#i still think “wrong side of history shipping” would be so god damn funny

[phopollo]

This is not what I had in mind when I said I had something silly for the poke horizons fans, but I haven't had the chance to get on my computer again, but

Been thinking about them again

They're just so funny to me and also Raifort's introduction to the anime means the delusions about them are just a little less delusional

[kaiju-z]

“Moonlight Tryst Under The Eclipse”

Right! So! A little clarification is in order! Um. So like. There’s this D&D show called “Role With Me”/”The Ties That Bind”. And the party have recently reached a high-tech Elven city and are learning all kinds of things about the society there. Including that they found fucking God fan fiction. Fan fiction written about Arkanos, God of Magic, who is also the elves’ God. And of Solomon, the God of Undeath. Who is basically enemy to all elven kind, after he convinced a group of them to worship him, in exchange for “immortality”, which is the secret origin of the drow in that world.

So like. It’s them. As like. A ship. They found shipfics and were reading them.

So this is basically inspired by that. And it’s a fic, “as written” by a writer in that world, that city. That internet. So yeah. It’s a fic, within a fic. ó ____ ó;;; That’s it. That’s the joke.

Also yes, you should watch Role WIth Me. Very Dark Souls/Witcher-ish. With a flavor of Bloodborne. Also lots of funnies between the rough stuff that our heroes go through.

An Arkanos/Solomon fanfic by RainbowRunner899

It was meant to be a distraction. A simple. Basic. Get your mind off the ear-splitting screams and wails distraction. A honest to yourself one. And yet here you were. Hours after the fact, still locked in an embrace with the long eared boy scout!

Arms around your body, you can easily feel his fingers trace every smooth pattern and ridge of your back as the stars shimmer and shake under his dexterous touch. Unlike your dark dealings in your domain beyond mortal comprehension, here you are incapable of hiding your intents and secrets. Or at least, the ones you can gesticulate.

Damn him! Damn this know-it-all paragon that bewitched you with his soft voice and alluring eyes! His words, his face, his everything! It drives you to madness! Like that’d mean anything to you, anyways. You were already unhinged. By some slight you yourself perceive as such. You blame your makers for it and have stated it as such to him, many a nights.

Many, upon many, for centuries, long since after he took his foolish followers and ran off into parts unknown, leaving you with your defiled flock of sycophants! You hate them, for they fell so easily and thus, you send them to do all sorts of cruelties. Just to test how far they’ll go for you. When they’d snap. Break. You figure that is why he had come out of hiding the first time, since your conflict. And confronted you.

The two of you had fought for dominance, throwing stars and supernovas at one another, frightening the populace around you. And, had it not been for his quick thinking and raised defenses, you two surely would have exterminated all life in the vicinity.

‘Damn him.’ you think, your face flushing as his hands move to your front, caressing the 8 pack. Damn him for seeing through your ruse that night. Through to the very core of who you were and why you did what you did! All that cruelty and anger! All of it, creating a Seeming of unseen proportions, hiding the broken man in need of help underneath.

Only he saw it! Neither Vanderen, nor Fleetfoot. Nor the old man and the revelry wench got even the slightest idea you had this secret pain! They were too stupid, too blind to see. But not Arkanos. He knew and he punished your body so with the palms of his hands. Your breathing growing heavy to his actions and you contemplate evasive maneuvers.

He reaches for your pa-aaand you grab his wrist. “No.” you go, hissing at him with a glare of pure death. Or undead. As is your aspect.

He looks at you with those gentle eyes. Those honest and wise eyes. “No?” he repeats, questioning you with his pretty little face. You’d bite your lip, if you had one. Then shake your head.

“No.” And you’d get up and try to make way out of the room, specifically by him, to protect you both from prying eyes. “I’m leaving. Going back, I-I have work to do. Monsters to raise. Many dark biddings to be made, Arkanos.” You growled, pitifully to show aggression. But he’s unmoving, unperturbed by your behavior as you struggle to put your robe back on. Damn thing! Did you start putting it with the wrong sleeve forward?! You’d struggle and huff and puff as you forced your head through a familiar opening and then flinch backwards, bumping into the wall.

“You’re having those thoughts again, aren’t you, Sol?” he asks you directly, his voice peaceful, like a river during summer. Disgusting. And beautiful, damn it! So beautiful! You think that as he had been standing right to face you once you put your head through the clothing. “Don’t lie to me. My eyes cannot be tricked, my ears cannot be lied to… and my heart- And he’d reach for his chest, tapping the left peck, before reaching over to tap your own.

You had no pulse. Not that it mattered. You were a god and who honestly cared about pulses, when you would live forever! Or unlive. Or-aaah, fuck it! You’d look away, scowling a boney scowl. “This game ends here, Arkanos. You’ve seduced me many a times before, but this ends now. You know you could never beat me in a fair fight and I know that you can’t backstab me like some mortal rogue under the pale moon light.” you scoffed, grabbing the door handle.

Twisting it, turning it. Opening the entrance and, in your case, the exit from his awkward situation. But right before you’d leave, the door would shut, without you even taking a full step ahead. You flinch, step backwards and bump into his frame. Then you have to straighten yourself as you attempt to prevent flushing of the cheeks. Straightening yourself and your clothing, you scoff. “Of course, right. Your wards.”

“Yes, Sol.” He’d smile a little smile your way and you feel your spine shiver. That cute smile that drove you crazy. After everything you did. All the people you killed and brought back as your meat and soul puppets! And he has the gall to smile at you like that.

“Well, undo it!” you try to regain footing. To find your equilibrium and tower over him, make yourself bigger, like one of those bear things that roam Fleetfoot’s forests. But intimidation does not work on him and you know it. He’s too brave. TOO STUPID, you try to think, but you know he’s too smart for you. Of all of them, even you, with all your dark and vile magicks, he was always the superior intellect.

He’d sigh a light sigh and glance over to the nearby window. It had been darkened off with the Darkness spell, which you made sure to cast, in case one of your flunkies or one of his randomly popped their head through. And he’d walk over to it, tapping it gently with a finger, dispelling. The sky appeared an odd mix of colors. It was familiar. Reminded you of your many birthdays. Yes, even the one good one you had all those millennia ago.

He’d wave a hand to you to step on over and join him at the glass separating you two from the outside. No words were needed. He had prepared the right set of movements, didn’t he?! A pregnant pause. And you go over, though you dare not look upwards at what the sky would be like. You just look down, no head in the clouds. Only down towards the muck.

“There is no shame in what you feel, Sol. You know that, right?” he’d say, side-glancing you every now and then as he faced the sky, while you watched the passerby folk, well, pass by. Wordlessly, you listen to him. And then have to find yourself blinking as the silence became deafening. Like he wanted a direct answer from you.

You’d grimace and cant your head some in a direction of your choosing. “I’ve killed and converted and had them kill… so many people. And you’re trying to psychoanalyze me, Arkanos. Don’t you find the flaw in that?!” he’d sneer. “The daddy of the elves meeting with the step dad of your little traitors. In secret and for centuries now. Isn’t that a little-Don’t you think that’s kind of fucked up?!” he’d not even raise a brow over your foul mouth. He was used to it.

He was used to keeping it occupied, too. Hmph!

“Is it really so crazy, Sol? Is it, though?” he’d smile again, resting a hand on your shoulder. “You. And I. Have such a history, spanning many a lifetimes of many a people. From the short-lived to the ancient. Friends. To rivals. To enemies. To friends…” he’d giggle and your face would change shades. It was a whole galactic party on your features. “To so much more.”

“Fuckbuddies.” he scoffed at your phrasing. He was used to the cussing, but that sort of direct crassness gave you a bit of an advantage… every now and then.

“Call it as you want, Sol. But I know the truth. I peered through your actions and your thoughts and I saw the real you… And I saw the broken pieces. They were there, inside you. Calling, screaming to be reshaped.” He spoke to you with such determination and passion. You’d mistake him for one of those new-fangled “bards”. “Is it honestly that big of a surprise that once you reached out as you did, I would reach back in turn?”

You look away. “After everything I put you and your kids through, how is that a surprise, Ark-“he has a hand on your cheekbone, slowly turning your face in his direction, as you sought to glance away in your shame and woe. “I-I mean-“

No time to finish the sentence. He pecks your face with his lips. Quick and focused. Your spine shivers at his advance. But you don’t really fight it, though you hate him pulling away.

“You are a lonely man, shrouded in a darkness of your own making. Unwilling to show the pain to those around you, fearing their response.” He’d say softly. “But I saw and I felt and I knew that day…”

“You knew…?” you asked.

He’d nod to you with a, well, knowing smile, his cheeks turning pink. It really didn’t take you that much to figure out what he meant.

“O-oh. Oh!”

“Yes.”

“Ohhhhh…” it was all you could say, while he glanced back out the window and you followed his gaze to the sky above. Where the moon had gone before the sun, creating a rare masterpiece that the mortals found fascinating as all hell. But to you? To you this was your birthday. Again, damn it, you’d bite your lip if you had that.

You feel his hand on your person. Fingers entangling with your own. You look to them. And you look to him. His eyes took that “look” again. A familiar one that the two of you would act upon  whenever the opportunity struck.

He walked back. And headed to the bed that faced the door, light step after light step, pulling you along. One knee on the bed. A creeking sound. His other knee on the mattress. A repeat. Shifting of weight as he pulled you on over.

You’d open your mouth to speak. “I-“

And he’d answer. “I know.”

Wordlessly, the two of you would lock faces and commiserate as he helped you take off the robe again. This time much slower and to the point than in a simple moment of passion. There was more feeling there.

As he’d undress you and you him, a thought would crawl into your mind.

Perhaps it was possible. Perhaps it was, yes, that the shattered insides of your soul could be put together again. Perhaps he could do it.

To Be Continued.

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Author’s notes: WONDERCRAK! Thank you, dear readers, for all the well wishes and kind words about the last story! Even you, KnuckleTucker3000. I appreciate the criticism on my grammar and took it to heart o w o! Wow, like, wow! So like, I was really excited to get to this part of the story, ���cause, obviously I finally got to reveal what kinda day Solomon was born on u w u Next week’s continuation’s gonna get extra spicy, tho, so I have to bring back the reminder >8( This one’s for the grown-ups and it’s gonna be tagged NSFW! Don’t read if a Lemon Fic isn’t your thing! I’ll drop the hidden lore bits I’ll be putting in that one!

Stay tuned u w u, RainbowRunner899 out!

[fandom-necromancer]

Coffee, crushes and complications 

This was prompted by a lovely anon! I hope you like it, I sure did!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: pre-Reed900 [Prequel]   [Part2]   [Part3]   [Part4]

 ‘Reed? In my office!‘ Gavin couldn’t think of what he had done wrong, but considering how many times he had heard this sentence before, the anxiety settled in immediately. Still, he stood up, downed the last sip of coffee and walked over to his boss’ office. ‘Yes? What’s wrong?’, he asked, sitting down in the chair in front of the table. ‘What’s wrong?’  The man in front of him laughed heartily and Gavin nervously laughed, too. God, had he phcked up that badly with his last job? ‘Reed, nothing’s wrong, quite the opposite! How you handled this rich asshole was… I would say impressive, but that doesn’t do the thing justice. God, how they could ever throw you out of the police force, I can’t understand. You didn’t let him off the hook until he answered your questions and gave him nothing to work with! That is investigative journalism at it’s finest and damnit, Reed, no one else deserves it more!’ ‘What?’, Gavin asked relieved, but also proud. ‘A raise! I would promote you, but I need you where you are now. I hope you understand that?’ ‘Hey, sure. Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than in the field.’ ‘Alright. Then I’ll just sign the papers and send them to you. Really, Reed, you out-did yourself with this one!’

-

When Gavin came home that day, the first thing he did was jump and cheer in triumph, then pick up his unsuspecting cat and hurl her around. ‘Oh, Bready, today is the day!’ He kissed her on her shoulder, before she finally decided she had enough with an angry growl. Immediately Gavin let her fall to the ground and hurried to the kitchen, grabbing the phone along the way. The number he searched for was only two clicks away and he let it ring while pouring out some kibble for Bready and heating up yesterday’s leftovers. ‘Hey, Eli!’, he excitedly called into the phone. ‘How are you? You won’t believe what happened today!’ He let his brother guess a few times until the microwave pinged and he let himself and his food fall on the couch. ‘Urgh, Eli you are boring and have too much creativity at your hands. No, I got a raise! Honestly, getting fired might have been the best thing to ever happen to me. I get raises for being a nosy asshole! My new boss phcking loves me and my colleagues actually seem to like me. Oh, I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time. We need to celebrate that! When are you free?’

He took a breath and began eating while listening to his brother complain about new work politics. Gavin actually felt with him for once. His view on androids had changed quite a bit. He got to know quite a few androids during his work and the day one of his colleagues had come in in tears saying they would have to resign because of some anti-android assholes, Gavin had changed. It had only been a few months since he started his new life, but for the first time he felt like he had his life under control. And like he enjoyed it. Being fired from the only job he thought to be ever good in had been hard. But after being stuck in that low for weeks he had realised that if he wanted to be happy, he had to work for it. And he did. And it had become better. Seeking professional help, reconciling with his brother and finally finding a new job he actually liked had been the end of a long journey that was far from over. But he was happy. And he was confident it would go up only from now on.

Their conversation dropped into casual talk, a few jokes and teasing. It was already late when Gavin decided to end it for today. He was tired and he wanted to at least watch another episode of this new show he enjoyed so much. ‘Okay, so when do you actually have time? Tomorrow? Nah, can’t do, I’m meeting Tina at this new coffee shop. Maybe on the weekend? Yes? Oh, that would be awesome. Okay, bye! Love you too!’

He smiled as he wanted to stand up to bring the phone back, but Bready had already made herself at home in his lap, so he just laid it to the side and switched on the TV.

-

‘Hey Tina!’, Gavin greeted the woman already standing in line. She turned around and her face lit up. Shortly after, Gavin was encased in strong arms and had to chuckle. ‘Hey, hey, let me down, alright?’ ‘God, I haven’t seen you in ages!’ ‘You saw me last month’, Gavin reminded her. ‘I see you dipshit every week on TV! That’s not the same. I miss you.’ ‘Wait you watch it?’ ‘Of course I watch it!’, Tina said and punched his shoulder. ‘What do you think of me? Also, it’s funny seeing you be a dick to people that obviously hide one or two bodies under a rug somewhere.’ Gavin shrugged. ‘Well, whatever floats your boat.’ ‘It’s good to see you like it’, Tina then said seriously. ‘I worried about you after you left.’ ‘I know’, Gavin groaned. ‘But I’m fine, okay? Really, I feel better than ever. Now shut your mouth for a while, I have to think what I want to order for a moment…’

They got their coffee and tea as well as two slices of cake soon enough and sat down in a corner of the room. ‘So, how’s work on your end?’, Gavin asked. ‘Hmm, nothing interesting at the moment. We had a suspected serial killer last week, but it turned out the cases weren’t connected after all and thankfully nothing more than the two murders happened before we got them. Otherwise… Nah, nothing interesting you want to talk about.’ So only stuff regarding the new guy. Gavin had said upfront he didn’t want to know anything about the person that had replaced him. It wouldn’t be any use after all. Tina thankfully respected his decision.

‘I did get to know someone’, she then smirked as silence threatened to stretch. ‘A beautiful, funny android lady. She also likes cats!’ ‘Oh that’s cool, tell me more!’, Gavin demanded and smiled, listening to Tina ramble on, cake and tea completely forgotten. Gavin had been determined to listen intently to her, but his attention was drawn from her as someone entered the coffee shop. Someone very familiar. ‘You got to be kidding me’, he hissed, and Tina caught on to him, turning around. There at the counter stood Hank and Connor, looking at the board. Wait. Was that another Connor? ‘Hey, T, who’s the other Connor?’, he whispered. ‘Can’t tell you without breaking a promise’, she admitted, ducking her head. ‘No phcking way a damn Connor replaced me!’

Maybe he had been louder than expected, maybe Connor just had picked up his name, but the RK800 turned around to him, eyes going wide and tapping Hank on the shoulder pointing over. Hank looked in his direction and apparently wanted to bolt immediately, but the friendly barista behind the counter had already placed their drinks on it. In that moment, the other Connor following them had spotted him too. The next thing he did was march over with large steps.

‘Oh hell no, I’m not doing this! I-‘ ‘Hello. My name is Richard. I’m sorry to have replaced you.’ ‘Oh, get phcked!’ Gavin was not having it. He had wanted to drink his coffee and talk to his best friend. He had no interest in talking to this machine. ‘I have waited very long for this moment, my colleagues having tried their best to make this meeting impossible. So, no, I won’t “get phcked”. Not before I you didn’t accept my apology.’ ‘Yeah, whatever. It’s fine. I was an asshole. Deserved getting fired. Now shoo!’ ‘I still don’t deserve getting a job when a human needs them to survive. It wasn’t fair. I heard you… did not fare well after being fired.’ Gavin took a deep breath, before standing up, the sound of the chair scratching on the ground like a precursor of a fight. ‘Listen here, Richard’, he said, pointing his finger at his chest. ‘My personal history doesn’t concern you in the slightest, okay? It’s true, I wasn’t stable in my old job. I was easily angered, I overworked myself on a regular basis without even realising it in the end. I had no friends. I am depressed. My life was one giant, gaping shithole. When I was fired it was for a good reason, but it send me spiralling even deeper down. But you know what? One day I hit rock bottom and knew it couldn’t get any worse than this, might as well try to make it better. And I worked hard for it. I worked my ass off trying to rebuild bridges I’ve burned and seek help. Get over my own walls and live. Be happy. Find a job. And you know what, you goddamn tin-can? I did it. I am a different man and I am happy. So don’t-‘ He took another breath to steady himself. ‘Don’t you dare giving me pity. I am no sorry broken soul you can comfort so you feel better! So you have completed your good deed a day! I am fine. I am better than fine. So thanks, but no thanks. Don’t need it. Phck off.’

That actually worked. The android blinked at him, obviously processing, before apologising and heading over to where Connor and Hank had sat down. Gavin got back on his seat, too and took a large gulp of his coffee. As he sat the mug down, he stared into a grinning face. ‘What?’ ‘So aggressive’, Tina laughed. ‘Dude, the guy just wanted to be nice.’ ‘Oh, did he?’, Gavin grumbled and tried to get an inconspicuous look at the android. Of course, he had chosen the same moment Richard had looked over at him, so he quickly turned back around. ‘Yes’, Tina chuckled. ‘You don’t know how annoying he can be. Replacing you being unfair is the one topic he can’t shut up about.’ ‘Perfect’, Gavin sighed, but couldn’t keep his thoughts in check. Had this android really tried to advocate for someone he didn’t even know? ‘Yeah, always said how after going through your open cases and notes, he couldn’t believe someone fired you. He thinks you are some kind of genius I think.’ ‘Oh, wow, an android has a work-crush on me’, Gavin over-exaggerated and rolled his eyes. ‘Hey, you wouldn’t be that far from the truth there’, Tina shrugged. ‘”Gavin Reed would not have” is like every second sentence of his. It’s cute actually. And ever since you put him in his place just now, he is staring at you, that fancy mood-light turning yellow.’ ‘It’s what-‘ Gavin turned around, cursing when he stared in his eyes again: ‘Shit! What’s his problem? Anyways, you wanted to tell me more about Steph. Please. I beg you. Ramble about your soon to be girlfriend, I want to think about anything but this android.’

-

Richard on the other hand knew exactly what his problem was. He had exactly 335 software instabilities and errors to keep track of while he couldn’t keep his eyes off this human. He had known the man to be remarkable. But after that reaction? Oh, he definitely had to get to know him better. So, long after the human had left the shop and even after he had driven home, Richard was still planning how to see the man again. Maybe Tina had been right. Maybe he truly had a crush.

[>next part]

[the-great-imagines-of-1812]

Through The Years Pt. 10

A/N: feedback is so so appreciated! THANK YOU SO SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO WAS KEPT THEIR PATIENCE WHILE I WROTE THIS! (also, this is kind of short, my apoligies)

tags: @a-girl-who-loves-disney @the-romanian-is-bae @bihoeofmanyfandoms​

@thicc101q

takes place during: The Avengers

Italics= flashbacks

~~~~~~~

NEW YORK, 1942

SSR HQ

“As you all know, a threat has risen. Commander Johann Schmidt has his eyes on something new; they call it the Tesseract. The power it holds is unlimited and unknown. If it falls into the wrong hands, especially in times like these, this is a war we won’t win. Meeting dismissed.” Dr. Erksine said, as all the agents seated around the table got up, desperate to go home. 

You had dozed out ages ago, and would’ve practically fallen asleep if it weren’t for Howard. He laid a hand on your shoulder and shook you. 

“Y/N/N, it’s time to go. C’mon. I heard your favorite radio show is on tonight.”

“Thanks, Howwie. It’s just, there’s something-”

“This Tesseract thing? I know were supposed to believe everything Dr. Erksine tells us, but this is a stretch-”

“Except it isn’t, Howard. I got a bad feeling about this one. You know how strong my intuition is.”

“I know. That’s what worries me.”

~~~~~~

PRESENT DAY, 2012

BRUCE BANNER’S LAB ON THE HELLICARRIER

The Hellicarrier is quiet as it floats across the night sky, and you absentmindedly type some data that Tony had given you a few minutes ago. You weren’t going to  lie; you were scared then, and you are scared now. It seems like history is repeating itself; some bad dude wants to get his hands on the Tesseract and if he isn’t stopped, a lot of people will die.

Only difference was, you didn’t have a brother this time. 

Blinking back the tears that were about to escape, you kept typing as Dr. Banner was scanning the scepter for gamma radiation, and Tony was solving several different equations and theorems and god knows what all at once. 

“Well, we’re going somewhere now. The  gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract. But it's gonna take weeks to process.” Banner said, letting out a sigh, laying down the object he was using to measure gamma readings on Loki’s scepter.

“We bypass their mainframe and direct route to the Homer Cluster we can clock this at around 600 teraflops.” Tony replied from across the room.

“And all I packed was a toothbrush.” Bruce said, going back to the computer.

“You know you should come by Stark tower sometime. Top ten floors, all R and D. You’d love it, it’s Candy Land. I’m talking to you too, Auntie. Paris must be as boring as-”

“How- Tony, I can promise you its not. Paris is fine.”

“But Pepper and I miss you in New York. Think about it, will you?”

“Sure will, hun.”

“Thank you for the invitation, Mr. Stark. But last time I was in New York- I sort of broke Harlem.” Dr. Banner said. 

“Well I promise it’s a stress-free environment. No distractions, no surprises.” Tony says, while poking Bruce in his side with an electric current.

“Tony, leave him be!” you say, taking the current away from him. 

“Hey! Are you two nuts?” Steve says, scolding Tony as he walks in. 

“Oops. Jury’s here. Tell em your secret, Dr. Banner. Bongo drums, mellow jazz, bag of weed?”

“You think is is funny, Mr. Stark? Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship? No offense, Dr. Banner. You neither, Y/N.

“None taken, sir.” Bruce says, while still working on the scepter.

“Don’t worry about it, cap.” you say, while finally snatching the current from Tony’s hand and placing it down on the countertop to continue working.

“You- you don’t have to worry, capsicle. Last time I checked, you spent over 66 years stuck in the ice. You don’t know how anything works here. This little gadget-” he getsures to the comm in his hand. “will let us know everything S.H.I.E.L.D has been hiding from us since the beginning of it’s existence.”

“This is going to cause trouble.”

“Ding, ding, ding. We got a winner. Congratulations, you’ve just won a free box of popsicles. Or is that too cold?”

“What have you three been doing all this time?” Fury’s voice cuts in as he walks into the lab. “You’re supposed to be locating the Tesseract.” 

“We are. The model’s locked and we’re sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we’ll have the location within have a mile.”

“You’ll get your cube back, director.” You say, crossing your arms, after hopping to sit on the table with Tony. 

“No muss, no fuss.” he passes you the blueberry bag, then looks at the screen “What is ‘Phase 2′ anyway?”

At this point, Steve has had enough and decided to intervene. “Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D uses the cube to make weapons. Sorry, the computer was moving a little too slowly for my taste.”

“Captain Rogers, we have gathered every part of information possible related to the Tesseract. This does not mean-” He’s interrupted by none other than Tony.

“What about this Nick? What were you lying?” Tony said, turning the computer so Fury could see it clearly. 

Steve takes one look between the two men, but keeps his gaze on Tony, and says “I was wrong director. The world hasn’t changed a bit.”

Thor and Natasha enter the room and Bruce asks them “Did you two know about this?”

“Dr. Banner, you might want to think about removing yourself from the premises.” Natasha said.

“I was in Calcutta, I’m pretty sure I can handle this, Ms. Romanoff.”

“Loki’s been manipulating you.”

“And you’ve been doing what exactly?” 

“Dr. Banner, You didn’t come here because I batted my eyelashes at you.” She fired back, crossing her arms. 

You hopped off the table, and on the hilt of the sword on your left side, if tensions just so happened to go to another level. 

“And I’m not leaving because you’re getting a little twitchy. What I do want to know is why S.H.I.E.L.D is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction!”

~~~~~~

NEW YORK, JANUARY 1943

SSR HQ

“Starks, Ms. Carter, General Philipps, should the case arise that we get our hands on this - ‘Tesseract’ - as it appears, it shall not, under any circumstances, be used for weapons of mass destruction. It goes against everything we stand for. Everything the SSR stands for.” Erksine says, addressing the group.

“But Dr. Erksine, The rise of facism in Europe is a threat to our national security, and if the SSR can not make weapons of not necessarily of mass destruction, but weapons to protect the country, how are we to protect the nation?” General Philipps said from across the table. 

“Excellent question, General. That’s were Y/N and  comes in. Y/N, if you will.” Erksine said, gesturing to you.

Straightening yourself up, you opened a file. “I’ve thought of this concept for the past couple of months- although just a concept, It would, has General Philipps mentioned, make weapons not of destruction, but of protection. This is why, I’ve decided to name the concept- S.H.I.E.L.D. Get it? A shield is supposed to protect, and that’s what this will do.”

“And what does it stand for, Y/N?” Peggy asks. 

“Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.”

“And it’s purpose?”

“To Protect and Serve, Dr. Erksine.”

“I like it, but we will discuss  it further on Monday. Meeting Adjourned.”

~~~~~~

PRESENT DAY, 2012

BRUCE BANNER’S LAB ON THE HELLICARRIER

“And I’m not leaving because you’re getting a little twitchy. What I do want to know is why S.H.I.E.L.D is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction!”

“Banner, calm down.” Natasha said cautiously. 

“No, Romanoff. He had every right to be mad and confused. With all respect, director, me and my brother did not start S.H.I.E.L.D so we could pull stuff like this.” you said.

“But we have a reason, Stark. It’s because-” Fury points to Thor “him.”

“Me?” Thor questions.

“Yes, you. Last year Earth had a visitor from another planet who held a grudge on a small town. We learned then that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned.” He finishes, diverting his eye to you, but saying nothing.

“Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies, as a signal to all the realms that Earth is ready for a higher form of war.” Thor booms.

“A higher form of war?” Steve questions.

“You had us in a corner, Thor, we had no choice. We had to come up with something.” Nick fired back.

“A nuclear deterrent. Cause that always calms everything down.” said Tony.

“Remind me again how you made your fortune, Mr. Stark?” Fury asked.

“I’m sure if Stark industries still made weapons you both would be knee-deep in-” Steve was cut off by you.

“That’s enough, Steve! Leave it alone!” you exclaimed.

“No, hold up capsicle, how is this about us?” Tony asked, in a tempting manner.

“Are you midgardians really this naïve?” Thor asked.

“Oh please, are you that immature?” Natasha said, looking between Thor and Fury. 

“Everyone, we’re a mixture for chaos. A ticking time bomb waiting to explode.” Bruce said. 

“You should step away, Doctor.” Fury said to Bruce, before being overlapped by Tony. “Why shouldn’t the guy let off a little steam?” Tony asked, putting a ahnd on Steve’s shoulder. 

“You know damn well why!” Steve yelled.

“I’m starting to want you to make me.” Tony said, coming face to face with Steve.

“Big man in a suit of armor, take that off and what are you?” 

“Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.”

“He’s not wrong-” Natasha said, shrugging her shoulders.

“Thank you, Romanoff! Someone with sense on this ship.” Tony said, thanking Natasha.

“I’ve seen guys none of that worth ten of what you are. The only person you fight for is yourself. You’re not one to make sacrifice play, to lay down your life for someone else. You better stop playing the hero.” 

“Steve-” you began, now both hands on both swords, both of them on your waist.

“No! You better stop acting so cocky, Rogers. You’re a lab rat, everything special about you came out of a bottle.” Tony fires back.

“If you think your think you’re so special, put on the suit then, lets go a few rounds.” 

“I’m not afraid to hit an old man.” 

“Stop it you two! You’re acting like children!” You yelled, cutting both of them off.

“You are ALL acting like children, man up, all of you!” Fury said. 

Bruce kept his eyes firm on Loki’s scepter. It seemed to glow even more now, but all of you had to resolve the argument first. 

“Something’s coming. Something bad.” Bruce muttered. “I can feel it.” 

“Keep calm, Banner.” Natasha said, and both her and Fury put a hand of the holster of their gun.

“Dr. Banner, please-” You began. 

You were once again cut off, but not by anyone talking. Thor, Natasha, Bruce, Fury, Tony, Steve and yourself were knocked down to the floor, scattered all over the room.

“What the hell was that?” Natasha asked. 

“Engine’s been blown off. I didn’t want to say I told you so, Agent Romanoff.” Bruce said, while helping you up from the floor. 

“You alright, Tony?” you ask, as You help Tony up.

“Just fine, aunty. You?”

“Barely hurts, tones.”

“What the hell was that, Fury?” Natasha asked. 

Fury looks out the window before running out of the room.

“Agent Barton.”

[ghostmartyr]

SnK 127 Thoughts

“Let us speak for 46 pages about how we still don’t actually have any real plan, we’re just all very against genocide (except Magath and Yelena) and very upset and feel like we should be doing something.”

The characters are sort of doing my job for me this month.

Maybe this whole post should just be illicit screencaps from Crunchyroll with me providing links and saying, ‘and here’s the panel that makes the point I whined about in this post here.’

That would probably provide more entertainment than whatever I’m about to come up with.

-sees the amount of swearing in the first section-

Hm.

First off, fuck Magath.

Like no, I’m sorry. This is not about what happened 2000 years ago. You know what it’s about? It’s about Marley sending in child soldiers to assault and rob a land that had caused literally no problems for 100 years. It’s about Marley doing this despite being aware of its own history, being that their personal hero collaborated with the First King of Paradis to make Marley’s independence possible.

You want to talk about history, Magath?

Jean isn’t the one who sounds like a child.

Jean is reacting to actual pain that he has experienced in his lifetime thanks to Magath’s very intentional military strategies.

Magath is blaming Jean and everyone else on the island for being born.

That is not equivalent.

That is not remotely equivalent, and while Eren is being a fucking bastard about it, Jean’s right. Eren has the power, means, and will to do all of this because of what Magath and Marley did to Paradis.

Magath doesn’t recognize Eldians as people.

The Eldian Empire was bad.

No one except Floch is disputing that. That is how you know that it is bad.

Marley, as well as the rest of the world, has been free from the Eldian Empire for over a hundred years, and in that time, all they have done is take every horrible thing about the Eldian Empire and exploit it for their own gains.

Magath doesn’t get to be angry that he lives off the backs of abused, brainwashed children that he treats like crap.

Years ago, the Eldian Empire was the worst terror in the world.

A year ago, it was Marley.

Now, it happens to be Eren.

And you know, I’ve been actively against pretty much everything Eren’s done. His plan, if he has one, has mostly managed to make everyone angry and get a lot of people killed who weren’t even involved in the beginning. He gets his head blown off close enough to his brother that he doesn’t die. That’s how the beginning stages of him committing genocide goes. He betrays his friends, makes his besties from childhood feel like crap, and honestly has just been a dick to pretty much everyone.

But at least Eren’s indiscriminate murder has the decency to actually be indiscriminate.

Marley takes children it despises and turns them into their willing slaves for the promise of a better life they have no intent of dispensing. They take these children, and full of hatred for the very ability, demand that they shorten their lifespan and murder people to prove that they’re a “good Eldian” who deserves to live.

Marley is why people can stomach rooting for Eren.

Because Marley is such an abomination that it almost feels worth it to destroy the world if it means Marley’s gone too.

Hell, I’m with Hange. There’s not an avenue where I accept genocide as a way to deal with any of this.

But if someone wanted to burn Magath alive, and we spent a dozen pages gloriously detailing his flesh curling off his bones, it would make me happy.

That’s a more dignified death than he’s given any of the children he’s forced into Marley’s wars.

He does not have the fucking moral high ground.

He's the one Jean should have punched. There is not a single person around that campfire that he has not damaged deeply, and noticing that Gabi is a little girl and he cares when she is in pain does not magically remove that.

Fuck Marley. Fuck Magath.

Grow the fuck up and stop viewing genocide as an acceptable response, you fucking halfwit child. You are the individual who saw four children off on their solitary mission to murder thousands of people. Two of them are dead. Two of them are deeply traumatized, with one of them wishing he had died.

But oh yes, Magath. You’re the victim, here.

Because you baited one angry idiot with the power of a god into destroying part of a city you didn’t give a damn about.

Truly, your justice is a thing to aspire to.

Perhaps Eren taking notes is the real reason we’re here.

Motherfucking fuck I hate Marley. I hate that Eren’s put any of these characters in the position where they have to put up with this shit for the sake of civility. I don’t have a problem with the Warriors. I don’t have a problem with the Survey Corps. I don’t have a problem with the kidlets. Hi Onyankopon, sorry about your life. Yelena has many problems, but she’s also attractive, so I don’t mind as much.

Magath, though.

Pieck, just eat him. Everyone’s too depressed to really throw down over it at this point, and the two small ones are so deeply traumatized that one more body really isn’t going to make much of a dent.

Jean’s clearly the star of this chapter, and a good deal of that comes from the potent hopelessness hovering over him like a rain cloud.

He can point to how bad everyone is at talking things out like it’s the key to the entire mystery, but the long list of problems Jean offers at the beginning of the chapter are still present. Unless they have a way to talk to every person in the world out of their (at this point, rather justified) fear and anger, Paradis and Eldians around the world are very much screwed.

Paradis has forever been running out of time against the hatred the rest of the world has for them.

They do have to fight against what Eren’s doing, and talking instead of blowing each other’s heads off is a good start, but it’s a good start thousands of years after the worst possible one.

And the last time they tried to talk to Eren, Armin punched him, and that was the most productive thing to come out of it.

Jean being the everyman who recognizes the heart of an average person because he is one has been a great tool. It’s still great, here. He wants to close his ears to all of this. He wants, desperately, to run away, because there is no good solution that doesn’t end in death.

When he joins the Survey Corps, they at least have Eren as a brand of hope. They can believe that years of the same tactics and bodies piling up won’t end the same way.

Joining this squad is all about stopping Eren, and despite having figured out their next course of action, no one has yet to provide a real idea.

Genocide is wrong, so you stand up and try to stop it.

That’s the only plan they have.

The Scouts from Paradis don’t even have the promise of saving the people they love if they stop Eren. Annie, Pieck, Gabi, Reiner, Falco... they have a home. The world might forget to hate them. They might get to go home and have a life after this.

The people sitting on the other side of the fire are fucking screwed. They’re fighting entirely for their principles.

...Also Yelena is here.

I do like Yelena.

She’s not the worst, because this manga has too many horrible people in it, but she’s delightfully terrible. I especially like how the fact that she’s actually from Marley hardly gives her any pause.

I do so like Yelena.

It’s a beautiful sentiment.

After all, everyone’s drunk on something.

If you can just save the world, what does the rest matter? What do the crimes that kept you awake at night mean, when you’ve accomplished something so miraculous? All the good deeds cleanse the rottenness, and maybe then the world rights itself and you can breathe again.

...Hey wait, where’s Reiner’s reaction shot to finding out Gabi killed Sasha?

...Did he even know Sasha was dead?

But I guess we’re doing Marco angst.

Wow. Marco angst in 2020.

I think my favorite thing about this chapter (outside of the fact that Mikasa still hates Annie and it makes me giggly because wow Mikasa) is that Annie does absolutely nothing while Jean’s beating the crap out of Reiner.

My less favorite thing is I’ve stopped enjoying Reiner getting the crap beaten out of him. It’s been done, and... really the kid just needs to have not been born into this particular life. Watching Jean beat him bloody is. not cathartic. It’s really just awful.

Annie dodging with her food is glorious, though.

Because while Jean beating up Reiner over Marco is sad and kind of miserable, Annie watching someone beat up Reiner after the years she spent putting up with Reiner and Bertolt brings it back to almost funny.

Until you look at Reiner’s face and go back to feeling bad.

-turns page back to Annie getting out of the way-

Much better.

Truly, I love Annie.

Her forgiveness status is interesting, though. I think besides Marco, she enjoyed more of the kills she’s responsible for than anyone feels a need to dig up.

She’s also been more alone than most of the others in the wagons, and essentially spent four years imprisoned for her crimes.

I’m not surprised she asked, because she’s Annie, but I’m a bit surprised we don’t have an answer yet. Probably too close to the end of the chapter to open up that can of worms.

If it makes everyone feel better, I think we know for a fact that Mikasa will never forgive Annie for anything, even if it only displays itself as petty brandishing of weapons every time they make eye contact.

It’s not even a ship thing.

I just love that Annie is the one person Mikasa can’t stand. They’ve been in one chapter together and Mikasa’s already pulling out swords. These two shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near each other. It’s perfection.

Then we get to plot complications that really don’t register as complications because like. Yeah, you guys need something to do while you figure out what the hell you’re doing.

Because you don’t actually have a real plan, just so we’re clear.

Killing Eren would result in all those Wall Titans operating under their own power.

That is not fundamentally less destructive.

Killing Eren has a nice ring to it, but much like talking to Eren, it does not solve any of the other problems looming ahead.

So you enjoy your little subplot with Floch!

It’s one of the last times your combined competence will have any meaning.

-looks over at Kiyomi-

Honest question, but why are you alive if Floch dislikes you enough to hold you hostage? If Eren’s gonna kill everyone, shouldn’t Floch be following suit and just do his Floch thing of murdering every slight inconvenience?

We’re in the boring stages of the finale right now.

No clear plan for either side to contend with. No real progress in any direction because the tiny squabbles are just a delaying tactic for the massive squabble that no one has an answer to. None of any of this chapter really matters except for clearing the air.

Which is not a useless investment, it’s just not very exciting.

At this point, no excitement is allowed, because there’s that One Huge Thing, and the entire story hinges on it. Maybe someone will die on the way to dealing with it, but that’s all the drama we’re going to get until we find out enough about the plot to have a future worth rooting for.

Right now, there is no good outcome for the people we’ve watched fight for 127 chapters.

Pulling a story along with that weight is hard, and I can feel my brain turning itself off until we’re back to a point where the story is permitted to address the stegosaurus in the room.

One more month.

Again.

Until something happens and we all regret everything.

[bethd0456]

hellooo lovely! i loved reading your response to my last ask - apparently tumblr is messing up my asks bc a lot of them haven’t been going through :( but let’s hope this one does! i’ve been seeing that you watch cherry magic, and it’s one of my favourite shows at the moment!! 💘 who’s your favourite character? mine is kurosawa personally, i relate so much to him and his gayness. also udon chan, the cutest little cat! what did you think of the last ep, wasn’t it so cute!!! (1/2)

i hope you’re doing well!!! i also wanted to ask what your favourite shows and ships are! i already have a vague idea formulating just by browsing through your blog and over our shared love of cherry magic, but i’d looove to hear your thoughts and your favourites!! wishing you the bestest day! 💘 - your secret santa (2/2)

Hiiiii!!!! I hope life is treating you well!

Omg I'm so glad you enjoyed reading it! I hope you're ready for this MASSIVE answer and you don't get too bored reading this one!

CHERRY MAGIC!!!!!! It instantly became a comfort show for me, as it did for many others!

ADACHIADACHIADACHIADACHI. Adachi is 100% my fave. I never fully understood what a comfort character was. I was like, "yeah! I love Tine also!" But. Adachi is the definition of comfort for me. I see so much of myself in him! Everyone sees him and is like "babie. Must protecc." And honestly? Me too. How can one character be so damn CUTE??!?!? One of my favourite moments is him seeing Kurosawa after the almost-kiss. He just like, sees him, and gets so panicked 🥺 the way his arms just flail about makes me smile like an idiot.

But like, on a deeper level, this drama makes me believe I'm worthy of love. The idea that someone like Kurosawa could be THAT infatuated with you, even though you're an awkward virgin lmao. The point of watching these dramas is to get lost in a story, right? See a situation you want so badly but you know will never realistically happen? The entire premise of the show is just really enticing to me. I am Adachi, Adachi is me. Also, the thing he said in ep6 about not having a clear dream in life? Yeah. I felt that. I'm so envious of people who have passions they work so hard for, it gives them a form of purpose. Like Adachi, sometimes I feel like I'm living in a "daze". I feel like I don't really have any specific passions or skills that I want to develop into a career. Sometimes I just wish I had ambition. Adachi makes me feel so seen and like I'm not the only person who feels like this. The kinds of characters that usually make good protagonists are characters with a clear goal/passion. In most shows this obviously really works, but I can never relate to them personally. It's really special for me to see a character who's similar to me in this way.

Kurosawa is such an amazing character too!!!!! His gay little heart 🥺 on another level, he's just so?? Respectful??? 7. YEARS. 7 years of pining and he holds himself back so well!! He's been waiting for this relationship for so long but is so patient, willing to take things slowly for Adachi. He flirts shamelessly (as he should) but never to the point where Adachi was too uncomfortable.

He cares so much about Adachi :(. But also, even before he liked Adachi, he could tell he was uncomfortable with the drinking thing, so he DOWNED the wine lmao. Clearly he's just a lovely person all round who's really socially aware.

As for other characters:

• Udon my baby!!!! The cutest cat ever!! I love animals sm :(((

• Tsuge's chaotic energy is iconic

• Minato a lovely little dance machine :))

• Rokaku deserves the world, my excitable kiss interruptor :(((

• Fujisaki my love! She's so soft and cute!! Also ace coded how iconic

I ADORED ep8!!! I LIVE for established Adasawa! Adachi coming out to Tsuge :((( I'm so proud of Adachi coming to terms with his feelings and being confident enough to share his relationship with his closest friend. Coming out is not easy and he did so well 🥺

Adachi and Tsuge are so useless bless them 😂 Kurosawa really said "well I guess I have to take these two socially awkward disasters under my wing." Adachi and Tsuge are such a chaotic duo, I love that they can communicate just by touching each other, and omg when Kurosawa said his name Tsuge was "wait maybe I know everything about you already" and if that isn't friendship idk what is

Also Kurosawa making up a poem in his head about Adachi???? Peak romance. Also iconic. I'M A SUCKER FOR HAND HOLDING SCENES SO I DIED. "I like him. I like him. I like him!!" HOW CUTE CAN YOU GET FJKHDSHSKSK

I also got another arm flailing moment when Kurosawa almost got the wrong idea about Adachi and Tsuge!! CAN ADACHI STOP BEING SO CUTE MY HEART CAN'T TAKE IT. How on earth his boyfriend is still alive I have no idea.

There are so many other shows and ships I love. I feel like I'll probably miss some, but here we go. These aren't rankings at all, just like, lists lol.

Show list:

1. 2gether

This show means so much to me. It was the first time I watched a bl week by week and it made it so much more special?? I valued scenes so much more than when I binge shows and they would like, look at each other and I'd have a heart attack. They made the first part of my quarantine bearable bc I always had something to look forward to every Friday. I actually really enjoyed quarantine overall as an introvert (not to be insensitive about the literal deaths the pandemic has caused), but I really enjoyed constantly thinking about how long it was until Friday. I'm massively emotionally attached to all of the characters in this show you have no idea. Every single one. The found family of it all,, the way all of the characters have relationships. Still2gether did a phenomenal job of showcasing all of the unexpected but very welcome dynamics and relationships, platonic and romantic alike. I could blabber about this show for so long I'll spare u for now

2. YYY

Is it well written? No. Did I enjoy it anyway?? You know it! I told you how much I love the found family trope. UGH. THIS FAMILY. Also, seeing the feminine side of the LGBT+ community represented positively warmed my heart. There needs to be more bls that do that! Celebrate femininity!! There's nothing wrong with being camp as fuck! It's so much fun!!! This show made me so happy :))

3. Start up

I'm currently obsessed. It's my first Kdrama and holy shit this is what the hype is about. The budget!! The acting! Top notch. On a sad note I really wish bls got that much funding behind them. My heart aches for a complicated story with fully developed characters and plotlines, that just happens to have a gay main couple/character. Wishful thinking for now at least. Anyways, I'm massively emotionally attached to Halmeoni and Jipyeong. Team Jipyeong all the way (even tho Dalmi's obviously gonna end up with Dosan, and I'm happy for them!). All I need is a happy ending for my darling Jipyeong. Please give him one. Also, if anything happens to Halmeoni I will WEEP.

4. Cherry magic is obviously here but I've ranted about that enough already 😂

5. 3 will be free

I would never have expected gmm to make a series like this! But they went and did THAT. Wild. It was such a healthy representation of a poly relationship. The themes of feminism were so well handled and powerful, the chemistry was off the CHARTS, I was hooked from start to finish! Time for a rewatch? I think so.

6. Feel good

Not an Asian drama, but still gay as FUCK. It's written by my wife Mae Martin who also stars in it, and I have to say, it blew me away. Story time!! My friend irl recommended it to me without saying it was Mae, so I was like "okay sure I'll put it on my to watch list I guess" without much motivation to watch it. But as soon as I found out it was Mae I watched it and I've never looked back lol. Once I finished I sent my friend a splurge of messages about my feelings. The series touches on issues like addiction, sexuality and gender. "I'm not a boy. I'm not even a girl. I'm like a failed version of both." That shit HURT.

There's a scene near the end which has really stayed with me. So Mae's character is a comedian and she does a set making jokes about the stuff that happened in the series and oh my GOD. The way I CRIED. It made me realise that people who make jokes about their experiences are using humour as a coping mechanism and when people say "Haha I have daddy issues isn't it funny" we have to remember to be respectful. It's never okay to make jokes about someone else's trauma. Don't make a big deal of it but just don't be a dick.

Anyways I could go on but would 100% recommend this series!

7. HIStory 2 crossing the line

My first bl! This series is the reason I'm so obsessed with bl lmao. The main couple are so soft :( this little series will always hold a special place in my heart!

8. Sotus

My first gmm series, we've come a long way. I miss Kong and Arthit :(

9. Dark blue kiss

Such a brilliant series. I trust P'Aof (director) with my life. This series touches on issues that are so important and deserve to be talked about so much more in bls. This is what happens when you let LGBT people tell LGBT stories! They do it with such care and love!! One of my favourite lines is "I may like men, but I'll never like your brother." One of my biggest let peeves is "I don't like men, I only like x." Like, I get the business behind it, they don't want to make the character gay to make them available for girls to fantasise about. Which is disgusting. But Mork really said "no. ❤" and I LOVE IT.

10. The shipper

I could go on and on about how underrated I think this series is. This series took over from 2gether on Fridays, and while I didn't think about this series constantly like I did with 2gether, this series made my quarantine brighter. Fridays meant I was gonna laugh at least once and forget about life just for a short while. The humour in this series is so fucking dumb lmao, but I'm here for it.

I've seen people talk about the shipper as a bl but I disagree. I think it's better described as a series with bl aspects. The main themes are friendship, family, dealing with loss, respecting boundaries of people you admire, and one of the main messages is about making sure the people close to you know how much they mean to you. Don't get me wrong, the majority of the series is over the top humour, but by the end of it I was personally really attached to the characters and their feelings. Overall I really enjoyed this series but I don't see anyone properly talk about it :(

11. Gaya sa pelikula

A series made by gay people for gay people. Shows like this are so important. This show really healed my soul with how brilliant the representation was :(( "remember we talked about microagressions" the way that means Vlad is constantly educating Karl about LGBT stuff, UGH. SO GOOD. Also this show has the most realistic representation of a crush I've ever seen lmao, soft Vlad is the best Vlad.

12. My engineer

My happy little Saturday show :( I miss the shit writing, shit acting and soft story of this series so much. I'm so fond of this series, I watched it after the horrible ep12 of 2gether and it really made me happy. I'm looking forward to season 2, but Ramking's novel goes DOWNHILL from here on. I know tricreation wouldn't allow the final chapter's scenes, but the entire story is so problematic and unenjoyable :(. The only valid scene is King's coming out scene but that's literally it. And the collar scene can stay lmao.

13. Oxygen

Another soft saturday series! I love this series so much, all of the couples are so bloody healthy and it makes me so happy. The communication is amazing!! THIS is how you show healthy relationships!!!

14. The gifted

S1 was so amazing!! I loved all of it! The only part of s2 we'll talk about is timegracethird. Time best boy!! Grace a feminist queen! When future Grace said they would be friends for a long time that made me so happy :(( also pangwave canon

15. Until we meet again

So I talked about the healthy relationships in oxygen. But uwma really showed the healthiest relationship ever. DeanPharm are just the softest little humans :( I would die for Pharm. He's the closest I got to a comfort character before Adachi. I just have to PROTECT HIM. My motherly instincts really kick in when I see him lmao.

The storyline of this series is just breathtaking. And the ending? I don't think I've ever cried that much. At all. It was so fucking beautiful 🥺

16. My gear and your gown

I really liked this show! Honestly I don't think I'll ever rewatch it but I definitely enjoyed it. The way Pai just seemed to breathe freely for the first time when his parents accepted his sexuality :(((( my baby :( also purefolk were brilliant

Ship list:

1. Saratine

These two are the definition of romance. They mean the fucking world to me. The fact that their story is apparently gonna be continued in some form makes me so. So. Happy. I cannot begin to describe it. My bet is on a special episode and ugh I'm so EXCITED.

2. Aini

Thonhonchonlatee in general is enjoyable but I don't like Thon at all. It's such a shame bc I was so excited for Khaotung and Podd to be in a series together :((. BUT. Aini have grabbed my heart. I knew they would bc miketap are brilliant, but wow. They're so gay my little babies :( miketap are just so natural and comfortable to watch. I love their chemistry so muuuuuuch

3. Sunmork

Coffee boyfriends :( I miss them so bloody much

4. Ramking

One of my fave ships. As I mentioned, I'm apprehensive about s2, but s1 ramking is such a beautiful story. It's just about 2 boys falling in love, no complications. Plant boy who's afraid of dogs falls in love with quiet boy who loves dogs but is afraid of children. Iconic. Also chemistry outsold, I THINK ABOUT THE KISS CONSTANTLY. When I mentioned the acting is shit in this series (shit is harsh, I mean awkward), I did not mean Perth and Lay in the slightest. They really nailed their roles and I loved it.

5. Professor Layton x Claire

You 100% won't get this reference but I grew up with the Professor Layton games and holy shit do they hold up. They're so amazingly written with beautiful stories and the most lovable characters in the world. Layton's intellect, loving nature and surprising athleticism are admirable. Adachi is the character I relate to most, but if I was gonna choose a character to comfort me irl, Layton's your man. His voice is so comforting by nature. I'm blabbering at this point but the point is him and Claire are the only het pairing that matters.

These are just the ships that I felt should be separate from their shows. I love all of the ships from the shows I mentioned.

Oof this got horrifically long, I haven't had a proper chance to rant about most of these shows so I really let it out lol. I hope you've watched at least some of these shows and I didn't just rant to u about 12 shows you've never heard of 😂

I hope you have a wonderful day love!!!!

[trashboatprince]

Just a one-shot of a silly idea that came to mind the other day while I was at work.

A trip to Paris to remember a friend from the past leads to an angel and a demon sitting in a cathedral for a chat.

And it takes an awkward plan to get said demon inside of the holy building.

This clearly takes place long before the recent fire at Notre Dame, this is more of just a random little trip during the 90s.

And yes, I tagged it with ship stuff, obvious, but let’s face it, anything I write with Aziraphale and Crowley is always gonna be Ineffable Husbands, even if it’s just implied or hinted at.

On with the fic!

--

Can Demons Sit in Pews?

--

“Paris? Really? Got another desire for the best crepes in the world, angel?”

Aziraphale smiled, despite the obvious jab at a previous action from well over two hundred years ago, turning around to face the approaching demon. His smile faltered into an annoyed pout when Crowley waved his hand, a few meters away a souvenir stand operator suddenly dashed off when an officer just so happened to notice that his items might be counterfeit.

“Now, my dear, was that really necessary?” He asked as he crossed his arms, getting a smirk in return.

“No, but it was funny. So, what are you doing here?”

“I really should be asking you that question, how did you know I was here?”

Crowley gave a shrug. “I always know, and don’t avoid my question.

With a turn, Aziraphale gestured to the large structure he had been strolling towards before he heard the all-too-familiar voice of his oldest companion. Crowley looked at it and pulled a face. “A church.”

“Ah,” The angel smiled, “not just any old church! Notre Dame! One of the most famous cathedrals in all the world!”

“I like the one in Prague better, you know, the one that looks spooky.” Crowley spoke. “Or that one in Cologne, the one that claims to have the bones of the Three Kings and they’re covered in gold and gems.”

Aziraphale huffed. “You’ve never even been inside, you silly fool.”

“Been in one church in all my life, and it was to save you from a stupid death.” The demon replied, missing the look that crossed Aziraphale’s face. That moment was… rather important to the Principality, it was when feelings were made certain for him. He glanced at Crowley, who seemed to be rambling now, having corrected himself.

He had been in more churches, apparently, but they were ones where devil worshippers or demons had found ways to ruin the holiness of them. And nine out of ten, Crowley only ended up there cause some idiot summoned him while drunk.

“Well, while you wander down memory lane of foolish teenagers and dark ‘warlocks’, I shall wander into the cathedral.” Aziraphale spoke up as he turned on his heel, making his way over before he felt long fingers gently grab his shoulder. “Yes, dear?”

“Can I come with?”

This made the angel pause and give the taller man a funny look. “Crowley, did your melted shoes and me anointing your feet for hours to help heal them not make it obvious that you cannot walk on consecrated ground?”

“I think me howling in pain from having to peel my melted shoes and damaged socks off was the clue, or me making a total arse outta myself in front of stupid nazis as I practically tap danced to keep from standing still for too long, but I’d still like to see it. Been so much buzz about it for centuries, and there were all those films that came out about it, even one recently, been wanting to see this place for myself. Plus, it’s a gothic cathedral, that’s got to account for something, right? You know, what with it being demonic looking and the like.”

“Crowley…” Aziraphale started, but the demon walked past him towards the entrance. “My dear, I don’t think that’s a very good idea-!”

One foot was on the first step up to the door and Crowley buckled, dropping with a sharp hiss, falling on his back as he clutched his foot. Aziraphale was quick to come to his side, ignoring the looks of Parisians and tourists nearby. “Oh gracious, are you alright?! Did you not realize that this is still Catholic, despite how spooky it looks? It’s going to be a bit worse than a little church in Germany.”

“No shit, angel!” Crowley snapped at him, sitting up and removing his boot and sock, looking at his foot. Aside from the scales, the only thing different about it to a normal person would be what looked like a red sunburn, but to Aziraphale, it was clearly a burn of holy grounds. It had only been a moment for the burn to take place, not like he had stood there for a while, so Aziraphale was able to remove the pain with a snap of his fingers.

“Crowley, maybe you can wander around while I’m inside. I know there is a lovely bakery not too far, and the Seines is nice to drop things on people while on one of the bridges, I’d rather you not suffer.”

“Nope.” He shook his head, putting on his sock. “I’m too curious, it’s in my nature.”

“That it is.” Aziraphale sighed as he looked about, waiting for the man to finish getting his boot back on and to regain his pride from that little display. He spotted a family where a little boy was saying something to his father, who then crouched down, the child climbed up his back. Aziraphale grinned at this before turning his attention to his friend. “My dear, I just had the most brilliant idea for you to get inside!”

“You’ll go inside and draw a satanic symbol on the floor, thus corrupting it for a bit?”

“No! I mean…” He moved, turning his back to Crowley as he rested his knees on the ground. “Climb on my back.”

Crowley just looked at him. “What?”

The angel sighed loudly. “Get on my back, I will hold onto you, and this way you can go inside with no problems.”

“Can you even lift me?”

“Crowley, I am a Principality, I am much stronger than I look. Besides, how many times have I carried your drunken and or sleeping self around while you were practically dead weight?”

The snake demon shrugged. “Alright, but if you complain of back aches later, that’s your fault.” He got up and moved to get on the other’s back, before nearly yelping when Aziraphale suddenly stood up, making Crowley wrap his legs around the other’s stomach, his arms around his shoulders. “Damn, angel! It’s like I weigh nothing to you!”

“I’ve carried stacks of books that weigh more than you ever will, my dear.” Aziraphale said with a bit of smug pride as he walked up the stairs, ignoring more stares from people as he opened the doors.

Crowley’s eyes widened a bit behind his shades as he looked inside. He could sense the Godly blessings of this place, felt a bit like when one touched an old television screen when it was on static, a light tingle under the skin. The inside was massive, beautiful, and made Crowley feel so tiny. He was in a house of God, and it felt wrong, yet… with Aziraphale here, giving him permission, it felt a bit right.

He wasn’t here to cause trouble, his natural curiosity, which got him into the whole demon shtick anyway, was too strong for him to ignore being in here. He hadn’t paid too much attention when he was in that church in 1941, he was too worried about Aziraphale, and the other ones he had wandered into (or were summoned into) were damaged.

Here he was now though, inside of one of Europe’s most famous gothic buildings, kept alive by a writer who didn’t want to see it go to waste in the 1800s.

The demon paused and looked at Aziraphale, who seemed lost in his own thoughts as he walked about, seeming to let Crowley look around from his perch. “Do you wanna take a seat?” He asked the blond, who looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

“Can you sit on a pew?”

“We’ll find out.”

Aziraphale made his way over to one near the front, a woman stopped him for a moment, asking in English, an American tourist, if his friend was alright.

“Ah,” Aziraphale smiled, “he’s alright, he stepped wrong outside and now his foot hurts, but he didn’t want to wait for it to stop aching.” Crowley nearly groaned out loud at the excuse the other had come up with to explain why he was carrying a grown man on his back.

She seemed to believe the lie, damn curious humans, and Aziraphale stepped away to allow Crowley to take a seat. It wasn’t easy, Crowley didn’t dare put his feet on the ground, it would be ten times worse than it was outside, so he had to step on the pew.

There was no burn, just more of the television static, so it was safe. Who the hell would bless a seat anyway? He sat down, cross-legged, and the angel sat down next to him with a small, content sigh as he looked up at the sight before them. Clearly the back of the cathedral was where the holy men in charge would speak to the masses, under beautiful stain glass, and symbols of God, The Son, and The Holy Ghost.

Aziraphale put a hand on Crowley’s knee, turning to him to whisper. “What do you think?”

“It’s beautiful, I’ll give your lot’s fan club that. Probably the first demon in history to really appreciate what humans can do when building homes for God. Wonder if She has a favorite somewhere in the world.”

“Lots of them, actually.” Aziraphale replied. “So many have a little something that just makes Her love them more than some others. I don’t blame Her, I can be the same with my books, and I know you are with your plants.”

“You know nothing about me and my plants.” Crowley grumbled, his eyes drifting about. “Speaking of books. We’re here because of Victor, aren’t we?”

Aziraphale blinked, his cheeks suddenly a bit pink from embarrassment. “Yes, uhh… I do try to stop by once a year, to pay my respects.”

“Why not at his grave?”

“Oh, I do, but as an angel, I think the most respect can be paid towards the building he saved from neglect.”

Crowley couldn’t argue with that, so he nodded. Aziraphale had been good friends with the write Victor Hugo, and even Crowley couldn’t deny that he had read through a few of his books, even the ones that could very well be mistaken for bricks. He was rather shocked at how dark The Hunchback of Notre Dame was as a book, young girls being preyed on by creepy older men, a deformed human being treated as a mistake and a monster, a holy man who was doing things that demons were known to influence, dark stuff.

When Victor had died, he remember Aziraphale had spent the day in his shop, just reading away at one of the man’s works. He did go to the funeral, Crowley did not. He had gone back to sleep, seeing as it had been the 1800s and Crowley spent most of it asleep, outside of a few rare times where he couldn’t sleep and pestered humans and Aziraphale.

He had been awake the day the author died, and he just sat with his angel as he quietly mourned in his own way. Aziraphale could be emotional when he wanted to be, but sometimes his more obvious expression of grief was being silent and reading with a frown on his face, Crowley knew his friend all too well. He remembered taking Aziraphale out for dinner that evening, his treat, and they spent the night in the bookshop, toasting wine to humans who have changed things for the better, even in little ways.

“He was an excellent poet and artist.” Crowley spoke softly, hearing Aziraphale hum in agreement. “And apparently a hell of a sex fiend, so many mistresses. His little black book is more infamous than anything he’s ever written.” He deserved the punch to the arm from the angel, but he still got a laugh from Aziraphale.

“Yes, well, he was still a respectful man. He stood for what he believed in, for freedom and liberty, to be one’s self, to stand up for what was right.” Aziraphale replied as he looked at Crowley, there seemed to be something on the man’s face, like there was a weight to his words, a personal one.

“Yeah.” The demon put his hand over the one that rested on his knee. “‘To love is to act’. That was his, seems like a good idea, even if the word love is… meh.” There wasn’t any venom or hate in Crowley’s voice at the last part of his statement, and Aziraphale didn’t comment on it.

“Right, my dear. You are correct, that is his.” A smile came to Aziraphale. “When we’re done here, would you like to go out for lunch? My treat, afterwards, we can do to the Louver. I’d love for you to tell me more silly stories about Da Vinci.”

“Sounds good. Besides, this place is making my limbs feel numb, and that probably means it’s time to go.”

The angel let the demon get on his back once more, walking out as they discussed where would the best place for lunch was and if Crowley should be allowed to make loud, lewd jokes about naked people in religious art when they got to the museum.

END

--

Originally, this was just an excuse to write the hilarious mental image of Aziraphale taking Crowley into a church on his back, but I did a bit of research of Victor Hugo and found the quote and damnit, I had to throw that in.

(Also, yes, he was a hell of a womanizer and every brothel in Paris closed for his funeral cause a lot of ladies attended).

Thanks for reading

(this is also posted on ao3, under the same title and by me, RiYuYami and I really need to change that name lol)

[imaginesmai]

Hvitserk-Home

So this was hard for me to write, because I just find it difficult to write angst about Hvitserk. Don’t get my wrong, he is my favourite character from Vikings! But I just feel he deserve all love and cuddles from the world. Anyway, I hope you like it!

Plot: What do you call home when you have lost everything? You come back to Kattegat to fight Ivar, but it’s hard to know that Hvitserk will be there too.

Warnings: angst, SAD SAD HVITSERK, sad reader, too many tears I swear, SPOILERS FROM THE LAST EPISODE (if you haven’t seen it, you might not understand some things)

Maybe you were making the wrong choice. Maybe you should have stayed with Ubbe and Lagertha in England. Maybe thinking about him after all this time was a mistake, but you couldn’t help it. After all, the words Hvitserk and love had always been linked to you; it was a matter of time before you went searching for him.

It hadn’t been long since the fight. His face full of blood, his eyes screaming murder, and his hand carrying the death sentence for a lot of your friends. Hvitserk chose to take Ivar’s side, saying that he needed to be free; free from being Ubbe’s dog, or free from being your lover, you didn’t know. He just jumped ships in the last moment, taking your heart with him and breaking the promise of loving you forever. Yes, he didn’t kill you in the battle field, to some of the soldiers it even seemed that he was protecting you. Yes, he didn’t tell Ivar that you were leaving to England even if you went to Kattegat to say goodbye to him. But that didn’t erase the memory of him turning his back to you from your mind.

You tried to forget about him with Alfred’s brother. He was a nice guy, too innocent and too soft, and nothing like your Hvitserk. When he died you didn’t even cry him; you can’t give your heart to someone if you don’t have it. You tried to hate him, to fill that hole in your chest with hate and desire of revenge, yet every time you imagined his dead body tears filled your eyes. So you conformed with missing him each night. That’s why you sailed with Bjorn to Kattegat.

-          Can I sit with you? – Gunnhild, Bjorn’s new girl, asked you. Bjorn had been always your best friend, like a big brother to you. And she was the first woman who laid with him that you liked.

-          Sure. -you murmured. -Not with Bjorn?

-          He is with king Harald, in some lame contest of testosterone. -she smiled kindly to you. -I’m getting tired of so many dicks in this boat. Thank Odin I have you.

-          Yeah, it’s kind of hard living with so many men. -you laughed. -I can’t wait to reach Kattegat.

-          I heard wonderful things about that place. -Gunnhild said, looking toward the ocean. It was calm in that moment, but it had been a bumpy ride.

-          It’s been a long time. -you sighed. -Maybe Ivar has destroyed the place.

-          Bjorn told me that Ivar wasn’t the only Ragnarson there.

-          Hvitserk is there too. -you said, and you felt the need to defend him. -But he wouldn’t allow Kattegat to be destroyed. He is not like that.

-          And how is he? -Gunnhild knew that your heart ached for the prince and thought that making you talk about him would be a good idea.

-          He is kind and sweet. Funny too. Hvitserk is not like his brothers, he just want to be happy and to make the Gods proud. -you smiled sadly.

That why you couldn’t hate Hvitserk probably. You knew that he took Ivar side because he wanted to find the path that the Gods had created for him. He told to you on multiples occasions that he felt lost, the forgotten Ragnarson, the less important one. You used to tell him that it wasn’t true, that he had you; yet his desire of becoming someone important overpowered the desire of becoming someone with you.

-          Bjorn told me you had…history together. -she said cautiously. -You know we are going to fight him?

-          I know. -you waited a second before speaking again. -Right now I don’t know many things. I don’t know if I can forgive him of if I love him anymore. I just know that I need to see him one more time.

The boat made a sharp turn, and everyone in contained their breathing. You saw Magnus, the newly found Bjorn’s brother, holding tight a cross, and you sighed annoyed. If your Hvitserk was here, he would have made fun of him or throw him out of the boat. If only your Hvitserk was here. Or if only he was still your Hvitserk.

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Gunnhild proved herself to be a good travel companion. She was a strong woman with an unwavering mind. Not the typical slutty one Bjorn usually chose, you liked her better than any of the others. You knew that Bjorn doubted you about coming along, but Gunnhild was a huge support for you. As the days passed in that damned boat, you found yourself being closer to her; talking about Hvitserk, about anecdotes or about anything. And you enjoyed every second of it. But then, on a grey and rainy day, you arrived to your destiny. It was hard for you seeing Kattegat again. Seeing the beach where Hvitserk and you splashed each other now empty and cold. Seeing the forest where you had your first kissed now untamed and dark. Tears filled your eyes, ready to be spilled, when you felt a hand on your shoulder.

-          We should move. -your new friend said. -King Harald and Bjorn will kill each other if we don’t solve soon this situation.

-          Yeah. -you whispered, and after thinking about it, you added. -There is a clearing in the forest, near Kattegat. But not too close for them to see us.

-          That will do. -Gunnhild smiled at you. -I’m not going to tell you that it’s going to be alright. Just know that I’m here for you.

Feeling supported for once was good. You knew that she meant it; being in the same land of Hvitserk was hard, and with her help maybe you could make it through. Walking towards the front of the line with her and Bjorn, you started your journey towards Kattegat.

You were hiding behind a mountain when you first saw them. It was a king Harald’s soldier actually who warned you; an army was resting just a little farther. He recognised king Olaf in the middle of the camp, and he supposed that he was going to help Ivar against your army. So your only choice was to go and try to talk some sense into him. Bjorn insisted in going alone and, even if you would regret it later when you discovered his reasons, you decided to go with him.

-          Who is going to watch over our army? -he argued.

-          Gunnhild can! King Harald is here too, he can take care of it while we go to see that man.

-          I don’t trust him.

-          But you trust Gunnhild, hm? So she is in charge here from now on.

-          What if she betrays us? -he didn’t believe that, but he was running out of excuses.

-          Come on, Bjorn, I’ve known you since I was a baby! I know when you trust someone.

-          Maybe I don’t trust you enough to come with me. -you would have take offense on his words if you didn’t know he was lying.

-          I was planning of push you of a cliff, what a shame. Now I can’t marry Gunnhild myself. -you joked.

-          Y/N please, stay here. It’s too dangerous. -he pleaded, not knowing how to make you stay.

-          We sailed here through a storm and I didn’t die. -you said. – Come one, we need to leave before dark.

Bjorn looked at you with sadness. You reminded him of Gyda, his beautiful sister. If she had had the chance of growing up, she would be probably be very similar to you; kind, cheerful, and too good for this world. Admitting his defeat, he sighed and started walking toward the enemy camp, you following behind. He could convince you to, at least, wait outside while he talked to king Olaf. You did as he told you, not knowing that behind that curtain, Hvitserk was hugging his brother.

-          I’ve missed you, brother. -Bjorn hugged his little brother.

-          Me too. -Hvitserk smiled like a kid, but it wasn’t the same smile as the one he had before. Bjorn guessed that you were not the only one suffering from a loved one.

-          Look at us. Here, united again against our brother. -he pat Hvitserk’s back. -The Gods want us here.

-          Guess so. Ubbe? -he asked, fear flashing in his eyes.

-          He is alive. Still in England, with his lands. -there was a moment of silence where the next questions didn’t leave Hvitserk mouth. -She is alive too.

-          Thank Odin. -the prince felt the weigh of this past months lifting from his shoulders. -I saw her leaving that night. Nearly left with her, but it was too dangerous. I’m happy she has found her place there, bet she has-

-          She is here. -Bjorn said quietly, and Hvitserk eyes went wide.

-          Where? -it was nothing more than a broken whisper. He knew that you had every right to hate him, he even understood if you killed him when you saw him. Hvitserk didn’t care about it, he just needed to see you again. And he did, following his brother outside.

You were getting bored. Each man or woman that passed by you looked at you with curious eyes, before realising who you were and whispered to their companion. Bjorn was taking too long for your liking, and when you were going to enter to take him away, he opened the door. Your mouth hang open with words dead in your lips, and your eyes were wide with surprise. Behind Bjorn, Hvitserk’s head was poking at you; he moved a little, and then his full body was showed to you. You reminded him to be a little bet thinner. He had now broad shoulders and wide arms. His hair was longer and his beard was bigger than when you last saw him. Definitely he was more handsome, if that was possible. Not everything was good, although. Hvitserk had bag under his eyes, that held a lot of sadness and regret, and you swore that a lot of scars weren’t there last time.

-          Y/N. -Bjorn called you, seeing that none of you said or did anything.

-          What is he doing here? -you said. Even if you tried to sound angry, your broken voice was a knife to Hvitserk heart.

-          He was taking king Olaf’s army to Kattegat. To fight against Ivar. -there was an awkward silence again, until Bjorn talked again. -I’m going-

-          Lov- Hvitserk started walking towards you at the same time Bjorn talked.

-          Who are you talking to? -you expected either to feel nothing for him or to feel everything; right then, you just felt angry.

-          Love I- Hvitserk tried again, getting closer to you. Some of the soldiers stopped by to watch you.

-          Who are you talking to Hvitserk? -he frowned, not understanding. -You don’t get to call me that. Not anymore.

Hvitserk broken face almost made you regret your decision. Back in the boat, you though you could forgive him, that you could love him again. But seeing his face only reminded you to the pain he made you feel the night you left Kattegat.

Ubbe was the only one who knew about your plans and, although he didn’t approve them, he understood. If he could, he would also want to see Hvitserk one more time. Yet he was far too angry to do it. You left the group at night and planned on returning before the first light; when you all would leave Kattegat. It was a risky decision, Hvitserk could turn you to Ivar and get everyone killed. However, you got rid of that thoughts and ran to your shared house.

Once you got there, you saw him sitting outside the stairs. It was a little cabin, he had build it before Ragnar came back, for the both of you. It was like your little paradise. It was your home.

-          Hvitserk. -you whispered; he didn’t turn back, he knew you were there for a few minutes.

-          You should leave. -he told you, no emotion on his voice.

-          But I- you tried to get closer; he wasn’t facing you, you just saw his tensed shoulders. -Come with me, please. I can forgive you. So can Ubbe, and Bjorn and-

-          What makes you think that I can forgive you? -he asked, still not looking at you.

-          What? Hvitserk, please, forget about this. I-

-          Go. -he said, and even if you didn’t notice, his voice held desperation and sadness. -I’m not going to call Ivar. But I will if you don’t leave, Y/N. Now.

You were going to open your mouth again, to beg a little bit more or to plead to him again. Was it so hard to want a normal life, you thought. After thinking about it, you left.

He could hear your sobs as you walked away, feeling like a part of him was leaving with you. Hvitserk regretted already not looking into your eyes one last time, but he couldn’t lie to your face. It was better if you hated him; you could redo your life, find someone really worthy of you, be happy with a real man who deserves you. He felt tears filling his eyes and, for the first time in weeks, he let himself cry for you. Jumping boats had been the worst decisions of his life, and when Ubbe offered him to come back he though he could fix it. But one look to Ivar’s eyes was enough. His little brother could kill you, so it was better to have a broken heart than a stopped one.

Blinking a few times, you came back to earth. Since the moment Hvitserk joined the army against Ivar, you had been avoiding him. It was hard seeing that he was always following you like a lost puppy. The first days, he tried talking to you, he even came to you tent one night drunk, sobbing and on his knees, mumbling that he needed you back ant that he was sorry for everything. It was hard, yeah. Maybe because you loved him too, because you wanted nothing more than to forgive him and to cradle his head between your arms. It was hard, for him and for you.

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

You stood next to Bjorn, happy that the battle was over. Ivar had ran away as soon as things got ugly, and you found his queen dead in the floor. A lot of people from Kattegat chose not to fight, and some of them sided with Bjorn when he broke the barriers from the city. Kind Halfdan was dead, Magnus was dead and so were a lot of people; your heart ached for them, yet you were happy for the living ones. Ubbe appeared after the battle was over, with some wounds on his face but safe and sound. A little giggle left your lips, and you ran to hug the life out of him; you had grown into the kind and caring man the last months, and you were glad the Gods were returning him alive. You hugged too his wife and Lagertha and got back into your place. This time you stood between Gunnhild and Hvitserk, who tried to stay calm at his brother’s presence. You remembered him confessing you how much he admired his older brother; how much he loved him and how he wanted to be like him. So you could only imagine the pain he felt when he faced rejection a second time from a loved one.

-          Y/N. -you felt Gunnhild pushing you a little to the right.

-          What? -you asked her.

-          Come one, do something. -she said, pointing with her head at the sad man at your side.

-          I-

-          You don’t hate him, Y/N. -she said, and you saw true care in her eyes. -You are just too proud to admit that you need him too.

Hvitserk had thrown all of his pride by chasing you and begging to have you back. It didn’t hurt losing a little of your own pride, did it? Before you knew it, your hand found Hvitserk’s one and you fingers laced with his. It took him a while to react, he just let his body rigid as he looked at you with wide and teary eyes. Slowly, everyone around you left until it was just the both of you in the place. You took your hand out of his grip with effort, only to put your arms around his stiffed body. Hvitserk made a strange noise, similar to a wounded animal. It had been so long since he felt loved by someone, and there you were, hugging him when you should probably be kicking him senseless.

-          I’m sorry. -it started as a quiet whisper, but soon Hvitserk body was hugging you tightly, shaking between your arms and whispering again and again how sorry he was. -I’m so so sorry-y, please forgiv-ve me please, Y/N. I nee-ed you so much. I’m sorry…

-          We can work it out, Hvitserk. I promise. -you said, pressing him against your much smaller body.

-          I love you, Y/N. I was so scared. -he kept sobbing. -I was so scared that he would kill you, that you would be dead.

-          I’m alive, Hvitty. -his nickname made him cry harder if that was possible. -We are going to be okay, I promise.

-          I’m sorry. -he repeated.

-          I know. -you breathed his scent; blood, sweat, pine, a little bit of smoke…and home. -I love you too.

Running your hands through his hair, you let yourself for the first time in months truly smile. Maybe things could be better; you just destroyed half of Kattegat, you have a new king and the love of your life is a broken soul between your arms. Maybe. But you just had that feeling in your gut, that everything could be back to normal. After all, you were home.

[ourloveisforthelovely]

Gone Girl

A/n: rewrite from an OFC story 

Summary:  Gabriel doesn’t make good decisions when it comes to the woman he loves. Dark themes, minor character death, slight mentions of smut

Words: 3,567

Pairings: Gabriel x Reader. Previous Gabriel x Kalix Reader 

Song in Chapter: Narcissistic Cannibal by Korn

Story name inspired by the book/movie: Gone Girl

___________

You lay wide awake your mind racing a million miles per hour. Nothing was going right! Your life was derailing and there wasn’t a damn thing that you could do about it. Glancing to your right, you looked to your husband, who lay cuddled with his girlfriend. Rage and jealousy went through you as you looked at them. This had been going on for about 6 months. The only reason she had agreed to this arrangement was to make Gabriel happy. Now you could kick yourself in the ass for it!

  Your world was shattered when Gabriel came home one evening and said he was bored. He was bored with your relationship. The two of you “needed” to do something to spice your love life up. He was bored with you. All the time that you had spent thinking that he loved you was a lie. Your marriage was a lie…EVERYTHING WAS A LIE!

  In the beginning, Gabriel promised nothing would change between the two of you.  You would always be his favorite however, that was also a lie. You couldn’t remember the last time he kissed you or when you made love. Whenever it would come to you, Gabriel never had time. He was too busy or had things to do with Kali.

  Of course she would have become his favorite AGAIN! They had a history. Not to mention that she was immortal and a goddess. She wasn’t some lowly mortal that Gabriel, for whatever reason, developed an attraction too. You knew that you should have expected this. An archangel was bound to get bored with a human.

  You should have listened to Sam and Dean when they begged you not to marry Gabriel. Even on the day of your wedding before Dean was about to walk you down the aisle, he offered you the keys to baby and $1,000 to get the hell out of dodge. You should have taken him up on his offer!

  On your wedding day, you were convinced that Gabriel would be forever in love with you! You had, after all, done so much for him! When Ketch dragged him into the bunker after being in Colonel Sanders’ “Hell Jail”, low on grace, and riddled with PTSD...it was you that took care of him. You were the one that got him back on his feet (well for the most part). His grace was still “shakey.” Some days you would think that he never had anything wrong with him. Other days, he was almost human.

  Kali pretended to be nice and treat you well. The goddess only did it for the show and you knew It! Kali pampered you because it was what Gabriel wanted. Kali would be loving until Gabriel wasn’t looking then push you away with a frown.

  Laying in the darkness, you had enough! You couldn’t live like this any longer. How the hell had you done it for so long anyway? You had a packed bag strategically placed in your car. It was the perfect time to leave! Gabriel had a “rough grace day” and was sleeping like a human. He would never know that you were sneaking out at 4 am. If it had been a good grace day, there was no way that you could slip out unnoticed. You carefully started to slip out of bed until Gabriel’s hand wrapped around your wrist.

  “Where are you going?”

  You smiled keeping your demeanor as normal as possible. Gabriel would automatically know if something seemed off. You waited until he and Kali had been kissing for over half an hour before you planned to abandon ship.

  “Can’t sleep. I’m going to get some tea.”

  You kept your voice as sweet as possible. Gabriel nodded clearly not knowing something was up. He laid back pulling Kali back into his arms. Kali’s eyes rolled to your face.

  “Want me to come with you?”

  You shook your head.

  “Nah you two just continue where you were. You’ll both be fine without me.”

  2 hours later, Gabriel reached over to cuddle you. He hadn’t told you yet but he was ending things with Kali. Her novelty had worn off. He wanted was his wife who he was obviously hurting. He was tired of seeing the sadness in your pretty eyes. He frowned finding your side of the bed cold and empty.

  Gabriel stood pulling on his abandoned jeans before going into the kitchen.

  “Y/n? Sweetheart?”

  When you didn’t respond he quickly walked into the living room. The front door was wide open and the glass coffee table was shattered.

  “Y/n!”

  Gabriel quickly looked outside to see your car gone.

  You, meanwhile, was driving feeling comfortable. For the first time, in a long time, you felt free! You had taken off the wedding ring that Gabriel had given you and left it on top of the kitchen counter for Gabriel to find along with a nasty letter,

  “Darling husband,  

        It has come to my attention that we are no longer what we used to be. I blame you for this. I blame your hunger for another woman and yes I am talking about Kali. Funny how I used to be able to please you fully but not so now. Enjoy your life.

-Your now gone girl.”

  Glancing at your phone, you raised an eyebrow when Gabriel’s name flashed on your phone.

  “Too late.”

  You said smoothly before hitting ignore sending his pleads to a voicemail that you would never check.

  “So much for happily ever after.”

  Gabriel meanwhile, had dismissed Kali before calling Sam, Dean, and Cas to help him look. The Winchester’s were over within 10 minutes upon hearing that their baby sister was missing. Gabriel meanwhile, was calling you over and over again. He prayed he would finally get through. Sam looked around hoping for a sign from you. His eyes landed on the note and the divorce papers. He frowned looking to his best friend and brother in law.

  “You two were divorcing?”

  Gabriel looked baffled.

  “What? No! I love Y/n!”

Sam held up the decree as Dean walked in crossing his arms over his chest.

  “Reasons of infidelity and this note. Have you been cheating on her?”

  Both Cas and Dean looked up. Cas never expected this to happen in the slightest. Gabriel and yourself were the perfect couple!. Gabriel looked down sadly.

  “Yes and I regret it.”

  You meanwhile, stood outside of Kali’s apartment. When the devastated goddess opened the door she looked even sadder to see you standing in a tight black dress.

  “Gabriel is looking for you.”

  You raised an eyebrow before speaking in a condescending tone.

  “Is he now?”

  Kali nodded whipping her eyes.

  “Yes he’s devastated. Said we were over. Y/n, I am so in love with both of you.”

  The jealous wife in you was going nuts but you put that in the closet. Now was the time that you would get even! You walked to Kali and wrapped your arms around the goddess. Kali quickly pressed her lips to yours kissing her tenderly. She hoped that she could get you to see the passion she felt for you. You smiled into the kiss. As quietly as possible, you slipped your hand into the garter, that was around your thigh and pulled out the colt that you had “borrowed” from Dean. You lovingly kissed the Kali a moment longer before placing the weapon at the side of her head pulling the trigger.

  “You even taste bad. Adios, you thorn in my side.”  

  You smiled coldly taking the garter off placing it on the dead goddesses body as a calling card for Gabriel. This would be the perfect “calling card.” It was the garter that Gabriel had taken off of you at your wedding (he had actually taken it off of you with his teeth...much to Sam and Dean’s displeasure!) Gabriel would see this and know how everything happened.

  2 hours later, Gabriel, Sam, Dean, and Cas were hot on your trail. Sam had the idea to track your cell phone. To Gabriel’s horror, it led them to Kali’s apartment. Walking to the door he couldn’t help but feel ill.

  “what have I done to you kitten?”

  He thought sadly as Dean opened the door immediately seeing the goddess dead on the floor.  Both Sam and Dean froze at what their sister had done. Cas walked to Kali’s body seeing the colt on the ground an inch or so from her. He picked up the weapon looking to Dean.

  “This explains how she did it.”

  Dean took a breath, running a hand through his hair, before taking the weapon from Cas before looking at Gabriel.

    “The colt ...well that explains how sissy did it. Well, little sister doesn’t miss when she aims a gun. I out to shoot you with this! I never should have let Y/n marry you! I knew that this would end badly! You just fuck up everything that you remotely come into contact with!”

  Gabriel scowled at Dean as the electricity in the room began to flicker.

  “I know what I did was wrong! Okay? Fuck, I know I hurt her and I regret every second of it! If you point that thing at me I will blow you up!”

  Dean raised an eyebrow.

  “I would tell you to go fuck yourself but I’m pretty sure that you would be disappointed.”

  Sam and Cas exchanged looks before Cas stepped forward.

  “Enough! Arguing is not going to bring Y/n back.”

  Gabriel bent down and picked up your garter. Right away your sweet scent hit him in the face. He knew that he fucked up a lot in his life but this was his world-class of fuck ups! Gabriel had a wife that loved and pretty much worshiped him. He had completely let you down!

    “Gabriel bring your ass and come on. We have got to go find our sister!”

  Dean called coldly over his shoulder as he stormed off to Baby. Cas hadn’t moved from his place beside Gabriel. He looked at his brother sadly.

  “Come brother. We’ll find her.”

Gabriel wasted no time in getting into the back of the Impala. He looked out the window as Dean pulled out onto the highway. The archangel had never felt more guilty in his life. He knew that the two of you jumped into marriage too quickly but god he loved you!

  Right away he blamed himself for everything! If Gabriel had “grown up” and wasn’t a brat of a child, you would still be at home with him. You wouldn’t have run away. If he hadn’t had the stupid urge to want Kali again you would still be safe in his arms.

  Gabriel looked up seeing Dean staring coldly at him. Without saying it the eldest Winchester was telling Gabriel what a shitty husband he was. Gabriel couldn’t help but agree. He wasn’t a good husband by any means and Dean Winchester was letting him know it!

  When things went bad between the two of you, Gabriel always wanted to run. He never liked the arguing. He wanted a peaceful relationship but with him not everything was peaceful. Gabriel couldn’t blame you for getting annoyed with him. You had spent months trying to heal him from what Asmodeus did and asked for nothing in return. All you wanted was Gabriel’s love and he sucked at giving you that!

  Gabriel sighed running a hand through his hair. He tried to think of anyone that he could ask for help in finding you! The only other angel he could see telling the truth about everything was Lucifer. With him prowling around now maybe he could keep an eye out for you also.

Closing his eyes Gabriel called his brother’s name. He had to get a hold of him someway. The next thing Gabriel knew he was in a bright white room where Luci stood with a grin on his face.

  “Ah Gabriel. You called? Funny, the last time that I saw you was in apocalypse world.”

  Gabriel nodded as Lucifer looked over his shoulder.

  “Where’s that pretty wife of yours?”

  Gabriel looked down.

  “I lost her…that’s why I need to talk to you”

  Lucifer raised an eyebrow.

  “How did you lose her? Did you forget her somewhere? Did she leave your ass?”

  Gabriel looked down like a guilty child. Lucifer chuckled.

  “So you win a Winchester who willingly accepts you as a lover then you do something stupid to mess that up? What did you do? cheat on her?”

  Gabriel glared harder at the ground. Lucifer growled.

  “Don’t tell me it was Kali.”

  “It was. We kind of had a three-way relationship going on. Y/n got sick of it and left. She shot Kali with the Colt.”

  Lucifer looked even more impressed.

  “I knew I liked that girl. One more waste of space pagan gone.”

  Gabriel glared at him coldly.  Lucifer growled.

  “Do you want your wife back or not?! I guarantee you that if you go after that girl and give her attitude over killing some girl that you had a history with she will probably cap your sassy ass too.”

  Gabriel gave his brother a pouty expression.

  “I am not dumb enough to fuck everything up again. I just want her home with me. I love her.”

  Lucifer rolled his eyes.

  “Save me the lovefest little brother. For the love of dad, fine! I’ll keep an eye out for your little blushing bride.”

  “Thank you.”

Gabriel replied before going back to the Impala, where no one noticed he had been gone. Looking down at his wedding band, Gabriel again couldn’t help but feel guilty.

  “I’m sorry sugar.”

  Meanwhile,

  Sometimes, I hate, the life, I made

Everything’s wrong every time

Pushing on I can’t escape

Everything that comes my way

Is haunting me taking its sweet time

Holding on I’m lost in a haze

Fighting life to the end of my days

Don’t wanna be rude but I have to

Nothing’s good about the hell you put me through

  You sighed at the lyrics that were blaring through the car’s stereo. Never had lyrics been more perfect for your life. You pulled into the driveway of Jody Mills home. Jody was the one person that you decided to turn to. You could have easily gone to Sam and Dean but that would have been the first place that Gabriel would have thought to look.

  The moment Jody answered she looked totally surprised to see you  at her door.

  “Y/n! Honey, what are you doing in my neck of the woods?”

You smiled trying to appear as calm as possible.

  “Just in the neighborhood…well, I left Gabriel.”

  Jody’s mouth dropped as she ushered you inside. She reached out and pulled you into an awkward hug.

  “I am so sorry! Come in. Let’s talk. My other girls are out on a case so it's just you and I. Come on, I’ll make some tea.”

  You nodded walking into Jody’s home.. She walked to the refrigerator taking out a bottle of wine and put on a kettle of tea. Jody sat down put poured a glass sitting it in front of you.

  “What happened? You both seemed so happy.”

  You shrugged, downing the glass of wine.

  “We were until 6 months ago. Gabriel decided that he was bored and wanted to bring another woman into our relationship. I only agreed to it to make him happy. He wanted to bring his ex-girlfriend in and so it happened. Damn it, that is what I get for marrying an archangel. I should have never married him.”

  Jody looked completely baffled. She still couldn’t get past everything that you had just said. Jody had been at your wedding. Gabriel had seemed so taken with you. Jody never would have guessed that he would have ever become tired of you.

  “Does he know you left? What about Sam and Dean?”

  You started laughing hard at that.

  “If he didn’t he surely does now. I left him a little bit of a calling card. I didn’t tell Sam and Dean...for obvious reasons.”

  Jody put a hand on her forehead.

  “Sweetie, your brothers are going to be so worried about you. Not to mention Cas and Jack…you know how attached to you they are.”

  You looked down, feeling immediately guilty for the fact that you at least didn’t tell somebody.  

  “I know Jody. I just can’t go back right now.”

  Jody sat quietly for a moment before taking a hold of your hand.

  “Well, you can stay here! You know that you and your brothers are always welcome with me. You look exhausted. Why don’t you go for a nap?”

  You sighed. Jody was right there. You were exhausted! A nap sounded like a wonderful idea!

  Laying down in the guest bedroom, you couldn’t help feeling all the more depressed. You wished that you hadn’t thrown your cell phone out the window back in Kansas. The urge to text Gabriel and ask him to come to get you was strong. You knew that you could always pray to him and that would get him as well too. That was one of the perks of being married to an archangel but at the moment it defeated the whole purpose of you leaving. You left to teach him a lesson and that was what you were going to do!

  “I should have said no.”

  You grumbled as you thought about the “beginning.” You should have turned him away the first time Gabriel showed up wanting to win your heart...

  It had been a few months since Gabriel came back after getting stabbed by Michael.. Gabriel had been perusing you hardcore. He got a second chance and wanted to spend every free moment that could winning your heart! You, after all, had saved him!

  You stood in a hotel room getting undressed when you heard the flutter of wings. At first, you thought that it was Cas coming for a visit or to watch the nature channel. When you turned, only in your bra, there stood Gabriel watching you with an eyebrow raised.

    “You can keep going, sugar. Don’t let little ole me stop you.”

    You yanked your button down shirt back up but didn’t move to button it back up.

    “What are you doing here, Gabriel?”

    Gabriel smiled.

    “I wanted to see a certain little lady that has been giving me the hardest time lately.”

    You smirked and turned back to the mirror.

  “Why are you so persistent with me? Isn’t there some hot chick that you can be messing with?”

  Gabriel frowned as he walked over wrapping his arms around your waist. He nuzzled his face against your skin inhaling your scent.

  “Sugar, come on. I think you are plenty hot enough. Give me one night. I’ll have you screaming my name so loud you’ll never want another man again. No one in the history of lovemaking has done what I am about to do with you.”

    You turned in the archangel’s arms. His flirting was getting to be too much to deny. The chemistry there and you were tired of denying it. His golden eyes were watching you like you were something to eat. You reached up cupping his cheek before letting your hand stroke down his chest to the buckle of his belt. The whole time you were judging his reaction as to whether or not he was really into this or he was just teasing. Gabriel pushed your shirt off of your shoulders leaving you in your bra and tight jeans.

    Gabriel raised an eyebrow before grinning.

    “Are you telling me yes? Like actually offering yourself to me, sweetheart?”

    You nodded.

    “Mhm. That’s the way it looks.”

    You said with a smirk. Standing on your tiptoes, you pressed gentle kisses to the archangel’s neck and cheeks. Gabriel groaned under your touch as he began his assault on your body. The light making out continued until Gabriel couldn’t handle it anymore and pulled you to the bed.

    “Come on precious you are never going to want another mortal again.”

    Gabriel said with an eager grin as he rocked his hips into your body.

    “You need to prove to me that I will want an archangel again. You need to live up to your prestige.”

    Gabriel looked shocked by that comment. You chuckled at his expression. Gabriel should have been used to you by now. You reached out running your tongue along his collarbone. On the sex with an archangel scale so far he was doing pretty decent. Between the fact that he tasted amazing, picked a hot vessel to house himself, and it looked like he was smuggling a grapefruit in his jeans, you had to give him a decent score so far.

    “Peach, you are about to see the prestige of an archangel. You haven’t seen anything yet.”

    You pulled yourself from the memory with a growl.

    “I have to stop! I can’t let him win!”

___________

@supernaturalways

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[bestfriends-0212]

Trust me! Ch.1

- Y/N pov first day of freshman year

My alarm went off I shot up looking around crazy. Ugh the first day of school, I got up and got ready. I decided to keep it simple and not too flashy. I was looking around for my backpack when I heard a knock on the front door. I ran towards it and opened it to see Riley standing there looking pretty as always.

 "Hey Riles help me find my bag, " I said pulling her into a hug

 " of course, " she said chuckling a bit.

 We searched the whole apartment and found nothing. I groaned falling onto my couch.

 " how do you lose your bag on the first day of school " Riley asked falling next to me " I'm not even sure " I replied closing my eyes "come on we got to find your bag before Maya gets here " she said pulling me up " check your room again I'll check the living room " she said I nodded I went to my room and started looking . I looked under my bed and saw one of my heels

I thought I lost. I looked in my closet and saw nothing from the ordinary. I sighed where is it. I heard a knock

 " welp Maya is here and I don't have my bag, " I said walking to the living room. Riley opened the door to reveal Maya and my bag. 

" how ?" We both said

 " you left it at my house last night you just left and forgot to grab it, " she said handing it to me. 

" thank you for bringing it for me "

 " no problem ." She said giving us a hug.

 " Y'all ready for freshman year? " I asked closing and locking the door. We walked to Riley apartment

 " NOO" yelled Matthews once we stepped in

. " good morning, " I said chuckling a bit.

 " IM NOT READY FOR MY THREE GIRLS GOING TO HIGH SCHOOL "

 " there-there it's going to be okay, " said Auggie patting his back. 

" Auggie " I yelled he ran towards me and jumped into my arms. I sprung him around till we both got dizzy and fell on the couch 

" girls breakfast, " said Mrs. Matthews 

" not hungry " Maya and I said

 " didn't ask, eat now " we sat down and ate breakfast

 " y/n where's your dad now ?" Asked Riley " not sure he was already gone last night I'm sure he'll let me know throughout the day ." I said shrugging " oh honey he's doing this for you, " said Mrs. Matthews " I know it just sucks " " it does " agreed Maya I gave her a small smile . We have had this conversation before and we both have gotten fairly emotional about this topic. "Well it's time to go, " said Mr. Matthews we all said goodbye. The girls and I took the subway while Mr.Matthews drove. I couldn't help but think life and how's it's changing. We arrived at school and went to go pick up our schedules. We were just standing in line when we heard some girls talking.

" Y'all heard there are two new students " 

" oh yeah? Boy or girl ?"

 "Boys both of them ."

 " did you hear that " asked Riley l nodded 

" so interesting, " I said rolling my eyes Maya laughed

 " come on they could change our lives who knows, " said Riley with hope in her eyes which I haven't seen in a while so I just agreed with her "you are right Riley who knows what can happen" we grabbed our schedules and locker information. We had history, chemistry, a gym and a free period together. I had Ap language arts and AP calculus. I knew I'll be with Farkle for those classes. Our lockers were in the same hallway so we weren't that far. My first class was AP calculus I said bye to the girls and walked to it. I sat in the middle row took out what I knew I would need.

I saw Farkle walk in, I sighed I miss him but he just doesn't understand. He sat next to me. "Hey y/n " I just ignored him " I don't know what I did for you to hate me, " he said with his voice cracking a bit " you abandoned us. We went through hell and back you weren't there for us Farkle" I said quietly trying not to get emotional. " I'm sorry " I nodded I can't forgive him. The rest of the class went by fast. The bell rang I shot out and left like I was flash.

The girls and I have a free period so we were going to meet at the library and just chill there. I was at my locker putting some of my books away and grabbing the clothes I needed for gym later. I closed my locker and started walking towards the library.

This cute tallboy comes to me and as soon he speaks his voice is like an angel. When I realized what he asked I told him no as fast as I could and ran to the library. Riley and Maya came up to me

 " something happened ?" They asked worried 

" no, " I said softly

 "then why did you run ?"

 "It's nothing " I mumbled

 "it's something you look like you saw a ghost, " said Riley 

"Guys it was nothing okay just drop it " they both shrugged

 " can't you believe that my dad is going to teach us history again ?" Asked Riley I chuckled a bit

 " yeah riles I do he's been teaching us since middle school "

 " Yeah, we are stuck with him till senior year," Maya added in while starting to draw

 " Preach it, sister, " I said while laughing, they started laughing too.

 " did Farkle tried to talk to y'all this morning ?" I asked getting serious they nodded their head yes 

" I miss him " Riley replied sadly

 " I know me too but he kind of abandoned us for his grades," Maya said numbly

 " he wasn't there for us when we needed it, we were drowning, screaming for help and he still didn't notice. We only have each other " I said sadly

Don't get me wrong I do miss my little genius. He was our best friend since first grade but he always put his intelligence before anything. When we needed him the most he wasn't there. When we were in our darkest times he didn't notice, when we were drowning gasping for air he didn't save us. We saved each other. He never knew what happened and he probably won't know either. I don't like holding grudges but how could you say you are our best friend but wasn't there when we needed you the most. When Riley finally realized that the world isn't as great as she thought it was. When Maya finally broke down and went into a dark place. When I got my heart broken into tiny pieces and was made a huge fool out of. When the three of us were robbed at gunpoint going home after our extra activities were done. When our world did a full 360 and he wasn't even there to tell us we were going to be okay. He was too busy getting straight A's. Don't get me wrong I love that about him cause I do believe in him and his dream of world domination but there's more in life than that. He didn't stay up at night with Maya full-on crying in my bay window asking why was she broken while swallowing your own tears telling her she wasn't because she's a great girl. He didn't stay with us when we had nightmares of the robbery because we feared our lives being taken away from us. He wasn't there and I don't think I can forgive him for that. 

" earth to y/n !" Whispered Maya in my ear making me jump

 " sorry what ?" I responded slyly

 "dinner my place ?" Questioned Riley

 " always plus my dad is in Washington for the month so your parents have to sign my syllabus, " I said laughing at the end,

 " I think mom is making spaghetti, " Riley said while closing her book

 " yum, " Maya and I said laughing the bell rang telling us that free period was over and history is next. Thank god I have them in there. I grabbed my bag throwing it on my shoulder

 " can this day hurry up so I can sleep, " I said turning around to see the guy from earlier staring at me while his friend waved in front of his face, I couldn't help but giggle. I heard two gasps from behind me and that's when I knew I messed up.

 " did I just hear a giggle from Miss. Always Serious " mocked Maya,

 " I think we just heard the famous giggle from our lovely best friend, " said Riley a little too loud for my liking from the Corner of my eye I saw the guy smirking. Damn it, Riley .

 "Nope y'all hearing things let's go to history now please, " I said pushing them out the library.

 "No we know what we heard and it was a giggle, " said Maya

 " we haven't heard that giggle in a year y/ n. It's a good thing. You can't keep hiding your emotions in. Remember what happens when you do that " she said sternly I groaned

 " Riley that was one time please don't remind me about that day. " I murmured quickly I really didn't like talking about that day. I exploded on everybody even my dad and told him that I hated him.  Which lead me to have a panic attack it wasn't a great day.

 "Sorry but still don't hide your emotions it's bad for you, " she said pulling me in a hug.

 "Moving on my tall plant we are about to be late and I don't think your dad will like that one bit "

 "oh he'll have a fit, " said Maya laughing 

" oh yeah he would that'll be funny can we be late I want him freaking out on the first day of school, " I said laughing evilly

 " see I love this y/n the one who likes doing bad things, " said Maya returning the evil laugh.

 " I hate it when Y'all do that. Now let's go we have a minute till the bell rings and we have to walk all the way to the other side. " Riley said.

 "We are going on a trip on our favorite rocket ship, Zooming through the sky, Little Einsteins. " I sang randomly

 "the hell was that, " Maya asked laughing

 " I have no idea, " I said bursting out laughing, Riley was laughing as well. We looked like a mess laughing in the middle of an empty hallway. We were definitely late oh Matthews is going to kill us. Once we got in front of the door, Riley looked at us scared

 " who's going on first ?" She asked 

I opened the door

 " sorry, we late Matthews, " I said walking in not really caring.

 " -am from Texas " I heard a voice that doesn't belong to Matthew. Oh fuck I just ruined someone introduction. I looked at the girls and they were laughing quietly. Little fuckers. 

"Ah glad you ladies could make it to class, " said Mr.Matthews 

I turned around and was met with the guy from earlier right in front of me looking straight in my eyes. Wow, he has some pretty eyes. Dang, I could swim in that water. Snap out of it y/n.

 "Please take a seat we will have a talk about this later, " Mr. Matthews said 

" yes sir " I replied while turning around for a seat

 " and don't you dare sit in the back miss y/l/ n " 

" yes sir, " I said rolling my eyes. I sat in the middle row, Maya sat in front me and Riley sat next to her.

 " you can continue your introduction Mr.friar. "

 "right uh I'm from Texas and I move a lot because of my dad's job. I like to uh play sports " he said stuttering a bit aww he's nervous that's cute.

 "Thank you, Mr.Friar, you can sit next to miss Y/LN, " Matthews said 

I gave him a what the fuck look. He just winked at me. What is trying to do play Cupid? I don't need him meddling in my love life. I glared at him. I just notice Farkle is sitting in front of Riley and he was smiling at her. God, I ship them so hard but he had to ruin it. I also notice that guy friend is in front of Maya. Friar finally sat down. Mr. Matthews gave everybody a sheet with questions about what we should know from middle school. I was about to start it when a note landing on my desk. Sighing I opened it.

 Hi :) 

I rolled my eyes what is this 6th grade I looked at friar cause I have a feeling it's him. He was already staring once he notices I was looking at him he smiled and waved. What a dork. I decided to reply what's the worst that can happen.

 Hello there :P

 I threw it back at him. I answered a few questions when the note landed on my desk again. Damn boy, did you write a paragraph? 

Thank you for running away from me earlier. It was a great welcoming gesture. I felt like home. I'll also like to thank you for interrupting my introduction.

 I couldn't help but chuckle.

 No problem I'm here all week free of charge. Welcome to Abigail Adams. ;P  

I threw it at him and it hit his face. I burst out laughing. 

" is there something funny miss .Y/l/N, " Mr. Matthews asked I tried to stop laughing but his face was so priceless and I kept replaying it in my head. Maya and Riley turned around with an amused expression. Which made me laugh harder I looked at the guy next to me and he had a small smirk.

 "Do you need to step outside? " asked Mr. Matthews I shook my head no. "Then get it together " I nodded finally stopping from laughing. I finished the sheet when the note landed again. 

Seriously out of all the places you could have thrown it at you hit it my face. Like seriously do you have bad aim. 

I smirked at him

 I'm sorrryyy my bad.

 This time when I got up I put it on his desk and gave Matthews the class work. "Behave " he whispered sternly. "I am"I whispered he shook his head. I went and sat back down I notice that the note was already there. I smirked at him.

 I'll have you know I play softball so I have great aim.

 Our conversation continued I found out he plays baseball, basketball, and football. I told him I do gymnastics and cheerleading. He said not to let his best friend hear about that cause he's obsessed with cheerleaders. He reintroduced himself and asked for my name. I told him I like to keep my name mystery for now. Before he can respond, the bell rang. The rest of the day went by like a blink of an eye. After walking home with the girls I went home to shower and sleep before going to Riles for dinner. My nap was cut short when I was woken by the FaceTime ringtone. I saw it was my dad . " hey daddy" I said happily " hey sweetheart how was your first day of high school " he asked I couldn't help but to smile he always cares about me even when he's tired . " it was good shocking news Mr.Matthews is my history teacher again. " we both laughed . "That's good darling listen I have to tell you I won't be home for a couple of months... I know that it's a lot but we need the money I need to make sure you get to college, " he said I felt like my heart was just ripped out of me. He usually gone for a few weeks tops never months. "Honey ?" I just hanged up and put my phone in do not disturb. I locked my bay window and the front door. I can feel myself starting to cry, I miss my dad I wish he was here right now but he wasn't he was in Washington for a couple months. Next thing I knew I just broke down sobbing holding my pillow as if it was my only hope. I just let everything out until darkness took over me. 

-End of y/n pov-

Feedback is welcomed!-Kat

[glorioustidalwavedefendor]

Love, Death & Robots.

Can I just say, how happy it makes me, that the anthology series is back?

I mean, Love, Death & Robots isn‘t the first by a long shot … but still, I am glad that this art form is back. It lends itself so very beautifully to the telling of small stories.

I lnow I am late on the band wagon, but this is my hot take on Love, Death & Robots. Just fresh of bingeing it. No reflection just feeling … or in other words, the result of rubbing my last two sleep deprived braincells together.

It‘s just my opinion, nothing more.

On the technical side of things …

This show is fucking gorgeous. The style usually goes with the general tone of the story, all of them competently and craft fully realized. The same goes for the voice work, the sound design and the soundtrack.

On a side note, diversity is so so, could be better but could be worse … I‘d say average …

It‘s definitely NC-17. Blood, gore, violence, sex and lovingly rendered co**s. We have it all. If you are sensible … you might want to skip some of the stories …

Beware … here there be spoilers

"Sonnie's Edge"

A woman named Sonnie remotely controls a genetically-engineered monster in underground gladiatorial battles. A rich man offers her a lot of money to lose, but she refuses. After she wins the combat, he comes back to make her pay, only to discover he got things very wrong.

I really liked the concept of the story, though not so much the execution. I am just not a huge fan of the „live begins at rape“-trope and I thought that backstory element was rather clumsily handled. I also feel like we could have reached the same twist wit a different backstory …

It‘s a really great twist.

I mean, I am not to clever, maybe you‘ll see it coming a mile away … but I still think it‘s a good twist …

Carefull, gore and boobs …

"Three Robots"

After the destruction of humanity, three robots take a vacation tour around seemingly abandoned city, trying to understand how humans lived based on their limited knowledge of them and the things they left behind. The surprise comes when they met a cat.

It‘s exactly what it says on the tin. It is sweet, adorable, funny … surprisingly meta in it‘s message, without getting too heavy handed, it has kittens … I love it.

If you have problems with skulls, skip it, there a loads of it here …

"The Witness"

A woman witnesses a murder in a building in front of the hotel where she is staying. She flees from him through a surreal city.

What it say on the tin. The twist isn‘t really a surprise if you pay attention, but it‘s a case of blink and you miss it.

I like the concept a lot and the execution was alright …

Nudity … lots of it … also blood … so, if that is a no, for you … skip it. Otherwise, I really like the twist … I say that a lot …

"Suits"

A small community of farmers pilot mech suits to defend their land from an invading swarm of insectoid aliens.

Again, what it says on the tin … a little heavy handed with the characterization, but they have only minutes to establish them, so that‘s O.K. for me. The characters are all very sweet and caring … not so much a twist ending as a WTF moment.

The violence is relatively tame … maybe PG 13, if you can stomach alien blood and a major character death …

"Sucker of Souls"

Awakened by an archaeological excavation, a bloodthirsty demon fights a crew of mercenaries.

What‘s on the tin.

I really liked this one. I like the  archaeologist, I like the mercenaries, … The ending is a bit … not disappointing … but you feel a bit cheated.

I also feel like this could work very well as Terror AU, with Goodsir being the archaeologist and the mercenaries being Crozier, fem-Blanky and … maybe Fitzjames …

The actual gore … rather graphic, though the style isn‘t hyper realistic … if you‘re sensible, definitely skip this one …

"When The Yogurt Took Over"

Yogurt developed by scientists becomes sentient and takes over the world.

What can I ay? It‘s what‘s on the tin.

Rather tame, except for a few moments of very dark humor … the style is very cartoony, so … not for the faint of heart maybe, but it should be fine for most people.

"Beyond the Aquila Rift"

Blue Goose's crew—Thom, Suzy, and Ray—are on a mission to reach beyond the Aquila Rift, but an error in the routing plot causes unexpected events to happen.

Sort of, what it says on the tin … but not …

I really liked it, … not particularly gory per see except for a quick scene … but if you hate spiders, definitely stay away … also boobs …

This one would also make for a great Terror AU, with Crozier as the Captain and Sophia as his long lost acquaintance …

"Good Hunting"

In early 20th century China, a boy becomes friends with a shape-shifting huli jing after his father kills the huli jing's mother. Years later, living in a steampunk Hong-Kong, they find each other again.

I really like the idea behind this … the thought  that magic can not exists in a world full of iron and steam. I loved that concept back in Lords and Lady's and I still love it.

I just could have done without the sex trafficking …

I‘d prefer d if she‘d just gotten a new body on her own terms, … Because I really like the concept that she has to change herself completely in order to control this new magic …

Definitely not for the faint of heart … what‘s on the screen is upsetting enough … the implications even more so …

Also, lots of nudity …

"The Dump"

A city inspector tries to convince Ugly Dave to move out of his house which is located in a dump. However, Dave and his pet are not intent on doing so.

This one was wearing tapp shoes … but I still like it … its cute … and dark … sensible people … maybe skip it …

Nudity … death and gore … also a puppy …

"Shape-Shifters"

Two close friends in the Marines with supernatural powers have to fight one of their own in Afghanistan.

Whats on the tin. Short, sweet, heartbreaking … gore … major character death … Nudity

"Helping Hand"

An astronaut faces a life or death situation after an accident while spacewalking in orbit. Now she has to decide, arm or live …

This was a hard one for me to watch … not so much for the gore … there is none … but just seeing her being so brave and inventive and … so so fucked … it was a hell of a ride, for me it was worth it …

God damn she is awesome!

"Fish Night"

Two salesmen get stuck in the desert, and discover that the desert is not what it seems at night.

I love it!

I loved the concept wen Pratchett came up with it for wee free men … where he mentioned it in a throw away line … and I was angry at myself for days, that I never came up with it myself …

Spooky, pretty … bloody … there was a shark … Nudity

I was sad, but I‘ll definitely give it a rewatch …

This doesn't so much work as an entire Terror AU, but I feel like, the concept does lend itself easily to being used with Silna …

"Lucky 13"

A pilot recalls her missions aboard the dropship Lucky 13, which had already lost two crews before.

Boy did I cry at this one … bit gory … and onions, so many onions … who the fuck needs so many onions at this time of night?

But yeah, I have a thing for ships … sue me …

"Zima Blue"

A reclusive artist gives a final interview after 100 years.

I love this … the style is very stylized and lends itself beautiful to the story … ah … I think this is even something for the faint of heart … also, in my case onions …

"Blindspot"

A cyborg crew attempts to rob a convoy.

What‘s on the tin, pretty straight forward … nothing special … but I feel that is less the stories fault and more the fact that it is simply outclassed among all the others …

Violent, but cartoony … so … no idea … proceed with caution?

"Ice Age"

A couple who just moved into the apartment finds a civilization inside an antique refrigerator.

What‘s on the tin.

Really sweet, really cute … cute couple … I feel like, some of the lines could have used one more rewrite, but that is me nitpicking. I really liked it, it was awesome, definitely gonna rewatch it … I feel like this is even for the faint of heart …

It is also very refreshing to see a married couple just hanging out together … love it

"Alternate Histories"

Multiversity, an alternative history research simulation app, shows the viewer the death of Adolf Hitler in 6 different timelines on their welcome demo.

I feel like Douglas Adams came back from the dead to write this … I get defined Hitchhiker vibes.

Ah … dark, but super cartoony, so the violence is rather tame … still, not G rated, despite the style … Nudity

I liked it a lot …

"Secret War"

A platoon of Red Army soldiers hunt down the undead in the forests of Siberia.

What it say on the tin.

The style is super realistic, so nothing for the faint of heart. Blood, gore … more blood, more gore …

I liked it …

And, is it just me, or is the Lieutenant the spitting image of John Morfin?

This would make an amazing Terror AU, you pretty much only have to change the names … even the Lieutenants second gives me Collins vibes …

I hope I got all the Nudity, but there is a lot of it … not even always in a sexy way, just in a “humans sometimes are naked” way …

And that was  Love, Death & Robots.

Was it good?

Hell yes!

Do I want more?

Definitely …  though I don‘t have to high hopes for a potential second season … once burned twice shy … But I‘d be delighted if we get one as good or even better.

[rorykillmore]

okay and THIS one is for @larkspear  who requested any kind of au involving laurel and dolores. this fic is a funny story in and of itself. i spent a little while wondering what to do, weighing more traditional options, and then one day i was like “you know what? these two deserve a romcom au”. so i picked the most winter-y romcom i could think of - groundhog day - and the concept kind of ran away with me. it required a... lengthier execution by its very nature and actually became the longest gift fic i’ve written. so... either sorry, or you’re welcome?? i had such a blast with this, though i went back and forth on whose perspective i wanted to write it from and ultimately decided laurel lent herself better to “being super grumpy about smalltown life” in spite of dolores’ canonical history with timeloops so. all of this to say writing a long fic from someone else’s character’s perspective is daunting and i hope it turned out okay!

spear, i hope this fic is deserving of all the effort and development we’ve poured into this ship. i’m really grateful that 2018 gave us so many great opportunities to rp and plot with each other because every moment of it has been fantastic, and i’m also just really glad to have you in my life as one of my closest friends!! you’re always one of the first to salt with me if i’m grumpy, or reach out and offer something nice if i’m upset. thank you for being such a great friend, for all the rps i still hold close to my heart, and for entertaining all of us with memestream from week to week!!

Hey, Sara, funny you should call. I think I’m losing my mind -- any idea what to do about being stuck in a timeloop?’

Not that Laurel didn’t appreciate a good dose of AC/DC - who in their right mind didn’t? - but she has to admit that in practice, waking up to Highway to Hell is a lot less funny than she’d thought it was going to be last night.

Even if it is still utterly appropriate for the day ahead of her.

She grumbles almost inaudibly against the obnoxiously loud musical backdrop and reaches blindly for her phone -- still half asleep, so it takes her a little bit of fumbling to actually turn off the alarm. Sitting up in bed feels like a monumental task by itself, especially when she realizes that her hotel room is cold.

Like, ice cold.

“Place doesn’t even have a goddamn heating system that works,” she mutters to herself, smoothing her hair out of her face. She’s not sure what else she expected from this stupid, cutesy, outdated bed-and-breakfast -- the only place in Beacon Heights with vacancies, as if fucking Groundhog Day is a pull-out-all-the-stops holiday around here, or something.

The sooner she gets to work, she tells herself, the sooner this day will be over with, and the sooner she can go home. She slips out of bed and goes to get showered and dressed, delayed only slightly by the inconvenience of being held up by the nosy, overly friendly teenage desk clerk downstairs (some weirdo named Ratchet, or at least, that’s what he tells everyone to call him. Laurel’s pretty sure that’s not a real thing anyone would be named).

“Morning!” ‘Ratchet’ calls to her cheerfully on cue. “We have fresh coffee made, if you wanted any --”

“No thanks,” Laurel cuts him off without even looking at him. She’s out the door before he can get another word out.

In the car, she finally takes a second to check her phone.  Just one missed call, but when she scrolls down to see the contact info, she feels herself stiffen in the drivers seat.

Sara.

Why the hell would her sister be calling her? They haven’t spoken in almost two months.

She stares at the screen for a few more seconds, deliberating. There’s a nagging possibility that won’t leave the back of her mind, that maybe Sara just wants to talk, to work things out, but -- 

-- Then that stinging fear of rejection catches up with her. Reconciliation is probably overly optimistic, in light of everything. She’s going to be late for work anyway.

She puts her phone down and tries not to think about it.

The drive into town is, in theory, only five minutes, since Beacon Heights is so insufferably cozy. But ‘five minutes’ today is translating to ten, and then fifteen because of all the traffic, and God, what is it with people in this town and this holiday? What was it about twitchy rodents predicting the weather that got people up out of their beds at 6:30 in the morning?

Small towns were so weird.

When the line of cars in front of her finally start to move, Laurel is about at her wits’ end -- almost crazed and impatient enough not to stop when some freak on a motorcycle has the nerve to try cut in front of her. As it is, he hits a patch of ice and skids haphazardly anyway, making an outright spectacle when he’s finally thrown from the back of his vehicle by the sudden stop and flies straight into a snowbank on the side of the road.

Laurel eyes him for a moment. But the road in front of her is open.  “Serves you right,” she mutters under her breath, and hits the gas without stepping to check to see if he’s okay.

She gets to work almost ten minutes late, as it is. Her director and cameraman - Camille and Felix, respectively, the only two people she can even vaguely count as friends despite how many years she’s had this job - look vaguely exasperated when she finally walks into what passes for Beacon Heights’ news broadcast studio.

“Traffic,” she tells them defensively.

“You’d better tell hair and make-up to make it fast.” Camille eyes her up and down a bit judgmentally. “We’re supposed to be outside and live in forty minutes.”

“Which is exactly why I don’t need hair and make-up,” Laurel, who can’t see the point of even trying to look good when bundled up in twenty degree weather, grumbles.

From there on out, the morning (relatively, for the most part) goes as planned. Filming outside in this kind of weather is insufferable - and the fact that all the cheery townspeople who have gathered to watch don’t seem to have their moods dented by this at all even moreso - but Laurel has been doing her job long enough by now to know how to keep a smile plastered on her face.

It’s a sunny day, so predictably, the groundhog sees his shadow. Everyone acts surprised anyway, and coos and fawns over the damn thing. Laurel tries not to gag.

“Now that that’s over,” she tells Camille under her breath when they’re done filming. “I’m getting coffee. Or maybe something stronger.”

As it turns out, it’s difficult to find anyone willing to serve anything stronger at this hour of the morning in Beacon Heights, so. Coffee it is. Laurel orders a cup to go from the local diner, and she’s on her way out, admittedly in a little bit of a hurry,  when she knocks right into someone.

The disastrous results seem to play out in slow motion. She stumbles. Her coffee cup flies into the air, the lid jarred loose by its velocity. And warm (not steaming, which is probably good) liquid spills all over the woman Laurel just ran into.

She’s pretty, is the first weird thought Laurel has.

(Okay, not that weird, one night stands are not exactly an oddity for her when she’s traveling on a job, but maybe it’s a little weird when you’ve just accidentally covered someone in warm coffee).

Almost out-of-a-storybook pretty, with long blonde hair that she wears in soft curls and bright blue eyes and a matching, expensive looking coat that is now...

...unfortunately, pretty much ruined.

“Wow,” Laurel says unhelpfully in place of an apology.

The other woman gapes at her for a moment longer, and then suddenly seems to shake herself out of it.  “Have you ever tried watching where you’re going?”

Later, she’ll probably look back and decide instigating any further was a bad idea, but right now the hostility in the woman’s tone provokes in Laurel something close to insolence. “Aren’t you the one who’s supposed to know this town?”

The woman bristles at her. “You’re not exactly as charming face-to-face as you are on screen, are you?”

“Depends on who you ask.” She probably sounds like an asshole, mostly because she can’t keep from sounding a little amused. “Today’s probably not one of my finer moments.”

“Well. Because of you, I can either not make my job interview this morning, or show up looking like this. So thanks.”

Laurel shrugs, though she’s starting to feel she’s on the edge of... if not guilty, then at least vaguely self-conscious. Which means, of course, another bout of defensiveness.  “It’s Beacon Heights. Everyone else looks worse than you do now on their best days.”

It’s the wrong thing to say, evidently. The woman shoulders past her angrily and starts to stalk off, and to make things even worse, the man coming up the road from the opposite direction pauses to acknowledge her.  “Everything okay, Dolores?”

Laurel realizes with an unpleasant lurch that she recognizes him: the man she knocked off the motorcycle earlier this morning. She turns quickly before he can notice her and opts to hurry back to her car instead of getting another cup of coffee. Too much risk of running into one of them inside the cafe.

God, everyone knows everyone in this town. It’s insufferable.

At the very least, she’s pretty sure her day can’t get much worse. Until she makes it back to the inn to change her clothes, and finds Ratchet, still waiting for her at the front desk.

She glares at him in passing, daring him to say anything. And of course, he addresses her obliviously anyway.  “You got water? Supplies? Everything you need for tonight and tomorrow?”

That makes Laurel halt in her tracks.  “...What are you talking about?” she asks, turning to face him suspiciously.

Ratchet blinks at her.  “There’s a big storm coming. Weren’t you covering the weather this morning?”

“All we talked about was the goddamn groundhog,” Laurel grits out. “What storm?”

“Big blizzard.” Ratchet shrugs somberly.  “Worst we’ve had this year. Not supposed to clear up ‘til... uh, sometime tomorrow evening, I think?”

Laurel feels her heart sinking rapidly.  “But I’ll still be able to get out of here tomorrow, right?”

“Drive out of here?”  Ratchet sounds mildly incredulous.  “I wouldn’t. And believe me, I’ve pulled off some pretty crazy --”

She doesn’t wait for him to finish his anecdote. All she can think about now is being stuck in this miserable town for another day and a half, and how nothing so far has gone right, and that if one more person tries to make ‘small talk’ with her she’s going to snap.

She storms up to her room without another word. It’ll be hours still before it even gets dark, but right now, she doesn’t feel like doing much more than sulking and counting down the time until she can sleep some of this off.

Living easy, living free Season ticket on a one-way ride Asking nothing, leave me be Taking everything in my stride...

Purely on instinct this time, Laurel reaches for her phone and silences it quickly, then lifts her head from the pillow to glare at it. She could have sworn she’d changed that alarm to something less grating.

She tries not to dwell on it, getting up out of bed and instead moving to the window to gauge the damage of the night before. Maybe it won’t be as bad as the desk clerk said --

-- There’s only a thin layer of snow on the ground. Same as yesterday.  

Laurel can hardly believe her luck. Are the people in this town insufferable and hysterical?

Maybe it shouldn’t surprise her that they can’t even get the weather right. Not keen on wasting any time just in case, she hurries to pack her things, and God, the room is still so cold even though she told them to fix the heat yesterday --

Whatever. She showers quickly, throws herself together even more haphazardly than yesterday, and hurries downstairs once all her things are packed.

“Morning!” By now she recognizes Ratchet’s grating voice.  “We have fresh coffee made, if you wanted any -- hey, uh, where are you going with all that stuff?”

“Relax,” she mutters, begrudgingly approaching the front desk. “I’m checking out. Since the storm blew over.”

Frustratingly, Ratchet only stares at her for a moment.  “The storm’s not... due until tonight,” he answers slowly, and before Laurel can berate him for the misinformation, he adds, “Don’t you have a thing today, anyway?”

Laurel stares back blankly.  “A ‘thing’?”

“I thought you were in town with your crew to cover the Groundhog Day celebration.”

Is he screwing with her? Or just trying to hold her up? She sets her phone on the counter pointedly.  “Groundhog Day was yesterday.”

But then her screen lights up, and she sees she has a missed call. From Sara.

Panic seizes her for a moment - why would Sara call twice in two days, is there some kind of emergency, did something happen to Dad - and then she notices the date on her phone. And her blood runs cold for an entirely different reason.

Had yesterday just been some kind of fever dream? Was she losing her mind?

“Shit,” Laurel mutters under her breath.  “Shit shit shit shit shit.” Forgoing any explanation, she grabs her phone, turns, and makes a beeline for the door empty-handed.

“Miss Lance, what about your luggage --” Ratchet starts to call after her, but Laurel waves him off.

“Get someone to take it up to my room for me; I’ll tip them later!” If she doesn’t haul ass, she’s going to be late.  Like, later-than-yesterday late. How the hell could this have happened? How could she have thought today -- was tomorrow?

All her hurrying ends up being mostly for nothing -- if there’s one thing her dream (or whatever it was) predicted, it was the traffic. And... the call from Sara, now that she thinks about it. And the alarm.

Something weird feels like it’s creeping up on her, and she almost stops paying attention to the road -- long enough not to realize that someone is trying to cut in front of her. The vehicle - a motorcycle, she knows without even looking at it - swerves badly and skids to an abrupt stop at the side of the road, sending its rider flying into a snowbank.

Unwittingly, Laurel slows enough to get a good look at him -- the guy from before, the one who’d been there when she’d spilled coffee all over... Dolores?  How could she have dreamed his face if she’d never seen him before?

He starts to pick himself up, and she snaps out of it, speeding off before he can get a word out.

By the time she gets to work, she’s at least trying to laugh it all off -- content to chalk it all up to a weird case of deja vu, or something, because what else makes sense. It might have worked out, too.

If Camille and Felix hadn’t greeted her with the exact same skepticism.

If she hadn’t had her hair and make-up done in the exact same way, then sent outside to the exact same filming location.

If the groundhog hadn’t seen his goddamn shadow.

Laurel is barely holding it together by the time she gets off work. It’s really the best she can do just to seem like she’s not panicking, and when she goes to the coffee shop -- dreading what she’ll find -- it’s more to prove a completely implausible hunch than anything. Or maybe to disprove it. Like if she can avoid spilling coffee all over that woman, this... spell, or whatever it is, will break.

She inches out the door, coffee held tightly in one hand -- but she’s so intent on squeezing past Dolores that her foot hits the upturned side of the coffee shop’s cheery welcome mat, and she stumbles, and it’s enough to send coffee splattering all over Dolores.

Again.

Laurel can do nothing but sort of gape at her even as she’s met with that same angry, incredulous stare. 

“Have you ever tried watching where you’re going?” Dolores demands, and Laurel almost wants to cry.

I think I’m going crazy.

“I think I’m going crazy.”

No, wait -- she’d actually said it aloud. 

Dolores does a kind of double-take. “...Excuse me?”

“I’m --”  Laurel can’t keep her voice from wavering.  “You don’t remember?”

“Remember you?” Dolores seems caught somewhere between uncertain and disdainful.  “I’ve seen you on TV. And I knew you were in town, of course, for the holiday broadcast I’m sure you think is beneath you. People can hear you when you make fun of them, you know, and news travels fast --”

“No, no, no, remember this -- this -- all of this!”  In her panic, Laurel gestures to an increasingly baffled looking Dolores.  “The coffee, the -- the argument, the --”

Dolores only stares at her unhelpfully.  “...Are you alright?”

Laurel can only laugh, which she’s sure makes her sound at least vaguely unhinged. But it’s clear by this point that neither Dolores nor anyone else in this town has any idea what she’s talking about. Reality setting in has a strangely calming effect on her.  “No. -- Yes. I’m just having a... really weird day.”

Maybe she’s imagining that Dolores’ expression softens just slightly - not that it really matters, she wouldn’t even know how to take sympathy at this point - but before either of them can say more, Laurel hears someone come up behind them. She turns, and -- sure enough, it’s Motorcycle Guy.

“Everything okay here?” he asks, glancing between them carefully.

“We’re fine, Cloud,” Dolores assures before Laurel can even snap at him. What kind of stupid name is Cloud, anyway? “I need to go get cleaned up -- I can’t go to my interview like this --”  She stops, eyeing Laurel again.  “Do you need... help? I could drive you somewhere...”

Some part of her registers surprise at Dolores - who seems to have reason enough to detest her already - even offering, but the kind of numbness that’s set in to override her shock and panic supersedes that. Laurel’s not even sure how anyone could help her. She shakes her head distantly.

“I’m... just going to go back to my hotel room, actually. But thanks.”

Knowing she’s done nothing to reassure them about her behavior - but to exhausted to care -  Laurel turns away and starts trekking numbly back towards her car.  Maybe this time, at least, she can actually stop at the convenience store for some supplies before that storm sets in.

The best she can hope is that tomorrow she’ll wake up, and things will have somehow set themselves right.

Dread creeps up on her when she registers what has woken her up the next morning.  Laurel swears, after this - if there even is an ‘after this’ - she’s never going to listen to AC/DC again.

She remembers thinking last night that if she had to wake up to the same day one more time, she might just scream, or -- explode, or something. So the resignation she drags herself out of bed with surprises even her.

She goes through the motions of the morning almost robotically, and somehow (because of course there couldn’t be an upside to any of this) she still isn’t any more on schedule when she drags herself past Ratchet and out the front door. 

This time, though, she stares at that missed call from Sara for a few heartbeats longer, and imagines what it might be like if she returned it. ‘Hey, Sara, funny you should call. I think I’m losing my mind -- any idea what to do about being stuck in a timeloop?’

Yeah. What a way to reconcile.  

She drives off rather morosely, lost in thought, and thus somehow still - still - forgets about Cloud.  Though she does wince a little this time when she sees him hit that snowbank.

But then something occurs to Laurel. She eyes the now-empty road in front of her, acutely conscious of the angrily honking cars behind her, and thinks -- what is this changes something? Maybe all of this is... karma, or something. Maybe Cloud is some Beauty and the Beast-esque wizard who cursed her for ruining his morning. Who knows. She’ll take just about any explanation, at this point. 

She pulls over to the side of the road, and by the time she gets out of the car, Cloud is already pulling himself out of the snow.  “Hey, uh, sorry about that,” Laurel tells him stiffly.  “My head is... somewhere else today. You okay?”

He glances at her in muted surprise.  “...You actually stopped.”

“Yeah, I know. I surprise even myself sometimes.”  

Cloud seems to be having trouble pulling his foot out of the snowbank, so Laurel awkwardly grabs him by the arm to help haul him out. That accomplished, they both awkwardly turn to stare at his fallen motorbike.

“You... need a ride into town?” Laurel asks finally.

Cloud shakes his head slowly, then crosses to the bike to pick it up off the ground.  “It’s survived worse scrapes than this. Should be fine.”

“Right.” Laurel just kind of stands there for a moment.  Nothing really feels different. “Well, I should... get to work, then.”

As she’s walking back to her car, though, Cloud calls after her -- “Thanks. For stopping.”

In spite of that, however, the only thing that ends up changing is that Laurel’s a little more late to work than usual, and Camille and Felix are a little more disapproving. Laurel can practically mouth along with the town mayor’s exclamation at the groundhog seeing its shadow, at this point. Six more weeks of winter. 

Is that what it’s going to take? Six more weeks of this?

She just goes to the coffee shop out of habit, at this point -- and maybe also in part because familiar faces are all she has to cling to, at this point. This time, she at least manages not to give Dolores the full blast of her coffee spillage, but she does make sure to spill a little, if only so Dolores will stop and talk to her.

She’s not sure if that makes her pathetic or just an asshole.

“Sorry,” Laurel mutters, already pulling the napkins she snagged from the counter earlier out of her purse. Dolores’ immediate indignation seems slightly stifled as she takes them.

“...Have you ever tried watching where you’re going?” she asks with less bite than Laurel can remember in the previous two days.

“Yeah, I know.” She guesses she at least deserves that much.  “I know you have a job interview, and I promise I’ll let you make it tomorrow, I just -- I don’t know. I’m trying to find ways to make all of this feel real.”

Dolores raises her eyebrows, and Laurel supposes it must be because there are at least three different elements of that response that make absolutely no sense to her. “Is that a television star thing?” she asks after a moment, dabbing gingerly at her coat. “Finding ways to make things seem more real?”

Laurel laughs halfheartedly. “I wish.” 

She doesn’t know what else to say, so she just helps Dolores clean up until Cloud arrives on the scene.

“Everything --” His gaze shifts from Dolores to Laurel, and he pauses.  “...Okay here?”

“Our special guest spilled her coffee on me,” Dolores explains dryly.

Cloud regards her bemusedly for a moment.  “You sure are accident-prone.”  When Dolores looks up in question, he goes on to explain, “She kind of helped me wreck my bike earlier this morning. But to her credit, she also helped me fix it.”

“Not really,” Laurel puts in, feeling inexplicably awkward.  “I just kind of... stopped and watched you fix it.”

“Well. It’s the thought that counts.”

Dolores stares at her thoughtfully. “And here I thought someone with your big city schedule wouldn’t have the time.”

Laurel shifts a little.  “Well, you don’t really know me.”  Yet somehow she feels like that’s unfair when she’s spent the past few days being an asshole to Dolores, whether Dolores remembers it or not. 

Dolores frowns at her faintly without comment. Then she turns to Cloud.  “Since my interview’s off the table, we should try and hit the store before the storm rolls in.”

Cloud nods -- then, to Laurel’s surprise, he turns to her contemplatively.  “You... want to come with us?”

Already resigned to dragging herself back to the inn for the day, Laurel stops in her tracks. On one hand, she doesn’t really need the supplies, since more likely than not she won’t have anything she buys by tomorrow morning. On the other hand, the offer kind of startles her. She realizes she’s waiting for Dolores to object -- but Dolores only glances at Cloud and then turns to watch her, waiting for an answer.

“Uh,” Laurel says, literally unable to think of a reason to refuse. Besides, it’ll probably look weird if she isn’t planning to stock up. “Sure. Why not.”

The three of them set off together without further fanfare. Laurel can’t help feeling a little awkward in their company, like some kind of third wheel, especially since Cloud doesn’t seem especially inclined to talk much (to her, at least). So she’s a little surprised when Dolores falls into step beside her, voice lowered.

“What did you mean, earlier -- when you said you’d let me make my job interview tomorrow?”

Oh. Laurel had kind of forgotten that had slipped out. She spends a moment trying to think up a response that sounds sane and reasonable, but comes up blank. Then she figures, well, what’s the worst that can happen if she tells the truth? Dolores will have forgotten by tomorrow.

“It’s gonna sound pretty crazy,” she warns. When Dolores only stares at her expectantly, she continues, “Okay, so this whole... morning. For me, it’s happened before. This is the third time, actually.”

Dolores doesn’t immediately look at her like she’s grown a second head, which Laurel supposes is something, but she does look sort of confused. “What do you mean, ‘happened before’? Like some sort of loop?”

“Yes. That.” Laurel watches her from the corner of her eye. “I don’t... really have an explanation, or anything, I just know that it does. Every day I’ve spent here I’ve woken up to the same stupid song, and a missed call from my sister, and almost killing Cloud on my way to work. Which I’m late for every single time, coincidentally. And then I go to that coffee shop and spill coffee all over you, and you -- usually get really mad at me.”

“Well. It was a very nice coat.”

Laurel snorts, and then backtracks.  “ -- Wait. That’s it? You believe me?”

Dolores shrugs faintly.  “I’m not sure. But you obviously believe you.” She pauses bemusedly, then adds.  “This isn’t the kind of story people tell a stranger when they’re not completely convinced.”

Laurel thinks that over and concludes that she’s probably right.  “So. Any idea what I should do? You know, hypothetically.”

She’s still a little surprised when Dolores seems to take her question seriously.  “If it were me...”  She trails off briefly, brow furrowed.  “If I had to live the same day over and over again, I guess I’d try to make the most of it.”

“And how would you do that?”

“Well, everyone has mistakes that they wish they could go back and fix. Even from day to day. Things they wanted to say but didn’t, letters they never sent... or calls they never made.” Dolores gives her something of a pointed look. “Coffee they could’ve avoided spilling.”

Laurel tries to look at least a little bit sheepish at that, just out of common decency.  “So... what. You think this might end if I finally get... whatever I’m supposed to get right?” It hadn’t worked with Cloud, but maybe that hadn’t been The thing. Or maybe she was supposed to get some kind of perfect score. Not do a single mean, dismissive thing to anyone.

“Maybe. Maybe not,” Dolores says levelly.  “...Either way, having infinite chances to get things right is something some people would kill for.”

Laurel doesn’t say much else after that, but she considers it the rest of the way to the store. And after they’re finished shopping, Cloud and Dolores surprise her by telling her about the blizzard party they’re planning - which isn’t much of a party, just stockpiling supplies and marathoning movies until the power goes out - and when they invite her along, Laurel swallows her shock long enough to accept.

It’s the stupid, cozy kind of thing she might have made fun of in some other context, but it ends up being the best afternoon she’s had in... well, actually, since even before all of this started. 

She almost forgets, by the end of it, that Dolores and Cloud won’t remember her tomorrow morning. But she wakes up with Dolores’ words still ringing in her ears anyway.

The next few days and beyond roll out at a snail’s pace, but Laurel finds that it’s the diversifying that keeps her sane. At least, that’s the excuse she’s using for following Dolores’ advice.

It’s actually not that difficult, for instance, to avoid almost killing Cloud on the road into town. She lets him cut in front of her every morning now, and if she’s ever feeling particularly impatient or frustrated, imagining him catapulting into the snowbank once or twice is usually enough to suffice.

She tries to appreciate Camille and Felix a little more when she sees them, even if it mostly just seems to kind of weird them out. She’s usually a little more on time for work, too -- the one day she isn’t is because she stopped on a whim to buy everyone donuts, and afterwards, she decides it was mostly worth the collective sugar rush.

It’s funny, but after awhile, even Beacon Heights itself starts to seem a little less obnoxious. Maybe it’s because it’s all getting so familiar, or -- maybe there’s some kind of magic in looking at people, even the most cutesy, cliche, insufferable people, and trying to find something to like about them. It all starts to make her feel lighter, somehow, than she has in a long while. Even if it’s still pretty annoying when they get all hyped up over that damn groundhog.

She even gets into the habit of saying hi to Ratchet in the mornings, which seems to thrill him. She never does take him up on that coffee, though.

Largely because visiting the local coffee shop, kind of embarrassingly, has become the highlight of the day she’s living on repeat. The one thing she never tries to change. She’s stopped spilling her coffee on poor Dolores, of course, just like she promised -- actually, she finds that if she takes a seat at the diner’s counter and just waits for a little while, Dolores will usually talk to her when she comes in to order.

And Dolores is... nice to talk to. At first Laurel just chalks it up to her being one of the few vaguely sane-seeming people in this town, and the fact that Laurel herself doesn’t generally have a lot of friends. But as the days pass, and she gets new pieces to put together, she starts to realize they have more in common than she ever would have thought.

Dolores was an outsider here once, it turns out. She moved to Beacon Heights five years ago, and says she didn’t stop feeling like she didn’t belong until after the first year. And she has problems with her family, too -- turns out it was a father she was estranged from for awhile, not her sister, but her understanding when Laurel brings Sara up even in passing is nice.

One of the days, on an impulse she doesn’t even consciously process until it’s too late, Laurel asks Dolores if she wants to get dinner after her interview. It honestly kind of stuns her when Dolores accepts. Except it’s all so much that she honestly, genuinely forgets about the blizzard, and when they end up snowed in together she’s vaguely horrified at the idea that Dolores might think she’d planned this all along.

Not that Dolores really seems like she’d mind the idea. But Laurel doesn’t try anything anyway.  Something about it feels too -- well, for Dolores, it’s only been a day, but for Laurel it’s been -- how long had it been? Had she actually lost track?

All the same. It doesn’t feel fair, somehow.

But when she wakes up the next morning alone, she becomes fully conscious of how much the thought that Dolores won’t remember her today - or any day - aches. And that’s when she knows she’s in trouble.

Romantic feelings are typically something Laurel tries not to tangle with, as a rule. She hasn’t really seriously dated since Ollie in college, a wound that - if she’s honest - she’s still not entirely sure she can call healed, but even the majority of her casual relationships since then have had a tendency to end badly. 

Depressing as it is to wake up every morning smitten with a girl who has yet to have any idea who she is, Laurel occasionally wonders if it’s better that way. If she was given the option of a future with Dolores -- wouldn’t she just find some way to screw that up too?

This way, at least, she doesn’t have anything to be afraid of. Except sometimes she feels like if she did have the chance...

It’s just that Laurel’s never really bought into all that sappy shit about the people you really care about making you a better person, up until now. She tries to give herself some of the credit she can grudgingly admit she deserves, but it’s not just reliving the same day over and over and seeing the results of her differing choices that makes her want to be better.

It’s the way Dolores smiles at her when she does something kind. It’s the way Dolores seems to find sincere inspiration and appreciation in all the stupid, simple things about this town that Laurel once would have thought were just -- well, stupid and simple.

Maybe it’s that more than anything that has her sitting in her car on the latest of the now-uncountable mornings, staring at her phone. At the missed call from Sara. Fear and indecisiveness make her limbs feel rigid, but she knows she must look like an idiot sitting unresponsively in her unheated car, and the minutes before work are ticking away, so she hits the ‘Return call’ button before she can psych herself out of it.

Sara’s phone rings a few times. Laurel inevitably wonders if she’s changed her mind, decided Laurel’s not worth it after all, is just going to ignore the call and let it go to voicemail. Or maybe Sara had only called her by mistake in the first place. She’d never considered that. Maybe --

“Laurel?”

Laurel swallows when she hears her sister’s voice.

“Hey, Sara.”

There’s something of a disbelieving pause on the other end, but Sara’s voice sounds surprisingly warm when she finally responds.  “I’m, uh -- I’m glad you called me back.”

“Yeah.” Laurel winces a little at the automatic response, and quickly adds -- “Uh, you didn’t leave a message, so I wasn’t sure if I was in trouble, or...”

“No! No, I -- just wanted to talk, I guess. ...It’s been awhile.” Sara still sounds a little hesitant, and Laurel feels like she’s walking on glass, but at the same time there’s hope starting to bubble in her chest.

“I missed you,” she says instead of whatever careful thing she’d planned on saying. By the time it actually registers, it’s too late to take it back, and all she can do is sit there, frozen, as silence stretches on the other end of the line.

And then, just as she’s sure Sara is going to rebuke her, remind her of all the reasons she has to be angry at and disappointed in Laurel, she hears Sara exhale shakily.

“I missed you too.”

“...And then she asked me to come visit her at her new place in New York. So I think I’m gonna head up there once I’m... once I’m done here,” Laurel finishes the story quietly.

Skipping the part (of course) where doesn’t know when she’ll be ‘done here’, and that by tomorrow, Sara won’t remember that she called. But Laurel will know she did. Laurel will know she can. 

It feels like it means something, for all that most people would call this much repetition pointless.

“That’s sweet,” Dolores smiles at her warmly.  “Family’s usually more willing to reconcile than we build them up to be in our heads. I remember my father was, after we went without speaking for almost a year.”

Laurel already knows this, of course, but she smiles back anyway.

They’re sitting in Dolores’ living room on the evening of the same day, warming themselves with hot cocoa as the snow piles up outside. It’s homier than Laurel can ever remember it feeling. She watches Dolores and hesitates a second.

“This isn’t going to make a lot of sense to you,” she begins carefully.  “But without you, I never would have called her. So thanks.”

Dolores pauses, clearly surprised.  “...But we hadn’t even met until this morning.”

“It’s... complicated.” Laurel tries to ignore the lump she feels forming in her throat. “I told you all about it once, and you just kind of... accepted it. Gave me some advice. It was pretty amazing, actually.” She doesn’t know why this time feels different.

Dolores doesn’t respond right away. She just watches Laurel carefully, almost as if she’s searching for something in her face. “You’re talking like we already know each other,” she says finally.  “The funny thing is, part of me feels like that’s true.”

Laurel waits. Maybe because she’s hoping, just a little, that Dolores will somehow magically, miraculously remember everything. But Dolores just continues watching her contemplatively, even if there’s something in her eyes that seems... softer now.

Whatever it is, even if it’s something that neither of them will ever be able to define, it gives Laurel the last bit of courage she needs. And this time, it isn’t because she knows Dolores won’t remember anything tomorrow and that if she screws this up there won’t be any real consequences.

It’s because even if this day keeps resetting for the rest of forever, Laurel has figured out that these are the kinds of things that matter. And they always will.

“Listen,” she begins softly. “I’ve never been very good at... reaching out to people. I’ve always used this rounded logic where I’m better off alone for a laundry list of reasons, but the truth is, I really just don’t want to lose anyone else. And I know that probably sounds like a stupid excuse to stop trying for the rest of my life, so -- I’m not going to use it anymore.”  She swallows.

“Because if we can connect like we did... today, then it doesn’t really hold up anymore. So thank you, Dolores. Really.”

She searches Dolores’ expression carefully, sincerely. By now, most of the light has gone out of the room and it’s just the firelight illuminating their features. It makes Dolores look softer, somehow.  Laurel bites back the instinct to ignore the butterflies in her stomach when Dolores smiles at her.

“Sounds like you’re the one who did most of the work,” she says finally. Laurel considers that for a moment -- before Dolores slowly leans forward to kiss her.

It catches Laurel off guard, but only for a few seconds. Then she kisses back. It’s soft and careful and not particularly intense, and Laurel supposes she’ll never be able to put into words how much it means to her. But Dolores reaches up to touch the side of her face tenderly as they break apart, and Laurel lets herself get lost in the moment anyway.

Tomorrow, everything will be different. And the same. But tonight, she lets herself fall asleep on Dolores’ couch, nestled against Dolores herself, and can’t quite bring herself to regret it.

The sound of birds obnoxiously twittering outside the window wakes her. That by itself is odd, though it takes her a little while to shake the fogginess from her head and actually process why.

Birds. No Highway to Hell.

Laurel stirs and then, with sudden realization, bolts all the way upright. The next thing she processes is that her surroundings are relatively unfamiliar. And the next is that she’s accidentally woken the person sleeping next to her.

“Ow,” Dolores mumbles, stretching the stiffness from her limbs.  “...Falling asleep on the couch is always less romantic in practice.”

“Dolores?” Laurel breathes, scarcely able to believe it. Dolores pauses mid-stretch, casting her a concerned look.

“What? Are you alright?”

It’s over. It’s -- tomorrow.

Laurel wracks her brain to try and pin down what it was that finally did it. Calling Sara? Her conversation with Dolores? The kiss?

Maybe it was less one thing and more a kind of building of a lot of them. That doesn’t make perfect sense to her right now, because it has to be eight in the morning at the very latest, and she’s still half-trying to wake herself up and acknowledge this is real.

But one thing that’s apparent to her with perfect clarity is that Dolores is still here. Next to her. Laurel gives in to a shaky smile. “Yeah,” she manages finally.  “Yeah -- everything’s fine. Sorry, I was just having a -- a really weird dream.”  She’s so relieved that she might have hugged Dolores, but she’s lucky Dolores doesn’t think she’s completely crazy as it is.

Dolores returns her smile a little uncertainly, but warmly.  “I’m glad you woke me. I was going to offer to take you to breakfast, but I wasn’t sure what time you had to leave --”

Leave?

She’d given up on breaking free of the loop long enough to forget: the storm’ll be dying down now. Felix and Camille will be expecting her back on the road before too long.

All she really wants, though, is to stay here with Dolores, and go to breakfast at that stupid, cutesy diner, and then call her sister, and have a conversation that’ll stick this time. And maybe do something sappy like going for a walk through the snow afterwards.

She wants a hundred more days exactly like that. She’s not sure when the town she couldn’t wait to get away from became something close to home.

Laurel weighs all of this against the prospect of going back to a job that never really made her happy to begin with. As completely cliche as it is to admit, there’s probably something to be learned in all of this about the things that actually matter. And not wasting them.

“If I said I wanted to stay a little while longer,” she says slowly. “What would you think?”

Dolores sort of double-takes, like she’s not sure whether or not Laurel’s being serious. “...Can you do that?”

“What’s stopping me?” Laurel shrugs pointedly.

“But you --” Dolores stops, watching Laurel even more closely, and there’s something like wonder in her expression. It’s almost enough to make Laurel feel a little self-conscious.  “ -- You really want to stay.”

Laurel can’t help but smile. “I’m pretty sure that is what I implied.”

Impulsively, Dolores leans forward and kisses her again, and this time Laurel is actually ready for it.

[sharpereviews]

FINALLY SAW LAST JEDI!

Spoiler Free review:

I loved everything about this movie. In my opinion, this was one of the best Star Wars movies ever created, including the Originals. This is coming from a life-long Star Wars fan. Going in, I was worried that I was going to hate Finn’s story line, but I actually really loved it. It might have been my favorite part of the movie (this coming from a Reylo shipper). Here’s why, Finn’s story line basically saw Finn’s character grow and made it where he was proactive to the story. He went from being a coward who wanted to get away from the First Order to a man who faces his fear and is willing to sacrifice himself for a cause. I loved it. I honestly just love Finn so much and I LOVED Rose. Oh my god I loved Rose. Actually, to my surprise, I loved all of the new characters in this movie. DJ was the one I was most nervous about, but I enjoyed him and liked the fact that Benicio Del Toro gave him a tic. He played him flawlessly. 

Holdo was by far my favorite new character. I love Laura Dern in everything she’s in and this might be one of my favorite character’s she’s ever played. 

As far as returning characters, I loved their character development. Hux was the standout for me as far as returning characters. What Johnson did to him easily made him one of my favorite characters in the new trilogy because I have a soft spot for smart villains with sarcastic dispositions and who are also treated like shit. 

A lot of people loved Poe in this movie. I am not one of those people. To me, he was an asshole in this movie and he had zero consequences for his actions. That said, it’s impossible to not like him because Oscar Isaac is fucking charismatic and really funny. Plus he has this weird thing where he can have sexual chemistry with a spoon. So of course people are going to ship him with every other character. He never had an actual physical scene with Hux but I found myself thinking, “Hmmm... That’d be interesting.” Even his scenes with Holdo had me thinking, “Wow, they could potentially be a power couple.” I personally do not ship Damerey, but I’ll be damned if I do not seek out Damerey fan art. You do your thing Damerey shippers! 

I loved Luke’s character development. I know we were told that Luke went full hermit, but Luke went FULL HERMIT. No spoilers here, but there’s a scene with a blade of grass and it is probably one of the greatest scenes in Star Wars history. Mark Hamill played Luke flawlessly and I loved his dramatic scenes as well as his more lighthearted moments. Also, I’m not saying anything but Luke has never been so badass. 

Leia’s scenes were emotional and I was tearing up toward the end. Carrie Fisher might have been in Force Awakens, but this was the return of Leia. Her scenes had weight and I loved that Leia, even when she wasn’t being active, was important to the other characters. Leia’s character is the force that binds this universe together. If she’s not going to be in the next movie, the universe is going to fall apart. Leia is so important. DO. NOT. KILL. HER. JJ!!! Carrie would want Leia to live on. 

Which brings me to Kylo and Rey. You can definitely tell that Daisy Ridley has grown so much as an actress from Force Awakens to this one. Not just emotionally, but physically. Rey is BUFF in this movie. I loved Rey in this movie and loved the character growth. I can’t wait to see where she goes in 9. Her chemistry with Kylo Ren was electric and honestly, if this movie proved anything, it’s that when they’re on the same side, they are the ultimate power couple. 

Adam Driver has been getting a lot of praise for his performance as Kylo Ren and it is well deserved. The character in itself is complex, but his micro-expressions and his physicality brings another dimension to the role and dude, it’s breathtaking. This guy, if he wanted, could be THE leading man of this generation. But due to the fact that he doesn’t seem to like big budget projects and the press tours that go along with it, I have a feeling that he’s going to stick to independent projects. Here’s hoping that I’m wrong. He has managed to elevate Kylo Ren’s character to one of the greatest Star Wars characters in the history of Star Wars. I loved every second that he was on screen. 

The only problem that I had with this movie was the fact that Snoke was hardly present, and that Captain Phasma straight up did not need to be in this movie. I love Gwendoline Christie and her fight scene was awesome, but it was not needed. She was so wasted and Phasma is definitely the Boba Fett character of this trilogy. People will love her toys and kids will probably grow up thinking she’s awesome because she looks cool, but then they’ll grow up and realize that she’s pretty lame. Gwendoline needs to be in more action movies though, and I look forward to seeing her in other things after Game of Thrones end. I love her so much. 

My other problem is that Maz Kanata wasn’t in it enough. She had one small scene, and I fucking loved it. I don’t care if it was a “Shoe-horn” scene, I love that character and she is fucking amazing. I still want Lupita Nyong’o to have an in person character in Star Wars. Get on it Johnson. 

So yeah, that’s it. I know people are split on this movie. But I personally love it. The people who didn’t like it probably went in with too many expectations and didn’t like some of the directions this movie took. I think that the more they watch this movie, the more they’ll love it. This Star Wars movie is going to have a lot more staying power than Force Awakens and Rogue One and I am so glad that I saw it in theaters. I am probably going to see it at least two more times. That is non-negotiable. 

[autisticblueteam]

Different People (Carolina/Girlie)

Chapter 2 / 4: Waiting

[AO3] [Ko-Fi in Bio]

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Canon-typical violence, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Canonical Character Death, Drowning, Paralysis [other tags on AO3]

Girlie survived Longshore.

The sole survivor of her team, she found herself thrown out into the world with nowhere to go and nothing to cling to except the burning resentment she held towards the Freelancers. After years of aimlessness, when presented with an opportunity for revenge she snaps it up without hesitation.

But reality is never as simple as fantasy. People aren’t always what you imagined them to be.

Chapter Word Count: 4397

Notes: Writing from Girlie’s perspective here is interesting because it’s making me write opinions of characters that are basically the exact opposite of my own, since she’s so negatively biased.

The conviction was nothing if not swift. Girlie barely had time to register her actual charges before she was pushed through the system and thrown into a prison on some obscure inner colony, but they weren’t hard to guess. Insurrectionist activity, especially this deep into the war, could come with a hefty sentence.

With her history it wasn’t even a wrongful conviction. It may have been years since their cell had disbanded and they’d signed up to the UNSC, but their time in the military and working for Charon didn’t erase the plethora of evidence against her. All Charon had to do was plant a little more evidence to fill in the gaps and ONI ate it up.

Didn’t need the lone member of your questionably legal private security force getting in the way of your rising political power. UNSC Oversight Subcommittee her ass. The shit they’d done for Charon was exactly the kind of shit he was now in charge of investigating.

Funny how that worked.

Prison wasn’t kind. The newfound support of her armour had been stripped away from her so swiftly that it left a sour taste in her mouth. Sure, she could move short distances without it, even train for short times, but she relied on her wheelchair for anything substantial. And prisons? Turns out that in practice, they’re just not that accessible.

Especially not when the wheelchair provided wasn’t designed for self-propelling and any requests for an exchange were ignored. Insurrectionists lay low on the hierarchy there, always had; since the war started it had only gotten worse.

It took a long time and a willingness to sacrifice luxuries to get on her cellmate’s good side, get her to push her as far as the prison’s gym. Keeping up with her exercises helped, fought away some of the hopelessness and restlessness that plagued her, but it wasn’t a fix-all. Most of her days were spent wasting away in her cell, with too too little to do and too much time to think.

“You got any Innie buddies waiting for you on the outside, blondie?” her cellmate, Cass, asked after another long, long day of sitting around doing nothing. She was still trying to decide if it was better or worse than the hospital.

“Nah. No one left to wait for me,” Girlie said, laid back staring at the ceiling.

(Sharkface’s heart monitor flatlining. Snipes, pierced by the same bullet over and over and falling dead on their face.)

There was a pause. “Aliens or humans?”

(Sleeves, his neck snapped by the sheer force of one punch. Demo, blown up and thrown into the water. The Chain Twins, crushed by a fucking crate.)

Girlie chuckled dryly. “We’re Innies. Take a guess.”

(Her back snapping on impact with the concrete platform, water in her lungs and the desperate fight to survive.)

“Damn. That’s rough. Least I can blame the aliens for my lack of welcoming party instead of— y’know, myself.” Girlie raised a brow at her. “You are an Innie. What’d you think was gonna happen?”

“I don’t blame myself,” Girlie said, rolling onto her side. And she didn’t, she never had. This wasn’t her fault, no; she knew who she had to blame and they wore white and aqua armour. Cass mimicked her raised brow and, in turn, Girlie mocked: “You did murder a UNSC official, what’d you think was gonna happen?”

“…touché.”

Huffing, Girlie rolled restlessly to her other side. “All we want is some fucking freedom and the right to self-determination, but nah, that’s enough to warrant killing us. I’ve never blamed myself or any of us when we lose people. Isn’t on us.”

“Shit, girl, sorry I asked,” Cass said, raising her hands defensively.

It had been years since she’d been able to think like that, been able to talk like that—but hey, if she was going to be treated like she was an active Insurrectionist again, then she may as well act like it.

For years, that pretty much summed up her prison experience: being stuck in her room with cellmates that were various levels of shitty; wheelchairs that didn’t suit her needs in prisons that were too big for her to walk; prison guards that didn’t care at best and were outright abusive at worst; long, uninterrupted hours of nothingness. No matter how many times she was transferred—and oh, she was transferred a lot—it was the same. Every prison, every cellmate, every year.

Eventually she came to the conclusion that it was worse than the hospital, much worse. In hospital, there weren’t multiple dangerous pricks in the building that could decide she was the next target at any time. In hospital, there was a modicum of freedom. In hospital, she had a goal.

Locked away in prison with no exit in sight, her anger felt more like a trap than a motivation. All of that rage she’d allowed to fester and target itself at the Freelancers had no outlet—but at the same time, it wasn’t something she could just let go of. More than just a driving force, it came from a place of genuine hatred and resentment towards those fucking Freelancers, from a place of consuming grief that never quite faded.

Just as that resentment and grief wouldn’t fade, neither would the anger that sprung from them. As the years went by it only had longer to simmer, to gnaw away at her.

Everything that had happened since Longshore was their fault—that was a fact to her just as much as it was a fact that you need air to breathe. Agent Carolina and Agent Maine and their team had taken everything from her. Because of them, she’d almost died. Because of them, her family was gone. Because of them, Charon had no use for her. Because of them, she was in prison.

It was all. Their. Fault.

And for all her anger, all she could do was hope that somewhere, out there, they were going through as much hell as she was.

Nothing was unusual about her move to the prison ship, Tartarus. Not only was it far from the first time she’d been stuck on a prison ship for transfer, but it wasn’t even her first long-haul trip with no clear timescale. The ship was filled with a co-ed selection of the UNSC’s least desirable prisoners—people like her, who they simply didn’t care about. People with quite the variety of convictions, from what she heard through the bars.

She’d always hated long-haul transfers. Prison ships meant even shittier cellmates and no time out of their cells. Sure, the cells were a little more spacious to make up for it—she was able to work out, thank god—but there was only so many hours you could share a room with someone without a break before you wanted to add murder to your list.

Weeks went by and nothing happened that challenged the monotony of the journey. The skeleton crew wandered the levels every few hours just to give themselves something to do. Prisoners yelled crude and violent things, but even those began to get repetitive after a while. Stassney did some dumbass shit at least once a cycle. Weeks and weeks of the same shit, of the same routine—it was driving her up the fucking wall, but it wasn’t anything new.

Honestly, the ship getting invaded was the most interesting thing that had happened to her in years.

One minute Stassney was walking past talking about ‘hitch-hiking cheerleaders’—Girlie rolled her eyes so far back she could see herself think—and the next he was returning with a shady looking asshole in full power armour. The way he tilted his head was subtle, but Girlie had years of reading helmets under her belt.

He was scanning the cells.

They disappeared up into the staff areas and the chatter quickly focused on the new arrival. They had to be in the middle of utterly empty, open space right now—where the hell had this guy come from?

Girlie sat on the end of her bed, leaning her elbows against her knees. Even on a full tank and emergency reserves, a Pelican couldn’t get out here on its own and they certainly weren’t staffed by one guy, power armour or not.

Something wasn’t right.

Her suspicions were confirmed less than an hour later when some big fucker strolled through with at least five people in black armour and killed the straggling guards.

It probably said something about her mental state that her only reaction was a dull, “Huh. Figured.”

Yelling filled the air, a cacophony of indistinguishable noise that only fell silent when a deep, commanding voice came over the intercoms with one simple order—

“Quiet.”

Absolute silence fell over the room.

“As of this moment, we are the new crew of this ship.”

Someone a few cells down from her yelled out, “Well who the hell are you?!” and there was a pause, just for a moment, before she saw the taller of the two take a step back and the original guy take the microphone.

He started talking and admittedly, she was only half-listening until she heard the word ‘Freelancers’ in the midst of some verbose speech about needing people for some war, or something. But she didn’t care about that, no.

Freelancers. Fucking Freelancers.

She was listening after that.

“…now, if this totally awesome idea doesn’t sound like your kind of job, we’ll let you off the ship. But if you’re willing to fight for your freedom, then please firmly grasp the bars of your cell in a sign of solidarity.”

Let them off the ship, huh? Nah, no way that was as innocent as it sounded; there was only one way off of this ship when they were out in open space. And she didn’t plan on dying today—especially not without finding out what the Freelancers had to do with this.

So she got up, grabbed the cell bars. All around her she heard the sounds of hands slapping against bars, of indistinct mumbling. Some people sat back down, paced their cells with dismissive waves of their hands. Their funeral, she guessed.

Weakened as her legs were, her upper body had remained strong and when the purge activated, she had all the motivation she needed to hold on tight. The sharp, gut-punch of a tug tore her breath away and filled her with a genuine fear for her life that she hadn’t felt in years—

And then it was over. Purge doors slammed shut and the screaming all but stopped. Girlie collapsed to the floor, waiting for her cybernetics to recover after the sudden jerk.

But she was alive.

And they’d mentioned Freelancers.

Now all she had to do was wait and see what the fuck was going on.

As it turned out she didn’t have to wait that long at all. Not even another hour passed before heavy footsteps approached her cell and she was confronted by both the leaders of this little invasion and another prisoner. A man with deep brown skin and a pair of dark eyes that glinted with something inscrutable.

She’d never seen him before in her life, but that look in his eyes told her one thing: he definitely knew her.

“Arianna Leoraine,” the tall, awkward one said, “we’ve been informed—” his helmet tilted towards the prisoner, “—that you have history with the Freelancer agents we’re up against. Is that true?”

Huh, just like she thought. Somehow, this random guy who just so happened to be on the same prison ship as her knew her and not only that, knew her history. There were only a couple of reasons she could think of that would explain that: either he used to work for Charon—unlikely, her team was known of by only a select few—or he used to work for Freelancer.

And oh, wasn’t that possibility interesting.

“Maybe. What’s it to you?” she said, even as she stood up. Folding her arms under her chest she tilted her head. “Gonna let me at them?”

“Maybe,” the small, talkative one said, one hand on his hip as the other gesticulated vaguely. “Depends on a few things, like if you can hold your own in a fight… if you know how to follow orders… that sort of thing. Boring stuff, but necessary. Can’t have someone causing us more trouble than we already have, now can we?”

Rolling her eyes, Girlie tilted her head forward and set him with a firm stare. “Look, you point me in the direction of one of those assholes? I’ll do whatever you need me to do. No questions asked. I’ve been waiting for a chance like this for years, I’m not going to mess that up.”

“Well then,” he shared a look with his partner, that tall, quiet one whose helmet gave away nothing, “I think we have some talking to do, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I do. But if you want that talk happening up on the bridge? You’re either gonna have to bring me some armour or send one of your guys to grab a wheelchair from storage,” she said, folding her arms tighter and standing her ground. Her legs still felt shaky after the pull of the purge.

The tall one nodded towards a couple of their men that were standing by and soon, they returned with a chair.

Alright, that was a decent start.

Their names were Felix and Locus. They were some mercenaries working out here in the middle of bumfuck nowhere on some backwater planet named Chorus. Somehow the locals had gotten the help of a couple of Freelancers and their friends. All the mercenaries wanted was some manpower to help them clear out the resistance and to get rid of the Freelancers.

Couldn’t say she agreed with the principle of the thing, but she had fallen far beyond principles. Years of boredom and building resentment had left no room for that, not right now. Not when she was faced with the chance to get revenge.

There were only two of them, apparently. Two survivors out of the ten colourful suits of armour she could never forget. At first they didn’t mention names—she couldn’t tell if that was deliberate or not—but eventually, her prodding got an answer.

Agent Carolina and Agent Washington.

The assholes who fought Sharkface (the entire left side of his face crushed and scarred, his eye gone, the bone implants he needed to survive—) two of the assholes that dropped that fucking building on him and Demo (his arm, gone, absolutely mangled, the missing chunk of his torso—) that fucking aqua armoured fuck who stabbed her, who helped that big brute kill Demo and tried to kill her (her back snapping, so much water between her and the surface—)

Turned out the big guy had been dead a while.

She didn’t know quite how she felt about that, not getting the chance to take them out herself, but…

One was better than none.

“Seems like our goals line up perfectly,” Girlie said, sat in her chair. The helmets were still on, but she met Felix’s gaze through his visor. “I want the Freelancers dead, you want the Freelancers out of the way.”

“Exactly,” Felix said, gesturing his pointer finger vaguely in her direction. “A nice neat little arrangement. You get your revenge and we get those pesky Freelancers off our asses so we can finish what we came here to do.”

“You will be provided with armour and equipment,” Locus said, still unreadable behind that helmet. “You will work more closely with us and you will be guided by the Counselor.”

The Counselor hovered silently off to the side. She felt the weight of his gaze on her, observing, analysing. That look in his eye made sense when she realised he must have been some Freelancer psychologist or something, with a name like ‘the Counselor’.

Didn’t surprise her that they wanted to keep an eye on her, but it wasn’t like she really cared. So long as he didn’t get in her way, there was no reason for her to risk objecting.

But only so long as he didn’t get in her way.

“Alright,” she said, shrugging. “That armour better be the good shit. Oh, and I work best with knives.”

With a hand over his chestplate and mock reverence, Felix said, “A woman after my very own heart. Don’t you worry, Leoraine, you’ll be supplied with the very best equipment we have to offer. Just make it worth it.”

“Don’t you worry,” she retorted, “because making it worth it won’t be an issue. Also— I’d prefer if you called me Girlie. Not Leoraine, or even Arianna.”

Even with his helmet blocking her view, Girlie could practically see the quick blinks of his double-take. “Girlie. What kind of— seriously? That’s a little on the nose, don’t you think?”

Maybe. These days she barely even remembered the origin of the nickname—it wasn’t that she was the only girl in the group, after all—but that had always been the point of their nicknames, they were ridiculously, ridiculously ‘on the nose’. They were stupid, but they used them more than they ever used their real names.

She needed that back now, more than ever.

“Oh right, okay, says the guy who’s partner goes by the name of their helmet,” she said, raising a brow. Catching the slight tensing of Locus’ shoulders, she added, “Not being a dick, just making a point.”

“…touché. Alright, Girlie, congratulations, you’ve got yourself a job.”

No, she’d gotten a little more than that.

True to their word they got her kitted up and they didn’t skimp out on her, either. The armour was top quality and it felt good to be able to stand without pain again, without feeling like her legs were going to give out under her at any minute. All black and standard issue, it was nothing special, but it was more than functional.

Somehow, an off-hand comment to the Counselor about how she preferred her old helmet even swung her an old ODST model from somewhere. He was trying to make her ‘comfortable’, get her to open up or some shit—definitely a psychologist. For now, she let him believe it was working.

It had been days since the invasion of the ship and days since she’d been promised her chance at the Freelancers, but so far there had been no opportunity to act. Being stuck up here on the ship felt annoyingly like nothing had changed, but she held on to the fact that as soon as there was news, she’d be shipped out.

Hopefully.

Until then she was subjected to daily sessions with the Counselor. He was good at acting like he gave a shit, she’d give him that, but she wasn’t here to be psychoanalyzed. She gave him just enough to keep him satisfied without ever really revealing anything he didn’t clearly already know—even when he pretended he knew nothing. Offering up little bits about her teammates’ deaths and her need for revenge even got her some information in return, information outside of what he needed to tell her.

Agent Maine, the big guy, had finally been killed by drowning.

She’d be lying if she said that didn’t give her some kind of sick catharsis. Nothing could have been more fitting.

Days passed by and she found it harder to suppress the frustration. Sessions with the Counselor were tedious and she had to watch her words closely. Any time that wasn’t spent with him was spent training, running drills to get her strength back.

After almost a week of nothing, the Counselor brought her another ‘gift’: red spray paint.

At first, she side-eyed it, wondered what she’d said that made him bring it, but finding no point in letting the offering go to waste she picked it up; it would make it easier for Carolina to recognise who she was.

For once the Counselor sat mostly silently as she worked, using the tools he provided her with to mark up her lipstick print and heart—once on the helmet, once on the chestplate—but it didn’t last forever. Eventually, he opened his mouth.

“That symbol… I take it that it’s important to you,” he said, nodding towards both the work she did and the matching tattoo that was visible on the back of her shoulder. There was another one much lower down, but he wasn’t ever going to be privy to that.

“Suppose so.” Finishing taping it off, she threw her hair back into a messy bun and grabbed a face mask.

“Do you find it representative of yourself?”

“I find it representative of me being a gigantic lesbian, sure,” she said, finding herself holding back an eye roll and not for the first time. Fucking psychologists. “Look, we all had a symbol; Snipes had a crosshair, Boss had a pill, the twins had their smileys, Sharkface had his fucking shark teeth, so on and so on. It’s just a thing. It’s not deep.”

“Alright,” the Counselor said, in that tone that meant he really did think it was deep. “Have you chosen to recreate the symbol to honour your fallen teammates?”

God this man was insufferable. Like fuck she was going to tell him that. “No. I’ve chosen to recreate it because one, I like it and two, I want Agent Carolina to recognise me.” She started shaking her spray can. “Simple as that.”

“So you want her to be aware of who’s killing her and why.”

“No shit. Doesn’t take a degree to figure that one out. Yeah, I want the asshole who nearly killed me and did kill my friends to know who the fuck’s killing her.”

“I see,” he said, with that same tone; he really thought he had her on lock, didn’t he?

She was starting to rethink the idea that killing him wasn’t worth the trouble.

Opting to ignore him instead, she finished shaking her can and started spraying out the design on her helmet. The shade of red wasn’t quite the same but it looked good enough. Bright and distinctive against the black. There’d be no question of Carolina noticing the symbols.

Setting the helmet down to dry, she moved onto the chestplate. There was silence, for a while; the Counselor slipped back into that observant quiet, ever analysing eyes set on her.

She’d moved onto adding other red details by the time he spoke again.

“Once Locus and Felix have finished their work at the newest location of interest, you’ll be sent down to monitor the location for the Freelancer’s arrival,” he said out of nowhere. Forced her to restrain the burst of what was almost excitement in her chest, tense up to stop herself reacting too strongly. “I trust you’ve reviewed the files on Agent Washington and Carolina?”

“Of course I have. And no, I don’t have any questions.” Agent Washington was stubborn and survivable, but he was better with a weapon in his hand than he was at hand-to-hand. Agent Carolina was competitive and highly skilled in multiple ways; she worked with an aging AI called Epsilon and had units at her disposal. Nothing she hadn’t seen before. “No, actually, I do, but not about them. What kind of location?”

“An ancient temple of alien origin. There are several on Chorus, this particular one having been newly revealed. It’s a point of interest for both sides of the conflict, at least one of the Freelancers will certainly arrive.”

“Alright.” Alien temples. What kind of planet was this? “I can work with that.”

Stopping the spray, she took a moment to admire her work.

Striking red, unmissable and unmistakable.

Agent Carolina would definitely know what hit her.

The strange mix of anxiety, excitement and rage that filled her on the Pelican ride down to Chorus was… indescribable. A combination unlike anything she’d ever felt before. Years waiting for this opportunity, hanging onto the idea of revenge with a somehow resigned desperation. She didn’t know if she’d ever believed she’d get the chance, not after Charon turned her in.

But here she was.

They arrived on-location a little while after Locus and Felix had moved on, heading to some big confrontation out at one of the radio towers. Girlie only had time for a cursory glance at the temple itself and the strange bright light shooting out of it before she and her back-up had to duck into a hidden area, overlooking the central zone. Wait.

As the sound of Warthogs and voices approached the temple.

A voice that Girlie hadn’t heard in years, but would recognise anywhere, among them.

It took all of her willpower not to blow their cover then and there, to gather information first like she’d been told to. She had to stand there, gripping her knives tight to ground herself as she took in everything that was said—most of it was irrelevant, but once that alien AI appeared… well, she figured the mercenaries would like the information that followed.

The Purge. Any other day she might have felt some kind of hesitance in passing that information on, but as she typed and sent the communication she found she felt no such thing. Not with Carolina a mere hundred metres away.

Not when the mention of the multiple maps finally gave them a chance to act.

“Carolina!”

Four of the ‘space pirates’—really, what kind of title—jumped out from their hiding position, rifles drawn, firing—

And just like she’d expected, the bubble shield appeared. (The thing that had killed Snipes, the death trap that ricocheted bullets endlessly, shooting them over and over with the same fucking bullet—)

Like she’d ever have let the pirates have first shot if she thought it’d work.

“And that was close.”

“Affirmative.”

“Charon’s here?!”

“Urgh, they've been here the whole time.”

“That’s right.” Her heart pounded in her chest as she strode forward, out into the open. Looked down at them, at that aqua coloured armour that had haunted her for years. Rage, bubbling up in her chest—

Carolina looked at her. Girlie saw the intake of breath. Smirked.

“Well hello. What a pleasure to see you again.”

[almasidaliano]

Plot Twist: IT IS A RACE THING

let's rip the bandaid off. it's a race thing. "oh no racism isn't an issue" shut the fuck up. seriously, im disappointed in my people so i'm going to address yall first. my melanated Kings and Queens; darlings what are yall doing? Why are we still taking this? Why are we subjecting ourselves to this kind of disrespect?

are we really just going to sit here and let history repeat itself? going to watch them shackle and kill us all again? what are you afraid of? our ancestors were scared. they were strong in their own way, we are stronger. they kept our culture alive, our roots. they sacrifice their freedom for ours, and look at this. look at us. playing into their game, letting them run the show. have we forgotten about the 1960s? when the civil rights movements picked up? yall forget Martin, Malcolm, Rosa?

if you are African American, meaning black (yes you mixed mfs are black, you can try to tread on the fence but im sorry to tell you, the day will come when you have to pick a side and what's worse is no matter what you pick the world already decided for you.) and born in america; your ancestors are slaves. you can't tell me, your blood, your heritage, your lineage doesn't deserve defending, protection.

we have a constitution. this doctrine is the "LAW OF THE LAND" (still we have individual state laws, hmm). in this document, the rights of people of color, and women were added into the admendments. people of color had to take citizenship tests, though they were never taught to read, and english wasn't even their first language. then there was the segregation. if you skin is pigmented, you are treated differently.

low income areas, "ghettos/hood" areas were designed for the communities to run like crabs in a bucket. they require dependency or rebellion. they isolated and rationed resources, discriminated and interfered with job security, then blamed the citizens of the community for their failures. provided the bare minimum (a bar they set) and do you know why the hate continued? because still we rose.

understand this : WE; ALL PEOPLE, ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE EQUAL, HOWEVER WE ARE NOT THE SAME.

this is why the problem started. human were created in "Gods image" (any god you believe in we will indulge the religious conversation later.) layman's terms? we are all gods.

we are not the same kind of gods though. like ying and yang right? so there is light and dark. society told us we should be afraid of the dark, that bad things happen in the dark, that monsters hide there. what's funny is that life teaches us the opposite; teaches us that monsters can dress nice and wear smiles too. there's the story of Lucifer right? Lucifer is not the Devil. the Devil in my opinion is the "God" of evil. like there is good energy and there is bad energy. the universe is made up of both. so boom right? Lucifer was right hand to God and got big headed wanted to be him couldn't boom gets casted out takes a third of angels and boom hell and allat right? so let's just break it down for a second.

alright so first, B I B L E: basic instructions before leaving earth. the Bible is written in code, one, and two it is allegorical. (all melanated people truly do need to crack open a book and get to reading.) Jesus (Yahshua) is melanated, wooly hair bronze skin? come on now. so the idea they are selling is this all power white man is saving us all. truthfully, who cares what he look like if he's here to save our souls? you would think that would be the thought process, however; for some people the truth does not get them what they want so they opt against it. Good and light became associated with white. "wear all white when you feeling godly" its supposed to holy and clean right? pale faces became the face of faith. hasn't anyone realized how blinding light is? the closer you look the less you see. they guide your focus. the stars light the night sky yet we have all of this light pollution, it is simply a means of distraction. the wind talks, did you know that? the trees whisper. nature is beautiful and most of the world will never know.

they divided us by color. our skin isn't even black, however because they are pale, pasty, white; they made us their opposite. even in their classification of us they revealed the truth. you see, white is the absence of all color. it is empty. whereas, black is compromised of every color.

did you know there are two types of humans? yes seriously. homo sapiens and neanderthals. fun fact: neanderthals are structured more chimp like. homo sapiens were living in Africa albinism was prominent so there were a lot of melanated people without melanin, getting skin cancer and dying. neanderthals came about when homo sapiens migrated to Europe and Eurasia. they mated and began creating all the many races and ethnicities we have today.

melanated people are built structurally different than white people. we are naturally stronger, faster, thicker, humane, etc than they are. this is where the hate comes from.

"jealousy is just love and hate at the same time. - aubrey" pride and envy are dangerous things. when trying to compete, they were met with failure and it manifested hate instead of motivation. look at america. it is built entirely on the ideas of others, the hardwork and manual labor of others. those leading our country have done nothing for us. they simply continue taking all the credit.

white people left Britain, and called it "fleeing from religious persecution". the truth is they were fleeing from classism. they were in their element and they were minnows and not sharks. they decided to find a new pond to swim in. they did just that. the Natives were abused, and disregarded. they pretended to be civil and took damn near everything from them, all of their legacies and memories, their safety.

white people are lazy and greedy. this is why there are so many dividing markers in our life, labels, roles. there is a grave lack of family values for them. there is this morphed idea that the world is here for them, like we are all here to aid them. they reek of entitlement. like success, joy, love and prosperity are guaranteed to them just because. it is not on them all. just like melanated people can't help their environment, neither can they. the rude awakening always comes once you become unsheltered from actuality.

the cards are stacked against us from the jump. due to our enivornments, children grow up in broken homes, homeless, or jumping from home to home. single parents run themselves ragged, over stressed. children end up in the streets trying to take some of the weight off of their parents. the world just see thugs and gangsters though. menaces to society. when the real menace is society.

still we rise. still we smile. still we laugh and we love. and its so disheartening, that those are the things festering their hatred for us. no one is perfect. no one is the worst thing they have ever done either. growth is constant.

all we have to do is decide to be ourselves. decide to impact the world the best way YOU know how. white people have talents, a multitude of gifts. instead of trying to get rid of everyone else's imagination, what about losing the fear and choosing to dream yourself? and maybe asking for help, should you need it.

who you are, is who you've always been. i mean, the you, you were before the world told you who you had to be. who you are, has and will never be dependent on anything out of your control. people use the wrong things to assess the quality of a person. things like religious views, political views, music preference, sexuality. things that do not have shit to do with you. its all more division markers.

trust yourself. fuck what society says. what does society actually know? only what they are told. think about this: pyschological control is basically brainwashing. so boom. then you got your mind, your heart and your gut. that would be logic, emotion, and intuition. your emotion and your intuition are in the same section of your body. your brain however, is all isolated while being the storage container for everything you see experience etc in life. your brain is what gets conditioned. all the preconceived notions you have about things came from somewhere. where? we know what we know because they told us. how do we know its true? the thing about logic is, it makes sense. so when your mind isn't making sense yet your heart and gut in agreement, listen to yourself. they tell you think before you speak because their conditioned processor is in your head. always follow your heart.

people on both sides still to this day suggest segregation. like folks really do not believe we can cohabitate in a productive civil mutually benefical and prosperous way and that without segregation, civil war and/or genocide is in the future. here's the thing.  they had every opportunity, to ship folks back, or even kick us out. now folks could just start up and leaving, yet we don't. we tuck our tails and put up with it. why? i think its due to fear of being a foreigner in your true motherland. fear of not being accepted there either. i also think it's due to the way our ancestors were treated; how they allowed themselves to be treated.

so look: i'm a mutt. both sides of the feud, so i can formulate a well rounded argument; however i am black. when the world sees me and when i see me too. i am black and proud, in a world hell bent on making me believe my genes deem me inferior or unworthy to anyone. i say that to say, nothing will change until we stop fighting each other and start fighting for one another. they misused and abused us. chained and locked us away like animals. beat us like animals. and before they started more actively and carelessly attacking us out loud again, they got smart. gave us rights, gave us "homes" "communities" we were grateful. for this illusion of freedom. we must get uncomfortable with this false freedom. they treated us like animals, then tried to make us the villians, fearful we would retaliate, when all we ever wanted to do was live, joyously in harmony.

they cannot stop hating us, because we will never hate them. its a losing battle for them. still, if we don't stand up and fight we will lose in the end. fear and trauma also sparks compliance in them. bears are not violent creatures. but you don't poke a bear you know? melanated people are bears. currently acting like bears at the zoo. how long are we going to let them poke the bear?

melanated people need to unite. Dr. King tried peace and it worked for a little bit. it was a bandaid fix. now it's time to try Malcolm's approach.

Thanks for listening. -Almasi.

[saranel]

The Last Jedi review, sorta

I don’t think I’ve talked enough (if at all) about what a huge Star Wars nerd I am on this blog, mostly because I didn’t love TFA as much as most people seemed to and I just never joined in the renewed fandom frenzy.

TL;DR on my views on TFA: It was fun enough, some interesting new characters, beautiful visuals, but I’d seen that movie before.  It came out in ‘77 and it was much better then.  Homage is one thing, rip off is completely another.  Mostly, I guess I was just disappointed that they didn’t dare to try and move the universe forward a bit, beyond the already trodden path.

Say what you will about the prequels, but I will always, always maintain there’s nothing wrong with them a better script and director couldn’t fix.  George tries, bless him, but he can’t write dialogue worth a damn.  Not even Meryl Streep could’ve made the line “So love has blinded you” any better than Natalie Portman did, and both she and Hayden have proven themselves to be much better actors than they were in Star Wars.  I’m not bothering with Ewan because he was one of the few really great things about the Prequels. 

That having been said, what George can do is weave a decent background story, and the Prequel Trilogy’s story is much, much richer than the OT’s.  Taking off our nostalgia-colored glasses for a moment, let us be honest: the OT was so successful because it did a very simple thing, and did it well, and had a cast with wonderful chemistry. The story itself is nothing to rave about: just your simple Evil Empire vs Plucky Rebels story.  But the Prequels actually got political and much darker than the OT did, they just did it clumsily.  Still, it was something new in the Star Wars universe and George always tried to expand the known worlds by giving us even small glimpses of other cultures and planets.  Don’t forget that Star Wars was never meant to be high-brow Science Fiction a la Philip Dick, but a space adventure.  This doesn’t mean that the story can’t have nuance, but the point of Star Wars was always to be a fairytale exploration of a fictional galaxy.

Compared to that, the new trilogy seemed extremely lacking to me.  And seeing The Last Jedi a few days ago really cemented that.  Never before have I seen so many things happening in one movie while nothing really happens at all.  It makes Attack of the Clones look interesting in comparison, and that’s saying a lot.  ALSO LUKE, WTF HAS THE MOUSE DONE TO MY SPACE SON, THE FUCKING GALL.

So yes, surprise-surprise, TLJ manages to rip off Empire (with a dash of Battlestar Galactica thrown in for good measure) and does so poorly.  It was not a terrible film by any means, but I honestly thought it was no better than Phantom Menace. And Phantom Menace had the Duel of Fates.  So. 

(okay, to be fair, TLJ didn’t have Jar Jar so that’s one point in its favor)

In a nutshell:

(cut for spoilers)

THE GOOD

- Poe.  Poe was good. Moar Poe, there was a serious lack of Poe in TFA and it has been rectified, this was a very good decision. 

- The silent scene.  Y’all know the one.  People in my theater literally gasped in unison.  I was bored outta my skull up until then and as soon as I realized what Holdo was about to do, I sat up, all ‘oshit’ and it was amazing.  Beautifully shot, beautifully clever, and the most badass hero death in the SW universe.  Only comes in second in terms of best scene in the movie because the other one involved a more established and beloved character.

- MY SON LUKE KICKING HIS NEPHEW’S ASS LIKE IT AIN’T NO BIG THANG.  In full disagreement over how shit went down between them in the past, but Luke showing Kylo who’s the most goddamn powerful Jedi in the galaxy (which Luke did canonically become in later years btw) was such a rewarding scene.  Also, he was dressed in black.  Like in ROTJ. Because fuck yeah.

- Rey’s parentage.  Most people probably hated that she’s not a Skywalker but I just... kinda loved the suggestion that she was the Force’s answer to Kylo?  It’s happened before with Anakin, so this isn’t exactly new, and Anakin, too, came from ‘nothing.’ I liked it.  She doesn’t have to have illustrious parentage to be important in the series, and as much as I love my Space Drama Queen clan, it’s time the universe moves on from the Kardashians of the galaxy.

- Luke’s death.  I don’t agree with 99% of what went down with Luke in this trilogy, I think it was deeply out of character, but his ending?  That was spot on.  Did I want more out of his storyline? Obviously, but examined in a vacuum, his ending was beautiful to me.  Especially that last scene.  Best scene in the movie from start to end.

- Yoda manipulating the goddamn heavens to rain thunder upon the ancient tree.  Ilu Yoda

- Leia and Holdo discussing Poe.  This was an A+++ short scene. Get it, ladies.

- Snoke is gone, thank the heavens.  Worst-named villain in movie history, I couldn’t stop laughing every time someone said SUPREME LEADER snoke.

- CRYSTAL FOXES OMG

- Luke getting his kicks in that boring-ass island via EXTREME ROD FISHING, lmao the nerd

THE MEH

- So, um... Kylo and Rey?  ....ew? (did they not think Finn and Rey were super cute or)

- So, um... Finn and Rose?  ....ookaaaay? (did they not see Poe biting down on his lip when he saw Finn in his jacket or)

- I don’t really care for ships in this trilogy tbh, whatever.  Guess I’m steering clear from attachment until I know who’s related to whom (THIS IS A DANGEROUS UNIVERSE TO SHIP IN OKAY).  Plus, not really feeling particularly strong toward any couple, just... not Kylo and Rey, ew.

- Rose.  I liked her, but... they hardly gave her anything to do.  That casino storyline was such a mess, made it seem like she was there just to be there.

- Finn’s storyline. Snoozefest.  I like him, but... see above.

- lol wtf happened to Chewie...? He was just... there?

THE BAD

- SPACE-WALKING LEIA.  I’M SORRY, OKAY, I know this scene will be big with many people, and lord knows I wanted to see Space Mom use the Force beyond that Spidey Sense shit, but this was just so dumb. 

- All the ‘humor.’ My god, just... no.  Not every scene needs to be steeped in Whedon-speak, please stahp.  I will admit the first scene got a chuckle out of me, but the rest...

- The ‘plot.’  This was literally an extended car chase scene in space with some Sense8 type shit thrown in. Rey hardly even did any training, ffs.  

- so the force-sensitive member of the trio goes on to be trained by a wise, isolated mentor and finds herself drawn to a place steeped in the dark side and ends up seeing only herself reflected in there, meanwhile the rest of the characters are involved in a chase across the galaxy, running away from the evil empire, and at some point decide to ask for help form a well-known swindler who betrays them and in the end everything seems bleak with just a tiny glimmer of hope. HMMMMMM. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. 

- quite frankly, I’m still in shock Rey finished the film with two fully biological arms

- O hei, look, it’s The Salty planet Hoth.  With pod-racing.

- Really? Rey blushing at shirtless Kylo? Really

- WHERE IS FORCE GHOST ANAKIN TO GO “BINCH I REDEEMED MYSELF IN THE END STOP THIS SHIT, ALSO I DID THIS FIRST AND I DID IT BETTER” TO HIS WANNABE GRANDSON

- The whole damn Casino storyline.  I don’t care if it’s meant to set up something for the last movie (probably not) but it was long, boring, and a clumsily written attempt at a storyline that could’ve been more nuanced and a good addition.

- why did we have to see Luke milk that alien Y

- NOT ONE DECENT LIGHTSABER FIGHT THE FUQ.  

- Leia (and Han in TFA) giving up on her son instead of beating some sense into his ass with a space slipper. Y’ALL KNOW SHE WOULD.  Baaaaad characterization. Space Mom would never.

- Also, fuck whoever decided that Leia, who canonically has the exact same force potential as Luke because they’re twins, never developed her powers beyond Force Sense or whatever.  If you’re not gonna give the woman a lightsaber, at least have her Force Push fools out of her way. 

- Wtf Rey you obliterated that nice alien’s cart and didn’t even apologize they work hard every day you should be ashamed

- why was it meant to be funny when porgs were slapped around wtf

- “what’s that canon?”  “Basically a small death star” kjashKLAFJSHSAJKDFSADFHSAK 

- Kylo. Can he just die, plz, the expanded universe did the Evil Solo son storyline so much better.  Yet another way in which this trilogy is totes an ~*homage*~  No shade on the actor though, he did a great job.  It’s just the violent manchild character I cannot stand.

- So like... we’re never gonna learn what Snoke’s deal was...? Or how he got to Kylo...? ....Okay then.

- This movie was 2 and a half hours long.