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wrenhyperfixates · 4 years ago

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Ever Since We Met

Prologue

Pairing: Loki x reader Series Summary: After making a bet with Odin, Loki finally has a chance to prove he is worthy of being heir to the throne. Under mysterious circumstances, you find yourself stranded on Asgard, left with no option but to team up with Loki and help him win the crown. Now posing as visiting royalty, you must be careful of rumors in court that say you’re not who you claim, all while battling your growing feelings for the raven haired king. But some things are easier said than done because secrets, you’ll soon learn, can be deadly. Chapter Summary: Before Odin leaves for Alfheim, Loki makes one final bid for the throne. A bet that has the power to alter his future. Chapter Warnings: none :) A/N: Greetings guys, gals, and non-binary pals! I am beyond excited to share this story with you! It takes place pre-Thor 1 and will update every Friday until we reach the end in about six months. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy!

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ESWM Tag List: @happygalaxymilkshake @electroma89 @joyfullymassivewhispers @darkacademicfrom2021 (Both tag lists are open; message me to be added!)

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Disclaimer: Gif not mine.

Thankfully, the halls outside the throne room were empty, leaving plenty of space for Loki to pace back and forth. He never would have let his anxious energy show in front of others, but right now it was just him. The guards had gone in to announce Loki to his father, gain permission for him to enter. It was ridiculous that he couldn’t just waltz in, the prince thought. Then again, that’s all he was. A prince. Not the king.

See, Loki had been trying his whole life to prove his worth to his father, desperately attempting to show he was deserving of the throne. But nothing had worked, and whispers that Odin was going to announce his heir any day now were common throughout the kingdom. And not a single person was saying it was going to be Loki. Luckily, the younger Odinson didn’t give up so easily.

“Prince Loki,” one of the guards said with a little bow of his head as they re-emerged from the throne room. Loki immediately stopped his nervous movement and looked him in the eye. “The king will see you now.”

“Thank you, gentlemen,” Loki replied, regal as ever. “As you were.”

Taking a final gulp of air, he pushed through the heavy golden doors and walked towards Odin. As a child, Loki had always thought his father looked so imposing sitting on the throne, as if he had in his palm the fate of all people. Well, now Loki was grown, and he knew that the old man sitting in that glorified chair did hold someone’s fate. His. And if Loki wasn’t careful, Odin would crush his dreams, his destiny, without so much as batting an eye.

Loki’s heeled boots clicked on the cold floor, as if counting down the steps left before he could make his request. They were, perhaps, a bit more formal than something one might wear on a regular basis, but he figured why not dress to impress? His semi-formal cloak swooshed behind him, and he had to resist anxiously fiddling with the fabric. With his hair slicked back and combed perfectly in place, he thought he looked very princely, but if all went well, he was going to be far more than that.

“Your majesty,” he greeted Odin in the formal way he’d been taught since birth, bowing at his waist. Oh, how he so despised that part; if he had it his way, he’d never bow to anyone again. At least he didn’t have to kneel as most of the lesser nobles and commoners did.

“Rise my son,” Odin said with a wave of his hand. “Why have you felt the need for this audience so close to my departure?”

“Well, father,” Loki began. He summoned all his strength to keep up his nonchalant facade. “It has come to my attention that you have invited Thor to join you and mother on your diplomatic mission to Alfheim. An invitation, I might add, that he has accepted.”

“Yes, yes,” he yawned. “What of it? I hope you are not looking to come. The convoy is already full.”

“On the contrary, I think it best if I stay here.” Loki studied his father’s expression a moment before continuing. “To rule the kingdom.”

It was painfully silent in the near-empty throne room. And then Odin began laughing. Not chuckling, but full on laughing at his son. This was perhaps the most embarrassed Loki had ever felt, and there wasn’t even anyone else in the room. But all he wanted was to show his father he was capable of ruling. That he would make a far more competent king than his oaf of a brother. This was a critical moment, he knew, and he couldn’t let any cracks in his armor show. He kept his face completely neutral as his father slowly ceased his cackling.

“And why should I allow for that. You see, Loki, I have already chosen my successor, and it is not you,” Odin bluntly explained as Loki’s blood began to boil and hopes began to drop. Maybe this was just a nightmare, and he’d wake up to make his plea for real. No such luck. “The official announcement was going to come upon my return, but it seems cruel to keep it from you now.”

All the times Loki played this out in his head, it never went quite this poorly. Never in his wildest dreams had he been expecting Odin to admit what he already knew deep down; he’d lost. But all his training, his preparing, his effort to show that he was the one deserving of the crown, could it really be for nothing?

“Come now, my son,” Odin said when Loki took too long to reply. He wondered if his father was trying to have a comforting tone. If he was, he was failing miserably. “You always knew I would have to pick one of you. That only one of you could take the mighty throne of Asgard.”

Yes, but I should be the victor, Loki thought, ignoring the tears pricking the back of his eyes. The last thing he would do was cry in front of the Allfather. Especially when he still had a chance to make this work in his favor. All he had to do was keep it together for the next fifteen minutes and alter his argument a little. If Odin was taking drastic measures, maybe that’s what he had to do, too.

“I do not think you should act so rashly, father,” Loki spoke up, voice impressively even. “After all, you have yet to hear my proposition.”

“And what might that be? Speak, son, and tell me.”

“Let me rule Asgard while you are gone. If I do well, you wait to make your decision on who will be your heir, allow me to continue to compete for the crown.”

The old king laughed again, not as loudly as before, but just as unkindly. “Why would I do that? I see no way in which this benefits me.”

“On the contrary, as a prince, I would have the right to plead my case to the Allmother if you took me out of the running. It would be a long, tedious process if you had to go through all the right channels to prove my brother is better suited for the kingship. And then again, they might not even find that he is. Or I could even challenge Thor for the crown, if it comes down to it. Such scandal to mark the end of your reign would be a shame, do you not agree?” He paused for dramatic effect, and to let the words sink in. “However, should I do poorly on the throne, I would have no argument to make, and would back down peacefully.”

The tension was so thick, Loki was tempted to whip out one of his daggers to try to cut it, and give himself room to breathe. But even the subtlest of movements would give way to an accusation of weakness, so he stood where he was, his piercing gaze staring into his father’s one eye, waiting for him to speak. Odin tapped his fingers on the arm of his throne, mulling over the very thinly veiled threat. By the time the king was opening his mouth to speak, Loki felt ready to scream.

“Very well,” he finally conceded. “But your success will be according to my terms. There are three things a good king needs. The first is the respect of those he rules. The second, fear and awe of his enemies and allies alike.”

Loki’s eyes flitted down for the briefest of seconds before looking up with renewed confidence. “And the last?”

“Worthiness,” Odin continued, standing up and walking down the steps, “to have the crown on his head.”

More eagerly than he would have liked, Loki nodded. He was certainly clever enough to figure out a way to prove he had each of those. It seemed that his silver tongue had not failed him today. But before he could say he accepted the terms, Odin had one last stipulation to add.

“You may not set foot out of the kingdom. Everything must run smoothly while you are here. Is this understood?”

“Yes, father, it is. And you will not interfere with my reign,” Loki replied, distrusting something about the look in the old man’s eye. “So then, do we have a deal?”

He considered for a moment more. “Yes, we do. From the moment I leave tomorrow until the second I return, you will be acting king of Asgard.”

“Thank you, father. You will not regret this,” Loki said, bowing again before leaving.

Whether he left before his father could say anything or if he never planned to at all, Loki wasn’t sure. It hardly mattered anymore. Now, his future was nearly set, for certainly he was already admired to some degree, right? Or even if he wasn’t, he’d been preparing for this day his whole life, studying his father. He knew how to be king, and he’d be damned if he let anything ruin this opportunity.

After a fitful night of sleep, Loki saw his family and their entourage off at the Bifröst. True, he was more than eager for them to leave already, but he did his best to mask it. After all, his eagerness may be mistaken for arrogance, and that was no way to start his reign.

“Alright, brother. I bid thee well,” Thor said, clapping him on the back. As far as Loki was aware, neither he nor anyone else knew of the specifics of the bet that had been made, save for his mother and Heimdall, who had been tasked with keeping an eye on him. “Do not get too comfortable on the throne, though.”

“Good luck, my son. I have every confidence in you,” Frigga said, cupping his cheeks.

Loki looked to Odin for him to speak some final words of parting. When he didn’t, Loki said, “Thank you, brother, mother. I wish you all safe travels and shall be awaiting your return.”

He waited until they disappeared into the rainbow lights and, with a nod in Heimdall’s direction, headed back towards the palace. The throne. Almost reverently, he circled it once before sitting down. Feeling perfectly pleased with himself, Loki didn’t even notice the bright flash of light in the distance. Nor what came with it.

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canyouhearthelight · 3 years ago

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The Miys, Ch. 152

I’m not going to jinx it, I’m not going to jinx it, I’m not going to jinx it...

Okay, maybe I am. I managed to queue up the chapters I had in the barrel! Yay!! Which also means that I have a super duper exciting chapter coming up, which I can’t wait to write and can’t wait for y’all to read. I just need it to be perfect.

That said, thank you to @baelpenrose and @charlylimph-blog for your help with this particular chapter. I love when we are all three in one of these sessions and just descending into chaos in the chat. Also, @mamayoda (who I can’t tag but I do want you to know I see your likes in my notes!) for love-bombing my notes recently.

“Is it just me or is everyone really jumpy?” Charly asked as I set my food down across from her. It was our thrice-weekly lunch dates in one of the public mess halls, and she definitely had a point. I had already noticed three people scowl distrustfully at the food consoles, hugging closely to the prepared food side of the room instead.

I sighed. “It has to have been Derek’s stress test. It wasn’t supposed to impact systems we didn’t design, but…”

She snorted loudly. “Tell that to the week I spent taking cold showers again. At least this time, the doors didn’t play any music when I walked through them.”

“Did your doors at least open consistently? I was stuck in my quarters for a whole day until we figured out that I could walk through if I had an escort.” I laughed and shook my head before digging in to my food. “And, come to find out, we actually do manage the water systems, thanks to BioLab 2.”

Contrary to myself, Charly was entirely unperturbed at this revelation beyond sniffing her hoodie and shrugging. “My doors worked fine as far as I know, but Coffey and I tend to work the same hours, so… Maybe that was it. Oo!” Her cheer of enthusiasm caught me off guard as she started bouncing in her seat. “OOOOO! I bet he activated the routine Xiomara had running when you and Jokul weren’t friends yet!”

“There was a routine!?” I asked, exasperated. “I behaved, thank you. It wasn’t necessary.”

“Meh. Just in case. What do you think her deal is?” She tilted her head to the side, at a table near us.

Sure enough, the woman at that table was darting glances around the room, her shoulders hunched, elbows close to her body, eyes wide. I could practically feel her shaking from where I was. “I can’t tell if she looks suspicious or afraid,” I murmured, hoping the woman couldn’t hear me. “But the fact that I’ve met mice and chihuahuas who shook less, I’m going to go with afraid.”

As I watched the woman, weighing whether or not a stranger trying to comfort her would make it better or worse, Mona’s familiar face approached her instead. She was speaking softly enough that I couldn’t make out words, but the woman clearly recognized her and only jumped slightly.

I was so focused on the sight of Mona comforting the woman that I nearly hit the ceiling when Parvati’s voice came from entirely too close to my right shoulder. “Rebecca. She lost her family twice, first her parents, some cousins, and an uncle when the hack happened, and then her partner and children in the After. It’s understandable that she’s terrified right now, after the stress test. Too many bad memories.”

My face flushed in humiliation. “Pranav and Zach sent a ship-wide alert that the stress test was happening - “

A perfectly manicured hand clapped over my mouth, one dark eyebrow arched in eloquent disbelief. “Sophia. You of all people know that mental scars do not heed logic.”

Charly’s hair flew around her face as she nodded enthusiastically. “After day three of cold showers, I flinched every time I went through a door in case that stupid song started playing again, no matter how many times I reminded myself that it was a stress test and I had decidedly not given Derek boba tea again.”

Both my hands flew up in surrender. “I stand corrected, I just feel awful to see people react like that.” Gazing around the room, I was suddenly much more aware of all the darting eyes, protective postures, seats turned so that backs were against walls.

Charly had obviously seen the same thing. “We may need to talk to Pranav about limiting the tests to one or two systems at a time.”

“I wish we could,” I admitted, stabbing a potato out of my pie slightly harder than necessary. “His department was passing the tests with flying colors when Derek was limited to one or two systems at a time. But they failed this last test miserably, it turns out. As soon as they would react to one thing, Derek would switch to another system, and they couldn’t be everywhere at once as well as they convinced themselves that they could. And they can’t just be good at small scale attacks: the revolt that happened before the End brought everything down at once, from multiple access points. It was… kind of elegant, in a terrible way. Very clean.”

Charly squinted at me and Parvati in suspicion. “Are you supposed to know that they crashed and burned in the test.”

I rocked my hand back and forth while I chewed on a mouthful of crust. It had way too much butter in it, but at least it was actually crust this time. A week ago it had been something pretty close to paper mache. “Technically we don’t officially know that. Officially, all we know is that Pranav has requisitioned enough additional staff to increase his team of programmers by seventy percent.”

“Asses handed to them, got it,” Charly nodded in understanding.

“We also officially know that Pranav currently owes Hannah quite the enormous favor,” Parvati confided.

“How big?” Charly ventured slowly.

“Big enough that his grandchildren may be indebted to hers,” came the laughing response.

Charly shook her head and clucked her tongue. “He should know better than to bet against Derek. He breaks the systems for fun, and they asked him to really go for it. What did they expect?”

“Apparently to put up a better fight at least.” I forced a smile, but guilt weighed on my heart as I studied the room again, fully seeing the microexpressions of anxiety, fear, and anger. It felt like the entire Ark was constantly swinging between hope and fear. The random drills weren’t really helping, either.

“They aren’t,” Parvati agreed, letting me know that I had been thinking out loud. “Everyone is sleep deprived, on high alert, and then all of a sudden all the computer systems went on the fritz for a week.”

I sighed and rubbed my forehead, pushing what was left of my pot pie away from me, appetite gone. “We need to talk to Grey and Antoine about getting counselling for everyone, seeing as how Xiomara and Pranav pretty much just triggered the entire ship. I mean, everyone knows counselling is available, but I think allocating training and resources to the therapy teams is going to take priority over Pranav’s request for the moment.”

Charly tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Do we have the space for some quiet rooms, like you set up for the Food Festival a few years back? That may be a good idea.”

Snapping into work-mode, Parvati flicked her datapad open, bangles clattering as she started making notes. “The quarters left by those who relocated closer to the Archives are still uninhabited, those can be used. We may be able to convince some people to relocate so we can spread the rooms out more evenly, but even if we can’t, just having those rooms available will help.”

“Make a note to add in the proposal for Grey: possibility of having specific vendors permitted to serve food in BioLab 2. Encourage mental health days and picnics.”

Parvati nodded in acknowledgement of my request, before adding her own spin. “As a contingency plan, find vendors who will pre-package picnics. Between the current distrust of the consoles and the fact it will remind everyone of the annual Festival, the good emotions will help.”

“I like it,” I confirmed. “What else?”

“Paintball tag day in the corridors,” Charly announced, without preamble or warning. “Make it a holiday, everyone is off work, limit it to one end of the Ark.”

I shook my head. “Guns, not the best idea.”

“Ew, no. No pew-pew.” She wrinkled her nose. “I was thinking more paint-soaked splash bombs.”

Finger guns deployed, dual wielding. “I am so here for a paintball tag day in that case. The flavored paint?”

“Not the scotch bonnet please,” Parvati begged. “I just know someone will get that in the face, I don’t care how much Else likes it.”

“Got it, no more pepper spraying people,” Charly agreed seriously. “OOO! I could test the new arrows out! With something like buttered popcorn paint, obviously. Maybe kiwi on the other team.”

“Just limit the pull on the bows, okay? I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

“Fiiiiine…”

Parvati smiled and added to her notes. “So, we probably want someone to correlate the current date to whatever the date would be on Earth… Just in case we need to get a consultant for Holi.”

“Good point. Conor is alarmingly good at that, so I can ask him. It would be a nice cultural event if we could do that. If not, we can totally work on celebrating Holi when it comes around.”

“Final suggestion for right now, because I have to get back to work,” I sighed happily. “This is going to be the biggest ask, and the smallest at the same time…” Both nodded at me to continue. “Care packages, for everyone. And I mean everyone on the Ark.”

“Sophia,” Parvati scolded me. “That’s almost ten thousand people and sixteen animal companions.”

“Well aware,” I forged on, “We’ll talk to Sam about the bows, I can wrap them. Commission some of those really nice chocolates, or maybe some taffy from Simon. And something salty. I know there is someone on the Ark who makes aromatherapy candles, Tyche is bananas about them.”

Shaking her head, she added it to the list. “If you insist on that, I insist on a celebration for the drop out of FTL. Hannah and I can use some of the plans from the Food Festival, include Charly’s paint tag - “

“And Kink Night!”

“- and Kink Night, apparently… have several events going on across the Ark, since we already discussed declaring a holiday.”

“Get Bash’s permission to use the Undine again, and I won’t object,” I surrendered before standing. “On that note, I really do have to get back to work. Come on, Vati, we have work to do apparently.”

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#the miys #found family #humans are weird #science fiction #aliens #apocalypse #humans are space orcs #humans are space fae #earth is space australia #post apocalypse #post post apocalypse #original science fiction #original sci fi #original writing

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dukeofonions · 4 years ago

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Season Two Episode Ranking

Warning: I get very, very, very, critical in this ranking. Like, angry ranting that’s almost laughable. Should I be getting this worked up over an online series? Eh, probably not. But this is my life and I’ll get outrageously angry over whatever media I want.

Seriously though, this is all just my personal opinion. I’m not saying you have to agree with me and if you like the episodes that I don’t then that’s perfectly fine.

I tend to overthink things a lot and I spend most of my time analyzing every little details of this series because what else am I supposed to do at work?

So yeah, this ranking is definitely less positive than the one I did for the first season. But I hope y’all can still have some fun going over it! And if anyone does their own rankings be sure to tag me because I’d love to see them and see how mine compare!

Anyways, enough of me acting like this is more important than it is, on with the ranking!

I can’t believe season two only has 12 episodes. Now I went ahead and counted Moving On as one episode in this ranking since my opinions on both parts are pretty similar, but sweet cheese and fish this season started on September 1st, 2017 with Fitting in and right now is left on Putting Others First which came out on May 1st, 2020. And as of me writing this it is now May 2nd, 2021. It’s been a whole year since the last episode and we still have no idea when the finale is coming.

Like, bruh.

Also remember how the longest episode in season one was only about 15 minutes long and the shortest one was barely four minutes?

Well the shortest episode in season two is Crofters- The Musical which is 8:42 seconds. The longest episode is Putting Others First which is a whopping 51:09.

And I wish I could say that the writing was on the same level it was in the first season, but there’s a reason I put that warning up there.

Well, enough stalling, let’s get this ball rolling.

#11 Embarrassing Phases

There are no words in the English language that can describe the sheer amount of hatred I have for this episode. If I could rank this any lower, I would, which will happen once we finally get the season finale. I don't know how that episode will go but it'll definitely be better than whatever dumpster fire this was.

Like, okay. I have some positives. Roman, Patton, and Virgil's costumes were cool. I won't lie I live for vampire Virgil. And the message about embracing your past "phases" and exploring how they helped made you who you are. That's neat. I like that.

And that's it.

My biggest gripe with this episode is Virgil. He just acts like a complete bitch in this! And I don't mean that in an endearing way he's literally so mean for no reason!

He's all "You guys are trivializing my past!"

In response to them going "Hey Virgil, we're glad you're part of our group now and are proud of how far you've come!"

Like okay, even if it was insensitive to call it a "phase" literally there was no reason for him to get as angry as he did.

Just a simple; "Hey, I don't like it when you refer to what I went through as a phase because it feels like you're not talking it seriously."

Isnt that what this whole show is about? Communication???

It wasn't fun watching him just insulting the others, it was annoying!

Like poor Patton, just trying to help and be encouraging, only for Virgil to keep treating him like dirt.

What did I miss here? Virgil was fine in the last few episodes, so what the heck happened?

Oh and let's not forget the great advice Thomas offers Patton at the end of the episode in regards to handling Virgil: "Don't do anything to get on his bad side or else he'll do bad things to you!"

Okay I'm paraphrasing here but that's basically what he says! And since Virgil is supposed to be a representation of anxiety, this is a horrible message!!!

What happened to finding healthy ways to cope with your anxiety? What happened to keeping it in check so it didn't take over your life?

Yeah I'm definitely gonna make a full post about this one episode later because there's a whole lot more to unpack here. But yeah -10/10

#10 Putting Others First

There is just way too much going on with this episode. They try cramming so much in here that I don't even remember more than half of it.

I remember the opening song, then the Lilypadton fight and everything that happens from there. That's it.

And those are the best parts of this episode, but even that has problems because everything with Janus feels like a completely different episode.

Also the whole way they try to teach about morality is all over the place. How did we go from choosing a wedding over a callback to deciding whether or not you would die for your friends to self care is important?

And while the video game sequences, while utilized well in some places, were way too distracting and it felt like they were just trying to shove as many video game references in as they could.

You could take out just about all of them and the episode wouldn't change. Everything they were used for could have been done just through having the characters talk to each other, and knowing this makes the fact that this video was delayed for so long because of it just makes the whole thing worse.

Like the animations were well done, and I don't want to downplay the hard work the animator did. They were just doing their job after all.

But the trolley scenes (especially the second one) hurt my eyes with all the flashing (would have been nice to have some kind of warning for that) and some of the voice effects (especially on Logan's) were grating and distracting.

I want to rank this episode higher, but it has almost zero rewatch ability and honestly besides the ending, when I first watched this episode I was just kinda let down.

#9 Crofters- The Musical

Okay look, the song is a bop and I adore the fact that Logan and Roman got two episodes in the spotlight, but it's just kinda "meh" to me. Plus I get just a tinge of second hand embarrassment but that's just me.

And I know this is kinda unfair but another reason why this one isn't higher is because of a couple of things. One is that they set up some angst for Roman, he's clearly not doing well and Thomas thinks the best thing to do is tell him that he might get his own jam flavor.

Then he does, and instead of following up on that little plot point from this video, they just rushed out a commercial and completely ignored and potential story telling or character development for Roman.

So yeah "Return of the Jam" is the main reason why I don't like this one as much as I used to. And I actually just got an idea for a new post comparing these two so add that to my to-do list.

#8 Fitting In

I actually skipped this one during my first official watch through for one reason and one reason alone: I wasn't allowed to watch Harry Potter.

But I realized that my parents wouldn't approve of me of watching a gay man's content either so I just said screw it.

And luckily I understood enough Harry Potter references to get what they were talking about and honestly, this episode is a lot of fun.

It's a good follow up to Accepting Anxiety, and a nice way to kick off season two. Virgil is finding his place among the group and everyone is trying their best to make him feel welcome, it's really sweet.

And of course we get the new costumes (which i hadn't even noticed that they were wearing their old costumes at first) and I dunno it just gives off season one vibes and it makes me happy.

#7 Moving On Part One/Moving On Part Two

Yeah honestly my thoughts on both parts of this episode are the same. What can I say? It's really good.

This definitely one of the more emotionally heavy episodes in the series, and we see the characters at their lowest for really, the first time in this series.

I adore Patton's room and how each side gets their own corners. All the little details they add in, including the changing picture in the background, it really gives off that nostalgia feel they were going for.

What I love most about this episode is how (unlike some other episodes) they actually let the emotional moments sink in and don't throw in a joke immediately after. Like the ending is bittersweet, sad almost, and I love that they stuck with the mood up until the episode ended.

Not to say there weren't some jokes here and there (mostly in the first part) but once the mood shifts and things become more serious they let that mood stay. And when there are jokes they all work really well.

This is one episode I've actually watched the least out of season two, so it'll be interesting when I go watch it again to see if any of this holds up.

#6 Why Do We Get Out of Bed in the Morning?

Honestly I only put this one above Moving On because Logan and Roman are my favorites.

This episode is actually one of the weaker ones, which hurts to say because again, favorite characters, but goodness it's all over the place. It feels like a precursor to POF and not in a good way.

Logan and Roman just basically argue back and forth throughout the whole episode, never seeing eye to eye with each other, to the point where I think think the writers realized they couldn't find a way to get these two to agree so they just had Thomas step in and be like, "You guys make a really good team!"

Dude, were you even paying attention? They never even reached a conclusion on their own. And even though they have their little moment at the end, it's all kinda ruined when nothing in their relationship changes.

Yes, in Learning New Things About Ourselves, they acknowledge that there's more work to be done in regards to them, which makes sense. People aren't going to suddenly change overnight.

Yet despite having come to some kind of understanding with each other twice now (both here and LNTAO) in the following episodes they still act like they hate each other! Heck Roman is downright nasty to him for seemingly no reason and I don't really blame him for it.

More like I think the writers just don't know how to develop their relationship and just aren't as interested in them as the others. Logan's been reduced to being Mr. Exposition and apparently Roman's personal issues aren't enough for him to carry a room episode on his own because they felt the need to introduce two new characters before he finally gets it.

Sorry, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, the episode.

There's some funny bits here and there and the little animations are cute (even if unnecessary) but really it's only saving grace is being Roman and Logan centered.

Even though they felt the need to include a cameo from literally every other character because apparently no one has any faith that Logan and Roman can carry an episode on their own.

#5 The Sanders Sides 12 Days of Christmas

This episode is just pure fun. Look, I'm not a big fan of Christmas, even less of a fan of Christmas songs, but my gosh this episode almost makes me appreciate the season.

The way they're all just bickering the whole time, being very confused, and how there's just so much personality from each character even when they're not talking/singing and just being in the background is *chef's kiss* perfect.

There's so many fun little details to pick out during the song and it's fun to go back and watch how each side reacts to different things.

#4 Selfishness vs Selflessness

Gonna be real, this used to be my favorite episode. Until my overly critical brain started finding all kinds of problems in the writing department but I think I’ve been negative enough on this post so I’ll save it for another time.

Janus steals the show in this one, it’s his first official appearance since his debut and he just soaks up the spotlight. It’s refreshing to have an antagonist in the show again, and he’s the perfect foil for each of the original Sides.

He knows how to play into Roman’s insecurities, know how to feed into his ego and get him on his side. He’s in direct opposition to Patton, who believes that everything Janus represents is wrong. He’s able to silence Logan and take him out of the conversation, speaking over him most of the time.

And I guess he and Virgil have some beef I dunno.

The courtroom scenario is fun, and I love how Janus is the only one who sees how ridiculous it is (even though it was your idea in the first place, Jan) and everyone else seeing it as perfectly normal is hilarious.

I do like some of the more dramatic moments in this episode, especially that final bit with Janus questioning Thomas until he finally gets him to admit the truth. It was intense and reminded me of the scene where Janus confronts Roman in a similar manner.

While far from perfect this is still a good episode and I can find a lot to love about it, like Janus in a suit.

#3 Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts

This episode scared the shit out of me and I loved it.

Okay it didn’t actually scare me. But I stayed up to wait for it to be posted, which wasn’t until 2 or 3 in the morning. So by the time I finally watched it I was half awake and not expecting anything that I witnessed.

The result was me being terrified of Thomas with a mustache and it prevented me from sleeping. I was over it the next day though and had Forbidden Fruit stuck in my head all day. Which isn’t good when you’re running the register at work and you can’t stop singing it.

There’s a lot of reason why I love this episode, Remus being the primary thing. His entrance is iconic, the first few notes from his theme play as he creeps up behind the TV, him smiling at Roman all creepily until he whacks him over the head and knocks him out for most of the episode.

Then we get the song, Forbidden Fruit, which is just great. Slight secondhand embarrassment but seeing the finished product and all they put into it, I can’t help but love it.

Still miffed that Janus hasn’t gotten a song... specifically a villain song... I won’t ever let that go...

Logan is another highlight in this episode (no surprise) and seeing him go head-to-head against his polar opposite without batting an eye was interesting since I was kinda expecting them to show Logan having trouble dealing with Remus but nope. He handled it like a champ and I love them both.

Now I am kinda wary as to how they’re going to handle Remus in the future, especially with the intrusive thoughts aspect. It’s a sensitive topic and they’re already screwing up anxiety. But Remus has only been in one episode so far which means I can’t make any solid judgments until he’s appeared in more episodes, so I’ll have to wait and see.

All in all, great episode! Definitely deserves to be in my top three.

#2 Learning New Things About Ourselves

This episode made me feel so nostalgic. I freaking love puppets and grew up with Sesame Street and the Muppets, so I’m probably biased towards this episode but to me this is really one of the better written episodes.

Perfect? Heck no. But really, really good.

I love that we get to explore a bit more with Logan and Roman’s characters, in a lot of ways this is kind of a Logan episode which has him standing against the other Sides, and it’s really interesting to see just how different he is compared to the three of them and it could just be me but it seemed like he’s becoming more of an outsider and isn’t as close with the original four as he used to be, and this episode is what really kicks that idea off.

I can also relate to the “Well that’s nice but what do you do for a living?” message, except in my case it’s more like I want to quit my “real job” to pursue what I’m passionate about while people tell me it’ll probably never happen or “Yeah that’s a nice hobby!” So this episode really struck close to home and I just have a lot of sentimental feelings towards this one.

I love all of the designs for the puppets, they all just fit perfectly and I wouldn’t mind seeing them make a comeback one day. I know that’d be difficult since they’d need a professional to puppet them but hey, one can dream right?

And oh my gosh the song, it just gives off the same feel from Sesame Street and Muppet songs with it’s jazzy feel. And I won’t lie I flipped my lid when Logan and Thomas were in the same shot together. We hadn’t seen any of the Sides share the screen with Thomas yet and the fact that it was Logan, and he was arguing with Thomas and they were singing over each other? Ah I love it!

Also don’t get me started on how Logan’s bit in the song sounds more villainous than the others. I’m not saying anything just a neat little observation.

I have a lot of happy feelings attached to this episode, so despite the few problems I have with it I could never bring myself to hate it. The only one that tops it is...

#1 Can Lying Be Good?

The episode that started it all. The one that caught my attention and sparked my new fixation on this little series that I had just glossed over before.

I really don’t know what prompted me to watch this episode, other than I wasn’t in the best place and it just happened to pop into my recommendations one day and I figured, “Huh, haven’t watched this guy for awhile. Let’s see what he’s been up to.”

Once the episode was finished my first thought was “Holy shit when did this series start having lore?!”

This episode is probably the closest thing to perfect out of all the season two episodes so far. The writing is clever, pretty much all of the jokes land, and oh my gosh the editing in this one is phenomenal.

The way they show Roman shifting between himself and Joan throughout the episode is what sticks out the most. Having Roman’s voice coming from Joan, or having them briefly change back to Roman, I love it so much.

Not to mention Thomas’s ever changing shirt that reflects what he’s thinking/feeling is a neat little detail.

Did I mention this episode is hilarious? The ridiculousness of each scenario that they act out, with all the little inputs from Logan and Virgil who are both trying their best to do their jobs besides not even wanting to be part of it in the first place is adorable.

And of course, the man of the hour, Deceit. Or Janus as we now know him as.

Is it weird that I like Deceit more as a name? Probably, but that’s just because I don’t like how early his name was revealed.

Okay that was my last negative comment. Promise.

Now since I hadn’t watched Sanders Sides in a while I didn’t notice anything off about “Patton” during my first watch. But going back after seeing the rest of the series helped me catch all the little hints they added to clue in the audience that something wasn’t right.

A lot of it is really subtle, mostly in the acting department, but once you’ve caught on to everything it makes you wonder how you didn’t notice the first time. You can even see Logan and Virgil throughout the episode, knowing that something is off with “Patton” but holding back their concerns until Virgil finally calls Deceit out.

I’ve rewatched Deceit’s reveal so many times. When he finally drops the act after Thomas makes up his mind not to lie, you can just tell he no longer cares whether Thomas knows or not. Then things get even more tense when Logan is silenced, and everyone knows what’s going on except Thomas.

The music starts to build up, Thomas is flipping out, then after Deceit taunts him again he finally demands to know what’s going on and BAM there he is!

I love everything about this.

Like, what else can I say? This episode is brilliant. It really shows exactly what this team is capable of when they’re at their best. The pacing, the build up, the writing, all of it combined together to make the perfect episode.

Season Two has been, interesting. The long waits have caused some problems with the pacing and characters, not to mention the departure of Joan from the writing team with new writers entering the room, not to mention the first welcome now unwelcome arrival of Asides, and with only the season finale left before season three, it makes me wonder just where this series is headed.

I know this series is capable of doing incredible things, season one is still solid and it really holds up even after all this time. But season two just feels like a jumbled mess. Sure, it’s easy to enjoy the episodes individually, but once you try to fit them all together it’s like trying to jam a puzzle piece into a place where it doesn’t fit.

The best way to describe this season is as an experimental season. Each episode has the team trying something new, sometimes it seems these gimmicks take precedence over the story itself. Of course, some of these can work to the episode’s advantage, while others are just distracting and you’d know you wouldn’t miss them if they were gone.

It’s a mixed bag that’s for sure. One that has me watching in morbid curiosity as I wait to see whether it’ll crash in the end or blow my expectations out of the water. It really is fun to analyze these episodes, and yes I know I can be very harsh but believe it or not this is how I engage with media that I love.

My hope is that team will learn from season two and try to take a more simple approach with their production once season three roles around. Because if they continue at the same pace they are now I doubt there will be many people around to see this series through.

And on that note, that was my ranking of season two! I’m actually kinda excited now to go back and rewatch everything, I hope I don’t have to wait much longer to do so but that all depends on when the season two finale comes. Whether it ends up exceeding my expectations or just being “meh” I know it’ll be interesting regardless and I can’t wait to see just how they plan on wrapping this all up before the final season arrives.

#dukeofrankings #dukeofcritical #this one post spawned so many future posts #i'm gonna be a busy onion

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matildaofoz · 4 years ago

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The Invisible Itch Pt. 2 (Demon!Michael x Reader)

Summary: Michael introduces himself after last night and you find yourself on the short end of the proverbial stick by your own doing, no less. Demons don't play nice and Michael puts you firmly into place.

A/N: This is a little interlude to the next part of this series, no smut just yet I'm afraid but plenty of dominant Demon!Michael. He's so much fun to write and the back-and-forth between him and the reader are some of my favourites.

Warnings: Cursing, Power-Play, minor violence and hurt (reader-receiving), mentions of smut

Word Count: 2.4k

Tag List: @prophecy-is-inevitable @jimmlangdon @drasangel @leatherduncan @sexwon131 @rocketgirl2410 @9layerdevilfoodcake @vulgarprayer @michaellangdonstanaccount @michaellandgons-sunshine @iwillboilyourteeth @michael-langdon-owns-my-soul, @kitty4860

After you'd awoken the night after an encounter you couldn't begin to make sense of, you had quite literally grabbed whatever your hands could reach out the wardrobe and sprinted out the door, not daring to even enter the bathroom. You felt whatever, whoever had introduced himself the night before lingering in the place you called your home and that knot in your stomach wound tighter as the day went on. You were going insane. Surely, for the truth of the matter meant that there were forces in this world - and apparently in your apartment - that you couldn't fathom.

You needed answers and so you began to scour the Internet, not caring if your work search history took a weird turn. You still felt his fingers between your legs, his teeth on your shoulder and his grip on your hip. God, the way he had pleasured you was unlike anything you'd ever felt. You tried to shake the lustful thoughts flitting through your mind, the image of him standing before you burned into your retinas.

Demon. That word kept popping up on the websites and subreddits you found and you swore you felt those strong hands on you again as you read page after page of first person accounts with the supernatural. The more you read, the more you became alarmed, mentions of people having unwittingly sold their soul to the devil himself despite not believing in these kinds of things. If this was any other time, you would have scoffed at the idiotic posts. And yet here you were, baring the bruises of something you couldn't explain. The work day drew to a close far too soon, the day feeling like you spent it in a daze, a thick fog hanging over your mind, visions of him clouding your senses. Maybe you had sold your soul, given it to that man, that demon. That would explain the haze you walked through, that ache between your legs.

"Hey (Y/N), you alright? Anything going on, you didn't seem right today," Cindy from accounting said as you both stepped into the elevator.

"Hm? Oh yeah sorry, I'm just tired I think ," you replied with a little embarrassed smile several seconds after she had turned to address you as the doors slid shut. She mustered you, taking in the slight dark circles under your eyes, apparent because you hadn't even bothered to put on any make up. You forced a smile, not feeling up to any small talk.

"Heard Kevin's been bragging about you two going down to his lake house this weekend. Please tell me that's not true, " she continued and you were glad she didn't mention your appreance.

"He did what?!" you shrieked, now suddenly rattled into the present by her statement.

"Thought as much," Cindy replied, a small chuckle on her lips. You two didn't get to speak often but she was one of the few people in the office who showed her disdain for your manager and his creepy ways openly.

"This is turning out to be an even worse day than it already is," you groaned, making Cindy snicker beside you.

"Just be careful, I know he's all bark and no bite but you wouldn't want to get yourself in any situation," she said, patting you lightly on the shoulder as the elevator doors slid open to reveal the underground parking lot.

"Yeah, definitely won't do that. Thanks for the heads up," you called after her as she stepped out to head to her car, waving at you without turning around. You liked Cindy and her no-nonsense attitude. Too bad you were already in a situation of the supernatural kind. You'd kick Kevin's balls any day if he tried anything. The demon in your flat however was an entirely different beast to tame. If that was even a possibility.

You sat in your car outside your apartment building for a good 10 minutes, looking up at the dark windows, debating on whether or not you wanted to spend the night there. What had gotten into you, a tiny voice in the back of your mind berated you. You weren't scared of horror movies or graveyards, you laughed your way though haunted houses you and your friends went to on Halloween and yet the thought of stepping foot into your safe space suddenly filled you with dread. You could explain all those things away by good editing, special effects and makeup. A real-life demon on the other hand...With a huff you swung open the car door and stepped out into the chilly movember air and headed for the entrance. As you passed under the streetlights, you swore you could feel those eyes of his on you, watching from above.

The lock clicked, unlatching the door. You entered, expecting to come face to face with him and yet you were greeted by silence. You ventured into the kitchen, switching on the lights, back rigged. Empty. Next you headed for the bathroom. It looked as if you'd never even took a bath last night, no wine bottle, no glass on the floor, no water puddles on the ground. Slowly but surely you were beginning to think that you'd had a very vivid dream, one that would definetely warranted a visit to your pyschologist, and somehow managed to bump your hip and scratch your shoulder. It made no sense. You knew you were being watched as you stepped out the car. God, maybe you were finally at your breaking point, brought around by nothing in particular, you just simply snapped.

You ventured into your bedroom to change out of your clothes. The note...was gone. You swore you'd left in laying on your covers. After several minutes of franticall searching under the covers and around the bed, you gave up. Maybe your breakup was fianlly catching up with you in an unusual way or maybe it was the loneliness. Whatever it was, all that remained of last night were the bruises. You changed into an oversized t-shirt and some cotton shorts, examining the blueish imprints on your hips. Perhaps you had gotten so drunk last night that you'd simply not remembered hitting your hip and this morning, still drunk your brain had conjured up the note just as it has the demon that fucked you raw in the bathtub last night.

Having let your guard down at finding nothing out of the ordinary, you padded into the living room, your phone in hand that was currently reinstalling tinder. Might as well get back in the game if I'm dreaming up hot demon bathtub sex, you thought to yourself.

You switched on the light, revealing the demon from last night perched lazily on the sofa, looking at you with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"MOTHERFUCKER!" you screamed, dropping your phone. So much for not being scared.

"Good evening to you too, (Y/N)" he chuckled, taking in your frightened expression, those pretty (Y/E/C) eyes of yours ripped wide open.

"What are YOU doing here?" you hissed, trying to calm your heart that was currently in overdrive. He wasn't real, he wasn't supposed to be real.

"What do you mean what am I doing here. Didn't we assess last night that this is my domain? I should be asking you that question, Angel," he retorted, that grin of his widening into a dashing smile, his awsner punctuated by a wink that shouldn't have the effect it had on you.

"S-so this, last night, this was all real?" you whispered with your hands gesturing around you, disbelief in your voice and realisation flitting over your face.

"Oh it was real. A demon fucking that sweet little cunt of yours. Very real and very enjoyable I might add," he rumbled, hia brazen words making your cheeks flush. You stood in the door flabbergasted.

"I'm Michael by the way. I didn't get to introduce myself properly last night since you passed out. Not to worry, I take it as a compliment of my expertise," he winked once more.

You watched him as he revealed why you couldn't remember getting out the tub or falling asleep. So he was a demon. A spawn of satan. Your mind went back to all the things you'd read earlier about his kind, that knot in your stomach suddenly coiling in on itself.

"Did I sell my soul to you last night?!" The words spilled over your lips, your (Y/E/C) gaze shooting daggers at the demon who looked more bemused by the second, taking in your flustered appearance. He hadn't expected you to be so straightforward.

"No, you'd know if you did," he smirked, tapping his chin, a cocky smile on his lips as he watched you deflate slightly. You didn't dare breathe a sigh of relief yet.

"This is like if you're a cop, you have to tell me. You can't lie, you can twist the truth but you can't outright lie," you responded, not satisfied by his half answer.

"Oh, we've been hitting the books at work today? Smart girl," he chuckled. You hadn't done nearly enough research to know the pile of proverbial shit you had landed in unknowingly, but you had done enough between work meetings and over your lunch break to know that a demon was bound by whatever force held them to this plane that made it impossible for them to lie if called upon directly. Your hands clenched by your sides, waiting for his reply. He groaned at your resoluteness. You were a lot smarter than you knew and he was growing impatient with the incessant line of questioning. Usually it was him with one hand on the lever.

"Sweet (Y/N)," he inhaled deeply. "You didn't sell your soul to me last night. It's still firmly sat behind your ribcage, all yours. I'd swear on my heart if I had one. I do have integrity, you know. Are you satisfied now?" He sneered, watching your face as he waited for your reply, one eyebrow cocked expectantly, a hint of offense on his features. You sighed in relief at his statement.

"Thank God," you breathed. At least some of what you'd found on various internet sites and reddit threads seemed to be true. At the name, Michael's eyes darkened and he stood up to his full height from the sofa. Your spine straightened as he approached you, his demeanour growing even sourer.

"Don't mention him in my presence," he rumbled, coming to stand before you, the tips of his pristine parent leather boots touching your bare toes. Had he approached you like this when you had entered your apartment, you would've shrunk back but your little research endeavours had struck a hint of Gold, a fact that had emboldened you as much as his admission that he infact a demon. You wanted to try and see what else you could use against him. Resolute, you stood your ground, neck slightly tilted back to meet his gaze. He may have scared you just now but you were not one to back down, for better or worse.

"God," you uttered again, watching his eyes grow dark, an inky blackness swallowing his blue irises.

Michael tilted his head to one side, those shadows starting to creep up behind him like they had last night. A silent warning.

"Jesus Christ," you continued to test him.

"(Y/N)..." his voice rumbled low out his chest, and the depth of it sent shivers down your spine.

"In the name of the father, the son and the hol-" His right arm shot up and he grabbed you by the throat roughly, cutting off your breath before you could finish the sentence. In the blink of an eye you were pressed between the wall, Michael's hand around your throat pinning you in place.

"Shut your fucking mouth or I'll do it for you," he hissed, his body pressed firmly over yours, his black gaze burning into you, and a searing pain exploded behind them. You screamed in terror and anguish as it felt like he was burning your eyes out their sockets.

"FUCK, I'M SORRY, I'LL STOP, PLEASE!" you cried, your vision going blurry from pain and tears that had begun to spill out the corners. At your cries, Michael's hand loosened the grip around your neck and stepped back. You slid down the wall at the loss of his body holding you up, gulping in air, fingers gingerly touching the skin around your eyes, afraid they would come up bloody. Unbothered, Michael watched as you regained control over your breathing, mustering you with a hint of disdain. He crouched down before you, making you press yourself against the wall in an effort to keep the distance between you.

"Don't ever think you're smarter than me, little one. Test me again and you'll see. I dare you," he chuckled, one hand catching your quivering chin in his hold to assess the damage he'd done. Only several small burst blood vessels bloomed in the whites of your eyes. Nothing permanent and yet enough to remind you that you were in his domain, abiding by his rules.

"Now that we've established who's in charge once again, why dont you tell me about your day? I took the liberty of getting some wine," he said, any trace of anger or demonic demeanour wiped from his chiseled features, that small smile playing on the corners of his lips again. He was psychotic or just simply demonic, that little voice in th back of your head whispered while you watched him, the back of your head and shoulders pressed into the wall.

He offered you his hand to help you off the floor, as if the last minutes had never taken place. You debated whether or not to refuse but seeing as how you were on the much shorter end of the stick firmly in his grasp, you took his hand and were hoisted up to your feet by Michael. You recoiled from his grasp as soon as you were steady on your feet, eyeing him warily. Alcohol sounded like a good idea even though you wanted to keep your wits about you around him. There was no doubt in your mind now about who it was you were dealing with and this was far worse than you'd anticipated and yet it didn't seem like you had much choice. Your lease wouldn't run out for another 6 months and there was no way you'd go back to your best friend's couch.

“Why the hell not,” you muttered, earning yourself a gleeful grin from the handsome devil before you.

“I knew you'd come around, Angel,” he grinned, those hooded icy blue eyes glinting.

#michael langdon x reader #michael langdon x you #michael langdon #demon!michael #ahs apocalypse

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writingwithadinosaur · 5 years ago

Text

“Under the Knife” - Part 2

My Masterlist - Here

Story Masterlist - Here

My Tag List - Here

Hannibal Lecter x Reader, Will Graham x Sister!Reader

Word Count: 2,500-ish

Key: Chunks of text in italics are (Y/N)’s thoughts. Y/N = Your Name, H/C = Your Hair Color, E/C = Your Eye Color

Warnings: Talks of murders, talk of crime scenes, cursing

Summary: You are Will Graham’s sister who works with him at the FBI. When you get offered a job promotion, life starts to change. Some changes for the better; Some for the worst.

Tag List:

@fruitloopzzz @theeactress @melconnor2007 @ashenfallsof @geeksareunique @all-by-myself98 @sj-thefan @fuck-your-bad-vibes-dude @ntlmundy

Author’s Note: This is my first Hannibal piece and I am proud of it. There aren’t too many stories for Hannibal, so I figured I would add to the collection.

This does take place in some happy medium where they are all alive and work together. Sort of a happier season 1 era.

This is beta-read by @theeactress, but please let me know if there is something that we missed or that we should look at again!

If you would like to be tagged in any of my future pieces, check out my tag list above and let me know! And as always, feedback is greatly appreciated!

- DreaSaurusREX

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

After your meeting with Jack, you filled out some paperwork and made it official: You were going to be his profiler for any case that he wanted to call you in for. And apparently he already had one building.

“We have a suspected serial killer hitting close to home. Three killings in Montclair, Lorton, and Fredericksburg.” As he said the Virginian cities, Jack plopped 3 case files in front of you and moved to the board full of evidence that he had.

“Oh! We’re starting right now? O-Okay.” He turned from the board to look at you with a sort of incredulous way.

“Do you have a problem with that?”

“I mean, we literally just signed the papers. I thought I would have a night to prepare instead of being thrown right in.” You said the truth without seeming ungrateful or annoyed, which was good. But you instantly started to nervously ramble as Jack nodded and walked back to his desk. “But if we need to start right now, I can. I just wasn’t ready for--”

“You’re right. We’ll start talking tomorrow. For now, take those files, do your homework, and report here at 9AM. We’ll go to the lab and introduce you to Beverly, Price, and Zeller.” Jack smiled and motioned toward the door.

“Thank you. I will see you tomorrow morning!” You tried to be professional but also show that you were actually excited to work with him.

“See you tomorrow.”

After putting the files securely in your bag, you headed to your apartment. You put the files on your dining room table before you hung up your coat and work bag. You checked your watch. You had dinner plans with Hannibal in an hour and a half. You stood between your room and the table that the files were seated on. You fidgeted with your ring for a few seconds as you debated on whether or not to start catching up on the case now or after dinner.

“I can read over the first one and then get ready for dinner.” You told yourself as you pulled out the semi-comfy chair and opened the file.

Case: #566-A

This case was from 6 weeks ago in Montclair. Ballsy to be close to the FBI and kill people. There were two victims: Dr. Everet and his wife Whinnie. They were found dead in their shared bedroom in their upper-class house. A nice upper-class place thanks to being a doctor.

Whinnie looked like a murder that you would find in an armed robbery case: Quick throat slit, not much thought or motive into it, left on the floor to bleed out. Dr. Everet on the other hand was what you assumed grabbed Jack’s attention.

Dr. Everet was in the middle of their bed. The autopsy report claimed that the cause of death was exsanguination which made sense considering he was in pieces. Everet was cut at every major joint. His arms were separated from his shoulders, his legs from the pelvis, his thigh from his knee, his forearm from the elbow, and so on and so forth down to his fingers and toes. The report showed that there was a high level of paralytics in his system. So you make him sit there while you cut him apart. That’s why there are no defensive wounds. He had to lay there and endure all of that...

Why was Everet presented like this while his wife was a simple throat slit?

You made some notes in your book, making sure to write out questions to ask the team when you met up with them tomorrow. With every note you made, you found yourself going back to the case file and trying to connect dots. You soon realized that you couldn’t begin to connect those dots until you looked at the other files.

Without much thinking, you opened all three files, quickly skimming over each of them and writing out the main points that stood out. You were supposed to be at Hannibal’s at 7 o’clock and it was only 5:45. It didn’t take that long to get to his place.

All of the murders happened 2 weeks after the other, starting 5 and a half weeks ago. Dr. Everet was about 6 weeks ago, Dr. Chaseten was about 4 weeks ago, and Dr. Loriet was about 2 weeks ago. Which means this killer is bound to strike again soon if this time frame is important to him.

They all have at least one victim that is treated like a paralyzed piece of artwork like Dr.Everet and at least one victim thrown to the side and killed quickly. The ‘pieces of art’ were all doctors, the others were their husbands or wives.

They all were in different cities in Virginia but close enough to make a solid assumption that this is the same killer.

You were scribbling out a note to ask about if there were any particulates found in any of the bodies when your phone buzzed on the table next to you. You didn’t even look at the screen, you just hit the answer button and put whoever was calling on speakerphone.

“(Y/N) speaking.”

“Good evening, (Y/N).” The thickly accented voice rang through your speaker and stopped your writing mid-word as you looked from your phone to the files that were now spread out across your small tablespace.

“Dr. Lecter! Hi! Good evening! Sorry, I was um... caught up in something and didn’t even register who was calling!”

“No need to apologize. I was just wondering if I should still expect you tonight?” You dropped your pen as you frantically looked at the time on your phone. It was 6:15PM. You quickly started to shut the files and stand up muttering a few curse words as you did. “I take it you got distracted?

“Yes! I’m sorry! But I am still coming over as long as the invitation is still good.” You picked up your phone and walked to your room to start to quickly figure out a nice outfit that didn’t look too much like a work outfit or too fancy. “I am getting ready now!”

“As I can hear.” You could almost hear the slight smirk he most likely had on his lips from hearing you fumble around your small space.

“I should be there right around 7 and I’ll explain myself, I promise.”

“I will see you then, my dear.” Hannibal hung up while you were slinging your work shirt into your laundry bin. You couldn’t help the smile that spread as you thought about how he called you ‘my dear.’ You know it's probably nothing more than a common nickname for any woman in Hannibal’s life, but it still felt good to be called something other than your real name.

~~~~~~~~

Somehow you had managed to avoid a lot of major traffic and pull up to Hannibal’s home right at 7 o’clock. He must have heard your engine or seen your headlights because as you got out of your car and made your way to his front door, it was already open with him waiting for you with a small smile on his lips.

“Right on time.”

“Did you doubt me?”

“Never.” Hannibal moved to the side to let you in. You were instantly hit with the scents of whatever he was whipping up in his kitchen.

“One day you’ll have to teach me how to make something really fancy just so I can show off next time I have someone over.” You shrugged off your bag and went to hang it up in the closet, but Hannibal beat you to it.

“Someone like a partner?” He was so good at hiding any sort of inflection in his voice, but you could have sworn that you detected a bit of jealousy. You slightly laughed at the idea of having any sort of romantic partner right now.

“I was thinking more along the lines of my brother. You know I don’t have much of a social life outside work.

Hannibal motioned for you to walk towards the kitchen, you did so and he was right behind you.

This was normal for the two of you. You tried to have a meal or at least coffee together once or twice a week to give both of you a break from whatever the world was dishing out to you that week. You had met as colleagues when you worked together on a project for the FBI. But now you both were in a comfortable friendship. There was a pang in your heart that wanted to explore the idea of being more than friends or coworkers with him, but you doubted Hannibal felt the same. If he did, he wouldn’t show it due to his connection with your brother and out of respect for you. So the two of you continued this dance of being extremely friendly but too scared to make a move or speak up.

You poured yourself a glass of water and leaned against the kitchen counter as Hannibal reached into the refrigerator for lemon juice and finished up cooking.

“How was your day today?” You ask him, as you take a sip.

“It was alright. Met with patients, got further in a drawing, figured out what to cook for a beautiful lady as a congratulation of sorts.” Hannibal quickly looked up at you as he said the last half of that before turning to the stovetop. You felt a very small blush creep on your neck, but tried to play it cool.

“Congratulations?”

“On your new position. I hope you don’t mind that Will shared that with me today.”

“Did he now?” You couldn’t help the slight negativity in your voice as you looked away and played with your ring. “He is definitely not as happy for me as you are. I’m sure you’re aware that he did not want me to accept Jack’s offer.”

“I cannot tell what he said, but I can tell you that he was rather upset when he came in today.”

“Sounds like my brother.” You took another drink of water, not even noticing that Hannibal had plated dinner until he spoke up.

“Now, if you’d please.” You quickly looked up and saw that he was gesturing to the dining room. You tried to help by grabbing a plate or his cup or something to bring to the table but he just gently ushered you into the next room. He never let you help out when you were over as a dinner guest, but you tried every time.

The two of you sat and began eating. It was a good minute or two of silence before someone spoke up.

“This is delicious, Hannibal! I don’t know what vegetable this is exactly,” you help up a swirly looking green piece on your fork, “but it is amazing with this sauce you’ve made.”

“That is romanesco broccoli. I thought you might like it. It looks intimidating but tastes like the typical broccoli that you normally eat. It's just a bit… Artistic.” He slightly smiled, happy that he could amuse you with new food. You took another bite as Hannibal reached for his wine. Before he took a sip, he asked something that had been on his mind.

“May I ask what grabbed your focus so much that you almost missed out on dinner tonight?”

“Oh, right! Jack apparently already has a killer he wants me to start profiling. He gave me copies of the reports to read up on before I have my first official day tomorrow. I told myself I was just going to read the first one, but then got carried away.”

“Is this the killer that has been targeting doctors?” You gave him a questioning look, unsure of how he knew about the case. “Jack asked for my opinion at the crime scene for Dr.Chaseten a few weeks ago. Considering they haven’t caught anyone, I’m assuming that is what he has you working on.”

“Then you would be correct. There are now three mutilated doctors that have no obvious correlation to each other other than the cause of death and the fact that they are doctors.” You sipped your drink and continued. “I know I’ve only been Jack’s official profiler for less than a day, but it's still biting at me that I don’t see anything yet.”

Hannibal reached over and put a hand on yours to try to rein you back in before you thought too much about the case.

“I’m sure you will have more answers tomorrow.” You smiled and patted his hand, ignoring the slight butterflies you got from the contact. You took a deep breath.

“I know. I shouldn’t get this deep yet. That insanity will hit me tomorrow when I have to brainstorm with Jack.” You smiled even though it didn’t fully reach your eyes. You knew Hannibal would pick up on it.

“I think it was Oscar Levant that said that ‘there’s a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.’ Let’s just hope Jack Crawford won’t erase his line.” Hannibal gave your hand a small squeeze before removing his hand, causing you both to return your attention to your meal.

“You know, we could have rescheduled this dinner if you felt the need to finish your work.” Hannibal was sincere. He understood your work was a major part of your life, but he did like to see you outside the halls of the FBI.

“No! I wanted to come by tonight! Honestly, I needed a mood lifter after today.”

“Oh? How come?” You finished chewing and then spoke your mind. You knew Hannibal was a therapist, but he wasn’t your therapist. So you tried to keep it friendly.

“I should be excited and happy to be starting this new position, but I’m more worried about Will. I don’t want this job to be what divides us, you know? We’re so close, and I am one of the few people that he can be comfortable around. I don’t want to take that from him.” You pause, unconsciously bouncing your leg and fidgeting with your ring slightly. You shook your head as if that would temporarily erase the thought. “I just hope that if I keep working cases, he will get more and more okay with it.” You cut off a piece of fish and ate, letting Hannibal know that you were done speaking.

“I’m sure he will be fine.” You look up to find him staring at you. More like watching you, hyper-aware of your movements that show your anxiety. “But enough about Will.” Hannibal held up his glass towards you. “Here’s to you and your new path in the FBI. May they see you as valuable and wonderful as I do.”

You patted your lips with your napkin and smiled as you clinked your glass with his. Your heart swelled at his words. Why do you do this to me?

The rest of the evening was spent finishing your meal and forcing Hannibal to let you help with the dishes. Afterward, he walked you to your car, as usual, opening the door for you like a true gentleman.

Your drive home was peaceful and you found yourself smiling, thankful for your evening with Hannibal. It was nice to know that someone you cared about was happy for you.

#hannibal #hannibal fanfiction #hannibal fandom #hannibal imagine #hannibal lecter x reader #hannibal lecter #hannibal lecter / reader

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alyssawritesssfics · 4 years ago

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Hounded [1] 1. Pilot

Pairings: Bellamy x OC // Kane x daughter!OC

Word Count: 3.5k

Warnings: violence, series spoilers

Summary: After being locked away for eight months, Athena Kane alongside 99 other criminals is sent to the ground to find out if it's survivable. The ground was the dream, but who knew it would turn out to be a nightmare?

Author’s Note: Hii, this is the repost of my series Hounded! I’ve decided to have each chapter represent an episode. I just personally like the look of it way more and find it easier for me to follow along with while writing (and hopefully you find it easier to follow along while reading it). Please remember to note and reblog! It really helps me see interest and therefore update the story more often. Thank you! PS. If you’d like to be tagged in future chapters, please send me an ask with your @ and I will add you to my list!

previous chapter // series masterlist

The cement floor of my cell was cold against my legs, the sensation searing through the fabric of my jeans. I had sat here many times over the last few months, visualizing myself being blasted into space. It was a morbid thought, but one I could never seem to shake.

My cellmate Octavia let out a heavy sigh, pulling me from my thoughts. I examined her, lying across her cot on her stomach, her feet swaying back and forth in the air as she reread one of the few books she had for the hundredth time.

As I watched Octavia, an alarm began to sound within Skybox, causing Octavia to close her book and sit on the edge of her cot.

“What’s going on out there?”

I stood from my place on the ground, making my way over to our cell door. Peeking through the bars, I noticed guards piling in the main doors, opening cells and dragging people out of them.

“The guards, they’re removing people,” I spoke, my voice shaking.

Octavia stood up. “Moving people? Moving them where?”

I shrugged. “I have no idea.”

We both watched the guards remove more and more people before finally, two reached our cell. Octavia and I stepped back, allowing the guards to enter. The first guard to enter carried a case with him.

“Prisoners 395 and 530, stand facing the wall.” One of the guards said.

Octavia and I complied, as the other guard asked us to extend our dominant hands. Octavia extended her right arm, while I extended my left. The guards reached into the case, pulling out large metal wristbands and placing them around our wrists.

“What’s going on? Neither of us is eighteen yet.”

Eighteen. That was when we’d be up for reevaluation, the council deciding whether or not we’d be floated.

“No questions.” One of the guards responded, pulling me away from the wall. “Let’s go, both of you.”

Octavia and I exited our cell, the place we’d called home for nearly a year now, entering the chaos that was Skybox. There were long lines of teenagers, most younger than myself, on each side, on all levels. We followed the line all the way out of Skybox, into a long corridor.

“I want to speak with my father,” I said, turning to face the guard behind me. “Marcus Kane, he’s on the council.”

The guard stared at me, his face expressionless. “Keep moving.”

“No,” I spoke, a glare appearing across my face. “Where is my father?”

The guard pulled out his shock baton, extending it. “I said, keep moving.”

Not wanting to go through being shocked again, I took a deep breath, turning back around and continuing to follow the line. Eventually, the guards who had taken Octavia and I disappeared, more guards lining the path to wherever we were going.

The further I get down the line, I finally see it. One of the Ark’s guards were scanning identification cards before ushering them onto… a dropship?

A dropship.

“Holy shit,” I mumbled to myself. “They’re sending us to the ground.”

…

“Prisoners of The Ark, hear me now.” I listened on as Chancellor Jaha appeared on several screens within the dropship.

Octavia and I had been separated, sent to different levels of the dropship. Looking around, I didn’t recognize many faces, only a few from Earth Skills.

“You've been given a second chance, and as your Chancellor, it is my hope that you see this as not just a chance for you, but a chance for all of us, indeed for mankind itself.” He continued. “We have no idea what is waiting for you down there. If the odds of survival were better, we would've sent others. Frankly, we're sending you because your crimes have made you expendable.”

The sound of booing filled the dropship.

“The drop site has been chosen carefully. Before the last war, Mount Weather was a military base built within a mountain. It was to be stocked with enough non-perishables to sustain three hundred people for up to two years. If you survive this mission, your crimes will be forgiven, your records wiped clean.”

Chancellor Jaha continued on, though I began to tune it out. All I could think about was my father. Did he know about this? He had to have known, him being one of the Chancellor’s closet allies on the Ark.

As the thought of my father’s involvement drifted from my mind, the dropship jolted, sending my head forward, then back against the seat with brutal force. The dropship continued to shake, as screams filled the air.

“What’s happening?” A girl called out.

I had the same question.

The shaking lasted several minutes before finally, the dropship crashed. Everyone remained silent, unsure if we’d actually landed. After a few moments, people began unbuckling themselves, rushing towards the dropship doors.

I was one of the last to unbuckle myself, wanting to avoid the rush. By the time I had arrived, nearly everyone within the dropship was surrounding the door. As I peeked through the crowd, I spotted Octavia standing by the door, next to a taller boy I’d never seen before.

“Where’s your wristband?” I knew that voice.

Octavia spun around to face someone out of my view. “Do you mind? I haven’t seen my brother in over a year.”

While sharing a cell with Octavia, she’d told me many stories about her brother Bellamy. I almost wouldn’t have believed she even had one, if she didn’t bring him up so often. It was sweet though. I’d always wished I could’ve had a sibling.

That was against the law on the Ark.

“No one has a brother,” someone spoke.

“That’s Octavia Blake, the girl they found hidden under the floor!”

I watched as Octavia lunged forward, Bellamy grabbing her arm. “Octavia, no. Let’s give them something else to remember you by.”

By now, I’d pushed my way further through the crowd.

“Yeah?” Octavia asked, looking back at her brother. “Like what?”

Bellamy smirked. “Like being the first person on the ground in a hundred years.”

With those words, Bellamy reached over and grabbed the dropship door’s handle, pulling it down. There was a faint bang before the door slowly began lowering, creating a platform that led to the ground.

It was beautiful, more so than I ever could’ve imagined. The ground was covered in grass, just like I’d seen in books on the Ark. Trees surrounded us, nearly covering the clear blue sky above us entirely.

I watched as Octavia slowly made her way down the platform, looking back at her brother. He gave her a reassuring nod, and Octavia in turn took a deep breath before jumping off of the platform, her feet colliding with the ground.

We all watched her as she looked around, silent for a few moments. Finally, Octavia threw her hands in the air.

“We’re back, bitches!”

Cheers erupted through the dropship, delinquents spilling out around Octavia and running through the forest surrounding us. I slowly made my way down the platform, bracing myself as if I expected to burst into flames the second I touched the ground.

Octavia looked back at me, smiling. “What are you waiting for?”

I jumped from the platform, my boots meeting the hard ground. “Oh my god… We’re really here.”

Octavia squealed, pulling me in for a hug. “No more tiny cells and uncomfortable beds for us.”

“Well, I imagine uncomfortable beds aren’t quite out of the picture yet.” I laughed.

“You’re probably right.” Octavia shrugged with a giggle.

Octavia rushed off to catch up with Bellamy, while I stood in place, taking everything in. As I looked around, my eyes fell upon the girl whose voice I recognized earlier; Clarke Griffin, my childhood best friend.

Clarke stood by the edge of a cliff, staring down at the map in her hands. A tall boy with medium-length brown hair stood next to her. Based on the look upon her face, I figured I should head over there.

“Clarke?”

Clarke turned around, her eyes widening. “Athena?”

I couldn’t help but smile. It had been a year since I’d spoken to Clarke, and she looked exactly the same today as she did then. I remembered hearing stories of Clarke being arrested, the reasons often varying, but I never actually thought those rumours were true.

“What’s with the map?” I finally asked.

Clarke took a deep breath. “Do you two see that peak over there?”

Both I and the boy nodded.

“Mount Weather,” Clarke said. “There’s a radiation-soaked forest between us and our next meal. They dropped us on the wrong damn mountain.”

“Please tell me you’re joking?”

Clarke shook her head. “I wish I was.”

“We’ve got problems-” Wells Jaha, the son the Chancellor, spoke as he reached our little group. He stopped as his eyes landed on me. “Athena?”

I blinked, confusion setting over me. “Wells? What the hell did you do to get sent down here?”

“Don’t ask.” Wells shook his head, before continuing. “We’ve got problems. The communication system is dead. I went to the roof. A dozen panels are missing. Heat fried the wires.”

“Well, all that matters right now is getting to Mount Weather,” Clarke responded, marching closer to the dropship. She spread her map out on one of the wings. “See? This is us.” Clarke pointed to a spot on the map. “This is where we need to get to if we want to survive.” She moved her finger across the map.

“Where’d you learn to do that?” Wells asked.

Clarke’s face turned pale as she looked away.

Wells sighed. “Your father.”

The two remained silent, as another boy with a pair of goggles strapped to his head approached. He leaned over Clarke’s shoulder, surveying the map.

“Cool, a map.” He spoke, looking Clarke up and down. “They got a bar in this town? I’ll buy you a beer.”

Wells lightly pushed the boy back. “Do you mind?”

“Woah.” The boy spoke, holding his hands up.

“Hey, hands off of him.” I turned to see a group of boys approaching. “He’s with us.” The rest of the delinquents were also gathered around us.

“Relax,” Wells spoke, stepping back. “We’re just trying to find out where we are.”

“We’re on the ground,” Bellamy spoke. “Is that not good enough for you?”

“We need to find Mount Weather. You heard my father’s message. That has to be our first priority.”

“Screw your father,” Octavia called out. “What, you think you’re in charge here? You and your little princess?” She was staring at Clarke.

Clarke shook her head. “Do you think we care who's in charge? We need to get to Mount Weather not because the Chancellor said so, but because the longer we wait, the hungrier we'll get and the harder it’ll be. How long do you think we'll last without those supplies? We're looking at a twenty-mile trek. So if we want to get there before dark, we need to leave now.”

“I’ve got a better idea,” Bellamy responded. “You two go, find it for us. Let the privileged do the hard work for a change.”

Everyone around us cheered.

“You’re not listening, we all need to go!” Wells urged. “Athena?”

Before I could respond, another boy spoke. “Athena Kane? You’re Marcus Kane’s daughter!”

“Your father floated my mother!”

“And my father!”

“Mine too!”

I looked at Wells, narrowing my eyes.

Wells shook it off. “We have to go, now.”

“Look at this everybody,” A boy stepped forward. “The Chancellor of Earth.”

“You think that’s funny?” Wells asked.

“No,” The boy responded, kicking Wells in the leg and watching him fall to the ground. “But that sure was.”

Cheers erupted through the forest, people begging them to fight.

“Come on, Wells.” The boy egged him on.

Wells stood up, getting into a fighting stance. Before any swings could be thrown, the medium-length haired boy jumped from the top of the dropship, landing between them.

“The kids got one leg.” He spoke to the boy. “Why don’t you wait until it’s a fair fight?”

“Hey, spacewalker!” Octavia called out. “Rescue me next.”

People began to laugh, the crowd dispersing. Bellamy grabbed Octavia’s arm, pulling her away.

“Uh,” The boy spoke to Clarke. “So, Mount Weather? When do we leave?”

“Right now,” Clarke replied, looking at Wells. “Finn and I will be back tomorrow with food.”

“How are the two of you going to carry enough food for a hundred people?”

Finn looked around, grabbing goggles boy and another. “Four of us.”

“Sounds like a party!” Octavia had rejoined the group. “Count me in.”

“What are you doing?” Bellamy asked.

Octavia rolled her eyes. “Going for a walk.”

Clarke suddenly reached for Finn’s hand. “Were you trying to take this off?”

The wristband.

“Yeah, so?”

“Well, I don't know. Do you want the people you love to think you're dead? Do you want them to follow you down here in two months? Because they won't if they think we're dying.”

Finn nodded. “Okay.”

“Now, let’s go.”

“Wait,” I spoke up. “I’m coming with you.”

Clarke grabbed my hand, leading me away slightly. “I need you to stay here.”

“Why?”

“Wells can hardly walk and I need someone to help him keep an eye on things here. I know it’s been forever since we’ve talked, but I trust you a hell of a lot more than anyone else here.” Clarke spoke, her eyes shifting to Wells for a moment.

I smiled. “I don’t know if I should take that as a compliment.”

She smiled back. “You got this?”

I nodded. “Be safe.”

Clarke and I made our way back to the group. She grabbed a bag before looking at Wells, who sat on the ground leaning against the dropship. “You really shouldn’t have come here, Wells.”

With that, Clarke headed off into the forest alongside Finn, Octavia, and the two other boys I’d yet to meet.

I looked at Wells, frowning. “Let’s get you into the dropship so you can rest your foot in peace.”

…

A few hours later, I found myself returning to camp after going on a water run, my efforts having been futile. Just as I was about to reach the camp, I spotted Wells gathering sticks. He had also been searching for water the last I’d seen him.

“No luck?”

Wells looked up, startled. “No, you?”

I shook my head. “There’s gotta be water somewhere.”

“Just not anywhere near us,” Wells sighed. “Want to give me a hand with these?”

I picked up a pile of sticks, following Wells towards the dropship. We began dropping them in an already started pile when footsteps came up behind us.

“Find any water yet?” It was the same boy who had tried to fight Wells earlier. I recently learned his name was John Murphy. He stood beside another boy, also named John.

“No, not yet-” Wells paused, his face going pale before he quickly pulled himself back together. “I’m going back out if you want to come.”

I followed Wells’ gaze, spotting something carved into the dropship: first son, first to dye.

“You know, my father begged for mercy in the airlock chamber before your father floated him,” Murphy spoke, his eyes narrowed in on Wells.

Wells shook his head, pushing past the pair. “You spelt die wrong, geniuses.”

I attempted to follow Wells, though both boys blocked my way. “Where do you think you’re going? Don’t think we haven’t forgotten about what your father did.”

Shaking my head, I took a step back. “That was my father’s doing, not mine. The same goes for Wells. Feel free to take it up with them when they come down here though. I’ll be the last to stop you.”

Murphy looked me up and down for a moment before a smirk crept across his face. He didn’t say anything, simply stepping out of my way. I took it as an opportunity to join Wells, who still stood just a few paces behind them.

“We’re not safe here, Athena,” Wells whispered.

“No, we’re not,” I agreed. “There’s nothing you or I can do about it, not until Clarke and the others get back. We just have to lay low, watch each other’s backs, like the good old days.”

Wells smiled. “I’d give anything to go back there right now.”

I let out a small, shaking breath. “You and me both.”

…

Wells and I spent the rest of the afternoon searching for water, with no luck. As we came closer to the camp, I stopped. Noticing my absence from beside him, Wells also stopped, turning around to face me.

“Can I ask you something?” Wells nodded. “What happened with Clarke? I heard stories in lockup but never from anyone who had actually been there.”

Wells was quiet for a moment, kicking his feet around in the dirt. “Her father discovered a flaw in the Ark. That they’re running out of air. He wanted to go public with it.”

“But he didn’t?”

“Clarke found out and told me, and a few days later her father was arrested.”

My heart sank into my stomach. “You told your father, didn’t you?”

Wells shook his head. “It wasn’t me, but Clarke thinks it was.”

“So he was floated?” I was having a hard time processing all of this.

“Yeah,” Wells responded. “Clarke saw it happen, and then she was arrested too.”

I shook my head. “I had no idea…”

“That was kinda the point,” Wells mumbled.

I frowned. “You haven’t told Clarke it wasn’t you, have you?”

“I can’t tell her, Athena,” Wells said, not able to look me in the eye.

“Why not?”

Wells once again fell silent. “It was her mother.”

My eyes grew wide. “You’re sure?”

“It wasn’t me and I’m the only one Clarke told. Do you really think she’d expect her mother to turn her father in?” Wells asked. “I can’t tell her. It would break her, especially now.”

“So you let her hate you…”

Wells frowned. “Better than her hating her mother.”

I smiled softly. “You’re a really good friend, you know that?”

Before Wells could respond, the sound of screams filled the air. They were coming from the camp. Both of us looked at each other before hurrying our way back. By the time we arrived, there was a large crowd surrounding the campfire.

We both pushed our way through the crowd, spotting Murphy prying off a girl named Fox’s wristband. She winced as the wristband popped off, and Murphy tossed it into the fire.

“Who’s next?” Bellamy asked.

“What the hell are you doing?” Wells asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

Bellamy smirked. “We’re liberating ourselves. What does it look like?”

“It looks like you’re trying to kill us all.” I hissed.

“The communication system is dead. These wristbands are all we got. Take them off, and the Ark will think we're dying, that it's not safe for them to follow.” Wells added.

“That’s the point, Chancellor,” Bellamy replied. “We can take care of ourselves, can’t we?”

Everyone around them cheered.

“Do you think this is a game? Those aren't just our friends and our parents up there. They're our farmers, our doctors, our engineers.” Wells shouted, looking around the crowd. “I don't care what he tells you. We won't survive here on our own, and besides, if it really is safe, how could you not want the rest of our people to come down?”

“My people are already down here,” Bellamy replied. “Those people locked my people up. Those people killed my mother for the crime of having a second child. Your father did that.”

Wells shook his head. “My father didn’t write the laws.”

“No, he enforced them, but not anymore, not here. Here there are no laws. Here, we do whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want. Now, you two don't have to like it. You can even try to stop it or change it, kill me even. You know why?” Bellamy’s smirk only grew wider. “Whatever the hell we want.”

“Whatever the hell we want!” Murphy cheered.

Everyone began chanting around us, repeating those five words over and over again. I couldn’t believe it. How could they all be so stupid? So selfish? They were going to get all of us killed.

Suddenly, I felt a speck of water hit my bare arm. Then another, and another. Then, water began falling from the sky rapidly.

“It’s rain,” A girl called out. “Real rain!”

The cheering began once again, as I lifted my head to stare at the sky, letting the rain wash over my face. It was as if all of my previous worries washed away for a few moments.

“We need to collect this,” Wells spoke up, yanking me from my bliss.

Bellamy smiled. “Whatever the hell you want.”

next chapter

#the 100 #the 100 fanfiction #bellamy blake #bellamy blake fanfiction #bellamy blake x oc

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ghostsofmemories · 4 years ago

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Insect Poison Update #2

So, life has been a little wild in recent weeks. I got a new laptop, finally, got a kitten (we named her Nemo), and have been getting ready to go back to school (yikes). This chapter has actually been done for about a week, now, but I’ve been dealing with a lot of self-esteem issues regarding my writing, so it was necessary to let this chapter relax before I passed over it a second time. The chapter is pretty short, just under 1700 words, but I plan to *eventually* go back over it and add some more description or something, because I think the scenes might be lacking in that. Jack is the giant takes place the night of the last chapter. Spoiler alert: we’ve got some gay in here.

If you have no clue what I’m talking about or would like a refresher, feel free to check out my chapter 1 update or the WIP introduction. And with that, let’s get on with it, shall we?

Chapter 2 starts with Jack. the father of the house, coming home from a few long days of his trucking job.

For the Bennett family, they functioned much better without Jack’s presence. He was was always tired, difficult to analyze, and preferred being on the road to being home with his family. There was a very clear, silent awareness that he had several affairs outside of his relationship with his wife, and it was something most everyone ignored in light of Emily’s dependency on narcotics and from time to time, drugs like acid and ecstasy. Those were more of a hobby than an addiction, though, similar to some of Jack’s more frequented mistresses upstate. It seemed that everyone knew their secrets with the exception of each other.

Upon arriving that night, he went straight for the bathroom. He spent a long while there, washing himself with a diligence that was unusual for him, and backed only by the possibility that it had been a long week and the heat relaxed his aching muscles. He was tall enough that his hair brushed up against the top of the shower head, tired enough that he only opened his eyes to grab a bar of soap.

Ramona had never been sure what to make of her father. In her head, there were two portraits of him: the man she knew, and the man she had imagined up while he was away. Usually, he would arrive home to knock the kinder, softer portrait off the shelf and shock her back into reality. That is, until he went to work again and she began to rebuild him.

So I’ve basically accepted at this point that the plot of this book is... all just familial conflict, intrinsic motivation, and weird psychology. All the external conflict is with each other, and if I’m being honest, the book hardly has a plot at all. However, I have also accepted that I’m okay with that and actually a little excited about it!

When Ramona saw him, a bit of the portrait faded immediately. He was taller than she thought he was, had more muscle than she remembered, was a direct picture of the type of man young girls were told to avoid just in case.

Still, that didn’t dictate his words. Or actions. He was capable of being a tall, strong man and still being a caring and kind father. If it was a stranger they’d seen in town, Lori would tell her not to judge a book by the cover and then, taking a second look, walk briskly across the street with her.

I just really like exploring familial relationships, so why not do more than one at a time? Anyway, here’s the fun part of the chapter (AKA the gay part). While writing this scene, I decided Lori should probably be aged from 14 up to 16 in order for this scene to really make sense. Not that 14 is too young to understand your sexuality, but I just personally don’t see Lori acting on these feelings before she’s 16.

A house holds many things, but its most important possessions are its secrets. The Bennetts thought they were full of secrets, but they made very little effort to hide them from anyone, with the exception of each other.

However, Lori wasn’t one to wear her secrets where they were visible, or to keep them where her anyone could reach. They were tucked away between the pages of the Nancy Garden novel hiding under her bed, living in the Polaroid that never left the guitar case of a girl Lori found herself loving more every day, despite her all her efforts not to.

I love Lori so much. I’ve written quite a few characters in my time, but she might be my favorite just because she’s so?? Pure?? I love all my evil bastards in this story but she’s such a nice refresher sometimes.

Mercy was sitting on the dew-covered bench, her sweater underneath her. Lori took a minute, before she was spotted, to admire her. Her hair blended itself into the darkness of the night, and the moon turned her brown cheeks a pale blue. She was wearing a deep black shirt with a jean vest, and the shorts she was planning to wear to bed.

After too deep of a breath, Mercy turned sideways. As if on cue, she got up and dried a spot on the bench for Lori, the pale spot where the statue used to sit.

“Hi,” Lori said, making her way over. Her eyes couldn’t decide whether to look at Mercy or avoid contact, so they darted wildly back and forth, unsure of a point of focus. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Come sit,” Mercy said, smiling and shaking her head. “How are you? I haven’t seen you all summer.”

“We talked on the phone yesterday.” She smiled while she said this, did her best not to give into the instinct to make fun of her girlfriend relentlessly.

“But I didn’t see you.”

“I’m good.”

“You’re beautiful,” Mercy said, taking Lori’s hand. They had been doing this long enough that it didn’t feel wrong when it was just the two of them, they’d read Annie on my Mind enough to know that this world was theirs, too.

Not sure if you’re aware yet, but I don’t think I’ll ever write a book without at least three queer people in it (I don’t want to reveal who the third queer character is just yet, he’s still in development (AKA i don’t know his name yet ahaha)).

Did I hear you ask for some flashback? No? Have some anyway.

As they sat there together, Lori couldn’t help but think about their younger childhood, all the things they didn’t understand until they started reading things they weren’t supposed to. Every moment in middle school that made an earthquake of the space between girl and friend.

Lori could remember, better than she could remember yesterday, getting in trouble in 6th grade for braiding Mercy’s hair from the desk behind her. Dark and thick and long, back then, but even before they knew what it meant to love a girl, they were taught it wasn’t allowed. It’s just hair. It’s just a braid in her hair, why does it matter? She had taken her hands away slowly and grabbed her pencil, left it unmoving against the paper. Three quarters of a braid hung unfinished down Mercy’s back, and Lori watched as she sealed the end with the hair tie around her wrist, their math teacher somehow keeping eyes locked on both of them at the same time.

I love my girls. Mercy’s full name is Mercy May Devera, because I thought Mercy May sounded cool.

So yeah. This book has no plot, but that’s cool because I’m just here to have a good time. If you enjoyed this update and want to be added to the tag list, you can send an ask, message, or reply to this post (Tumblr is finally telling me when I get replies!

Insect Poison tag list: @coffeeandcalligraphy, @alicewestwater, and @fliiik-art

#writing update #insect poison updates #my wip #my writing #writeblr #excerpts #writing excerpt

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let-it-show · 5 years ago

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All The Love I Found In You 11/11

Okay so...here’s the last part. Heh. Part 10 can be found here. I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has read and encouraged me to keep writing this long fic. I learned a lot about I want to and like to write Elsa and Anna and can’t wait to keep doing so and I also want to keep going with this storyline even if this part is done. Also if there’s something you feel was left hanging, don’t be afraid to tell me but also...don’t worry. Hehe. Some things I wanted to explore in a separate side story or two. Anyway this is mostly fluffy. Okay, nerves. Heh. Here we go. Usual tag for @hellodemoiselle !

Elsa's eyes opened and they hurt. They stung and her head felt stuffed with cotton. She felt tired too. But, she didn't feel cold, and she felt like she was-was fit together. Something was right.

She looked down and there she saw Anna's face against her stomach, arms around her and taking deep, shuddering breaths. She saw Anna's hair, she touched Anna's hair very carefully. It felt like Anna's hair.

Then she touched her own. It was indeed, her own hair, and realization combined with joy settled over her. She was back! She was in her body! It may have happened a couple of times before but the feeling she had was more permanent as opposed to a deep and at the same time faint feeling. Her soul settled right where it was supposed to and that meant Anna's did too.

It meant they had found an understanding, that Anna had finally put forth the biggest fears that weighed her down. They still may be there for a while, possibly even forever...but she'd expressed herself. Elsa understood the pain she carried. She felt terrible for it but she finally understood the weight of Anna's anxiety and suffering. Elsa could finally start to make her feel treasured, like she deserved. "Anna..."

Anna sniffed and tried to bury her face against her even more. She squeezed her, arms crossing on her butt. "I don't want to let go," she told her and though her voice was muffled, it could be understood.

"Oh Anna." She pet her head fondly. "I'm not going to go now that I'm in my body, you precious girl. I'm even more excited now to be with you and kiss you and touch you." She touched her arms lightly. "You can stand up."

Anna looked up at her. "Oh, it's not that...I know if I let go you won't vanish..."

"Then what is it?" Elsa asked her, concerned something new had come along in such a short time.

Anna shivered. "I'm cold. I'm really, really cold! I haven't been cold in days! This is awful! Why are my lips so chapped? Why are my hands so dry and sore!? Did you ever use lotion? Did you think about gloves? Owowow..."

At that Elsa immediately laughed. Her Anna! She went down to her knees as well and though the hard surface of the ice hurt a little on her knees, she didn't care. She reached for the cloak to wrap it around Anna's body and then hugged her. "I'll warm you up. I'll take care of you," she told her as she kissed her forehead. "I'll always take care of you." She caught her lips for a proper kiss, smiling into it.

As the feeling in her head subsided, she began to feel lightheaded. She was dizzy. All she felt was Anna's presence. She kept her surrounded with her love, her mind tingling as she felt the telltale pokes of the spirits communicating and her powers settling back to normal. It felt a little strange, as she had been without those for a while. Whether Anna had been able to sense them she wasn't sure. The way her powers began to build inside of her she wouldn't have been surprised if Anna couldn't tell that from the spirits.

She didn't want to deal with any of it at the moment, though. Her focus was only on Anna. When she said she would always take care of her she meant it. "We need to get you back home," she told her. "It's very cold up here."

"But you kind of just got here," Anna said as she started to shiver in her arms.

"I know, but-Anna...you told me why you came here, but how come you never wanted to come here in your own body?" Curiosity got the better of her. She tried to hug her tighter.

"Oh...well...it was d-different," Anna told her. "It wasn't the palace where I came to find you years ago, when you changed and were able to see what you could do. It wasn't the palace we came to when summer was too hot and you wanted a break. And no one lived here anymore it's...it's just, um, here. It's beautiful! But the meaning..."

Elsa clung to her every word as she rubbed Anna's back. Anna's reasoning was unsurprising. Still, it was helpful to hear it out loud. "I understand. What if we add a little-a little something to it that says Anna-"

Anna shook in her arms a little more, in soft laughter. "No. No, that's okay. You could cover it in sunflowers - it will never hold the same meaning, but now I think, I may like to come here with you every now and then."

"Oh." Elsa hadn't expected Anna to turn it down. "I was thinking, it could be a place just to be together and-"

"Elsa..." Anna pulled back from her even though she was shivering still. There was a smile on her face. "Elsa, we have our place. It's small and it's not impressive and it's not nearly as hard to get to, but we have something that we made together...we have a place... where you gave me this," she said, clutching the bind rune around her neck.

"The igloo." Elsa watched Anna's hand, cracked and red from being in the cold wind. She was going to have to rub lotion into it later, maybe all over Anna... "Yes, you're right! That is our place now, isn't it?"

"Mmmhmm." Anna leaned against her, red hair under Elsa's chin. "Can we go there now?"

Elsa laughed a little. "Maybe later. You have quite a chill." It was beginning to concern her, the way Anna quivered. She had been largely responsible for it too. "I want to warm you up." They'd get to the castle and Elsa would have her shed those clothes that weren't warm enough, she'd get the fire going. She'd take Anna to the bed in a fresh nightgown - or maybe no clothes at all - and crawl under the layers with her for as long as they both pleased.

Anna interrupted her thoughts. "Oh...yea, that should probably happen..."

Elsa laughed and kept hugging her as she communicated to Gale. It was something that was easily done when she wanted. Gale couldn't read her mind and Elsa had to purposely direct her thought to her to summon her, but it was easy - it was natural. She closed her eyes for a few seconds.

When she opened them she felt Gale tickle her shoulders. "There you are," she said softly and she began to let go of Anna. She kissed her forehead and started to turn to recognize Gale as she swirled around them, gently tugging at the edges of the cape wrapped around Anna. "Anna? You'll need to move a little to get on the carpet," she told her.

"Huh? Oh..." Anna watched as Gale lowered the carpet next to them, and still clung to Elsa as much as she could. She stepped onto it and Elsa was pulled with her. As soon as they were both on the carpet Elsa rearranged them, sitting behind Anna with her legs on either side of her.

She held Anna to her and buried her face in her neck, leaving cool kisses on her skin as the carpet began to lift from the icy balcony. It felt so good to hold Anna as Anna, so good to inhale the scent of her skin and feel her hair and hold her body- perfect. Anna was so perfect. Elsa formed a little ice barrier around them on the carpet to prevent the wind from nipping at any more of Anna's warm skin, and it allowed Gale to move them faster. It was not long before the castle was in view.

Yet, she didn't want the ride to end. She didn't want to stop flying closer to the clouds with Anna in her arms and their world currently below them. Her lips had barely left the redhead's skin as she had made a well traveled trail along her neck and all the way to her forehead. She was lightheaded. How could she be expected to function with Anna in her own body with her skin like that and her scent so sweet and-

And they were landing on the library balcony before her reptitive thoughts could keep up their echo. The carpet carefully settled down to let them off and Elsa had to let the ice wall dissolve into sparkles. She sighed as she did so. Being in their regular bodies was good but meant a return to normalcy, which meant realizing just how real their joining was and how the kingdom would react...

The past couple of days were like a fairytale.

Gale wiggled the carpet a little to encourage them to climb off, and Anna slowly pulled away while looking over her shoulder. She clearly didn't want to. The longing in her eyes was blatant and Elsa smiled at her. Anna slid off the carpet and stood up, shivering a little before holding a hand out to Elsa.

Elsa took her hand and squeeze it. At Anna's gentle tug she dismounted the carpet as well and Gale draped it over the balcony before dancing over them. "Thank you, Gale," Anna told her and with a few chimes, the wind spirit hurried off to leave them alone. Anna fixed her gaze on Elsa, who met it right back.

As usual, Elsa fell right into the enticing beauty that was Anna's eyes. She felt swallowed up by her soul and she had no complaints. "Anna..."

"Yes, Elsa?" Her sister sounded breathless.

"I love you, Anna."

------

By the time they had arrived at the castle, Menander had departed.

Elsa couldn't help but feel disappointed. She'd wanted badly to pick his mind and find out how he seemed to know what he did. She had questions that demanded answers, everything from how he knew he was in the company of twin flames to what performance he had claimed Kristoff was helping him prepare for the night of the party. She had no doubt it was something aimed at her and Anna but...

They had run off to hide and kiss each other before that happened, like a couple of teenagers in love. Elsa would have felt guilty if it hadn't ended up being so much fun.

The man continued to be a mystery to both of them and Elsa could only hope they could see him again sometime soon to talk to him. In addition, she wanted to thank him. He played some part in the sisters finding their way to each other even if she had no idea to what extent.

As the both of them began to settle back down into their own bodies and realize where things were, Elsa knew things wouldn't be easy.

Pulling herself away from the forest, that wouldn't be very difficult. Ahtohallan would be where she might have problems but as she had told herself, and Anna, visiting it now and then should be easy. It would be like when they used to visit the ice palace, she wagered. Like the palace and the igloo, it was another hideaway for them.

Thinking of it that way made her heart soar.

Unfortunately many of the problems would be on Anna's shoulders. There would no longer be an engagement to a man and Anna would deal with the possible embarrassment of being a princess forced to be a queen forced to share the rule with her sister. It wasn't that Anna would mind sharing the throne- something Elsa knew for sure -but the words that may leave the lips of their subjects might inflict new wounds while tearing at new ones.

The biggest issue was if and when to tell everyone that the sister queens were lovers.

"We'll deal with that...later," Anna told her a couple of days later as she sank into the hot water of the huge bath. "No one needs to know right this second."

The days had passed like any others for everyone else in the kingdom. Picking back up where she had left off was easy for Anna, Elsa had continued her work flawlessly - things were scattered but made sense and with Elsa's constant distraction due to the situation, it was even at the same pace as Anna...

Co-ruling was going to make things so much more efficient.

"Mmmhmm, but maybe we should tell Kai and Gerda...it can only help with us being able to keep things discreet until we're ready. Elsa had already sunk into the bath and leaned against the edge. The water was just over her shoulders.

"That's a good idea," Anna agreed as she lowered her face half into the water and made bubbles with a "blblblblblblblb" sound.

"If you drink bath water you are definitely going to regret it," Elsa told her with a laugh. Anna continued to be so adorable she could hardly stand it. The steam rose up around Anna's face and gently framed it. Elsa couldn't look away.

Anna lifted her face briefly to respond. "I haven't regretted it yet," she replied before returning her lips to the water.

"Yet? How much bath water have you drank? Not just today, but-what?"

Anna had risen from the water with her lips curved into a weird closed-mouth smile. Elsa could see most of her wet, naked body and couldn't fight back a blush on her cheeks. It wasn't like she hadn't seen it when she was her, even if she tried not to look too much. But it was different when she was actively looking at another person.

When they had returned from the palace and dismounted the rug, Anna had ended up taking off clothes, opting just to crawl under several layer of blankets with the fire going. She took off everything and Elsa had plenty of time to drink in the sight of her whole perfect body. Anna had noticed immediately and giggled while Elsa looked away and told her to hurry up and get warm in the bed.

As soon as the fire had crackled to life, Elsa had decided to be brave and vanished her clothes away before crawling into bed with Anna. She didn't have to be shy about anything, did she? A hum of approval had sounded from Anna when her hands found Elsa's skin and they had stayed wrapped up in each other for a very long time.

The loss of the powers had left Anna exhausted, her very bones tired. Elsa had worried intensely at first - but she found that all Anna needed was loving arms around her and romantic whispered words. She was more than happy to provide that. She may only be able to do so much about the way Anna did miss herown glittering snowmen, but she could care for Anna.

They hadn't done much more than sleep and cuddle naked, but the way Anna approached her in the water still made Elsa feel...hungry.

It ended up being a fleeting feeling once Anna stopped in front of her and spit bath water through her teeth and into Elsa's face.

"What-hey-ANNA WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" Elsa shrieked and turned her face away, flailing her hands up to shield herself. In the process she splashed at Anna a little, and she changed tactics. As quickly as she had raised them, Elsa's hands flew back down to meet the water and send an icy, flower petal filled wave right at Anna's chest.

It was Anna's turn to yelp. "Elsa no!" Anna immediately dropped her cold body right back down into the water and threw a splash at Elsa. Then her eyes went wide as she realized she only put herself in more danger and the water around her was frosty. "Hey powers aren't fair!" she shouted even as she was laughing. Elsa knew she was enjoying herself.

She lunged forward and found Anna's arms. Her hands grasped them firmly as she pulled Anna close and hugged her with a smile. Her lips found Anna's wet forehead while Anna chose to rest her fingers on Elsa's waist.

The world could definitely wait for their news. If it were up to her, and also possible to begin with, they would never leave that bath. Elsa had pulled Anna back with her against the wall, Anna's body pressed comfortably along her own. Anna played with Elsa's hair as the strands floated on the water, bobbing close to some rose petals. Her face seemed to shine as Elsa held her and watched.

She could only watch so long before her lips found Anna's and she pulled a soft, deep kiss from them.

On the other side of the door awaited the future they would face and figure out together, Ahtohallan and Arendelle both extending their calls however they would take them. It was exciting, it was scary, but it also was for another day. That was a door that could stay closed for a bit, stable as the hook attached to it and holding a cord attached to a pendant with a certain bind rune.

#Elsanna #fanfic #elsa #anna #body-swap

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ashintheairlikesnow · 5 years ago

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Pre-Trial: Introducing Dr. Rosa

I wrote half of this like forever ago and decided to go ahead and finish it, because I love Dr. Rosa and everyone should get to meet her, she’s my favorite random bit character who shows up in everything I do set in a modern universe.

Danny’ s first meeting with Dr. Rosa.

Timeline: Shortly after returning to the United States, pre-trial.

Tagging @special-spicy-chicken, @spiffythespook, @bleeding-demon-teeth

Dr. Rosa Martinez has been in the business of treating the survivors of long-term traumatic experiences for twenty-three years. In that time, the methodologies have somewhat changed, as has the understanding of trauma’s physical components interacting with its psychological ones, but she has never wavered in her commitment.

She has worked with the survivors of child abuse, rape, domestic violence, abduction cases involving non-custodial parents, one stranger abduction, a woman who had lost two husbands, firefighters both, within ten years of each other to the wildfires that race through California when the winds are hot and the air stays dry. She’s been working with an increasingly large subset of military veterans returning from war with wounds within them that struggle to heal. She has, as they say, seen (or heard) just about everything.

Today, though, she is meeting someone whose experience differs from anyone she’s treated before.

Dr. Rosa Martinez, fifty-eight years old, feels something she hasn’t felt since her first year after changing her practice to focus on long-term trauma and PTSD; genuine nerves and concern that she may falter and fall short of a patient’s needs. She pats at her hair, twisted tightly at the nape of her neck to keep it out of the way, only a few of the speckled coarse white-and-black hairs escaping here and there.

She rearranges the photos on her desk in the corner of her office, over by the window, shifting the framed pictures of her daughters with their own families back and forth, smiles at the only photo with a single person in it - a brown-haired woman smiling under the blaze of sun on their last visit back to see family down in the islands - pressing her finger to her lips and then, lightly, over the woman’s mouth.

Wish me luck, Liz.

She had rearranged the bookshelves this morning, had the cleaners come in twice this week instead of once to ensure everything is well-dusted and spotlessly clean, as she’s been informed the patient is hyper-aware of mess and might become distraught if he is not able to clean it.

She stands by the window, looking out through the blinds at the parking lot, waiting for him to arrive. The patient’s profile questionnaire and basic information rests on her desk, and she’s been reading through it over and over, preparing herself.

There is a wealth of information hidden between the lines in those questionnaires, when you know what you’re looking for. Rosa Martinez has always had an eye for the unspoken, the unwritten, the details that her patients fear to speak and so tiptoe around instead.

The younger brother is the only emergency contact. The brother’s number is listed on everything, no number for the patient himself. The brother’s name is written in the space for the potential sharing of details if considered medically necessary in the event of an emergency. The brother, the brother, the brother. There’s something to grasp onto there, a detail she shouldn’t let slide. Every inch of the initial paperwork tells her that the brother is trusted implicitly, but no one else is.

She’s seen him on the news, of course. Everyone in this part of the state has heard about the Daniel Michaelson case, his reappearance after four years of prolonged captivity and essentially total isolation. Everyone has seen his parents on the news expressing gratitude and delight that he has returned home.

But the parents are not on his paperwork, and the brother had been clear, on the phone, that they would not be attending any family sessions, only he and Daniel - and that it would be best not to talk about their parents unless Daniel brought them up himself.

It’s a situation that involves similarities to previous patients of hers, but every similarity was intensified, twisted, rearranged in new ways. The conversations about the parents suggested, to Dr. Rosa, a certain scapegoat/child abuse situation she would consider more in the future.

In the captivity there was abuse and sexual assault, but it was a vicious, ritualized cycle of violence that went far beyond abuse and into pure torture. Torture for torture’s sake, the brother told her, his own jaw shaking with the effort of keeping his voice calm in their initial consultation as to whether or not she would consider taking his brother on. Torture for fun, torture to twist his brother into something else, something less.

Neither of us is going to get through this without help, Ryan Michaelson had told her, all of twenty-four years old but with the gravity of a much older man in his voice and the way he held himself, without some help. I need you to help my brother, please, because-… because I just have no fucking clue what to do. Oh, I’m sorry for my language, it’s just been a bad few days, just… just really since he got home, he’s been-… I don’t-

It’s fine, She had said, handing him a tissue to wipe his eyes while both of them pretended the tears weren’t there. Where is your brother now?

At home with his… with… I don’t know what Nathaniel Vandrum is. But he’s home with him. I’ll bring him for his first appointment, but he’s so fragile… he picked your photo out of the others, so I think he’ll come willingly, but… please. We need help, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to make someone believe they’re human, Dr. Martinez. I don’t know how to help him.

This will probably be a challenge, even for someone with her experience, but she can’t imagine turning it down.

She twists the wedding band on one finger, letting her fingertip play over the square diamond at the top, trace the line of smaller circular diamonds that ran down each side of the band. Liz knows who the new patient is, of course, but she’ll also know not to ask - they’ve always had a “no work talk” rule, protecting Rosa’s patients even from her own family’s curiosity.

She knows some of her colleagues speak about their patients in oblique terms with their own families, keeping their identities secret but discussing the trials of their day, but Rosa has never done that. Her patients come to her with terrors they trust with no one else, and she would never betray that, not even with Liz.

Only with other professionals, in very specific circumstances, and with all identifying details carefully stripped does she seek advice or counsel when needed.

She recognizes the car when it pulls up - she’s seen it on the news, when the cameras catch Ryan Michaelson in his array of perfectly tailored suits in a series of richly deep colors when he gets out each day, waving them off, his jaw set as he gives the occasional statement as they prepare to take Abraham Denner to trial.

Today, Ryan steps out of the car in a purple sweater that probably cost more than Rosa’s health insurance premium and she’d swear even his jeans were tailored. Brown shoes, soft leather, perfectly worn. Ryan’s a handsome one, that’s for sure - all bright smiles and warm brown skin, wild black curls. He is smiling now as he turns and speaks into the car, before closing his own door, brushing some invisible wrinkles out of his sweater, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket.

First, to meet Daniel Michaelson.

She has seen photos of him, of course - but he hasn’t been in any photographs or interviews, so she was not quite prepared for the incredibly tall, thin man who unfolds himself out of the passenger side. He’s wearing an oversized, dark blue heavy sweater, heavier than the weather really calls for, with a high crew neck and cable-knit braids down the front, his sleeves pulled hard to cover the backs of his hands, head dipped down so his wavy red hair falls down over his face, wearing jeans that are clearly too big and, she suspects, only staying up because of a belt.

Daniel makes it to the curb and then stops, shaking his head, saying something to Ryan and acting like he’ll get right back in the car. Ryan steps closer to him, hands out without quite touching him, gesturing towards the office. Daniel shakes his head again, and she can see they need a minute, and steps back to give it to them.

She watches them for just a second longer, than steps out of her office into the waiting room before they can make their way inside.

“Krista,” She says in a honeyed voice, slightly high-pitched, with only a hint of the island accent she grew up with. “Send Daniel Michaelson into my office as soon as they come in, don’t make them wait. And be sure to pour Ryan Michaelson a cup of the good coffee we all pretend I don’t know you keep in the breakroom.”

“Of course, Dr. Martinez,” Krista says brightly, looking up from the book she’s studying behind the desk to give her a bright smile. “I serve everyone the same coffee, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Mmmhmmm. Oh, and don’t try to shake Daniel’s hand,” Dr. Martinez adds, and disappears back into her office.

She has everything ready, but rearranges her desk one more time anyway just to be on the safe side. She has a couple of photos, as well - a photo of Daniel Michaelson pre-abduction that his brother provided, a post-abduction photo she is keeping only for reference. I put this up on Facebook like the week before he was gone, Ryan had said, shrugging his shoulders, as he handed her the pre-abduction photo. I printed it out to bring. God, I don’t even know when the last time I actually used Facebook was…

22 year old Daniel, one week before he vanished, is at what she assumes is the company Christmas party. It has that sort of look, people milling in the background in cocktail dresses and suits. He’s wearing a navy suit as perfectly tailored as Ryan’s always are on TV, his hair clipped shorter than it seems to be now. The shoulders are thinner in the past, she thinks, but his body overall is definitely skinnier now than then. He’s holding a glass of some brown liquor, one arm around 20-year-old Ryan’s shoulder, the two of them smiling for the camera.

Then the next photo, which Ryan tells her the police took and gave him a copy of. Danny is standing in front of a blank wall, looking at nothing, his eyes focused off to the side. He’s wearing nothing but a thin T-shirt, which could not have been easy for him, since they showed up at the police station in Alberta on December 11th. All the brightness and sparkle is gone, replaced by a dull terror and uncertainty that can’t quite break through the placid submission in his face. She taps one finger over his face, the slightly bloody red wounds that cut into him, and then she slides the older picture onto the top as the door to her office opens.

Ryan steps in first, giving her a friendly smile that doesn’t quite meet his eyes. She can see Daniel just behind him the taller man has his arms folded, nearly hugging himself, his eyes focused on the floor. “Dr. Martinez, we’re here, they told us to go ahead and come right in.”

“That’s lovely, Mr. Michaelson, thank you, but I’ll have to ask you to sit outside for the duration of the appointment.”

Ryan’s face falters, but only slightly, and Rosa watches with interest and curiosity as he shifts his stance to be even more directly between she and his brother. Only name listed on any of the emergency contacts, only person given permission for sharing of medical information, and he is standing in the hallway of my office trying to protect him from me. “Are you sure? He, um, he struggles being alone-”

“N-No,” Danny says from behind him, so softly Rosa almost can’t hear him. “No, I can do it, Ryan, it’s okay. C-Can, can you let me go in? Can I go in?”

“Hey, if you’re not totally sure, you don’t have to, I can sit right here with you.” Ryan half-turns to face his brother, and they are standing within inches of each other without ever touching. Rosa watches all of it, taking the details in, committing them to memory.

“I can try to do it. I can be good,” Daniel says softly, and Rosa’s head tilts, unconsciously, as she watches Ryan Michaelson wince at the words. She’ll need to write that down, keep that in her memory, too.

It’s come in deeply handy, over the course of her career, that she has an excellent memory for the details like this.

“Okay. Let me know if you can’t do it, we can try again later, yeah?” Daniel nods, slowly, and Rosa watches Ryan take a deep breath, close his eyes, and then turn back to her. As he does, his shoulders go back, and his voice changes - the softness slides away, replaced by a kind of hard melodic sound, the voice of the company man he is being groomed into and not the caring, worried, frazzled younger brother. “Okay, here’s the thing - don’t touch him, don’t get too into his space, and, um-”

“My name is Red,” Daniel Michaelson says, and he’s still not looking up, he still has his eyes firmly on the floor. “My name is Red and I belong to Abraham Denner.”

“… and he still does that,” Ryan says tiredly, and steps back. “Call him Red, he gets really worked up if you call him anything else.”

“Because it’s not my name anymore,” Danny says, and there’s just the barest hint of annoyance there. Ryan rolls his eyes and Rosa fights back a smile; you can hold someone captive for four years, she thinks, but brothers are brothers, still, in the end.

Rosa doesn’t move from her desk as Daniel Michaelson steps into her office. He’s even taller in person than he seemed in the parking lot, all hunched over like he can make the height or his bright and eye-catching red hair disappear if he just curls over far enough. He glances at her, briefly, and she catches a hint of light blue eyes and the circle of red scarring across his face, the scars that wrap his neck like a collar he can’t take off.

She knows about the collar - Ryan warned her it comes up in conversation. She is prepared for this. She has a career uniquely situated to make her absolutely perfect for this. She has the experience that no one else in Northern California has, the experience and the dedication and the passion for helping people like Daniel Michaelson.

And yet the nerves that flutter within her stomach never quite subside.

When Daniel is all the way in and Ryan has closed the door to return to the waiting room, Rosa waits for a beat of silence, watching Daniel put his hands in his pockets, looking for all the world like a small child awaiting punishment for an infraction rather than a grown man seeking therapy. “Do you prefer to be called Red?” She asks, finally, with no change to the warmth and welcome in her voice.

“My name is Red,” Daniel says, a little more firmly this time. “You, you have to call me that. That’s my name. I get, I get in trouble if I have the wrong thoughts, and that name is a wrong thought. Puppies don’t have wrong thoughts. My name is Red and I belong to Abraham Denner.” The words seem to have a calming effect on him, some of the tension bleeding from his shoulders and the way he is holding himself. “Can I, may I have permission to sit down?”

“Of course,” She says warmly, and then watches with surprise as Daniel Michaelson sits on the floor in front of the couch, pulling his knees up to his chest. “Ah, Daniel-… my apologies, Red. Would you prefer to sit on the couch for our first session?”

“Not allowed,” Daniel says, and she watches him begin to rub, compulsively, at one of the red scars dug hard into his jaw on the left side, rubbing and rubbing with his thumb, his other arm sliding around his legs. His hands are scarred along the lines of his veins, heavy obvious markings. Ryan had warned her about those, too.

He is curled into the smallest little ball she can imagine someone so tall turning himself into.

“I’m not allowed. Only people get the couch, puppies stay on the floor. Not allowed. I, I have to be good, I want to be good. I want… I want to be good,” He repeats to himself, plaintively, and Rosa’s heart breaks, just a little.

Nothing shows on her face, but Rosa takes in the moment and wonders if she is perhaps in far, far over her head with this one.

Then she picks up a pad of paper and a pen and settles herself into a small armchair off to the side, nodding. “Is that one of your rules? Your brother told me that there are… guidelines, that you live by.”

Daniel Michaelson nods, his eyes down on the floor. She can see he’s rubbed the scar at his jaw until it’s open and a little bloody, and she takes the tissue box from the table next to her chair and slides it across the floor until it bumps into his shoes - worn-out Converse sneakers that can’t be comfortable in the rainy chill outside.

Probably they were shoes he wore before, and probably Ryan offered him new ones, and probably he refused.

Daniel looks up at her, confused, and she takes in the blue eyes again, surprisingly vibrant in the pale, freckled face. She doesn’t let her eyes drop to his scars, not at all. She holds his gaze and smiles, slightly. “You are bleeding, Red.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” He takes a tissue and presses it to his jaw, dropping his eyes back to the floor. Rosa settles back and makes a couple of introductory notes on her notepad, trying to decide where to begin.

“Th-they want me to testify,” Daniel says, surprising her by being the first to speak. “But I, I don’t want to. He’ll look at me, he’ll look at me. I don’t want to. But they said I, I need to, they want me to. Ryan wants me to. I’m… he’s going to look at me. I don’t want to, but Ryan says, but I need to be good…”

“I understand,” Rosa says softly, nodding. “So is that what you’d like to focus on, as we get started seeing each other, Red? On being able to tape the testimony for the trial?”

There’s a silence, and then Daniel slowly nods. “I want to be able to do it,” He says softly. “For Ryan. Ryan wants me to do it. I want to, I want to do it, but I don’t want to do it. I feel both, at the same time. I want to do it but I shouldn’t, against the rules, against… against the rules. But I want to, Ryan does, Ryan wants me to. I want to but I don’t want to.”

“You’re feeling ambivalent about this - torn in two directions by your competing instincts. That’s perfectly understandable,” Rosa says softly, still writing, a constant stream of her impressions and thoughts and what Daniel is saying. “I think you’ve identified a very strong starting point for us, Red. I’m very happy to meet with you today, and your brother has scheduled you to see me twice a week while we get to know each other and once a week after that. Does that sound acceptable?”

Daniel frowns at her, confused, as though he can’t figure out why she’s asking. Then he slowly nods. “Can you make me able to do it?” He asks, from behind his knees. “Talk to the lawyers about what happened?”

Rosa takes a breath. “I can’t make you do anything. But if you want to, I think that your sessions with me may be able to help you work through what you need to have the skills to make that decision for yourself, and begin building a foundation for future decisions from there. Does that sound like a good plan to you?”

Daniel is silent, tissue still pressed to his face, then he slowly nods. “Oh, okay,” He says softly. “Whatever you want. I can be good.”

Rosa nods, slightly and gives him an encouraging smile. “Wonderful. And if you need to, we can call your brother in at any time. All right, Red. My name is Dr. Rosa Martinez, and I know you’re aware of that, but while you’re in this office, I want you to call me Rosa or Dr. Rosa, is that all right?”

He nods at her again, but a little more of his face comes up from behind his knees. “Y-Yes, I can do that, um, Dr. Rosa.”

“Perfect. That’s perfect, Red. Now let’s begin.”

#Daniel Michaelson's story #introducing #Dr. Rosa Martinez #whump #trauma recovery #recovery whump #conditioning #dehumanization #pet whump #broken whumpee #Daniel Michaelson #tw: PTSD

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ericsonclan · 4 years ago

Text

Beware the Mitchotaur

Summary: Brody enjoys swimming with her friend Willy after school. When she leaves to go home she meets a new monster that she's never seen before.

Read on A03:

Brody could feel her anxiety bubbling inside of her as she strolled down the hallway to reach the school pool. There wasn’t swim practice today but still it always helped her to spend some time at the pool after school. Especially when her anxiety was overwhelming her. It was the first few weeks of classes so it wasn’t hard to pinpoint what was making her anxious. A new school year always freaked her out.

Still, there were some really nice new monsters in her sophomore class. Louis seemed to stick out promptly in her mind. He was a frankenstein which was extremely rare and he’d only been created a week or so before school had even started. He had a lot to learn but he was definitely the warmest and kindest of the new students. There was also a vampire that had joined in this year that shared a few classes with the selkie. So far Prisha seemed like an interesting person. If Brody could summon up some more courage, she was sure she’d be able to see how nice of a vampire Prisha was. Although she did have an intimidating presence... but so did Violet when Brody first talked to her and now the two of them were good friends. Perhaps the most unusual of the new students that joined her class was Clementine, a human. Why a human would decide to go to a school full of monsters Brody had no idea. Clementine seemed to be overwhelmed by all the different types of monsters but Brody could tell that she was a good person who wanted to see the best in all of her classmates. It would just take some time.

Brody slipped into the door to the pool. The comforting smell of chlorine filled her nose, causing a happy smile to appear on the selkie’s lips. She pulled the sides of her sealskin closer before walking to one of the benches on the side and placing her bag down. When she looked up she noticed that Willy had already made it to the pool and was doing his unusual tradition of pouring salt inside. When he had first done it in front of Brody, he explained that while chlorine had a faint saltiness to it it was nowhere near as salty as the waters where he originated from. So he had come up with the brilliant idea to add salt to the pool to make it feel more like home. The crazy part of it all was that it worked. He only did it on Fridays though so that when the pool got cleaned over the weekend the water would be back to its usual state for the other monsters who swam in it.

Brody kicked off her shoes and walked over to the sea creature who gave a happy grin when he noticed her. “Hey, Brody,” His grin faded slightly when he picked up the fact that she was really anxious today. “Rough day?”

“You could say that,” Brody mumbled and sat down at the side of the pool, putting her feet in and slowly kicking the water back and forth.

“Well, then I know what we’re doing today.” Willy jumped up to his feet, causing a slapping sound to emit throughout the room when his webbed feet hit the tiles. “Let’s see who can hold their breath the longest.”

Brody’s eyes danced at those words. There was something very calming about being at the bottom of the pool and even though it was a competition it was always in good fun so it didn’t stress her out. Wordlessly Brody got up, threw the doppled grey seal skin over her head and dived into the waters which bubbled until she emerged in her seal form.

“Yeah!” Willy pumped a fist in the air while he jumped. He quickly took off the container attached to his wrists and jumped in, causing a large wave to wash over Brody. “Okay, you know the rules. Swim down to the bottom and hold your breath. The longest one wins.”

Brody nodded, giving an excited bark before diving down further. Willy joined her in an instant and the pair hovered down at the bottom of the pool. It was only eight feet down but it felt like home to Brody. The calming waters around her, the light that danced off the edges of the pool and reached to the bottom. The company. It was perfect. Brody looked over at the sea creature whose gills were shut closed. An excited determination filled his eyes while he looked at Brody with a smile. Brody looked at him with a similar determination. As time passed Brody’s anxiety started to fizzle out and was replaced with warm, serene feelings. She looked over at Willy; she was really lucky to have a friend like him. The two spent many afternoons after class at the pool, whether it was races, showing off tricks, tag or simply sitting down at the bottom of the pool to do a breath-holding competition. Willy was always there. He really had become one of Brody’s closest friends. A constant happy light in her life here in the human world. She was grateful for him.

Willy started to squirm around and kick his webbed feet wildly; he was reaching his limits. Brody was starting to feel the pressure too. It was going to be down to the wire to see who would last longer. Willy bounced off the pool’s corners, trying to distract himself by making funny faces. Brody barked from laughter, releasing all of her air and causing her to shoot up. She took a few deep breaths before Willy appeared beside her. He shook his hair wildly, making droplets of water hit against the selkie.

“Down for a race?” Willy kicked his legs playfully.

Brody gave a happy bark before doing a backflip in the water. With that the race was on. Now that Brody had been on the swim team for a while it had become harder and harder for Willy to keep up. But he was no slouch: out of the newest tally they kept in the first few weeks Brody was only up by one win. Willy was determined for that to change.

“Ready, set, go!” Willy swam with all of his might, kicking his legs with such great force that it kept up with the selkie’s smooth swimming and against all odds Willy’s webbed hand was the first to reach the other end of the pool. Brody was only seconds behind, booping her nose against the pool. Brody transformed back into her human form and offered a hand out to the sea creature who took it immediately with a grin.

“Well, it looks like we’re tied again. But not for long.” Willy declared proudly.

“Yep, because I’m going to win next time.” Brody readjusted her sealskin on her back before flashing a confident grin over at Willy who was busying clicking the containers back onto his arms.

“Nope, because I still have some tricks up my scales so you better watch out,”

“Oh yeah? Well, don’t count this selkie out.” Brody’s eyes wandered over to the clock, her face falling when she saw the time. “I should probably head out.”

“Oh, okay,” Willy held his arm behind his back shyly. “Can you swim again after school on Monday?”

“Of course!” Brody gave a warm smile to her friend which caused him to beam.

“Yes! I can’t wait!” Willy exclaimed, his gills puffing out excitedly. He was shocked when Brody suddenly moved forward and wrapped him a hug.

“Thanks, Willy, for being my friend and spending time with me.” Brody whispered, tightening her hug. Willy’s arms wrapped around Brody as he swayed back and forth.

“Thanks for being my friend too! I can’t remember the last time I’ve had this much fun and such a cool friend.”

The two stayed there for a moment, each of them swaying with the hug until Brody pulled away, ruffling Willy’s hair before grabbing her bag and exiting the pool. She walked down the corridor with a happy smile. Even though the day had started out rough, it had ended great as it always did when she got to go to the pool. She turned the corner, ready to head home when she heard a fellow monster’s voice call out in the hall.

“Hey, watch out for the Mitchotuar!” The student’s voice had a teasing edge to it. But the sentence was what really threw Brody. She didn’t have much time to think, however, when rushing down the hall came a tall, horned boy. His hooves clacked loudly against the hallway floor while he ran forward only to be stopped when he rammed into a wall, his horns getting stuck in the plaster. His legs pushed back roughly as he shook his head and gave angry snorts when his efforts to release himself failed.

Mitch couldn’t believe it. He had been so caught up in his own emotions and thoughts because of that argument he had with another monster that he ended up getting stuck. I look like such a fucking idiot. Mitch yanked back to try and break free but it didn’t work. His tail whacked harshly against his legs while he pulled and pulled but to no avail. He was really stuck.

“Do you need a hand?” A gentle voice appeared beside him.

“Of course I need a hand!” Mitch snapped, his eyes shooting over to look at who had spoken to him. His eyes immediately softened when he saw the girl who was standing beside him. Her auburn hair was slicked back with what he figured was pool water considering the level of chlorine that was covering her scent. She looked like a normal human; the only odd thing about her was a sealskin that she was pulling closer to herself. What kind of monster was she? Whatever kind she was, she had got to be one of the prettiest he’d ever seen. Her pale blue eyes were beautiful. Mitch snapped himself out of his thoughts. That didn't matter right now. Right now he had something he needed to do: apologize.

“Sorry,” the minotaur mumbled. “I didn’t mean to… I just want to get my horns unstuck.”

“Don’t worry about it,” The girl moved forward and took a closer look at the situation that Mitch had gotten himself stuck in. “I think I can loosen it if I can just reach…” The girl went on her tiptoes to reach her hands around Mitch’s right horn and with a gentle grip she shifted it back and forth, loosening it. Doing a light jog over to the other horn, she did the same. After a few seconds she stepped back with a deep breath. “Okay, now try moving back a bit.”

Mitch moved his hooves back and with a firm tug pulled himself out of the wall. A huge grin appeared on his face, glad to be free from the wall. When he looked over he noticed the girl was still there. She seemed happy as well.

“Whew, I’m glad that worked out. I’m Brody by the way,” The girl extended her hand which Mitch accepted right away, giving a firm handshake.

“Mitch.”

“That’s a nice name. I haven’t seen you in the halls of Ericson before. Are you new?”

“Yep, just started this year. I’m a sophomore.”

“Oh, the same as me,” The girl played with her sealskin. Mitch felt the warmth in his heart grow. She was the same year as him. “Sorry, guess I just didn’t notice you in class.”

“Eh, it’s fine,” Mitch waved dismissively. “Although it's crazy that you didn’t considering how big I am.”

The girl gave a light-hearted chuckle. “Yeah, I’ve never met a minotaur before.”

“Makes sense. Most are still on the island of Crete. Those who aren’t, well...” Mitch scratched the back of his head. “Let’s just say we aren’t a favorite amongst humans or monsters.”

He looked over at Brody who seemed saddened by his statement.

“Well, I won’t pay them any mind if you don’t.” Brody’s words came as a surprise to the minotaur. She definitely wasn’t reacting like he thought she would after he snapped at her.

“Umm, well, thanks,” Mitch was starting to feel overwhelmed. “This is probably a stupid question, but what kind of creature are you?”

“Oh, I’m a selkie.” Brody smiled up at Mitch.

“Selkie...selkie,” Mitch scratched his horn as his face scrunched in concentration. “I’ve heard that before.”

“Yeah, probably in one of the classes. We’re sealfolk. This sealskin helps me be able to change into a seal."

Mitch’s eyes widened at that. “That’s badass.”

Brody looked shocked for a moment, looking away with a shy smile. “Thanks.”

“So, does that mean you’re in your seal form at school?”

“No, only when I visit the pool or during swim practice.”

“You’re on the swim team?” Mitch’s ears perked up; this girl was getting cooler by the second.

“Yeah, for almost a whole year now.” Brody smiled up proudly at the minotaur.

“So, were you coming from practice today?” Mitch started to walk down the hall, hoping that if they found a spot outside they could talk some more. Brody jogged for a few seconds to catch up then kept pace with the minotaur.

“No, there wasn’t practice today. I was just swimming with my friend Willy. He goes to the junior high next door. He's a real sweet fella. A sea creature just like me. But he’s more scaly and fishlike. Has large eyes and webbed feet and hands. A real good swimmer too. We usually swim together after school.”

Mitch could tell from the way that Brody described him that he was a good friend and a pretty cool one too by the sounds of it. “He sounds awesome.”

“Well, if you’re free after school on Monday you can drop by the pool to meet him with me.”

Mitch’s eyes danced with excitement. “I’d like that.”

Brody seemed happy with Mitch’s enthusiasm and was about to ask him a question when the bell rang, signaling that another hour had passed.

“Oh, is it five already?” Brody’s face fell. “I’m really sorry to cut our talk short but I should get home.”

“Oh, okay,” Mitch’s tail fell flat at that news. He was really enjoying the conversation with Brody.

“We can talk more on Monday if you’d like.”

Brody’s words made Mitch’s heart beat excitedly, his tail curling around his leg. “Yeah, sounds good.”

“Great,” Brody’s hands wrapped her sealskin closer to her. “Then I guess I’ll see you Monday.”

“See you then.” Mitch gave a friendly wave goodbye to the selkie who returned it in kind with a warm smile before turning to walk home. Mitch felt an odd excitement course through him as he strolled towards the exit. For the first time in his life he couldn’t wait for the weekend to be over. His hooves clicked against the pavement when he stopped in his tracks, a realization washing over him. He had to let the school know about the mess he made in the hallway. It would becoming pretty fucking clear that it was him with one look so he might as well fess up and tell the principal.

“Fucking shit,” Mitch mumbled to himself and turned sharply on his heel. He stormed back into the school with an annoyed groan. Sometimes he really hated being a minotaur.

#twdg #twdg brody #twdg mitch #twdg moody #twdg willy #Brody Willy Brotp #fanfic #we are monsters we are proud au

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mysticsparklewings · 4 years ago

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On The Edge

It feels like it's been quite some time since I sat down and got to work on a more involved mixed-media project. And in plenty of ways it has, but I have been working on other artsy projects behind the scenes, which I should be posting sometime soon, I hope. Anyway, this artwork had to be moved to the top of my priority list and also my upload schedule (some of those other projects are already finished, just back-logged) because this is my entry into the Arteza Awards hosted by, shocker, Arteza, and the deadline to enter was the 24th. I actually started working on this piece a week or two early, but me being me, I procrastinated and only just barely got it posted to Instagram with the appropriate tags (per the contest rules) with about 20 minutes to spare. Then again, maybe that's a good thing because I've been known in the past to pull some of my better work out of thin air at the last minute. If that proves the case this time, it would certainly be to my advantage. Anyway. There was no set theme for the contest. The main rules were that you had to use Arteza supplies and they needed to be visible in the image posted to Instagram. I understand why, but I normally don't photograph my art with the supplies because I can usually get more accurate colors and proportions with a scan, and you can pretty much always see the details way better on a scan. But considering the prizes on offer, I wasn't about to let that stop me. I figured I'd just post the supply image first, then add the scan so you could swipe to see it. That way I could have my nice scanned version and still follow the rules. (Also, since they specify Instagram is the main platform for the contest, I'm assuming it doesn't matter if I don't post the supply picture everywhere else. If it does...whoops :P ) For reasons I don't think I should get into here, I knew I needed to go for something kind of high-impact when you first glance at it. But it also needed to not be too involved, lest I be working on it well after the entry window closed and my efforts become somewhat less valuable. I'm not exactly sure how, but this led me around to a concept I've had floating around in my head for a while: A girl (because I am one and know I can draw them better) standing on a mountain top, that looks as if she's one step from free-falling. Originally, I dreamed up this idea hoping to make it into an acrylic painting, but (aside from that fact that I didn't get around to executing the idea until now) I do not own Arteza'a acrylic paints (though I have wanted them for quite some time--It just hasn't happened yet) and also acrylics are not my strongest suit, so now did not seem like the time for an impulse-purchase that could compromise the integrity of my work and therefore my chances in the contest. Although for the day I do get my hands on their acrylics, I now have a solid idea to use to test them out. ;) The Arteza supplies I do have at my disposal are their tube watercolors, woodless watercolor pencils, and 72 expert colored pencils. Which as I learned the last time entered a contest hosted by Arteza, is a fairly limited variety as to what I can actually do. The watercolors by far as the most versatile and my personal favorite of the three though, so they're what I used the most of here. Also, somewhere between deciding to run with my standing-on-the-edge idea and actually doing it, I also decided to add-in the wings in this constellation style I've used somewhere infrequently but am very fond of. As a result, the whole concept has a very similar feel to me as this artwork that I found here on dA years ago and fell so in love with that it spent a good few months as my desktop wallpaper. Obviously, the two images are very different, but to me the idea of the wings is similar: Their structural integrity to fly is questionable, as the wings in the original image appear to be made of glass. Maybe it matters, maybe not. Same thing here: Maybe the wings are really there and just look like a constellation, or maybe this girl just stood in exactly the right spot at exactly the right time. Is the girl even there? Is she real? Can she die? Does it matter if she falls? Would she choose to fly at all, whether the wings work or not? It's sort of a Schrodinger's Cat situation, and something about that is really intriguing to me. Anyway. I started out with a digital sketch this time, mostly to iron out the kinks with...well, everything. I knew getting the right pose would be difficult, and I actually had a pretty different one of her looking out over the edge, maybe clutching her chest or something, originally, but I just couldn't get it to work the way I wanted to and I really struggled to find references for it, so I went with the pose you see here, that I found references for by accident while looking for the other one. I have to admit, seeing the final product I think this pose might actually have been the better choice anyway. The mountain/cliff/whatever I was also having a hard time finding references for, at least for exactly what I wanted, so in the end I had to mostly wing it. I think it turned out okay, though. The wings were probably the most challenging part to plan because I wanted something between traditional butterfly/fairy wings and something that stretches out farther like bird or bat wings. I toyed with the lines for a long time until I got something I was happy with, and then I actually went in and did the constellation lines for both sides by hand instead of doing one side and making a flipped copy, because I wanted to make sure I kept the overall shape of the wing on the (our)right (her left), as after all the warping I did to get the original lines, I wasn't sure I could replicate the process again. I also drew 2 or 3 versions of a simple dress over the figure before giving up because I wasn't happy with how any of them were turning out and decided that I would instead preserve her modesty with magically misty cloud-things. Although, it's kind of a shame because that ended up mostly hiding the one piece of hair clinging over her left (our right) shoulder. :P But once the digital sketch was done so I had some idea of what I was doing, it was time to move on to the traditional, actual artwork. I cut a piece of my 100% cotton paper down to size (nice paper because I didn't want to be held back in that regard--go big or go home, as they say) and then held it up to me screen to trace my cliff lines into place, and some vague markers for the figure and her wings. My idea from the very beginning was to make the galaxy largely with watercolor in such a way that it gives the wings color and focus, without having to actually color all the individual segments. This means lighter colors towards the main area of the wings, and getting darker as I moved out/away from them. Now, because it has been a while since I was painting with watercolors regularly, I did set aside a smaller piece of the same paper and busted out a practice baby galaxy before diving into the final. I learned very quickly I was going to have to be extremely careful with my placement of this orangey color and black, less either of them ends up mixing with colors they weren't supposed to and leaving me with a big muddy mess. (The practice piece did survive though and I'll be posting it some other time.) Before I could get to the fun part [the galaxy] though, I painted the mountain with a mixture of black and blue, which actually went a lot smoother than I thought it would. It took several light layers of blending out the paint built up slowly, but ultimately I'm pretty happy with how the color for it turned out...Even if it's still kind of up for debate how much it looks like a "mountain" or "cliff-edge" or not. With that out of the way, I cut some paper to act as a mask for that section and then spent far too long going back and forth, putting down layers of color and blending them out, dabbing color on and waiting for it to dry, rinse, repeat, trying to get the Galaxy portion just right. I was actually having a fair amount of trouble getting the right color balance, and as sometimes happens with these things, I was pretty worried about how it was looking before I went to bed that night. (I had procrastinated just long enough that I had 2 nights to do this is; the bulk of the painting took place on night 2) But the next day, once it was fully dry, it didn't look so bad. It did need just a few more touches before I went in and added the splatter/stars, though. So I broke out the colored pencils, which I really should have done sooner because they were much easier to blend out and had a bit more covering power over the watercolor than...more watercolor because watercolor is often transparent and there it can be hard to cover with it. Admittedly, I still had more worries about the "naked" galaxy, but then I went to splatter town with the white, added a few pointed stars, and as it usually does, that really brought everything together and made it look a lot better. Never underestimate the power of a good splatter-fest! ;) I must say though, I underestimated the combination of the white watercolor and white colored pencil together when I moved on to the figure and wings. I was trying very hard to not use my white gel pen (because the rules for the contest didn't say if it was okay to use non-Arteza supplies in conjunction with Arteza supplies or not) and so I was sort of bending over backward to find another way with my limited resources. (Although I assumed using a lightbox to see the lines underneath the paint, as is a normal practice for me, wouldn't really matter because it's not like you can really tell from the final product anyway.) Still, even though a mixture of paint lifting, the white colored pencil, and the white watercolor were better than I expected, I still ended up having to punch the lines up a bit digitally to get them to pop the way I wanted them to. But oh well, at least it made a nice glowing effect and mostly worked for the cloud-mist covering. :P Overall though, I do really like how it turned out. If it weren't a little on the small side I might actually consider using it as my new wallpaper/banner art everywhere. Maybe that's a conversion project of some kind for another day? Point being, I'm pleased. I probably won't place in the contest because I'm just too small of a fish in this pond, but I made some pretty art and it was mostly fun, so no harm done. :) Actually, if this could maybe be the excuse my brain needs to get back into posting regularly, that would actually be really great. I miss it, despite what my most recent journal entry and my spotty activity levels might lead one to believe. If it is, I hope you guys don't mind seeing some crafty things thrown into the mix! :D ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings

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canumoveurseatup-no · 6 years ago

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Easter Egg Hunts

Summary: who doesn’t love Easter? And Easter egg hunts?!

Pairing: DaddyDom!Pietro x Little!Black!Reader

Warnings: 18+ since it’s Cg/L despite there not being any sexual descriptions, mentionsnof church

A/N: i know i said i was gonna upload the clint and pietro hex girl au first but i’m stumped for now so i decided to make an Easter Cg/L special! Thank you all for being patient with me!

this was small and done in a rushed, don’t hate me too much for it.

———

all the Russian in this is a rough translation so if you actually speak Russian just bear with me okay, I tried.

malen’kiy- little one

Spasibo- thank you

Tetushka- auntie

gde papa?- where’s daddy?

Da- yes

Printsessa- princess

khoroshaya devushka- good girl

Nyet problem- no problem

Ya lyublyu tebya- I love you

Khoroshaya rabota- good job

——-

“Gde papa?” you asked Wanda who sat with you in the kitchen dying eggs. You were wearing your night gown, bonnet snug on your head, body and teeth tingling with cleanliness.

“He went to the store to get some last minute Easter decorations and to talk to the bunny for your basket”

You gasped and ran to your phone on the charger, immediately dialing Pietro before it was too late. Easter was tomorrow and you wanted your special candy.

“Da, printsessa?,” you heard the beeping of things being scanned through the phon

“папа, I want the edible easter grass in my basket. Tell the bunny,”.

You heard him laugh at your request. This was your first Easter together, especially with you as a little so he was learning a lot about this holiday and you.

“That’s a thing?,”

“Yes it’s a thing! And it’s really good,” you sat back down with Wanda and put him on speaker while you continued to dye eggs, “Tetushka and me are dying eggs,”

“Are you having fun? is tetushka being nice to you?,”

“Of course I’m being nice to malen’kiy. She’s a sweetheart. Well behaved too, of course she’s having fun,”

This was Wanda’s first time watching you since you’ve come out of the toy box as a little. You were an absolute good girl, not once have you caused a ruckus.

“khoroshaya devushka” he praised, “Well I’ll be back soon. I’ll talk to your well loved easter bunny about your... edible grass”

“Spasibo papa,”

“Nyet problem, malen’kiy,”

“Ya lyublyu tebya,”

“I love you too, princess,”

You hung up first and went back to painting pretty flowers on the eggs that finished drying.

“Your Russian is getting a lot better”

“Spasibo,” you thanked her and bashfully smiled. You and Pietro had been dating for six months now and every other day you’d spend a few hours learning Russian all by yourself.

“Have you found a dress for church tomorrow?,”

Tony figured it would be nice for all of you to go to church since it’s Easter and you all could use a little deliverance.

“Yeah, it’s a pretty lavender and I’m gonna wear my white cardigan,”

“Sounds beautiful malen’kiy,”

She gave you a baby water bottle while you focused on painting the dainty flowers. Easter was one of your favorite holidays. All the pastels and candy and bunnies everywhere. You were hoping you’d get a new stuffed bunny this year! You usually have to buy them yourself but you have a Daddy now and you’ve been hinting that you wanted the Easter bunny beanie boo. The big cute eyes called to you with the array of colorful fur.

“I’m back!,” half an hour later Pietro came up in the elevator with a bunch of bags and you tried not to look at all of it to ruin the surprise. But you just couldn’t wait for your basket and hopefully new stuffie.

“What are you guys up to?,” he hit Wanda upside the head and she threw a paintbrush at him which he dodged and kissed you on the tip of your nose.

“Painting now!,” you squeal

“Inside voice, malen’kiy”

You nod in slight embarrassment but continued to paint your eggs in excitement. He sat with you and picked up an egg to begin painting as well.

He began painting an intricate bunny while humming your favorite lullaby.

“What time do we have to wake up for church tomorrow?,”

“Service starts at 10:30 so I’d recommend waking up at 8 for you since you like to spend so long on your hair,” Wanda answered him.

You heard the elevator ding and the voices of others flooding down the hall speaking of Easter dinner plans. They must’ve come back from shopping as well since you heard the rustling of bags.

“Okay but I want mashed potatoes and gravy”

“I want cranberry sauce”

“That is disgusting!!,”

“It’s literally the BEST?”

“The words cranberry and sauce shouldn’t go together!”

“I want turkey...”

You giggled at Peter’s simple statement.

“The roast is already in the crock pot. Peter the turkey is being marinated and Bucky, I’ll have your cranberry sauce. Sam, mashed potatoes in gravy was already on the menu,” Wanda gave a cheeky smirk, “Thanks for picking up the extra stuff I needed,”

Of course they’d all be bickering over what to eat for a holiday dinner.

For Christmas last year Steve and Natasha had a whole screaming match about whether you all should have ham or turkey for the feast. Until you and Sam explained that most big households just cook both. Peter and Bucky went back and forth on the topic of potato salad and macaroni salad. It happens a lot, but it’s quite entertaining for you to listen in on.

“Okay but can we have red velvet cake?,” Tony walked in snacking on robin eggs.

“Printsessa has put it in the works already,” she nodded

“All done!,” you held up your egg that sported a cute chickadee hatching out of an egg with flowers all around.

“Khoroshaya rabota, malen’kiy!,” Pietro praised yet again.

You loved it when he did that. You loved the attention of being a good girl, it made your stomach flutter with butterflies.

“Spasibo, papa!,”

“You’re so cute,” Clint came over and pinched your cheek until Piet slapped his hand away.

“No pinching, unless it’s me,”

He hated for anyone to touch you, little or not. Man or woman, he wouldn’t even let Wanda touch you simply because he wanted your affection all for him and him for you.

It was nearing your bed time and you yawned. Pietro knew you were ready to go to sleep, “Say good night to everyone, baby. Time to get some sleep so the bunny can surprise you,”

He picked you up and you tiredly waved to everyone while he took you to bed. You were excited for tomorrow.

All the hymns at church, the pretty pastel colors, the food, the pretty woven baskets, the eggs with candy hidden in pretty flower beds.

You dreamt of all of that. Including a big cute Easter bunny.

———

You stood in the pews clapping your hands and singing with the choir. You stood by Tony who was wearing his infamous colored glasses and tapping his foot. You and Sam were getting into the choir’s rendition of a gospel song. Everyone else was clapping and bopping their heads along. Your favorite part of the service was the songs.

You enjoyed the sermon as well and pinched Piet and Peter who were falling asleep here and there.

The service wasn’t that bad, but you were excited for the Easter egg hunt now! Running to find the most eggs so you can rub it in the faces of others was your favorite.

Once you all got back to the compound, Pepper handed you all specially made Easter baskets made by you all and made for someone else.

Clint made one for Wanda and Natasha,

Nat made one for Peter,

Sam made one for Bucky,

Bucky made one for Tony,

Tony made one for Pepper,

Thor made one for Steve,

Steve made one for Clint,

Vision made one for Wanda

Peter made one Thor despite him not being exactly familiar with this holiday.

And you and Pietro made one for each other. While each basket was made by someone else, each one had one item from each team member. It was honestly adorable.

You squealed as you saw the bunny beanie boo in a giant clear egg, sitting atop your beloved and well awaited edible grass. You hurriedly popped the egg open and put a few strings of it in your mouth, happily chewing and swaying side to side like baby Groot sitting in his pot.

“Spasibo, papa!,” you jumped in his lap and he helped you open your other eggs that were filled with a bunch of treats and trinkets.

You all were grateful for your baskets and thanked each other.

“I love my bunny! What should her name be?,” you were playing with the ears and held her tight.

“Look on her tag. She already has a name,”

He opened the heart tag and found the name “Lollipop” along with her birthday which is November 14th. Beanie boos were your favorite. You couldn’t wait to add her to the family.

“Everyone get your running shoes on... the games are about to begin” Tony clapped his hands and rubbed them together like he was plotting something.

Every year you all had a master Easter egg hunt and whoever found the Golden got the grand prize inside. Sometimes they ranged from the keys to a new car, to two weeks uninterrupted vacation.

For the past three years, Sam has been on a winning streak and you all want to put an end to it so he can put a cork in it. Four years ago Natasha won a shopping spree in Paris, all expenses paid by Tony. The year before that Clint won a new car of his choice. It’s all fun and games and while Tony puts in a lot of money for this, he’ll lut money into a charity as well.

So it’s a fun day.

You all change and and get your yearly egg hunting baskets. Pepper and Tony take you all out to the back yard, both of them wearing cute bunny suits like parents. In the distance you can see glimpses of colored eggs. Usually those will contain candy or money and other cute small trinkets like jewelry or a new watch or a gift card somewhere to shop or eat.

But you were looking for the grand prize. You wanted that egg.

Tony and Pepper placed blindfolds on all of you and spun you all around a bunch of times.

“READYYYY?!,”

“SET!,”

“GOOOO!!,”

You all ripped off your blindfolds and began running in a frenzy. Tripping and laughing at each other. You were hysterically giggling at your dizziness as you picked up a red egg and then an orange one, throwing them in your basket.

“Malen’kiy, there’s one right there!,” you heard Piet shout from the side lines. He decided to watch you rather than become involved. He figured it was a cute tradition and to just watch you have fun.

You saw him point above your head and you saw a bigger green egg propped up on the branch of a tree. You struggled to get it until Wanda came up and snatched it before you could.

“Hey!! That was my egg!!,” you whine and stomped your foot.

“Ya snooze ya lose, printsessa,”

“But I wanted that one,” you pouted.

She shrugged and ran away and you plopped your butt on the ground and folded your arms.

“Y/N! Keep going. There’s more eggs out there, baby,”

“But I wanted that one!,” you felt yourself regressing and tears welled in your eyes. Everyone decided to play dirty this year. Sam tripped Bucky and used him as a pedestal to get a big egg. Peter web snatched an egg from Clint and Natasha tripped Steve. Everyone was getting down and dirty.

You felt a rush of air as Piet rushed over to you and kissed your cheeks, “Don’t get upset, printsessa. There’s more eggs. Plus, you can get back at her by finding that golden egg and rubbing it in her face, whaddaya say?,”

He smiled mischievously and you smiled back, “Play dirty,”

He rushed back by Tony and Pepper and continued smiling. You saw him nudge his head toward the furthest bush in the deepest depth of the compound yard which sprouted a small glimmer of the golden egg. Everyone else was still focused on getting the other eggs. You stood up and dusted yourself off and ran around collecting other eggs, knocking the others over to get more and laughing at each other.

You felt your wings push out from your back before fluttering up into the sky. Everyone stopped what they were doing at the sound of your beating wings. Once you were high enough your dove in the direction of the bush

“She found the egg!!,” you heard Clint shout.

You shot the beams from your eyes to put a big force field around them until you landed in front of the bush and dug through it, pulling the egg out. And jumping for joy

“I found it, I found it!!! I found the egg!,” you screamed and ran back to Pietro. It was a long run but you didn’t let your force field up until you were in the safe zone and hid behind Pietro.

“That wasn’t fair! You can fly!,”

“You all played dirty, you took my egg from me!,” you scowled.

“Fair enough...,” Wanda sighed.

“You broke my winning streak,” Sam whined like a baby. He hates losing, he’s an absolute sore loser.

“Go on, malen’kiy- open it,” Piet urged.

You happily squealed and popped the egg open to find a certificate.

“An all expenses paid room upgrade,” you read aloud, you frowned at the words until your jaw dropped, “DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?!,” you shout and look at everyone else, who just stare back at you and shake their heads.

“Papa! I can get the little room of my dreams!!,”

For the longest time you’ve been looking at stuff to put into your dream room but once it came down to it, you didn’t wanna ask for the help to make it. Money wise and effort wise. It was all a task to worry about.

“Aaaahh! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!,” jumping up for joy. And hugging the hell out of Tony and Pepper.

“I can’t wait! Thank you so much,”

You hand the certificate to Pietro and stick your tongue out at the others

“Neh neh neh neh neeeehh,” you place your thumbs on your temples and wave your fingers in a teasing manner before taking Pietro’s hand and taking him inside to clean up for dinner.

“Best Easter eevveeerr,”

———————

Okay this might not be the best but I wanted to dish something out so I’m not leaving you guys hanging for so long.

Thank you all for your patience. I love y’all so much

Please comment and reblog!!

Tags- @babybubastis @yournonlocalpoc @mbaku-babygirl @blackreaders-assemble @vozit @mokacoconut @spideys-wife @crawlingnightmares @valynsia @chonisberonica @warmchick @xye-weirdo @veryhellshdia @ilovefanfic86

#black!reader #mcu imagines #mcu x reader #avengers x reader #black mcu imagines #marvel imagine #marvel one shot #marvel x reader #poc!reader #poc reader #pietro maximoff imagine #pietro maximoff one shot #pietro maximoff x reader #pietro maximoff x black!reader #marvel x black!reader #bexie’s cg/l series #avengers x black!reader #avengers imagine #avengers one shot

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itsreigns · 6 years ago

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Fucked Up

Roman fucked up his friendship with (Y/N). Well, he fucked up everything. Will he realize what he’s missing in time? Will he able to undo his mistakes?

(A/N): So this wasn’t a request, just something I came up with with @heeldeano after seeing this gif.

Tags:

Two months. Two long months after that disastrous day.

Roman was your best friend. Yes, was. Not anymore. For months and months, you debated on whether you wanted to act on your feelings or not. Eventually, you decided that he was worth the shot, that you owned it to yourself, or else you’d be forever followed by those “what if” thoughts, completely haunted by not trying.

You tried to give him some hints. You tried to tease him, in hopes he’d wake up and realize he loved you. You tried to ask him out… on an actual date, but he never gave in. He always played dumb, dismissing your advances. So, you just gave up.

The last drop happened two months ago. You and Roman were talking, mostly flirting as you usually did, and suddenly… he leans in slightly. Your brain froze. Your heart thudding madly in your chest.

Only to have him pulling back abruptly.

“What the fuck am I doing?” He said, running his hand down his face as he let out a somewhat sarcastic chuckle. You were about to say something, but he cut you off, leaving without another word.

No explanation. No apology. Nothing. You were hurt. Shattered.

Yet you were still surprised when he never reached out to you after that. You always thought, well… you wished, that he would… after all you were best friends. But he never did. Apparently you didn’t mean that much to him. So much for his friendship too…

So you didn’t reach out either. You had your pride and dignity, and you definitely weren’t in the wrong in this.

Since that day, you’ve been dragging yourself around, feeling like shit, and pretty much avoiding everything Roman-related. But today, Becky wasn’t having it.

“No, no, no, (Y/N)! No more moping around for Samoan major douchebag. Enough!” She snaps, pulling you up from your bed, making you stand. “Tonight we are going out and have fun, so you better get your ass on that shower and get slaying quickly!”

You sigh deeply, realizing that she was right. Screw him. You deserve more than to be dragging yourself over someone who doesn’t care about you. He doesn’t value so someone else will.

Hopping in the shower, you give yourself some mental prep talk. Then, you pick up a black lace body, pairing it with some tight high-waist jeans and high heels. You put some light make-up, having some trouble deciding what to do with the hair.

“Wow. You def be slaying, girl.” Becky catcalls once she comes back into the room.

“Thanks Becks.” You smile softly. “Hey, what do I do with the hair?”

“Eh… I don’t know? Maybe straighten it out?”

And that’s exactly what you did. When you’re finished, you take a full glance of yourself in the mirror. Becky appears behind you smiling.

“Yeah, yeah, you were right. I feel much better already.” You grin, as she hugs you from behind.

“You’re welcome.” She winks. “Now let’s go!”

Apparently, you’re headed to some club downtown. Some other superstars are also going, so it’s going to be a good, relaxing time. You’re just wishing Roman isn’t there.

But that thought is quickly worthless, because as soon as you get inside, you see him sitting in a corner with Dean, Seth and Braun.

His gaze finds yours faster than it should. You swallow hard, moving your gaze to the floor. Thankfully, Sonya and Naomi reach you, pulling you in for a hug, then complimenting your outfit. You know they’re being nice and trying to cheer you up and hype you, but you’re still very thankful for them.

A couple of drinks in, you’re laughing and feeling a bit more loose. You’re still feeling some type of tension in the air, even though he hasn’t moved from his spot. But you shrug it off.

Suddenly, Finn sits down next to you, smiling brightly as he always does. He has a beautiful smile, you think, as you smile back at him.

He tucks your hair behind your ear and leans in close. The club was super loud so he had to speak directly into it, but deep down, you knew he was flirting too.

You feel his hot breath against your ear, “You look beautiful tonight.”

You smile shyly, blushing a bit. “Thank you. You look good too.”

The flirting went on back and forth for a while, many laughs and slight touches. Until he invited you to dance. He just got up and extended his hand to you. You glanced at his hand, a smile creeping up on your face, as you accepted and linked your hands.

You just didn’t noticed Roman watching the whole thing in the back.

----

Roman’s P.O.V.

“Bro, you’re staring and it’s getting awkward.” Seth states, himself staring at me, trying to read me.

“I’m not.” I grumble.

“Yes, you are.” Dean and Seth shoot back at the same time, making me scoff.

“I am not. I’m just… looking around.” I stutter, making myself get even more pissed off.

“Yeah, around.” Seth mocks, waving his hand in the air. “Look, it’s bothering you, I get it. What I don’t get is what you’re doing still sitting in that chair, torturing yourself, when you clearly love her.”

Seth’s words hit me like a ton of bricks, but I take a deep breath, shrugging it off.

“It’s all good. I’m cool.” I lie through my teeth, flexing my jaw.

“You’re not cool. You’re trying to keep your cool and you’re doing an awful job, let me tell you.” Seth shoots, with Dean nodding in support as he takes another sip of his drink.

I take another glance at her, before hanging my head low, resting my elbows on the table as I massage my temples.

“You’re fucking stubborn, man.” Dean adds.

If only I could bring myself to talk to her during these two months… but I’m too goddamn proud and stubborn to do so.

I have to admit… knowing I could have her, knowing I could be with her… And now seeing her moving on, seeing his hands where mine should’ve been… it’s killing me.

---------

Normal P.O.V.

Finally tired of dancing, Finn goes sit down as you head to the counter for some drinks. Suddenly, you feel a tall presence behind you.

Turning around, you get face to face with Roman, who’s staring at you, his eyes holding sadness and anger. Your eyes locked with his, but he just stands there, mouth shut.

You start to feel anger boiling up inside of you, so you just decide to ignore him, turning your back at him.

He sighs deeply, hanging his head low, but you don’t see or hear it. He just comes up behind you and puts his arms around your waist, pulling you close.

You feel his breath ghosting over your neck, moving up until it stops on your ear. Then, he just whispers, “You’re playing with fire, baby girl. I hope you know what you’re doing…” and then, he’s just gone as fast as he came.

It fucking pissed you off. Who the hell does he think he is? Getting you all worked up, teasing you, playing with your emotions? You’re seeing red.

You take a look around only to find him back in his seat. Then, you have an idea. Screw the drinks! You walk past your table, grabbing Finn’s hand as you pass. A confused look crossed his face, soon replaced with a smile.

You pull him close, hooking your arms around his shoulders, his hands quickly finding your lower back. You start dancing suggestively against Finn, and he quickly followed along.

“Samoan giving ya a bad time, uh?” He smiles against your ear, and it finally hits you. What the fuck are you doing? Using Finn? This is not you. Finn must have realized what you’re thinking. He smiles brightly before he says, “Hey, it’s fine. I know you like him. Plus, I’m having a really good time. Extra plus, this is fun. I just hope he doesn’t beat my ass.”

You can’t help but giggle, hiding your face in his neck as you keep dancing. After a while, you notice Roman fuming in his seat, a not so amusing look on his face. He can suck it up, you think.

After a couple of songs, you and Finn parted and headed to your seats. You inform him that you have to go to the bathroom, and he just nods in understanding.

As you neared the bathroom door, someone grabs you by your arm, pulling you outside. Surprise, surprise. It’s Roman.

“What do you want?” You spat angrily.

“Try it again, baby girl. I dare you to tease me again. You’ll see what happens.” He snaps back, his voice filled with venom.

“What will you do? Because it seems to me that you’re all talk.” You tease him, getting your arm off his grasp with one motion. “Ah, not even all talk. Considering you haven’t spoken to me in months!” You fire. “And also, I’m not interested. Thank you very much.”

“So you’re interested in him now?” He questions, his tone now softer, and his demeanor completely changed.

“You didn’t even bother to talk to me after that day. So why do you care?” You spit venomously.

“I never stopped caring!” He admits, exasperated.

“You didn’t? You sure do have a funny way of showing it.” You mumble sarcastically, crossing your arms over your chest.

He sighs deeply, moving his gaze to his feet. “Look… I fucked up. I know I did. And I know I failed you.” He admits, his gaze now on yours. “But when I realized what I’d done, it was too late. There was no going back. The damage was done and I didn’t know how to reach you, or what I’d say to you.”

He takes one-step closer to you, reaching out for your hands, and all the anger you had in you was gone by now, so you complied. “But now, standing here in front of you… I just want to say two things. Number 1: I’m sorry…”

“And number 2?”

“I love you.”

Your heart is about to burst after those words left his lips. The intensity of his gaze burning into your own.

“You do?” You ask shyly, wanting some reassurance.

“I really do.” He smiles gently, pulling you close and resting one hand on your lower back, the other one moves to cup your face, his thumb gently caressing your cheek, as you rest on hands on his chest. “I know I should’ve said it sooner, but it’s rather late than never, right?” He lets out a small chuckle, then his face grows more serious. “I love you, (Y/N). You’re my girl. You always have been.”

You’re sure your smile is reaching your cheeks, and that your cheeks are painted red, but honestly you couldn’t care less. You’re the happiest you’ve ever been.

“I love you too, Roman.” He smiles so brightly, you swear he could light up the entire town. You wrap your arms around his shoulders, and move your gaze to his chest, suddenly feeling shy. “I want to kiss you.”

“Baby, you can kiss me any time.”

He leans down, his hand still cupping your face, and presses his lips to yours. They feel even better than what you had imagined. It’s all better than what you imagined.

You pull back for air and you smile at each other before connecting your lips again. The kiss grows more heated quickly. It gets sloppier, tongues playing smooth yet hotly, you nipping on his lower lip teasingly, him nipping on yours in revenge, your hand tugging on his hair.

Suddenly he pulls back for air, resting his forehead against yours.

“So… before you were saying that if I teased you some more, I’d see what would happen.” You bite your lip, teasingly, as you run your fingers in his chest.

“Yeah, so…?”

“So, I want to know what would happen.”

“I guess I just have to show you then.”

Part 2? Give me some feedback please?

#roman reigns #roman reigns imagine #roman reigns oneshot #roman reigns one shot #roman reigns fanfiction #roman reigns fanfic #roman reigns fic #roman reigns x reader #reader insert #wwe imagine #wwe fanfiction #wwe fanfic #wwe fic #wwe oneshot #wwe one shot

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real-jaune-isms · 5 years ago

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RWBY Volume 7 Chapter 6 Review/Runthrough

I know I’m very late with this, but finals were hell.

This chapter went from a middle ground of curious tension to the highest hype to the deepest dread and despair over the course of its roughly 16 minutes of run time and I hated that. And I love it. I hope y’all did too, but let’s take it step by step together.

It starts somewhat close to where chapter 5 left off, the riots in Mantle have been quelled and several people are in handcuffs, including three familiar thirsty moms. Guess the Happy Huntresses are popular with housewives, wish fulfillment of making a difference in the world yourself and all that. Robyn herself is being interviewed as we’re shown the riot aftermath and people getting in line to vote at electronic polling machines. And we get our first major surprise of the episode. There were two other candidates we never heard about, Ivy Brown and Pearl Wistier! So can we get some F’s in the comments for these two, who didn’t get any recognition or screen time and with the election ending probably never will? As Robyn talks about hoping voters will make the right choice and that the connection between her supporters and the riots is pure coincidence, we see Team RWBY and JNR training while Oscar watches. Blake and Yang are jumping around atop towers, Weiss is sparring with Winter again, Ruby is practicing her semblance, Ren meditates, and Nora and Jaune are bouncing a dodgeball back and forth to test his new shield. The Bees jumping around reminded me a little of the Chibi episode where they played tag, so I liked that. Weiss bounces Winter’s Beowolf around on black glyphs in a manner that made me think of a move Sans uses in Undertale, a very fun connection, and then she knocks Winter off guard by sending a small version of her knight to attack Winter’s ankle. Her playful smirk says she’s not sorry~ Ruby’s petal form splits into three parts to go around a pillar, and Oscar finally calls her out on that being a little unusual if her Semblance really is speed. The dodgeball keeps getting hit harder and harder as Nora puts her thunderous all into it until it dissolves against Jaune’s shield when he uses the Dust upgrades to better defend. He takes some damage to his Aura but recovers again very quickly, much to Oscar’s enthusiasm. Ren’s meditation seems to suggest he’s trying to unlock some kind of precognition or ability to sense other people like he had in Volume 4 when Tyrian was approaching to ambush them. But he doesn’t quite get it down yet and instead Ironwood and Clover enter.

70%-30%

Ironwood is impressed by how hard the teens are pushing themselves, with Ruby affirming it to be necessary with the current state of affairs, and Ironwood seems to think the info on his Scroll is evidence of that. The poll numbers favor Robyn, which is undeniably better than Jacques winning even if the Happy Huntresses and the military are in a silent stand off, and the young heroes think the general should make more of an effort to be open with her about what they are doing since they’re all on the same side of wanting to help Mantle. Nora argues for the sake of Mantle quite vehemently, furthering my theory and probably many others’ that she was born here. Jaune seems to agree, but Ironwood says that kind of communication will have to be a two way street and by his tone of voice I’m guessing he doubts that will happen any time soon. Before Nora can offer a rebuttal Ren asks why the General is here. Turns out, with the election happening tonight and the teams having done so much work recently, they’ve decided the kids should get the night off before things really start changing once Robyn or Jacques is elected. Ruby doesn’t seem to like thinking about that, probably because everything in Atlas will get very different once the Amity Project is complete and she still doesn’t know how that will go.

Regardless, Team RWBY make plans for the evening. While Weiss stands around glumly looking at the news feed on her Scroll, Blake puts on some eye makeup that I’m too uninformed to know the name of and Yang stares longingly at her from her bed. At least, that’s how I saw it. The two of them are going dancing with Team FNKI, in a club where it will be too loud for Yang to be able to hear Neon’s voice. Just the way she likes it~ Meanwhile Ruby is going with Ren and Nora to meet up with Penny at a party in Mantle to celebrate Robyn’s surefire win of the election. Because overconfidence like that has never backfired in media before. Weiss is still mentally torn about her father’s big layoff stunt and how in the world he thought it would actually work out for him with what a cunning man he’s always been. Yang thinks it was just a power play that backfired, but Weiss worries there’s a grander scheme below the surface. Then she’s asked which group activity she would rather be a part of, so after seeing Blake’s adorkable attempt to do a dance move Yang is showing her she chooses the suddenly appearing third option: going to the movies with Jaune and Oscar. Volume 2 Jaune would be so impressed his older self got Weiss to agree to that kind of thing with minimal effort... but also be very upset by all the terrible things that happened to the guy up to that point. So it barely matters to our Jaune anymore. Still, hope it was a good movie cuz that’s the last we see of those three for the rest of the chapter.

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Ruby and Renora are next seen walking down the street as celebrating Robyn fans pass by in a truck. Ren admits he sees Weiss’ point about celebrating a bit soon but Nora tries to be an optimist about it, that the people should be allowed to enjoy this supposed surefire thing. Ruby admits nothing will probably be a sure thing anymore once the Tower goes up and Salem’s existence becomes known, with Ren and Nora affirming that they’ve spent so long worrying about the secrets they’ve been keeping they haven’t thought about how they would have no plan to face her even once they get past that. Afterall, Jinn said she can’t be beaten. Ruby reminds them the exact phrasing was that she told Oz he couldn’t destroy her, and Nora picks up on the specifics. If Oz can’t, then maybe someone else can. And with her Silver Eyed powers Ruby seems like their best gamble for that. Personally I’m still of the mind that the point Jinn was trying to make wasn’t that “Oz can’t destroy Salem” and was instead that “Oz can’t destroy Salem”. Redemption and the restoration of her kinder former soul may be the best solution to this. But who knows? Regardless, Ren is restless and thinks they should go back to training, that they don’t have time to waste with social gatherings and fun distractions, but Nora says they’ve done enough for now and they need to unwind otherwise they’ll snap. So they’re at odds now, unfortunately...

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The three reach the town hall/auditorium where the rally is taking place and meet up with Penny, who is very happy to see them but wonders why it is only these three. Nora explains what Weiss and the boys are doing and that the bees are off doing their own thing, and Ren comments that he’s relieved the two are back on good terms after everything that happened. But Nora sees this as an opportunity to be passive aggressive. See, the situation with Blake and Yang is very similar to her tumultuous “will they won’t they” with Ren. So she calls into question whether or not Blake and Yang are actually just friends or something more intimate and close after being through such deep bonding experiences, but we can tell she’s actually asking about where she and Ren stand. Ren picks up on what she means immediately and fires back how he feels on the matter while keeping up the pretext of this being about the others. It’s kinda funny to realize they’re being so indirect and also teasing how romantic things seem with Blake and Yang when the fandom has been having similar arguments. But it does offer insight into their actual feelings: Nora wants to take that step and has always worn her heart on her sleeve so she’s ready to show how she feels but she also wants to be sure Ren feels the same so she doesn’t misread the signs. But Ren is worried that with all the deep political stuff happening and the impending threat of chaos Salem’s reveal will bring, now isn’t really the right time for relationship stuff. Nora fires back that they can’t figure anything out unless they talk about it, and I do kind of agree. If there’s tension like this between the pair then it might affect their teamwork and trust.

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Ruby wants no part of this awkward conversation and slides over to Penny’s side, who also realizes the argument probably isn’t about the Bees. So the two head backstage instead, where Marrow is waiting and initially seems happy to see Ruby before getting back into a work mindset and says she shouldn’t be here since she’s still an amateur who wasn’t assigned to this job. But Ruby says she’s just here to be with her friend, and offers Penny a fistbump. Penny looks overjoyed to see this invitation, and eagerly gives Ruby a bump. Unfortunately, steel fists really hurt and Ruby’s hand starts throbbing red. Ouch~ Marrow just tells her not to get in the way, since they need to stay vigilant in case of any trouble. He is interrupted by the one and only... May Marigold, one of the Happy Huntresses we saw when they stopped the truck last episode.

May is... a deep new kind of character, for reasons that have become clear in recent days and were first brought to my mind when I saw the cast list for this episode. May is voiced by Kdin Jenzen, a lovely woman who works for Rooster Teeth and is memorable for such feats as being able to handle super hot chips with ease on the last two RT Extra Life livestreams. She is also a trans woman. This does nothing to diminish my opinion of her and it should not affect yours. This fact also adds a layer of depth to the character, as the likelihood of May being trans as well seemed rather possible. And as of December 17, this is confirmed: May Marigold is RWBY’s first confirmed trans character. An extra layer of diversity to the world of Remnant is most definitely welcome, and it also adds some depth of character to Robyn Hill. Her group is comprised solely of women, and its a very good look for her that she sees May as one every bit as much as Fiona or herself. Because as we all know, TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN. Okay, tangent over for now.

May sasses Marrow a bit, saying the Happy Huntresses won’t be the ones causing any trouble and are there to make sure nothing goes wrong. So Marrow can scram, he’s not welcome. The poor pup tries to stand up for his faction, saying Ironwood just wants to help and the Ace Ops are there for good reasons. He’s interrupted by Robyn herself though, who accepts his presence as protective assistance as long as he stays out of the way. Clearly this isn’t what May or Joanna were expecting to hear, but Robyn says they need to learn how to get along if she’s gonna be on the council. Marrow tries to give her attitude by saying getting along will be easy as long as she stays within the law. Clearly her prior roadblocking activities make him think she hasn’t been. She tries to appeal to him and get through the strict military obedience, saying the law isn’t fair to everyone and he shouldn’t always have to obey it to the word. But he’s a Faunus in Atlas, it’s preaching to the choir at this point. She says all she wants to do as a council member is make Mantle and Atlas a better place for everyone, including the Faunus. But Marrow is unmoved, he still wants to guilt her about keeping her activities legal. But she matches his attitude tit for tat, everything so far has been totally legal and he can’t prove otherwise~ Their staredown is interrupted by the absolute angel that is Fiona Thyme causing feedback on the microphone and reminding Robyn she needs to get back to the party activities. Marrow backs off and tells Ruby to leave so he and Penny can do their jobs, so she sticks her tongue out at him behind his back and waves goodbye to Penny before returning to Ren and Nora... where things haven’t gotten any better. So she just turns right around to hang out at the front of the crowd.

Fiona has a very touching speech about how this victory has been a product of Mantle’s united effort to make things better, how this is their moment and they all know Robyn will do right by them. She even gets emotional herself, and then invites Robyn herself to come on stage and talk to the crowd a bit. The two seem to whisper to each other a little, likely encouragement by Fiona that she’ll nail her speech and reassurance from Robyn that the dear girl did a good job just now. Robyn opens with a joke that her difficulty with public speaking is a bad match for this career in politics, and Ruby seems amused. She always has seemed to sympathize with Robyn and think she’s a good person, and for the most part I would agree.

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The speech proper starts with Robyn thanking her gathered followers for their votes and for thus putting their faith and belief in her. And she assures them the feeling is mutual, that she believes in the strength and change a single determined person can bring just as much as she knows there is unlimited potential to what people can do when they work together.

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And with that unity, it doesn’t matter if she wins or loses because they will all continue to fight for the sake of the city that brings them together. That earns a lot of applause and she leaves the stage, though she starts to show visible concern as the radio announcer points out how close the votes are as the deadline draws fatally near. The Happy Huntresses are still confident she’s got this in the bag...

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But she’s no less tense.

With all this talk of unity in mind, Nora tries again to try and address the tension between her and Ren, but deep talks like this really aren’t his thing. Ren has always been emotionally closed off, it’s just in his nature and with emotion being so important for his Semblance it’s clearly been ingrained in his mindset for a long time. Talking is not his love language, he’s always shown how he feels through acts of physical contact. Hugs, leaning on her, holding her hand at the end of Volume 4. So while she’s seeking verbal validation that it is something deeper between them, he’s not used to that and doesn’t really know how to articulate himself and express all his feelings how he wants to. That’s how I interpret it anyway. Nora gets her own read out of his attempt at an answer, and it seems pretty similar to my takeaway from it. Clearly it was encouraging enough for her to know he does like her back he just has so much on his mind he can’t figure out how to say it. Why? Because she literally says “screw talking” and kisses him!!! A KISS FOR RENORA, 7 YEARS IN THE MAKING!!!!! So the two get blissfully lost in the kiss and each other’s company for a little while, and I’m so happy for them.

Unfortunately, this is where we start to have a bad time. We cut to Watts hiding out somewhere booting up several Scrolls in front of a screen showing drone footage of the party as well as older video of Penny’s hero work in Mantle, and he’s activating tech in his rings as we see that Tyrian is in the party crowd in a cloak ready to strike on his partner’s command. The polls are about to close, Ruby is looking over at Penny happy as can be... and sees Tyrian’s tail. She moves to get a closer look, and eyes meet between former foes. She screams towards the stage to watch out, but it’s too late. The lights go out as the election countdown chant hits one, Ren and Nora are holding each other close unsure what’s happening... and Watts gives the order to begin.

He starts doing vague techno stuff with the Scrolls that‘s mostly theatrical hand waving, while at the party Robyn drops her microphone and Ruby gets knocked to the ground by the panicking crowd. Tyrian has started killing people in the audience, in an attacking style seemingly unlike his usual work. Penny activates her night vision at the prompting of Marrow (who SHOULD be able to see in the dark as a Faunus but maybe he’s in a bad position to see what’s happening or her tech optics can do more than ordinary eyes Faunus or otherwise?) and pulls out her swords before she tells Tyrian to surrender. But either that scorpion boy has some mad jumping skills to get to the rafters or Watts could hack Penny’s eyes, because in the time it takes a panicked person to run in front of her he is gone. Watt’s puppeteer act continues as he seems to lift Penny’s movements from one video and put them into the footage of Tyrian’s massacre over the image of his body. How terribly devious. And with a single tap of a district map on one Scroll he changes which candidate several entire parts of Mantle voted for. He may very well have been doing this little by little over the course of the night so the election fraud would look natural, or maybe a significant portion of people actually were voting for Jacques and Arthur just forced the final push. I think the former is a lot more likely.

Meanwhile, Marrow is calling for backup and Robyn calls her Happy Huntresses to her side so they can all keep each other safe. Fiona wants to get Robyn to safety, and at the last second sees Tyrian running across the stage to attack them. His eyes and right arm both glow purple, and he scratches a hole in Fiona’s Aura before slicing at the exposed spot with the blades on his other arm. Seems his Semblances is being able to tear through Aura and then attack a person’s body directly. Useful skill for a killer like him... Still, we know only his tail is poisonous so she probably won’t die. That was likely on purpose too though... If they found venom in her they would know Penny didn’t do it cuz she doesn’t have anything like that. Speaking of Penny, she flies up to tackle Robyn to the floor when it looks like Tyrian is going to attack her next, but he just jumps up to the rafters and giggles maniacally. This part was planned too, because when the lights come on Penny is the one standing on stage with swords drawn over an injured Fiona and confused Robyn. Much like Pyrrha and to a lesser extend Yang before her, Penny has been set up as a brutal killer. Worse yet...

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Jacques has officially won the election and gives a live acceptance speech that seems like a total slap in the face. And if we look more carefully at those lying dead on the floor, a few familiar outfits can be seen. The same thirsty moms last seen getting in trouble for taking part in the riots are now going to be orphaning their children... Whether he meant to or not, Tyrian has proven his ultimate villainous status above all others. Ruby, Marrow, Ren and Nora all rush onto the stage to help Penny and Robyn, but the latter doesn’t trust them at all and the former is in shock that such brutality is blamed on her, that she’s failed her purpose as Mantle’s protector when it mattered most. It’s not helped by the fact that a survivor loudly proclaims Penny did it, and refers to her simply as “Ironwood’s Robot”. Dehumanizing her, saying she’s just another machine that’s been taken over and used as a tool of evil. When the Happy Huntresses and angry members of the crowd charge to attack Penny and those that would try to help her, Marrow uses his Semblance for some literal crowd control, making all of them freeze in place. Ren and Nora are quite unnerved to hear Tyrian was the perpetrator, but they get Penny out the back door to relative safety while Robyn stops pointing her weapon at the girl long enough to shove Ruby out of the way when she was trying to help Fiona. Our dear sheepy says she’s gonna be okay, but Marrow still feels bad and offers assistance. Too bad that means he relaxed enough for his Semblance effect to wear off and Joanna starts shooting at him so he and Ruby leave too, though he does try to assure Robyn that Atlas had nothing to do with this.

Watts uploads his deep faked footage and packs up for the night, telling Tyrian their good work is done. Out in an alley, the good guys catch their breath and quietly panic how bad things just got while Penny just stands in despair and shock. Ruby reaches out a hand to try and reassure her before realizing it’s covered in Fiona’s blood. Marrow tells Penny she has to go back to Atlas, but she’s initially not responsive. She does fly off though,, just as the Grimm attack alarms go off and the others get ready for the long night ahead... with the girls not having their weapons unfortunately. As Manticores are seen flying over Mantle and into the streets, Jacques’ victory speech continues to lay faintly veiled dread into our hearts.

So yeah. Hell of an episode, and one I took way too long to review. School was hell, just like this chapter.

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