#i will lose my shit if someone kills something i intentionally planted

[anakinfromaccounting]

okay i like living where i can walk and bike to places i need to go but there is something to be said for living distantly enough from your neighbors that they don’t frequently try to come and do unsolicited yardwork on your property

[preemshots]

the definitive post of WHERE IN THE WORLD IS JOHNNY SILVERHAND’S BODY?

AKA the post of HERE’S WHY I WANT TO BELIEVE WE ARE GONNA GET JOHNNY’S BODY BACK IN DLC. 

buckle up, gamers. it's time for some lore. this is a very long post. 

warning: this will contain a million spoilers. both for details of multiple game endings, a wee bit of the “where’s johnny” comic, and the cyberpunk RED book. if you want a sparknotes version this is the post for you. my main source here is the cyberpunk RED book as well as as some references to the cyberpunk 2077 world book to cross examine the lore. 

i have no idea if someone has made this post before or what anybody else has been finding in their own lore diving. this is just me documenting my own findings from the sources i’ve been using.

it would be disingenuous not to preface this with the ways in which cyberpunk 2077's telling of the arasaka assault differ from the version told in the TTRPG books. the books =/= the game. pondsmith acknowledges in the intro of RED that this is a bridge between the old cyberpunk world and the new world of cyberpunk 2077. 

we also know that johnny's an unreliable narrator and his memories presented to V are often different than real events. but on top of that we don't know if the reason why many elements are changed is simply CDPR editing/adjusting/condensing the storyline for their own canon, or if it's due to johnny's construct being manipulated by outside influences such as arasaka.

some of the main differences you need to know from cyberpunk RED canon:

in 2023 johnny doesn't bring the nukes to arasaka tower. he's solely there to free alt.

johnny and rogue and their team from the atlantis/the aldecaldos are actually hired by morgan blackhand. 

morgan blackhand is the one who plants the nuke, unbeknownst to many members of the team. 

morgan blackhand promptly disappears after this event and no one knows if he's alive or dead. (claire confirms this fact to jackie and v before the heist in 2077 canon)

johnny's silver cybernetic arm is its own character, separate from himself. it seems to have a mind of its own and johnny interacts with it and/or is influenced by it.

when he, spider murphy, rogue, thompson, shaitan, and a team of los lobos from the aldecaldos (who are there in place of santiago, as he’s busy as the leader of the aldecaldos at this point) are attacked by adam smasher, johnny and his arm actively choose to draw smasher's fire in a deliberately suicidal move. smasher downs him instantly, but the distraction is enough to also save his friends.

spider murphy shoves a mysterious chip in johnny's dying head as they escape that alt had downloaded to her a long time ago.

johnny's body is later "rumoured" to have been retrieved from the rubble by a full-body borg groupie that was a first responder to the ground zero of AHQ and then hidden away in a nearby garage.

here comes the political lore that makes my eyes cross, so hopefully this accurately summarizes it: the 4th corporate war begins to end. arasaka is ultimately blamed by the NUSA government to have nuked themselves in a political move to protect their secrets and promptly banished from the USA. arasaka denies this all the way back to japan, then eventually returns to “liberate” night city in the unification wars.

but what the public doesn't know is that kei, saburo's oldest son, had actually hidden an EVEN BIGGER MORE DEVASTATING NUKE at the bottom of the tower to, well, do exactly what they were being accused of doing, even though blackhand was the one who actually dropped the smaller nuke on them. and luckily the bigger one didn’t go off.

arasaka tries to find their nuke in the rubble so they don't get in even bigger trouble, only to discover that it was moved and hidden away to... surprise! a nearby garage.

to compare with 2077:

in RED: we have no johnny loading the nukes into the elevator. no johnny being carried off the premises. no meeting saburo. no johnny getting soulkilled.

in 2077: there's a parallel moment to RED's version of events right after johnny uploads "liberator" from alt's old cyberdeck with spider's help into the arasaka mainframe in saburo's office. adam smasher comes for him as he's trying to escape, knocking him off the second floor of the atrium into the rock garden below.

visually this is the same atrium we always meet alt in in cyberspace and also where V meets johnny for the first time. hmmm. meaningful, perhaps.

not unlike what happens in RED, johnny unloads a clip into smasher at that point, but from there the scene instantly cuts to him running to the roof attempting to board the AV with rogue, where smasher shoots him down again. it’s possible johnny actually died to smasher in the atrium and we have some fabricated memories going on. 

either way, in 2077, we lose the character beat of johnny dying for his friends, and the current-day general consensus from rogue and others is that he’s perpetually a selfish asshole with ulterior motives. 

and, just to wrap up the politics of it all: morgan blackhand is rumoured to have been secretly hired by the militech-backed NUSA government to help end the 4th corporate war by... you guessed it! nuking arasaka.

HERE'S WHERE JOHNNY'S BODY ENDS UP IN CYBERPUNK RED (SPARKNOTES VERSION):

RED ends with a story called "black dog" set in 2045. black dog is the last song johnny recorded right before the assault on arasaka tower, but the final copy is a bootleg copy of the song and only a fraction.

we're introduced to a fun group of cybernetic-enhanced characters that represent the classes in the TTRPG and based on/designed by real people in collaboration with CDPR.

this group includes trace santiago, santiago's son, who is a media that is curious about the mystery surrounding the circumstances around his father and the arasaka bombing. 

just connecting lore here: if you talk to saul at the aldecaldo camp in 2077, he confirms that santiago was killed for his involvement with johnny and the bombing, something that rogue and johnny reference when they talk about their now-dead crew from the afterlife, and in chippin in, santiago is a friend that johnny lists as someone he had disappointed.

the group sets off to find any info about black dog, and meet up with a full conversion chrome woman named samantha in a garage who is blatantly a johnny silverhand fangirl. trace discovers she has a history with johnny, having rescued him from a studio fire at some point in 2015 and speculates she could have been a groupie also.

she mysteriously has a more complete recording of black dog, though not perfect, and offers to trade it for a service: she wants the group to transport a large crate to a facility in new mexico, asking them not to open it.

shit goes down. evidently everyone in night city wants to kill them for this package once it starts moving. eventually they open it. it's the arasaka nuke that had been hidden and never went off, emblazoned with warnings.

trace inquires about the circumstances surrounding the arasaka assault with an older member of the lobos who had been present with rogue and johnny. the man mentions that it was weird, because morgan blackhand organized the whole thing and then ran off immediately with a mysterious bag that we now know contained the nuke. 

michiko arasaka intercepts the gang, explaining the situation around the bigger nuke, that other factions in arasaka want to utilize it for their own goals (presumably hanako and yorinobu) and her father's legacy, that she feels responsible for. she escorts them to new mexico so that the nuke can be dismantled once and for all.

they meet up with a woman named angel in new mexico that takes the crate from them, at a facility that specializes in nuclear material. she gives the group the full recording of "black dog". the group leaves successful.

this woman is also a johnny silverhand stan. once alone, she calls up samantha, who says, "i promised i would get him to you in the end" and reveals that she had already gutted/dismantled the original nuke and discarded the material into the bay.

angel opens the "nuke" to reveal a hidden cryochamber, and greets the face of the person inside with, "hello, my love."

i mean, holy shit. okay! so that’s DEFINITELY johnny’s body. cool!

now let’s go into all the references to this story in the actual game of cyberpunk 2077 that SUGGEST we are going to pursue this story AND johnny's body since it’s such a HOT FUCKING TOPIC. 

and i know many of the following can just be considered easter eggs. but my personal interpretation of this game is that it has a really delightful way of intentionally glossing over important story details—and not by ONLY putting them in shards (which people tend to dislike because lol reading) but by also hiding them in plain sight, constantly deferring to V's own ignorance, distracting us with shallower, shinier things, encouraging us to actually play as the fool hero of this story. 

so here's the fun list of “””evidence”””:

this one’s a reach, but fun. in the initial arasaka assault flashback in 2023: we can interact with the groupies at kerry's show as johnny. samantha doesn't appear to be present, but the first person and groupie you can encounter in the flashback has a passing resemblance to angel in that she has a cybernetic arm.

in chippin' in, where we go to johnny's "grave" in the oil fields: if we are to take the 2077 retelling of events as truth, the story could instead be pretty easily be changed that samantha procured his body from there.

mike pondsmith, who wrote these stories and created the TTRPG can be heard on the radio narrating various conspiracy theories. and sure, these can just be easter eggs, intended to reference the differences between the TTRPG lore and the game, so take it with a grain of salt:

johnny. bro. tell him it was morgan blackhand

to top it all off, mike also directly references the actual WORSE nuke arasaka had hid in another arasaka conspiracy: 

SPOILERS FOR GAME ENDINGS AHEAD.

in the rogue ending of the game we discover rogue has a son. it's possible her son is trace (edit: nvm NOT LIKELY, since in RED’s black dog story rogue is listed separately from santiago’s mom in conversation) OR possibly one of the other characters. she tells her son to "pull over and look at the stars" or something along those lines. maybe just details, so that screams nomad to me.

rogue also has a photo of herself and johnny with mike pondsmith in her apartment/office in the afterlife. i initially read this as a delightful cameo but it also can mean mike the CHARACTER knew johnny and rogue, and rogue therefore has some kind of relationship to him and these conspiracies on the radio. and why the fuck not make him a full on character? we have a smattering of streamers and personalities already integrated into quests in the game. the creator of all this should be no exception. fuck it! 

rogue and johnny constantly dance around this accusation of her “selling out”. it’s repeated over and over that she and adam smasher worked for "the same people". i'm beginning to wonder if this wasn't meant to imply only arasaka since smasher mysteriously disappeared after the AHQ assault in 2023 and returned to SOMETIMES take jobs from arasaka... but possibly morgan blackhand and/or by extension, the NUSA or any other greater influences. (like nightcorp? we still don’t know where all this shit with nightcorp/the peralezes/sandra dorsett’s discovery about their research into mind control is gonna go) this also doesn’t account for the multiple factions inside arasaka with VERY different motives. 

morgan blackhand and adam smasher are rivals in the TTRPG, a role that appears to be at least partially filled by johnny instead in 2077. in relation to the arasaka factions, it’s worth nothing that smasher specifically works for yorinobu as his bodyguard at the beginning of the game, in part i assume because yorinobu is avoiding working with arasaka security details as he stole the relic and is plotting against his father. he is then promoted to head of security by yorinobu when yorinobu assumes power. 

in the ending as you work your way through arasaka tower with rogue and shaitan and johnny, rogue remarks:

michiko at this point in 2077 is the leader of the more “liberal” faction within arasaka, so it’s possible we’re seeing that while rogue and smasher work for the same people/family, they couldn’t be more different. 

you can also encounter rogue more than once on the phone fighting with wakako, who has apparently crossed her. wakako also seems to have her own ulterior motives and works mainly with the arasaka-backed tyger claws. she notably gives v/takemura the parade security info for “play it safe” without asking for anything in return, enabling hanako’s kidnapping. my theory is that yorinobu intentionally leaked the parade info to her to give away to put hanako in danger or at least continue to destabilize arasaka. 

in the takemura/devil ending of the game, there is a point where violence breaks out at the arasaka board room meeting when yorinobu-allied security open fire on them. one of the only people that survives along with hanako is michiko arasaka, who was at odds with hanako’s decisions, but  very involved in the preceding discussion.

and now for is my favorite detail! in the afterlife AT ALL POINTS IN THE GAME (but it can only really be inspected in the rogue ending when we are allowed behind the bar), we can find a photo of the squad that transported johnny's body from samantha to angel on the shelf below johnny's tequila, of them hanging out in front of the afterlife sign:  

this implies rogue has some relationship with them, and sentimentality, if we're to judge by the placement. she maybe even took the picture. i don't know, it's charming, it could be all easter eggs. who fucking knows.

either way, rogue and these kids both have in common that they worked with or at least interacted with michiko arasaka. 

and you know what my final evidence is? more wishful thinking! black dog plays on the radio in game. we got a full recorded version of it by refused. if not an oversight, i go ahead and take it to mean the final version was finally released to the public by those kids that were looking for it. 

i haven’t the slightest idea how this is gonna wrap up in future DLC. who has johnny’s body now in 2077, decades after it was dropped off in mexico? what is the truth?? where the fuck is morgan blackhand?? from the devil ending, we know that arasaka stole jackie’s body and put his soul into mikoshi, so the idea that they would just toss johnny’s corpse has always been laughable. the “where’s johnny?” promotional comic was even about thompson unsuccessfully trying to find johnny’s body. i know i am biased here but i cannot fathom all this talk about johnny’s body ending off with us NOT finding it, whether it’s just to bury it, shove johnny’s engram back in it, make out with it, or WHATEVER.

if you made it through this slog, congrats. thanks for reading! 

[masterthespianduchovny]

Some people gon be mad at me, but I gotta say it...

Some Scully fans don't understand Scully or her relationship/feelings with/for Mulder.

Scully's relationship with Mulder is this utterly pure thing that is grounded by how much she genuinely cares, respects, and supports him as a person. When you understand Scully's perception of Mulder in this view, seeing her as some long suffering woman doesn't make any sense.

Most of the time Scully sacrifices or choosing Mulder isn't based on romantic feelings, it's based in moral and ethical values and what she holds important. The show sets this up early.

In Squeeze, Tom asks "who's side are you on" and Scully says, "the victim."

This coincides with the side Mulder is on.

Tom was obstructing the case due to his on bias and hatred of Mulder. Despite Mulder's pettiness, Scully understands that Mulder will always prioritize the victim. She chose justice (Mulder) over pettiness (Tom).

When Scully declines a second date with the single father, she's choosing knowledge and curiosity over romance and her personal life.

Interestingly enough, Mulder never asked her to choose him. He's always asked her to be honest about the truth, but he never put her in that situation to prioritize him over her own professional goals or personal life. In fact, he would've understood if she did and said as much.

So when I say some Scully fans don't understand Scully, I'm not being insulting or intentionally rude, I'm saying they're overlooking small character moments that inform her characterization throughout the series.

Scully was not only a workaholic, she LOVED her work. And there wasn't just an obligation to Mulder, it was to the victims as well. I often think about how in this universe, if Mulder and Scully hadn't investigated these cases, either no one would've or it would've never been solved. It must've been something Scully also thought about as well.

Scully mentioned a few times that she joined the FBI to make a difference. Not for prestige or make a name for herself, but to make a difference. She didn't throw away her career for Mulder, she was exactly where she wanted to be. Those other cases handled by mainstream agents were always going to be investigated and solved (if possible), but x file cases?

There's a reason Mulder was called from bumfuck, Kansas or backwoods, West Virginia. There was no one else. Her and Mulder were the only two who took these things seriously.

But also, Scully genuinely genuinely cared for Mulder. Not because she wanted to fuck him, thought he was hot, or really wanted to date him. She enjoyed him as a person. Like truly. After working with him, understanding this beliefs, and meeting many victims, the x files became her passion project too. She attached herself to Mulder because there was no one alive she respected more than him. Someone who stood by their convictions regardless of what others thought to the betterment of people besides him.

He had his flaws, but the great parts of Mulder truly outshined the worst parts of him.

People often overlook how much the x files and her experience changed Scully. The deadpan, straight to the point Scully we know and love came to fruition in season 5. Believe me, I checked. Remember, Scully used to be goofy, open, and free. Then she was abducted, given cancer, kidnapped, sister killed over mistaken identity, etc. That changes a person.

But none of this is Mulder's fault. Mulder changed her in the best way possible. He opened her mind up and challenged her--it was intellectual. Those other things I mentioned made Scully pull within herself and close off. It made her guarded. So suffered so much emotional and mental and literal physical trauma.

As a result, her social interactions changed.

As a reminder, she became a workaholic because of her passion for the x files and she enjoyed it. Then to add on to that, her work was wild as hell, hard to explain, and some of it classified. Scully lived such a unique experience that regularly interacting with others would've been frustrating, exhausting, and her having a sense of feeling misunderstood. And dating would've been a minefield.

Thing is: Scully didn't mind this change to her life. This isn't to say that Scully didn't want or have any friends, it's to say that she didn't strive to have a booming social life nor did she care. Again, she VOLUNTARILY became a workaholic and threw away a normal life for paranormal shit. Someone who does that isn't trying to meet friends for happy hour on Friday or planning to have serious relationships any time soon.

Not only that, some people live lives like this right now and have incredibly fulfilling lives. Some people just work and have one or two friends and they're living their best lives. The idea that just because Scully doesn't have an active dating life and a circle of friends she regularly talks to means that her life is dour is so flawed.

Scully's eventual dissatisfaction with her life was rooted in her believing she should want things that she didn't want. Scully could've walked away. She could've said enough, instead she kept finding reasons to stay because she wanted to be on the x files. And it's quite clear that you can't work on the x files and have a normal life. She didn't want both, she wanted the life that she chose.

At that time, Scully was unable to articulate just how much she wanted to be with Mulder, which is why she positions, "Don't you want to get out of the car?"

She wanted moments of normalcy with him.

And it isn't just because Mulder gets that life because he lives it, its because Scully is actually in love with Mulder for who he is. She's seen Mulder at his best and at his worst and loves every part of him.

Whatever feelings Scully had for Mulder in the past that she pushed away, she couldn't do it anymore. She loved Mulder in a way she couldn't put into words. It was the truest feeling she ever felt, the most sincere thing and she hadn't realized it yet. Then, when she does, it takes them time to get there because Mulder is literally the most important person in her life.

Which seeds were planted back in season 2. In "Little Green Men" (I think), the thought of not working with Mulder saddened Scully because it meant she wouldn't get to see and talk to him. Mulder made a huge impression on her and became important to her very quickly.

So imagine 5-7 years down the road...embracing this feeling and the thought of losing Mulder if things went south would've been devastating for Scully. She wouldn't lose just a partner, she'd lose a best friend too.

Because she genuinely cared for him and he's her literal best friend.

The love Scully feels for Mulder surpasses known definitions of romantic love because her feelings aren't centered in that. She loves him on levels that most people can't imagine. Scully cares for Mulder so much and she shows that by listening to him and protecting him even if Mulder doesn't think he needs protection. She validates him and doesn't trivialize his beliefs even when she doesn't agree with them. It doesn't matter who the person is, Scully will always go to bat for Mulder because he only ever had himself and he needs to someone to say "hey, you're not alone and you're taken seriously."

I bring this up to say, the idea that Mulder doesn't deserve Scully when Scully clearly wants him is flawed. The idea that Mulder should be lucky that Scully "puts up" with him is flawed. The idea that Scully would ever tell Mulder as such or anything resembling (and stressing how she could've been happy with this perfect other man) is flawed. Those first two things are categorically wrong and the last is something Scully would never do because she loves Mulder and that is harmful. Scully would never tell Mulder something that would harm him or that she believed could.

All Things is so pivotal because Scully stops concerning herself with what she believe she should want and embracing what she actually wants: investigating x files and living an unconventional life with Mulder.

Scully wants that.

Not dating around, girls night, or frequent intimate get togethers with her family. She wants to investigate haunted houses on Christmas Eve and discover invisible bodies and help victims find justice.

After her and Mulder get together, she's committed to him. She waited so long to be with him that even while he was in hiding, she never considered dating anyone else. Emotionally and spiritually, she'd been married to him. Now that they'd been together, she didn't want anyone else but him.

Like there's so many layers to this, which hasn't even taken the "like a switch" speech. Or her reaction to Diana, which had multiple levels--romantic, platonic, and professional.

Lastly, the idea that Scully was waiting around for Mulder (to ask her out) is such a basic take. Scully wasn't waiting on Mulder, she prioritized their working relationship over romance AND she knew Mulder had his own stuff going on with himself. Even if she had wanted to date then, she didn't fault Mulder for not asking her out. All the shit he'd been through and was going through, Scully was more concerned about his emotional well-being opposed to upset that he hadn't pursued her.

Although I do get the criticism and the desire for Scully to date, have on screen friends, and shit, it just doesn't track with what we've seen and know of Scully.

Like, this woman almost went on the run with Mulder after knowing him for 2-3 years. They only reason they didn't was because she wanted to see her sister who'd been shot. The reason she almost went on the run was due to moral and ethical reasons and not romance, however, my point is that Scully's convictions and priorities is why her life was the way it was and that's the way she wanted it to be. She then went on the run with him when she didn't have to, but we know she would because 1. his sentence was an injustice (we know how Scully feels about justice) 2. she was madly in love with him and refused to continue living her life without him.

Once again, Scully is discarding any notion of normalcy because she didn't want it and hadn't wanted it since getting assigned to the x files.

And that's on that.

(And it's why I object to the characterization of their relationship in IWTB and seasons 10 and 11. Although it's fine and makes sense for their relationship to have issues at times, the writers handled it so cavalierly and without thought. You cannot have the backbone of the show in a romantic falling out and not address it--not really. They don't try to genuinely deal with such a situation because it's melodrama, but my question is: why introduce it in the first place. If it isn't worth being addressed, it's not worth being introduced. Mulder and Scully had a chat or two, but it was so superficial and lacked teeth. It's not that I wanted the show to focus on them romantically, I just want the show to not bullshit or half ass shit they're introducing and bringing up is all.)

[berjhawn]

Day & Night ~ Ch. 4 ~ The Truth

Bruce Wayne/Batman X Reader (Lady Light) X DC

Warnings: pain, loss, betrayal, disappointment, abandonment, ETC

(A/N) Please like, comment, and Reblog if you guys enjoy it. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruce couldn’t help the worry that was filling his body. What did she need to talk about? He had texted her back after that but all she said was that it was important. His anxiety was through the roof, and he didn’t get anxious. Was it because he truly cared about (Name) and was worried about what would happen?

He stands at her door about to knock when arguing inside sends him into protect mode. Using his spare key, he opens the door up and rushes inside to see Connor and (Name) arguing. His brow furrowed as he caught the end of their argument.

“What do you mean you know?!” Connor inquires angrily.

“Exactly what I said.” She pauses for a moment before pain fills her eyes. “Connor, why do you think I left?”

“You mean you’ve known she did it all these years and you never tried to confront her?”

“What good would that do?” (Name) argues placing her hands on her hips.

“Clark deserves to know that he’s dating a liar.” Connor retorts and (Name) shakes her head.

“He knows.” Is all she says before she finally notices Bruce.

“I’m sorry for interrupting.” Bruce says pulling Connor’s attention to him.

“It’s fine. Connor, can you give Bruce and I a few minutes please.” (Name) asks her eyes avoiding Bruce’s.

“But mom?!” Connor argues.

“Please, we’ll talk about this later. I promise, I will explain everything then. Okay?” She offers and he nods.

“I’ll be outside.” Conner says glaring at Bruce as he walks past him and out the front door.

Once the two of them are alone, Bruce turns back toward her to see a pained expression on her face. Something was wrong.

“You okay?” He asks and she shakes her head.

“No, I’m not.” She replies and he goes to hold her, but she holds her hand out to stop him. “Please, don’t.”

All it takes is for her eyes to meet his and he knows she knows.

“Bruce, if you have been keeping anything from me, I need you to tell me now.” She pleads and his heart clenches.

“I have been keeping something from you.” He replies and her brow furrows. “Since Connor is here, I take it you already know.” She nods.

“I do, but I want to hear it from you.” She replies wrapping her arms around her waist.

“I’m Batman.” He states and he watches as tears threaten her eyes. “First, I want to say that day we met at your work and I asked you out. I didn’t know you were Lady Light. I just saw a beautiful warm woman and I wanted to get to know her more.”

“But you came to see me that night.”

“I wanted to make sure the girl I met in that restaurant got home safe.” He pauses a smirk filling his lips. “But you don’t need me to keep you safe.” He adds and she smirks.

“Damn straight I don’t.”

“When I found out you were Lady Light, I thought it would be for the best if we didn’t see each other again. You wanted no part of the league life and I respected that.”

“But?”

“But when I saw you that day sitting at the fountain, I knew I couldn’t walk away. I wanted to get to know you as Bruce. I wanted to be with you as Bruce.”

“Were you ever planning on telling me that you were Batman?” She asks and he takes a cautious step toward her.

“Yes.” He answers honestly and her body relaxes. “I should have told you sooner. You deserve complete honesty.”

“Complete honesty?” She asks and he nods. “Why did you avoid me when I first went to work for the league?”

“Because of Clark.”

“What do you mean?” She asks her arms folding over her chest.

“I saw how Clark looked at you. He fell for you hard when he first saw you.”

“And you didn’t.”

“I did,” He interjects making her eyes widen slightly. “That’s why I avoided you. I didn’t want to ruin a chance for both you and Clark to be happy.” She nods her eyes looking down. “But you weren’t happy.”

“I was for a time.” She replies taking a step towards him. “But who I became with him, it wasn’t me. I was trying to be like him to make him happy, but I realized that I needed to make me happy.”

“So, you left.”

“That’s one of the reason’s I left. The other…” She pauses as she lets out a heavy sigh. “Bruce, before I tell you this, I need to know how you feel about me. Was all of this just some elaborate scheme to keep and eye on me or?”

“I love you (Name).” Bruce announces his eyes focused on hers.

“It’s easy for people to say they love someone. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they really do.” (Name) replies tears stinging her eyes.

“I never say I love someone, when I don’t.” Bruce adds and she smirks.

“I know.” She concludes as she reaches up and wraps her arms around his neck holding him tight. Bruce wraps his arms around her waist and holds her close not wanting to let her go.

“Before we move on, I need to tell you my secret.” She says as she leans back but keeps him in her arms. “I take it you know about Connor?”

“I do.” He says and she nods.

“I guess I should start from the beginning then.” She says as she grabs his hand and pulls him over to sit next to her on the couch. Turning to face him she holds tightly to his hands as she uses him to give her strength.

“Back before Connor showed up, Clark and I were going through some issues. I could feel like he didn’t want to be with me anymore, but he also didn’t want to leave me. We argued a lot about the stupidest shit. We were at our breaking point when Connor showed up. He was just an innocent boy. He didn’t ask to be made. I knew from the moment he told me he was created from a piece of me, that he was mine.

“I became his mother and I never looked back or regretted it. Clark though, he had his own stupid issues and of course took them out on Connor. So, we argued about that. We argued a lot. It didn’t take me long to realize that there was something else going on.” (Name) pauses and Bruce can tell that this was hard for her to talk about.

“When Connor told me what Lex had told him, I went to Luthor Corp.” She states making Bruce’s eyes widen. “I had a feeling about how he got my DNA, but I was so hoping I was wrong.” Tears slowly start to fall down her cheeks making Bruce grip tightly to her hand as he offers her support. “I asked him how and he just came out and told me. It wasn’t like he had anything to lose by telling me.”

“How did he get it?” Bruce asks making her eyes meet his.

“It was given to him.” She answers and Bruce furrows his brow.

“Who gave it to him?” Bruce asks anger filling his voice. He was angry. He wanted to hurt the person who betrayed her.

“None other that Lois Lane.” (Name) states and Bruce sees red.

Bruce sat there for a moment confused before it all made sense. Clark and Lois had had an on and off relationship for years. They even had a son together. When (Name) showed up, their on and off again relationship stopped. Clark was devoted to being happy with (Name). Bruce remembered all the late night calls he got from Clark about how excited he was to finally move on with his life.

So, what had happened?

“Why did she do it?” Bruce asks and (Name) tilts her head at him.

“You believe me?” She questions surprise on her face.

“Why wouldn’t I? You would never lie.” Bruce says and she smiles sadly.

“You don’t know how much it means to me to hear you say that.” She says as she reaches up to wipe the tears from her eyes. “When I learned what she did, I told Clark. He called me a liar. Said Lois would never do something like that. But I saw the video. I saw her hand my hair over to Lex. When I tried to tell him this, he lost it, and I learned that day that he didn’t really love me.”

“He’s stupid.” Bruce says and she chuckles.

“It was only later that I learned that toward the end of our relationship he was also sleeping with Lois. That’s how she got her hands on my hair. They slept together on the bed I shared with him. I was broken, betrayed; I couldn’t stay there anymore.”

“Does anyone else know that it was Lois?” Bruce asks and I nod.

“Connor found out. That’s why he was here, and why we were arguing. He doesn’t understand why I won’t confront her about it.”

“Why don’t you?” Bruce asks his curiosity peaked.

“What good would it do?”

“It would give you closure.”

“It would, but if I lost my temper, I could hurt her. She’s normal. I’m not.”

“You would never hurt an innocent person.” Bruce adds and she smiles sadly at him.

“I wouldn’t intentionally. But my powers are unstable when I’m upset. What if I lose it and accidentally kill her? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I couldn’t hurt Jon or Clark like that.”

“You’re too kind for your own good.” Bruce says and she nods.

Letting out a heavy sigh he pulls her into his chest and lets her meld into his side.

“Thank you, for listening and believing me.” She says and he gently plants a kiss on her forehead. “After hearing all that, do you still want me?” She asks taking him back.

“Of course, I want you. Nothing you’ve told me or could tell me would change that.” Bruce replies and she lets out a sigh of relief.

“I love you, Bruce.” She says and Bruce smiles.

“I love you too.”

Bruce moves his hand up and down her arm therapeutically as his mind thinks about what to do now. Clark was his friend, one of his only ones. He needed to know the truth. It was surprising that Lois would stoop so low just to try and get Clark back with her. Clark didn’t deserve to be used and lied too. Bruce made a mental note to help his friend out and find those tapes. What Clark did after he learned the truth was up to him.

“I need to talk to Connor, and Damian.” She announces moving away from him.

“What happened with Damian?” Bruce inquires about his youngest.

“He was here when Connor showed up. I didn’t handle my emotions that well and when I found out that they knew who I was and that you were Batman, I felt a little betrayed and pushed him away. I need to fix that.”

“You’ll get your chance.” Bruce says and she nods. “I’ll talk to Connor.”

“Are you sure?” She asks and he nods.

“Why don’t you pack some clothes and stay with me tonight. You and Connor both. It will give you a chance to talk to Damian as well.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back.” She says as she walks into the other room.

“I’ll go get Connor.” Bruce announces as he walks out of the apartment and downstairs where Connor was waiting impatiently. When he notices Bruce, he narrows his eyes at him. “Tell me what you know about what Lois did.”

Will Continue - 

[dreamingofmilk]

Stop

Synopsis: Erik gets into a lot of fights because of you. Maybe you aren't what he needs anymore.

Word Count: 2,233

Warnings: mild angst, cursing, mild smut

Getting ready with Erik was always, ALWAYS, a hassle, the two of you could never keep your hands off each other. And tonight was no different. You watched intently in the mirror as Erik showered in the clear glass shower. He looked spectacular as the waterfall showerhead cascaded him with water.

You were supposed to be doing your makeup, but how could you with a sight behind you like that? You took a deep breath and tried to focus on the task at hand, this was exactly why you two had to take separate showers, the temptation was real, it always had been. But you both promised your friends that you would be on time tonight, especially to help them set up. The two of you were leaving to visit Wakanda for two months this time and your friends always missed you while you were gone. 

“Babe!” Erik shouted as he stepped up behind you, his wet muscles on display and his dark blue towel hung loosely around his hips. You clenched your fist tightly in order to keep your hands to yourself. 

“Yeah?” You leaned back to look at him. He smirked down at you then kneeled down in front of you a gently wet hand caressing your face.

“You ain’t even got no foundation on. You've been staring at my dick this whole time from the mirror?” Your eyes widened in surprise, a heat crept over your cheeks. You kissed your teeth and pushed Erik away from you. Erik fell back laughing, his deep boyish laughter, filled you with rage. You smirked at him as you stood up to take off your robe, showing off the new lingerie you’d bought to tease him with. His jaw dropped as he watched you step around him and walk into the walk-in closet that held your outfit for the night.

Erik’s jaw clenched as he watched you slip the red dress over your hips. He stood up quickly and approached you in the closet.

“Where are you going with that on?” His hands grazed your hips, his fingers playing in the lace.

“To the party, duh.” Erik planted two soft kisses on your neck. His fingers started gripping your hips tightly. Your ass coming into contact with his hard-on.

“You wearing that, you must be planning on letting me hit it in Cam’s backroom?” 

Your heart rate increased at the idea of fucking him in public. Again. You pushed your ass back on him, sighing when you heard a deep groan leave his mouth. His fingers crept around to the front of your dress and snuck their way into your panties, pressing a delicious pressure into your clit.

You nodded, not completely aware of what you were agreeing to, your only thoughts were prayers that he wouldn’t stop. And he didn’t, his fingers dove deep into your wetness and quickly brought you to a leg-shaking climax, your new panties effectively ruined. You rested your hand on the railing in front of you. Trying to catch your breath as you watched Erik put his fingers into his mouth to taste your essence.

“You are not leaving the house in that short ass dress with this sexy ass lingerie on under it, choose one.” He softly kissed your neck again and left your closet to go change in his. 

*************

The party was going well until this guy approached you, aggressively. You tried to dissuade him repeatedly. You knew Erik would be pissed if he saw how aggressively this guy was handling you. Things could escalate quickly.

“No Tish don’t go get them we got this. Sir please leave me alone, I'm not interested.” You tried to remove your wrist from his tight hold, which was growing more painful by the second. 

“Come on sweets, you know I can take good care of you.” You tried to wrestle your arm free some more. You knew it was only a matter of time before Erik showed up on his own or Tish went to get him. 

“You’re hurting me.” You cried out. You stomped on his foot roughly only to be manhandled harder. Tish tried to step in only to be shoved aside. You knew this wasn’t going to end well. You really didn’t want Erik to have another body to add to his scars. You wanted him to get out of that lifestyle. But every five seconds it seemed like you were just pulling him right back in. 

You finally felt the guy let go of you and you looked up to see Erik’s hard eyes find you. He quickly checked you for injuries only to see you cradling your wrist delicately. 

You calmly watched Erik as he got into another fight. You knew his reputation preceded him because in the back corner of one of his homeboy’s house parties, no one paid him any mind as Kill knocked this guy out for putting his hands on you.

You were used to it by now, the annoyance blatant on your face as he continued to beat the guys face in. You looked around looking at the sparse crowd that paid Kill no attention. Most people knew that you were Kill’s fiancé, but you were fine enough that the ones that didn’t would always approach you trying to hit on you. Most stepped back once you told them you were engaged, but the few that didn’t made things more difficult for themselves. 

You understood why he was fighting right now, the guy had put his hands on you trying to get you to go home with him. 

But Erik’s anger began to scare you, it became too much sometimes. Erik told you before once he got started it was hard for him to stop. Especially when it has something to do with you. 

Erik loved you, it surprised you how much this man felt for you. Some days you couldn’t believe how much of a different person he was with you. But as much as he loved you. You loved him.

“Erik.” He stopped as soon as he heard your voice glancing back at you in the corner of the house party you two went to. “That’s enough Kill.” Erik looked back at the guy that he was holding up by his shirt, then back at you. He whispered a threat to the man, who now was sporting a swollen eye, then made his way to you. He placed a soft kiss on your lips and pulled you on to the dance floor. He wrapped an arm around you and pulled you close to him. 

You sighed as you rubbed your ass on to his growing hard-on. He rested his chin on your shoulder and wrapped his arms around you. You danced with him for a bit before pulling away asking him to come with you to the car. 

He held your hand, dapped up his friends with the other as you led the way out of the party. You lean against his brand new sports car and watch him as he lights a blunt. He offers it to you before he takes his first hit, shrugging when you decline his offer.

“This is getting to be too much Kill.” You state looking away from him and up at the starry sky. 

“What is?” He asks quietly looking at you, you make eye contact with him briefly then look down the car packed street and the full house party that you just came from. He stared at you from under his long eyelashes as he flicked the ashes off his blunt.

“This.” You pointed between the two of you. “Us.” Erik straightened up quickly, a growing sense of dread rising in his belly. He loved you so much, but sometimes you feel like a dream to him. Too good to be true. He knew after the first time you saw him fight, and you stuck around, you’d be the one he would marry. And when he told you about his plans for Wakanda, and you didn’t flinch but helped him perfect his ideas, you would be the one to carry his child. But even after all of that certainty, there was a small part of him that knew you were too good for him.

“You leaving me?” Erik stepped up to you. His height towering over you, his intention to intimidate you. But he forgot that you knew, you knew how much he loved you, that he would never do anything to intentionally harm the only light that’s been in his life for years other than school. 

So you shrugged in response to his words and his proximity. Your chest hurt doing this. But you knew this was coming, Kill was making more and more appearances and you were starting to believe that you were the cause of that. And it pains you to believe that he would go downhill into that dark place again, because of you. He told you about his past, who he ‘used’ to be before he met you. Before you helped him reconcile with his family, and help displaced people of African descent around the world.

Erik chuckled as he looked down at you, the love of his life, then away down the same empty street you were watching. You scared Erik, the very thought of you alone scared him. How in the world did you wrap him around your finger? The love he had for you was nerve-wracking, and the idea of you leaving was devastating. But he knew when you were this calm about something like this that he couldn’t react with all of his emotions. So he remained calm, he watched you quietly and took note of every reaction you had towards him.

“Why,” He asked softly, though he wanted to scream it.

“Cause, I don’t think I’m good for you. I can see how having me around tempts you to be more violent. I’m sending you backward, not helping you move forward like your cousins. I feel like being with me reminds you of a darker time. A time that you’ve grown past. You're a prince now baby, and I’m not helping you wear your crown well.” An incredulous look crossed his face.

“Baby what are you talking about! You are my crown. None of this means shit if I don’t have you.”

“I can’t be your crown when I cause you to react like this. Imagine if someone caught wind that the long lost Prince of Wakanda was with some hood rat like me. Someone who constantly jeopardized the safety of royalty.” Your voice lost its edge, you lost your fight. The more you spoke the more you realized you were right.

“I refuse to lose you because of some of the illogical fallacies you have created in your head. You mean too much to me for me to allow anyone and I mean anyone to put their hands on you, and you know that’s not going to change. Maybe what we need to do is move.” Erik said a tone of hope returning to his voice. He quickly stepped up to you and grabbed your hand, his finger gliding over your engagement ring. You’d agreed to marry him, that meant you loved him right? He’d had this thought running through his mind constantly ever since he proposed to you, and you agreed before he was acknowledged as a prince.

“Move?” You jerk your head back in confusion. You didn’t want to lose Erik, and if he had a compromise that took the two of you out of these dangerous situations then you were all ears.

Erik pulled you closer wrapping his arms around you tightly, his fingers grasped your chin and angled it up towards his face.

“I have been thinking about it. T’Challa offered me the job to stay here and work at the outreach center. But like you said I can see how this place has affected us, just like it did my father. I don’t want you to lose me like I did him. So let’s move, let’s go back to where we were supposed to be. T’Challa offered me the job here because he thought I wanted to stay, but he says Wakandans have a great need for a historian that can inform them of the lessons, the pain, and the history that they missed out on while being hidden away from the rest of the world. Not to mention Shuri demanded I bring my engineering skills back to her lab immediately.” Erik chuckled and swiped his thumb across your bottom lip, before pressing a soft kiss on your lips.

“You want to move to Wakanda?” You asked softly, your lips still tingling from his sweet kiss.

“With you. Yeah.” Erik mimicked your shrug from earlier, a soft smile fell on his face as he admired your beauty. “Whenever you’re ready, I’m ready.” He kissed you again, a slight pressure and sense of urgency fell behind this kiss. You smiled into the kiss as you felt Erik’s hand graze your ass, a tell-tell sign that you’d be getting some that night.

You couldn't say what your future looked like, but at that moment you knew with complete certainty that Erik was at the center of it. You looked into his eyes and smiled, your love for him clear in your expression.

“I’m ready.”

Taglist:

@aislinnsilver @wawakanda-btch @chaneajoyyy @marvelmaree

[phantaloon-books]

I finally read The Tyrant's Tomb and boi I loved this one so much, so here's some my opinion on it (they're not in chronological order)

warning, this is long af and sorry for cursing a bit, I can't help it

Apollo's character arc is lowkey one of the best Rick has written, I'm sorry if you don't agree, but he's gone from wanting others to solve his problems and relying on the halfbloods to intentionally avoiding others doing things for him, volunteering for the quests and saying it should be him that faces the terrible stuff so that demigods and other creatures don't suffer

something really interesting is how his perception of himself has changed, and it's almost worrying how genuinely self depreciating his inner dialogue is, because he no longer sees himself as mighty Apollo, he sees himself as worthless and useless Lester, and his narration is highkey depressing

Also, Apollo disliking and being somewhat disgusted of the god he used to be, realizing the horrible things he had done and how horrible he was and that he looked worse as the former Apollo than as Lester, regretting things he'd done, that's top tier development

(I'm sorry but I love the entire scene with the ravens, the part where he just screams "I'm sorry" it feels as if he isn't just apologizing to the ravens, but to everyone who's been affected by what he's done as a selfish god)

Reyna so openly turning down and laughing at Apollo for suggesting they be together is my favorite thing ever lmao I couldn't stop laughing, like she knew what gods can do if you turn them down (even if it was just mortal Lester) and she didn't give a damn, it was so fucking funny

people say Rick only includes diversity for the sake of including it and to gain popularity, but I still enjoy the fact that he does, because as a teacher he must have had all kinds of students of all religions, colors and sexualities, he includes diversity because he's seen diversity. anyway my point is I love that we have Lavinia, a Jewish lesbian from a Russian family, and she's not ashamed of being any of them

I'm sorry I just love Apollo so much, I've grown to respect him so much, and even if Hermes once said them gods often forget their oaths and promises, I have a feeling Apollo won't ever forget Jason's request that he never forgets what's it like to be mortal

Frank still admiring Apollo despite everything, and despite the fact that he looks like a messed up teen makes me go all uwu

Frank being portrayed as this clumsy and awkward kid but also this powerful and brave leader is my favorite thing ever because I think Frank is underrated and I dare to say that he's one of the strongest demigods we've ever met, even stronger than some of the nig three children

the whole thing about the undead army is honestly so creepy, especially when we see it from Apollo's perspective cause se him slowly succumb to the venom's effect, and that part in Tarquin's tomb where he "calls Lester to be part of his undead" was genuinely disturbing, at least to me

some books in the past have touched the part of the nature spirits not being given enough attention, but I really enjoyed how Apollo comes to realize that he only worries about demigods and gods when all lives are worth the same - mortals, halfbloods, nature spirits, gods, and even monsters

again, I love Apollo's arc, it's just AHH he's becoming so caring of life it just makes me happy

Reyna choosing herself to make herself happy is everything, and inspiring to every single woman who is told by others that they need someone to be happy, I just love it, because self love is the most important love of all

I haven't said anything about it, but man I love Meg and Apollo's friendship, they just care so much for each other, Meg who's so scared of losing her loved ones and Apollo who's so scared of not being able to be loved or to love, but they still love each other, and I'm glad it's not romantic, because yes fraternal love is also what people need, and their friendship is what they need

aurum and argentum being cute doggos rather than the steely (no pun intended) and cold dogs we met in HoO warms my heart. I don't understand why they're so cute and adorable, or maybe that's just how Apollo sees them, but they seem to act like actual dogs in this book

the fact that Reyna never confirmed nor denied being attracted to Thalia just makes me all hyped up, like we love Theyna

Apollo just gives off Eddie Brock vibes throughout the entire book and that's hilarious asf. ever since the start he's said to look like shit, feel like shit and be injured with deathly poison that will turn him to a zombie. if that isn't Venom vibes I don't know what is

I've said it once and I'll say it again, Frank Zhang is one of the strongest demigods Rick has ever introduced in a series, and him facing two immoral and godly in power emperors, burning one to death with his own life fire and injuring the other enough for Apollo to do the final kill is top tier

"If I'm going to burn, I might as well burn bright. This is for Jason." bitch actual goosebumps

We've seen countless deaths before, but something about Frank killing Caligula and Apollo killing Commodus seems so... mature I guess is the word, or well for a more mature audience. I can't describe how or why, but it feels more real, more like actual human death

I can't deal with how human Apollo seems in this book gosh I really am sorry I keep bringing this up, but I feel such warmth

the story of how Frank overcame his curse is actual BS and as much as I love Frank, it makes no sense that they spent all that time thinking of ways to keep the wood secure only for this. idk I mean id that were the case wouldn't the curse had vanished when he broke Thanatos free? he was willing to die then just like against Caligula, so why now but not then?

Don reincarnating into a laurel is peak bittersweet feeling and it actually hurt because in a camp where fauns were seen as dumb and useless, he helped Lavinia organize everything and destroy the canon things on the yachts

I'm still not over Jason's death, he really did deserve better. It makes sense, plotwise, because out of all of the huge characters from the past, Jason, Percy and Annabeth's deaths would impact others the harder, and push them to do better. And I understand that you gotta show, not even the main characters survive sometimes. Still, I'm hurt.

Thalia talking to Apollo during the funeral for the fallen campers made me actually weep. I'm not sure if it was because of Jason, or when Thalia talked about how much Artemis loves Apollo, or when Apollo "accepted" halfblood children of Zeus as his family

Also, you know who deserved better? Harpocrates, damn right he deserved better. I nearly cried when I read his death, cause he embraced it like one would an old friend in happiness. He and the Sybil deserved better. Dakota also deserved better

On the other hand, I tried so hard not to laugh at 2 am as I read Tarquin demand answers from a cat? he genuinely thought a cat would tell him where the Sybilline Books where and I couldn't handle that

This book is cruel but in a much more human way? The maiming of the pegasi wings? that's horrifying, but in such a human way, unlike what we've seen in any of the greek/roman gods series, and it's unsettling

Meg is braver than any of the other demigods were at that age (maybe excepting Nico), cause she's not embarking on a quest to retrieve an item or rescue someone or bring back their sister from the dead, she's facing her own abusive father while aiding a somewhat weak mortal in releasing the oracles and gaining godhood back. what's she getting from it all? absolutely nothing, she's gifted some seeds and she hangs out with unicorns more than other people and she's lost everything, but she's willing to lose more to help her friend. she's heroic like no one else is, because she's the first who doesn’t want anything more than being with her friend (Percy wanted whoever was taken back, Annabeth wanted to be able to be more, Nico wanted to bring back Bianca, even Bianca wanted freedom). the only other person who didn't have somewhat selfish (but kot wrong) interests while doing something heroic at a young age has been Hazel. What I mean is I love Meg and everything she does

Thalia being that chill over Jason's death bothers me so much, as if she wasn't the happiest when she found out the brother she lost 14 years ago was alive after all, and she had a part of her family back, and it was ripped from her, and Thalia is just not one to easily forget or move on from things, it's just unrealistic that she would only need a little furious session of throwing things to be okay with Jason's death as if her brother was not just taken from her all over again. it's impulsive Thalia we're talking about, who fought Percy when dealing with Annabeth going missing, it's just not her to be over his death that quickly. Sorry for Rick but I think differently

I also kinda don't like that Tyson went from being freaking General of the Cyclops, to the guy that has the Sybilline prophecies or whatever, it's important and all, but he would have been of great help during the battle and they had him waiting for help in the shrine hill like his potential went down the drain

but a thing I really loved was how different Camp Jupiter seems from Lester eyes compared from Percy's or Hazel's or Frank's perspective, it's hilarious. The other three see this place where everyone is serious and shit but Apollo just sees beyond the seriousness and it's actually refreshing, cause he's the first not to make CHB seem immature in comparison and like I said before I hated that in previous books

also Reyna laughing watered my plants, cured my depression, and made the world okay again, I just love her

all in all, this is my favorite book of ToA so far, and I'm really excited to see what's to come, and how Apollo and Meg will face Nero and Python, but more  than anything I'm looking forward to what will happen to Apollo, and whether if given the choice, he'd go back to being a selfish god or remain mortal for a while, with his newfound friends

Also I really miss Annabeth so can I please see Annabeth, I just want to see her cause she won't deal with Apollo's shit and I can't wait to see that, I miss my girl

[beginagainunsolved]

RYAN: This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved, we discuss the destruction of Midland Circle, a financial office firm located in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City.

SHANE: God, it’s always New York. Why does anyone live in New York?

RYAN: That’s honestly a good point. I mean, at this point, it’s just —

SHANE: It’s irresponsible!

RYAN: You’re right, but let’s — let’s not waste time there. Let’s get into it.

SHANE: I’m ready to be disappointed. 

RYAN: Hey, fuck you!

RYAN, NARRATION: On August 18, 2019, a series of tremors were felt throughout New York City. The epicenter for these tremors appeared to be located in Hell’s Kitchen, a crime-ridden neighborhood in the city.

SHANE: That’s where the horny boy lives!

RYAN: I’m trying to decide if I want to acknowledge that with a response.

SHANE: You just did.

RYAN: Fuck.

RYAN, NARRATION: Over the course of the next few days, more tremors were felt. While citizens were understandably concerned, local government and the media chalked the vibrations up to nearby construction and wrote off all complaints.

SHANE: Typical.

RYAN, NARRATION: Then-talk show host Trish Walker — who was then known as former childhood star but is now better known as a criminal convicted of a number of murders —

SHANE: What a weird claim to fame.

RYAN: It is a pretty diverse resume. 

SHANE: Actor! Talk show host! (In an exaggerated, cartoonish tone) Muuuuuurdeeeeer? 

RYAN: (wheeze)

RYAN, NARRATION: Then-talk show host Trish Walker — who was then known as former childhood star but is now better known as a criminal convicted of a number of murders — featured a caller on her popular show Trish Talk who claimed to be a seismologist. The caller insisted that the tremors weren’t a natural occurrence, thus feeding into conspiracy theories as they continued. 

SHANE: Really? Off the word of someone who calls into radio shows? Crazy people call into radio shows, Ryan.

RYAN: I’ve called into a radio show before.

SHANE: My point exactly.

RYAN, NARRATION: Speculation around the mysterious tremors reached a tipping point on August 21, when Midland Circle, a newly constructed office for a financial firm in Hell’s Kitchen, suddenly collapsed inward on itself. The collapse was said to be the result of an earthquake, something many New Yorkers seem to doubt.

SHANE: Why, because some crazy lady on the radio told them it was unnatural?

RYAN: (wheeze) You can’t pretend it’s not suspicious!

SHANE: I went for a walk today and, wouldn’t you know it, it started to rain! That’s suspicious. Isn’t that suspicious, Ryan?

RYAN: Fuck you! Will you at least let me get to the theories?

SHANE: It’s not like I can stop you, is it?

RYAN: No, you cannot!

SHANE: (long sigh) Get on with it. 

RYAN, NARRATION: So, what destroyed Midland Circle? Was it really an earthquake, or was something more sinister at play? And if someone did intentionally destroy this building — why? Let’s get into the theories. The first theory, while depressing, is remarkably straightforward — Midland Circle was the target of a terrorist plot.

RYAN: Okay, so, not very exciting.

SHANE: What, because it’s plausible?

RYAN: The fact that it’s plausible makes it depressing, frankly.

SHANE: Life’s depressing, Ryan.

RYAN: (wheeze)

RYAN, NARRATION: This theory claims that there was nothing special about Midland Circle at all. It was a large building in the middle of a populated area of New York, and it was targeted only to send a message. 

RYAN: I’m waiting for the snarky comment.

SHANE: I don’t really have a lot of jokes in my repertoire about terrorism, Ryan.

RYAN: Fair enough.

RYAN, NARRATION: The theory goes on to say that the local government and the national government teamed up to cover up the attack in order to prevent widespread panic throughout the city while they found and dealt with those responsible.

SHANE: Again, depressing but plausible.

RYAN: Yeah, there’s not really much to say about this one. It’s, uh…

SHANE: (shrugging) Maybe? 

RYAN: Yeah, it’s a maybe.

RYAN, NARRATION: The second theory claims Wilson Fisk, a prominent crime boss in New York, was responsible for the destruction.

SHANE: Wasn’t he in jail at that point?

RYAN: Haven’t you ever seen a mafia movie? They can get stuff done from jail!

SHANE: I don’t think that guy was in the mafia, I think he was just kind of a dick.

RYAN: (wheeze) Jesus Christ, you can’t call the Kingpin a dick on our show.

SHANE: Why not? What’s he gonna do?

RYAN: Have you murdered?

SHANE: For making fun of him on the internet? 

RYAN: I mean, maybe!

SHANE: If I die for making fun of someone on the internet, Ryan, I’ll die happy.

RYAN: What the hell is wrong with you?

SHANE: Hey, Willie, baby, take Ryan out too! We’re a package deal!

RYAN: I hate you.

SHANE: Yeah, yeah.

RYAN, NARRATION: This theory suggests that Midland Circle Financial wasn’t as mundane as it appeared. According to some sources, several people involved in the business had old ties with Fisk, leading some to suggest that his old business partners were using his imprisonment as an opportunity to move in on the Kingpin’s territory. 

SHANE: Didn’t we just do a mob episode?

RYAN: I thought you liked mob episodes.

SHANE: We need variety, Ryan! My fans demand variety.

RYAN: Your fans?

SHANE: You don’t have any fans.

RYAN, NARRATION: The theory goes on, claiming that Fisk had his loyalists plant explosives within the building and blew it up while his old business partners were still inside. Whether this was to take out the competition, send a message, or some mixture of the two depends on who’s telling the story.

SHANE: What evidence is there for this? Beyond the fact that some people claim that a couple of the guys involved in this company maybe knew Fisk?

RYAN: …

SHANE: Oh my god.

RYAN: Hey, I’m just reading the theories!

SHANE: You can accuse Wilson Fisk of murder, but I can’t call him a wuss? That’s a double standard.

RYAN: Hey, he’s probably proud of his murders!

SHANE: I guess he did work hard on them.

RYAN: Put that up on the fridge!

SHANE: (wheeze)

RYAN, NARRATION: The next theory involves a secret government plot.

SHANE: I knew these were too dull.

RYAN: (wheeze)

SHANE: You always do this! You put in, like, one or two plausible theories to get my guard in, and then you say ‘secret government plot’ like it’s normal!

RYAN, NARRATION: Like the last theory, this one claims that Midland Circle Financial wasn’t a normal financial firm. According to this theory, it was actually a coverup for a HYDRA base in New York City.

SHANE: (long, continuous groan)

RYAN, NARRATION: HYDRA, while thought to have been defeated in World War II, has already reemerged once as the foundation for SHIELD, which was dismantled and reassembled shortly after the reveal. This theory states that it was SHIELD who destroyed Midland Circle in an effort to further cripple their old rival.

SHANE: So, to be clear, you think HYDRA build a functional base in the middle of New York City, where Captain America lives?

RYAN: I mean, to be fair, they did manage to hide under his nose in the organization he worked for.

SHANE: You know what? I don’t say this often, but that’s a good point, Ryan.

RYAN: Thank you, Shane.

SHANE: I still think this theory’s a load of shit, though.

RYAN: I know you do.

RYAN, NARRATION: This theory does lose some traction when you consider the collateral damage, however. While SHIELD is known for operating with a gray morality, it does seem a little risky to blow up a building in the middle of the most populated city in the country.

SHANE: They would’ve just sent Black Widow.

RYAN: Just Black Widow?

SHANE: She’d take ‘em all out.

RYAN: Actually, that’s fair. I bet she’d take them all out.

SHANE: Black Widow, if you’re watching this, please be my friend.

RYAN: She can do better.

SHANE: That’s why I didn’t ask her to be your friend. She’d never stoop that low.

RYAN: Ouch.

RYAN, NARRATION: Our next theory is an old favorite — aliens.

SHANE: No. Goddamn it.

RYAN: You didn’t think we were going to have an alien theory this episode, did you?

SHANE: I hoped. I foolishly hoped.

RYAN, NARRATION: There are several versions of this theory. One claims that Asgardians, perhaps including Thor, destroyed the building on accident while celebrating.

SHANE: Thor partied hard and blew up an office building? That’s the theory?

RYAN: That’s the gist of it, yeah.

SHANE: I want to hand in my resignation.

RYAN: I won’t accept it.

SHANE: Ugh.

RYAN, NARRATION: Another version points the finger at Kryptonians, such as Supergirl, Superman, and the two Superboys. This theory has gained some traction in recent months —

SHANE: Because Supergirl ripped up a bunch of bridges?

RYAN: (wheeze) Yeah.

SHANE: I mean, who hasn’t ripped up a bunch of bridges? I do it every Tuesday!

RYAN: Is your goal just — are you trying to see what superhero you can get to murder us first?

SHANE: I would love to be murdered by a superhero, Ryan.

RYAN: I would love it if you were murdered by a superhero, too.

SHANE: That’s a lie.

RYAN: Supergirl, if you’re listening, please kill this man. It would be an incredibly heroic act.

SHANE: (wheeze)

RYAN, NARRATION: Another theory suggests that Midland Circle Financial was a coverup for a cult.

SHANE: How did you find one weirder than aliens? I’m honestly impressed.

RYAN: (wheeze)

RYAN, NARRATION: The basis for this theory falls with the paper trail following the ownership of Midland Circle Financial. Some sources have claimed that, if you follow the shell companies involved in Midland Circle back far enough, you’ll find the same signature on documents dating back centuries. 

SHANE: Wait, wait, wait. So it’s an immortal cult?

RYAN: I was getting to the immortal part, yes.

SHANE: I want to go home.

RYAN: Suck it up.

RYAN, NARRATION: Tracing back, this theory then links the owner of said signature to a man who ran what many claim to be a cult compound just outside the city. The compound recruited young people off the streets of New York for decades, focusing its attention largely on the Chinatown neighborhood.

RYAN: So, there is a basis for it.

SHANE: I’m not saying cults don’t exist, Ryan. I’m just saying I have a hard time believing a cult bought an office building in Hell’s Kitchen and blew it up.

RYAN: And I’m saying you need to rethink that.

SHANE: No.

RYAN, NARRATION: There are several reasonings behind the destruction of Midland Circle attached to this theory. One claims it was a ritualistic sacrifice, similar to mass suicides witnessed in other cults. Another states that it wasn’t the cult who blew up the building, but that its destruction was designed to take out the organization’s leaders.

SHANE: Does — does the mystery cult have a name, Ryan?

RYAN: … You’re gonna laugh.

SHANE: I’m positive I will.

RYAN: The Hand.

SHANE: (wheeze)

RYAN: It’s real!

SHANE: I’m gonna start up my own cult. Call it the Ear. 

RYAN: (wheeze)

SHANE: So, when (exaggerated air quotes) “The Hand” did jobs, were they called hand jobs?

RYAN: (wheeze) Stop, this — this is serious! People died!

SHANE: Oh, so they were deadly hand jobs?

RYAN: (wheeze)

RYAN, NARRATION: The final theory is perhaps the most mundane — that the official story is the truth, and an isolated earthquake took out Midland Circle.

RYAN: Now, I know you’ll probably like this one — 

SHANE: Why, because it makes sense?

RYAN: Because it’s stupid.

SHANE: An earthquake is stupid, but an evil cult named after a body part is not?

RYAN: No, just — an earthquake that only took out one building? Seems a little convenient. 

SHANE: Maybe Quake did it!

RYAN: Why would Quake take out an office building?

SHANE: That mutant kid?

RYAN: Why would he take out an office building? 

SHANE: Why would Supergirl? Or Wilson Fisk? Or a fucking cult? It makes as much sense as any of your theories! Don’t discriminate against me.

RYAN: Nobody’s discriminating against the white guy.

SHANE: … Fair.

RYAN, NARRATION: So, what’s the truth behind the destruction of Midland Circle? Was the organization behind this building a simple financial firm trying to strike out in New York, or was there something more sinister at play? And who brought it down? With the rubble clear and the bodies buried, it seems the true story of this terrifying chapter in New York’s history will remain… unsolved. 

WHAT UNSOLVED MYSTERY DO YOU WANT TO SEE NEXT?

[kileyrose-2003]

Dan Torrance x Fem! Reader Part 3

A/N: Hi lovelies! Here comes another one of my extremely angsty psychological dive into Rose and Crow’s relationship. Lol. Very, very emotional write for me. Some of you might be wondering after you read this on just how exactly and I will simply say one thing: The relationship between Rose and Crow is very explicitly written and there while as in the film it is implied. In this AU I wanted there to be a reason why Rose and Crow seem more distant, hence why I am taking my own spin to them like this.

Anyways, I love you guys! I know there are a lot of people on Tumblr right now as well as myself dealing with the affects of COVID-19 in our every day lives. If you ever need anyone to talk to, my DM’s are always open. I might not be a therapist but I am willing to help :) I hope you all have a wonderful day and stay safe, lovelies!

Link to intro is here , pt. 1, and Pt. 2

Enjoy!

Warnings: Trigger warning for mentioned/implied child abuse, child death, baseball boy scene, blood, gore

“..Don’t talk to me. Don’t look at me and especially don’t fucking touch me.”

“Crow-”

“No, Rosie! This is your fault. Not her fault, it’s yours. You hurt her! You hurt our baby!” In a rare display of emotion, hot tears were streaming down Crow’s face.

Rose chose her words very carefully before speaking. “..She is not our baby. We did not birth her into this world. She never belonged to us in the first place. And, no. I don’t hate her. I am not jealous of her either and I am not entirely to blame for all this. While maybe your way of thinking on this not being her fault may be correct, you are part of the reason to blame.” Her tone was calm and diligent like a mother trying to keep a tantrum prone toddler calm. “I told you from the start, that I didn’t think it was a good idea for her to be here. In general, our way of life is not fit for any child.”

“I-”

“Don’t talk! Just listen. You however insisted at keeping her here when I told you it wasn’t fair to her to live like this. Once she seen what we did, I did not want her to live like this. Had we of just-”

“Rose, I wasn’t just going to send her back to where she came from! Because-”

“Because you grew attached to her! When I told you not to get to fond of her too quick because it was supposed to be a trial thing. We don’t give affection to rubes, Crow. It’s a rule of thumb. That’s what we gave to her though. Not just you, but me too and I will admit with that I was wrong but yet you fail to recognize the reason I brought her into this in the first place was to make you happy and whether you think it’s right or wrong to do what I did to make you happy: I don’t care. To knock some sense into her was the only option. That was the only way she was going along with the whole thing though. So I did what I had to do, even if I didn’t like it. None of that would of happened though had you just let her go.”

Crow sat there on the ground, staring at the falling leaves around him while he processed every word that Rose said to him. “Comments?”

He had none. Yet. His head felt like a over boiling tea pot waiting to just spill over and burn the person closest to him. In that case, Rose. It wouldn’t be the first time he killed one of his lovers. His rage was infrequent but when it came out, it was a force to be reckon with like a blazing fire. It was what he related to most. It was the only thing that had passion that burned and grew as quick as he did until he met Rose. Rose burned as bright, if not brighter than he did. Crow wanted to kill Rose right then and there and she felt it. They all felt it.

Rose was quick to step away despite of her certainty he wouldn’t kill her. Yet something gave her the maybe, just maybe, he would one day. She’d make sure to keep that under control though and keep her dragon tamed.

Just like it wouldn’t be the first he killed a love, it wasn’t the first time he was a father either. Though that time was as far from him as the setting sun was near his finger tips, the memories though old and a little wishy washy, were engraved into his mind. The smell of smallpoxs immediately entering his nostrils at the thought of it. Just like he hadn’t forgotten the name and face of his own child, he was sure he wasn’t going to forget yours either. Or the way it made him the feel the last time he got to speak to you.

You felt stuck and he was stuck too. Except unlike the first child he lost, you didn’t feel scared to leave him. You felt almost relieved. Like you could breath now while the other felt like they were drowning in fear and pain. It was in that moment he realized you were scared of him. You were afraid he’d hurt you at one point

‘No, I wouldn’t hurt her,’ He told himself over and over. He would of never intentionally tried to make you scared of him or put you in a position where you felt uncomfortable. You adored him and he loved you just as much, if not more, than you loved him. You were his baby, even if it meant he had to kill to have you.

Finally he had his comment and the words came out full of fury and rage. “..Bullshit. You all fucking lie!”

…

He wouldn’t touch Rose for months let alone look at her until she forced him too and even then, that was a battle. He wasn’t the same after that. He became more cynical, more distant. Almost an empty shell of the person he was.

Any out spoken nature he had and was replaced by soft spoken snarkiness. There was no more The Irish Rose and her Crow. Only the remnants of a broken past and flings that occurred in the event of their primal feedings. Nothing more and nothing less.

While the stars shined down on you and Danny brightly as you were yet again acting out your passions in the privacy of your own home, Crow Daddy stood in the darkness of the abandoned ethanol plant in Bankerton, Iowa as he sharpened the blade of his knife. The only lights shining on him were the glares of The True Knot’s RV’S nearly blinding him.

He felt soft hands rub up and down the bare skin of his upper arm and a head press against his shoulder. Rose. “I’m excited. It’s been months since we’ve done our thing, you know?” She nipped the cartilage on his ear and fought the urge to push her away. “Sure,” He grunted.

Rose furrowed her brows. “Aren’t we testy tonight?” Crow fought the urge to laugh in her face. “When am I not lately?” She bit her lips. “You’re really going to do this. Right now?”

“It’s not like what’s been between us is exactly a secret to anyone in the family, Rosie.” She pulled away from him slightly repulsed and stretched her arms. “I’m ready.” The reply was snappy and quick and Barry was quick to obey.

'The boy is going to be the one to suffer for that reply but who am I care?’ Crow thought to himself as he looked at the bite mark the Baseball Boy left on his hand. 'The little bastard deserves it.’

“No! No! Please don’t! No..” The first couple of times he had to bare witness and participate in the unholy act after you left, he could hardly take. There was a slight lapse of faith and for a while he thought maybe he just didn’t deserve to have children. Now was different though. He felt numb.

After being in constant agony for over 20 years his sympathy began to decrease and soon he felt nothing for anyone. As Rose knelt down to Bradley Trevor’s level he took his position behind her, standing tall. To child on the ground, he was terrifying but the rest thought nothing of him.

Rose gestured for the knife and he handed it over immediately. “A-are you going to hurt me?” The reply was husky and menacing. “Yes.”

There were screams of protest but Crow took no mind to them. “Pain purifies steam. Fear too. So now you understand.” The Baseball Boy let out a scream of protest before Rose stabbed deeply into him.

…

Meanwhile as you laid in bed next to Danny who was in a dead coma, you felt someone poking at your mind. “Danny, stop it.” You elbowed him. He grunted and slapped your ass cheek. “W-wha?”

“You’re poking in my head again. Stop it.” He rolled over onto his side and shoved his face into the pillow. “I’m trying to sleep.” You rolled your eyes and as you went to wrap your arms around him, you felt the poke again. Accept this time it hurt. Like an electric shock.

(Hello?! Hello! Please tell me you can hear me.)

You paused before responding.

(I can hear you.)

(Good! They’re hurting him and they won’t stop.)

(Who is they?)

The response terrified you.

(The woman in the hat.)

All the sudden you felt nauseous and you gripped at bed sheets. You knew what was going to happen and you were terrified. The room began to slant on an angle and you gripped onto the head board tightly.

“Babe! What are you doing?” Dan sat up in bed and his face went flat at seeing the expression on your face. “Honey?”

You tried to respond to him physically but couldn’t so instead you turned to the person in your head.

(You’re mine and my husband’s pen pal, aren’t you?)

(Yeah.)

(Are you comfortable with telling me your name?)

(Yeah, it’s Abra.)

(Well Abra, can I ask you to do me a favor?)

The room began to tilt on an angle and you felt your grip on the head board becoming lose.

(Anything.)

(If I get stuck in here, tell Dan I love him.)

Your fingers lost their hold on the frame and you began to spiral down into a dark hole. 'This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening.’ You prayed, silently hoping Abra was wrong but something told you she wasn’t. The dark hole began to reach it’s end and you had enough time to see trees and a sign that read 'NO TRESPASSING: BANKERTON ETHANOL PLANT’ When you felt the spiraling of your body stop.

Your astral body hit the ground hard and you had to spit the dirt out of your mouth. “Ugh, gross.” You attempted to reach forward to try and find something to grip onto that way you could stand up but your hand connected with human skin.

“Oh shit!” You scrambled back at the sight of Barry and you felt your body beginning to levitate upwards. “No! No! Please, please! I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to see it!” Your body wouldn’t move though. You had to look. Unless you were going to get stuck here and hesitantly you opened your eyes. “Oh my god! Stop! Stop! Please stop!”

Your body began to lower and suddenly you felt eyes on you. One of them heard you. “No! No! No! No!” A hand ran itself through your long locks and you trembled.

“What is it?” You knew that voice and you didn’t have to open your eyes to know who was infront of you.

(Look at me.)

You shook your head but felt fingers lifting your head up to force you to look at them and slowly you opened them to see Rose. Her hands covered in blood and her eyes full of steamy lust.

(Well, hi there sweetie!)

Panic began to rise inside you and you reached out to Abra.

(Ru-)

Before you could even finish your thought, Rose plunged the knife back into the Baseball Boy and you let out a scream. “Holy shit! Holy shit!” You screeched feeling his pain.

(Funny how things come around isn’t it, Y/n?)

“Stop! Stop! Rose, please stop! Just stop!” Just as Danny was about to lay back down he jumped up in bed and gently shook your shoulders. “Y/n?! Baby? What’s wrong.”

(You got a friend there, Y/n? I want to see him.)

As Dan leaned over to caress your cheek, you pushed him back. “Y/n!” You could feel the rise Rose was getting out of your pain and it made you mad. You wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of getting kicks off your pain. “Get away from me, Danny! Get away!”

Instead of now just seeing Rose in your eyeshot all of them were in eyeshot with those haunting blue eyes staring at you and you slammed your head against the back of the bed. “Make it stop, Danny! Make it stop!”

This time when you tried to push him away, he held your arms down against your chest that way he could try to wake you up. “She’s going to see you Danny!”

(Yes, Danny. I am going to see you. That your little friend you made down in Florida?)

“Shut up!” You screamed. “Who’s going to see me?!”

“No!”

“God damn it, Y/n! Who do you see?”

BAM!

The room shook and Danny landed backwards onto the hardwood floor. Now he was pissed, not at you but whoever it was he couldn’t see. He grabbed your wrist to stop you from pushing him away. “Leave her alone!”

As Dan continued to shake your body and beg for you to wake up, the astral world around you began to slide. This time you were hanging upside down as you fell and as you did, yours and Crow Daddy’s eyes unintentionally interlocked though he would be aware enough to know it.

As you slammed back into your physical body, you rolled off the bed and hit your head on the dresser. “Oww!” You screeched and started sobbing. Dan tried to pull you into a hug but you kicked at him. “No! No!”

“Y/n-” You let out a scream. “Just leave me alone!” Danny backed away and you let out a sob. “What happened?” He asked gently as he scooped you up into his arms like you were a child. Normally you would protest said act but for right now, you didn’t care. You needed the comfort and that’s how he was giving it.

“They killed him..” You sobbed and you felt Danny let out a sigh as he ran his fingers through your hair. “They killed who?”

“That poor little boy!” You let out a screaming cry and buried your head in his shoulder. “Okay..okay.” You choked on your own sobs and nuzzled closely to him. “It’s alright.”

…

Meanwhile thousands of miles away, the lights of RV’s shined brightly in the darkness of the Iowa night on Crow and Rose as they buried the baseball boy.

As Rose finished throwing her scoop of dirt over Bradley Trevor’s glove she paused for a moment and looked at the ground. “We had a looker.” Crow stopped what he was doing and for the first time in years she actually seen a glint of what she would like to think was excitement in his dark eyes. “Tonight?”

“Yeah.” Rose dropped the shovel on the ground and Crow did the same. “East Coast, I think.” He furrowed his brows. “You’re saying someone looked in from I’ve 10,000 miles away?”

“Could of been farther. Could of been up in Canada, but it gets better. She wasn’t alone either.” Rose smirked slightly. “Y/n was with her.”

They say a picture is worth 1000 words but in that moment Crow Daddy’s face had an expression of infinite emotions. He tried tracking you down a few times after you ran but he honestly wondered what good it would do. He didn’t have to be in your mind to you were petrified of Rose and he figured you probably would want nothing to do with him. His mouth went dry and he felt like he wanted to throw up. “What?”

“Oh yeah and she wasn’t happy to see me either. The second she seen me stab into the kid she was out of there so fast and back to her man friend.”

“Man friend?” He looked boggled. “Oh yeah. Danny is his name. She wouldn’t let me get a look at him though..or the looker but I swear Crow Daddy, I haven’t felt power. Raw power like that off the looker than I’ve felt in so long..”

“Then do you think we should look into it? The sooner the better. Before her parents send her to a psychiatrist. Put her on pills. Muffle the steam and make her harder to find.”

“No, giving paxil to this kid is like putting a piece of saran wrap over a search light. And when either of them come back and trust me, I’ll know they’ll be back, I’ll be ready. Oh I’ll be ready..”

Crow dreaded the prospect though. He didn’t want to see you older. A little bit younger than him. It served as a reminder that time went comes and goes fast and there was no buying more of it. For the rubes at least.

“Besides,” Rose straightened her posture as if she was reflecting back on another thought. “What is tied can never be untied.” As Crow raised an eyebrow Rose met the look with a smirk.

…

Your hands shook as Danny handed you a cup of tea. “There we go.” He wrapped you up with a blanket from behind and hummed appreciatively “Thank you.” He nodded and there was an awkward moment of silence as he stared at the REDRUM on the wall in the next room. “So you going to tell me now or never?”

 "Danny,“ You begged and he shushed you. "Just listen to me. I think it would help if you told me about it though.”

“There’s a reason why I don’t talk about my childhood, Dan.” He squeezed your hand. “I know.” You kissed the tops of his knuckles. “It’s painful.” Your voice started to crack.

“If you’re afraid of me thinking differently of you, I would never. I love you for you. Whatever they did, it’s not on you. Please baby, I know it’s hurting you. Just let me in.”

You sighed and looked down at your kitchen counter. “You remember when you met me all those years ago in Florida?” He nodded and rubbed the tops of your hands. “I was only there for a brief amount of time. I moved around alot as a kid. For a while I never really understood why.”

“You mentioned your family was pretty nomadic but what does this have to do with anything?” Dan asked softly and continued to caress your skin. “The people who raised me, they were special like us. They shined maybe as much, if not more than we did. There are things out there, dark things, that hurt people like us.” Tears started to well up in your eyes. “Y/n-”

“They make people like us never be seen again and they warned me about the dark things and told me to stay away from them but I didn’t know I really didn’t have to worry about them at the time.”

Dan wiped one of your tears away, trying to ignore the hairs sticking straight up on his arms. “Why?” Your teary eyes interlocked with his. “Because I was living with the dark things that hurt people like us.” His posture stiffened and he slowly let go of your face. “What?” You ignored his question, continuing to ramble on.

“They always looked the same. It was the strangest thing. My grandpa went from having a limp in his leg to walking without a cane over night and sometimes when they were near me, my one uncle always looked at me like he was hungry. I was nine and we were staying long term in Georgia for the winter because I was sick. It made my mom a nervous wreck, so she’d stay with me every night while I slept and the one night I woke up over night and she wasn’t there so I panicked and I just remember hearing these screams. They were awful. Like these husky barks and even though I was supposed to be in bed I got up to look for my mom and when I got up she was on top of this little boy and she was-” You choked up a little bit. “She was gutting into him like he was a fish and they were eating him.”

“Like Hannibal Lecter eating him or-” You shook your head. “His shine. They were drinking his screams and pain too.” Dan looked so upset. “Honey.” Your body wracked itself with sobs. “And I’ll never forget the look on his face! Like he was being violated.”

“W-what did they do when they seen you were there?” You tried to wipe some tears away but they just kept pouring rapidly. “Most of them didn’t care or notice at first. My dad on the other hand looked so mortified. I can’t remember if it was him or my mom that picked me up and kept telling me over and over again it was out of survival and that I wasn’t supposed to see it. That it was all for the better. That way they could live longer and be healthier and that they wouldn’t hurt me. They could never hurt me like that.”

“Please don’t tell me you believed them.” His tone almost sounded judgemental and you became defensive. “Dan! What was I supposed to do? They were my family and it’s not like I had any where to go to. Despite what they did, I still loved him even though part of me was scared of them.”

“Sorry! Sorry! I’m just trying to wrap my head around all this.” He kissed the top of your head and you had to supress the urge to just shove him away. “Could you live like that? Live a lie?”

“I kept my mouth shut, Danny and if you were in my shoes you would of done the same. For about 7 years we went on like that until my dad left for business for about a week and I finally couldn’t take it anymore and then truth came out about everything.”

You let out a screaming sob as Rose threw plates around you. “..They would of never of been able to provide for you the way your father and I did! Those rubes pigs were selfish and given the chance, they would of used you and abused you even more than they already did.”

You shook your head feverishly, trying to block out Rose’s word. “You were so desperate to have someone love you, that I barely even had to wipe your mind. You were so touch starved that we practically did nothing but hold you the first couple of weeks you were here. We loved you when no one else did! Not even your fucking mother.”

You choked on your own sobs and slumped down to the ground, not caring if the broken glass on the ground cut into your fragile skin. Rose knelt down to your level and began to pull some of the shards. “But don’t worry though, honey. Daddy fixed that issue.”

You felt your blood run cold and you tensed. “W-what do you mean?” Part of you knew the answer to that question though and you dreaded hearing it come out of her mouth. Rose reached up into a nearby drawer and pulled out an old Polaroid photograph. “Does that answer your question?”

“OH GOD!” You screamed and broke back into hysterics. “He never did it to hurt you. You wanted her dead. Trust me. It was all out of love, my sweet. Every single piece of it was out of love.”

"T-that’s not love!” You stuttered. “No?” Rose’s tone was cynical. “No!..”

“Y/n-”

“14 years, Danny. 14 fucking years, I let them scare me into thinking all people were bad besides them and I thought they were my family the whole time yet it was all just a lie!” Dan wrapped his arms around your waist and planted a kiss on your cheek, trying to process it all. Your water works started up all over again and Danny sighed. “Y/n..Y/n, it’s not your fault.”

“It is Danny! It fucking is! And then she started hitting because she knew I despised her for the truth and it hurt so bad because we went from being so close to so far apart.”

“Baby-”

“My trust with the rest of them too was so torn because they all knew what she was doing and they hid. Over two years I had to lie my dad because I didn’t want to make him upset because he was the only one of them that I trusted and then I let him kill my mother..”

“You were a child, honey. You couldn’t of known. It’s not your fault and that’s all over now. I’m here.” He rocked you back and forth as you cried into him. “And the worse part is that even after everything they’ve done to me, part of me still loves and misses them sometimes.”

Dan’s mind drifted back to his own father and he tensed, understand what it was like to still love the abuser even though they caused more damage than could be repaired. “I know, baby..I know. It’s a fucked up cycle.” You nuzzled close to him.

“Don’t leave me, Danny!” You begged. “I won’t..it’s okay.” As you wept into him, Danny looked off to the side room that had the ominous REDRUM scrawled on the walls and hugged you tight.

“We need to keep that little girl away from them Dan. They’ll hurt her.” He pulled away from you. “We? No! No there is no we in this. If anything, we should stay out of this.”

“Dan! You’re being selfish. We can’t just abandon this little girl.” He shook his head. “It’s not abandoning her if I tell her to keep her head down.”

“That’s the exact opposite of what we should do!” Dan huffed and you placed a kiss against his cheek, cradling his face in your hands. “Look, just listen with an open mind. Okay?”

He nodded and your eyes interlocked with his baby blue ones. “I know they work, Danny. That’s why they took me. To use my shine to find people. They’ll prey on people who put their heads down because it’s easier for them to seem like the good guys. It’ll make her more of a sitting duck. To make her hide this, all of this, it’ll just kill her self esteem and her herself. You have to encourage her.”

“Why me?”

“Because besides me, you’re probably the only person that hears her Dan. Who understands her. She knows you more than me because she turned to you first. You’re the only one who probably interacts with her the way people like us can.” You held his hands in yours. “Do you remember how lonely you felt being younger? We can’t let that happen to her.”

“And I can’t let you get hurt either. If these people, whatever the hell they’re called can find that little girl-”

“Abra. Her name is Abra,” You corrected but Dan only rolled his eyes. “-They probably can find you and I just-”

Dan visibly shivered. “I don’t want to even picture in my mind what things they’d do to you or what would happen you if they found you.” He cupped your face and took in all your features. “I-i’d never be able to live with myself, knowing I could of prevented it. I can’t- I won’t let them hurt you. They’ve done enough damage.”

“So that’s it? We’re just abandoning her?” Dan rubbed his face. “I wouldn’t call it that just..cutting ties for a while.” You pushed away from him and rolled your eyes. “Y/n, I’m sorry but I don’t want you getting killed!”

“Just don’t talk to me right now, Danny. I want to be alone.” You went back to yours and Danny’s bedroom and locked the door before he could get it. “Y/n..come on baby.”

“I told you I want to be alone.” You sat down with your back against the door and Danny did the same from the other side. “Okay..Honey?”

“Yes, Dan?” He laid his hand against the woods barrier between the both of you. “I love you.” Despite how mad you were, you smiled slightly and did the same. “I love you too..now go. Please.”

Dan did as you asked and as he made his walk to the guest room in the second floor of your house, he stopped at the spare room. Staring at the REDRUM on the wall before picking up a piece of chalk and scrawling a quick message. 'Abra: I hope you’re okay and you have a better day tomorrow. Your friends, Dan and Y/n.’

[bekahdoesnerdshit]

no one else has reblogged ask meme Mondays so I'm just going fucking apeshit with u. from the big boy: b7 for raini bc it's funny, c1 for cog bc it's inchresting, h3 for brilliance bc I know there's some gay shit going on and I want to hear more, then a17 (character proud of themselves or ur proud of ur rp as them) L5 and L6 for whomsoever u want to talk about

I won’t need a readmore for this one, I tell myself. There’s not that many questions, and they’re not proseboys. I was a fool. She’s too long to be allowed to run on people’s dashboards unrestrained 😔 Thank you! For going apeshit!!

Raini

B7. How do they respond to babies crying in public? I guarantee the image you have for how Raini would react to a crying baby is 10000% correct. She’s unhappy. Uncomfortable. Unimpressed. Can you please make that thing be quiet. Why did you have it if you can’t mange it. This is why she’s never having kids. Like she’s not gonna say anything to the parents or shoot them dirty looks, because she’s not that specific flavor of asshole, but she’s going Mind Her Business and vacate the premises if possible. People who want to take care of something should just get a cat. Goddamn. There is ONE (1) baby that may qualify for an exception, and that’s Red. This is because (and please, picture Raini, the absolute picture of ‘fed up’, squatting down to look a fussy Red in the eye while she says this) “Baby Lent. You’re better than this. I know you are, and you’re letting me down. You need to stop making that noise.” This is unrelated to the question, but please also picture a Raini who was asked (blackmailed?) into babysitting using her Mage Hand to change Red’s diaper. It has nothing to do with the question but I think it’s a Very funny mental image. Thank you.

Cog

C1. Does your OC have a moral code? If not, how do they base their actions? If so, where does it come from, and how seriously do they take it? Absolutely! The way Cog approaches the world is defined by three main mantras: - Kindness is a discipline, not a character trait. - Doing the right thing isn’t always easy, but it is always worth doing. - If you are able to help someone, you have an obligation to do so. Between these three things, Cog sees the world in pretty black and white terms. There are right decisions, and wrong ones. The difference between the two is usually clear to anyone who cares to look, and so most of the evil in the world is born of selfishness. Consequently, Cog does very poorly in morally grey situations. She will commit without hesitation to any course of action that she deems “right” and “kind” no matter how drastic or dangerous it is, but she pretty much shuts down the second she’s faced with a decision that has consequences for someone regardless of what she does.  I’m sure that has not, and will not, come in her life ever at all. Ahah!  I think originally, this worldview was born of naivety. She grew up that religious kind of super sheltered where everything in the secular world was dangerous and dirty, and so when Cog began to realize that definitely wasn’t the case she made the choice to intentionally see the best in people and the world around her to fight what she was told growing up. When she started traveling with her party and actually seeing more of the world than the extremes of a) shitty cult town b) shiny clean magic school, she began to realize that the true state of the Wasteland was somewhere between what her Mama had told her and what she wanted to believe it was. But I’ve never in my life made a character who is stubborn as hell deep down, so instead of letting the world she found herself in change her Cog took a deep breath, rolled up her sleeves, and settled in to be the one changing it by loving and helping the people around her.

Brilliance

H3. Does your OC believe there’s only one ideal partner (or multiple ideal if not monogamous) for everyone, or that there are many people who could be right? I think Brilliance absolutely adores the idea of two people being made for one another. Two souls, wandering the world looking for one another? Who slot together so perfectly that when they find each other it’s clear they never could have fit anywhere else? Bruh. Yes, she knows love takes work. Sometimes you and your partner are going to disagree, and sometimes there’s going to be conflict. The world isn’t “love at first sight” then smooth sailing for the rest of your life. But you put in the work to make your lives better, together, because the universe gave you this person to care for. Maybe there are many people who you could be happy with, and those relationships aren’t anything to look down on. But when you find The One, Brilliance thinks, you know. She certainly did.

Don’t Worry About It

A17. What’s one of your OC’s proudest moments of themselves? Gonna hijack this question to talk about rp moments I’m proud of because Alex sorta kinda gave me permission to do that! Alright! For Raini, the biggest rp moment I’m proud of was her “I’m getting our memories back” speech a few sessions ago, specifically the line, “We’ve been fighting with one hand tied behind our backs for too long. If we’re going to die fighting this thing, I want to know exactly what I’m fighting for.” Morgan and I had been planning to kick off our return from July Hell Hiatus with Wish Two for a couple of days, which meant I was lucky enough to be able to spend a little while planning what to say. I feel like that line in particular embodies Raini’s unwavering confidence in her magic, her determination, and her specific brand of caring for the people around her without actually admitting that’s what she’s doing. I also really liked the way the scene of her apologizing to the party for being Bitchy post losing Magic for a minute went! Idk if anyone else remembers it, because it was pretty short in game, but! I thought it was a very good moment of Raini finding the most Roundabout way to say “thank you for looking out for me while I was defenseless”.  If I can pat myself on the back a little, my Cog monologues kick Ass. The most recent one was when she was talking to Ace about how War is Bad (radical, I know) and there was a moment where she looked at him and said, “...I’m not going to ask for your help, because I don’t know what I’ll do if I do and you say no.” Which. OOF. That was her and I realizing in real time that she and Ace were very much on different sides of this issue. When the session ended everyone said they Loved how good and hurtful that conversation was and I :’) Also, there was a really small moment when Cog was pleading for Maelo’s life (when Sunny’s dad had him locked in a cat carrier. It’s a Long story, made slightly better by the fact that Maelo was wildshaped into a cat at the time) and Cog went Straight for the dad heartstrings by sniffling and asking if, please, would Robert at least let her say goodbye to her friend before he killed him? Please? 😢  She is using her baby face for EVIL!  And oh my god how could I forget! Arcane Timeout! When the party went back to New Alexandria and was confronted by Ace for helping a prisoner escape (which, in fairness, Maelo did do) and Cog brought the encounter screeching to a halt by casting Wall of Stone to make a timeout hut with herself and Ace inside. She then sat herself down, looked Ace dead in the eye, and told him that the wall wasn’t coming down until he actually talked to her, or until he broke her concentration on the spell. She banked hard on him not being willing to hurt her, and it paid off. There were tears all around, both in and out of character. It was Wonderful. Also! I do just want recognition for the fact that I did not give into my impulses to be a little Shit as Cog last session by subtle casting Heal in Ace’s face after he Counterspelled my Healing Word. it was what I Rebekah wanted to do more than anything; unfortunately Cog is a better person than I am. There is No worse feeling than wanting so badly to do something you have no choice but to admit isn’t in character. Rip.  For whatever reason, all of my favorite Brilliance rp moments came during combat. Pressing her forehead to Sabre’s after he died in silent grief, forcefully taking a Narzugon off his Nightmare and then using Misty Step to mount it herself and take off after her friend, planting herself in the chokepoint of a hallway to stare down three minotaurs so she could keep her party safe behind her, pushing deeper into the hellwasp nest to rescue Dembe and Sabre despite knowing that doing so all but destroyed her chance of making it out alive, the list goes on. There were good out of combat moments too (despite the rest of the party’s best efforts 🙄), but I feel like for once I made a character who really shone in combat.  oh GOD I just remembered one really really good rp moment, when our rogue Zihro died when he got separated from the party during combat. We finished taking care of the main devil we were fighting, then began searching the dungeon for Zihro and the npc he was with. We, instead, found both of their corpses. Dembe looked to Brilliance, our healer, and demanded to know why she was just standing there instead of fixing their friend. We were only level three or four at the time, so Brilliance had to tell Dembe, again and again, that she couldn’t fix Zihro. It was too late, she wasn’t powerful enough yet, her goddess wouldn’t answer a prayer like that- It was a rough scene, and without question one of the best rp moments I’ve had with that group. Tae, if you’re reading this, you’re the only one with rights. Also, please unfollow this blog immediately.  Now as a quick pick-me-up after that mess, Pip’s best rp moment was when our barbarian Durokal -who couldn’t read and had a habit of running off and causing Problems- found a plaque he could tell had five words on it, and called Pip over to read it for him when Pip finished chasing him down. Pip, annoyed and out of breath and all of two feet tall, looked up at this 7 foot half-orc and told him, “It says: I’m. Gonna. Kick. Your. Ass.” Also, he regularly called very powerful figures in Barovia by sweet nicknames with “Mr.” in the front. As a sign of Respect. Because he’s the Best. sdfhsdkfj he also he couldn’t think of a fake name quick enough one time so he told an npc that is name was Dick and he was Very embarrassed about it. She: bought it!

Brilliance, Again

L5. Which OC do you think is the most decent morally or behaviorally?  AKA, which is supposed to a “good guy”? The answer is Cog, but we already went in depth on her morals this ask. She’s HAD enough screen time let’s move on. Brilliance is the only other character who, if asked, would say they saw themselves as a good guy instead of just “a person”. She strives to do right by the people around her, and to protect the light and beauty found in the world. She doesn’t have the same illusions about the world wanting to be a good place that Cog does, and she very much understands that sometimes the best thing you can do for the world is to put the things that make it dangerous six feet under. What’s interesting I think is that, despite being a paladin, she isn’t Lawful Good! She’s Neutral Good, because you know what? She wants to do the right thing, and laws aren’t always right. It’s up to you, as a person with a mind and free will and agency, to look at a situation and decide what you think is the right thing to do. And, for Brilliance, generally the right thing to do is heft her sword, raise her shield, and face trouble head on.

Raini, Once More

L6. Which OC do you think is the worst morally or behaviorally? AKA, which is supposed to be a “bad guy”? I don’t have any evil aligned characters, because I personally find things like “getting along with my party members” sexy, but the character who’s the shittiest and the worst is obviously Raini. She’s not a bad person per say, she’s just selfish and results oriented. Very much “the ends justify the means” and in a party like hers she’s aware that somebody has to be the bad guy sometimes, and she’s not afraid to make sure that’s her. She’s also very very likely to fall victim to her hubris making her feel like she definitely knows what’s best, and acting on that maybe without consulting other people (see: the whole fucking premise of the campaign). She sees a goal, she sees a way to accomplish that goal, so why shouldn’t she begin taking the necessary steps to reach it? I think the events of the game have mellowed this flaw out a little bit, but you can still see traces of it in the way she, for example, wordlessly handed Lent a bunch of diamonds before launching her consciousness into the Abeast and very nearly dying in there without consulting with the party first. It happens!  Also, behaviorally, she’s just. I mean. She’s like that. The worst. And that, I promise, will never change. 

[toooldforfandom-liveblogs]

RWBY V07E07 - Worst Case Scenario

It has been two weeks since I last watched RWBY so let me try and remember what happened. There was a party, some flirting, a kiss... and that's it, right? Nothing bad happened, right? Right?

* sigh *

I assume someone is going to drop the title referring to the fallout after what happened last episode. I expect riots and Grimm, and maybe Robyn trying to commandeer the resources destined for the future Amity Tower (which is probably the only thing Ironwood _really_ cares about since he has been all "it's worth the sacrifice" the entire season so far.) I don't want to keep waiting so let's do this!

Oh no, sad Penny. What an auspicious start for the episode.

This is her dad, right? Those robot pats straddle the line between dorky and sad. I doubt the military wants Penny in the streets so I guess this is the only way he can be with her. Ugh. My heart.

Look at this crime against humanity. RT will answer for this someday!

Oh, one of the thirsty moms survived! The one with the casserole!

She's _terrified_, and with good reason. From her point of view, her own government killed her friends for daring to believe. What if she's next? Is Atlas going to start hunting everyone who supported Robyn? What about the people close to them?

We know that's not going to happen but she (and the rest of Mantle) is in all her right to believe it will

Oh no.

It's interesting how the scene that was, at the time, only a gag showing Jaune's bad luck and some cute kids with their moms, ended up being setup to show us how quick everything changed. Now their moms are dead and they are orphans, alone and in the cold.

Of course, this only furthers my belief that nothing good can be trusted in RWBY because it'll only be used to increase our suffering.

I'm going to _pissed_ if this happens. Stop killing Penny for god's sake.

First: I'm so glad she's okay.

Second: holy shit

did she just absorb an entire truck into her hand? Is she a human pokeball / dragon ball capsule? What a busted up semblance!

Huh. I really thought it was going to be something related to his tower. Unless that's what he's _really_ worried about (was that the truck's destination?)

ah, there you go.

Good!

Was Ozpin an "end justifies the means" man? I think he wasn't really, or at least he didn't consider himself one, but he had spent so much time alive he lost sight of what he was doing and asking people to do for him really meant.

In comparison Ironwood knows exactly what's going on. He believes he's doing the right thing by prioritizing the tower over his people. And maybe he's right from a global point of view? But the fact that the human lives that are going to be lost are the ones that were _already_ suffering is a supremely bad look. What's going to be left of Mantle after he saves the world?

You tell him, Nora!

Nothing good ever comes when someone says "the greater good."

Ilia said exactly the same thing back in Volume 5, almost word for word. I wonder if the callback is intentional or if there's just not that many ways to use that concept as an excuse.

I _really_ thought she was going to say "exchanging Salem for you."

I love how Nora is the one speaking up but I hate that no one is supporting her. Winter looks completely unimpressed back there but I didn't expect much from her or Clover but what about the rest?

_Thank you_

Wow, what did he do to get Salem's personal attention? Because "what are you?" followed by "Beautiful" has to be about her, right?

oh _no_ what is wrong with Reeeeeen.

We never got an explanation about his behavior, he didn't talk and Nora kissing him solved zero problems. Yay.

I was hoping for a cut away to them partying it up before all hell broke lose but oh well.

Treason!

I _love_ that they are all right, or rather, their opinions are all understandable. I can see where both Yang and Blake are coming from and there's no way to say "ah, the show is doing everything it can to show that Yang is wrong."

Which keeps increasing my worry about how they are going to handle the end of the arc because so far the show has been very even handed but any ending where the long term sacrifice and oppression of Mantle ends up being justified is going to be... well, bad. It doesn't help that the "oppression" hasn't been really visible so it could be reaally easy to just sweep it under the carpet and just say something about "things are going to be better from now on" or even "they weren't that bad to begin with"

Anyway, this is me getting worried about things that may not even happen so I won't keep talking about it. Let me say instead how happy I am that they are still dealing with what happened with Adam and of course that would color Blake's views of what she wants to do in the future.

And is that treason I'm hearing here? I expected a team up with Robyn but I didn't expect it to come from these two. Interesting. Is Yang going to spill the beans to her about the tower and Salem?

Look at those green borders inside the boot! Tsk, tsk, Watts. He obviously was getting bored of masking Penny frame per frame.

lmao. Maria is straight up vocalizing the section of the fandom that misses the early simpler seasons

Oh. Watts's plan has _layers_. I'm impressed!

ooh hidden penny lore

how many theories is this going to prove/disprove?

The man under the thumb has to be Watts, right?

WOW

I _really_ didn't expect this to be the answer for Penny's soul. I was in the "there's no artificial soul" camp but I expected something like Pietro transferring someone else's soul or a lost daughter, not him literally giving her part of his soul.

What does this mean for Penny? Does the part of the soul Pietro gives her grow like a plant from a cutting or everything she uses her semblance or is hurt she loses a bit more of it? It has to grow, right?

It's good to see an explanation for Pietro's death flags. Is he going to die saving Penny one last time? Jaune is learning how to manipulate his aura outwards...

Just lol at the being an obvious villain even in the group pictures.

So, is this personal for Watts? Did Ironwood choosing Penny mean the end of his career? Did he try to do whatever he planned anyway and got fired?

The hand again! Is that how she activates her semblance? But if she needs the person to grab her hand, what did she expect from Clover?

Also, props to the show for making everyone react somewhat realistically. Of course, Robyn was going to run the second she saw Ironwood's new pets.

Is Ironwood intentionally using RWBY and the rest to keep suspicions down? "They are all young and attractive, some even look innocent, there's no way they are doing anything _bad_, right?" But again, that would mean Ironwood is playing 4D chess and I'm not sure that's his deal.

Oh no. And Yang is so proud of her pun.

That was a good first step. I can't deny I was hoping for Yang and Blake to join the huntresses and kick ass but I was dreaming too big.

...so it was Ozpin idea to have a city floating above Mantle making ther differences permanently clear? Has Ozpin ever had a good idea?

FREE ENERGY AND THEY STILL ABUSE PEOPLE TO GET DUST

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I know it's probably not easy but

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAa

Atlas is 100% going to crash into the ground. I think everyone already suspected it'd happen but this is a gigantic death flag.

Ironwood is sliding down as fast as he can down the slippery slope of the greater good. He didn't want Ozpin's opinion, he wanted Ozpin to tell him he was right.

It feels so bad to take away from Oscar's growth but I wonder if they are already merging.

welp

That was a great episode to return to. Somehow RWBY is managing to handle all the balls it had in the air earlier in the season and hasn't dropped one yet.

I was expecting that the episode would start with Yang and Blake or Weiss and company but nope, just sadness and tragedy. Followed by more consequences, in the form of Robyn and her happy huntresses finally doing what they probably wanted to do from the start. If the "legal" way didn't work, well, time to do it anyway. That does leave me with some questions about how long was the timeskip between episodes, it can't be that same night, especially with the news showing things like "additional deaths confirmed." Maybe same week but at least a couple of days later?

Ironwood needs someone to shake him by the shoulders. Some of the things he's saying wouldn't be out of place in any villain's origin story, especially the part about wanting to get rid of his fear. I hope Jacques being the awful man he is shows him what waits for him in the other side.

Pietro's reveal about Penny's soul really feels like the biggest of his death flags so far. Him dying trying to make Penny live again really feels like end-of-season drama, considering there's no Pyrrha to kill again and apparently RT really likes killing Penny. Jaune _just_ learning about the possibilities of his semblance feels weirdly suspicious now that we know about Penny's aura but... it's a bit too out there since I think they have never talked. Or maybe it's all a misdirect and someone else ends up dying with RT winking at us saying "you really though it'd be Penny, huh?" At this point I'm not sure what'd be worst.

I liked everything about Yang and Blake's talk in the truck. I'm not a big fan of Yang's main trait lately being "dislikes secrets" (the secondary being "likes Blake") but I'm not sure if overcoming that is just her next step in her growth or if that's all there's going to be.

Their chat with Robyn was great, I can't wait for the repercussions of telling the leader of the resistance the biggest secret Atlas has. With Ironwood being who he is, it could be _bad_ for the couple which could push everyone else in one direction or the other, and not necessarily the _same_ direction, as we already saw with Ren who's officially canceled because for some reason he's going all fash (I _really_ need an explanation before the season ends)

This volume is going places, can't wait for the next episode! Until next time!

[fauveshumankaiju]

uncle Ni...

He told Ni first.

Actually, he didn’t tell anyone at first. He threw up in the bathroom of the family practice clinic, then sat on the bench in front of the parking lot for an hour before driving to CVS to get mouthwash and splash some water on his face at the drinking fountain outside. After a little bit of vacillating he also grabbed some prenatal vitamins on the way out. If all else failed, he could always take them while not pregnant, after all. Baby vitamins probably wouldn’t hurt adult Rodan.

Then he sat at the beach for another hour, watching the water lap at the sand. It was fall and chilly and overcast, even in Monsuta, which was rarely properly cold.

He thought, for the first time in a while, about his own family. Wondered how they were doing, wherever they were. They didn’t seem to want to have a lot to do with him – he wondered if they would if they knew that he was involved with a foreign billionaire. He wondered if they knew how much he’d changed since he saw them last. Not that he particularly cared to find out.

One hand resting on his stomach, he stared up at the white sky and thought about what kind of a parent he’d make, if he ended up being one. It’d been a month, apparently; he couldn’t remember what he’d done in that past month, but he was a chemist. He handled all kinds of weird teratogens, he’d had a few glasses of wine, he definitely hadn’t taken his prenatal folate supplements. His brain was helpfully providing him with all the weird mutations he’d learned about in his undergrad intro to biochem courses, which really was NOT helping the anxiety. Of course he’d fuck this up before it even started.  How was he supposed to know he should be looking out for getting knocked up? He was a man, for god’s sakes, his anatomy was different from most, sure, but he dutifully stuck himself in the ass with a syringe once a month to claim the right to shave, sweat like a stuck hog and, oh, yeah, not get pregnant.  Turns out the last purported effect of hormones was false advertising.

After some more staring and shivering in misery, he went home.  Home being the Ghidorah’s apartment downtown – at least one of the brothers was bound to be there at any point in time and Rodan had a spare key if they weren’t. Ichi was usually flying around the world or in a conference call; Ni was in and out of town doing his own inscrutable work, but at least San might be there.

I can’t face San, he thought sickly as he locked his bike in the underground garage and keyed in to the elevator. He thought of San’s sharp, gentle face, the boyish joy on it when he found something new and interesting to play with. He would say whatever Rodan wanted him to say - even now that Rodan didn’t know what that would be. He’d bend over backwards to make Rodan happy even if it wasn’t what the Ghidorahs wanted. Rodan would say – “I wanna do this, high speed low drag, let’s have this baby and raise it and be domestic and shit, congrats on your new heir, I guess, I promise I didn’t do this intentionally to trap you and your rich powerful brothers into a relationship with me or something like that,” and San would be game. He could also say “I’m telling you this just to let you know, but there’s no way in hell that I’m gonna let this thing live rent-free in the body I spent my life trying to get, so it’s eviction time.” And San would be game for that, too.

San would be a pretty good dad, Rodan thought. Masochistic tendencies aside he was gentle and attentive to the things he wanted to keep safe.  He thought of the Dane bobbing a toddler on his knee while he watched cadaver dissection films and huffed in amusement.

The elevator up to the penthouse apartment had bizarre club-like lighting, low and purple-blue. It stuck out to him right now for some reason. Rodan studied himself in the elevator mirror as it dinged upwards. Small, lean, dressing nicer than he used to in black jeans and a bright button-down but still sporting his old red leather jacket and combat boots. He leaned in closer, staring himself in the eyes, evaluating. The face in the mirror looked back at him, brazen and daring.

30 and still sporting a mohawk. Bitching.  Didn’t look like much of a father, though.

Daddy, his mind (un)helpfully supplied.

The elevator opened and he let himself into the one door on the other side of the anteroom. Theirs was the only place on the top floor of the building; it had the best view of the city, the Monsuta bay arcing out into the distance through the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room, the glinting buildings on view in Ichi’s rarely-used bedroom. Rodan liked the view, but the building itself was always a little cold for his taste.

He kicked off his boots into the hall closet when he got in, jangling his keys as advance warning.

“I’m home!” he called. He’d been out for the past few days and staying overnight at his own apartment, since it was closer to work. San had been bothering him about moving in with them for weeks but Rodan liked to try to preserve this last vestige of independence while he still could – the Ghidorahs were overgenerous with him, but life had always taught Rodan that other people’s kindness came with strings attached.

“On the couch,” Niels called from the long, flat couch in the living room.

Rodan dropped his shopping bag on the counter and joined the middle brother on the couch.  Ni was dressed in a devastatingly fashion-forward flightsuit, the top zipped down and tied about his waist over a sleeveless turtleneck. His eyes flicked upwards as Rodan collapsed onto the couch next to him – he didn’t respond, as usual.

“How’s it going?” Rodan ventured. It was hard to tell, with Ni, whether he was in a conversational mood, but it seemed rude not to greet him. Not that the middle Ghidorah ever had any compunction about that.

Ni was on his desk-sized tablet, surrounded by fabric swatches and upholstery books like a king holding a very strange patchwork court.  Peeking at the screen on his lap Rodan saw a collage of floor plans and schematics, probably for the Xilien apartment complex that was nearing completion on the south side of Monsuta. Once the building was done, Ni and San would get to work decorating while Ichi took care of the business side of the development business. Ichi didn’t talk about work at home, though, so Rodan’s familiarity with the corporation came mostly from watching Ni fling inspiration images across his tablet screen and fume over comically large paper architecture diagrams.

“Fine,” Ni tapped his pencil against his lips. “We are getting somewhere, finally.”

“Yeah?”

“M-hm. The issue with the climate control – it has all been sorted out. I’m going to start finishing the walls next week.”

“Wow, that’s a quick turnaround time for contracting.”

“Ech, there are only so many painting companies in this town, and they can only refuse so many of our generous offers.  Principles, money. No contest.” He sounded satisfied, which explained his unusually effusive mood.  After a second, he remembered politeness. “How are you?”

“Pregnant.”

“H-what?”

Rodan tapped himself on the stomach and smiled thinly.

Ni’s eyebrows shot up to his fringe. A moment. He cocked his head owlishly.  Rodan pursed his lips and nodded.

“How?”

“Are you asking about the mechanics? Because it’s like-“ Rodan made a circle with one thumb and forefinger and stuck the other pointer finger inside. “-you know..”

“Jesus kristus, stop that!”

“You do know something about sex, right? They had sex ed back in Denmark?”

Ni set his tablet briskly on the coffee table and collected himself for a second. Rodan almost had the good sense to be scared. Ni was normally restrained, cool and aloof, but this wasn’t a normal situation. This was a very Ni-will-lose-his-cool-and-get-real-scary situation.

“They don’t know about it yet,” Rodan supplied quickly. “I don’t know how to tell them. If. I tell them. I don’t need to, I could just take care of it on my own and it won’t be a problem. I thought that one of you should know about it, at least, so you can weigh in on it, since on a molecular level it’s technically genetically your kid too, so you have a say in what happens, and if you’re angry then at least I know Ichi definitely will be to so I can just figure out what to do based on what you do-“

Ni cut him off with a single finger and an icy stare. He’d pushed his sunglasses up to the top of his head after rubbing his face.

“... You talk so much.”

“Yeah, bastard, I’m nervous.”

“You think that we’re going to be unhappy about it.”

Rodan exhaled and settled back into the couch. Damn uncomfortable piece of furniture. “Well, yeah. I’m not exactly-“ he gestured at himself “prime 1-percent relationship material.”

Ni didn’t respond, staring at him.

“Not that I think I’m less than you guys, obviously, it’s just – if you had the choice, you probably would have wanted to be tied down to someone else. Someone you could be seen out with and not worry about what some gossip site would say about you slumming with your trashy American boyfriend. Someone Ichi could take to dinner parties in Europe, someone who could take San out every night when he gets into his weird moods, someone you could trust.  And this whole thing is just going to tie you down to me, and then I’m going to…” let you down, he thought lamely.

Ni was still staring at him. Rodan swallowed and looked away with weak finality.

In one swift movement the Dane swung over to the far side of the couch, slamming one leg down over Rodan’s lap to straddle him and planting his hands on his shoulders, pushing him into the couch. Rodan cursed and tried to grab his arms to push him off but he got batted away. Fuck, he forgot how strong Ni was. All that construction and jiu jitsu. Well, if he had to die, this wasn’t the worst way to go, strangled by his lovers’ twin brother.

But Ni wasn’t trying to kill him, at least not right now. In fact, it felt almost like he was trying to be gentle, which felt as unnatural as his attempts at speaking Spanish sounded.  His grip was soft as he raised a hand, reaching out to touch Rodan’s face, before deciding against it and resting it on his shoulder again. Rodan let out the breath he was holding.

“If they find out, they are going to do everything in their power to convince you to keep them.”

“Why would they do that?” Rodan breathed. Ichi, he meant. San, he couldn’t imagine having a strong opinion on his potential fatherhood.

“Because they’re our blood,” Ni said slowly, looking down at Rodan’s chest. “The thing that separates us from the rest of the world, those crass dumb creatures that we have to deal with outside, is our blood. It ties us together. It makes us who we are.  It’s inescapable and irrefutable. And now you share that blood, too. You and the children you’d have are part of our family no matter what. You understand that, Rodan, yes? You are part of our family now. You are Ghidorah.”  He clapped Rodan’s cheeks in his hands, part slap and part affectionate tap, like he always did to San. “If you talk about yourself like you did I’ll get very angry with you. You are Ghidorah. Nobody insults Ghidorah, even a Ghidorah.”

“You’re not… mad?”

Ni shrugged, then made a circle with the fingers of one hand and stuck his other hand’s pointer finger in. “I don’t know what else I expected when this started happening.”

“Yeah, well, my bad. I didn’t do my research.”

“Neither did we.”

“Don’t blame yourself, Ni, you’re, like, 99% not the father.”

“Genetically, you said, I might as well be.”

“Well – yeah, you got me there.” Rodan sighed, feeling himself relax. Then, a little more seriously - “So what do you think I should do?”

Ni looked down at him, arms crossed, his face arranged into a carefully neutral mask. “Do whatever you like. Don’t worry about Ichi and San, though. Your children will want for nothing with us as their fathers.  Just don’t tell them about your having them right now unless you’re completely sure you want to have the children.”

“Children?” Rodan scoffed. “Plural? No way in hell I’m doing this again. If I’m doing this at all.”

“Oh, of course,” Ni said casually. “They’re going to be twins, at least.”

“Oh! Are they.”

“Yes. They’re Ghidorah.”

“That’s a pretty bold declaration, Doctor Niels.”

“And mark my words, it’s true. We always come in multiples.”  Ni swung off of Rodan’s lap and pushed himself back into his couch corner where he stretched himself over the armrest like a cat.  Rodan suddenly missed his weight and the spicy smell of his aftershave and he had to mentally slap himself down when he had the split-second urge to go crawl into Ni’s lap. He might be surprisingly cool with being an uncle, but that didn’t mean that Rodan could push the tenuous peace that he’d been trying to build since they’d met.

He rested his head on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. Uncle Niels. He’d probably give the best presents.  Ni was up all night most nights anyway, he could feed the kid if they woke up. Probably not with the rest of the messy childcare business, but Rodan and San could probably take care of that, and Ni might even end up liking the kid once they were old enough to hold a conversation.

Oh, god, here he was thinking like he’d already made some kind of decision. What would Mothra do in this situation? She was the most has-her-shit-together person that he knew. She’d probably make a list of pros and cons, and then Goji would encourage her to stop thinking so hard about it and go with her gut, and then – yeah, not helpful.

Who was he kidding?  He was Rodan Rodan. He lived his life on the razor’s edge. He burned down a building and got himself tied up in a relationship with the violent-minded billionaires who owned it. Equations were for the lab, and even then, Rodan did his best work when he forgot about measurements and mathematics and went with his gut.  That’s what got him here, a priceless apartment in a beachside city with a job he loved and a life that never stopped being interesting and terrifying and beautiful. With three interesting and terrifying and beautiful partners who might consider staying with him here for a little while.

How do you feel, right now? He asked himself. Ni’s stylus tapped; the heating had turned on. Outside the clouds were boiling but the two of them were safe together, peaceful.

He didn’t know where he’d be in eight months, how he’d feel then, but right now? He smiled. He’d go with his gut.

[queerhannibal]

Feel free to ignore this if you don’t share the same opinions or don’t wanna start this discussion but this has been on my mind a lot lately – i would die for hannigram but i really hate the way fandom treats jack, esp compared to Hannibal. Ppl write him as being horrendous in fics bc of “what he did to will” while in the show he actually gave will an out, will just didn’t take it bc he wanted to keep saving lives, even if it cost him his own. He had actual agency in the situation, (1)

while he wasn’t even *aware* of the shit Hannibal was putting him through. Jack was desperate, his wife was dying, he was a pushy boss and he wasn’t aware of how badly will was affected bc *will didn’t tell him*. He put *himself* at risk of getting worse (i love will but he was *losing time* and yet didn’t tell anyone besides Hannibal? That’s… irresponsible to say the least i’d be afraid to go out of my house lmao). But he got his revenge on Hannibal and they’re soulmates so he’s fine (2)

while jack deserves to die in fics i guess?? It’s the same with Beverly. Ive seen multiple times people call her a bitch for how she treated will while he was in prison and it’s like… she’d seen definitive proof that her friend and colleague had eaten someone. Would you not be suspicious/confused/guarded in this situation? She got herself killed for him and that’s still not enough for some people. (3)

Idk man, i come from fandoms with a lot of racist attitudes among the fans, for a while the Hannibal one seemed different but it seems everywhere people just refuse to treat characters of colour with the same respect they do white ones. It’s not everyone of course but it’s still noticeable and no one seems to care. (4/4) (sorry for the rant, again, feel free to ignore)

Man I mean I admit that I myself am not a big fan of Jack Crawford but you’re absolutely right that this is a huge problem in the fandom

I’m hesitant to say it’s all rooted in racism (especially with regard to Jack) bc the show definitely paints Jack as a far less sympathetic character than it does Hannibal. But certainly a lot of it is reinforced by the racist attitudes to which we’ve all been exposed

Jack isn’t a terrible person, and he’s certainly not half as terrible a person as Hannibal is; maybe he’s not a Great Guy and certainly he doesn’t show as much care and consideration for Will as I would like him to, but as you say there was an awful lot that Jack didn’t know about how Will was doing and it’s difficult to demand someone accommodate a person for things that person is intentionally concealing.

Also, not being a great boss and arguably manipulating someone into helping you save lives is an inherently lesser evil than any of the things Hannibal has done

It is however a more mundane evil, and I think that’s why a lot of people latch onto it; it’s really hard to care about Hannibal’s brand of evil in a personal way, bc it’s a type of evil that very few of us have experienced. He’s awful in a way our everyday monsters are not. Jack, on the other hand, is the kind of shitty boss I think a lot of us have had and hated, which means we react in a more instinctive way to his kind of awfulness

The Beverly stuff though... that I really can’t explain away. She was as good a friend to Will as anyone could possibly have expected her to be. Of course she was wary of him when she found out about all the evidence that he’d killed people: there was a TON of evidence, and she even references that when talking about it. It was too much evidence, too subtly planted, for her to think “he probably didn’t do this”

And she knew he’d been acting off, and it was discovered at the same time as his arrest that he had a brain disease—even if she believed that Will (who she really hadn’t known that long or had much chance to get close to!!) wouldn’t normally do something like this, there was reason to believe he’d been out of his mind in a way that might make him act out of character, and, again, tons of evidence that he was the killer

Beverly is a scientist, of course she’s going to listen to provable facts over her feelings in a situation like that one

And she did end up believing Will!! When he pressed her to go back and look into other things, she gave him that benefit of the doubt and did so fairly and found that he was right!!! What more do people want from her, honestly. She literally died for him

I’m white so like I don’t have authority here but it’s bad lol

[pharaohsparklefists]

It’s part 3 of Episode 94, apparently a contender for the fandom’s favourite episode, which is now a thing I want to figure out how to measure!

(part 1 is here) (part 2 is here) (I will need to buy a new mouse before I can start Episode 95 and I’m broke, the Mouse Restoration Fund is here)

So! Over the last few turns, Kaiba’s been having a rough time...

But he’s started to hallucinate vividly and shout at his own trading cards and that’s rattled Isis, although not for the reason you’d think (“he’s gone mad”) and more because...

She didn’t foresee this madness and that freaks her out. This duel was supposed to play out exactly as she foresaw it, as everything in her life has so far. 

But Seto Fucking Kaiba cares not for fate, destiny, the immutable future, other people’s opinions, social conventions, or the sanctity of God themself!

He straight-up kills God to manifest...

“my all-time favourite trading card!”

The absolute Drama of this moment, folks, he almost makes you forget you’re watching a teenager playing a CCG, truly he has a gift for oration. #SetoKaibaforPresident 

And Isis doesn’t know how to deal with this

I don’t think it even matters to her whether she wins or loses now, this is the moment that Kaiba proves his point. Willpower is stronger than destiny and the visions of the Necklace are just “probable” visions that can be altered by someone determined enough. 

Isis never even considered this: this is why she didn’t fight against Malik’s actions once he ignored her warnings. She didn’t realise someone could change the future so when Malik started down this path and she started seeing visions of his future, she thought they were inevitable.

“did I throw God in the rubbish to satisfy my deep-rooted obsession with maybe fucking a dragon? I DIDN’T THINK SO!!!1!”

I guess the “bomb” Isis planted in Obelisk only survives one sacrifice? Cause she put it in her Monster, then it transferred to Obelisk when her Monster was sacrified to summon Obelisk. Wouldn’t it be funny if it then transferred to Blue Eyes when Obelisk was sacrificed to summon Blue Eyes? Seto loses but Isis still learns the lesson. Seto cancels the finals to challenge Yami to a duel. Isis, high on victory, punches Yami Malik in the nose. Mokuba turns the blimp around and everyone heads back to Domino kind of awkwardly. Good times.

ANYWAY

.... handler. ifyouknowwhatImean #winkwink #nudgenudge Seto Dragonfucker Kaiba

Isis, delighted that she was right about Seto and wrong about the future, peaces out...

And probably would have happily conceded defeat (I don’t think she cares whether the bomb is in Blue Eyes or not) but Kaiba has LESS THAN NO CHILL AT ALL TIMES

Don’t let the blue/white colour coding of his character deceive you; it’s not ice, it’s white-hot fire. And questionable poetic rants.

BOOM!

So Seto Kaiba reaches the semi-finals of his own tournament!

CUTE

ALSO CUTE

... wait is there an engraved future for people who don’t duel? Honestly “duelists are the only people who can control the future” is a sentiment I wouldn’t be surprised to hear was (a) Yami’s philosophy or (b) the actual canon of this fuckin show.

But Yami’s also intrigued by the way the Millennium Rod triggered Seto’s break with reality and change of heart about Obelisk.

and he ponders Kaiba’s potential link to all this Pharaoh shit while imagining Kaiba’s giant face hovering over him

Isis asks how Kaiba defeated her / the future defined by ancient and powerful magic, and Kaiba, being 105% Guaranteed Seto Kaiba at all times, says

“I love my dragons more than I love the gods themselves, life, or the universe” #ifyoulovedragonssomuchwhydon’tyoufuckone

Isis tells him he may have handed her a defeat, but she’s leaving this duel smiling because he gave her something more, something very precious

[Kaiba panics offscreen as the conversation turns from dueling and spitting in the face of god, to human emotions]

“You’re fucking telling me?”

Seriously, it’s such an important lesson and one that Kaiba, of all characters, deserves to embody. It’s so easy for stories that use fate / destiny / fortune-telling to accidentally or intentionally give people, including kids, the idea that stuff that happens is meant to happen, that their future is out in front somewhere waiting to happen one particular way, that they have no control over their life. So it’s brilliant to have a story where destiny and telling the future are so important, but that takes the time to have a powerful and mostly-sympathetic character not only point out, but definitively PROVE, that some things may be inevitable but the future is what you make it.

That’s something both the characters and the viewers need to hear.

I like the way this is phrased: Isis has recognised that Kaiba has changed this future, but she doesn’t actually quite believe that the future is unknown yet. She would like to believe in it, but she’s thought of the future as destined for her whole life, destiny is such a big part of her heritage, her culture, her philosophy, her world-view, how she’s made sense of everything awful that’s happened to her clan and her family, it’s everything she’s known since she was a tiny child. You don’t just turn that off because some arrogant teenage boy unexpectedly won a card game. But with Malik the way he is, the idea of defying fate, although so antithetical to her experience and personal philosophy, is something that gives her hope.

Although Kaiba also proves that just because you work towards something, doesn’t mean you get it...

“Um we’re stuck on the SAME BLIMP, asshole, how are we supposed to avoid one another?”

[reversewatch]

Deepest Sympathies

Zenyatta loses one of his brothers and Genji offers what comfort he can.

(also can be read over on ao3)

One of Zenyatta’s aides is killed in Numbani—a brother from Nepal. One of the few who followed him when he left the Shambali behind.

He is in Hanamura when he hears the news. The message is passed on by another of his retainers and is done without an ounce of fanfare. In turn, he articulates his remorse and suggests an arrangement for the body in under fifteen words, the fact of his brother’s death a barely acknowledged asterisk hastily penciled into the middle of his itinerary. It is not ideal (there is never an ideal way to deliver such news, nor an ideal way to receive it) but there is no use in making a spectacle of it. Not when such losses are so common, given the world they live in, and the work they do.

Usually when he learns someone has passed away Zenyatta keeps his emotions in check, pushes them aside so he can examine them later, in private. So he is surprised that when his retainer says, “AD1 was attacked and killed yesterday evening,” the first thing he feels is smug. It stays with him the rest of the conversation, sticking firm to his wires and servos in spite of his best efforts to shake it and force it away. It is not right (AD1 was someone he cared about, and to feel this way, and to only feel this way, is not right ) but how can he help himself when his brother’s murder confirms something Zenyatta had suspected all along: that there is no place in the world where humans are that omnics can be safe. Numbani is no different. It can’t be, not with humans being what they are, which makes it all the more unforgivable that it would give omnics reason to hope.

City of harmony. Peace, unity. Friendship, understanding, equality: utter chicanery. Buzz words and slogans. Something pretty to put on a pamphlet, to inscribe beneath a flag. Bloated, empty, vapid words.

Nothing but meaningless talk.

Just as he had always known.

The remainder of the day passes easily (though surely it should not) but by the time he has gotten through his schedule and returned to his suite, the superiority that churned within him earlier now sits stagnant. Instead of buoying his righteousness and his anger, it sinks in him, folds in on itself like a singularity. Infinitely small and infinitely dense; barely present, but still vividly felt.

It feels much less like superiority now, he thinks, and a great deal more like grief.

He tries to focus on other things. He reads. He looks over the sites he will visit tomorrow, the calls he will have to make, the meetings he will attend. He checks things over with his aides. He lights the incense burner in the corner of his room. He recites mantras. He prays. He aches.

The sun is beginning to set when a long shadow falls across the bedroom floor, cast through the balcony’s glass door. He needn’t investigate to know the cause, and resentment prickles within him that he has to deal with this at all, let alone today of all days. But he rises from his cross-legged position and glides across the room to slide open the door.

Outside, it smells like rain. Pale clouds expand and darken across the orange sky. A wind picks up—and Shimada Genji shifts his weight on Zenyatta’s balcony railing and sighs into it, his hair whipping away from his shoulders, jacket flapping at his back, staring down at the thirty stories of air beneath him but fearing nothing of a fall.

Since Zenyatta started visiting in Hanamura, it is not infrequent that Genji will appear this way, showing up in strange, precarious places at odd and inappropriate times. Usually Zenyatta does not mind the company, if only because Genji is a good means of relieving stress. Today is different. Zenyatta wants nothing more than to be alone with himself, and the thought of having to entertain this human grinds at the edges of his exquisitely fragile tolerance.

But, he reminds himself, spurning a man with Genji’s resources would be short-sighted, if not out-and-out foolish, and he is neither of these things. So he musters all his patience and prepares to greet his business partner in the usual way—when a gust of wind blasts a smoky, acrid scent from Genji’s direction right into his face, less like cigarettes and more like burned hair.

“What is that smell?” Zenyatta says sharply, suddenly distinctly irritated.

Rather than answer, Genji gives a disbelieving chuckle. “Come on, Zenyatta. First time I see you in almost a week and that’s the hello I get?” He turns around, feet still planted hazardously on the bannister as he drops to his haunches. He rests his cheek against his knuckles and smiles. “Hidoi yo ne...”

Zenyatta’s body winds tight, fighting against every ounce of his control. “You did not answer my question, Shimada.”

“What’re you so hung up on all of a sudden…” Genji sighs, and his dismissiveness rankles the omnic more than he could possibly describe. “If you’re still curious about it tomorrow, you’ll be able to read about it in the morning news. But I think you’d be wasting your time if you did.”

“I cannot imagine I would notice losing a few additional minutes here or there,” Zenyatta says caustically, “considering what a colossal waste of time you are regardless.”

Genji’s eyebrows shoot to his hairline. “Wow, where did that come from?”

“Nowhere,” Zenyatta says, more annoyed at himself for losing his cool than at Genji for prompting it. “It is not your concern.”

“You’re sure making it seem like it’s my concern. Something you want to talk about?”

The sullen silence Zenyatta gives in response is enough to make Genji frown. “Hey.” Genji reaches out his hand and touches Zenyatta’s face. Something like static--a singing, electric buzz--arcs between Genji’s fingers and the plating of Zenyatta’s cheek. Genji tilts forward, as if he might better understand Zenyatta if only he were but a centimeter closer. Coaxing, he murmurs, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong,” Zenyatta says, but even he realizes he sounds uncharacteristically terse. Rather than linger on it, he grabs Genji’s wrist and forces his hand away. “Would you care to enter, or shall I lock you out on the balcony?”

Genji’s frown deepens. “You know you can tell me.”

“I said, nothing is wrong, Shimada.”

“Hm.” Genji rests his chin in his hands, openly dubious. After a moment of thought he asks, “Want me to meditate with you?”

Of course not , Zenyatta nearly sneers. Why would he share something with Genji that he has only ever done with his followers, his students, his brothers and sisters? How could he be expected to find a modicum of peace meditating beside a human partner, let alone a human as base and vicious as this? That Genji thinks Zenyatta would entertain such an outlandish request, as if Genji is worth anything to him beyond his express purpose to be used, is as pitiable as it is revolting. He is just about ready to turn down the offer (and to make a suggestion of his own) when Genji quirks his lip slightly, and actually manages to evoke the appearance of genuine worry.  

Zenyatta halts. The words “No, thank you,” are formulated in his mind but his synthesizer refuses to translate that into speech. He tries to rephrase, but his body refuses to give a firm rejection. Rather than let the silence drag too long, he is forced to change tack: he relents.

“Fine,” he says dismissively. He gestures for Genji to come forward and begins to retreat inside. “Do not be troublesome.”

“ Me ?” Genji gasps, hand on his chest like he’s been wounded as he hops off the banister and follows Zenyatta into the hotel room. The door clicks quietly when he slides it shut behind them.

The omnic doesn’t look at Genji as he moves to the incense burner in the corner of the room and settles in front of it. He decides to sit on the floor, for once. He is certain Genji would pester him about it if he hovered.

He rests his hands on his knees and straightens his back just as he feels Genji settle behind him, that smoky, sulfuric smell that clings to him mingling unpleasantly with the sandalwood incense. The ninja fidgets for a few seconds, moving left and right, before finally sitting still.

“Is this okay?”

“Yes, that is—” Zenyatta grunts when Genji shoves his back hard against him, intentionally jostling him. “You are very annoying,” Zenyatta grumbles, and Genji laughs in response. The omnic very nearly elbows him in the ribs. “This was your suggestion, Shimada. ”

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” Genji snickers. He leans back, but this time doesn’t push. His ponytail brushes the nape of Zenyatta’s neck. Their shoulder blades touch. Zenyatta can feel Genji’s heartbeat, his breathing, steady and slow, possessed of a predator’s practiced, indelible calm. It’s the first time Zenyatta has experienced Genji’s presence this way. Usually when they are this close he is panting and heaving, curling outwards, pulse so strong that it rattles his entire form like the cage of a feral animal. Zenyatta’s mind is just beginning to stray to thoughts of the ninja’s strong, hard body coming apart in his hands when Genji chirps, “Well?” Another, gentler shove. “You have my full attention. Teach me, Master.”

Zenyatta’s claws dig into his knees. “If I were you,” he says, voice bordering on a growl, “I would think twice about employing that terminology outside of the proper context, or else you will very quickly go from sitting at my back to kneeling at my feet. ”

“Fuck, ” Genji hisses. “Don’t say that shit while I’m trying to concentrate.”

“Are you trying to concentrate? I am afraid you have not made it terribly obvious.”

“Come on. You know me—just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”

Zenyatta loosens his hands, flexes them before he rests them palm-up on either leg. “So you will… Though I would think any member of the Shimada family would be no stranger to meditation.”

“I mean, sure.” He feels Genji shrug. “My dad used to make us meditate all the time when I was young.”

Us. Genji, and the other, dead Shimada.

The brother Genji murdered in cold blood.

Zenyatta allows his visual sensors to flick off so he can focus—he forces away the slow, crawling cold that has begun to drag its way up his spine. “What do you remember from what your father taught you?”

“The usual stuff, I guess. Mind your breathing, focus your mind, all that mumbo jumbo.”

“It did not work?”

“It was boring. I didn’t see the point.”

“You had no use for inner peace?”

Genji laughs mirthlessly. “More like, I had no room for it.”

Zenyatta chuckles in turn, equally flat. He feels oddly fatigued as he murmurs: “Perhaps we are similar in that regard…”

The atmosphere of the room darkens. He feels Genji move a bit to one side, as if he’s glancing over his shoulder.

“You know,” the ninja says, “there is one thing I remember really clearly. This sutra he used to recite--the Hannya Shingyo. Do you know it?”

“Intimately,” says Zenyatta. “Though I have never heard it in Japanese.”

“Yeah?” Genji perks up. “Do you want me to try recite it for you? It won’t be perfect, but...”

“That is no trouble.” It is Zenyatta’s turn to press back against his companion, quietly urging. “If you are able, then do as you can. And if you do it poorly, then that is just as well. At least then I will be able to to extract some amusement from it.”

“Come on, I’m trying to do something nice for you here. You’re not going to laugh at me, are you? Do you want to make me cry?”

“At every possible opportunity.”

Genji gurgles with disgust. “Do you actually want me to do this or do you just want to make fun of me for offering?”

“Have I made you anxious?” Zenyatta titters quietly. “Forgive me that. By all means, continue. I am listening.”

The ninja waits a few seconds, as if expecting another jab to land at any second and bracing himself for it. When Zenyatta remains silent, he inhales heavily, his posture loosening against Zenyatta’s firm bearing. “Alright, then,” he utters. “Here I go.”

Genji is a good speaker, Zenyatta thinks as the ninja tentatively begins. There is no reason for him to have an ear for sutras, but as he recites the lines, “‘Oh, Sariputra, Form does not differ from the Void, and the Void does not differ from Form,” his cadence is that of a practiced acolyte, each word exhaled as naturally as the breath that accompanies it. Zenyatta knows, in his mind, that it is because Genji is an accomplished mimic. He knows he speaks the words so well because his father spoke them well, and if they were played side-by-side, they would sound identical, revealing Genji’s seeming understanding to be completely fraudulent, his comprehension gleaned from the sound rather than the content. But where the mind knows better, the soul is easily deceived. Zenyatta listens, and he tunes his thoughts to Genji’s voice--and as the sutra is recited in Japanese, Zenyatta follows along in Sanskrit, hearing it as he heard it in Nepal, in the voices of his brothers and sisters moved to perfect harmony, the snow and stone and mountains singing out, Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi svaha. Speaking low behind him, Genji inhales air and breathes out winter wind. His long hair falling against Zenyatta’s neck prickles with mountain cold. His heart pounds with the guileless tempo of monastic feet, stepping in perfect time. The pungent, burning scent upon his clothes morphs into the smell of coal flame crackling beneath an iron pot, an earthbound beacon in a constellation-filled night, offerings lit at dusk, fires doused at dawn.

The shuddering, lingering sadness that Zenyatta had been carrying since that morning, swaddled in spite and clinging like a newborn, loosens its grip, and while it does not (cannot) let go, it relents, and softens its touch. Nostalgia and longing, a loneliness that will not go out, are sated for a moment, finding familiarity in Genji’s half-familiar words. Zenyatta takes it all in, listening, falling, and finds he cannot meditate—he drifts to sleep.

His internal clock informs him that several hours have passed when he returns to consciousness. His array flicks on to find a darkened room, the only light being cast from the neon signs of buildings outside his window, shivering like mirages in a heavy rain that has started to fall. He takes a moment to recalibrate his other senses, and frustratingly, his instruments hone in on the emptiness that plagues his back. Genji is gone.

Of course, Zenyatta thinks, and cannot help but think it bitterly, although it would have been far stranger if a restless man like Genji had found cause to stay, unprompted, for so many hours in silen--

“Finally awake, huh?”

Zenyatta’s systems jolt into cohesion at Genji’s voice coming from somewhere in the room, muffled by the tat-tat-tat of rain drumming against glass.

“I was not asleep,” the omnic lies, and obviously at that, given his synth isn’t fully calibrated and sounds distinctly off as he speaks.

The ninja responds, “Sure, sure,” sounding as unconvinced as Zenyatta is unconvincing. “It didn’t seem like you were meditating, though.”

“I was thinking.”

“What about?”

“Nothing in particular.”

“Mmm, that’s good,” Genji hums. “You think too much, anyway.”

“I suppose you would say that-- anything is too much for someone who thinks not at all.”

Genji chuckles at that, and there is a bit of noise as he shifts around the room. “True.”

Behind him, he feels as much as hears Genji return to his place at his back, and he can sense the ninja fidgeting again, pressing needlessly against him.

“Shimada,” Zenyatta breathes, chiding, “what in the world are you--”

Zenyatta halts at the press of Genji’s lips against his nape, the fingers slipping around the wires and metal that support his waist.

It startles him. Not so much the action as his response to it, the swell of desire (aching, chaste) to melt back into Genji’s chest. To rest within his arms. To be consoled.

By one of them. By one of them.

Genji gives an apologetic little laugh at the stiffening in Zenyatta’s posture and withdraws somewhat.

“Sorry.” Genji murmurs against his shoulder. “Did I scare you?”

Zenyatta reaches for the words, “Of course not,” but they refuse to come. He searches disquietingly for something else, feeling lost while deprived even momentarily from speech, the truths and half-truths and whole-lies that have become so natural to him over the years. Nothing comes to him. A few seconds of silence stretches into a few minutes. The storm picks up outside.

Genji rests his cheek on Zenyatta’s shoulder (though Zenyatta cannot discern why, when it cannot be comfortable for soft flesh to sit flat against hard metal). Finally Genji says, “I heard about your brother.”

Zenyatta angles his head slightly down, actively avoiding Genji’s probing gaze. “And?”

“I’m sorry.”

The omnic scoffs. “Please,” he says dryly. “Spare me your apologies, Shimada. You will all have reason to be sorry soon enough.”

“Yeah.” Genji laughs quietly. “I figured you’d say something like that. Then what can I give you instead? How can I make you feel better?”

“Why do you even feel the need to try?”

“This is my city. Everyone and everything in it belongs to me. So if something that happened in Numbani makes you sad while you’re in Hanamura, then your sadness is my responsibility, and fixing it falls to me.”

It’s beyond imagining that anyone could say something so arrogant without a hint of irony, but  for whatever reason, Zenyatta feels no desire to point that out. He only tells him, “There is nothing a human could do for me that could come even close to 'fixing' it.”

Genji’s arms unwind from his waist and his palms spread on Zenyatta’s thighs. “Then let me distract you from it.”

The smell of something burned on Genji’s clothes transmutes into a cry for ignition. Zenyatta resists the desire to answer it as best he can. “I do not want you to.”

“Why not?”

“Because you cannot bury your grief with your dead. You may lay their bodies to rest, but you have a duty to carry their ghosts--if you are to avenge them, you must endure the pain of their absence. You cannot allow yourself to become distracted.”

“Even if you want to be?”

“Even if you want to be.”

“Not even for a minute?”

The omnic pauses. “I...suppose a minute is accepta--”

Genji turns him around by his shoulders, takes his face in his hands, and kisses him. Zenyatta doesn’t resist--he gives in immediately, inured as he is to Genji, to his wants and needs, his candid, guileless selfishness.

For all that, it is Genji who withdraws from the kiss first, and Zenyatta follows the motion as if in trance, trying to reinitiate even as Genji disengages.

“Sorry, beautiful,” Genji murmurs, smiling, keeping inches out of reach. “Minute’s up.”

“Are you certain?” Zenyatta says, holding onto Genji’s biceps. “It seemed much shorter.”

“Well, time is an illusion.”

“Then who is to say that a minute is not a few seconds? Or conversely, who is to say that a minute cannot be a few hours, or a few days?”

“A few days?” Genji laughs. “I don’t think I could last that long.”

“Of course not.” Zenyatta drags Genji back to him, angles his head invitingly, hoping Genji will rise to the bait. “But it would not be a few days--it would only be a minute.”

“Oh,” says Genji. His eyes and voice seem hazy--soft around the edges. He starts to lean back in. “That’s right.”

A knock at the door makes both of them turn. “Master Zenyatta,” a voice comes from the other side, the soft, high synth of his aide Maha, “we received more news from Numbani with respect to what...what happened. One of Adhiraj’s units is transmitting it now. Would you like to receive it directly?”

“Yes, of course,” Zenyatta calls. “Ask him to wait a moment. I will be right out. Thank you for telling me.”

“Yes, Master Zenyatta,” she says--but lingers for a moment, openly wanting to say more but being palpably unable. Her steps are quiet and unsure when she finally retreats out of the suite.

Zenyatta turns back to Genji, not knowing what to say, speechless beneath a swell of melancholy. Genji takes the initiative in his stead.

“Looks like the illusion’s over.” He starts to stand--but Zenyatta fails to release his arms, leaving them both half stood there as Genji rising begins to drag him up as well. The ninja smiles gently, overly tolerant of the foible. “Unless you want me to stay?”

Yes, rings clear inside Zenyatta, sword keen and knife bright. Tepidly, he says, “It is not a matter of want.”

Genji unlatches his hands from his arms--but squeezes them in his grasp, and doesn’t let them go. “Do you need me to stay?”

Yes, yes, yes, pounding, rattling, beating outward with elbows and knees.

“No,” says Zenyatta. He pulls his hands out of Genji’s and rises to his full height. The lights of his array create a grid of blue in the centers of Genji’s eyes as they follow him up. “I do not need anything from you.”

Genji just laughs (impervious to being hurt, accustom to cruelty). “Okay. Okay.” He starts to move to the balcony door and Zenyatta watches him go. He has just rested his hands on the door handles, the shadows of rain streaking down his form, when he pauses. “It’ll be morning soon,” he says, looking out through the glass. “Are you free in a few hours?

“I do not know,” Zenyatta answers cautiously. “Why do you ask?”

“We should meet up again and make out later.”

“Shimada--” Zenyatta starts, but Genji interrupts him immediately.

“You know,” he looks over his shoulder, eyebrow quirked, “there’s no reason to keep calling me that. If you’re not going to use an honorific, you might as well start calling me ‘Genji.’”

“To what end?”

“I dunno. Because we’re friends?”

“Are we?”

“Not really,” Genji chuckles. He pushes down on the door handles. “But close enough, right?”

The balcony door opens and shuts. Genji is gone without having let even a sliver of storm inside.

...

Zenyatta finds out before morning the reason for the acrid scent Genji carried with him that evening.

AD1’s killer, who was identified almost immediately, had gone missing not long after he’d committed the crime. Not surprising, considering the nature of his actions. But while searching for him, rather than discovering him hiding out somewhere in Numbani, Zenyatta’s information network gets a hit on the killer’s name from well outside Africa--in Japan.

Zenyatta listens quietly as Adhiraj transmits his findings, a cool burble of omnic blips--tells him about the charred corpse deposited neatly behind a gas station in Tokyo, the body’s clothes folded beside it and a passport and driver’s license laid politely on top, like a gift. Adhiraj states that there are further inquiries to be made as to how a man was able to commit a crime in one place, and roughly twenty-four hours later, show up dead several thousand miles away. And Zenyatta nods along--pretending as if he does not already know exactly what happened.

Once they have gone through everything, he thanks Adhiraj for the information and returns to his room. He fights back the urge to laugh as he goes, because it's so predictably over the top, completely excessive as far as mourning presents go. Nevertheless the news is not unwelcome.  

He decides to accept Genji's condolences after all.

[sormikhell]

Why do I dislike Tales of Zestiria the X?

Recently I’ve been asked one question numerous times: “Why do you think the anime is shit? You only hate it because it doesn’t focus on SorMik, right?”

Now guys, I think it’s vital for me to answer this. Because let’s face it, we will never see face to face if we don’t discuss the matter. And look, here I am, typing this out because I feel this is important. So if you’re curious and want to understand why a lot of us dislike the anime then please bear with me because this will be long (6 pages in Word, 6!)

To make this a little bit easier for me, I’ll assume that you haven’t played the game or watched its walkthrough yet and that you like the anime. But of course if you did either of them it’s good, bc at least you’ll know what I am talking about.

And so, I shall do a character analysis in this post, comparing the game and anime selves to each other while I name some other issues as well. I won’t list all the inconsistency and plot holes the anime has for I’d be here even after my death.

I’m going to try to make you guys understand that while the SorMik fandom is not happy, there are more pressing issues with the anime than that.

For the sake of completeness, I’m going to refer to sever other people here and if you want to get the whole picture, I advise you to check them out yourself too.

What I’ll try to do here is answer this from my point of view, bringing up my emotions about certain facts and details while trying to justify my opinions about this matter. This post isn’t about trying to change your viewpoint and admitting something you might not agree with, it’s about trying to make everyone understand why most of the fandom is quite cross with the anime.

But for you to really understand my point I think I’ll start with how I even get into this fandom. If you don’t want to read that, skip to the first horizontal line.

Around in mid-September last year I saw on my multifandom dashboard a meta about Epilogue 2. I can’t really recall what it was about, all I remember is that there was a picture of Epileo the very minute he realises he’s been reunited with Sorey (you know, when he looks up, expression all soft, eyes twinkling with delight and smiling like he has never seen the sun?). I kind of stared at the picture for a solid 5 minutes (I’m a sucker for light haired characters, sorry) before I decided that it’s crucial for me to know this beauty and love him (yepp, I’m that typical “Came for Mikleo and stayed for SorMik” person). So, I searched for the source and found the video of Epilogue 2. I didn’t understand a single thing but the look of utter love in Mikleo’s eyes made me really care for him and for his whole story too (looks like the first thing I did in this fandom was to spoiler myself. Not that I regret it or anything XD).

So I dived head first into the fandom and eventually I came across the anime. Mind you, at that time I only know of the existence of the game, I didn’t even watch the walkthrough or anything.

After seeing the 0th episode I was a little bit surprised and lost. Because I didn’t understand a anything about that episode XD I was basically like “I thought this was about two boys? Who the fuck is that girl? What the hell was that little funny mascot thing? Why couldn’t she see that? What the hell have just happened? …. At least the animation was awesome.”

As someone who didn’t know a single thing about the Zestiria universe it was quite confusing. So I decided to drop this but it kept bothering me that I didn’t even see Mikleo and after a week or so I was like “well, let’s watch the next episode. If that isn’t better, then I’ll really drop this”.

And lo and behold, I saw the first episode and with the explanations and all the 0th episode clicked into place. I caught up with the anime when the 7th episode came out. I quickly became too interested in this and searched for the community on Tumblr, making my new page there.  

Around the 11th or 12th episode the fandom community on Tumblr convinced me to watch a walkthrough even play the game sometime, though I didn’t consider myself as a gamer girl but I was quite curious you know?

When the final episode of the first season came out I was somewhere around Tintagel Ruins in my YouTube walkthrough and we all know that that was the episode things started to go sour in the fandom.

On Christmas I got the game and by the time my new semester started in February I’ve finished the game, only the post-game dungeon, Hexen Isle was left.

Of course, after you’ve invested more than 80 hours (that was my first playthrough, I was slow I know) in a game you became quite familiar with the universe, its laws and the characters.

So after all this work to beat the game the anime’s second season got me really angry. And if I still have your attention, then please bear with me for a little while, because now I’m really answering the question.

The anime up until the first season’s final was quite decent and good. We got little alternations like when Sorey purifies human malevolence he has to live through it and all, and that made his job even more dangerous and exciting. I loved the concept personally as it’s not a thing in the game (although, game!Sorey’s job is at least 10000x harder than Anime!Sorey’s but oh well…).

The problems started with the final and here’s why (I can’t stress this enough, this is my opinion and my experience) while comparing the game and the anime:

In the game, the war in Glaveind Basin in a really important event. This is the first time you meet with Heldalf and he magnificently kicks your ass. He kicks your ass so bad Sorey temporarily loses his ability to perceive seraphim. He realises after this that he cannot win against Heldalf and that he needs to get stronger. (Mikleo is so shaken by the whole thing that in a skit Edna even teases him because he apparently cried when Sorey couldn’t see him.)

But in the anime Sorey wins. Which is kind of the breakpoint in the game. The sole reason of the second part of the game was because of Sorey’s first lost in battle. Those who love the game obviously weren’t fine with it.

Not to mention that there was a scene when Sorey nearly killed and succumbed to malevolence just because of Alisha. Which is kind of ridiculous. Let me explain why:

There is a quest in the game where you still have Alisha in the party as your squire and you have to fight with a …plant. After the fight, it becomes obvious to everyone that Alisha being Sorey’s squire is quite dangerous as Sorey is going blind on his right eye. Why, you ask? Because Alisha doesn’t have the necessary amount of resonance to perceive seraphim and Sorey’s power had to compensate that somehow. Hence why he went blind.

So when Sorey didn’t realise in time that the plant is still alive and was rapidly coming so Mikleo and Alisha jumped in front of him to save him (I’ll talk more about this later on…). Someone even said that both Alisha and Mikleo could have easily died. Sorey’s reaction was more of concern than absolute rage. Hell he didn’t become tainted even when he and Mikleo had to kill Gramps. And we all know Gramps is far more important to the two boys than Alisha. Alisha may be a good friend, but she’s not their family.

So all in all, Sorey becoming tainted under Mikleo’s watchful eyes is unexplainable. This skit here explains everything I think, starts at 24:00.

Oh and about Sorey’s dream becoming true in the anime… the seraphim was sitting in one corner, the humans in the other. No one talked to the other. That’s what you call your dream becoming a reality, Sorey? They were literally there because they had to. That’s not coexistence!

Now that we have mentioned Mikleo… he’s deuteragonist. In other words, the secondary main character. Why? Because Mikleo is always there. Mikleo is Sorey’s moral support, his pillar, his everything. Mikleo protects him as much as Sorey protects Mikleo. They know each other inside-out so knowing this, Mikleo being the deuteragonist won’t come as a surprise.

Mikleo is a special case, we all agree on that. He’s a little cold and sarcastic in the game but always happy and ready to argue about ruins with Sorey. Rose even mentions that Mikleo can only be really worried by Sorey, meaning he may act like he is angry about Edna’s teasing or Lailah’s terrible puns, but in the end, he only gets really worked up if Sorey is in danger. He never leaves his side in the game excluding their break-up scene when Sorey shouts at him and Mikleo feels like a liability to Sorey (he doesn’t even leave his side when Sorey is asleep for 3 days after he became the Shepherd. He stays in his room quietly reading, not even talking to Lailah about crucial things).

You can easily say that to Mikleo, Sorey is the top priority. He’d gladly die for him, sacrifice for him everything. Hell, even wait who knows how many centuries just to be with Sorey again. And as those who played the game or watched the walkthrough know, Mikleo takes upon himself to continue their shared dream while Sorey sleeps away the centuries purifying Maotelous. (Sorey’s One and Only, huh..)

So, when in the anime Mikleo is basically shoved back into the closet and treated like an object by Sorey to only be relied on is quite frustrating (why is that they had to intentionally or unintentionally include this Berseria element in the anime? Sorey would never ever treat anyone, especially not Mikleo, like an object).  

Soymilkheaven had a really good answer for Mikleo’s character problem, so go check it out if you want!

Now onto Rose… Rose the Pure Assassin. The person who teaches Sorey that there’s nothing wrong with killing if it saves the person. Game!Rose is confident, a true and very loyal friend who won’t hesitate to take Sorey’s burdens of the Shepherd and kill someone even if Sorey won’t agree with her. She protects Sorey in her own way while makes sure that Sorey won’t just see killing in a bad light. After all, not everybody can be saved.

And yeah, Rose may be a little bit childish in the game, but she lightens up the conversations and she’s funny.

Anime!Rose on the other hand… she is like a shell. She’s not confident, she doubts herself and her job (even though both Roses have similar backgrounds so I can’t wrap my head around why this Rose had to turn out the way she turned out…).

Plus as women-books-coffee said perfectly her lack of confidence results in Sorey not having that kind of character development.

Game!Rose helped Sorey understand the upside of killing so if Anime!Rose doubts her game counterpart’s very creed then how the hell is Anime!Sorey supposed to learn this life hack lesson? How will this Sorey understand that there’s no way that no one will die?

Answer: Quite simply, he won’t. Because why the hell should the protagonist struggle through hardships when he can just be ignorant and skip through the most of it?

That would be baaaaaaaad… now wouldn’t it? But that’s exactly what ufotable did.

Dezel, you’re the next!  Our beloved blind wind seraph. Yupp you read it right.

Blind.

Quite a surprise, isn’t it? Ufotable may or may not have left out this … quite crucial detail about him. Which is fucking ridiculous if you think about it. How can you forget that somebody is fucking blind, Ufotable?! (You guys remember in the anime when Dezel is on the top of a wagon in the fog and he says: “I can’t see shit”. Well, of course you can’t see shit Dezel. You’re fucking blind)

Oh, and the reason he’s blind? Symonne.

Yeah, that purple girl who somehow become a dragon in the anime (don’t let me get started on her too… but in short, for Symonne Heldalf was everything in the game. That’s why I’ll never accept that she became a dragon because she didn’t agree with Heldalf).

Whom he by the way died to bring back. And you could all say “But Sormikhell, Dezel isn’t blind in the anime! Then of course he’d want to help her!”

Well yeah, I see your point. But let’s not forget that Dezel is there because of Rose.

You see, Dezel and Rose are supposed to be a parallel example of Sorey and Mikleo as Dezel watched over Rose for quite some years. He died for her in the game, so he can save her. So it didn’t make any sense to me that he would just randomly die. For nothing, basically. Dezel in the anime doesn’t know Symonne, then why should he die for her? (And let’s not forget the fact that Anime!Sorey knew very well what Anime!Dezel was about to do. Which means we can say that Anime!Sorey let one of his comrades die. Game!Sorey tried frantically to find another solution but Game!Dezel was already dying by that time, so he asked Sorey to grant his final wish. Sorey would have never allowed this any other way. Another blow for Sorey’s character.)

Next one is… Edna! A delicate flower and a surprisingly thorny one. In the game, Edna is like a snarky older sister, looking out for everyone in her own sadistic way. She likes making fun of Meebo and is hellbent about learning how to cook decently. She wants to save Eizen, sure, but she doesn’t let it plague her mind 24/7. She is a lovely character with funny attachment to Normins. She lives her own life, she is really intelligent and has an excessive knowledge about any kind of plant or mineral.

And if you’re still reading this, then you already know what I’ll say next.

Anime!Edna can only sigh and be depressed. I can count in my two hands how many times I’ve seen her smile or laugh in the anime. She’s always like “Oh, Eizen… “even if she doesn’t voice these thoughts. You can practically feel her sadness through the screen. Which I understand as I have a brother too but every damn time she appears on screen (which isn’t that much) she either doesn’t care about what is happening or just moping around. A great loss in my opinion as I was really looking forward to her snarky comments being thrown left and right.

Our next character is… Lailah! The mother hen, the fire mum with terrible puns, you name it. She’s like a mother and an older sister at the same time. She’s diligent, a great friend and cares about everyone a lot. She has a very vivid personality, likes to randomly talk about something else and annoy everyone to hell with her horrible puns. Even though she can’t tell everything about what she knows to the party, she guides them carefully to the right answer. She wouldn’t “spoil” things to us in the game which made us more and more curious about her past.

Also she is there to make sure that everyone is safe, healthy and knows the consequences of certain… things.

In the anime, I started to mourn even Lailah when it turned out that she didn’t tell Sorey and effectively us, the audience that if the Shepherd dies so does his squires (which is a thing that does not exist in the game, FYI).

I think that was a pretty vital information, Lailah.

Her guidance failed spectacularly in the anime.

Oh, and about ruining Pendrago. What happened to not meddling with humans’ petty affairs and ruining entire cities without a care. No can tell me her giant fire ball didn’t make half of the wall disappear into nothing. But oh well, not that the people will complain or anything…

And the last seraph for today is… Zaveid! A real womanizer, the one friend who can turn any conservation into something dirty. Our absolute class clown who likes walking around half naked, sneaking around hot springs so he can get a peek of the women. A really great guy who has a tragic past and despite all of that smiles and makes pervert jokes all the time, but can give you some seriously good and mature advices when you need it the most. After all he’s not the type of guy to view everything as a win or lose situation.

At least they didn’t change him that much in the anime… although maybe they could have made him a little bit more carefree but given the circumstances he was introduced in the anime… but then again, Zaveid still cracked some jokes when you were about to face with Heldalf at the end of the game.

And finally, as for Alisha, I’m just going to say this: She didn’t need that armatization. At all. She proved in the game again and again and again that she is more than capable of handling things on her own while standing proud and tall next to Sorey, if theyhave to. Alisha is the last in the line and that’s exactly why she chose to be a knight. She is a strong, independent woman who can fight her own battles. Her dream was to make Hyland and Rolance live peacefully next to each other. Which of course had little to do with Sorey and his dream and duty. That’s why she was never meant to be the heroine.  

Anime!Alisha on the other hand… when I heard that her father is the king in the anime, I kid you not went back to my game and double checked whether that’s true or not because I was pretty sure that she was not the next in line. She was important enough in the game even though she was just the last… then why do this? Clearly this wasn’t necessary.

Ufotable must have really wanted to give Alisha more significance in Sorey’s story so bad somewhere along the line they forgot that this was supposed to be about Sorey and not about Alisha.  

TL;DR: Every character was robbed of their personality, Sorey’s dream holds no significance, who cares about seraphim?, let’s change anything and everything until we cannot say that this is about Zestiria, but let’s give Alisha more screen time because apparently she is our main protagonist.

And if you read the whole thing, then you’re a fucking champion! And if I maybe, maybe made you at least understand our point then I consider my job done.

And cookies for you if you got my references :*

[i-like-your-genitalia]

You are going to kill me... buuut all 200 questions? I'm keeping you busy and thinking about your life

200: My crush’s name is: Jennifer 


199: I was born in: a hospital? (Jks 1998)


198: I am really: funny 


197: My cellphone company is: Lebara


196: My eye color is: boring ol’ brown 


195: My shoe size is: a ladies 9


194: My ring size is: I actually don’t know


193: My height is: 5'10 


192: I am allergic to: nothing surprisingly 


191: My 1st car was: 1998 Subaru Legacy (the station wagon)


190: My 1st job was: Checkout Worker


189: Last book you read: The Accident Man


188: My bed is: a king 


187: My pet: I don’t have one atm 


186: My best friend: Anushka 


185: My favorite shampoo is: I don’t have one (but I like anything coconut or tropical scented)


184: Xbox or ps3: don’t care 


183: Piggy banks are: lit


182: In my pockets: I’m a girl, only 20% of my clothes have pockets big enough to put anything in 


181: On my calendar: “Spotify Premium runs out on the 27th of August"


180: Marriage is: Not married 


179: Spongebob can: 


178: My mom: is awesome 


177: The last three songs I bought were? Whatever I listened to last on Spotify? 


176: Last YouTube video watched: review on Aztec clay face mask 


175: How many cousins do you have? 4 step cousins and then 6 blood related cousins 


174: Do you have any siblings? Just a younger sister 


173: Are your parents divorced? Nah they still together and in love 


172: Are you taller than your mom? Only just 


171: Do you play an instrument? I used to play the piano 


170: What did you do yesterday? Worked

[ I Believe In ]


169: Love at first sight: kinda 


168: Luck: yes 


167: Fate: not really 


166: Yourself: sometimes 


165: Aliens: yes 


164: Heaven: yes 


163: Hell: no 


162: God: yes 


161: Horoscopes: I mostly enjoy the zodiac memes and compatibility and personality horoscopes 


160: Soul mates: yes, but I believe you have more than one 


159: Ghosts: yes 


158: Gay Marriage: big yes 


157: War: nope


156: Orbs: it would be cool but I’m neutral 


155: Magic: yes

[ This or That ]


154: Hugs or Kisses: Hugs 


153: Drunk or High: Drunk 


152: Phone or Online: Online 


151: Red heads or Black haired: Red heads 


150: Blondes or Brunettes: Blondes 


149: Hot or cold: Hot 


148: Summer or winter: Summer 


147: Autumn or Spring: Autumn 


146: Chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate 


145: Night or Day: Day 


144: Oranges or Apples: Oranges 


143: Curly or Straight hair: Curly 


142: McDonalds or Burger King: Maccas 


141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: Milk Chocolate 


140: Mac or PC: Mac


139: Flip flops or high heels: High Heels 


138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor: Sweet and Poor 


137: Coke or Pepsi: Coke


136: Hillary or Obama: OBAMA


135: Burried or cremated: Cremated 


134: Singing or Dancing: Dancing 


133: Coach or Chanel: Chanel 


132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: who are they?


131: Small town or Big city: Big city 


130: Wal-Mart or Target: I haven’t been to either 


129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: Ben Stiller 


128: Manicure or Pedicure: Manicure 


127: East Coast or West Coast: East Coast 


126: Your Birthday or Christmas: this is too cruel to answer 


125: Chocolate or Flowers: Chocolate 


124: Disney or Six Flags: Disney 


123: Yankees or Red Sox: um don’t care

[ Here’s What I Think About ]


122: War: It’s expensive and unnecessary and should be a last resort. It’s not worth the lives lost, people injured and relocated. The monetary cost is ridiculous and it barley solves anything. It cause more issues and potentially more wars

121: George Bush: did 9/11


120: Gay Marriage: It’s actually crazy how long and how much effort it took to get this accepted. And I just hope this right isn’t taken away! 


119: The presidential election: Donald Trump and Pence need to die or be locked up forever, I don’t even understand how anyone thought that Hilary Clinton would be worse. 


118: Abortion: Pro-choice for the win 


117: MySpace: I wasn’t old enough for this 


116: Reality TV: my guilty pleasure tbh 


115: Parents: I love my parents and they are good to me. But it would be great if they could be less homophobic. 


114: Back stabbers: I don’t know why people feel the need to intentionally hurt and embarrass someone, especially someone who isn’t prepared for it or trusts you 


113: Ebay: I don’t really use eBay 


112: Facebook: I use it to tag my non tumblr friends in memes and to stalk people 


111: Work: I’m sick of my job but I’m having to stick it out for now. 


110: My Neighbors: They are seasonal but if their kids could not move and rearrange the bedroom at the ass crack of dawn that would be fantastic 


109: Gas Prices: New Zealand, especially in the towns. Gas prices are so high. Spain isn’t so bad


108: Designer Clothes: I’d rather have more clothes than one designer one 


107: College: 


106: Sports: I have zero hand eye coordination and therefore hate sports! But I will watch the Olympics 


105: My family: They are cool for the most part 


104: The future: is scary and it makes me wanna throw up if I think too much about it

[ Last time I ]


103: Hugged someone: like a week ago 


102: Last time you ate: I’m eating chocolate right now 


101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: my grandparents and my cousins today 


100: Cried in front of someone: it’s been forever 


99: Went to a movie theater: like a good 6-8 months ago


98: Took a vacation: ummm like 4 months ago 


97: Swam in a pool: yesterday 


96: Changed a diaper: not since my babysitting days 


95: Got my nails done: literally before I left New Zealand so 5 months ago


94: Went to a wedding: it’s been years 


93: Broke a bone: never actually broken anything in my body 


92: Got a peircing: I got my ears pieced when I was 12 


91: Broke the law: Probably when I was driving, speeding or something but nothing I've been charged with lmao


90: Texted: like a couple of hours ago

[ MISC ]


89: Who makes you laugh the most: my sister 


88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: having consistently good home cooked meals 


87: The last movie I saw: probably shrek 


86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: being back in New Zealand! Or doing some travelling 


85: The thing im not looking forward to: working 


84: People call me: gay
83: The most difficult thing to do is: be honest 
82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: I actually haven’t 


81: My zodiac sign is: Leo 


80: The first person i talked to today was: my girlfriend 


79: First time you had a crush: the first crush I remember, I was in year 4 (so 8 years old) and it was on this boy named Joseph 


78: The one person who i can’t hide things from: I’m good at hiding things tbh 


77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: my sister when my mum and dad were talking shit 


76: Right now I am talking to: my sister and my friends from New Zealand 


75: What are you going to do when you grow up: Hairdressing tho I kinda would like to do pre school/nursery/kindergarten teaching 


74: I have/will get a job: currently working as front of house at a little supermarket 


73: Tomorrow: I’m working and doing house work


72: Today: I slept and then worked 


71: Next Summer: I will hopefully be enjoying the sunshine 


70: Next Weekend: Working yet again and having dinner with my grandparents 


69: I have these pets: Definitely a cat, and also a dog 


68: The worst sound in the world: chalk or finger nails on a chalkboard 


67: The person that makes me cry the most is: myself 


66: People that make you happy: my sister, my friends and my girlfriend 


65: Last time I cried: when I watched beauty and the beast 


64: My friends are: absolutely incredible, I don’t deserve them


63: My computer is: I don’t have one anymore 


62: My School: I’m not in school 


61: My Car: I don’t have a car atm 


60: I lose all respect for people who: are snakes 


59: The movie I cried at was: beauty and the beast


58: Your hair color is: brown and boring 
57: TV shows you watch: Atm limitless, shooter, Shetland, Rewatching Criminal Minds, AHS and Black Mirror


56: Favorite web site: boohoo.com or iherb 


55: Your dream vacation: A cruise or a historical/relaxed tour of the ancient world 


54: The worst pain I was ever in was: in a tie between slamming my fingers in a car door or when I got a virus (it’s a really bad version of food poisoning) and I actually thought I was gonna die. 


53: How do you like your steak cooked: medium to well done 


52: My room is: relatively clean and currently got that minimal plant theme going 


51: My favorite celebrity is: Dua Lipa 


50: Where would you like to be: with @dysfunctionalgroup


49: Do you want children: yeah one day 


48: Ever been in love: yes 


47: Who’s your best friend: Anushka 


46: More guy friends or girl friends: it used to be a balance but now mostly girl friends 


45: One thing that makes you feel great is: cute underwear and a good nights sleep 


44: One person that you wish you could see right now:


43: Do you have a 5 year plan: yes


42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: mentally but it’s not written down anywhere 


41: Have you pre-named your children: no, but I have some names I really like lined up 


40: Last person I got mad at: my sister 


39: I would like to move to: the Uk or NZ 


38: I wish I was a professional:

[ My Favorites ]


37: Candy: Reece’s pieces or skittles 


36: Vehicle: Kinda want a Range Rover or a Land Rover but in the old style. Or a classic car


35: President: Obama


34: State visited: ive never been to America 


33: Cellphone provider: Lebara 


32: Athlete: my bio teacher, she played for a big women’s netball team 


31: Actor: Jensen Ackles 


30: Actress: Gal Gadot 


29: Singer: Dua Lipa


28: Band: The Internet

27: Clothing store: h&m or boohoo


26: Grocery store: I don’t have one 


25: TV show: Brooklyn 99


24: Movie: I have too many 


23: Website: this hell hole


22: Animal: Cats or Goats 


21: Theme park: I’ve only been to Disney 


20: Holiday: Christmas and Halloween 


19: Sport to watch: Gymnastics 


18: Sport to play: None


17: Magazine: who reads magazines anymore 


16: Book: the Mysterious Benedict Society 


15: Day of the week: Friday 


14: Beach: as long as it’s sandy I’m cool 


13: Concert attended: J Cole


12: Thing to cook: Pizza and Sweet and Sour Pork 


11: Food: Cheesburgers 


10: Restaurant: Any that sell food I like 


9: Radio station: ZM




8: Yankee candle scent: most of them




7: Perfume: Dolce and Gabbana, Floral Drops




6: Flower: forget me nots




5: Color: Green




4: Talk show host: don’t have a fave




3: Comedian: don’t have a fave




2: Dog breed: Border Collie




1: Did you answer all these truthfully? Guess you’ll never know