckle, picked him up and headed for her computer, “Yeah you do, you lazy bum.”

Scrofamon blinked sleepily in her arms for a moment but seemed to wake up instantly when he realized that she was going to her computer and what the only possible meaning for that was. “The Network is back up!?” He asked excitedly, getting a nod in return, “Are we going to go to the Auction, today?...The Coliseum is fine too.”

Liv noted the excitement in Scrofamon’s voice at the idea of going to the Auction, and the more bored tone when mentioning the Coliseum. She frowned and remembered what she’d texted to Andromon, “We’ll see.” Liv said and opened the gate.

-

A few blocks from where Liv entered the Network, Ju was leaving the shelter after her partners. She had been standing to the side and watching a few interviews, but soon enough Cannismon and Leptomon grew bored and left out the open door,  forcing Ju to follow her partners as they excitedly scrambled around.

A few figures turned the corner and Ju understood what had gotten them so excited, “Wemicmon! Lutrimon! Over here!” Leptomon barked loudly, while Cannismon waved her tail at their approach.

Ju chuckled and waved her hand to greet Aki and Isamu. The Digimon acted like they hadn’t seen each other in years, “How’d it go?” She asked.

“I got a battle item.” Aki said, lifting his D-Gauntlet proudly, “It says it’s the Blue Sword and Shield combo, a permanent battle item that can only be used by Ultimate level Digimon. ”

Isamu nodded, “We don’t know what that means.” He said sheepishly.

Ju smiled at him, “That means that it won’t disappear when you use it like Isamu’s basic shield item did when he used it against Apemon. You get to keep it forever. But it also means you can’t use it unless Lutrimon Digivolves to her next form.”

“Next form?”

“Yeah,” Ju explained, “Digimon have the same basic levels, Baby, In-Training, Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, and Mega, there are a few others that can only be achieved through certain means, like Armor level, but all Digimon can achieve those six.”

“So after reaching Champion, the Digimon can evolve to Ultimate?” Isamu asked.

Ju nodded “Yes, though it’s not as simple as Digivolving from Rookie to Champion. The D-Gauntlets help achieve Champion but reaching Ultimate can take years of training just on your own.” She said, she saw Aki’s disheartened look and quickly added “I don’t personally know anyone who’s achieved it, but rumor has it you the admins programmed a really rare item that you can win and achieve Ultimate by activating it like the D-Gauntlets”

The boys took a moment to let that sink in, Aki opened his mouth, Ju expected him to ask how Masato was doing looking for a partner, but his gaze was behind her. “What’s going on over there?”

A small crowd had gathered, and curiosity drove the small group forward to where a Digimon the same size as Wemicmon was standing, speaking to the crowd. The Digimon was light brown with purple markings. He  had a horse-like appearance, but with a black nose like a dog and stood on two legs. The hooves on his arms were split like fingers, probably to help him grip the bo staff that was strapped to his back.

“Listen, I know you’ve been told the Digital World is incredibly dangerous, and it is, don’t get me wrong.” He was saying, “But you’re Tamers for crying out loud! If you can’t help them, who will?”

Ju cast a look to Isamu, who had his goggles down to read information on the new Digimon, “His name is Equimon, he’s a rookie level Digimon, Vaccine type, says here his special attacks are all based on mental energy.”

“I wonder what he’s talking about?” Aki asked.

“What who’s talking about?” They all jumped a little when Masato appeared behind them. He looked up at the Digimon that was speaking.

“Come on, you’re scared I understand, but you here who have partner Digimon have the power to make them stronger so they can protect you.” Equimon said, “Imagine what it must be like for those poor children. Children younger than you, taken from an unsuspecting day care while the attending adult was distracted. Taken and held hostage in the Digital World while their captors prepared for this day, so that they can be sold to the highest bidder, to Digimon who think of humans as little more than slaves to make them Digivolve. Won’t any of you help me go rescue those poor kids?”

There were murmurs in the crowd, dismayed moans and terrified whispers “I just got my partner a few weeks ago, I couldn’t possibly risk losing him. I’m not strong enough.”

“We can’t even get a decent score on the battle simulator, we’d be obliterated.”

“I can’t battle evil Digimon, rescue children and protect my partner at the same time, I don’t have enough experience.”

“We’re just not good enough.”

Equimon put his hooves on his side, “I’ll go by myself if I have to, but don’t any of you want to join me? You don’t have to do much, you just need to distract the guards while I free the kids, the risk should be minimal.”

Ju couldn’t help but notice that the only ones that had returned to the Network so far were a bunch of inexperienced Tamers with Digimon that couldn’t put up much of a fight. Was this just a coincidence, or had the group that orchestrated the attack been counting on that in order to pull off this auction?

As she contemplated this, Masato stepped forward, “I’ll go!” He said.

The crowd turned to him, no one recognized him from the games or coliseum and quickly noticed his lack of a D-Gauntlet, “Where’s your partner?” One kid with a Gostumon asked.

Masato stared them down with a determined glint, “I don’t have one. But there are defenseless children out there, and if Equimon is willing to go alone, then so am I. Partner or no partner.”

Ju was about to point out what a terrible idea that was, when Isamu and Wemicmon both took a step forward to back him up, “We’ll go too.” Isamu said, “We might not have a lot of experience, but some fire power is better than no fire power.”

Lutrimon crawled up her Tamer’s shoulder, “Aki, let’s go too.” She said, “I believe in you, and Isamu and Wemicmon. We can do this if we work together.”

Aki nodded, but of the volunteers he seemed the least certain that they could really pull it off, “Y-yeah, let’s do it.”

As the Tamer with the most experience, Ju couldn’t let them go without her, after all, Isamu may have gotten Wemicmon to Digivolve before she got her partners to, he still had a lot to learn about battling. “So will we.” She said, bringing her two partners forward.

Equimon looked ready to pass out with pride as he ran over to them, “Thank you kids so much!” He declared, counting the number of volunteers he had to accompany him, “Four humans and five Digimon should be enough to keep the guards distracted, we’ll have those children out in no time.”

“More like you’ll all be killed in no time.” Everyone turned at the sound of the newcomer.

Everyone except Masato, Aki, Lutrimon and Equimon gave a sharp gasp when Liv Campion, the queen of the Coliseum stepped forward, and likely only didn’t react that way because they didn’t know who she was. She approached them with her partner Scrofamon in tow.

“Do you think these Auctions just have a few bumbling guards that you can just knock out and steal the keys from? The Digimon in charge of these things usually have more than one trick up their sleeve and there’s always at least one Ultimate level overseeing the Auction. If you aren’t eaten alive by the Bakemon, the head honcho will take you out without a sweat, and  even if you somehow manage to make it passed them alive you still need to free the children and high tail it out before backup arrives, because I guarantee somewhere in the chaos, somebody went to get reinforcements. Your Digimon will be killed, and you’ll be sold at the Auction too.”

Liv said this with the certainty of someone who had seen it a hundred times, which she probably had. Though Ju was not the one to comment on it. Wemicmon raised his voice, “Hey, aren’t you famous for going to these Auctions and rescuing kids? How about you stop talking like that and come with us if you know so much? Or are you too scared?”

Something that he said seemed to strike a nerve with Liv, but she quickly hid her jarred emotions behind a mask of anger, Scrofamon bolted forward matching his Tamer’s glare, “Watch what you say, rookie! Talk to Liv like that and you have to go through me! Come on, put up your dukes and fight me!”

His Tamer hushed him, “It’s alright Scrofamon, let the wannabe heroes have their moment of glory.” She said, beckoning her partner back to her side, “They can be a warning to the rest of the newbies about what happens if you go into the Digital World unprepared.” She turned around to leave.

Isamu called out after her, “Hey! The only way to be prepared is to learn from experience. We’re going to save those children, and you could help! What happened to make you turn your back on people in need?”

Liv paused for a moment, but continued to ignore him and left, with Scrofamon only turning back to snort a challenge at Wemicmon, promising that if they somehow managed to make it back alive, the boar-like Digimon was still up for a fight to defend his Tamer’s honor.

There was silence for a moment before Aki, of all people, spoke up “Well, are we just going to let her get away with saying that, or are we going to prove her wrong?”

Lutrimon beamed at him, “That’s the spirit Aki!”

Equimon nodded, “It’ll be dangerous, but I have faith in all of you.” He turned to Masato, seemingly most impressed by the human that volunteered despite not having a partner at all, “I don’t have a Tamer so you and I are in the same boat. Those guys can keep the guards busy while you and I free the children, having another human there might help ease their nerves. I promise I’ll do my best to protect you if worst comes to worst”

Masato gave him a thumbs up, “Sounds like a plan to me. So how do we get to the Digital World?”

Ju pointed, “There’s a gate on the other side of the City, if we have the coordinates to the Auction we can punch in a nearby location and make a more thorough plan for those of us who can fight.”

Equimon nodded, “I’ve got intel from Andromon, I know when and where it is.” He said, pulling out a small orb of data, “And don’t listen to Liv, there will be a whole Raider team there so we won’t be going without our own backup.”

Isamu touched his goggles, “I can use these to find out if the guards have any specific weaknesses.” This seemed to impress Equimon even more, although none of it seemed enough to convince any of the other young Tamers to gather their courage and come with them.

Lutrimon nuzzled Aki’s cheek, “Our first adventure as partners, Aki!” She trilled, “Isn’t this exciting!?”

“Terrifying, is what I’d say,” Aki replied, and added in a hushed whisper “So let’s go before I change my mind.”

Wemicmon grinned, “This is exactly what I wanted to do when I met my Tamer! Let’s go save those kids!”

Next Episode

[annebrontesrequiem]

Higurashi Gou Ep. 7 Thoughts

Spoilers for both 2020 Higurashi, 2006 Higurashi, Higurashi Kai, and the manga. These spoilers will become more pronounced the more episodes I watch, You have been warned.

Again, please pay attention to that spoiler warning. I basically spoiled the end of the first series (as in the end of Kai/all the manga/I mean the VN but I’ve never played it). Anyways, HERE WE GO!!! Also this one is LONG because I have so many thoughts.

Okay guys here we go! This was the kind of perfect episode I wanted from this show. I was seriously blown away by it (and we aren’t even at the murder), so much so I rewatched it the next day. Now I have to put the bulletpoints of thoughts in my head into something vaguely coherent. So let’s try!

The first part I want to touch on is Takano explaining the story of the demons. This part I was first of all glad they kept the sketchy style, but secondly I was a bit confused as the original story is that Oyashiro-sama sacrificed themselves for the people of Hinamizawa, then Onigafuchi, and that was... that. I could ne misremembering, I forgot to reread that part in the manga, but either way it was of note. I guess more proof of Takano’s infallibility. More importantly, at least to me since the series isn’t over and they could explain the disconnect later, this scene was great atmospherically. Not the best, but very good. Keichii VA is really talented gotta throw that out there (no I haven’t seen the dub). Oh also his “you’re lying!” was good, although I do think Studio Deen was better at getting the Higurashi face to look more distorted. Oh well I like the new animation style it doesn’t bug me.

Next is Shion knocking off the statue head. I cannot be the only one that noticed a very deliberate slit in the base of the statue. That combined with it already being broken... I think something’s in the statue. This is a theory and a pretty random one so I’m just throwing it out there and leaving it at that. Also Takano def took something.

Next is our pal Ooishi. Am I the only one who feels he comes off much creepier in this version. I mean it might be because by the end of Kai/the end of the original manga we’ve gotten a super intimate look into his life and the guilt he feels and how it manifests in his obsession with this supposed curse. But in the scene with Keichii... he’s just so creepy. In that like oh my god old man get away from me. Still that scene was pretty good. Although the timeline and the fact they’re already asking after Takano and Tomitake seems a bit odd. I know that unlike the original Cotton Drifting arc they stole a van (Is this Tomitake getting held up or getting inject with Hinamizawa Syndrome I wonder) but still it seems very soon to the viewer and a bit... rushed? Idk I think people asking after it the day after works better. Anyways.

Oh also interesting how dialogue keeps getting shifted. For example in the original Ooishi is the one who brings up Mion and Shion aren’t even wearing the same clothes. I hope they aren’t changes for changes sake but it also did bug me, just something I noticed when I reread the manga.

Anyways now we really start getting to it. The phone scene between Shion and Keichii was an 11/10 scene for me, I thought it was spectacular. Again Keichii’s VA is amazing (so is Shion’s btw not forgetting her, she’s great at being understated in a way that makes everything creepier). And the animation wasn’t as out there as the original but I still felt a sense of claustrophobia. I think it’s the way everything’s shot super close in frame before having a wideshot with Keichii and Shion alone in their relative spaces, it gives this great feeling of being watched. I really thought the phone scene was going to be the highlight of the episode and discounting the shock factor of Rika’s later stuff it prolly is. On rewatch it hit just as hard.

This is getting obnoxiously long so let’s get to the end and talk about Rika. Her pulling a Bernkastel and just snapping on Keichii was so unexpected I half laughed in shock (also another reason you should watch the original first it wouldn’t be so offputting if you didn’t assume she said she was going to protect the kittens). I could meme on this scene, hell I already have, but honestly it’s so good. Again great angles and voice work. The way Rika looms over Keichii, who’s shadowed by her, just gives this huge sense of tension and powerlessness and Rika’s adult(/Bernkastel gonna keep name dropping my fav) voice is really great at this dejected apathy. I love it 11/10. Also of note this really makes me doubt this is a sequel. I mean I always doubted it cause Rika would just repeat what she did in the last arc (Festival Arc?) and win again, which she’s not doing, but more importantly for this episode she says Takano’s dead. Unless one of the kids went on a VERY preemptive murder spree which included taking down not only two adults but all of Takano’s “dogs” Rika doesn’t know Takano is the orchestrator behind her murder. Safe to say I’m confused.

This episode was so amazing I can’t get over it. The slow pacing of this show (slower than the last this episode ends at like the quarter mark of the last manga volume for this arc) really helps ratchet up the tension when stuff happens. But also WHAT’S GONNA HAPPEN NOW? I’m gonna sleep but we’ll know in 2 hours!

Hope you liked this review and see you soon with the next episode!

[knightmaring]

temp graphics while we wait for a path name.

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after you arrive to UNDERTOWN and the rest of the demigods follow suit, you begin to wind down for the night. something inside of you feels different. there's a strength that grows that you only dimly knew was there before. you feel stronger, faster, more attuned to your senses and your own inner power. if you ever doubted that you might have divine blood in your veins before, now, more than ever, you feel it. you drift to sleep, exhausted from the events that have lead up to this point. at some point you "awake". you're not in the tent, though, or maybe you are. when you awake, you're in a place that seems familiar to you. describe this place? what does it look like, sound like, smell like?

It's dark and the air is hot and insufferably humid, heavy with the scent of freshly fallen rain and the spiced pine-like scent of wet creosote bushes. The only source of light is a flickering pink neon sign that read: Ten's Showclub. Its pink glow flickers off the wet asphalt of the parking lot and off the edges of the cars occupying its spaces.  There's a few people mingling about by the club's entrance, waiting impatiently, murmuring to one another. There's a rush far behind him, the sound of traffic passing by or a river raging from the torrential rains this monsoon season had blessed them with, it was hard to tell.  It could even be both, Tucson never did have the best infrastructure and it wasn't the first time the streets turned into rivers of death and destruction. 

Hudson flexes his fist, wondering what had triggered this surge in power. Did it have something to do with Gideon or perhaps the sword and dagger he had found in that chest? Or was it something else? Why was he here? How was he here? He was in the underworld one moment, and now he was in the worst damn city in the southwest had to offer. 

standing before the club's entrance, drenched in sweat from the humidity, you look around wondering how you got here. it feels strange to you. when you look around, things shift into focus, as if you're piecing the area back together piece by piece. then, out of the corner of your eye, you see a familiar figure. for a second, your heart stops and you move to get closer to them, move to see them. as you approach, your vision begins to clear up and you can make out the finer details of what the figure looks like. what do you see? is it a person, an animal? what do they look like and how do they make you feel?

Fear shoots through Hudson when he spots the spikes of blond hair out from the corner of his eye. He whips around, shoulders and jaw muscles tensing as it approaches. The figure is just as towering and imposing as he remembered as a child. The goatee, the square jaw, and thick eyes brows were exactly the same, but the eyes-- they were different. One was a black abyss, a whole Hudson had left when he emptied the barrel of his the man's gun at him. The other eye was no longer an eerie pale blue, but red, with gold specks at the center. Black scales were forming along his neck as he moved in closer, coming and going and once he was close enough, he could see the pink light reflecting off two tall, arching horns that framed his head. But there was no mistaking him, it was Craig. Just as he remembered him the night he killed him. The same Black Sabbath shirt, the same dirty blue jeans, the same ugly biker boots. This must be a trick by some creature in the underworld. Some kind of punishment. Letting him meet the man who abused him and his family. The man who tortured and tormented them for years. Hudson's fists clench, the fear finding a poor of anger, settling and mixing in like old friends. 

the demonic visage of your old abuser takes root, standing tall before you, uninterested and undisturbed by your presence. one black eye and one red eye stare at you as if you mean nothing to him. he opens his mouth to speak and you can hear the words coming out, but they're muffled. it's as if he's in a cylinder, cut off from you, with his own words barely making it to your ears, like he's speaking under water and all you hear are the bubbles of conversation never popping to give you what you think you need to hear. then, as you strain to listen more intently, the voice becomes crystal clear. what does it sound like? does it actually belong to craig? is it male, female, or animalistic? what physical responses do you have to hearing him speak? how does it make you feel?

Hudson squints, confusion etching its way across his face as the demon attempts to speak. A shiver runs down his spine as the voice clears up. It's male, deep and unearthly. It feels ancient and powerful, like something that belongs to creatures that lurked in mausoleums or ancient temples. The sound reverberates inside his head, feeling as if it is everywhere and nowhere at once, inescapable and ever present, demanding of respect and obedience, a sound that has Hudson seizing in place. It is not Craig's voice. A mistake, for if it wanted to render Hudson to his knees, he shouldn't have gone for someone who inspired so much wrath and defiance in the demigod. "Who the fuck are you," HUDSON snarls, hands reaching back for his swords.

there's a snarl of a smile that slices along the demonic visage's face. craig licks his lips and watches the hostility that brews in your veins. "am i answering the question or you going to attempt to kill me?" the voice booms with power. you hear it in your mind as well as in your ears, seeping into your bones, down to the marrow. "because we can do either or both if you wish, son of fear." 

As if he couldn't get any creepier or more deserving of a few punches and stab wounds, he went and did that thing with his tongue. "Keep wearing that ugly mug and acting like a little shit, I might just go with the latter." Hudson pulls out his swords, just in case the creature does anything funny. Given his last encounter, the way it went, and the disheartening way his fellow demigods had reacted towards him in the end, the son of Demios was less inclined to be as trusting as he typically was. "What are you, who are you and why are you wearing that asshole's face?" 

craig laughs, it's a broken, discordant sound that echoes and echoes until they both sit in silence. both mixmatched eyes stare at you as he stands there, arms folded defiantly over his chest, not scared of you.

"i'm an echo of your father's power, dormant until now." craig waves a hand to his face, gesturing toward it. "you tell me, kid. you're the one who sees me like this. it's your mind, not mine." another laugh and he shifts, the scales on his neck shimmer like obsidian, as if they're growing before they rest again.

The laughter causes shivers to run up and down his spine, settling into his chest like a battery of violent panic waiting to be expelled. There's confusion at first. Father? Craig may have been his step-father, legally, but he was never a father to him. And then, he realizes, the creature meant Deimos. Understanding dawns on the demigod's face, then pain. Craig was the first real monster he ever encountered. He was the monster. The one that still occasionally plagued him in his dreams, the reason why he was so broken and useless, a creature so foul that even in death he still manages to hurt him and his family, still haunting them, striking them when they least expect it. His abilities made him feel monstrous. They made him feel like Craig. It made sense, why this thing before him would appear as his abuser if he was his father's power. An echo of it or not. "He was a monster,"  Hudson murmurs, lowering his weapons. "Sometimes, when I use my abilities, people look at me the way my family and I looked at him."

there's a flicker of amusement on craig's face as he licks his lips, tongue trailing over sharp teeth. "people view fear as a monster." he says to you, standing as still as stone as he watches realization dawn on you.

"are you a monster, son of deimos? or are you something more?" he asks you, head lilting to the side as one of his eyes—the red and gold flecked one—illuminates as if to see if you're lying to him or yourself.

Shoulders square up, jaw tensing at the question. There's an urge to run the moment that eye is on him, but Hudson manages to squash it, taking a step back. "I'm a monster," Hudson admits, shame creeping its way into him. "What else would you call someone who enjoys terrifying others?" He knew what fear did to people, how it could ruin them, how it can break them and yet at times he found himself relishing in their fright. And it wasn't just with people who deserved it, but with others, ones who obviously didn't, like Dane and Yves. And while it wasn't something he did often, the mere fact that he could do it and that he's had to fight against his instincts to keep himself from doing was proof enough that there was something terrible inside of him. 

"But, I want to be something more," he admits, his gaze meeting the creature's. "My da-- uh, Floyd, my step-dad, he says that sometimes what the world needs is a monster." The bar door swings open, and people begin to stumble out, a small group lingering by a car near the entrance, as if they were waiting for something. Hudson's eyes flicker over to them, briefly, only long enough to settle on a tattoo of a swastika on one of the man's arms. "Like, Stalin." He says, straightening up. "He's been dead for seventy somethin years but, he still scares the shit out of people." Hudson smiles, a memory of Floyd educating him on the Soviet leader coming to surface. "He was a hero, but westerners think he's a monster, especially his enemies. But his people? His people love him. Because he was their protector, their leader--- their champion. He made life better for them and he kept the real monsters away."

craig shifts in the streetlights, in the gleaming neon sign of the bar. the scales almost glimmer with the light before the smile is back on his face, a hum that sounds like a sleeping dragon slowly parting his lips, breaking through the cage of his teeth.

"but do you think you have it in you to be that monster? to be that hero they need? what if being the monster causes you to lose the ones you love?" it's a bombardment of questions, one after the other, eyes never leaving yours. "because you may enjoy the fear, that hunger for it, but afterward, are you okay with yourself?"

"Yes," Hudson thinks to the Neo-nazis nearby, the way he nearly killed a few of them. He told himself, the cops, and the club owner that it was because they were waiting outside to harass a dancer, but he knew, he just wanted to ruin a few lives that night and he took gleeful delight in doing just that to other monsters. "Besides, I don't have a choice. I have to." He pauses, thumbing the hilt of his shortswords. "I feel... useless in battle. Most of the time, I feel like I'm not even needed." He had to figure his place on the battlefield, but how was he supposed to do that when he couldn't be himself in his entirety. "I... I have to accept myself, even if I don't like what I might become." 

He stares at the face of the man he blames for Denver's death, the person who actually killed her through the pain he caused. He supposed, he had to be like him in a way. He had to stop trying so hard to get people to like him, to be what others hoped and expected of him. "I've already lost someone because I couldn't become one fast enough... as a kid." His eyes fall to the ground. "If I don't do it now, then I'm gonna lose the rest of them." His eyes snap to the neo-nazis, frowning as the puffed away at their cigarettes. "I have to be okay with myself, because if I don't..." A breath. "I know I'll feel even worse if someone dies all because I didn't like how it made me feel in the end."

craig looks at you and notices how your attention constantly flickers away from him to the passersby of the club, to the men that you've already dealt with. he shakes a finger, wagging it from side to side. 

"this is not your past, kid. we're not here to relive it." the scene shifts, the club is still there, the bright neon sign still buzzes over head, still flashes every now and then like it might go out. but the streets are empty, the line is gone, there is no one around but the two of you. "all this talk about being okay with becoming a monster, with needing to be one to save people, feeling useless." he steps around you and you can still feel his gaze lingering on you, a heavy stare that burns you to your marrow. "so what if you are? what if that's all you'll ever be." he stands behind you, whispers into your ear. "if you want to be a monster all you have to do is let it out." a breath, a pause. "so do it."

Useless is all he has ever been. He could never protect his mother and sisters from Craig, instead of saving them, he condemned them to a life of suffering, pain and abuse far apart from each other. Making friends was always hard as foster kid, but even harder when you're placed in a community of solely whites who despised you simply because of your skin color and your culture was different than theirs. And when other children of color finally began to attend the same school, he failed to protect them from bullying. There was nothing worse than having hope that you wouldn't be alone anymore only to come to school one day and find that your new friend had transferred out all because you couldn't do enough to protect them from the bullies.

A wave of goosebumps course over him as it stops and whispers, drawing a silent snarl out of the demigod. The voices in the back of his mind grow in a panicked frenzy, bickering with one another as to what he ought to do. Fight him. Run away. Kill him. Hide. Black wisps begin to circle them, threatening to drown them both in a bubble of darkness. A sharp ringing in his hear drowns them out, the same ringing he heard night he shot Craig. He could remember the rush he felt pulling the trigger, emptying the clip of the gun to the man. He felt powerful, in control, and above all else, he felt relief. This darkness inside of him wasn't something he inherited from Deimos, it was from Craig, and it has twisted and tainted every part of him and morphed him into something ugly-- a reflection of his abuser. All of his life he's been fighting so hard to prove to himself that he wasn't like him, but he was tired, so tired of constantly monitoring himself.

Maybe he should let it out. It felt good killing Craig. It felt good stabbing those bullies. It felt fantastic beating neo-nazi's to a pulp. It was useful in juvie, and in prison. But was violence and fear the solution to everything? Was it what all of them really needed? The kids, it wasn't their fault they were that way. Maybe it wasn't any of their faults, but... the kids, at least, they could have been saved. Bullying and racism were learned behaviors. They were young enough to be saved the state had investigated and done their jobs right. The gods deemed Lamia a monster, and he helped her free herself from their prison. Could he do that again if he simply let the darkness take over? The darkness had a way of twisting thoughts, would it even cross his mind if it were to happen again? Could a monster save a monster? "Don't tell me what to fuckin' do!" Hudson hisses, whipping around to strike at the false Craig with both shortswords. "That face doesn't get to bark orders at me anymore."

CRAIG begins to snicker viciously in your ear, almost like he can read your thoughts. each wicked thought that flutters through your mind is something that he almost relishes in, wants to provoke.

"i'm not telling you to do anything. think of it as a forceful suggestion." as you whirl around, shortswords in hand to slash at him, the demonic cisage of your childhood abuser isn't there. there's nothing there except a fading form that looks like one of the many people you've let down. "boo." craig's voice whispers again, omnipresent and consuming, as a large claw pushes forth from the shadows that flicker around you. he misses, the dark talon like fingers whizzing passed your bicep as he laughs maniacally. "you never did listen. you always do what you want." he shakes his head, one bottomless eye focusing on you intently. "why do you think you're always alone in the end? what is it about you that makes people so afraid to get close?"

A forceful suggestion. If he wasn't wearing the face of an asshole, Hudson might have found that funny. The ghostly vision of Denver causes Hudson to stall, his heart stammering against the his chest. How?! Denver! Where did he go? A memory? It's a trick! Look around, you idiot! A ghost? No, it's not her--- Pay attention! Behind you. Turn around! He's behind you! Focus! Watch out! Never have the voices ever banded together in such a way, their panic and urgency to turn causes Hudson to actually listen for once and spin around-- barely dodging the attack. The dark wisps of his paranoia swarm around him to fully form the dark bubble of he typically loathed to use. His pulse quieting, letting his paranoia blanket him in the security of his darkness, feeling shielded from that terrible gaze. There have been so many hours--- possibly years worth--- of time the demigod had waste trying to figure that out. Why was did he always end up alone, why were people so afraid. It was racism. It was because he was so fucking tall. It was because people could sense he was damaged, mentally unwell and beyond repair. Or they could sense he was a killer-- that he was prone to violence. It was because he was too emotional, too trusting, too volatile. Then he found Olympus and he thought he finally figured it out--- he'd be unconsciously using his abilities and his lack of control cause all the fear. When Gideon never came home, he thought maybe he's cursed. But now? Maybe he wasn't meant to be with anyone. Maybe some creatures are meant to be alone. It would make sense, now that he thought about it, if that were the case. Monsters like Craig can't help but inflict terror and pain on those around him. Consumed by emotions, unable to control himself. It sounded an awful lot like himself. Maybe the universe was doing him a kindness, keeping him from fully realizing his worst nightmare. "How would I fuckin' know?" Hudson snarls, attempting to aim another strike at the demon again.

the fear that settles inside of you is enough to satiate the hunger that this creature seems to crave. the dark scales around his neck almost glisten, shimmering different shades of red to black as the dark wisps of energy pulse from you in waves. the pain rockets through him, pushing out an unhinged laugh that echoes in your mind like a gong.

he side steps the swing of your sword easily and makes his own attack again. the dark claws pulse as they scratch against your neck, a thin line that instantly starts to trickle blood.

with that cut, it's as if other things begin to pour forth. you see the way GIDEON used to look at you, how he held your hands and told you that you're not a monster, how he sat with you when you were falling apart when you would think about what these abilities of yours did to your friends, how he promised that he would never look at you like a monster. you see your sister's who looked at you the same way. you see the friends you've slowly begun to make looking at you like perhaps there's something wrong, but maybe they know they can trust you if the time called for it. you see yourself, somehow, standing where CRAIG once stood, claws of darkness dripping with your own blood before CRAIG'S face is staring at you again. maybe CRAIG isn't the thing you fear the most. maybe you've been fearing yourself all this time.

This wasn't working, it was clearly getting off on this. Which only served to infuriate and frustrate Hudson even more. He had to think of something else, of some way else to beat him. That feeling of uselessness creeping up on him again. At least, this time, he was alone. No one to protect, no one to disappoint but himself.

The burn of its claws against his neck draws a frown from Hudson, and for a moment he half expects the attack to come with bone deep excruciating pain but the sight of his loved ones and allies is so much worse. He wants so badly to be better for them, so badly to be what they expect him to be. But with it comes hesitation, comes uncertainty, a constant need of approval.

The sight of himself in Craig's place was unsurprising. It's how he felt he appeared after taking Credence out in the games, and after killing those goblins. He was a nightmare to them. He could feel the wave of fear shifting from to a fear of him. The guilt that came after was heavy. Why did they have to look at him like that? To feel like that? He was nothing like Stalin, a mere mortal who inspired such hope in his people and fear in his enemies, one would think he wasn't human in some way. The first time his allies looked at him in terror, Hudson knew, there was no chance he could do both.

Hudson knew what he could become. He's heard it over and over again. The abused grow up to become the abusers.

Of course he's been fearing himself.

He's caught himself in moments empathizing with his abuser. How could he not fear himself? "Is that all you've got?" Hudson snarls, trying to recompose himself. "You just gonna scratch me and make me feel bad?" He wipes away at the blood on his neck with a forearm, then lets a wave of dread pour out of him towards the creature. "I've fucked people who've done a better job at that than you-- you know, as a fun sexy time game." Well, maybe not so fun.

"tsk, tsk, tsk." CRAIG'S face is in rfont of yours now and his body grows even larger. the room area of outside of the club begins to shift once more, as if pieces of a mirror are breaking away, piece by piece the road is gone and the club is gone and the two of you are standing some place new, some place else. 

where is this place? what does it look like? does it bring good or bad memories to you?

the energy shoves off you and slams against CRAIG and he winces a little at the contact but it doesn't grab hold of him. he smirks, licking his lips and you notice his tongue is forked—a truly demonic visage.

the visage of your guardian laughs, head throwing back as waves of darkness begin to form around him into sharp blades. they lash out and latch onto the sides of your face, digging into your temples before his eyes close and he attempts to latch a third one onto you. he misses, but two is enough.

there's a quiet pulse of something that silences everything around you and your eyes blow wide. "tell me what would kill you to lose. tell me what you fear the most."

he looms over your and locks eyes with you, but you shrug the feeling off, the sense of dread that can be all consuming and paralyzing, the same feeling you've felt before, over and over again and again. 

Despite the creature having stated they were in his mind, and having managed to clear out the entire parking lot with little effort, Hudson hadn't quite believed it until now. The parking lot and club shatter away, and in its place was a gaudy pink and maroon dining room with teal accents obscured by the mountain of Beanie Babies and Furbies lining the walls and china cabinets. Hudson could recognize this hellscape anywhere. He may have no been invited to many homes as a child, but he was absolutely certain no one other than Mr. and Mrs. Young own so many terrible toys. 

Hudson's gaze, however, wasn't trained on the ugly piles of cheap 90s obsessions. It was focused solely on the twelve unconscious familiar faces bound to the Chippendale dining chairs surrounding the table. The demigod doesn't have time to react to the change, the creature's attacks piercing him and pulling a scream out him. For a moment, he thinks about getting away, so that the table was between himself and false-Craig but then the people he loved would be in danger, the very danger he wanted to shield them from. "Fuck you," Hudson bites out, desperately trying not to look towards the faces of his sisters, his mom, of Floyd, or Gideon or Lamia and the kids. 

This was a nightmare. One that plagued him almost nightly now. A terrible mish mash of memories thrown together, mutated and merged into something far more horrifying than reality, all of it combined with his fear of things to come. Hopefully, this thing was as needy to be the center of his enemy's attention as he was. He was certain he wouldn't able to fight off all three monsters. Was he feeding the creature with his abilities? The bubble of darkness drops, and Hudson hopes, that maybe just maybe this thing has fears of it own. Black pulses through his veins and into his swords and he takes another swing at the creature. "I'm not going to lose anyone else! I'm not going to let things like you, or any other supernatural thing take them from!" He was going to keep what he had left, even if it meant dying for it.

with a wave of his hand, the weapons in your hands disintegrate, falling away like ash. the scene changes again and this time, you're back in your room on olympus. it's just as messy as you've left it, piles of guns in the corner, piles of things on the bed, a spot on the floor where you curl up to sleep. some of gideon's clothes that you've been using as a pillow still liter the floor.

"i think i've begun to understand you, but i don't think you quite understand yourself." the red eye lined with gold and the abyssal black eye focus on you, the scales seem to move, growing with each breath and falling away with the exhales.

"you wish to be a shield for the monster's of the world at the expense of turning into one yourself." craig shifts and he's behind you once more, you can feel his presence and it changes. there's not necessarily fear but an understanding, a sense of protection that fills you.

"i am not your enemy, hudson boyd, son of deimos. i am an echo of his power that lives within you, taking the shape of what you will me to be." craig sighs, "but i believe there is things you need more than fighting me, because fighting me is fighting yourself and i do not think you can win."

Eyes widen as the weapons vanish before him, his heart plummeting as his room comes into focus. This whole time in the Underworld, he's been rushing to get home, to run out and find Gideon. But now that he was back, even if it was only in his mind, it hurt to be home. It felt wrong, emptier, and so much darker knowing that Gideon wasn't here-- in this realm. He for one of the discarded shirts, holding it carefully as if it too could disintegrate like his swords had. He rubs the fabric between his fingers, shutting his eyes as he presses it against his face, breathing it in.

Hudson watches the creature out from the corner of his eyes, frowning at this words. No, he supposed he didn't. He's been trying so hard to be accepted by others, to be seen as worthy of love and affection to the point of changing himself that he may have lost himself in the process. His shoulders relax as the aura around the demon changes. "What things?" He asks, shutting his eyes and trying as instructed, willing the echo to change into Gideon. He knew nothing good would come of it, but he missed him so much it hurt to breath, all he wanted was to see him again.

does the voice change to gideon's as well?

yes.

as you turn you're met with a familiar sight and it makes your heart hurt just a little. gideon's mahagony eyes stare at you as he watches you inhale the scent of him, watches memories pass through. 

but you know, on some level, that this isn't gideon. even if it looks and sounds like him.

"you need to understand that you aren't a monster and that wanting to do whatever it takes to defend those you love doesn't make you one." gideon pauses, shifting in the light of the room. "it makes you relentless, unyielding, but not a monster." he walks closer to you, picking up idle pieces of clothes and folding them, placing them somewhere neater—something gideon would do when you were sleeping or lounging about in your room.

"embrace the darkness but don't let it consume you to the point it changes who you are. you're more than fear, hudson. you're more than darkness."

gideon moves and rests a hand on your cheek and it's almost like you feel the familiar warmth of his palm.

"it will be hard to do, but will you try? let the darkness in, let it out, but know when to pull back. you are not the monster's that you've faced before. break the wheel, break the cycle."

Hudson's mouth goes dry at the sight. For a moment, he finds himself questioning his sanity, if any of this was real or if he was simply having another breakdown. He watches and listens to Gideon, his sight blurring as tears begin to well up. It's not him, he knows this, but he feels and sounds so real. His face screws up, unable to hold back the waterworks any longer, and reaches out for the man, arms wrapping around him, clinging to him as if that would keep him there, as if it would bring him back. He lets out a sob, but nods at his guardian's request. "Y-yes, I can try," he chokes out, arms tightening around the muscular body.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." His body quakes with another sob, an overwhelming guilt weighing down on him. The apologies aren't toward his guardian, rather to the image of Gideon--- as if speaking to him could some how find its way back to the actual demigod. "I should have been there with you." No one deserved to die alone, without the company of a loved one near by to ease them into the afterlife. "You deserved better."

the guardian is still when your arms wrap around him but, slowly, he wraps them around you in an embrace and holds you while you fall to pieces. the sobs rattle your body and wet the front of his shirt—the same one you were smelling only moments before—but there's no real wetness to it.

he pulls you away from him as you finish and looks at you in your eyes.

"with my help, if you accept it, you will never have to apologize again."

he wipes wayward tears from your eyes with the pad of his thumb.

"are you ready to accept your birth right, son of deimos?"

It hurts, but Hudson nods. "Yes," he straightens himself out, sniffing back snot as tries to stand tall. "I am." A brief pause, and then shyly, just above a whisper, he says "thank you." For letting him get that out, for accepting it, and him.

"we'll see each other again." gideon says and turns to walk out of the room.

you wake up back in the makeshift camp that the demigods have made in the underworld and you can feel your face stained by warm, wet tears. he wipe them away quickly as you lay down, looking up at the tent you've acquired.

it takes you a while, but you go back to sleep with a buzzing under your skin. you find that you don't have a nightmare for the first time since you can remember. there's a shard of something else, though that blooms in your chest.

there's fear. but there's something else there, too. something fear can't live without.

hope.

when you wake up, you feel more rested than you have since before you can remember. but more importantly, you feel strong.

in more ways than one.

end.

[thedailyimagines]

Imagine working at Freddy’s Pizzeria, and telling your dad something is wrong. (Part One)

Description: The reader just got a new job at Freddy Fazbear’s. He thinks something is up and is proven right on the first night. Maybe his dad can help? This is the family business...

.

So I’ve never played FNAF, but from one reddit thread I gathered that it takes place in Utah. Please let me know if this is wrong!

~~~~~~~~

Another day, another motel in Nowhere, Utah. Y/n was starting to wonder if his dad and uncle actually knew what they were doing or if they were just taking a break from their case. They had already been here three days.

“So...when are we leaving?” Dean didn’t look up from the newspaper he was reading.

“Sam said the guy we’re talking with could need us for about another week. Maybe two.” Groaning, y/n flopped back onto the motel bed. He was so bored!

“Can I help?”

“No. Too dangerous and I can’t be worried about you getting hurt while working.” Y/n started to pick at one of the threads on the comforter.

“Sam will be there, he can keep an eye on me too.” Dean finally looked up from his newspaper.

“Y/n. I understand you want to help but I need to know your safe. That means sitting out on this one, okay?”

“Fine. But I’m helping next time.” Dean smiled and nodded in agreement.

“Alright.”

<—>

Help Wanted: Nightguard; Details inside.

That was the sign that greeted y/n when he went on a food run. The pizzeria looked run down, but hopefully looks were deceiving; otherwise it was burgers again.

“Whatever. Anything is better than burgers again.” Y/n opened the door of the pizzeria and was greeted to possibly the saddest place he’d ever seen. The restaurant looked empty and outdated, and the animal robots—animatronics, y/n told himself—on the stage were...actually kinda creepy.

“Hi! Welcome to Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, how can I help you?” A cheerful voice broke through the silent restaurant, and y/n found himself faced with a waitress probably just older than himself.

“Yeah. You guys are open, right? I didn’t walk in when you were about to close?”

“We’re still open!” Y/n nodded and almost took a step back from the waitress. She was almost scary perky.

“Okay, cool. I didn’t want to walk in at the last minute. Do you have a menu I could look at?”

“Yep, here you go!” Glancing at the menu, the majority of it seemed to be character themed pizzas. Y/n decided to make conversation as he looked for something the three Winchesters would all like.

“I saw your ad about the night guard position on the door—” Y/n was cut off before he could finish.

“Oh, are you going to apply? Here, let me get my manager!” Before y/n was able to ask for more details, the overly perky waitress had gone into a back room. She returned with a balding man who was smiling widely.

“Good afternoon! So, you’re interested in the night guard job?” Y/n shook his head.

“I was actually just curious. And looking for someplace to grab lunch.” The manager’s face fell.

“Oh, my bad. I thought you were hoping to apply for the position.”

“I mean, what exactly are the details? I might know someone who could apply.” He really didn’t, but y/n felt sorta bad for getting the older man excited for nothing.

“Well, it’s a temporary position. Five nights, and all you have to do is stay in the security office.” Temporary? Maybe y/n could do this job and get some spare cash. He could use some new tires for his bike...

“That’s it?” The manager nodded.

“Yep! It does have a low pay, but we are going out of business soon and don’t have the funds to pay much more than $200.”

“I see. Could I apply?” Placing his chin in his hand, the manager looked y/n up and down.

“It depends. How old are you?”

“I’m eighteen years old.” A lie, but y/n highly doubted the man would hire a sixteen year old. He looked old enough to be eighteen (at least, Sam said he did).

“Alright. And do you have any serious health problems or conditions?” That wasn’t something y/n was expecting. Wasn’t there paperwork for this kind of thing?

“Uh...no?” The manager grinned widely. It was a bit unsettling.

“Great! Can you start tomorrow?” Y/n’s eyes widened. Was this even legal?

“Wait, seriously? That’s it?”

“Yep! And don’t worry about buying a uniform, we’ll provide you with a shirt.”

“Alright then. What time do I come in?” The manger went back to his office, returning with a shirt and a sheet of paper.

“Just be here before twelve AM. Your shift ends at six. This paper has all the details and my number in case of emergency.” Y/n took the shirt and paper from the manager.

“Got it. And one more thing?” The manager raised an eyebrow.

“Yes?”

“Can I order a large cheese pizza?”

<—>

“That was possibly the grossest pizza I’ve ever eaten.” Dean pushes his plate away, one slice still left on it. Y/n took another bite of his and grimaced, wondering how exactly you screwed up a pizza this bad.

“Don’t blame me, I didn’t make it.” Sam set his plate down, all the cheese gone on his slice after it slid off.

“Where did you get it? So we know to avoid that place.”

“Place called Freddy Fazbear’s. Also I kinda-sorta-maybe got a temporary job there.” Dean choked on his soda and Sam had a surprised look on his face.

“Wait, what?” Y/n put his hands up defensively.

“So this place needed a night guard for like five nights and I figured since we’re going to be here for a while, it wouldn’t hurt!” Dean shook his head and turned to his son.

“Y/n—” Y/n interrupted before his father could finish speaking.

“Dad, it’s only five nights in a building that was empty in the middle of the day. It’s probably just as empty at night.” Dean rubbed the back of his neck.

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea...” Y/n rolled his eyes and took a drink of his soda.

“Seriously. It’s six hours of watching a restaurant in the middle of the night. What could possibly happen?”

<—>

Y/n parked his bike outside the pizzeria and chained it to the bike rack. Even at night the place was creepy, possibly creepier. Making sure he had the keys he received earlier, y/n headed inside.

It was eerily quiet without the music playing from the speakers. The animatronics were on the stage, and y/n couldn’t help but shudder as he walked by them.

“Creepy as hell, but entertaining to kids.” Y/n snorted, walking quickly away from the stage. He soon found the security office. From a quick look around, it appeared that all y/n would have were the cameras.

“Right. Let’s see...I guess I’ll just sit and play on my phone?” At that exact moment, the office phone rang. Y/n picked it up to hear the tone for a prerecorded message.

"Hello, hello? Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night. Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I'm finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact. So, I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I'm here to tell you there's nothing to worry about. Uh, you'll do fine. So, let's just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay? Thinking it was just a welcoming message, y/n began poking around the small office while the message played on. There really wasn’t much in there, and the doors had weird buttons near them.

“...So, you could imagine how having your head forcefully pressed inside one of those could cause a bit of discomfort...and death. Uh, the only parts of you that would likely see the light of day again would be your eyeballs and teeth when they pop out the front of the mask, heh.”

“Wait, what?” Before y/n could entirely process what the phone guy said, he accidentally knocked the phone down and unplugged it from the wall. Y/n scrambled to plug it back in but the message was already gone. “Shit!”

Slumping down in the chair, y/n ran a hand through his hair. Why would he possibly be at risk of dying? It was only a night guard job! That was when he spotted the note on the desk.

“Seriously, what the hell is up with this place?” Y/n decided to take a look at the cameras. Yep, there were all the animatronics—where was the rabbit? Flipping through each camera, y/n kept an eye open for the rabbit until—

“There! Wait, that’s down the hall. Is it coming here?” Y/n quickly jumped out of his chair and ran to the door, hitting the button to shut it. Not a second later the rabbit was outside, trying to get in.

It didn’t stop after the rabbit left. The whole night, each animatronic kept trying to get inside the office. At one point, three animatronics

At 5:57, y/n lost power.

“It’s fine. There’s only three minutes left.”

5:58. Two minutes. The fox animatronic entered the office, and lunged towards y/n. He ducked out of the way and bit back a scream at the hook cutting deep into his shoulder.

The fox turned around for a second go, and—

—it straightened, turned, and left the office, leaving behind a very confused y/n. As soon as the manager arrived, y/n booked it back to the motel he, his father and his uncle were staying at.

<—>

“Hey, did you see where I left my keys?” Y/n didn’t pay attention, too focused on his research to notice Dean talking to him.

“Y/n?” Y/n glanced up at his father, one eyebrow raised.

“What?”

“Did you hear what I said?” Y/n shook his head.

“Sorry, I was busy. What’s up?”

“My keys, do you know where they are?” Y/n pretended to be deep in thought for a moment.

“Uhh...your pocket?” Dean rolled his eyes.

“Very funny. What’s got you so occupied?” Y/n turned his laptop around to face Dean, a search for ‘Freddy’s pizzeria’ displayed on the screen.

“The animatronics at the place I’m working tried to kill me last night. Also I should probably look into getting a tetanus shot.” Sam peeked out from the bathroom door with a confused expression.

“What?” Y/n pulled the collar of his shirt to the side, revealing a bloody bandage to his father and uncle. Dean’s eyes widened in shock.

“What the hell happened to you?!?!”

“I told you, a robot pirate fox with a hook tried to kill me!”

~~~~~~~~

I don’t own the above gif, all credit goes to the owner.

[sunshinexlollipops]

Honestly I recommend maybe just mentioning the situation to your manager. That way if he even gets hired maybe they can just keep an eye on it. I had a similar situation where a coworker kept making suggestive comments to me. I didn’t really think twice about it but some of my female coworkers freaked when i told them and they made me tell the manager who kept an eye on it and dealt with things when it eventually escalated from there.

Okay anon so this is a bit of a longer, more in-depth response to what happened and giving more context about my former coworker’s creepy behavior this week and what my manager did in response to it!

I put a read more to help avoid making this post a massive pain to scroll past, haha.

But at a glance, I can say that I was disturbed this week with some of what he was doing and tbh I’m trying to minimize things so that hopefully a situation isn’t created and I cannot actively become a target if this guy hates rejection in any form and me trying to get distance will piss him off.

It’s... a lot. But for right now my bases are as covered as far as they can be!

edit: oh my god this thing got so messed up and deleted part of this WTF.

Basically he’s a young kid and he’s unofficially on the spectrum. He wasn’t well liked at first because he did a lot of stupid stuff when he first got hired (like chasing after a customer and accusing them of theft when they DIDN’T steal anything and then arguing with customers to the point they wanted to kick his ass-- not even joking, they were ready to fight him). I tried to be kind to him but had to correct things so at first he liked that I wasn’t as harsh as other people but I guess that developed into feelings over time.

He has a GF and while he likes her, it’s like they are easily one thing away from breaking up. I’m sure she is the only reason he hasn’t said anything, and if they do break up, BOOM open season begins. His GF mentioned she doesn’t like him being around me and he told me this and I said: “Tell her not to worry, I’m gay / don’t date anyone / am never interested in anyone / or we are JUST FRIENDS.”

This never stalled him. And despite us never directly talking about feelings and him never admitting he had a crush, it was obvious. He was always wanting to talk to me, attached to my hip. But it was weird because for a minute, he was starting to become a bit distant right up until I mentioned I was leaving, and then he just did all this stuff in a week’s span.

I didn’t exactly get too in depth on my initial posts, but he really creeped me out this week.

My 2nd to last day at my old job, I went through what I call “the phone fiasco.”

I was cashier, and I was at the register ringing up customers at a near constant. Because of this, my coworker couldn’t come up to talk to me and he had to stay in his department across the store. Well, a lady is about to swipe her card, and the guy behind her sees her puppy and says he’d love a picture of it for his wife it that was okay. The lady consents and the guy takes his phone out.

We have radios to communicate with one another and over the radio my coworker yells: IS THAT GUY TAKING PHOTOS OF YOU?

I seriously didn’t understand what was happening at first, but after he repeated himself I’m like... “Uh no dude, he’s taking pics of a dog?”

My manager on duty was really confused for a sec and I had to explain that no one was taking pictures of me. As I did this, I looked over to my coworker’s department and I couldn’t see anyone. Meaning: I couldn’t see where he was watching me from. Knowing he had been doing so before this, as he noticed this guy take his phone out for pictures, this disturbed me because it had me wondering how long this kid was watching me for, on top of not knowing/seeing where he was doing this.

My last day at work he got me a card. He basically said he’d miss me and he gave me a few dollars with it. I was half expecting him to say something about his feelings because he was so nervous about this card. But I thanked him politely and he told me he would “see me soon” at my new job (which he learned of from coworkers) and wished me luck. 

Well I didn’t know that mean he was going to come in THE NEXT DAY. As I mentioned, my last two days of work lined up consecutively with my first 5 at my new job, so I legit worked 7 days straight this past week. So I legit finished my old job with him the day prior, and now here he is the following morning at my new work.

I seriously got no heads up or had any idea he was coming in until he already left and he didn’t see me. I was in the back doing my computer training when he texted me about it and said he was coming in again after a few days.

He did as promised and showed up and made sure to come in when I was working. Due to COVID hours and scheduling, I would’ve been there one hour after opening and would leave one hour before close, so there wasn’t a good window to avoid him during that time.

He made sure to sneak up on me and surprise me and after he did that he began talking to me. He told me about how work was going to shit (not a lie tbh) and he was wanting to jump ship and he asked me if my new work was hiring. I told him to jump, genuinely, because that place is hell, but I suggested to try other places in the area as I didn’t think any positions were really open. He took this as “yes there’s something” and “ah what a great suggestion about positions here” because he said he would talk to my manager and see if he could get hired on “soon.”

Like visiting me, he went in to talk to my manager the FOLLOWING day. He went in store and asked about applying and my manager talked to him a bit. I haven’t mentioned him to my manager whatsoever and I’ve only mentioned one former coworker that I was hoping could transition over which was NOT him. My manager thought it was him but in general told him about a full-time position that was open. He immediately tried to bank on this.

He texted me after this happened telling me I was “a saint.” Idk why because I:

1) never recommended him to apply in the first place.

It was his idea and I advocated against it. I was never encouraging him to apply to my work, but actively at other places.

2) didn’t tell him about the position he applied for.

I didn’t know what was available. I told him as much. And even when he texted me about it, he said my store manager informed him of this full time position.

Which leads me onto what happened YESTERDAY. He texts me trying to ask for my associate ID for his application. I did this myself, and I put that my sis/coworker recommended I apply. When you do this, it asks for their ID on the app. Like most people, I noped and just said I found out by an employment site.

No. This boy wants to give me credit for something I didn’t do. Legit I didn’t even know that position was available and ofc I couldn’t recommend something I didn’t know existed. He was still insistent so I lied and said I couldn’t remember my number, lmao.

Now for the biggest bit: I had talked to my manager the day before this whole “let me give you credit” text.

My manager wanted my opinion on him anyways, but I contacted her out of the blue asking to talk to him. I told her about all of this listed above and how I was getting majorly creeped out and uncomfortable, and she completely understood. The phone fiasco bothered her and she didn’t like how I told her about “he’s come to see me twice and is trying to become my coworker again in 6 days of me being here.”

She doesn’t seem keen on hiring him but will most likely have to go through the interview for the sake of things but there were other issues like his availability and in general, he’s been refused at my work once before (reason why he ended up applying and getting hired at my old work). So hopefully it will look like a more natural rejection with valid reasons instead of it just being how he is with me because I do not want to escalate him, if possible.

I’m trying to make it appear like distance is withering things too, unless he really amps up and does creepier things because I only want to outright tell him to fuck off with more fire behind those words and when it truly becomes a bigger issue than a week’s worth of weird shit.

Management already knows, so if it gets worse, I will be able to address it and I’ve been starting to keep note of things happening in case it does escalate and it becomes an issue that affects my security and well-being.

Oof. Gotta love guys, right? ;--;

[chiauve]

The Man in the Dark - 1

Ally had been told emphatically by her father that she was not allowed to go down into the abandoned labs below the building. They’d been converted to storage units when the building was repurposed for records and bookkeeping and all that boring stuff of the BSAA so there was nothing of interest down there but it was still dangerous anyway. So of course that was the first thing she did.

Both her parents worked long hours and neither wanted their eight-year-old daughter home alone after school, and Ally had no close enough friends with which to spend those hours. Most of those days she spent with her grandparents, especially her doting grandfather, but they too were still involved in the work life and would sometimes be away. So her father would pick her up and bring her to his office building. It was a decent compromise; a little more time with her dad, somewhat, and, supposedly, time to sit down and get her homework and reading done. She could wander as she pleased, grab a snack from the cafeteria, and hole up somewhere quiet to focus.

Or that’s what she said. She’d give her dad a kiss on the cheek and, backpack over her shoulder, head for the less used hallways and then make a beeline for the stairway. The elevator did go to the basement levels but they required a key to go down and she didn’t want anyone to happen to see where the car was going anyway, just in case.The stairway, however, and the door to the first of the basement levels were unlocked. Either no one noticed or didn’t care. Judging by the occasional cigarette and other things she’d found on that first level she guessed the latter. Even adults needed their getaways and for that reason she’d learned to be sneaky coming and going and had perused those first couple of rooms of the first level quickly.

As she was told, there was little. Boxes of old books and hardcopies of records, spare furniture, some unused safes, the fans that would get hauled out in summertime and space heaters in winter, and so on. Boring office stuff.

The building had once been one of the BSAA’s research and training facilities, but with the decrease of bio-terrorism and BOW activity over the years those departments of the BSAA had been downsized and relocated. The BSAA still had a heavy hand in monitoring pharmaceutical activities and viral research, its original purpose, but there hadn’t been an outbreak in a long time so its focus was in the usual business and government dealings and other red tape stuff. The other kids used to perk up when she said her dad worked for the BSAA, asking if he fought monsters or traveled the world, and then would lose interest when she informed them he just had a desk job.

Ally crouched down by the door to the basement and listened for a long minute. No scuffling of feet, no voices, no weird slaps and grunts of people being gross, so she opened the door and slid into the dark. She knew the layout almost by heart now and hurried to where she could turn her light on without being seen should someone come in, but more importantly she hurried because she hated the dark. She really did. The stories her grandpa used to tell her were burned like brands into her mind and despite knowing full well no lickers or hunters or other extinct things were going to grab her she wanted to be able to see to be sure.

She counted steps and she jogged down a hallways and turned into the third room where she turned on her phone light and sat in a spare chair, spinning it around to assure herself there were no monsters.

The monsters were all gone. People like her daddy kept track of that and the brave BSAA agents made sure of it.

Still, some shadows made her shudder.

She dug into her backpack and pulled out a large flashlight, trading its broad, warm light from her phone’s colder one. A big flashlight said ‘explorer’ more than a phone ever could, but she kept her phone handy should she find something interesting to film and show her classmates later.

Poking her head back out into the hall for a last check, she hurried to the basement stairs. The second basement level was accessible from there and had a few more interesting things: old lockers, a few safes still locked and functioning, bathrooms and showers that still worked, obsolete computers long wiped, and more old furniture and boxes of records that nobody needed anymore and would someday probably just be burned.

She crossed this level to get to another set of stairs that led down to what she dramatically referred to as The Dead Zone. Whatever power there’d been down there was long shut off, pipes silent, and the only movement that of rats.

She hated rats. Not the cute, fat little things that sat on your shoulder in school, but the nasty wild ones that bit and probably carried The Plague. She always wore her boots on days she knew she was coming to her dad’s work.

The last of the power on the second level stopped at the door at the bottom of the stairs to the lower levels, keeping that door locked behind a large deadbolt. Or it was supposed to; the lock had been broken for a long time and no one came down to check it.

Discovering that had been the moment Ally went from childish scrounging through forgotten storage rooms to exploring the Unknown. A lone agent in the oppressive, silent dark. She’d been down there many times and it scared her every time.

She approached the door and paid respect to that dark, shutting off her flashlight and staring at that pinpoint of light on the lock; the last sign of life and civilization. She pushed open the door and slid inside and didn’t turn her light back on until the door clicked shut behind her. She double-checked her phone; the signal was weak but still there should she get locked in or something happened. She’d get in trouble, but knowing she could call for help kept her fear at bay. She shushed her shadow (only quiet in the Dead Zone) and then moved on.

She’d explored most of this floor already. As far as she could tell there were two more below, but it was harder and harder to get to them. The space got heavy the farther down she went; the dust thick and the dark itself pressing down, insulted at the presence of a little girl. She concluded that as long as she was a polite guest it wouldn’t really harm her.

There was a big open space she guessed was once a gym, or some kind of training area. A few mats were left and started to rot long ago. There were rooms she couldn’t get into, physically locked and requiring a key or the power locks dead. Some doors still had plaques labeling their purposes: offices, training rooms, records. The bathrooms didn’t work and no water flowed, save a corner where it crept down the wall into a moldy puddle.

The next floor was worse: labs with some remaining equipment that made her mind jump to horror video games. Ally managed to wedge her way into a partially blocked door into an operating theater, but only the observatory part. The doors to the room below were well sealed.

Shining her light down into that room made it some how creepier than normal, and so she filmed it for her adventure videos and then never went back.

Her heartbeat always increased at this point, the rats skittering around just outside her light. She could see their red eyes watching her.

There was one last set of doors to the floor below, and while she’d opened them and looked into that level something chilled her and she decided to keep looking around on the fourth floor. She passed her light over that door and considered: was the day the day she go below? Should she wait?

What time was it? She checked her phone: she still had time, but her signal was getting dangerously weak. She eyed the door, then decided to be the polite guest she was supposed to be and ask.

“Should I go down today?” she whispered, so low her voice was barely more than a breath. It still roared n her ears in the silence.

Nothing moved, there was no sound, and yet the oppressiveness seemed to ease just slightly, her heartbeat not as fast. She took that as an invitation and stepped forward.

“Thank you, that’s very kind,” she whispered to the dark. She was old enough now to know she was probably being silly but you never could be sure in dark creepy places and it was best just to be cautious.

She pushed open the dead door and descended the staircase back around to the last door. The air was so heavy and stale she was sweating, the temperature forever constant. She pushed open the last guardian and entered the heart of the darkness at the bottom of it all, her flashlight shining around the dank hallway. This was the farthest she’d ever gone, gazing upon this last floor but never entering. Her fear rose, but also a bit of disappointment. Once she explored this place, what was left? Oh she always scrounged around the other floors, always finding new things, but this was the Final. The Boss level, the...

She took a breath, rechecked the door to make sure it wouldn’t lock behind her, and then gently shut it.

The hallways had many doors indented against large rooms that made shadows that shifted and jumped out at her. The doors were huge, thick slabs that moved on a track, now dead. The first room was open, nothing but a big space beyond, though chains lay on the floor. What was this place? Training up above, labs below, and now... She pulled out her phone and filmed, scanning around the room. She used to narrate her progress on the upper levels, but here she stayed silent. She could edit it later.

The next room was the same, and so were the others. Big empty rooms with nothing in them, infested with rat droppings and bugs and other things, but otherwise silent and dead. The other floors had remnants of human life in them, which was creepy, but this had something else. Nothing. There were rooms but they were dead spaces, a large hall of big empty locked rooms.

Like a prison. Ally shuddered.

Deciding she’d done enough for today, she began to make her way back down the hall when something caught her eye. A light. A small, red pinpoint of light in the pressing, endless dark. She stared at it.

There was no power down here, how was this door still active? She shone her light on the source; a keypad, just as dusty and grimy as everything else, but still active. Hand trembling, she took a couple pictures with her phone, then, slowly, her finger inched towards a button.

She reared back and stepped away.

Not today. She was not ready for the dark’s secrets today.

She hurried back to the last door and ascended, crossed the abandoned levels and finally up to the broken door on the second basement level. Again she performed her ritual, shutting off her flashlight and curtsying to the dark, before she left and fled through the storage rooms and back upstairs.

Life, light, noise even in the quiet places. She settled herself into a corner with her schoolbooks and pretended she’d been there the whole time and pulled out a pencil.

Ally didn’t do her homework, her mind locked on that single little light in the heart of the darkness.

[kalira]

CATS movie thoughts~

(post mirrored from Pillowfort here)

I went to see the new CATS movie with @mad-madam-m yesterday (we've been planning this since the first trailer dropped) and it was actually a) better than I expected, and b) enjoyable, which was a nice surprise! (I expected us to enjoy it because it was entertainingly bad, honestly.)

I've loved CATS since I saw the Broadway version as a kid, and listened repeatedly (incessantly) to the soundtrack thereof back then - and at times even these days - and was delighted to see a production of it when it came to our city when I was small.

The movie left me with 2-3 major issues and a handful of quibbles. . . I have not organised them at all, but here are my thoughts.

. . .which I am putting under a cut because I had a lot more to say than I thought, apparently.

I am not surprised they did an outsider character to be an audience surrogate, but *SIGH*

Also . . . Victoria? Whose characterisation in the stage show is 'excellent ballerina'?

I know that's why they chose her, they could fill her in as they chose, but it was weird to have a cat who left almost no impression in the stage show as the 'main character'

Okay I admittedly missed that they apparently folded in Jemima/Sillabub to her as well, but that really doesn't make me feel any better

Did we have to have the incredibly forced romantical feeling type focus?

Not to mention we had some oddness towards that with Munkustrap initially

Then there was Misto falling tail over paws - because he bumbles through everything - at her

Then the oddness of the Munjojerrie and Rumpelteazer song which was probably not supposed to added the both of them to that list, if more briefly

Holy heckies adding a new song for the new central character was not a bad idea but literally anywhere else in the goddamn movie, and not spinning off of Memory oh my lord all the no it was so cringe

Look you cannot build off of Memory as 'but I have it worse than you so feel better'

Who has it worse is never a good game to play at all, playing it here was so cringey

'What's a Jellicle?'

Okay I know, audience surrogate, but oof

Actually let me skip back - the CGI did not bother me that much and it's like 99% of the ranting I have seen about this since the very first trailer. It never bothered me that much.

The cats were made a bit more plain; that bothered me.

Let them have ruffs, especially the toms, wtf did you remove those for it looks a) weird, and b) wrong for cats

However the show really can only be played by humanoid cats, I think, or it . . . look, the production wouldn't work with more catlike cats

The addition of dialogue stringing together the songs and adding more plot elements and freedom to work with them was really not an issue in my opinion

It strung together the slightly expanded plot in a way it really needed

It wasn't that jarring or awkward, to me

Misto, oh baby, why oh why did they do that to you~

Mister Mistoffeelees, who is an aloof, confident, and incredibly skilled magician in the stage show is made into a nervously fumbling barely-past-kitten who fails at almost every bit of magic he attempts (and falls and trips rather a lot as well, when he's a brilliantly graceful dancer in the stage show)

It was painful, oh sweetie

I can guess part of why they did it, but it was not well done and I don't think it was necessary

Misto's magic was painful; not because it was painful itself but because he was so bad at it, and everyone expected him to fail every time he tried

Misto using his magic for Gus' song, for dramatic effect? I thought it was really great and also really sweet

Actually Misto being so starry-eyed at Gus was adorable all around

That could have been put in even with Misto being his confident stage self, in fact it could have been super cute to have him be composed and confident and then go to an overexcited kitten with Gus in front of him

The absence of the Conjuring Turn was so sad, it is a star point of Misto

Look I'm not a fan of the 'awkward bumbling male finds his confidence because of the unwavering (with no reason) faith of the new female love interest' trope in general, having it wedged in here suddenly did not make me like it any more

Upon the note of Misto, the rescue of Deuteronomy . . . was very badly timed on the beats, and badly done (I felt) when it finally happened.

I didn't expect her to show up when Misto first tried

I semi-expected the second time, but okay

When she didn't show up the third time it stopped being any kind of suspense - especially since, let's be real, the plot is not really a huge mystery - and became 'okay so . . . what are we doing instead now?'

And then the fourth try, when she did appear, it was done very anticlimactically

Deuteronomy being female didn't really bother me but it left me a bit eh

Judi Dench is awesome, but Deuteronomy not really singing is weird

Also, let Judi Dench's Deuteronomy have been implied to have had 9 - or 99 - wives you cowards

. . .plus that line being altered to be another repeat of 'Old Deuteronomy's had many lives, some may say ninety-nine' . . . it was awkward/clunky and felt over repetitious

Jennyanydots . . . oof, poor hon

Jennyanydots is a mature and above all sweetly sincere queen in the stage show

She honestly wants to better the mice and the cockroaches, and it's a bit silly perhaps, but she is determined to do it - and does

And the other cats respect her and, more, they genuinely care very much for her it seems

And she's earnest

I expected her to be played more for comedy given who was cast to play her, but the extent of it felt not great, to be honest, even before the other cats began to feel like they were mocking her a bit

Not to mention - the joke about the mice being dinner and a show I could let pass despite being very different from Jennyanydots as she originally was, but actually eating cockroaches as it went was a bit too far

As I told M when we were discussing the movie after the showing, it was like, I was rolling with it, and then they rolled too far

Also on that note? The CGI mice were a bit o.O - when the CGI cockroaches started marching my thought was actually 'oh, this won't feature in my nightmares at all'

They won't actually but they were kind of horrifying

I did like the cats watching with that alert, slightly twitchy focus of a cat seeing a small moving creature

The traditional costume change looked . . . weirder and creepier with the CGI than costume work

Bustopher Jones went from a dignified figure to a ridiculous one

It was again rather terrible to watch, wince-worthy

Prancing through the rubbish bins and splatting through things instead of his usual stage show refinement and rather snobbishness? Oof

Bustopher has always been respected, even specifically so because of his size, making his weight a joke and/or something he's 'extra sensitive' about was . . . so unnecessary

The Rum Tum Tugger has always been my favourite, since I was a wee tiny Kalira

. . .he was blessedly not so bad as I feared - and even went back closer to the rocker cat (complete with flirtatious tease nature) than the rap adaptation I have heard of and been continually ohgodwhy no at

However, why did they discard the few details of his character that are not a self-important flirt?

He's not even focused at that - in the stage show I am accustomed to he is very much a determined performer, basking in being adored

he was a bit 'oo shiny' and kept ignoring his adoring audience in the movie?

In the stage show he is also around to drop in playful lines from time to time

Also he sings a good chunk of Misto's song and brags him up, as well as pieces of other songs

While he claims to be distant and aloof, and may somewhat be, he continually comes back and causes minor disruptions for his own (and others') amusement in the stage show

He also protectively shelters some of the kittens more than once

Misto's barb was kept in but sounded more like a jealous, anxious attempt to detract attention instead of a teasing barb at an egotistical friend

Along with many of the songs, Tugger's was altered so that it is entirely sung about himself, and as with many of them, I felt it was better with some of the lines from another singer

Though his is not so bad as many, perhaps because he's already talking himself up

I wasn't really surprised to find he's changed from the inspirations I remember from the stage show and when I was little (Mick Jagger and David Bowie, mother told me when I got older XD) but it was still a little bit of a disappointment

Also a bit random, when mostly the soloing cats - at least/especially the ones singing for themselves in front of all the others - were competing in the formalised 'who gets to ascend' spread, that Tugger is evidently not

Mungojerrie & Rumpleteazer were kind of fantastic and then kind of wtf for me

me, during their song, as they pulled Victoria along with them to play and cause all manner of mischief in the house: I don't think I'm intended to be shipping Victoria with both of them now, but I definitely am

me, at the end of their song, as they deliberately abandoned Victoria strangling and trapped as a dog came barrelling up after her with saucy nonchalance: . . .what the fuck?

me, when they were helping with Macavity's attack directly: excuse me no

I know they're said to be 'rumoured' to help him out in the stage show but this was very different

Yeah they said here that it was 'only a bit of fun' and they didn't know Macavity was planning to kidnap Deuteronomy, but . . . no

I did actually like their colouration redesign, making them I think the only cats I did in the entire movie

The lack of their tumbling and acrobatics was a bit sad, though their song and playful successsion of running about, Victoria in tow, was fun

Macavity was played super well considering he has no lines in the stage show so rather little to go on, and the expansion of his plot was honestly understandable - I mean, CATS has a heck of a thin plot for a musical, let alone a movie

One of the things that bothered me about him was honestly that his song where he is described he is described as ginger and poorly-combed

He's played by Idris Elba and his fur is sleek rich brown

He looks great, but alter the lines, you've already altered several, including Deuteronomy's because of the genderswap

On that note, the plot expansion in general . . . it was way better than I feared

I was afraid they were going to wedge in another plotline alongside the (very thin/hardly there, admitted) one in the stage show and it wouldn't go well

On the other hand the making the Jellicle Ball an official competition was a little eh to me

The more I think about it the less I like it even, really

I suppose it had to be, maybe, to work with expanding Macavity's plot and actions, but I don't care for it (and I think it could probably have been worked around)

I could have done without the queens being actively aggressive to Grizabella, oof that was owch

They recoil and hiss and act like she has the plague or a curse, very disdainful of her, in the stage show, and it works well

Having the queens actively attack her, not only hissing but instead of recoiling circling her and closing in on her to slash at her? It was . . . not good

So I guess the lead queen that I noticed doing that the most is . . . Cassandra? I honestly thought it was supposed to be Bombalurina

Bombalurina only showed up as Macavity's chief singer and queen underling, to distract and drug everyone

Really? Yeah some of the queens sing about Macavity in the stage show, but Bomba is even the one who comforts Demeter when Macavity's presence freaks her out (in what seems like a trauma reaction, rather) in the stage show

I have no idea who is supposed to be Demeter, the queens were all but interchangeable background, really most of the chorus cats were

Which brings up the theme of a lot of the cats being unrecognisable to me, honestly, and/or having their roles remixed a little, or straight-up lessened

Skimbleshanks was awesome, and his song/number was perhaps even better than in the stage show

The tap-dancing along the rails? Awesome

The cats playing around in the sleeper cabin was also pretty great honestly

 I will say when Skimbles appeared my immediate impression was of a very specific within-the-LGBT+-community gay man stereotype

Also I am terribly amused that he's wearing half a suit of clothes and it's the opposite half that he was in the stage production I'm most familiar with

Munkustrap was rather different, still a large part of keeping things going, if not the same way

Less serious than I'm used to? Not that he's only serious, but still

He made the best faces, like, it rescued a few awkward moments

At least a handful of moments that made me go 'this is so very not the Munkustrap I know' characterisation-wise

With the battle removed and a few other things, many of the moments that make his personality shine were gone

No seeing him lunge into action as the Jellicle Protector, basically

No seeing him trying to manage the little play-within-a-play put on for Deuteronomy (even when Tugger causes mischief) although I can't blame them for cutting both of those

No seeing him shield the kittens or younger/other cats without hesitation

Instead there was mostly just the slightly silly characterisation that showed in the moments between in the movie, it seemed to me

Gus the theatre cat was another of those whose song was rewritten to be sung by themselves, though his is the most notable for that, given he barely sings at all in the stage show

I really think it worked better the other way

But they gave me Ian McKellen being awesome in that song so I am okay with this

Also, Gus using a bit of that to scare Growltiger off the ferry and into the Thames? Fabulous

Misto's song - I talked about him and about Deuteronomy's rescue, but the song

I love having it led in by Tugger in the stage show, and I love having Tugger brag him up

Tugger is good at that, honestly, it so suits his style

Misto needs a bit of bragging up, especially for this moment

First of all, changing it up so Misto sings most of it himself instead is a bit sketchy

Changing it so it becomes less of a confident, showy number and instead is Misto being so anxious he can barely sing and constantly checking reactions . . . that made it worse

Next up, changing it from Tugger - who reads as friendly to Misto, in the stage show - leading in Misto's song and encouraging the others to praise him, to Victoria who has only just met him and all the other cats being dubious as they join in. . . I did not like

My shipper heart: why would you take that away it was excellent interaction!

My non-shipper heart: why would you take that away it makes much more sense and it also makes a lovely balance with Misto teasing Tugger during his song and shows that Tugger took it in the light-hearted spirit (they're friends, they're there for each other) it seemed to be

Also that it was so sweet a bit of interplay they took it away from Tugger to give to Misto's Sudden Romantic Interest in the movie, with zero changes otherwise? I have some side-eye.

I already mentioned the rescuing Deuteronomy beats being all wrong, but it also left me thinking we'd be getting less of Misto's song and it was oddly broken-up when we did get more

The catnip usage had me a bit o.O I'll be honest, for several reasons

Erwhat with the drugging everyone in that scene?

The glowing I'm going to assume is to show that it's having an effect on the cats, but it came off a bit weird to me

There were several cats it looked like were 'trying to escape' the catnip who most definitely had/should have already been hit

Also how did the cats assisting Macavity avoid being affected? Bombalurina at first made sense, sprinkling it below herself, none of it after that did

Wow Macavity's song and climax there with the stairs right up to the 'Heaviside Layer' in his stage display? So cocky! An unwise cat

Deuteronomy smacking him down? Very nice

Continuing to do so when he disappeared them both? Even better

I was really rather surprised not to see the melee battle among the cats in the climax with Macavity

Of course that also took away some of the drama, aaand some of the chorus cats, especially the toms', chances to shine

The queens were pretty indistuingishable from each other but at least we saw them somewhat, the toms mostly seemed to be entirely background blur

Growltiger being added in as Macavity's henchcat was actually kind of great? Watching over the kidnapped cats and as a secondary (and subordinate) Bad Tom, yes

In contrast to the mischievous Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer being used that way, I am so there for it

Grizabella was . . . a little disappointing?

She was played wonderfully! But she could have been played more

Seriously, fabulous actress there for her and they did nothing with her other than her songs and crying while singing them?

The stage production I'm familiar with has more than that with her and less time

Let her be proud and trying to gather herself up

Let her be dubious of herself and/or the others

Let her stand aside as though she doesn't even want to rejoin them after being turned aside

Look there's lots more that could have been done in the space there was with her in the movie (and without involving Victoria so much as she was, which was still a bit cringey outside Victoria's song, but at least not so badly)

She 'went with Macavity'? Felt a little unnecessary and also . . . hrm, to me

The stage show doesn't explain why the Jellicles reject her or where she was

I honestly always assumed she left on her own - Grizabella the Glamour Cat? - to make her own way, and eventually fell from grace

It was also a little strange to see her so young

Deuteronomy making the choice also felt . . . a little flat to me

I'm not sure what I was expecting or what the problem was

Regardless, it felt a little lacking somehow

I was impressed with how they had Grizabella's ascension managed, since that would be necessity be rather different from the stage show

Also great for Misto keeping some of his confidence from his song and rescue for this bit

Macavity trying to leap on and hitch a ride to the Heaviside Layer was excellent, and his getting stuck and having his magic not work to get himself un-stuck? Great

I do wonder - is his magic entirely broken, or just not working to catch his ride on Grizabella's balloon again?

The Ad-Dressing of Cats feels a bit awkward in a stage production to me; having a close-up of Judi Dench staring at me in the movie screen, for an extended time, did not make it better

Also the prologue bits about the naming of cats and what a Jellicle is were both changed and so there was no semblance of something similar in the beginning

I still think it would have been awkward, but if it bracketed the movie with the fourth wall breaks it might have worked better

The faces of the three cats close around Deuteronomy as she recited the entirety of that - which felt too long - were the only things that kept it being too awful

Munkustrap was the best in that

Misto looking horrifically embarrassed a few times and hiding behind his hat once . . . oh baby, I feel

'You're a Jellicle now!'

There's a Jellicle Ball once a year, see you then

So . . . for now, goodbye to your butt that was thrown in a sack into a junkyard we immediately ran away from

Rather than it being the Jellicles' (second, in some cases) home

I know your whole arc has been please accept me, see me, give me a place to be

But run off on your own, see you in a year

Seriously Victoria could have followed Misto, or Munkustrap, or Mungojerrie & Rumpleteazer, or anyone

Even Munku's mate could have, say, come up and encouraged Victoria to come with them

Not that we saw enough to assume he had one, still don't know who was supposed to be Demeter, but beside the point

It was a rough ending there

. . .I had a lot to say, and I'm not willing to swear that I didn't repeat myself anywhere - if I did I apologise - or skip over things I might have wanted to say. I saw the movie 24 hours ago and wrote most of this when I should have been asleep.

I did enjoy the movie and will probably watch it again - I also plan to watch the Broadway version again very soon (as soon as the library brings it to me) and have been listening to the Broadway soundtrack since yesterday afternoon.

(I may also be writing more for this fandom soon, but we'll see about that.)