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greensaplinggrace · 3 years

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honestly THANK YOU for saying all that abt baghra bc i thought i was going crazy from not liking her??? bc i haven't read the books and only summaries of them on wiki and like. i dunno why ppl like her actually even in the show bc this guy, her son, is like "i wanna make the world better for us grisha" and she's just like "no." even tho he sees that she's MAKING HERSELF SICK from suppressing her powers! she's literally like in bed coughing in the flashback yet seem much healthier at the little palace. also like after everything, after her disapproval, after the fold, after centuries of waiting for the sun summoner.. he never abandons her. he makes sure she's cares for. he doesn't harm her. and i have to wonder if baghra has ever thanks him for that, for just not leaving her alone. like i dunno how im suppose ro believe aleks is a heartless villain when he still cares for his abusive mom like this. like has baghra even told her she loved him (honestly she reminds me of a classic emotionally unavailable asian parent but maybe that's just me). also im wondering if baghra ever told aleks that he had an aunt.. bc like.. now that u bring up her isolating him it's like hmmmm...

not at me being like alina... why do u trust the bitter old woman who literally beats u with a stick and verbally abuses u every chance she gets.. just bc she showed a bad painting... like.. pls use two braincells to see that who u figured out as his mother... is also using his protection..

like baghra could've upped and left with alina. but no. she stayed bc she knew she was safe under aleks's protection.

alsoim just impressed that after his first friend tried to drown him and harvest his bones... he didn't go into hiding???? he still wanted to make a safe heaven for grisha!!! HE STILL WANTED TO PROTECT GRISHA EVEN AFTER HIS GRISHA FRIEND TRIED TO KILL HIM FOR HIS FUCKEN BONES. like... this is the guy im suppose to believe is the villain???

honestly i feel like part of the reason why LB's plotlines seem so bad and disconnected (and sometimes outright racist but that's another rant) and why darkles is disproportionately more violent and villainous in the later books is bc she didn't expect the darkling to be so popular and wanted to stick with her guns of making him the villain. but also wanted the money from aleks's popularity. but like you can't have ur cake and eat it too.

Well thank you for sending this ask! It's very sweet and very passionate. I'm glad you liked my post! I didn't put as much thought into it as some of my others lol. I kind of just talked. But it was nice to be able to finally talk about some of the problems I have with both her character and the fandom/author's perception of her.

HERE is the post this is referring to, in case anyone's wondering.

👀👀 You've hit the nail on the head for so many things, here!

Baghra is extremely emotionally unavailable, basically to the point of neglect. She's also verbally and physically abusive, traits which I doubt were only reserved for her students and not her son. Baghra claims she would do anything to protect him, but I've known a lot of parents who have that mindset and yet still harm their children because they think it's "good for them".

Aleksander stays at Baghra's side for years, and even when they're opposing each other she's never too far away from him. Idk if you've read the books but he does eventually hurt her. And as much as I don't like Baghra, I think his actions were horrid. But I'm also honestly kind of surprised it took him so long lmao.

Yeah I mean, in terms of isolation, let's not forget that she never wanted to introduce him to his father, either. Baghra's sense of eternity clouds a lot of her judgments on relationships, which means she views most people as dust and therefore teaches her son to as well. The problem with that is that he's a growing child, and he needs those social and emotional attachments for healthy development.

I would bet quite a bit of money that Baghra has either never told him she loves him or she has told him so few times it's practically forgettable.

And everything becomes more complicated because so many of Baghra's actions are understandable because of her life and her history, but the impacts they have on the people around her, especially Aleksander, are permanently damaging. And the fact that that's never gone over in critical depth in the books or how it's glossed over in fandom is just very disconcerting. Like, acknowledging Baghra's failings doesn't mean we're excusing Aleksander's actions, it just means we're holding Baghra liable for her own. Which the fandom should be doing, considering she's the epitome of an abusive parental figure.

And Alina trusting Baghra over Aleksander is even more confusing! Especially in the show!! This is the woman who beat her and abused her and tortured her friends when they tiny little children (and who probably still does so now that they're adults). This is the woman who mocks you and harasses you and insults you on a regular basis. Why does Baghra revealing she's Aleksander's mother make Alina change her mind?! Like fuck, I'd just feel bad for Aleksander. No wonder he kept it a secret, I would too! And that painting is enough evidence?! Really?! A random painting shown to you by this abusive mentor that's been making your life hell. That's what you're going to betray your new lover over?

The friends trying to harvest his bones thing is a good point, too. I think Aleksander, especially show Aleksander, is incredibly idealistic. I think he cares too much for others - those he's deemed worth his care (a sentiment given to him by Baghra). Despite everything she's tried to teach him about hiding and abandoning others and never caring and never doing anything to help or reach out or connect with people, Aleksander still continues to do so. It's likely because he never got it from Baghra growing up, and so is desperate for those emotional needs to be fulfilled elsewhere.

His turning point, when Baghra tells him it was understandable that those kids tried to kill him because the world is such a hard place for them - that's crucial. And the reason it's possible as a motivating factor is because of that idealism and that desire to help and that desire to be everything his mother isn't. Baghra tells him this trauma he just experienced was because of the oppression of his people, and instead of following her lead and accepting that, going into hiding and abandoning everybody to their misery, he goes I can do something about that. I can make it so this never happens again. Which is usually how trauma like that combines with one's core personality traits at a young age, especially when there's none of the essential support systems in place to aid in recovery (ie, the role Baghra should have been filling but wasn't, because she decided to exacerbate the problem instead).

And yeah, one of my biggest problems with the ham-fisted "beating you over the head with a sledgehammer of evil deeds" look-how-bad-this-character-is! portrayal of the Darkling in the later books comes from the impression I get that Bardugo doesn't trust her readers. She's so desperate to have us hate this character and think him an irredeemable villain, not trusting any of her readers to engage critically with a morally gray character, that it feels quite a bit like condescending fucking bullshit. Which ew, I know how to engage with literature, thanks.

She really does seem to look down on a large part of her fandom, and imo, the infantilization of the female characters in her books seems to carry over to her impression of most of her female readers as well. Which is why the Darkling's character arc gets fucking destroyed. But he's still a good cash grab, of course, so she'll shake his dead corpse in front of the fandom for money every time she wants something from it.

Also! Another reason I think her plotlines feel disconnected (I'm sorry Bardugo I respect you as a person, but shit-) is because the writing in SaB is just bad. I mean, nevermind the absolutely nauseating implications of the way she portrays the Grisha as a persecuted group who's situation is never actually fully addressed as it should be, considering Grisha rights is what her main villain is fighting for (imo for a series called the Grishaverse, LB seems to be pretty anti Grisha), but her characters and story alone are just wrong for each other. They don't fit together.

And the ending is one of the main pieces of evidence in that regard! You can’t say the ending where Alina isn’t Grisha anymore is her “going back to where she started” when she’s always been Grisha. She just didn’t know she was Grisha because she denied that part of herself that she was born with.

Alina is reluctant to move forward or change, she struggles with adapting, and she’s very set on the things she’s grown attached to throughout her life. She also has some latent prejudices against the Grisha, and so denies the possibility of being Grisha for those reasons as well.

Alina’s lack of powers in the beginning of her life because she willfully doesn’t learn about them to avoid change versus her lack of powers at the end of the book when she’s accepted them and then they’re stripped away from her by outer forces are two entirely separate circumstances. You can’t make a parallel about lost powers and lack of Grisha status bringing her back to the start when she was always Grisha and she always had powers and she simply refused to come to terms with it because of personal reasons.

The first situation is an internal conflict that indicates a story about growth and a journey of self acceptance. Denying herself the opportunity to learn about her heritage and to find acceptance with a group of people like her because she’s tied to the past and because of the way she was raised is the setup for a narrative that tackles unlearning prejudice and learning how to connect with a part of her identity that was denied her and learning how to grow independent and self assured. It’s the setup for a different story entirely. The second situation is an external conflict that centers around the ‘corrupting influence of power’... for some reason.

In a world where Grisha do not have social, political, or economic power and they are hunted, centering your heroine’s journey of self acceptance and growth around an external conflict about... the corrupting influence of power (in a group of people that don’t actually have any power?!) just doesn’t work. It is literally impossible to connect the two stories Bardugo is trying to push in Shadow and Bone without seriously damaging the main character’s developmental arc.

The only way a narrative like this would work, claiming that she has gone back to where she started, is either a) if the Grisha weren’t actually a persecuted group and instead were apart of the upper class, or b) if the one bad connection between the two instances is acknowledged - that Alina denied a part of herself crucial to self acceptance and growing up, and that losing her powers at the end has also denied her. It is a tragedy, not a happy ending.

Alina suffered because she didn’t use her powers. She grew sick. It was bad for her. This was not a resistance to 'the corruption of power and the burden of greed', it was her suffering because she couldn’t fully accept herself.

Framing the ending as a return to the beginning can’t be done if you don’t address how bad the beginning was for your main character. You brought her back to a bad point in her life. You regressed her. This should be a low point in her arc. It should be a problem that’s solved so she can finish developing organically or it should be something that is acknowledged as a tragedy in it’s own right, for the future the world (the writing) denied her.

This is a ramble and it makes no sense and I’m really sorry, but my point is that Bardugo put the wrong characters in the wrong story. The character arc required for organic development doesn’t match the story and intended message at all. The narrative doesn’t fit the cast. She's got two clashing stories attempting to work in tandem and she ends up with both conflicting messages that fans still can’t comprehend in her writing and an ending that doesn’t suit her main character to such an impossible degree that it’s almost laughable.

So yeah, there's a few reasons why I think the story and the plot feels so bad and disconnected. I hope you don't mind me making this answer so long! 😅 I was not expecting to write this much.

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mayasaura · 3 years

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My Blood of Eden theory is that they're a 'back to the homeland' movement who want to avenge Earth. They're the descendants of human refugees that left originally to escape the extinction event before the Resurrection. It took them five thousand years to find their way back to their point of origin, and even then the Empire's expansionist movement found them first.

“BOE, I’m assuming,” he said, a bit absently; then he paused at your confusion, and said, “That’s an acronym for a group of maniacs. A cult who came to our attention maybe five thousand years ago. We stumbled on them during one of our pushes into deep space. Stumbled … they’d been looking for us the whole time. They hate the Nine Houses."

Earth to the Edenites is a mythologised ancient homeland. Their naming tradition is the only remnant we've seen of pre-Resurrection humanity other than John himself. It seems to venerate the pre-extinction cultures, assembling names out of pieces of poetry and song from before the exodus. Probably through an oral tradition; that's the only kind of human record keeping that's ever lasted ten thousand years. That's why it's so important to Wake that John say her full name out loud, because “They’re dead words—a human chain reaching back ten thousand years,”.

The Edenites blame John for... whatever happened. We don't know yet exactly what that was, but the implication is that BOE believes John sacrificed the Earth's population for power. The revenge of the ten billion, "How many babies died in the bomb, Gaius?", “I charge you with acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the human race—” ect. The real life Earth's human population is projected to hit ten billion by 2050.

John, on the other hand, blames someone else—he has been persuing something, vengence or justice, for over ten thousand years. Look at what Augustine says to him, just before the end:

But let it go. Let them go. Nobody has to be punished anymore for what happened to humanity.”

The Emperor of the Nine Houses turned to look at him.

“Augustine,” he said, “if the man you were—the man you were before you died, before the Resurrection—could hear what you just said to me, he’d tear your throat out.”

The man Augustine had been before he died. Whatever resentment John has, it predates the extinction and the Resurrection. I think at least some of that resentment is aimed at Blood of Eden, and their ancestors.

“Blood of Eden,” he’d said, slowly.

“Who is Eden?”

“Someone they left to die,” said God wearily. “How sharper than the serpent’s tooth, et cetera … Harrow, if you bother to remember anything from my ramblings, please remember this: once you turn your back on something, you have no more right to act as though you own it.”

Eden isn't really a who, Eden is a where. Eden is Earth, as it was. The Edenites left Earth before the extinction, and John feels that they adandoned it to die. The line he quotes here is from King Lear, but it's a very slight King Lear misquote; the proper line is "how sharper than a serpent's tooth (....it is to have a thankless child)". Changing it to the definite article, the singular serpent, ties it back to Genesis and the garden of Eden. The Edenites are the thankless children who abandoned their mother—their world—to die, and he's equating that betrayal to original sin. I think what he's saying to Harrow here is that they turned their backs on Earth, and he didn't. They weren't there, so he feels they have no right to judge him.

#the locked tomb #the emperor (tlt)#emperor john gaius #gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth #htn spoilers #tlt meta #blood of eden #commander wake

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cockasinthebird · 4 years

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“I pray you, do not fall in love with me, for I am falser than vows made in wine.” -William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 3 Scene 5

Brown and blue both stare up at the many a love declarations on the underside of the bleachers of Hawkins High. Football practice has begun, along with their ever so faithful cheerleaders, and while Robin was here just for how short those skirts went, Steve was here for both those legs, and the sweaty muscles of the blonde haired quarter back; how he shone like diamonds underneath the ruthless summer sky.

Robin hands him the roach, and he has possibly never felt more at peace than now, in the shade with the occasional breeze. But of course, he thought so every time the two of them decided to get high and lie in the grass.

“Tommy + Carol 4 Ever,” Steve reads out loud. “Fucking asshole.”

“Aw, does poor Steve still feel abandoned?” Robin pouts falsely and puts both hands behind her head.

“Shithead was my best friend for most of our lives, and now he's off somewhere licking Billy Hargrove's boot.” He frowns whilst pressing the final embers of their joint into the grass.

“You're just jealous,” she laughs mockingly at him and turns her head to peek out through the seats.

And Steve leans up on his elbows to look past her and in the same direction, to where he sees Billy Hargrove tearing off his helmet with a victorious smile, mullet done up in a low bun, bangs clinging wetly to his forehead.

“Fuck no,” he lies.

“Come on, Dingus.” Robin knocks their shoes together. “You know you can't lie to me.”

“I can try,” he huffs a laugh and looks at how she mimics him genuinely.

“You think I got it any better?” her laugh turns to a scoff and points up. “Tammy Thompson loves John Johnson.” And there's a deep silence for a few short seconds as she keeps her finger in the direction of that etching. “Who the fuck names their child John Johnson?”

Steve cannot contain his chortle, and she is right behind with her usual snort; the one that only comes forth when they're this high.

“It would be like-” Steve takes a deep inhale. “If you were named Robin Robinson!”

“Or you Steve Stevenson!”

“Is that a real name?!”

“Y-yes?” Robin fights against the grin that wants to spread all too wide, and looks at him. “Robert Louis Stevenson!”

“Who?” Steve keeps breathing slowly to try and calm down from something that isn't actually that funny, but when you got bloodshot eyes like these, everything is.

“The famous writer? He wrote Treasure Island and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.”

Steve leans up on his elbows again to stare down at her with the most bewildered look this illiterate teen can manage. “Mr Hyde as in... our chemistry teacher?”

“Oh...” Robin's blue blue eyes grow as wide as they can. “My God... Steve... No wonder you're failing literally every class.”

And his expression falls from confused to somewhat offended, but it is the inevitable truth. “It's fine,” he says with nary a worry, “I will get a job at my father's office as... I dunno, coffee guy? Mailman?”

“You really think he'd put you in charge of something as important as their postal service?”

Rather than come up with a sensible reply to that remark, he simply grabs a fistful of grass and throws it at her.

He smiles, she laughs, and the both of them settle down once more with only the loud cheers from the girls in uniform to fill the comfortable silence they find themselves in again, as they continue reading everything that's been carved and written into the far too old wood.

Steve's name can be found numerous times, both in forms of compliments-

“I wish Steve Harrington would notice me.”

“Mrs Harrington is my dream job.”

“Steve Harrington the Keg King.”

All surrounded by hearts.

On one step it reads, “Steve 'The Hair' Harrington” in suspiciously familiar handwriting.

He used to bring girls down here, too, and would have them watch as he reached high above them and wrote his name + theirs.

Steve + Laurie. Crossed out. Steve + Amy. Crossed out. Steve + Becky. Crossed out.

He never got to bring Nancy here. Brought Robin here originally for the same reason as the rest, but she was quick to tell him the truth as he stood too close.

At least they remained friends.

“Is your name up there somewhere?” he asks her, having never actually found it.

“I'm a band dweeb, what do you think?” she sighs but acts like it doesn't bother her.

“Do you want it to be?”

“Nope,” she lies and pops the p.

And of course he doesn't believe her, but he considers himself too nice to press her on any of it.

Silence drags on for what feels like eternity crammed into one minute, and he's got something on his mind, but has absolutely no clue how to work it into conversation all casual like, because it's kinda a big deal, but he doesn't want to seem a fool for thinking so.

So he tries to just flat out say it, “Robin?”

“Steve.”

“You're... smart, right?” He feels himself failing at just saying what he's thinking.

“Smarter than you, although that's not saying much,” she chuckles out and looks to him, but he seems... nervous, and she stops. “What's up, dingus?”

“I... I got a note in my locker today, and I don't really know what it means,” Steve speaks hesitantly and rips small pieces off of a blade of grass.

Robin's brows quirks up. “Oh? And you want me to decipher it for you?”

He sits up far too fast, and even though his body remains still, the world spins for longer than what is possible. “Would you?” There is such a brightness to his tone.

“Sure, what does it say?” She gets up as well and crosses her legs.

Steve fishes out a paper that has become impossibly crumbled up in his front pocket, to a point where the letters written in beautiful cursive is almost unintelligible.

“I love you more than words can wield the matter; dearer than eyesight, space and liberty.”

And while she turns the paper around and re-reads those words, Steve stares unblinkingly so at her.

“So?” he finally asks, bursting with anticipation.

“So, it's a love letter.” She hands it back, and he looks at the paper with such admiration, as if he had forgotten he was worthy of such, just to be reminded of it now. “It's Shakespeare, King Lear. It means that she loves you more than words can describe.”

At that he looks up, beaming with elation as he asks for reassurance, “Seriously?”

“Yup.” She is clearly far less excited, but there's optimism to her tone, to know that he might find what they're both longing for, whether out loud or in secret.

“Someone wrote me a love note...” His smile wide with shocked disbelief.

“Congratulations.” She rolls her eyes although with raised lips, and lies down again.

The very next day, shortly after lunch has begun, he finds another in his locker and runs to where Robin would be eating her lunch alone in the unattended library.

Steve slams down the paper in front of her, and she pauses just before biting into her boring ham sandwich.

“Well well well lover boy,” she mocks lightly and places her food back down on the tray. “I assume you're in need of my service once again?”

The chair next to her screeches across the floor as he sits down with a hard bump. “Yes, and it's the same handwriting as last, so that means it's the same girl, right?”

“Hey now, I haven't agreed to anything yet!” She slaps her hand down on top of the paper, and smirks. “I will help you with this, again, if you buy me pizza after school.”

“Yeah, deal, whatever, just-” He gestures wildly to the neatly folded paper. “Tell me what it means!”

Robin shakes her head and slumps back into her seat; slipping down a bit with her legs splayed out all comfortable and taking up far too much space.

“Love is blind, and lovers cannot see, the pretty follies that themselves commit.”

She nods for a moment in thought, fully ignoring the way Steve's eyes could drill holes in her skull.

“I think it's from The Merchant of Venice. It means... something like, how love makes you act different?”

And since she seems satisfied with that, nods more and lets out a little “Yeah,” so is he.

“Okay, so, someone that acts differently around me?”

Robin taps her temple with a blackened nail and continues nodding like it's all he understands. Still, to ensure he gets her point, says, “You got it.”

Now it is his turn to slump into his chair, but far more confused. “How... how am I supposed to know that they act differently around me? Isn't that how I'll always have seen them, then?”

She raises her brows at that and sits up a bit more straight. “How astute!”

As if he knows what that means.

Through the weekend he waits on his bed, each note in hand and smiling so wide his cheeks grow sore.

Two love letters in two days? They are meant for him, right? This girl didn't accidentally put it in the wrong locker, right?

Steve catches himself briefly hoping she's beautiful, but pushes that aside by the fact that she's so poetically inclined, so sweet and shy that her looks hardly matters, for her choice of words warms his heart and makes it beat in a way that he has oh so missed.

Another thought is what if it's Robin, but he shakes his head violently at that stupid little thing, because no, she's his best friend and that's all they'll ever be, and he truly is happy with that. But everyone gets wrong and bad ideas from time to time, so he won't fault himself for her name popping up, as he mentally goes through a list of all the girls he knows. Or thinks he knows.

And though he tries to distract himself with TV and swimming in his pool and letting Robin paint his toenails, Monday always feels so far away.

It is the first thing he does when he shows up at school; pushes his way through his peers to fling open his locker, and sure enough a little note slips out.

He skims it for just a second before he rushes off to stand by Robin's locker for when she eventually moves to it and shoves him aside.

“Another?” she asks with her head in her locker as she rummages for gum.

“I knew she was gonna leave me another! I could feel it in my body the entire weekend!” his tone pitched high with excitement.

“Ew, gross, I don't need to know that!” she jokes and yanks it from his grasp.

“Come what sorrow can, it cannot countervail the exchange of joy, that one short minute gives me in her sight.”

And Steve folds it, lovingly so, before placing it inside his wallet, and thankfully he doesn't have to wait long for a more modern translation of it.

“Something something about how her pain and misery goes away in your presence; in the presence of a loved one. Romeo and Juliet, which is not a happy love story!” she says ardently and points a stern finger at him for emphasis.

“Okay, but does that mean we have classes together at least then?” Steve shrugs and runs a hand through his shiny hair.

“Probably? Or maybe some extra curricular activity,” Robin's tone careless and she starts down the hall, with Steve right behind.

“But the only other extra whatever I take is basket.”

“So maybe your admirer is a guy.”

He shakes his head with conviction. “Nah, I doubt that completely, I mean you've seen the handwriting! And what guy is into Shakespeare?”

“Anything is possible Steve, don't be so close minded.”

For once he is early to first-period history class, and he sits on the desk Robin usually occupies, to which she responds with throwing her bag into his lap, accompanied by a cocked brow and strong stare.

Steve doesn't say a thing, simply lifts up a fourth note, and she snags with from his fingers with an exasperated sigh.

“I would not wish any companion in the world but you.”

She groans out loud now and pushes him off of her table. “Come on dingus, this one is easy! You cannot be this stupid.”

“Just tell me what it is!” he says as he shuffles into the seat in front of hers.

“She only wants you, no one else, Jesus.”

“Oh,” he breathes out, his wide grin that of pure joy, and although this is a tiring thing to be bothered with every day now, she does appreciate his happiness to some extend.

Wednesday morning Robin is already by Steve's locker, arms crossed and a friendly smile painted across her face.

“Let's see what your stalker has come up with this time,” she says and leans away so that he can twist the lock in the right order.

And today it is a far shorter note.

“Love hath made thee a tame snake.”

She doesn't bother waiting before saying, “Love will humble and soften even the most hardened individual.” And there's a glint in her eyes, so short and easily missed, revealing that she might have an idea as to which hardened individual this could be. Not that she hadn't thought about him before already.

For she had seen his copy of As You Like It by Shakespeare fall from his bag in English Literature, but it is not her place to out anyone.

“That's a weird one, right?” His brows furrowed as he awaits affirmation. “Hardened individual? What does that even mean?”

“Steve, I-” She rubs her eyes hard and nods. “Yeah, it is a weird one. But it probably means someone who's acting tough, but in truth softens around you.”

He folds it back up and slips it into his wallet together with the other four.

“Tomorrow, then,” Robin says and pats his shoulder a few times before heading to class.

Steve stays still for a moment, looking at how the five notes stretches the leather of his wallet. His thumb runs over their ripped edges, all seemingly from the same piece of paper, thinking about the dainty fingers that must hold the ballpoint pen to write him such loving words.

Cheeks flushed, smile tender, eyes soft, he wanders towards class as well.

Months ago when he and Robin became best friends, she took a very slight interest in him and his education, because he very clearly needs help with school, and she's suspicious of the fact that he might be dyslexic, but when asked about it he gets mad.

So instead she demands food and favors from him whenever he starts screwing up in school again, starts falling behind, or shows up late to class. And of course he has slept through his alarm for the first time in weeks on this Thursday, the one day of two where they have first-period together, and now he'll have to pay for dinner at the diner, but he has a good excuse!

Sat up all night with several books written by none other than William Shakespeare that he had checked out at the library.

He's hungry and tired and in a goddamn hurry to get to class ASAP; the hallways empty and silent save for the occasional teacher yelling at an unruly student, but even that he can hardly hear over the beating of his heart, which is just great, because now he'll spend all day with floppy hair and reeking of sweat.

He just has to make a quick stop by his locker to see if there's a new note, the only thing that truly matters and overshadows the importance of getting passing grades or upholding his deal with Robin.

Around the next corner and... and...

And it never dawned on him at any point, even with Robin's constant droning of “Guys can read Shakespeare, too!” that his secret admirer might not be a girl at all. Maybe he was just so stuck in the expected reality of the world, the one he's so used to, before Robin helped him see the light, to help him realize that there's other options than gay or straight.

No he never even bothered thinking that way, till he sees Billy Hargrove slip something into his locker.

#Harringrove #My Writing #Steve Harrington #Robin Buckley #Billy Hargrove #Shakespeare #Fluffy fluff fluff #pining #I got drunk last night and listened to #twelfth night #And was like #Poet Billy? Poet Billy.#I think I've seen some other people talk about their love for that #and altho out of character imo #it was nice and fun #I write a lot of smut so stuff like this is RARE and a breath of fresh air to me #10/10 would write Poet Billy again #Also dumbass oblivious Steve #too much fun

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ziracona · 4 years

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Might be that someone already asked but give us your wisdom. Headcanons for Felix and Élodie

Initially, they’re just shocked to see each other again. And in the realm. They haven’t crossed paths since they were kids. But then almost immediately things are uncomfortable.

Élodie is the one who got the kids to go into the internment camp, /and/ who personally activated the sigil that brought the Entity to them all. She is directly responsible for the loss of her own parents and Felix’s and all the others. So, seeing him again, her first thought after surprise and relief at a familiar human is “Oh no. He hates me.” And she immediately becomes reactively and agressively defensive of herself and her past actions, predicting hostility that isn’t there yet.

Since Felix’s paragraph never even mentions Élodie, I have to assume she does not play super majorly into his own trauma memories actually and he doesn’t harbor intense resentment towards her, and probably both doesn’t blame her for being the one to push them into that trek, and simply know she activated the sigil. So, he’s surprised and relieved (even though it’s kind of awkward), and then kind of just hurt because she’s immediately reactive around him and almsot seems to resent him. He probably gets kind of pissed (understandably) like “Well you were the one who sent us down there—I don’t know why you’d hate /me/ over it” and that only makes stuff worse.

Felix is very easy to push around and terrified and takes a long time before he gets used to the realm. He is a cautious and hesistant man in general, and very very very out of his depth, both from being kind of rich and cushioned against life, and just by nature. He takes a long time to adapt and is miserable and scared, but he really does try.

Claudette, who is also miserable and scared, and Dwight, who was long the same before adapting, are especially nice to him and work to help him adapt. So are Tapp, Jane, Jeff, and Ace, who also try—especially Jane, who is well versed, and Tapp, who has experience—to comfort and reassure him about his wife giving birth without him there and his family waiting back home.

Felix misses his wife deeply and would never cheat on her and abandon her and his infant child back home on favor of a steamy realm romance. (I hold Felix ships in contempt >.> my boy has no reason to be regarded a cheater fuck off leave him alone. He’s a decent enough fellow.)

Élodie is a lot braver than Felix. She adapts to the realm quickly for average, as she is used to danger, pain, and hardship. However, unlike Felix, who is afraid and weak initially due to his complete lack of hardship experience, but is team-oriented, Élodie is used to working alone, and is not a great teammate for a while. She doesn’t mean to be cruel, and she’s not like, unfeeling or unsympathetic. But her own experience is so rooted in self-preservation and operating solo, she takes time to get used to having to share that burden with others. And kind of is resistant to it at first. It’s just...not what’s in her programming. It’s been a long time since other people were aside from in a trade and at arm’s length at best.

The survivors are such a big family though eventually Élodie is overtaken by their genuiness and affection. I think Jane and/or Kate and maybe Dwight talk to her at least once, about how this is affecting teams, or about the group’s way of operating and relationships, but I think really it’s just being saturdated in Claudette asking her for help gardening and explaining new poultices, and Meg doing movie scripts theatrically and asking her questions all the time like an (endearingly) annoying little sister, and Jeff and Tapp and Adam always there to save her and take a hit in a trial, people singing together at camp, Dwight passing her supplies to help her get started. It the family. She gets so slowly warmed up to being genuinely cared for and wanted that her walls start to go down, and she starts unlearning her instinctive reactions and begins fighting to save not just her but them too, them before her sometimes, just because it truly becomes what she wants.

Élodie is fasinated by learing any kind of information that could be useful and very dedicated, so she spends a lot of time with Dwight, Claudette, Jane, Adam, Zarina, and Tapp especially, trying to track down any information that could help them escape eventually and stuff to help then survive in the meantime. Bc of her previous life and knowledge, she is extremely useful at this.

Also gets along well with David/Kate/Laurie and Yui and Zarina. After dying, she really really wants to pick up as much fighting skill as she can.

Felix gets along pretty well with everyone, but hangs out more with the chiller activites people like Adam, Ace, Tapp, Jeff, Jane, or Dwight/Quentin/Claudette.

After arriving in the realm, Felix feels bad most of his skills seem less useful. After Dwight talks to him, he decides to so the little he can, and that even if he’s not got worlds of skills for fighting or escaping the realm, it matters at least a little he /can/ make peoples’ lives better. So he adds some rudamintery shelters to the campfire area so they have a few little actual kind of partial buildings now. He’s not the most personally skilled with tools, but he has an expansive knowledge of how to make things function well and last and be given proper support, so he and Jake make a good team when it comes to home construction.

Things with Felix and Élodie are tense for a while. They don’t fight, per se, but because she anticipates that he hates her and is automatically basically hostilely defensive towards him in preperation for that, Felix feels very disliked by her as well. With some interveigning from the others—especially Jane and Dwight—things get a little more cordial. And Felix starts trying to work hard to make things work and dedicatedly saving her in trials. Élodie hates this, she thinks/tells herself because he’s trying to be superior/sanctimonious towards her, but in reality because she is crippled with guilt over what happened a long time ago. Still, after a while, she starts trying to save him hard too to be just as good, and it’s hard to hate somebody who has rescued you from death, so unintentionally this ends up tricking them both into starting to be chill with and enjoy each other again.

Eventually, there is a breaking point when they’re alone—maybe it’s late at night and Élodie or Felix asks the other to step away to talk. Maybe it’s in a trial, and Felix is offering to die so she can take the hatch, and she just can’t take it anymore. But it happens, and Élodie breaks down and asks why he’s doing this and says she knows he must hate her, and tries to apologize and defend herself viciously at the same time, and it’s a mess, and Felix never knew she actually summoned the thing at all and it’s like getting kicked in the stomach, and he doesn’t even know what to say or think. For so long he’s blamed himself; he’s never blamed her. But he didn’t know it was her fault, and it kind of is, and she’s falling apart, and he’s so overwhelmed, and what is he supposed to say? Is he supposed to forgive her? Supposed to hate her? But. He thinks for a second. He lost everything, but so did she—so did all of them. And she didn’t know. Nobody warned them, their parents could have, and didn’t. And she was a kid. Kids make mistakes—that’s living, that’s growing up. Adults do too. And he doesn’t hate her, and it doesn’t matter if he blames her, because it doesn’t matter who /is/ to blame. They were all kids, and it was a tragedy, not an act of hate or maliciousness, and that’s all that matters. They both lost everything, and all that matters is they do the best they can with what they have now.

And that’s what he tells her. And it’s hard to accept, but she’s so relieved. She breaks down and cries and apologizes for real, no equivocations, no defense, just sorry, and he tells her there’s nothing really to forgive because it was an accident, but that if there was, he would, and they’re friends after that day. Almsot inseperably. She’s there to ask about his wife and baby he hasn’t got to meet yet and to encourage him like the best friend he never had growing up, and he’s there to hear her theories and long spiels on fascinating finds, and ask about home and what she truly wants if they make it back like the best friend she never had either, and because she finally has people she loves, she has answers to that now.

#I have given some before but I’ll try not to repeat 👀#dead by daylight #élodie rakoto #felix richter #dbd #ask #nnnnnngh

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queenbirbs · 4 years

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the way home | Ch. 2 | Edward x MC

Pairing: Edward Mortemer x MC

Word count: 1,977

Summary: In which traveling to the past is only half the battle; or: Elena finds her way back.

Warnings: language, some violence

Read from the beginning or continue on Read on AO3

Tag list: @writinghereandthere

------

Throngs of people breeze through the streets of the port town, unfazed by the stacks of boards and pallets of bricks that block sections of the main route.

The hurricane’s damage is much more obvious this close: swatches of roofs torn away, replaced with makeshift sheets of tin, the steeple of a nearby church gone, with only splinters remaining. Elena recalls the story about how she saved her home from a hurricane and hopes that she hasn’t arrived too late. Having wasted time doubling back to her buried bag and stowing away the clothes she arrived in, she hurries through the packed streets as best she can. The new boots pinch at her feet with every step. It would be nice, she bemuses, if she could keep her clothes with her when she travels back in time.

“Would’ve saved me a fortune,” she mutters, navigating around two men haggling on the price of a goat.

Complaints aside, she loves the feel of the silk vest against her skin, of the fresh leather across her hip where her new sword gleams in its holster. She even bought a cavalier hat, excusing its purchase with the protection from the sun it offered.

It’s nice to be back, to resume her role as Elena McTavish, infamous pirate. The years of holing up in her sister’s apartment or Robert’s hotel rooms, scouring documents and scrolling through endless message boards for time-traveling artifacts was no life to call her own. The occasional trip to Calgary or Edinburgh or New Orleans to hunt down a lead was the closest she ever came to a real adventure back home.

Up ahead, she spots the tavern and winds her way through the crowd to reach it. The inside is as dimly lit as any other pub she’s been to, no matter the century. Ignoring the jeer of a drunken man near the door, she makes her way to the table Robert has commandeered near the back. His new attire fits him well, colored dark as to blend in with the shadows -- just as he likes. He slides a mug to her before launching into his update.

“I found us a ship. Decent crew. They need four extra hands.”

Elena sips at the ale and raises her brow. “Did you tell them that the two of us are just as good as four men?”

“Aye, that I did.” A smirk flashes behind his mug. “They agreed to take us aboard. I told ‘em that we’re interested in finding an associate who’s likely to be farther north. As it so happens, that’s where they’re headed for a trade route.”

“Did they know anything about--”

“You know as well as I do that Edward has made enemies -- none as big as the Admiral, but enemies nonetheless. I thought it wise to keep mum about who exactly we’re looking for, especially when they’re our ride out of here.”

Elena frowns, though she dips her head in acknowledgement to his point. “I asked the ladies in the shop, but they didn’t recognize his name. This port gets its fair share of traffic.”

“Aye, we’ll have better luck with the smaller islands.” After a subtle glance at the other patrons, Robert leans over the table and drops his voice to a mumble. “I managed to find a few of my old contacts. Both of them said the same thing: that he’s offering a bounty of sorts for information on you.”

She takes a slow sip of her drink and attempts to act nonplussed. “When did they hear about this bounty? Recently, or…?”

“Within the last three months. So, that tells us that he’s in the area.”

“Yeah,” she sighs, unable to hide the daunting weight to her words, “the area of one million square miles.”

“Oi.” He nudges her arm, bringing her sour gaze up from her mug and back to him. “The hardest part is over. We made it back -- and this time, hopefully, for good. Don’t beat yerself up. I told you that I’d stick with you until we find him, and I will.”

Elena settles in her chair, holding back the relieved sigh that’s building in her chest. She doesn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much that means to her.

On their first return, he’d all but left her in the dust when the wormhole they used spit them out in a church in Salvador, down on Brazil’s coast. When their time ran out and they were both sucked back to the future a few weeks later, the leopard had changed its spots, so to speak, and Robert admitted his own faults with trying to go at it alone.

“How do you manage to slip back into the accent so well?” she asks, unsubtly changing the topic at hand.

“Helps if you learned to do so in the first place. When you first showed up, you hardly attempted to assimilate. Didn’t help you any when you waved yer mobile about.”

“Says the man who stuffed gunpowder into little tubes and tried to pass it off as an original idea? And it’s not my fault that I ended up being put on trial! Edward was the one who broke the Code by letting me come aboard.”

Robert shrugs off her point, hiding his grin behind the glass.

“We would’ve shot you first, if that’s any consolation.”

“Honestly, as someone who swam half a mile in a dress, it is.”

------

Adjusting the sails alongside Rhodes, the ship’s boatswain, Elena looks out across the deck of the Little Death and to the green spot on the horizon.

The ragtag crew welcomed them with somewhat open arms, more desperate than anything else to have help running their sloop. It didn’t hurt, of course, that Elena and Robert knew their way around boarding and pillaging merchant ships. On their journey from Santo Domingo’s port, they manage to pin down two ships along Hispaniola's southern shore, and then another as they pass by Tortuga, long abandoned by the buccaneers that ran it during the mid-seventeenth century. After stopping briefly in the West Indies to gather more crew, they head north into Great Britain’s territory. The islands here are smaller, clustered together within twenty to sixty nautical miles of each other.

“Sail ho!” someone cries from up in the crow’s nest. “Got a brig comin’ ‘round to starboard!”

Along with everyone else, Elena eagerly searches the expanse of water. The Red Duster flag fades into view soon enough. She frowns at the British merchant vessel, turning the ugly flare of disappointment into fierce determination when she boards it twenty minutes later.

The merchant crew is really no match, she finds, after tying several of the men together with their own twine. Captain Delaney, a chiseled man without a single ounce of humor in his entire body, gets right to business with giving his crew orders on what to plunder.

“Montgomery and Lear, supplies!” he shouts.

Snapping into action, Elena and Robert disappear down the ladder and into the ship’s hull. It had been his idea, of course, to use fake surnames. There was no need for their temporary crew to know their real names, especially with the rumor of a reward for--

“McTavish!” a voice blurts from the darkened corridor.

Her step falters; she knocks her shoulder against the wall before righting herself.

“Keep moving,” Robert hisses in her ear, brushing past to hide her from immediate line of sight.

“Shut up!” Rhodes demands over the sickening slap of skin on skin.

“What if it’s--”

“It’s not,” Robert cuts her off, bending down and shoving a crate of supplies into her lax hold. “If it were, they’d call you by yer given name.” He moves about the room as he speaks, pitching his voice below whoever is outside calling for her. “Don’t look at them. Make them think they’re just confused.”

Shifting the crate in her grip, Elena nods her head. “Got it.”

“C’mon.” He dumps a smaller box on top of hers in an effort to hide her face. “If the captain wants more’n this, he can send down another--”

“Elena McTavish!” the voice cries again when they exit the room. “I know it’s you -- it’s me, Doyle! Officer Doyle! Please, you can’t let them kill me!”

Behind her mountain of supplies, Elena rolls her eyes at his begging. Robert’s nudge at her back urges her to ignore the man. Their path is blocked by other members of the crew waiting their turn to return to the deck, leaving her at the mercy of Doyle’s pitiful wails. “I -- I have a family, now, a wife and a little boy. Please, you have to tell them to let me go!”

“Oi!” Rhodes knocks him back against the wall with a kick to his ribs. “What did I say?”

“I’m sorry, please, I’ll -- I just -- Elena, please, I helped you when--”

“For god’s sake, shut up!” she snarls. She turns on her heel to face him, but Robert blocks her with his own bulky crate. “We aren’t going to kill you, you idiot. And my name isn’t McTavish. I’ve never met you before in my life.”

“I don’t understand. Please, Elena, you’re my only hope! You can vouch for--”

“Rhodes?” she calls down the corridor.

The sharp thunk of skull meeting wood echoes through the small space. Her lungs seize, unable to see the damage for herself as guilt races through her.

“You’ve a soft heart, Rhodes,” another of their crew says with a smirk. “I woulda done more’n knock him out.”

Elena clenches her jaw against the grating noise of laughter. Robert joins in, adding his own insult that gets them going once more. Adjusting his load, he reaches down and pats her arm, nodding at the question in her eyes. She welcomes the breath of relief that fills her lungs.

After they leave the merchant ship behind, Rhodes approaches her out on the deck. He drapes his arm around her shoulder in a casual gesture. Elena decides to ignore the gaze he seemingly has trained on her breasts.

“I thought your name was Elena Montgomery?”

“It is,” she scoffs. “Moron mistook me for some poor lass, I guess.”

“Hmm. Poor lass indeed,” he agrees.

Glancing up, his face tightens around a grimace before his smirk springs back. His hand squeezes her shoulder for a beat before he moves off with a wink.

“God, could he be any more obvious?” she asks without bothering to look up from her task.

Robert grunts in agreement, chuckling under his breath.

“Aye, he’s probably considering what he could buy himself with that many pieces of eight.”

“How many, exactly?” Elena questions, curious.

“Six-hundred, according to my contacts.”

Her jaw drops a fraction before she snaps her mouth closed. “The same payout as losing an arm, depending on a ship’s Code. Which is, I imagine, what Edward’ll do if Rhodes here threatens you to get that coin.”

“That’s…” she trails off, still trying to move past the sum.

“Not his best play, I’ll give you that.” He tips his head to the side in consideration. “But it keeps mouths moving, keeps people looking.”

Finishing off her last knot, Elena shifts to lean against the railing. She could corner Rhodes when night comes and threaten to slice his balls off if he tells anyone else -- but then that would be all the convincing he would need. Keeping her head down is probably the best way to go about it, but that runs the risk of him feeling brave enough to pull a stunt on her down the line.

“Dead men tell no tales,” she recites in a sing-songy tone.

Robert steps up to join her at the railing and crosses his arms, glaring out over the deck at the man in question.

“Leave him to me.”

#edward x mc #edward mortemer #distant shores #distant shores fic #Kaila writes things #f: the way home #I think tumblr is finally letting me tag people so if you'd like to be tagged just let me know!#I know some people in the past requested to be tagged but it's been a long while and i don't want to bother #choices

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alexsfictionaddiction · 4 years

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10 of the best pandemic novels

It’s an understatement to say that the world as we know it has changed insurmountably over the last few weeks. We’re apart from our loved ones, most of our summer plans have been cancelled and we’re faced with more uncertainty than ever before. Pandemics and plagues have been present in horror, sci-fi and post-apocalyptic books for decades and they’ve always seemed to be exactly that. Abandoned cities, fast-acting deadly diseases and epic efforts for survival are things that happen in different worlds to our own but of course, they’ve never reflected reality more than they do right now.

I’ve been using this time to research and read a bunch of books that deal with pandemics and I wanted to share 10 of the very best of them with you. I completely understand if you’re trying to avoid these kinds of reads at the moment to limit anxiety or simply to escape. That’s why I also have a list of feel-good reads especially for you!

1. The Stand by Stephen King

The Stand is a book you’ll see on every pandemic fiction list because it is widely considered to be King’s masterpiece. The virus is really just the beginning of this enormous tome as its proceeded by ominous dreams, the inevitable end of days and the very real eternal battle between good and evil -perhaps not unlike some of your recent political discussions? Typical of a King novel, it’s populated by a huge cast of morally complex, tragic characters and there is an overwhelming sense of dread from the very first chapter. Expect a harrowing atmospheric read that will stay with you for a long time.

2. The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey

Essentially, it’s a zombie book but it’s also so much more than that. Set in a world where ‘hungries’ roam the wastelands, a select group of infected but high-functioning children are contained in a special facility. Amongst a ruthless scientist, a kindly teacher and a wary sergeant, child genius Melanie’s story will become one that haunts you in the middle of the night. It’s a classic page-turning thriller that isn’t an exact reflection of our current world but there are some eerie likenesses that will have you questioning who the real monsters are.

3. Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

Station Eleven is so full of believable situations and characters that I could easily see the end of the Earth looking exactly like this huge sprawling landscape, dotted with towns populated by small groups of suspicious, scared people. It chiefly follows five principal characters -seasoned Hollywood actor Arthur Leander who dies on stage during a production of King Lear, his incredibly talented but unappreciated first wife Miranda, his oldest friend Clark, Jeevan Chaudhary who tried to save him and Kirsten, one of Arthur’s child co-stars whose life has been shaped by the events of that fateful night. It’s a beautifully written, expertly constructed book that explores loss, resilience and the heartbreaking notion of desperately trying to hold on to the past. You’ll want several boxes of tissues for this one!

4. The Fireman by Joe Hill

Ok, so the virus in this one isn’t QUITE like COVID-19 but the intense fear, teetering sanity and unexpected small rays of hope aren’t unlike our current set of feels. Dragonscale marks its host with black and gold and burns them up from the inside causing them to eventually spontaneously combust and no one appears to be safe from this horrifying end. We follow pregnant nurse Harper who bears the ominous marks but is desperate to live long enough to give birth and the mystery of the Fireman -an afflicted man who has somehow learned to control the fire within him. It’s a very original premise and although it’s another beast of a book at over 700 pages, it will have you gripped from the very first page.

5. The Book of M by Peng Shepherd

There’s something about memory that feels so precious to me. It may be because in a normal functioning brain, it’s the only thing that constantly keeps us company and therefore, in some ways it’s like an old friend. The Book of M features a virus where shadows have begun to disappear, leaving their humans with a strange new power but also with a rapidly deteriorating memory. Following Ory and Max -two halves of a couple who have been torn apart by the prospect of heartbreak- we meet a bunch of wonderful characters on a journey to New Orleans, where sanctuary reportedly awaits. I stayed up late to finish it because I became so invested in getting these characters back together but I was left completely thrown and sobbing my eyes out by the very cruel twist at the end. Yeah... brace yourself!

6. The Last Town On Earth by Thomas Mullen

Set in 1918 in Washington state, this story follows a small quarantined town trying to stave off the Spanish influenza. The effects of financial instability on the community, the fear of the unknown and the erratic actions of a panicked mind will definitely seem familiar in our current world. It’s an enclosed domestic drama with a lot of social history, tear-jerking moments and a truly explosive ending. I’m delighted that I discovered this emotional hidden gem!

7. Skin by Liam Brown

Skin describes a world with an extreme version of a COVID-esque virus. Everyone must completely isolate from everyone else including the people they live with and can only communicate from separate bedrooms via technology. But then our protagonist Angela spots a man outside without any protective gear on and he doesn’t even seem to be slightly sick. Full of intrigue, complex characters and a twist in the tale, it’s a fast read with a lot to say about contemporary society via a wry cynical voice.

8. Severance by Ling Ma

Candace Chen is a routine-loving millennial who turns ghost city photo-blogger when the deadly Shen Fever sweeps New York. Joining an eclectic band of survivors on a trek to a supposed sanctuary, she is harboring a secret of epic proportions. Things get progressively darker as the group begins to develop a cult-like dynamic and the seemingly self-elected ‘leader’ Bob becomes increasingly tyrannical. The sudden jolt out of ordinary life and the making and breaking of human relationships in times of hardship mixed with a touch of satire makes for a thoroughly entertaining, topical read.

9. Wilder Girls by Rory Power

I love a good boarding school novel and this is possibly the darkest, most unique one I’ve ever read. The Tox has left multiple pupils at Raxter School For Girls with deformities and they’re now waiting patiently for a cure. But then Hetty’s best friend Byatt goes missing and suspicion heightens as to what’s really happening on the remote island. I couldn’t shake the feeling of doom for the entire time and there was such a heavy gloomy atmosphere that seeps through the pages. There was a lot of buzz around this book on YA Twitter when it was released late last year and it’s definitely worth all of the hype!

10. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

This impeccably strange, enchanting novel is a little glimpse into some of the weirder rooms of Atwood’s mind. Snowman lives in a tree on a deserted beach and spends his days foraging for scraps and mourning his best friend Crake and the woman he loved, the enigmatic Oryx. He seems to be the only human left but somehow he has become a prophet-esque figure to the beautiful, ethereal Children of Crake. The actual virus doesn't appear until the final 50 pages but we see the effects of it from the very beginning, so I was pretty eager to find out exactly what had happened, which kept the pages turning. Although it is funny in places and exceptionally thought-provoking, there is a lot of disturbing content to be aware of including animal experimentation and child trafficking and sexual abuse. It’s a horrifying window into a possible future if extreme capitalism and the fast advances in genetic engineering were ever to meet in a head-on collision.

#pandemic fiction #dystopian #sci-fi #horror #books #bookworm #recommendations #book recommendations

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flutteringphalanges · 4 years

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Mirabile Visue

Summary: Sister Agatha Van Helsing discovers she’s in over her head when a competitive game of chess ultimately results in her becoming pregnant with the child of her worst enemy, Count Dracula. Now tied by a bond deeper than blood, the two must learn to coexist and adapt in a world that could be potentially hostile towards their offspring. Parenthood has never looked so batty.

Characters: Dracula/Sister Agatha Van Helsing

Chapters: 7/?

Read on FFN and AO3

A/N: You guys are simply amazing! Thank you so much for your feedback! Sorry for the delay, I have a few new Dracula stories so I’m trying to balance out updates for all of them! Also, my current avatar/icon was designed by the marvelous mitsukatsu! It's an adult Sorina. Any artwork you’ve seen related to this story has been created by them! Also the photograph in the chapter is done by her also! Go check out their tumblr! You won’t regret it! Here is the next chapter, as promised! -Jen

Chapter Seven

Zoe Van Helsings's Residence

Present Time

"What kept you?"

Sorina was never one for the spotlight. Besides her relationship with Jack and their occasional outings, she held to her privacy. No social media-mostly because Zoe had insisted she avoid it, attention was something she never sought. So now, the three pairs of eyes who stared her down with immense concentration left her feeling more or less uncomfortable. Especially, since they belonged to none other than her own parents and aunt.

"Why are they here?" Sorina asked, her mouth still dry from the shock of it all.

"Why were you out?" Zoe countered, arms folded. "You know the rules. How many times do I have to drill it into your mind. The world is a dangerous place, Sorina. You can't just go prancing about without asking-"

"I shouldn't have to ask, I'm one hundred and twenty three years old," she spat back. "Were you tracking my phone?! And again, why are they here?! How did they even get…"

"She invited us in," Agatha interrupted. "Your father can be very...persuasive," she through a disapproving look towards her husband.

"I offered to go find you myself," Dracula shrugged, the corner of his lips curving into a smirk. "Had a feeling where you were, father's intuition, but decided to give Zoe the choice. I walk into a club full of human feeling rather parched, or she could allow us both inside to wait for your return. I think she made the right call, wouldn't you say, Doctor?"

"Just come inside, Sorina," Zoe exhaled, pinching the brim of her nose. "If we keep arguing, it'll be dawn before we stop."

"Don't have to ask me twice," the young woman grumbled, pushing past the other adults. "All I wanted was one night! One night to feel the least bit normal. And with Jack! I'm sick of being stuck at the Foundation, mulling over this sorry excuse of an existence!"

"This Jack character," Dracula ventured. "I'm rather keen on learning more about him."

"I'm going to my room now," his daughter growled, ignoring his statement. "All of this has made me tired. Just stay out of my way," her eyes flashed to her parents. "I don't care what you do, I don't care if you stay here, just give me space. That's the least you can do!"

"Sorina," Agatha began. "We…"

But the halfling had already climbed the steps, reaching the second level. The parents exchanged looks and Dracula offered his wife a small smile. But Agatha didn't return the gesture. Sighing, she ran her fingers through her hair. One minute her daughter was a happy, lively three year old, and now, what seemed like moments but had actually been years, she had developed a hatred for them. Who could blame her? She couldn't begin to imagine what it must've felt like to believe she'd been abandoned.

"She'll come around," her husband said, taking her hand. "Give her a chance."

"I'm starting to question that," she admitted, her attention shifting to Zoe. "I hate to impose on you, but could we burden you with staying the night-or, day rather? Our apartment is still being fitted to meet our needs. I understand if you don't-"

"Basement," Zoe mumbled. "I can't offer you much else. I'm doing this for Sorina. Not you. Even if she is upset," she gazed up towards the stairs. "If you met your true death, I think she's suffered enough hurt to last her lifetime."

"Thank you," the vampire smiled. "We won't stay longer than necessary."

"Oh I know," Zoe replied simply. "I'll just rescind your invitation if you do."

Dracula opened his mouth, clearly about to make a snarky reply when Agatha grabbed his wrist tightly. "Enough," she said firmly, eyes boring into his. "Be gracious and let's go. I'm feeling rather off. I think a nice rest would help."

The doctor watched closely as the two vampires made their way to the basement door. Grasping the handle, the count twisted it open. When Agatha wasn't paying attention, he threw Zoe a dirty look before disappearing into the darkness. When they were finally gone, the woman sighed, leaning tiredly against the wall. As she debated whether or not to go and confront Sorina, her cell phone began to buzz from within her pocket.

"Dr. Zoe Van Helsing, who's this I'm speaking to?"

"Dr. Van Helsing? I'm one of the researchers at the Harker Foundation? We ran some tests on the blood samples you collected? You're going to want to hear this…"

XXX

"I love you more than words can wield the matter, Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty. Do you know what that's from, Sorina?"

The little girl looked up curiously from where she sat in her father's lap. It was late and her mother had already gone to bed. Sorina, however, could not find the will to sleep. Instead, she curled up close to her father, relaxed by the warmth of the flames in the fireplace.

"No, Papa," she admitted.

"It's from William Shakespeare's play, King Lear. It means, my little one, that I, and your mother, love you more than anything else in this world," he murmured, stroking her head. "More than the moon and the stars. The sun. More than everything. You are our most valued treasure. Nothing will take away our love for you," he smiled. "Even if we aren't there."

"Aren't there?" Sorina asked, straightening up. "Where are you going, Papa?"

"Nowhere, Micul mea liliac," he assured her. "I just want you to know, that no matter what, no matter the distance, the time, the place, you are always in our hearts as we are in yours. You can remember that, yes?"

"Yes, Papa," she promised, smiling. "I love you."

"I love you too, my darling Sorina," he murmured, touching his forehead to hers. "Forever and always."

Forever and always.

Sorina woke with a start, sitting up abruptly in bed to find Agatha standing at one of her dressers. The woman looked just as surprised, something held in her grasp. Before her daughter could utter a word, the vampire spoke up.

"Sorry, I thought you were fast asleep," she gave a small smile. In her hands, Sorina could make out a picture frame. "Is this you? Well, of course it is, but when was it taken?"

Slowly, the girl rose from underneath her covers. Why she had not snapped and demanded the woman leave, she was unsure. Walking to her side, Sorina took the picture carefully from her mother and examined it. It was faded, black and white, but she remembered the outfit so well. A blue hat that complimented her curls, a matching mid length dress that fell just below her knees, and a pair of oxford shoes she'd been given as a Christmas present.

"1934," she said, brushing her fingers against the frame. "We were holding a dinner party-well, Uncle Abraham was. I was allowed to attend. One of those rare occasions. There was a photographer and everything. I felt free that night, normal. I was passed off as a distant relative, it was exciting really…" Sorina sighed, the nostalgia of it all bringing both comfort and sadness. "That was before the war really struck England. Before life became...much harder."

"I'm sorry I was there," Agatha replied, hesitantly reaching out to place a hand on Sorina's shoulder. She didn't flinch away. "I cannot begin to imagine what it must've been like."

"No," the girl whispered, tears beginning to cloud her vision. "No you can't. You don't know what it's like to watch those you love die time and time again. To witness such horrors, forced to hide like some prisoner. To believe that after all this time...after everything…"

The picture clattered back onto the dresser as the former nun wrapped her arms around her daughter. Sorina's cries turned into sobs as she buried her face into her mother's shoulder. Agatha held her tight, almost as tight as she did their last night together on the Demeter. Sorrow. Pain. It ran from the girl's body onto hers. So many years. So much agony built up.

"It's okay now," she murmured. "Everything is going to be alright."

"Mum," Sorina whimpered. "Mum, I missed you so much!"

The two held each other tightly, finally finding the comfort both had sought so hard for.

XXX

"Pregnant? There's absolutely no way that's possible!"

"The results don't lie, Dr. Van Helsing," the researcher responded on the phone. "Agatha is indeed pregnant. The only explanation we can gather is that she conceived prior to being turned. Then in that comatose state-vampire sleep, whatever terminology you wish to use, the fetus too became dormant, its growth only restarting when its mother was awakened. I've...well, we've never seen anything like it."

"Can you tell how far along she is?" Zoe breathed, glancing behind her at her closed bedroom door.

"A few weeks," he replied. "A month at most. Do you think they're aware?"

"If they were, I'm sure we would've known by now," the doctor said quietly. "So this...anomaly, is it dangerous? Is it like Sorina?"

"It's too early to tell," the researcher responded. "But we need to keep her monitored. Something this unpredictable can't be ignored. She needs to come back to the Foundation. By any means necessary. If she won't come willingly…"

"I know," Zoe interrupted, resting her head on her palm. "I'll handle this...let me see what I can do."

"Keep up posted," the man said before the phone clicked off.

The doctor stared down at the floor, her mind racing. So much had happened in so little time. And now this. A pregnant vampire. Sorina's mother. A sibling. Hadn't she been given enough on her plate. She inhaled deeply through her nose and closed her eyes. God forgive her.

XXX

Jack Seward sat at his desk, casually enjoying a bag of crisps as he clicked through online videos. Despite being wide awake for so long, he didn't feel nearly tired enough to call it a night. As he moved his hand to click to the next viral sensation, his phone buzzed.

"Hello, Jack."

The young man's brow furrowed. It was odd, a number he didn't recognize. Perhaps one of his friends got a new phone? He pushed the chips aside and paused the video, his fingers moving against the keys.

"Hi, who's this?"

He watched as the typing icon blinked. The moment the message appeared, his blood ran cold.

"Count Dracula. Or, you may better know me as Sorina's father. I think it's about time we became acquainted."

Until that moment, Jack thought it was just a saying when people claimed to wet their pants when they were scared. Good thing for modern society. It was about time he put that washer and dryer to good use.

#Dracula #Dracula 2020 #Dracula on Netflix #Agatha Van Helsing #Dracula x Agatha #Dragatha #Zoe Van Helsing #Mirabile Visu

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junkyardlynx · 5 years

Text

Pt. 5

By the waters of Leman I sat down and wept . . . Sweet Thames, run softly till I end my song, Sweet Thames, run softly, for I speak not loud or long. But at my back in a cold blast I hear The rattle of the bones, and chuckle spread from ear to ear.

-The Waste Land, T. S. Eliot. (III. The Fire Sermon)

Four cold, slick, and damp walls surrounded Thomas. He lay huddled on the dirty floor, clinging to himself, as if trying to hold everything he was inside of him. Short black hair, matted with mud, sweat and blood stuck to his forehead, The relief that the chilly concrete provided his burning skin was momentary, but it was something. Like a cat seeking affection, he proceeded to grind his cheek and forehead into the wall, a low moan issuing from his searing throat.

Perhaps five meters up lay freedom and he could see sunlight lazily streaming down into the makeshift prison he was in. The walls were meaningless, really. They could have left him in an abandoned field. There was no way that Thomas Jude was going anywhere, after all. He had no strength to move, much less stand, or crawl, or walk, or certainly run.

His entire being was undergoing a sort of rhexis, rupturing and turning inside out. Waves of immense heat washed over him, moment by moment, and the thick droplets of spittle that hung grotesquely from his lips felt more like molten lava. He wept fire, the tears of exertion only adding to his suffering, dripping off his inflamed cheeks and sizzling on the ground. He prayed for a death that he knew would not come. His mind was cast back to the past, seeking refuge from that ever-burning pyre that consumed his insides.

---

He just wanted to be like them.

He wasn’t jealous of their love. He supported it. Time and time again, he tried to push them together, but they were too shy or too hesitant to follow through. It was honestly irritating, he thought. How could they not realize their own feelings? So when it finally started to happen, when they noticed each other as something other than friends, he was overjoyed.

The three stuck together for years - kids knee-deep in the muck and the mire, laughing in shallow creeks and sneaking out to see bad horror movies. If someone had a problem with Jeal, Thom had a problem with them. If someone was creeping on Sarisa? Thomas might make a delivery of earthworms into their backpack, just to send a message. The three were inseparable, and there was only love and friendship to be found.

But then they started to grow apart from him.

He was being left behind.

They disappeared at odd times, sometimes independent of each other but mostly together. This had happened before, of course, and Thomas chalked it up to things like Jeal having those piano lessons with his father or Sarisa learing how to ride that motorcycle she’d gotten for her sixteenth birthday. You know, normal people things. Sometimes he was right.

But he found out, eventually.

Having nothing to do after class on a Friday, Thomas went down to the retro arcade that had just opened. A spot of Terminator 2 Light Gun action felt like the right response to a boring and lonesome afternoon. Awkwardly fishing his wallet out of his jeans as he walked down the road, he started to count his bills as he rounded the corner, only to find something wholly unexpected.

Jeal being attacked by some...guy? A guy wearing some Japanese kabuki theatre mask and swinging a sword. A sword? Does he have a license for that? Shaking his head to sweep away that inane thought, he watched, mesmerized as Jeal evaded every frenzied slash. He looked almost bored, but surely that couldn’t be it. Thomas’ mind froze for one second, then two, and by the time that he began to leap into action, it was over.

It was over because Sarisa had appeared from nowhere, frozen the man’s legs to the ground and kicked him right in the jaw, replete with a wet cracking sound that indicated something had probably broken. He fell over at an awkward angle, his legs still stuck to the ground in a block of ice, leaving him in a very precarious sort of limbo state. With a sigh, Jeal brushed the dirt off his slacks and tucked a length of golden hair behind his ear before jerking his thumb at the attacker, his red eyes cold and hard, colder and harder than Thomas had ever seen them. Sarisa seemed to heave a mocking, exaggerated sigh before freeing the man. Leaving him in the middle of the road, Sarisa had grabbed Jeal’s hand and lead him off, both seeming wholly unconcerned with the entire bizarre fucking situation.

Something came over Thomas in that moment.

He waited a few moments to see if the coast was clear before jogging out into the street and kneeling over the person, the demonic mask having been struck clean and cast off. Their sword was missing, curiously enough. Their face was turned to the side and covered by a black cloth wrap, but long brown hair could be seen peeking out from the sides of the makeshift cover.

“You alright, man?”

The person rolled onto their back to face him, dark honey eyes staring into his own cloudy blues. They wordlessly pulled down the black cloth covering their head before responding with a wordless froth of spittle and blood.

“Not a man, right. Sorry.”

She was striking, even with half of her face swollen and distorted. Catching himself, Thomas stripped off his jacket and placed it under her head as he began to fumble around in his pocket, looking for his cell. He caught himself.

What was he doing? This person tried to kill his friend.

But...

What were his friends doing? And what was that Final Fantasy Blizzaga bullshit?

“I’ll call the poli-”

Thomas found a short blade at his throat, followed by a gentle shake of the woman’s head.

“...no police...”

A soft voice forced itself from her lips and he found himself acquiescing to her demands, tucking his phone back into his pants. He looked around as the sun began to set, the street curiously empty. Looking back down at the woman, Thomas scratched the back of his head almost angrily.

“Guess I’ll take you back to my place. It’s not like I have parents who can tell me no anyway, haha. Hah. Yeah.”

He offered his hand.

He couldn’t quite determine the emotions behind the look on her face, but it was somewhere between pity, empathy and gratitude. Carefully, grabbing onto Thomas’ shoulder, she pulled herself up to her knees, and then her feet. As if forgetting it existed until that moment, the lady bent down painfully to reach for the demonic mask, only to find Thomas handing it to her.

“Wouldn’t wanna forget that, right? Anyway, I’ll get you patched up. In return, you have to tell me about what you were attacked for.”

She only smiled at him, but the smile seemed far away.

#writing #my writing #modern fantasy #magic

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samanthawells89 · 6 years

Text

Cali Love

This is an Au in which Juice never joined SOA but does come into their lives. I own nothing and this is non-canon. I don't know how far it will go.

Everyone had intruded upon a masturbating Tig. Some could even call it a rite of passage amongst the Sons. They would even send Prospects to see him about any number or things at random times. Chibs did not expect to find him on a Tuesday morning jacking off to a non-pornographic movie. The DVD had been paused on a shot of a man.

While Tig finished while Chibs stared at the screen. He tore his eyes away from the image of the shirtless Latino man to glare at his brother.

“What.” Tig flashed his signature shit eating grin. “He’s hotter than any of the bitches in this movie.” He got up to get ready for his shift in the garage.

Chibs studied the image still on the screen. The actor was early twenties. He had a sculpted body that spoke of good genetics and healthy lifestyle. He had ears that stuck out a bit and a slightly hooked nose, but had really prominent cheekbones. Black hair was shaved close to his skull. After finishing in the bathroom, Tig grabbed the remote to shut off the television. His finger pushed play by accident. A beautiful smile blossomed on the actor’s face.

No one had stirred his passion since Fiona. They had been going towards separation before Jimmy O. In the following years, there had been plenty of women who satisfied the physical needs. There had been plenty of croweaters and sweetbutts who wanted to be his Old Lady, but no one ever made that feeling bloom in his heart…

“That mouth was made for sucking cock.” Tig declared. Way to add to the moment. The scarred Scotsman stormed out of the dorms. Laughter echoed in the stirring clubhouse.

Three hours later, Donna Winston came to collect her copy of Blood Ties. Tig handed over the case while gushing about the movie. In their world, this was one of the more unusual friendships. Some drunk driver ran her off the road six months ago. Tig had been on a midnight ride when he spotted the wreck. She had massive head trauma. Without him, Opie would have buried his wife. In the following months, Tig would help her out with chores and errands. When she recovered, she began cooking for him so he did not have to rely on take out.

While they talked, Gemma sidled up to Chibs. “It is a good movie. And the Latin Adonis is better looking than the women.”

Chibs stared at Gemma with open mouthed shock. He often forgot that Tig and Gemma treated each other like siblings who know too much about one another. “What is it even about?” It was the only thing that could come out of his mouth.

Gemma flicked a blonde strand out of her face. “Blood Ties is supposed to be a modern retelling of King Lear. I’m surprised you haven’t heard of it sooner, being Shakespeare and all.”

“I never was a good student.” He grumbled before getting back to work.

Weeks passed. Chibs still thought about the young actor with the enchanting smile. He even scanned some celebrity rag that mentioned the movie on the front page. Turns out the movie was selling copies fast while sweeping through independent film festivals. Many of the actors and actresses were already fielding offers from major studios. He learned that J.C. Ortiz, Queens native who had never traveled beyond New York City, was making a special trip to L.A. to promote the film for the upcoming Oscars. The Scot played with the idea of riding to Hollywood and staking out the venue just to see if he was as angelic in real life. Then, he reminded himself to live in reality as he prepared to take the tow truck to the highway

Someone had called in a seemingly abandoned vehicle on the shoulder. T&M would tow it away, either to their lot or to Unser’s lot. There they would attempt to identify the owner. Chibs parked behind a black Ford Focus with rental tags. He jumped out and walked up to the driver’s side. Someone was slumped over the steering wheel. Chibs tapped on the window to check if the driver was still alive. The driver jerked awake and upright in the seat, his palm hitting the horn in the process.

J.C. Ortiz looked out the window in terrified confusion.

#soa #juice ortiz #chibs telford #au #tig trager #gemma teller

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hphorrorfest · 6 years

Text

HP Horror Fest: REVEALS

Hello, everyone! We are pleased to announce the reveals for the 2018 Horror Fest. A HUGE thank you to everyone who participated this year, from the very beginning with prompters who left amazing inspiration for the creators, to the writers and artists, to our lovely readers and commenters. This has been so much fun for us mods and we have been blown away by the talent and creativity this fest has yielded.

If you would like to see some fun stats on this year's fest, otherwise known as The DMLE Case Files, we will be posting those in a couple of days time.

@writcraft & @heyitsamorette

When Death Comes (Harry/Draco | R | 4,600) by @kedavranox

There is little you can do to live when Death wants you all for his own…

Sirius' Nightmare (Sirius | G | ART) by @yumenouveau

In the Dark, Deep Woods (AU Genfic | T | 3,600) by @hiddenhibernian

Werewolves are howling outside the camp, and there is a stranger at the fire. Harry Potter died fourteen long years ago, but the Order is still fighting.

A Wand, Made of Bone (Draco/Hermione | M | 3,200) by @mykesprit

Break into the temple and collect the wand; that is their objective. For artifact hunters Draco and Hermione, the assignment quickly turns deadly as they face dark magic that has lain dormant for thousands of years.

House of Horrors (Next-Gen Genfic | M | 3,600) by LRThunder (AO3)

Despite being warned not to go, Scorpius persuades Albus and Rose to investigate a mysterious house with him. Soon, he realizes he had listened to his father and grandfather.

Sacrifices (Mandy Brocklehurst/Pansy Parkinson | T | 2,700) by Celinarose (AO3)

Wizards all over Britain start disappearing after the war, and no one can figure out why. Until Mandy finds out, the hard way.

The Murders at Hogwarts (Various Pairings | E | 4,750) by @zivandre

There's a killer on the loose at Hogwarts. Each time a body is found, they are no closer towards finding the killer, and honestly, Dumbledore's not that worried. The School Governors try to shut down the school, but Dumbledore won't have it. What happens when a Jack-The-Ripper-esque killer is on the loose and has no mercy or limits? Please, read the tags - this is seriously dark and demented, and I don't want anyone to sign up for something that they aren't prepared for or want to read.

Dress You Up (In My Love) (Harry/Draco | M | 2,150) by @nerdherderette

Draco had always been known for his beauty.

Found (Hermione Genfic | E | 9,700) by @misdemeanor1331

While flying back home from a friend’s baby shower, Hermione Granger gets caught in a fierce autumn storm and is forced to land in the middle of a forest. Eight months pregnant and desperate for shelter, she eventually finds refuge in the isolated cabin of Theodore Nott. She thinks she’s safe, but soon realizes that quiet, unassuming Theo is more dangerous to her life - and the life of her unborn child - than any storm.

Against the dying of the light (Harry/Draco | E | 17,380) by @bangyababy

The Rage is a rare dark creature that feeds off of its victims deepest fears. When Harry discovers one is attached to Draco Malfoy, he refuses to leave his side until they can defeat it, even if that means facing the Rage himself.

One By One (Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy | E | 9,724) by Dramioneinlove (AO3)

An unlikely group of witches and wizards come to be trapped in an abandoned mansion after a Portkey accident. But is said accident that unfortunate? Probably not in the eyes of the person who's killing them off one by one...

Down in the Ground (Harry Genfic | M | 7,950) by Coriaria (AO3)

“I’m not the only dead man in here, Harry. In fact, there’s so many of us, this place should be called a cemetery. Once you are here, generally your family doesn’t discuss you any more. No wizard wants to admit they have a relative who is insane. Easier to say we are dead.”

Count to Ten (Draco/Hermione | M | 4,000) by Carapace (LJ)

Sometimes life is all about timing.

The Apple Tree (Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter | E | 8,922) by @foularcadebanana

Harry’s breath caught in his throat as his wand automatically lit up. “Lumos,” a familiar female voice lightly whispered in his ear and then giggled, making Harry shut his eyes tightly. It was a dream, it was just a dream. It wasn’t real, it couldn’t be. He was just having a nightmare, just imagining things that were happening inside his own head. “Of course it’s happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it’s not real?”

Distortion (Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy | M | 8,937) by DorthyAnn (AO3)

Harry wakes in darkness. A darkness that goes on and on without end. He can't see or feel, he doesn't- know what's happened. All he can do is hold on, using his memories and pure determination.

Dysphoria by @Writcraft (Teddy Lupin | T | ART + POEM)

“Who is it that can tell me who I am?” (King Lear, Act 1: Scene 4)

Green (Harry Potter/Severus Snape | M | 17,373) by Antuhsa (AO3)

In St Mungo's, caught between the war and his trial, Snape has no idea how to proceed. Leave it to Potter to barge in and disrupt his musings. However, Potter's unusual demand may end up helping them both.

Flicker (Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter | E | 11,009) @drarrymylove

Harry has an argument with Draco but places a very high regard on his privacy. Instead of making a scene, thus feeding the vultures of the media, he stays calm and sits down for a drink in a bar. Harry never makes it home that night. He quickly loses control of the situation. With no access to his magic, he is left in the hands of a man he just met.

A Cold, Dark Room (Bellatrix Lestrange, Luna Lovegood | E | 1,142) by beaute_ephemere (AO3)

He comes to her every night when she's in the dungeon. She knows what he wants, but is powerless to resist.

Bubble-gum (Bellatrix Black Lestrange/Alice Longbottom | E | 4,473) by OTPshipper98 (AO3)

“You think you’re being funny, don’t you?” Bellatrix said. “Think I’m just going to Crucio you to death as I did with that piece of shit and end your suffering?" For a moment, it seemed as though the witch was going to bite Alice's throat off, but her expression suddenly softened into a wry smile and her eyebrows rose. “Ah, but you couldn’t be more wrong.”

Poetic Justice (Draco/Harry | E | 10,054) by @heyitsamorette

Someone is finding elaborate, poetic ways to murder people who went unpunished for their crimes in the second Voldemort war.

Some Sort of Monster (Fenrir Greyback/Nymphadora Tonks | E | 6,458) by @wl-erkling

One time— one time was enough to give Tonks the need for something Remus wasn’t willing to offer. How far will she go to lose herself, to find that intensity again?

Don't Ruin a Perfect Thing (Draco/Harry | M | 9,039) by @thepansypxrky

After the battle, everything seemed fine. Until Harry woke up one morning to find his scar a blooded mess upon his forehead, and growing with each day. This is what happens when a horcrux splinters inside of you. This is what happens when you want something so badly that everything becomes simple.

Skin Jar (Petunia, Lily, Severus | T | 7,931) by BirdieMing (AO3)

Who are we all, really? It’s superficial. Of course it is. No one’s going to crack their chest wide open at the lightest request, and if you do, then you’re an anomaly, something to be eradicated with clutched pearls and exchanged looks. High society never did favor the boldly bright. They preferred their men poised with power; their ladies beautiful and haughtily docile. It’s the unattainable lifestyle, one that you were either born or married into. It’s all what Petunia Evans of dirty, industrial Cokeworth ever wanted.

#hp horror fest 2018 #2018 reveals #2018 masterlist

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gabriel-gabdiel · 4 years

Text

【Draft】 Keit-AI! Tomoyuki x Seiko Chapter 20: Hook, Line, and Sinker

Tomoyuki just got catfished?!

For what it was worth, Tomoyuki "Cherry Boy" Yamamoto found a way to return the favor to (Alternate Universe) Seiko "Amazon Queen" Okamoto for her thoughtful birthday gift to him.

The best birthday gift he ever got. A trailer for a film that didn't exist in his universe. Seen only by him within his reality.

The trailer for Akira Kurosawa's "Ran". The legendary director's (unintentional) version of William Shakespeare's "King Lear".

What he was about to send to Seiko was in a sense his "White Day" gift for her "Valentine's Day" chocolate.

A return gift of gratitude. A downloaded video from YouTube Japan.

"Hey, Cherry Boy. What's this?" she texted him back.

"Just open the file," he texted in return.

She then texted, "Boo. I thought it's a round or two from Pacquiao- Mayweather, but it's just another one of your Kurosawa film trailers!"

Huh. Maybe he should've sent her a Pac-May clip. Maybe later. "I'll just send you video highlights of it or even their future rematch when it happens. Maybe even on your birthday."

"There's gonna a rematch?! Sweet!" she cheered, only to ask, "So what did you send me?"

"Send it to him. To me. The other me," he answered. "I swear to you, Tomoyuki will love it. I know I do."

She watched the whole thing. All one minute and thirteen seconds of it.

"Cherry Boy, you're a genius! This is the best birthday gift for Tomoyuki since, you know, he canceled on our proposed movie date and all."

Ah. Of course.

AU Miku ended up giving AU Tomoyuki the cold shoulder because he liked AU Seiko's present more than hers, so to make it up to the Class Rep, his other self nixed his date with the Amazon Queen.

Another love triangle had formed in another dimension.

At least the other Okamoto had a love triangle to speak of. He was definitely still in the "Friend Zone" (sorry, Miku) with the Amazon Queen in his universe, her proposal for a pity date aside.

The Amazon Queen that didn't love him as much as this other" her did.

"Sorry," he texted back, pushing his disturbing thoughts at the back of his mind. "But you know what they say about love and war."

"Fair enough, but what do I tell Cherry Boy when I send this video to him? He'll have questions for sure!"

Nodding to no one in particular, Yamamoto replied, "Tell him it's the long-lost and extremely rare alternate trailer for Kagemusha starring Katsu Shintaro instead of Nakadai Tatsuya."

***

Keit-AI! Tomoyuki x Seiko

An Anime-Inspired Original Story from 4chan's /a/ Board by Abdiel

Original Idea by Hataki.

The mystery behind Aya will finally be revealed.

Disclaimer: This work may reference copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. It is believed that this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. All copyrighted material referred to in this work belongs to their respective owners. All rights reserved.

***

Chapter 20: Hook, Line, and Sinker

***

Meanwhile, the Miku Machida in Tomoyuki's universe gave him the opposite of the cold shoulder (A "hot" shoulder? Rubbing shoulders?).

Just like good ol' times, they were again together like white on rice. Talking about Sci-Fi things mixed with cool science facts while walking to class. Again fueling rumors of them being together.

"...Oh, oh, oh! Here's another evidence of the Mandela Effect. Most people remember the Monopoly Man as having no monocle, right? But when you take a look at the box of the board game, he definitely does have a monocle! Spooky, right?" she told him.

Ah, so they were talking about the Mandela Effect again. Misquotes and popular misconceptions mistaken for evidence of parallel worlds and traveling through them.

Except in Tomoyuki's case, the Mandela Effect was all too real.

He patted her head like she was a little kid and smiled at her. "It's very spooky," he said, which made her pout cutely, cross her arms, and turn away from him.

"Don't patronize me!" she said with a harrumph.

Damn, she was so cute when she was annoyed.

Jokingly bullying her was almost worth a taste of the cold shoulder that the (probably jealous) AU Miku was currently giving AU Tomoyuki.

Or maybe he felt like tempting fate for once.

Thankfully, Miku forgot his transgression the next minute, bringing up, "Do you remember how the candy 'KitKat' doesn't have a dash between Kit and Kat? Well, it does! It's actually spelled Kit-Kat"

"Hey, you're right," he said, checking out the nearby snack bar and seeing the Kit-Kat logo having the dash when he remembered otherwise.

She grins. "Amazing, isn't it? I'm telling you, parallel universes exist!"

'You don't have to tell me twice,' he inwardly quipped, taking note that in AU Seiko's universe, it was probably the other way around.

In her universe, KitKat bars probably didn't have dashes and the Monopoly Man most likely didn't have a monocle. Along with other weird things like Michael Jackson, who was brown-skinned, bleaching his skin Caucasian white and having legal issues regarding pedophilia (allegedly).

The old Yamamoto would've been over the moon to have Miku as a best friend, even to the point of fantasizing that they'd somehow end up being more than just friends in the future.

But something changed between them from first year to second year.

That tall, beautiful, athletic, and tomboyish something... or someone... barreled over between them, slinging each of her long arms over their nearest shoulders.

"Hey, Nerds. Still talking about that egghead stuff with the black president guy that's not Obama?"

"It's the Mandela Effect and he's not a president in our universe," reminded Machida. "Here, Mandela died in prison, serving as a symbol of the South African revolution. But so many people wanted him to be president, they all swore he became one. Or maybe it's a memory we had from a different timeline!"

"U-huh. And maybe in a different dimension, Mayweather is a knockout puncher with exciting fights under his belt," the Amazon Queen said, saying the most Seiko thing possible. "I appreciate the man's talent, but boy howdy, am I not looking forward to Mayweather-Pacquiao II."

Tomoyuki then made a mental note to not reveal the actual results of May-Pac to AU Seiko, neglecting to tell her earlier of how initially exciting but ultimately boring the actual fight ended up to be.

The Cherry Boy then averted his gaze from Seiko, the... former object of his affection. The sight of her made his heart ache and long for someone else who was like her but wasn't, making him feel guilty for doing so.

Maybe it was for the best that Okamoto wasn't all that into him after all.

So should he abandon his harebrained scheme to get Seiko and Kazuhito "Yankee" Sugata together, like Megumi Minagata suggested?

Not necessarily.

He'd still do it, but this time expecting a more realistic outcome of either heartbreak or a long-delayed hookup between the childhood sweethearts.

Without unrealistic expectations of the Amazon Queen going for the unlikely third option.

It was the least he could do for the alternate universe counterpart of the girl he loved.

***

Things also went back to normal in Class 2B. Somewhat.

"Hey, New-Half (Trans Woman)," called out Kazuhito (who finally decided to not skip classes) to Seiko.

Okamoto shouted, "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A NEW-HALF!?" followed by a smack on his face. "Stupid Furyou-kun!"

Then the rest of the class began hooting and hollering at them for "acting like a married couple" who could help Japan with its population slump.

All talk of a potential pair-up or even love triangle between the Cherry Boy and the Amazon Queen faded once the heartthrob Sugata finally came back with his usual "married couple" shenanigans with Okamoto.

"As if Cherry Boy ever had a chance with the Amazon Queen while the Yankee is around!" was probably their shared sentiment of the situation.

They all just presumed Yamamoto was friendzoned (as usual), although they were hedging their bets that he'd score a pity date or two with their Iincho (Class Rep) at least.

"Please, you two! Stop fighting! Math Class is about to start," pleaded the mousy Class Rep in her usual adorable, bespectacled way that made Tomoyuki fall for her back in first year.

However, rather than scheme on how to get Machida and Sugata closer together to make Okamoto jealous enough to cross her Rubicon and confront her childhood friend about her long dormant feelings with him, the Cherry Boy started doodling and writing something else at the back of a dog-eared, beat-up notebook.

He couldn't stop thinking about Akira Kurosawa's Ran.

He wanted to write more about it. Research about its connection with King Lear even though, according to AU Seiko, it was a coincidental comparison made by western (foreign) media at best.

For the first time in a long while, he felt inspired to go after his passion and hobbies rather than try to appeal to the interests of others in a bid to "belong" in a clique or a long-term relationship with a girl.

For the longest time, he had been trying too hard to fit in with his peers. Only the closest people in his life know about his passion for writing and movies.

Like the glasses-wearing neighborhood girl he ended up being best friends with. Or, lately, both versions of Seiko Okamoto.

When he was under the mistaken belief that the only way he could improve on himself was to get a girlfriend rather than the other way around, he tended to ingratiate himself to whomsoever he attempted to woo.

In the case of his first crush Yukari Goto, he started taking the late train and gave her a hand whenever her klutziness or ditziness got her into trouble.

In the case of Aya Fubuki, he went to dates with her in all sorts of restaurants even to the point of maxing out his allowance and trying to find a job to supplement his dates, only for her to deny the dates ever took place.

In the case of Mana Otonashi, he really should've figured out he was just her plaything all along when she made her own mother tell him to stop calling her. How embarrassing.

In the case of Miku Machida, he got told hard regarding his clinginess and unrealistic expectations as a "Nice Guy". Even after that, their friendship persisted mostly because he absorbed her otaku knowledge like a sponge until he was able to decipher the "foreign language" she spoke whenever they were around each other.

Finally, in the case of his universe's Seiko Okamoto, he tried using AU Seiko's sports knowledge to better relate with her, only for it to backfire since this was info from a parallel world and not their world.

No one wonder people treated him like a doormat with no true friends to speak of. He really was a try-hard poser, wasn't he?

He made up for his lack of personality by attempting to incorporate the interests and quirks of others so that they'd like him better. Whether he was making friends or wooing girlfriends.

It was only with AU Seiko that he felt he could be himself and showcase the cinemaphile nut and wannabe writer he really was. No other woman made him feel comfortable in his skin like she did.

***

As the Cherry Boy put in the finishing touches to the outline of his new personal passion project (researching about what happened to his universe's Ran and writing his own version of the unfinished work with what little info he'd gotten from AU Seiko so far), he found a letter in his bag.

Curious. Who even gave out letters in this day and age of cellphones, email, and chatrooms?

Although it would've been charming if he and AU Okamoto were communicating through transdimensional mailboxes rather than transdimensional keitai (mobile phones). Just like in the South Korean film "Il Mare" (also known as "Siworae") or its Hollywood remake, "The Lake House".

He opened the envelope and then was greeted with the smell of a long-forgotten flowery scent.

He read its contents. The more he read, the more his heart sank to the pit of his stomach. Probably drowning in stomach acid to boot.

Oh shit. Not this again.

Tomoyuki hastily stuffed the letter in his bag, unwilling to humiliate himself in front of Class 2B by cluelessly reading the letter in front of them.

His traumatic experience with Yukari Goto and her mistaken love text to him that was meant for Kazuhito Sugata was still fresh in his mind. Even after all this time.

Speaking of which, Goto's best friend Aya Fubuki was the one who sent him the letter.

The same type of letters she used to slip into his bag or shoe locker when they were freshmen.

The letters she denied giving to him when he confronted her about the dates she swore they never had.

Yeah, he was still kind of sore about that.

What was going on? What was she trying to do?

Miku noticed him and the letter he hid. She was about to ask him about it, but he gave her a begging look to keep things to herself.

Thankfully, his best friend took the hint and turned her attention back to her notebook full of her own doujinshi (self-published fan comics) ideas.

Had she called attention to the letter so that the likes of Matsuda were to read it to the class, the Cherry Boy would've gotten a repeat of the embarrassment he suffered with Yukari that led to him getting his infamous moniker.

He could just imagine the jaw-jacking his classmates would give him right now.

'Oooh! Is that a love letter? Did Cherry Boy get a love letter from the Class 2C Iincho? MASAKA (IMPOSSIBLE)!'

'Hey, hey! Is our own cute li'l Cherry Boy forming his own harem just like his idol, Sugata?'

'Don't be absurd. That's Fubuki from Class 2C. The same girl who publicly called him out on spreading false rumors of them dating. There's no way she'd date that liar's ass now!'

'What is with him and all the class reps he keeps going after? Does he have an iincho fetish or something? He even tried stalking our dear Seito Kaicho (Student Body President) through harassing phone calls!'

'He's such a desperate loser I bet the letter is telling him to leave Fubuki alone!'

Naturally, the last one to speak would've been Matsuda. Still the asshole as always, but he was an asshole with a point.

He sighed. He should let sleeping dogs lie. Leave the mercurial (and probably bipolar) Aya to her own devices. However, maybe she sent him the "love" letter to apologize for her forgetting about the dates they had.

...Yeah right. As if that would ever happen. She at best tolerated him and as little as a few days ago, she hated his guts.

Still, he was curious as to why Fubuki would send him such a letter. Knowing what he knew about her now (as if it was the first time he'd ever met her), it seemed... out of character for her to do this.

Wouldn't she confront him rather than send him a letter? Then again, she couldn't even muster the courage to send Kazuhito himself a love letter, so how much less him?

But Tomoyuki wasn't Sugata though. She'd have no reason to be embarrassed about him. She made it abundantly clear she never had any feelings for him.

'Oh, and I'm supposed to believe that some desperate jerk I barely interacted with who spread rumors that I'm dating him is telling me that Sugata-kun is dating Miku-chan, his latest girlfriend prospect, out of the kindness of his heart? Reeeally now?' was the sentiment she had when Tomoyuki first told him about the Yankee and the Class 2B Rep.

She trusted him as far as she could throw him. They made up eventually when he took a bullet for her, but they at best had a tenuous "acquaintanceship" that could break at the slightest hint of betrayal.

She didn't trust him. She acted like she barely knew him, despite all their dates that she would not acknowledge ever existed.

In fact, Yamamoto was starting to believe that Aya really didn't date him, making him doubt that the dates he had with her were real.

It almost reminded him of his initial situation with AU Seiko, with her calling and confessing her love for him while the real Seiko (correctly) claimed she herself never called him.

What if they—Tomoyuki and Fubuki—were both right? What if he had dates with an alternate universe version of the Class 2C Iincho while the in-universe Aya got the blowback from their rumored budding relationship?

What if he was dating the AU version of Aya all along?

Hell, he should be writing about this plot twist instead of making a script treatment of Ran, to be honest.

Inwardly, he waved the suggestion off, rationalizing that the parallel worlds thing didn't work that way. His heart skipped a beat at the prospect of dating AU Okamoto in the flesh, though.

He'd love it if he could actually figure out how the AU thing really worked.

Nevertheless, his curiosity got the better of him as he decided to meet up on the indicated time and place on the letter after school.

Appearances aside, this was obviously no love letter situation like with Sugata. It wasn't as if Aya was off to confess her love to him or anything.

***

After class, in a meeting place only Tomoyuki and Aya knew about (the Peninsula Bar where they once had Mongolian Barbecue)...

"...I apologize for lying about our dates to our classmates. I was so embarrassed that they found out that I threw you under the bus. If you would be so kind, would you go out with me again?"

That was just about the last thing Yamamoto expected Fubuki to tell him.

But she really did it. She really told him that. The absolute madwoman.

While bowing in apology, no less.

What was going on? Was she high? Was this what Miku meant by tsundere? An insane girl who had the most extreme mood swings possible? 'Bitches be crazy!'

"Wait, wait, wait. Let me get things straight. You intentionally lied to everyone about our dates and now you're asking for another date? And aren't you after Sugata instead of me?" he asked.

"Sugata already rejected me. That ship has sailed." Aya brushed her hair to the side and looked away from Tomoyuki's gaze before bowing her head and looking up at his face with doe eyes. "A-Are you mad at me?"

Unbelievable. It was like he was talking to another person altogether.

Didn't she cheer him on when it came to wooing Seiko and whatnot? What happened to that Aya? Did she forget or was she testing his resolve somehow?

Maybe that AU Aya theory of his wasn't so far off after all. Or maybe it was more of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde kind of scenario.

Was this really the same Aya that AU Seiko described as "earnest"?

Tomoyuki paced around, took a deep breath, and exhaled. He'd handle this like an adult.

"Yeah, I'm upset. But I also realize if you're ashamed to even admit that we dated, then maybe you're not all that into me after all. You did me a favor. You helped me stop acting so desperate for love all this time."

Aya tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows. "W-What do you mean, Yamamoto-kun? Won't you forgive me at all? Can't we make things work out?" she asked, batting her eyelashes at him.

It was his turn to bow back to Fubuki, remembering how she cheered him on, telling him to go big or go home with wooing Seiko Okamoto.

To no longer be so clingy and halfhearted with his pursuit of girl crushes like in the cases of Yukari, herself, Mana, and Miku. To no longer serve as any girl's doormat.

If she were testing him and his resolve, then this was his answer.

"I accept your apology, Fubuki. But I have to apologize myself. I'm in love with someone else."

He had to be completely honest. Like AU Seiko said, Aya was an earnest kind of girl who responded to actions instead of words and empty promises.

***

He didn't know what to expect after "rejecting" Aya's proposal to date again.

A shrug and a pat on the back on the back would be nice.

He didn't really think she'd take it so badly. After all, she survived Sugata's rejection fine.

Also, he knew she didn't really love him all that much and she had a bigger crush on the Yankee than she ever did him.

So why the heck was she crying?

"H-Hey, calm down!" Tomoyuki said, only to flinch when Aya looked at him with fire from her red eyes. Ah, now this was more like the Class 2C Iincho he knew and "loved" (or rather, tolerated).

She didn't heed his request though, covering her face with her hands and sobbing from behind them.

Well, this was definitely a first for Yamamoto.

Usually, he was the one who felt like crying, being dumped repeatedly by all his pretty not-girlfriends (because according to Matsuda, his standards were unrealistically high for a nondescript guy).

"...W-Was it Seiko? Your class rep? The one that you confessed your love to and I recorded?" she sobbed.

That was weird phrasing. "My class rep Miku friendzoned me a long time ago. Also, didn't you play that recording on Seiko's behalf?"

"Oh right. The recording. That's what I meant. Seiko. The Amazon Queen."

She blinked her tears back and did an inquisitive head-tilt on the Cherry Boy.

"You're in love with the Amazon Queen? You don't have a chance. She's joined to the hip with your Yankee classmate!"

"Sh-Shut up," he said, crossing his arms and turning away. His heart not as indignant as he let on.

Speak of the (she-)devil, Tomoyuki turned his head in time to meet the eyes of Seiko, drinking water across the table away from them.

Eh?

She had the "clever disguise" of wearing shades and a baseball cap indoors. She looked more suspicious than if she didn't have the disguise.

The Amazon Queen then choked on her glass of water and turned away, hiding her face with the menu.

...Wait. What?

***

To stop Aya from crying any further, Tomoyuki appeased her by buying her a late lunch (or was it an early dinner?) that afternoon at the restaurant with what extra cash he made from his part-time job at a convenience store.

He then excused himself to go to the bathroom, eyeing Seiko all the while from behind Aya's back.

To his relief, the Amazon Queen took the hint and soon followed after him rather than wait for him to confront her at her table.

She was quick on the uptake.

"...What are you doing here?" he asked at the hallway leading to the doors to the restrooms.

"I should ask you the same question!" she ping-ponged his question back at him.

"...Aya gave me a letter in my bag, telling me to come here and stuff," he said, his eyes darting away at the taller girl. "What about you?"

"Miku-chin gave me a letter addressed to me, telling me to come here."

"Machida told you about this... meeting?" he asked before wincing at the look Seiko gave him over his own weird phrasing.

"No, the letter is from... Aya, apparently. But Miku got it from her."

"That's... weird. Did Machida read it too?"

"I dunno, Cherry Boy. She just gave it to me because it had my name on it."

"What's the letter doing with her?" Tomoyuki asked. "Did Fubuki want Machida to know about the meeting too? What did the letter say?"

"The letter told me to meet y'all here. I couldn't understand the directions, so I just moseyed along and followed you all the way to this restaurant instead."

"So you stalked me?" Tomoyuki teased Seiko, forgetting for a minute who he was talking to. Her voice reminding him of... someone else from another world.

"'AS IF', YOU IDIOT! Don't flatter yourself!"

Forgetting for a minute who she was talking to as well, the Amazon Queen gut-punched the Cherry Boy as though he were Kazuhito Sugata instead.

"Whoops. Sorry. My hand slipped."

The two stared at each other for a minute then laughed.

Afterwards, Tomoyuki ended up with a coughing fit and Seiko had to slap his back several times to help him recover.

"T-Thanks."

"S'alright. But seriously though, why are you on a date with Aya-chin?"

"Wait, when did this turn into a date? She asked me to come here to tell me something!"

"But you're feeding her right now and she just asked you out." She pointed to her ear. "I overheard."

Yamamoto crossed his arms and smirked. "Ha! Finally, I got a witness. Told'ya we dated! See what I have put up with last year? It was her word against mine that we dated!"

"You really dated?" Seiko couldn't help but repeat. "Oh yeah. That's right. You got a horrible rep because Aya-chin told everyone you were spreading bad rumors about her."

"RIGHT? You just saw Fubuki confess to me and you still don't believe it!" he ranted.

Biting her lip, Okamoto looked at him then at Aya from across the table, eating by herself.

"I dunno, Cherry Boy. She must've had a reason for doing this. Otherwise, this is quite unlike her." She appended, "B-But don't misunderstand! I didn't believe you were spreading lies about her either! Why else would I be friends with you? I just think this is all a big misunderstanding."

He'd normally storm off at this point, having people believe Fubuki over him, but this time around he was inclined to agree.

Unless her tsundere inclinations bordered on being clinically bipolar, the Aya who played his confession to Seiko via cellphone voice recorder was not the same Fubuki whom he suspected gave Okamoto and Machida the heads up on their non-date to ruin their perception of him.

Then, to Tomoyuki's surprise, the Amazon Queen suggested, "Y'know what? Why don't you go on a date with her today anyway?"

"WHAT? Are you crazy? I told her I already have my eyes for someone else!"

Yamamoto looked Seiko in the eyes as he said this, which made both of them look away from each other, blushing afterwards.

Seiko cleared her throat. "No, no. It's not a date-date. Just a fake date to see what Aya-chin is up to."

"A-Are you serious?" asked Tomoyuki. He didn't like where this was going.

***

By the time he returned to their table, Aya had the strangest, hugest (smuggest) grin on her face.

Did she know that Seiko was there, watching them? 'What are you planning, Fubuki?' thought Tomoyuki.

He didn't want to keep up a facade just to ruin Seiko's positive impression of one of Machida's friends, but Fubuki ended up cutting him off the pass.

"Hey, hey! After we're done eating, let's go to the arcades like we used to," she told him, and his plan of coming clean ended then and there, the words of protest dying in his throat.

And long story short, they ended up at a nearby arcade, with Okamoto following them close behind.

What was even going on anymore?

'...Eeeeh.'

Under the watchful gaze of Seiko, Tomoyuki ended up doing what he always did in arcades: Play a fighting game and die at the third stage.

"Dammit," Yamamoto said after the CPU King hit another 10-hit combo on his Eddie Gordo from Tekken insert-sequel-number-here.

So much for Eddie working against even experienced players with just button mashing. The computer A.I. couldn't care less.

Same thing happened with an old Street Fighter III: Third Strike arcade cabinet at the back. Got knocked out fighting Sean with Akuma. He then popped a blister on his left middle finger from jiggling the joystick while mashing buttons all the while.

The only fighting game he could probably beat was Karate Do on the Famicom, and that game sucked. Or Yie Ar Kung Fu. Which also sucked.

By the way, those were games in old cartridges that he got as hand- me-downs from his cousins along with an old Family Computer.

He expected Aya to fare worse than him, only for his ego to take an even worse beating than the characters he played in Tekken and Street Fighter.

Aya had a crowd form behind her as she crushed every challenger she faced off against in Tekken with just one quarter.

Well damn. Who knew that the studious Class Rep of Class 2C was an avid gamer?

Meanwhile, on her part, Seiko decided to bide her time with Dance Dance Revolution. Followed by foozball against a grade schooler. Followed by attempting to wreck the mechanical punch pad on the Sonic Blast Man (a game that measured punching power) cabinet.

Huh. He could've sworn he heard that Taito recalled all cabinets of the punching game due to the injuries it caused or something. Or maybe that was just him misremembering/getting false memories care of the Mandela Effect.

Or maybe it was even possible that in AU Seiko's universe, the game was recalled even though in his own universe, it wasn't. 'Who knows?'

A bead of sweat dripped on Tomoyuki's forehead as Okamoto wandered to a nearby billiards hall just beside the arcade, seemingly forgetting herself and why she went to the arcade in the first place.

'S-Seiko-chan...'

Speaking of people forgetting themselves, Aya stopped her winning streak short, handed her character off to some kid in the crowd to let him play, and grabbed hold of Yamamoto's arm.

Tomoyuki gulped, distracted by the smoothness of the 2C Iincho's skin and the softness of her... chest. "Um, welcome back?"

"Hey, hey! Cherry... I mean, Yamamoto-kun!" she corrected herself, her finger circling around the Cherry Boy's chest. "Can you win me a prize at the claw machine? Pretty please?"

"Er... I-I'll try," Yamamoto said, knowing that he'd fail. Still wondering what Aya's "deal" was.

As he predicted, he was terrible at the claw machine game. Unable to pick up one stuffed bunny or even a Doraemon. It'd be cheaper to buy the doll at a gift shop rather than pick it up through crane.

In the background, Aya cheered him on.

He had doubts in regards to the sincerity of her cheering in light of her betrayal of him, but it sure harkened back to their own dates where she'd do the same thing.

So he kept buying quarters. And trying. And failing. But he had a girl cheering him on, so he didn't mind losing so much.

"You can do it, Yamamoto-kun! Just like ol' times!" Aya told him.

'Ol' times...?' he thought.

From there, the Cherry Boy blinked and remembered how one of their first dates had played out like this.

With him attempting and never getting a doll and Aya (currently the Student Council VP but was once the Student Council Treasurer) laughing at him all the while.

"Oh, for the love of Kami-sama! LET ME, CHERRY BOY!" huffed a reddened, cap-wearing, and shades-sporting Seiko before taking the crane controls and picking up the Doraemon doll herself.

"...." Tomoyuki exclaimed. Silently.

The Amazon Queen handed the doll to Aya, only to realize too late what she'd done. "Er..."

Fubuki bowed at Seiko and said, "Thanks for the help, but I want my date to get me a dolly. Not you, Mister."

"...M-Mister!?" said the tall Amazon Queen with a sneer, her hand cocked back as if to slap the Class 2C Iincho.

"Uh, of course! Coming right up, Fubuki!" said Tomoyuki, who inserted another token only to waste it again by losing immediately. "Dammit."

Unable to help herself, the "disguised" Seiko got a hold of Yamamoto's hands and instructed him how to play the crane game.

"Now listen carefully, Cherry Boy. First, pick your target carefully. You've already played enough to get a feel of the claw, right?"

She then touched his hand, the softness of which surprised him, as she told him, "Try maneuvering the prize into a better position. This machine gives you enough time to position the claw, so take your time."

Tomoyuki gulped as the taller girl got too close to him. The smell of shampoo on her hair and the softness of her hands distracting him. Electrifying him.

Making him long for the softness of another her. A more "untouchable" version of her. From more than just far away.

Aya, on her part, put her hands on her waist and tapped her foot at the pair, sighing and clearing her throat loudly.

But they couldn't hear her. At all. As though they were trapped in another world. Their own universe. With no parallel universe versions of themselves to worry about.

"THERE! Right there, Cherry Boy!" said the Amazon Queen with her heaving chest cushioning Yamamoto's back like a chair's backrest. "Take it! Take it now! It's all yours, baby! Take 'em all!"

They soon formed a crowd of their own, with the guys and the girls blushing at the whole exchange.

Thanks to Seiko's teachings, Tomoyuki got to snag a whole bunch of plush toys in one go. He was about to deliver them en masse unto the slot when he noticed all the eyes on him and how suggestive the Amazon Queen looked with the way she helped wriggle his... joystick.

"AAAH!"

"Hey! Watch out! EEEEK! WATCH IT! KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF!"

There was a crisp slap followed by profuse apologies.

Yamamoto's hand slipped right into Seiko's chest in true harem protagonist fashion, which led to a reflexive, "BAKA FURYOU-KUN (STUPID YANKEE)!" and predictable violence from the Amazon Queen.

"I'm sorry! It's an accident! AN ACCIDENT! OWIE!"

"Ah! Cherry Boy! Sorry! Did I hit you too hard?"

From there, the whole bunch of the stuff toys fell back into the bin rather than out the claw machine's slot.

All except one: An ugly-cute cartoon snail doll that had its tag snagged by the tip of the claw at the last second.

Tomoyuki's reddened face (due to Seiko's handprint on his cheek) turned pale blue in realization. He screwed up in the middle of showing off!

'...Eh? Wait a minute, why was I showing off anyway? And in front of Fubuki, of all people!'

Speaking of Fubuki, she took the snail doll he'd gotten for her, frowning in a way that made it look like she'd just tasted something sour. Or maybe bittersweet.

"...Thank you," she told him.

"Uh, no problem," he answered, scratching his cheek.

He then caught Aya giving the flustered Amazon Queen a quick glance before she gave him a quick peck on the same cheek he just scratched.

Not knowing what else to do, Tomoyuki turned and faced Seiko, who had a slack-jawed expression on her face.

And in the Cherry Boy's heart of hearts, he found himself hoping that it was jealousy that was written all over Okamoto's face.

Even though earlier, her fit of violence was something she did while remembering her real crush and childhood friend, Kazuhito Sugata.

With the cherubic smile of a fallen angel, Aya then whispered to Tomoyuki, "Come with me. I have one last thing I want to do before we end our date," before holding his hand and leading him out of the arcade... to a chorus of cheers by everyone who witnessed the exchange there.

Stupidly, his mind in a haze like the Cherry Boy that he was after being kissed by a girl, he followed right after Fubuki like a lost dog.

He couldn't stop glancing back at the Amazon Queen though, who had slumped down on the floor with the Doraemon doll in her hand, her cap dropping, revealing her (sexy) disheveled hair.

***

Before Tomoyuki realized what was happening, he found himself in front of a hotel.

A love hotel.

From there, his memory became a blur. A whooshing motion blur from a high-speed roller coaster ride.

He could barely make out any details of what was going on, his body going on autopilot.

This wasn't really happening, wasn't it?

Then they were at the front desk of a hotel.

He then found himself paying for a room on that hotel.

With a girl beside him. A cute girl. A beautiful vision of... beauty with hair as long as the day and black as the night. And legs that went on forever.

Granted, she was a girl with an obnoxious personality (or set of personalities), but she was still pretty. And a girl.

What was he talking about again?

Soon, they ended up on an elevator. Then they went to their room with the number indicated on the room keys.

Was this some sort of elaborate prank by Matsuda again? Damn, that bigheaded jock just wouldn't leave him alone, would he?

Wow, the room looked nice. He'd been in hotel rooms before, but only when he and his parents ended up vacationing on some beach resort or had to take short flights to Hokkaido.

Besides, those were airport or resort hotels. Not love hotels.

Did he mention he was staying in a hotel room with a pretty girl? That was a big "first" for him.

After being turned down flat by several girls, he was now about to... Oh baby.

He gulped, his throat suddenly feeling quite dry.

Realizing the implications of the situation, he sat down on the bed and thought things through.

Could it be? Was he finally about to graduate from being a Cherry Boy to a real man?

Wait, why was he with a pretty girl in a hotel room anyway? That was quite unlike him, the Virgin King of Class 2B.

Tomoyuki Yamamoto ending up in a love hotel sounded like a setup to a joke just short of a punch line.

Oh right, he was on a date with Aya. But why though? Why would any girl date him?

Hey, he wasn't that bad with girls. Sure, in his first year alone, he got rejected by not one, not two, not three, but four girls. All of whom belonged in the so-called Sugata Harem in one way or another.

He was a beggar who was a chooser, after all.

But he improved in the end, didn't he? He made friends with Miku Machida, made amends with both Aya Fubuki and Yukari Goto, and even Student Body President Mana Otonashi had started talking to him again.

He wasn't as awkward around women as he was last year. He graduated from the "Nice Guy" mode of thinking with the help of his best friend Miku.

So it was perfectly fine for him to end up in bed with a girl who originally rejected him, right?

He regrouped. He improved. He evolved. So he... deserved this. Right?

Hell, he even had the audacity to try and woo Sugata's childhood friend and the girl whom he was closest with in his harem, Seiko Okamoto.

He wanted the Amazon Queen so bad that, by fate, serendipity, or coincidence, he ended up with the phone number of her AU self.

That was how he was able to learn all about her. Warts and all. From another her from another universe.

Wait.

What the hell was he doing with Aya Fubuki if he was in love with Seiko Okamoto?

"...."

Oh no. Oh nooo. Oh nononono. Oh Kami-sama, what did he just do? Stupid, stupid, stupid!

His hands gripping his hair almost to the point of pulling them out by their roots, Tomoyuki paced around the nice hotel room. That he paid for.

What kind of a thirsty pervert was he?!

He then remembered the last thing Aya told him before he had his epiphany.

"You stay right there. I'm just going to take a shower."

'AAAAAAHHHHH!' he screamed internally, finally noticing the sound of the running water inside the hotel bathroom.

He could've stopped this at any time. He could've said no. But he didn't, and he'd gone past the threshold of refusal.

The point of no return, perhaps?

Wait, he could leave a note and say he had something to do. Uh, like his part-time job or something.

Maybe flaking out on her wasn't the best-laid plans (of mice and men), but... but... he had no other choice!

Also, why was she suddenly enamored over him after all these months she hated him enough to lie about them dating? Was this how tsundere acted? Seemed kind of psychotic to him!

The worst part was that, even if nothing happened to them in the hotel, the fact that he went in a hotel in the first place with her would probably be enough to ruin his chances with Seiko forever!

He was just about to write his note when he heard knocking on the door. Did Aya order room service? He had no money left for that!

Anyway, fingers crossed, he hoped against hope that Okamoto would believe him when he said that he followed Aya by accident into a love hotel and he had no intention of sleeping with her. Kinda.

And so understandably, he fell to the floor butt-first in surprise when he saw that it was Seiko who was on the other side of the door. Like an actor from Vaudeville doing a slapstick standup (or sit-down) routine.

"I-It's not what it looks like. I can explain..." he started, feeling like an unfaithful husband caught red-handed in a hotel room with his mistress by his wife. Even though he had no reason to think that way.

To his surprise, an unusually quiet Okamoto asked him, "So did you two do it already? Did she pop your cherry, Cherry Boy?"

Well now. Nice to see she was blunt like usual.

She then slapped her forehead and mumbled what sounded like curses to herself before apologizing and saying, "Look, it's none of my business. I don't even know what I'm doing here. I'm sorry for bothering you two lovebirds. I'm also sorry for doubting you when you said that you and Aya-chin used to date. Goes to show what I know, right?"

The contrite Amazon Queen bowed at Tomoyuki and started to leave when, by instinct, the Cherry Boy grabbed hold of her arm and said, "Wait. Don't leave. I'm... I'm actually glad you came."

To his surprise, that actually worked. Seiko stayed.

She walked back to the doorway as he noticed for the first time her cap that hid her head full of hair that was usually tied in a ponytail.

She looked positively tomboyish. Heart-achingly so.

"I... I just happened to follow Fubuki back to this hotel," was the explanation he came up with in short notice.

Goddamn, that sounded so stupid. Even though it was true.

He also wanted to say he thought it was a prank, but that sounded even more like a lie than what he just said, even though it was also true.

Why was he being so stupid anyway? It was because he was thinking with his dick! That was why! He followed a girl to a hotel room without question like the naive virgin that he was.

"U-huh. Completely by accident, huh?" Seiko couldn't help but smirk.

"I don't know what I was thinking!" Or so he said, although he knew exactly what he was thinking, and so did Okamoto. "But I haven't slept with Fubuki. At all. Nor do I have any intention to do so."

"Well, why not? This is your big chance, Cherry Boy," Seiko brought up his nickname for emphasis.

"B-Because, like I told her, I'm already in love with someone," he said, his eyes never leaving hers. Unafraid of the implications behind his words.

"So you went to a hotel room with her and paid for it?" was the retort that he waited for Seiko to shoot back at him, but she never said it.

Instead, she stared back him and nodded. "You'd break Miku-chin's heart if you went through with this."

Ugh. Not this again. "No, I'm not in love with Machida! I'm in love with...!"

He then slammed the door in front of the Amazon Queen's face by reflex when he heard the bathroom door open.

AHHH! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

And out came Aya, her skin glowing, her long hair sopping wet, her naked body wrapped in nothing but a towel. A rather short towel, at that.

He ended up with his back against the door, his eyes staring at everything else but Fubuki.

He had never seen a cleaner hotel full of fresh sheets, nicely decorated walls, a flat-screen television set, a refrigerator full of overpriced drinks, and a nice view of the city.

The bed cushion was soft, the pillows were pure stuffing as well, and even the nearby lamp was nice. It... tied up the whole room.

Nothing too fancy, but not bad. It was worth whatever it was that he paid for it. Maybe.

"I'm done with my shower," Fubuki stated the obvious, cat-smiling and batting her half-lidded eyes at the Cherry Boy, her normal personality pretty much doing a one-eighty.

"W-We shouldn't do this," Tomoyuki said, pulling at his collar.

"Do what?" teased the coy Aya, which seemed rather unbecoming of the normally straight-laced Class Rep of Class 2C. "Don't get cold feet on me right now, Yamamoto-kun."

"I-I told you, I'm already in love with someone else!"

"Which is why you followed me all the way to a love hotel and paid for it?" came the retort Yamamoto was waiting for all this time. Fubuki then started playing with her towel. "Maybe I can change your mind...?"

"NOOOOO!"

Not only Yamamoto, but Okamoto screamed that word.

As Aya was about to take off her towel, Tomoyuki attempted to grab it with the intention of putting it back on her.

The door behind him opened, and out (or rather, in) stumbled the Amazon Queen. Right onto the Cherry Boy. Who ended up stumbling himself and accidentally ripping the towel off of Aya's body.

Then, to the chagrin of the pair, they ended up falling on the edge of the bed, making a mess of it, the pillows and bed sheet flying and ending up on the floor along with them.

"EEEEK!" screeched Seiko, grabbing hold of the damp towel in order to cover Tomoyuki's eyes with it. "Don't look, you pervert!" was what the tomboy said even though Aya was the one volunteering to take it off.

"...L-Look, I'm sorry if I led you on! I'm sorry if I came here without thinking! But I mean it when I say I'm in love with someone else!" cried Yamamoto while Okamoto kept pulling the towel over his face and cranking his neck at an odd angle. "OW! Stop that, Amazon Queen!"

However, Seiko suddenly stopped moving, which resulted in the towel slipping from the Cherry Boy's eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut, but his curiosity got the better of him, leading him to take a peek.

There stood Aya in all her naked glory. Or she would've had she not been wearing spats (spandex shorts) to cover up her nether regions. She was still topless though.

And yet something seemed missing from this picture. Fubuki's chest was as flat as a board.

Well, that wasn't unusual. Many Japanese girls were flat as boards themselves. Maybe Fubuki wore padded bras?

But then Tomoyuki's eyes went south of the border and saw something else of note.

A noticeable bulge on Aya's spandex shorts.

What?

No. No way.

Maybe her... (ahem) hair down there was unusually thick. Like an untrimmed hedge. Or even a forest. So that would explain the bump or bulge. Right?

'I mean, it can't possibly be... Nah. Of course not.'

Yamamoto then realized that Seiko was looking at the same thing as he was when he glanced back at her.

He saw eyes of wonder, confusion, and terror. She then asked the Cherry Boy, "Is that a bulge in her...?"

And then Aya began laughing. Or rather, cackling. Like an evil overlord about to go on a monologue.

"I would've preferred that you end up in a compromising position with me, but I guess this will have to do, Yamamoto-kun."

"...W-What?" stuttered Yamamoto, not knowing what was going on.

Thusly the two remained stock-still on the bed as the topless, flat- chested, and... spandex-bulging Fubuki retrieved her cellphone from her purse.

That proved to be a mistake.

And so Aya ended up with a digital photo of a disheveled Seiko sitting atop a damp-faced Tomoyuki beside a messy hotel bed that she took with her cellphone camera.

"A-Aya-chin, w-what's going on?" asked the Amazon Queen in a shaky voice.

"Oh, you haven't figured it out yet?" Aya took off her damp wig, revealing the short dry hair underneath it. "I'm not Aya. I'm her brother, Fubuki Akira."

***

Both Seiko and Tomoyuki stayed in the hotel lobby for a bit, staring blankly into the distance, before they both bid their farewells to each other.

Seiko was the first to leave. Tomoyuki told her to go ahead because needed another minute. Or hour.

He called in sick at his part-time work. He knew he couldn't make it there on time. Nor did he feel like working.

After buying a drink and snack from a vending machine, he went back to the empty hotel room (since it was already paid for) to gather his thoughts. Aya... no, Akira... was long gone by then.

Damn. Wasn't that something?

That was the last thing he expected her... him... to say. It seemed like something out of a movie.

Like Dustin Hoffman's character in "Tootsie". Or Ming-Na Wen's character in "Mulan". Or Jaye Davidson's character in "The Crying Game". Or Hillary Swank's character in "Boys Don't Cry".

Hell, that revelation in the end was very Tootsie-ish in its execution.

On that note, he really felt like crying right then and there.

Akira Fubuki, the younger brother of Aya that, Yamamoto realized, was about the same height and build as her, had admitted to "catfishing" the Cherry Boy when he was in first year high school.

Akira didn't like how, as he put it, Tomoyuki was "stalking" and "bothering" his big sister, so he pulled a prank on him to teach him a lesson.

Which, in retrospect, made a lot of sense.

The rumors. The anger Aya had when Yamamoto kept insisting that they had dated and she was lying about them not dating. The way Aya's personality was completely different from the "Aya" he dated.

Even the fact that Miku received the letter addressed to Seiko could also be explained away by Akira mistaking Seiko for Miku after overhearing the name from his sister.

Everything now had a... not-so-simple explanation. But an explanation nonetheless.

To reiterate, Akira Fubuki pretended to be his sister Aya in order to "catfish" Tomoyuki Yamamoto.

Tomoyuki kept repeating that statement inwardly but he still couldn't wrap his mind around it. Seriously, what the hell?

The funny thing was that both the girl Fubuki and Tomoyuki ended up telling the truth after all.

'So let me get things straight,' thought the Cherry Boy while staring at the TV but not really watching the game show that was on.

Akira specifically put on his sister's clothes to impersonate her and go onto dates with Tomoyuki in her stead. This led to the misunderstanding later on that led to a falling out between Yamamoto and the Elder Fubuki.

Or maybe it wasn't a falling out, because technically, Tomoyuki never really met the real Aya until later on. He'd been dating her brother instead under false pretenses.

Akira also took a photo of him and the Amazon Queen in a rather compromising position in order to... what? Make them, or rather make Tomoyuki, suffer further by having blackmail material on him and the Seiko?

Man, Akira really must hate him go through all that trouble to catfish Yamamoto.

...Right?

Granted, his dedication to pranks aside, it was still embarrassing for Akira to go into drag and pretend to be a girl just to embarrass the Cherry Boy with his big reveal in the hotel.

They must've gone through so many dates. They were so many, in fact, that Yamamoto lost count. He had enough dates with Aya (actually Akira) to presume that they were now boyfriend and girlfriend.

But why did he do it? What the hell did the Cherry Boy do to deserve Akira's wrath and his methodical revenge plot in the first place?

Now that was the million-yen question.

The Friend Zone King couldn't quite buy Akira's excuse that his crossdressing was all for the sake of protecting his sister from him.

Why didn't Akira just allow Aya to reject Tomoyuki outright? Why go through all this trouble?

Come to think of it, didn't Akira already get what he wanted out of Yamamoto last year? The crossdresser ended up making his sister hate the Cherry Boy's guts by impersonating her and going on false dates with him.

What prompted the male Fubuki to bother Tomoyuki again after all this time?

And then it hit the Yamamoto. Of course.

Tomoyuki recently made up with Aya (sort of) when he prevented her from making that ill-timed love confession to Kazuhito Sugata.

Her jealous li'l brother with a siscon (Sister Complex) must've arranged this little revelation at the hotel to destroy the mended fences between Yamamoto and the female Fubuki.

But that backfired and Akira ended up taking the blackmail photograph of Yamamoto and Okamoto as a consolation prize.

Regardless, the twerp got him. He got him hook, line, and sinker.

***

Although Tomoyuki didn't feel like going back to school that Friday, he still went.

Might as well. He wasn't going to solve this mystery staring slack- jawed at his room's ceiling, feeling sorry for himself.

Seiko herself couldn't even look him in the eye that morning, but he didn't let the fact hurt his feelings or anything. He completely understood.

That night they had at the hotel was awkward for everyone involved.

The long weekend that would've let him sort his thoughts and feelings out aside, he had several important things to do that day.

Like apologize to Akira's sister, Aya.

'First thing's first.' He went straight to the entrance of Class-2C, waited for (the real) Aya Fubuki (and her "sidekick" Yukari Goto) to arrive, and bowed down to Aya in apology.

Oh boy, did he get the wrong impression of her. She really wasn't at fault at all for the dating rumors spread about him and her.

Neither was Tomoyuki, but at least now he knew the truth. They were both right about the situation in certain points of view.

The ever-cynical Aya pulled Tomoyuki aside and asked, "Did something happen? What's up with you?"

"I just wanted to apologize," Tomoyuki said, shrugging and avoiding her gaze. "I know I've been doing that a lot lately so it might sound shallow coming from me, but... I really am sorry."

Fubuki then crossed her arms and prodded, "...And?"

Yamamoto cleared his throat. "I was wondering if you know the classroom number of your brother, Akira."

The Class 2C Rep held herself, her arms folded tightly around her chest and wrinkled her nose at the Cherry Boy. "Why?"

"I just want to talk to him, okay?" he said, not knowing (or willing) to broach the subject of catfishing and crossdressing with Akira's big sister.

"But you've never even met..." Aya's eyes widened. "Oh no."

Shit. Did she realize the truth? Did Yamamoto let the cat out of the bag? Would Akira in turn send that compromising photo of him and Seiko to the whole school? Or to Sugata?

Fubuki then unfolded her arms, sighed, and said, "Look, I'll talk to my li'l bro. If he threatened you in any way after seeing that we've mended fences, then I have to apologize on his behalf. He's very protective of me. Please understand."

"I-It's nothing like that, I just want to talk to him!" Tomoyuki protested with a sigh (of relief) of his own before a little birdie in the form of Yukari blabbed, "Well, if that's the case, then Akira-kun belongs to Section 1A."

"...YUKARI-CHAN!" screeched Aya before pulling at the ditzy blonde's twin tails hard.

"OWIE! I'm sowie, Aya-chan!" cried the ditz, reasoning, "But Cherry-kun only wanted to talk to your bro! What's the harm in that?"

"Class 1A, huh?" said the Cherry Boy, scratching his chin. "Right. I guess I'll go talk to him then. Thanks, Goto!"

"Waaait, what for? What did he say to you?" insisted Aya, who began to look more like the Aya of old with her frown and glare.

Tomoyuki raised his arms in surrender and backpedaled. "Nothing bad! I promise! I just want to clear the air with Fubuki Akira! It's not like we're going to end up in a fist fight or something...!'

Serendipitously, Yamamoto ended up literally bumping into his classmate, the Judo Club President and one of the Four Kings of Class 2B, Kanemoto.

Yep. Matsuda's friend Kanemoto. Or Matsuda #2. Or the bishonen (pretty boy) version of Matsuda. That Kanemoto.

"...Fubuki Akira? You're looking for Fubuki Akira? Hahaha! Cherry Boy, are you off to have a rematch with him?" Kanemoto asked, overhearing their conversation.

Yamamoto would've just cowered away from one of his regular bullies had he not taken a double-take at what the Judo Club President said. "Uh, rematch? W-What are you talking about Kanemoto?"

The sneering jock nudged Yamamoto's side. "Aw, come on. Don't be coy. You two got in a slap fight over me back in junior high. You wanted first dibs over yours truly and Fubuki Akira was your love rival."

Tomoyuki stuttered, "W-What the heck are you...?" before he felt a chill in his spine.

"Yamamoto-kun! You're going to have a fist fight over my li'l brother!?"

"AH! Aya-chan! I mean, Fubuki! Of course, I'm not! Don't believe Kanemoto's lies...!" so he said, but a feeling of déjà vu hit him.

And so the puzzle pieces in his mind began to fit. He remembered who Akira was.

This wasn't the first time they met, and he wasn't referring to their fake dates.

***

By some miracle, Tomoyuki Yamamoto got away from Akira Fubuki's protective sister in one piece.

Yamamoto guessed that his wimpy demeanor in the face of Kanemoto's "outlandish" accusations let him off the hook.

For the first time, Aya gave Tomoyuki the benefit of the doubt. She probably reasoned, "Why would the bullied Cherry Boy ever start a fist fight with my li'l bro?"

Ironically, the one time she trusted him was the one time she shouldn't have.

Kanemoto was right. Yamamoto did fight the younger Fubuki brother. And it was over the infamous jock.

No, not because they wanted to win Kanemoto's heart (or at least, as far as Yamamoto was concerned, that wasn't the case).

This stain in Tomoyuki's past was part of the reason why he believed that he completely deserved most of the bullying done to him all this time.

***

To Be Continued...

It's a trap! The trap arc is almost over with. What else is in store for Yamamoto and his Non-Harem? Stay "tuned"!

Farewell, Abdiel

#keit-ai #tomoyuki x seiko #catfish #finds a way #keit愛 #trap

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itispossibleihaveissues · 7 years

Text

Another Perfect Catastrophe -3

(yes, already, lol)

AUTHOR: Mikimoo PAIRING: JayDick RATING: Mature

WARNINGS: Non Consensual drug use, Non Consensual touching, Non Consensual kissing, humour, slight mayhem

SUMMARY: Dick goes undercover as himself in order to catch a gang of international thieves. Jason reluctantly tags along as his long suffering bodyguard. During the ensuing mayhem they get to know each other again and build a few bridges.

Thank you to burkesl17 for the beta!

Notes: An embarrassingly long time ago, the amazing and very, very talented Pentapus invited me to do a reverse bang style exchange, and drew me an amazing prompt. I have no idea how this story was the one that emerged from the many options I had, but such is the creative process I guess! Anyhoo, many thanks to Pentapus for both encouragement and patience, and of course the incredible art! (which will be included at the end of the appropriate chapter)

Chapters: 1, 2

It was a long week. And they were only three days in – the party scene was twice as exhausting as being a teenage vigilante juggling school, social engagements and crime fighting at once. Jason was reaching the end of his ability to cope with stupid young socialites and rich freaks with wandering hands.

Today's exercise in restraint was a party in the trendy East End, an area steeped in interesting history, that Jason would have liked to explore in other circumstances. Instead he was hovering on the edge of a dance floor, watching Dick writhe and twist to the music like some sort of incubus. He was mesmerizing and had drawn a lot of interest, people wanted to dance with him, to touch him and sometimes cop a feel. If Jason had been a real bodyguard, he probably would have torn his hair out by now, but as it was he just grit his teeth and kept his eyes peeled. That and fend off the advances of sleazy rich folks who were after him instead. It wasn't clear if they were attracted to his body, poured into the stupid tiny T-shirts, or to the air of danger he was attempting to give off. Either way he seemed to be like catnip to them.

Of course, they also approached him to get to Dick.

“Must be a bit boring for you, no?” Someone said at his elbow, and he looked down at the young woman smiling up at him. She dropped a slim, white hand to rest on his folded arm. “Having to stand around and watch while he has all the fun.”

Jason shrugged. “It's fine. I get paid for it.” He looked a little closer at her; perfect hair perfect teeth, whip thin in her designer dress. She looked about as dangerous as a kitten, but there was something about her that still pricked at Jason's senses. And if there was one thing he had learnt at Bruce's side it was that even the most innocuous, tiny woman could still be hiding a death ray in her oversized purse.

“You don't get jealous?” she asked slyly, smiling up at him, somewhere between mocking and seductive.

“Nope. He can do what he wants, as long as I get my check at the end of it.”

“How very mercenary of you.”

“It's a job, pays better than flipping burgers. And I get other perks too.” Jason deliberately kept the inflection out of his voice, but he could tell he had her intrigued.

“I bet you do. Well then, do you think you could make an introduction for me? I do so hate the dance floor, too much sweat and body odor.”

“Who should I say wants to meet him?”

“Celia Denbury,” she said with the air of someone who expected to be recognized. The name meant nothing to Jason, so he didn't bother to respond. Instead he took out his phone and texted Dick.

Girl wants intro, celia denbury? a15

The code just let Dick know she might be worth meeting, it could be nothing, but Jason trusted his instincts and they were telling him he was dealing with a predator of some sort. Of course it could just be her rich blue blood.

Over on the dance floor, Dick peeled himself away from the two women he was grinding with to check his phone. He typed quickly and then returned to dancing. A few moments later, Jason's phone vibrated in his hand.

After this song, babe

Obnoxious shit. “He'll be right over,” Jason told Celia. She didn't look impressed.

They watched for a moment as Dick danced, before Celia stepped away. “Send him to my table,” she said, pointing to where another young woman was sitting. She was beautiful and poised, with dark hair and eyes. As he watched a handsome blond man joined the table too.

Jason nodded and went back to staring at the throng of people surrounding Dick as impassively as he could. He was fairly sure the dance Dick was doing with the two hot girls was illegal in some states.

True to his word, when the song changed, Dick wound his way back over to Jason. When he reached him, instead of stopping and interacting like a normal person he threw his arms round Jason's shoulders and nuzzled into his neck. He was sweaty and gross and the experience of getting a full body hug off him should have been disgusting, but it wasn't.

“Ms Denbury and her attractive companions want to make your acquaintance,” Jason said into Dick's ear.

Dick shifted against him, his sweaty hair brushing against Jason's cheek. “Well let’s not disappoint them, lead on.”

They were introduced as Sofia, an Italian national, and Jack, a fellow American with a penchant for boasting about his daddy's oil business and political leanings. Dick grinned and flirted with all three while Jason stood silent and watchful to the side. He kept a particular eye on Denbury, she appeared to be the leader and was still giving off an unsettling vibe.

When they finally stumbled out of the club at five am, with promises to meet again the following evening, Jason was pretty certain this were the group they were after, or at least somehow connected to them.

Dick leaned against him tiredly as he hailed a black cab and Jason resisted the urge to lend him a supportive arm. He was an expert at faking drinking and drunkenness, but the sheer volume of alcohol consumed by the group meant he had imbued more than he normally would and was teetering on the edge of a genuine drunk.

“You holding up okay?” Jason asked grudgingly as the cab took them towards their hotel.

“Just about. I really hate these people,” Dick admitted. “And alcohol just makes me sleepy.”

“Well we can have a lie in tomorrow, we're not meeting the rich brats until close to midnight. We could catch a show or something, cause a bit of mayhem at the theatre.”

“Raunchy sex in the Royal Box?”

“Let's not get carried away, Dick-face.”

Dick chuckled and relaxed against him. “You think we're on the right track with these three?”

“Yeah, there's something about them that gets my back up – more than the usual feckless over spending and arrogance.”

“Same,” Dick yawned, wide like a cat and not bothering to cover his mouth. “We're working together quite well I think?” It was more of a question than a statement.

“You're less annoying when you're drunk,” Jason said. Dick smirked but otherwise didn't react to his answer, so he left it at that.

They met the Rich Brats at an exclusive members club after dinner and the theatre, Dick had slept through most of the production of King Lear, but Jason had enjoyed it. Entry to the club had been arranged by Garner who had shmoosed with Dick and Sleezed at Jason until he had considered stepping on Garner’s foot by accident and maybe breaking a few toes with his steel capped boots.

The club was dark and lit by candles, surely a fire hazard with all the drunk morons milling about. The furniture was also dark, with stained wood and black velvet. Private rooms consisted of huge sofas that looked more like beds, covered in gold trimmed cushions. The effect was plush and inviting, and also completely ridiculous.

Dick kicked off his shoes with the rest of them and sprawled over the sofa like he belonged there. His socks while both blue, were also slightly odd, it was likely he had just flung his clothes into his suitcase without matching them. It was irrationally irritating to Jason, who scowled at the offending footwear.

After an hour of watching them flirt and boast Jason was ready to set the place on fire. He was keeping himself entertained by obsessing over Dick's sock based transgressions, but even that had worn a little thin. If these mooks didn't take the bait soon he was going to just shoot them and let that be the end of it. Thankfully, Celia seemed to be finding Richard Grayson a little grating, judging by the set of her jaw and seemed keen to reel him in as quickly as possible.

“Richie, darling,” She smiled up at him as he waved his hands about in apparent drunken abandon. “We're having such fun together, I don't want it to end!”

She didn't look like she was having fun, she looked like a cat looked at an unsuspecting but infuriating mouse.

“It's been a riot!” Dick agreed, his hair was a mess, and his cheeks were flushed with the champagne. They had agreed that Jason was going to have to be his bodyguard for real, as getting tipsy was unavoidable. Dick had been shamefaced, like he was admitting some great weakness instead of taking sensible precautions, it had made Jason want to kick him, but now as he watched, he was alarmed to find himself feeling fond.

Celia leaned in, with an artfully placed hand on Dick's wrist. “We have a house by the coast. It's one of daddy’s smaller estates. We were going to go spend the week there. Have some drinks, perhaps get high. Would you like to join us? Even just for a weekend. I'm sure we'll have fun.” The way she drew out the word left little to the imagination in regards to the type of 'fun' on offer.

“We'd love to, wouldn't we, Jase?” Dick grinned at Jason drunkenly, but his eyes were sharp and suddenly clear.

Unsure of how to reply Jason just grunted in acknowledgement.

“Why don't you give Jase the week off?” Sofia said, leaning into Dick's space and practically oozing sex at him. She was hot. Very, very hot, and in other circumstances she was the kind of girl Jason would expect Dick to go for, but in these circumstances it felt like confirmation they were on the right track Why else make the bodyguard/boytoy stay behind?

“Nah, I mean, why not let him join in the fun? He's certainly earned it! And he's up for it, aren't you, Jase?”

“Sure,” Jason agreed non-committally.

Jack leaned forward on Dick's other side and ran a hand up his thigh. “If that's the sort of thing you're after, I'm sure I could provide,” he said.

Dick grinned stupidly at him, “Why not both!” he said, giddily, “You might enjoy it too.” He lowered his voice to a stage whisper, “His cock is as big as the rest of him.”

Jason was glad of the dimly lit room as he was fairly sure he was embarrassing himself by blushing.

“Well,” Celia began, obviously not pleased with Dick's obliviousness.

Dick waved a hand at her before she could object, “It sounds like a blast, let’s do it! A week by the great British coast, blue sea, white sand...it will be wonderful!” he said.

Jason thought Dick might be being a bit optimistic about the state of the English coastline, but found he really enjoyed the expressions of exasperated irritation on the gang’s pretty little faces. They didn't know Dick had been trained by the best - nobody could drive people to the edge of despair by the power of being incredibly annoying the way Brucie could when dealing with his peers. But Dick had been a good study.

“So is this place the Denbury Estate? Or does it have a quaint name? I hear the British like to name their houses,” Dick slurred at her with a toothy grin. Jason got the distinct impression he enjoyed getting up her nose and making her jaw twitch with suppressed anger.

“Pheasant Field Estate.” She looked aggravated, but resigned.

“Amazing! More drinks?”

“We'll do some research, see if this lot are who they say they are,” Dick said before flopping back on the bed. “Or we could just get Tim to do it. Hanging out with that bunch of vipers is more exhausting than doing patrol until 5am and then getting up for work at 8.”

“Poor you, drinking champagne worth more than the entire contents of my apartment. Boohoo.” Jason kicked his boots off and lay on the plush bed next to Dick, flipping open his laptop to get to work.

Dick gave him the finger, but did pull his tablet over from where it had been discarded on the nightstand. “Fine, you take Jack, I'll have a bash at Celia. They we can both attempt Sofia, I don't think my brain can cope with translating Italian records.”

“That's what google translate is for, Dick” Jason said snidely, as he began his own search.

They worked in silence for an hour, before Jason felt he had enough information to share. He was pretty certain they were right about these people. “I've checked up on Jack, and frankly, he's either a complete fantasist or a shit liar.”

“Possibly both?”

“Probably both. What have you got?”

“I have Celia Denbruy. There are records of her existence and her attending Cambridge University, but there are no images of her in most of the official records I could find. She has plenty on Instagram, but it’s all fairly new, only a couple of months old. Although it is made to appear older. And ‘Pheasant Field Estate' has no records going back more than a month, despite it having a web page and an entry on wiki. In fact a reverse image search shows the house in the picture is actually a seventeenth century mansion house called Seaville, available to rent for days or weeks for up to twenty guests. For a very large sum, of course.”

“Spend money to get money. I think these are our guys. Ready to pass a week of fun times with them, Richie?”

“Yay, I can't wait,” Dick sounded like he would rather be getting a root canal. ”There is something that's bugging me though,”

“That this is all a bit sophisticated for these bunch of fools?”

“Yeah, I feel like they're bait rather than the masterminds of million dollar thefts. And there's real anger and sadism behind the attacks that follow, something I didn't really get from them.”

“Celia, or whoever she is, she's cold. I could see her being into it.”

“Maybe, I don't think she would care about people getting hurt, or doing the hurting herself to get what she wanted, but I feel like her interest is with the money. She's mercenary, but not an outright sexual sadist.”

“I guess we'll see.”

“I guess we will.”

#jaydick #dick grayson #Jason Todd #nightwing #redhood #mik trys to write stuff #my fic #My writing #catastrophe

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weekendwarriorblog · 5 years

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WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND May 3, 2019 - LONG SHOT, THE INTRUDER, UGLYDOLLS, EL CHICANO

This is another one of those infamous “lots of new movies taking on a juggernaut” weekends and surprise, surprise, I’ve actually seen three of the movies, although I’m going to recuse myself from actually reviewing them for reasons I choose not to get into.

Definitely my favorite of the three new movies is Lionsgate’s LONG SHOT, the new romantic comedy pairing Seth Rogen with Charlize Theron and directed by Jonathan Levine of 50/50 fame. It’s a fun politically-tinged comedy that surrounds Rogen and Theron with a great cast including June Diane Raphael, O’Shea Jackson, Jr, Bob Odenkirk, an unrecognizable Andy Serkis and Alexander Skarsgard. You can read my interview with Levine over at The Beat, and my interview with Jackson will go up sometime later this week.

I also liked director Deon Taylor’s THE INTRUDER (Sony/Screen Gems), a super-creepy psychological thriller, starring Dennis Quaid, Michael Ealy (keep an eye on this guy!) and Meagan Good, who I’ve been a fan of since she starred in Rian Johnson’s Brick. I’m really impressed with Taylor as a director, as he continues to crank out films via his Hidden Empire production company. He actually has about four or five movies in various stages of post-production, including two that will be released by Screen Gems, so if you aren’t familiar with Taylor’s work, don’t worry… you will be. The Intruderis certainly a fun introduction, a simple psychological thriller with three solid performances. If you’re looking for something to see this weekend, you could definitely do worse than this.

I’m not sure that Ben Hernandez Bray’s action-thriller EL CHICANO, released by new distributor Briarcliff Entertainment, is my cup-of-tea, though I’ve long been a fan of the movie’s co-writer and producer Joe Carnahan. It stars Raul Castillo in the dual role of an L.A. police detective investigating a brutal gangland murder, as well as his gangster twin brother who was killed years earlier. The title character is a vigilante who comes around to stop gang violence by any means necessary, and Castillo’s character believes that it was actually his dead brother. the movie also stars George Lopez and a mostly-Latino cast, which is quite an achievement for Bray and Carnahan. I think some people will really dig the action scenes and the character, and I hope it does well because there’s definitely some more room to tell more stories about the characters. (You can read my interviewwith Bray and Carnahan on The Beat.)

Not sure if I have much to say about STXfilms’ UGLYDOLLS, which features a musical voice cast including Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, Janelle Monae, Blake Shelton, Pitbull and Gabriel Iglesias. As you might guess, it’s the one movie this weekend I haven’t seen, and I have absolutely no interest or plans to see it ever. I just don’t care. Maybe there are kids or parents out there that do, so good for them!

Anyway, none of the above matters since Avengers: Endgame will still be doing huge business in its second weekend. By the way, I finally got around to seeing that and I quite enjoyed it, especially how it defied almost all of my expectations despite not really knowing anything about the movie in advance. In fact, the only scene I saw from the movie at CinemaConended up being a bit of a red herring, something you’ll totally understand if you’ve seen the movie.

You can see how I think those movies will do at the box office on my Box Office Preview at The Beat!

LIMITED RELEASES

I’m going to start with the docs this week, cause there are some good ones… okay?

Opening at the Metrograph Friday is Gretchen Hildebran and Vivian Vazquez’s timely DECADE OF FIRE about the South Bronx in the ‘70s and how Black and Latino neighborhoods were abandoned by the city government as building after building burnt to the ground, destroying those neighborhoods until the people stood together to rebuild. (If you saw Baz Lurhmann’s Netflix series The Get-Down, you could see some of the results of what happened.) I saw the movie at Doc-NYC last year and was blown away by how well the story was told. The screening will be accompanied by a number of related panels at the Metrograph over the weekend and also next week. You can learn more about those here.

Speaking of the Bronx, the Netflix documentary KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE, directed by Rachel Lears, looks at some of the amazing women who ran for the House against incumbents last year, including the Bronx’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The movie won the Audience Award for documentary at Sundance in January, and it’s opening at the IFC Center and Film at Lincoln Center in New York on Weds and will also be streaming on Netflix. I really liked this documentary a lot, mainly because like many, I’m endlessly fascinated by the amazing Ocasio-Cortez and how the ardor towards her keep growing the more she gets out there. I certainly will vote for her if she ever runs in an election I can vote for her. Lears’ movie is quite fantastic as it’s on the ground with these women throughout the political campaign process.

The next two docs played at Tribeca this past week, but I just couldn’t find the time to see either. The first is Werner Herzog and André Singer’s MEETING GORBACHEV (1091, formerly The Orchard), which compiles three conversations that Herzog had with former Soviet head of state Mikhail Gorbachev, who is now 87 years old, talking extensively about the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. It opens at the Film Forum in New York Friday.

I’m a little more annoyed with myself for missing Hulu’s ASK DR. RUTH, directed by Ryan White, because I’m definitely interested in learning more about Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the Holocaust survivor who became known as the country’s most famous expert, as it follows her leading up to the days of her 90thbirthday. This doc opens at the Landmark at 57 West and Quad Cinemas in New York on Friday, plus it will be on Hulu on June 1.

Also back this weekend is one of my favorite French filmmakers Olivier Assayas with the dramedy NON-FICTION (IFC Films), which I previously saw at the New York Film Festival. It’s about an author (Vincent Macaigne) who bases much of his work on his own life (kind of like Assayas?), and it once again teams Assayas with Juliet Binoche, who plays the wife of the author’s publisher who has an affair with him. What I liked about this over some of Assayas’ more verbose character-driven dramas is that it’s actually kind of funny, especially with its spoof of the publishing industry. I’ll probably try to see it again, but it’s opening in New York at the IFC Center and probably a few other places as well.

Normally, my favorite movie of the weekend would be a Zhang Yimou martial arts film like SHADOW (Well GO USA), because I’m such a fan of Heroand some of his other films in this ilk, but for whatever reason, this one just did not connect with me. Part of that was that I just found this story confusing, and it really dragged in between the action scenes, which certainly looked lovely, like a good ballet, but still kind of disappointing.

Abramorama is releasing Dan Pritzker’s BOLDEN about the life of jazz artist Buddy Bolden, known as the “first Comet King of New Orleans,” as played by Gary Carr, into select citiesFriday. The film also stars Ian McShane and Michael Rooker. I’m shocked that I hadn’t heard much about this movie, especially since I saw commercials during SNL over the weekend.

This week’s Bollywood release is Student of the Year 2 (FIP), directed by Punit Malhotra. As you might guess, it’s a sequel to the 2012 romantic comedy, this one involving a love triangle between a guy and two girls.

There’s lots of other odds ‘n’ ends, none of which I’ve had a chance to see including Tell It To the Bees (Good Deeds Entertainment), Clara(Screen Media), Hesburgh(O’Malley Creadon Productions), The Convent (Vertical Entertainment) and the movies Dead Trigger and Bardo Blues. I’ll be honest that I’m a little burnt out this weekend trying to cover Tribeca (which I hope to write about very soon) as well as all the other theatrical releases. I’m not sure any of these will make that big a difference in the grand scheme of things, and this is my column, so I decide what I write about and how much I write about it.

LOCAL FESTIVALS

The 18thTribeca Film Festival continues through the weekend but if you feel like going out to the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, you can check out Panorama Europe 2019, which runs from Friday through May 19. It also takes place at the Czech CenterAND the French Embassy. It opens on Friday night at MOMI with Barbara Albert’s Austrian drama Mademoiselle Paradis, starring Maria Dragus (The White Ribbon), who will be there in person. I haven’t seen the film but I love some of Albert’s previous films, Free Radicalsand Falling, both of which I think I saw at the New York Film Festival in years past? The festival continues through the weekend with new films from all over Europe, mostly playing at MOMI but with single repeat screenings at the other two venues. This is a festival I wish I had more time to cover, as I’m sure there are some great underrated films in the festival, but sadly, I just do not have the time right now.

STREAMING AND CABLE

I’ve been wanting to see Joe Berlinger’s Ted Bundy movie EXTREMELY WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL AND VILE, starring Zac Efron, since I first heard about it, and I’m happy to say that it really lived up to my expectations. It’s as much about Bundy’s relationship with his girlfriend Elizabeth Kendall (Lily Collins) as it is about the trial against Bundy for kidnapping and murder dozens of women. I’m a big fan of Berlinger’s documentaries, and this is a fantastic second foray into dramatic work, working from a screenplay written by Michael Werwie based on the book by Kendall. Efron works well as the charming serial killer who is constantly in denial about his actions, but I also really liked Collins’ performance as the woman trying her best to support her man despite the horrible allegations against him. Berlinger combines actual archival news footage with the performances by his cast to create something as compelling as any of Netflix’s crime docs. The film also stars John Malkovich, Jim Parsons, Haley Joel Osment, Brian Geraghty and more.

As mentioned above, Netflix will also stream the doc KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE starting Wednesday, and other movies premiering this week include William Bindley’s coming-of-age film The Last Summer and Gabriela Tagliavini’sDespite Everything (A pesar de todo) on Friday. Clearly, there’s a lot of variety and options on Netflix this weekend… but lots of stuff in theaters, too (as seen above and below).

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

A bit of slower weekend for repertory stuff but the latest episode of the Academy Presents takes place on Saturday with Costa-Gravas’ 1969 film Z. Late Nites at Metrograph will screen Gus Van Sant’s 1991 film My Own Private Idaho, starring Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix on Friday and Saturday night, and Playtime: Family Matinees will screen Henry Koster’s 1950 film Harvey, starring James Stewart.

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

At Tarantino’s rep theater, people will have a chance to see Vincente Minnelli’s Gigi (1958), based on Colette’s novella, in a matinee on Weds. On Weds and Thurs, there’s a double feature of cool indies with Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) and Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank (2009), starring Michael Fassbender. Friday and Saturday sees double features of Kathryn Bigelow’s 1987 vampire film Near Dark and Karyn Kusama’s Jennifer’s Body (2009). The weekend’s KIDDEE MATINE is the 1994 Little Women, while Tarantino’s Death Proof (2007) will show at midnight on Friday. The Monday matinee is the Val Kilmer comedy Real Genius from 1985.

MOMA (NYC):

A couple new series start here on Wednesday, including the shorterModern Matinees: On the Move series, which will show Raoul Walsh’s 1930 film The Big Trail on Weds, Alfonso Cuaron’s Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) on Thursday, and Harold Ramis’ 1993 film Groundhogs Day on Friday. Abel Ferrara: Unratedwill also begin on Wednesday with screenings of Ferrara’s 2000 film Mulberry Street, his 1995 filmThe Addiction (with the filmmaker onhand for a QnA), Ferrara’s Chelsea on the Rocks (2008) and New Rose Hotel (1998) will screen on Thursday, then his 2014 films Welcome to New York and Pasolini on Friday. (Oddly, the latter will get its first official theatrical run at the Metrograph starting Friday, May 10.) This is a fairly extensive retrospective with Ferrara and many of his actors talking about the movies after they’re shown, and that alone might be enough to get me into midtown. MOMA is also in the midst of another series called Roberto Gavaldón: Night Falls in Mexico, running through Sunday and showing rare screenings of the works of the Mexican filmmaker’s work from the ‘40s, ‘50s and 60s.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

The Egyptian continues to slaughter… in a repertory way … with its new series Cassavetes & Scorsese: Love is Strange, a series of double features starting Thursday with Shadows (1958 and Who’s That Knocking On My Door (1967), followed by The King of Comedy (1982) and Opening Night (1977) Friday and Scorsese’s 1976 film Taxi Driver and Cassavetes’ Minnie and Moskowitz (1971) on Sunday. Also, the Egyptian will have the great Jean Pierre-Jeunet on-hand to talk about his Oscar-nominated film Amelie (2001) after it screens on Saturday night.

AERO (LA):

Meanwhile, at the Egyptian’s sister theater, we get “The Fiction and Non-Fiction of Olivier Assayas” including a double feature of Irma Vep (1996) and Summer Hours (2008) on Thursday. Edward Zwick’s 1989 film Glory will be screened on Saturday followed by a QnA with Zwick, while Jean Pierre-Jeunet appears on Sunday to show his recent film The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet as well as a double feature of The City of Lost Children (1995) and Delicatessen (1991).

FILM FORUM (NYC):

The Film Forum’s “Trilogies” series continues with Aki Kaurismäki’s “Proletariot Trilogy” of Ariel, Shadows in Paradise and The Match Factory Girl, Roberto Rossellini’s “War Trilogy” and Satyajit Ray’s “Apu Trilogy” screening screening one final time next Tuesday. You’ll also have one final time to watch Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “Three Colors Trilogy” over the weekend. The weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is the 1962 monster battle movie King Kong vs. Godzilla.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

James Ivory’s 1981 film Quartet is getting a 4k restoration rerelease via the Cohen Films Collection, and Ivory himself will be there Friday night for a QnA. Isabelle Adjani won the Best Actress Award at Cannes for her performance as a woman who finds shelter with a couple played by Alan Bates and Maggie Smith after her husband is imprisoned in this adaptation of Jean Rhys’s 1928 novel set during Paris of the ‘20s.

BAM CINEMATEK (NYC):

Starting Friday and running through the month is Black 90s: A Turning Point in American Cinema, beginning with Charles Burnett’s 1990 film To Sleep with Anger, starring Danny Glover, and running along with Burnett’s short When it Rains. (Burnett will be there on Friday for a QnA after his films.) Also showing Saturday is Zeinabu Irene Davis’ Compensation (1999), Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust(1991) and Haile Gerima’s 1993 film Sankofa and the series will run through May 22.

IFC CENTER (NYC)

Waverly Midnights: Parental Guidance shows the classic 1973 horror film The Exorcist this weekend, while Weekend Classics: Love Mom and Dad goes with Mike Nichols’ Postcards from the Edge (1990) and Late Night Favorites: Spring shows John Waters’ Female Trouble (1974).

FILM OF LINCOLN CENTER (NYC):

The newly-renamed uptown is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year by taking part in a FREE program of classic films as part of the Block Party celebrating Lincoln Center’s 60th Anniversary this Saturday.

Next week, we get more new movies including Warner Bros’ Pokemon: Detective Pikachu, the Anne Hathaway-Rebel Wilson comedy The Hustle from U.A. Releasing and STXfilms’ Poms.

#Movies Reviews LongShot TheIntruder ElChicano ExtremelyWicked

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nickireadstfc · 7 years

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The Foxhole Court, Chapter 13 – The Rise Of Sassmaster McSavage

In which Riko gets FUCKING REKT.

Sounds good? Then it’s time for Nicki to read The Foxhole Court.

Did I say this was gonna go horribly, horribly wrong last time? Scratch that. This went awesome.

I mean, it also went horribly wrong and will probably have life-threatening consequences for all parties. But still.

Awesome.

I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the beginning.

Riko took the last few steps to Kevin’s couch alone and stood over him. He was smiling, but neither Kevin nor Neil was stupid enough to think he was happy. The only look in his eyes was murder.

I’ve not had a chance to say it much lately, and I’m glad Riko is providing me with opportunity: WHAT LEVEL OF E X T R A.

“The only look in his eyes was murder”, I’m sorry, did your buy your attitude at Hot Topic or did it come with your MCR badge set?

Any animosity Neil felt toward Kevin for forcing him onto this show evaporated. He couldn’t be angry when Riko was here, not when Riko was to Kevin what Neil’s father was to him.

This line got to me, it really did. There’s something about how Neil is instantly ready to put any differences aside as soon as he notices someone else, especially someone he both dislikes and worships as much as Kevin, going through the same abuse and pain he went through. I just… *clenches fist*

Also, honestly, when will they stop being mirror images of each other. The parallels are killing me.

Kathy starts the interview and who would have fucking guessed it, I hate Riko right off the bat. Sly and sleek, he eases his way through her questions while managing to make every answer a silver knife that carves a big painful Fuck You in Kevin’s back.

Especially painful statements include, but are not limited to:

“No family is perfect” (YOU DON’T GET TO TALK ABOUT FAMILY SHITSTICK)

“We knew what was coming, that it was just a matter of time, that a lifetime’s worth of effort and sacrifice was about to pay off. Then Kevin broke his hand” (THEN YOU BROKE HIS HAND YOU SICK TWISTED ASSFACE)

“Isn’t it amazing how far he’s come this year?” “I’m not sure it is.” (IT DAMN WELL IS, GET FUCKED)

“I’m worried his wishful thinking and obsession will lead him to injure himself again. Can he recover a second time, emotionally or mentally?” (I’LL STICK YOUR WISHFUL THINKING AND OBSESSION RIGHT UP YOUR BLACK-FEATHERED UGLY ASS)

Thankfully, someone seems to be able to read my thoughts…

It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for, it’s finally time for the rise of our golden boy, the myth, the legend, the man himself:

Sassmaster McSavage Neil Josten.

(Huge thanks to apprenticedmagician for the expression. <3)

“I thought friends were supposed to cheer each other on,” he said before Kathy could answer Riko. “Believing in him now is the least you could do after completely abandoning him last winter.”

OH SHIT BOI.

Excuse me while I holler at literally everything Neil says in the next four pages.

Riko finally looked at Neil. “Mine and Kevin’s relationship is unique, and I do not expect you to understand it. Do not impress on us your petty ideas of friendship.”

‘Unique’ my fucking ass, sure it’s unique when by ‘unique’ you mean abuse to the point of objectification and domestic violence, you absolute fuckturd.

“Was unique,” Neil said and emphasized again, “Was. I’m pretty sure your relationship died when he couldn’t keep up with your team anymore.”

GET FUCKED.

“You don’t think Kevin should be on the court again, so you’ll cut him off at the pass. You’ll destroy his chance of making a comeback and make him watch as your team succeeds yet again. You’re rubbing his face in everything he’s lost, and from where I’m sitting, it looks like you’re enjoying it.”

G E T F U C K E D OH SHIT I CANNOT HANDLE THIS

“I will ask you only once to tone down that animosity.”

“I can’t,” Neil said. “I have a bit of an attitude problem.”

I am CRYING. A bit of an attitude problem, he says. A BIT OF AN ATTITUDE PROBLEM.

(Also, I know like ten of you who have that quote as your blog title, you cheeky lil trash cans. <3)

“I don’t think Neil is far off in thinking you transferred because of Kevin.”

“Kevin plays only a small role in our decision,” Riko said, “and not for the reasons this child claims.”

Tomodachi, you’re like three years older than him, maximum. Stop being so goddamn extra.

Riko continues to ooze some crap about how they can’t have Kevin play for the ravens again, but they’d love to have him back as a coach, and before I can even think up a witty reply my boy Neil pipes up again to call Sir Assface out on his bullshit.

“You wouldn’t honestly have him go back, would you? (…) Stop being so selfish,” Neil said, and Kathy gaped at him.

Same, Kathy.

“If Kevin’s dream has always been to be the best on the court, what right do you have to take it away from him? Why would you ask him to settle for less? The Foxes are giving him a chance to play whereas you would relegate him to the sidelines. He has no reason to transfer back. (…)

Maintaining a top position is far easier than starting over from the gutters. Kevin is doing that right now. He’s facing entirely new schools and learing to play with his less dominant hand. When he masters it, and he will, he’ll be better than you could have ever made him.”

Can we talk about how Neil is literally DEFENDING Kevin, live on national television, RIGHT TO HIS ABUSER’S FACE, even though he’ll probably actually murder Neil for it, because THE FUCKER DARED TO INSULT KEVIN.

If anyone’s looking for me, I’ll be at the back of the room, breathing into a bag, softly whispering "holy shit” under my breath.

Are we done yet? Have we served enough Sass™ today?

BITCH, YOU THOUGHT.

“I don’t think you’re telling Kevin to sit out because of his health. I think you know this season is going to be a disaster for your reputation. You and Kevin have always played in each other’s shadows. You’ve always been a pair. Now you have to face each other on the court as rivals for the first time, and people are finally going to know which one of you is better. They’re going to know how premature this was.” Neil gestured at his face, meaning Riko and Kevin’s tattoos. “I think you’re scared.”

FFFFUUUCKKKKK. Yes, hello 911, I’D like to report a fucking MURDER.

Not even Kathy can handle this level of savage, so she ends the interview here.

This is the point where I get up and jump around my room for a bit in order to calm down after this absolute trip.

Neil, I love you. That was the fucking dumbest thing you’ve done so far but it was also iconic on so many levels and you deserve all the awards.

Sadly, the party time is now over and it is time for shit to get real again:

Riko caught Neil by his shoulders and threw him up against a wall. Neil went rigid as they stared each other down, trapped more by the death in Riko’s eyes than the fingers leaving bruises on his shoulders. Riko had the same stare his father did: He looked at Neil and saw only flesh that knew how to bleed.

Holy hell. That’s a line. And we quickly get what is meant by that, too:

“He has potential.”

“Potential.” Riko slammed Neil against the wall again and whirled on Kevin. Kevin stared back at him, white-faced and tense. “You said that goalkeeper had potential and then wrote him off as useless when I offered him to you. You’ll get bored of this one just as quickly. Believe me.”

Riko talks about Neil as if he’s not there, more so, as if he’s a thing, something to own and to offer to people, something you can play with and the discard like a broken toy. Just these few lines of dialogue speak volumes of how Kevin was treated at Edgar Allan – and was also expected to treat other people.

No wonder homeboy is a tiny, tiny bit fucked up now.

Thankfully, Neil realizes this as well and continues his noble quest to fuck up anyone who dares trigger abuse memories in Kevin:

Neil watched Kevin wilt beneath the weight of his brother’s – no, owner’s – fury and kissed his survival instincts goodbye. He grabbed Riko’s shirt and hauled him back.

“Leave him alone.”

Forreal, are you done picking fights with a murderous Japanese mafia gang member who wants your head yet??

Did someone say picking fights?

“Riko,” Andrew said, spreading his arms as if he intended to hug Riko hello. “It’s been a while.”

Andrew has come to save the day!! It’s all my boys against Sir Bitchass Shitstick now, I approve. FUCK. HIM. UP.

“We were just talking about you,” Riko said.

“With your fists, it seems,” Andrew said. “Don’t touch my things, Riko. I don’t share.”

See, this is what I find interesting. I don’t really mind it when Andrew talks like that about Kevin and Neil, yet when Riko does it I want to rip his ugly ass head off. Maybe it’s because I know that in Andrew’s case, it’s possessiveness with good intentions, and in Riko’s case, it’s actual domestic abuse. Still. Don’t quite know what to make of it.

In other – and better – news: Wymack!

“When I said Abby and I would look out for you, I didn’t mean you should pick a fight on national television,” Wymack said. “Should I have spelled out that beforehand?”

“Probably” Neil said.

(…)

“I am going to drop you off at the dorm and spend the rest of the day drinking.”

What a sass queen, also #relatable, also I love Wymack so so so much kbye. #dicksoutforwymack #alchoholoutforwymack

They get back to campus and before this glorious chapter can end, it’s time for some quality Andreil time. Neil finds Andrew in his room where he apparently punched a hole in a window, no biggie.

“You could have destroyed your hand with a stunt like that,” Neil said.

“Andrew laughed. “Oh my, where would I be then?”

“Off the team,” Neil said. “Where would Kevin be then?”

Ohh, snap. This has got to be after-effects from the talk show sass explosion still.

Andrew, however, is not in the mood for anything funny. His gears are set less to Fun Banter Time With The Boyfriend and much more to Dramatic And Sinister, This Is No Joke, Seriously I Punched A Fucking Window Out Of Anger For You Just Now:

“[Riko]’ll look for a way to get back at you, and it won’t take him long to see how cold your trail is. (…) What will you do when he finds out? Run?”

“You know I will.”

“I know,” Andrew agreed. “I can see it. You’ve got that look in your eyes that says you know exactly where every exit to this dormitory is.”

Speaking from experience, my dude?

I know I like to talk about how much I like parallels between Kevin and Neil, but honestly, when flashes of similarities like this between Andrew and Neil pop up I’m just as happy.

However, Andrew seems to be the only one who’s clearly aware of the fact that we’ve just reached the first crucial point of no return in this series.

“Don’t you understand? Running was only an option when no one was looking. (…) You should have left before you insulted Riko in front of all his adoring fans. Now you can’t go. Riko wants to know who defied him, and he’ll get his answers. You can’t outrun your past anymore.”

Bless this boy and his awareness of The Plot™. <33

And then, this happens:

“Kevin wants to make you a star, so let him. Take what he is giving you and make it your shield. It’s hard to kill a man when everyone’s eyes are on him. Make them love you, make them hate you, I don’t care. Just make them look at you. You have one year to figure it out,” Andrew said, putting a finger in Neil’s face. “For one year, I’ll stand between you and the Moriyamas if you stand at Kevin’s side.”

This is it. I can tell, this is it, you guys. The fun exposition party’s over, now it’s time for the real plot. This is what’s happening now, this is the premise for the books to come, we’re doing this, and there is no going back.

Fucking fuck yes.

“You gave your game to Kevin. Give your back to me.”

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES.

It’s getting LIT, fam, things are HAPPENING and shit is getting the eff REAL.

Bring on the last chapter.

#tfc #the foxhole court #aftg #all for the game #nora sakavic #nicki reads tfc #I'm on time!!!!!! A miracle!!!!!!!#LAST CHAPTER SOON YOU GUYS WTH #this went by so fast #glad to see the plot is finally picking up speed as well #yay times ten

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