#i've been meaning to watch the terror. this reminded me of it

[destielmemenews]

James Fitzjames was First Officer of the HMS Erebus, one of two ships from Sir John Franklin's failed 1845 expedition of the Norwest Passage. According to markings on some of Fitzjames' remains, he was cannibalized. This has long been the suspected fate of the crew.

The first season of the AMC series The Terror depicts a fictionalized account the expedition.

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[thehusbandoden]

You Flinch During an Argument -Bakugo Katsuki

I finished this yesterday but forced myself to wait to post it due to my one part a day pattern I've had going on.

Anyways~ as I said in Shoto's part, I did make this one a bit angstier, but I hope I didn't stray too far away from the original prompt :'). It's kinda bittersweet lol but I kinda like it.

Angst to fluff/Comfort | Kinda bittersweet~ | 993 words | female reader

Warnings!: arguing, yelling, being scared of your partner, parents arguing (the kids were not present), kids being left at school (not for very long), caps, excuses, self hatred, and insulting themselves (Bakugo). Please let me know if I miss any <33

Dabi | Hawks | Todoroki Shoto | Bakugo Katsuki | Midoriya Izuku | Shigaraki Tomura | Aizawa Shota | Amajiki Tamaki | Kirishima Eijiro | Shinso Hitoshi

You both had been fighting for at least half an hour, screaming at one another for this and that. It started with Bakugo 'forgetting' to pick up your sons from school, and has now escalated into you screaming at him for not 'caring about this family' and his yelling about how hard he works for your family.

No one was totally to blame, both parties had some points that were right, and some that were wrong. But it should have never reached that point.

~~~

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD I WORK TO PROVIDE FOR THIS FAMILY! I TOLD YOU WHEN YOU BEGGED FOR KIDS THAT I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO HELP OUT MUCH! WHAT ELSE DO YOU EXPECT FROM ME!"

"I UNDERSTAND THAT- BUT YOU'VE HAD THREE DAYS OFF! YOU'RE FULLY RESTED- AND SHOULD'VE PICKED UP THE KIDS NO PROBLEM WHILE I WAS HELPING OUT YOUR MOM!"

"WELL WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO! I FORGOT ABOUT IT, OKAY! AND YOU DIDN'T CALL TO REMIND ME EITHER!"

"I EXPECTED YOU TO HAVE ENOUGH BRAINS TO REMEMBER, BUT I GUESS THAT WAS IDIOTIC OF ME!"

"I HAVE SO MUCH TO DEAL WITH BESIDES THIS BULL CRAP THAT'S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY! I WORK, YOU TAKE CARE OF THE KIDS!"

"KATSUKI I CANNOT WATCH THE KIDS 24-7 WITHOUT YOUR HELP! I NEED BREAKS TOO! YOU HAVE TWO DAYS OFF A WEEK TO RELAX, AND CATCH UP ON SLEEP! WHILE I HAVE NIGHT TIME, BATHROOM BREAKS, RUNNING ERANDS, AND NAP TIMES TO CATCH A BREAK! I SHOULD BE ABLE TO RELY ON MY HUSBAND TO HELP OUT WHEN HE HAS TIME OFF!"

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO WANTED THE KIDS IN THE FIRST PLACE- WHY ARE YOU WHINING TO ME ABOUT HAVING TO TAKE CARE OF 'EM!"

"WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THEY AREN'T YOURS!? WE BOTH AGREED ON DOING THE BEST WE COULD FOR OUR KIDS, AND YOU SAID THAT YOU'D HELP OUT WHENEVER YOU COULD!"

"Y/N IT WAS THIS ONE TIME- I WAS BUSY, I FORGOT!"

"YOU WERE PLAYING GAMES ALL DAY WITH YOUR FRIENDS! THAT IS NOT BUSY!"

Blazing anger filled Bakugo as he stepped towards you, planning on simply getting closer to you to somehow try and make you see his side of things. He didn't mean to forget about picking up his kids, he loves his kids, he was simply engrossed in talking about them to his friends as he gamed, totally forgetting about the time and the fact that they were at school, waiting for someone to pick them up.

In truth, Bakugo felt bad. Really bad. But you wouldn't stop, so he continued, his unwavering pride making it near impossible to simply apologize and leave the argument behind.

Storming towards you, Bakugo stopped dead in his tracks as you flinched from him, eyes holding a certain terror. Wait- did you- did you think he was going to hurt you?!

Apologies and 'are you okay's were caught in Bakugo's throat as he opened his mouth, too terrified to speak.

Y/n.. his y/n was scared..of him. HIs y/n- the person that tore him out of his 'I don't care about anything or anyone' stage. She brought him out of his dark pit of self loathing, hating himself for how weak he was, how he couldn't do anything compared to that idiot Deku. She brought light into his world, she is his light. His first and last love, his wife, his center, his other half, his partner, his reason for life, the mother of his children, his one and only lover, his queen, his everything.

And he scared her.

Screamed at her for something that was his fault.

Treated her so badly that she flinched away from him- terror filling her eyes.

Her gorgeous e/c eyes. The same eyes that his sons had inherited. Now he's brought tears to three sets of those goregous eyes. What a scum bag.

Pain seared through Bakguo as he embraced his y/n, knowing if he left now she would entirely break, thinking that he was giving up on her. On their love. When in reality, he would't be. He would never dream of leaving her, or their beautiful children.

Because no matter how much of an a-hole Bakugo may be, he would never stoop that low. Never. And so he held her, and continued to hold her as she tearfully cussed him out, telling him how much she loved him and how much of an a-hole he was for treating her like that, their kids like that.

He just held her, telling her that he was sorry, that he knew, that he would make it up to her -and their seven year old twins- somehow.

And for now, that was enough. His love, and comfort was enough as you clung to him, insulting him while telling him that you loved his idiotic self in the same sentence, telling him that you loved him too much to not be able to forgive him.

And that if he was serious about making things right, that you would help him.

Because you were Bakugo y/n*. You chose to take his name and become his wife. Bakugo has helped you through so many up and downs, so you would do the same for him. Because he truly loved you, and you truly loved him.

*Japanese last names go in front of the first name to pay respect to the family name, and that's why Kirishima and Bakugo's other classmates call him Bakugo instead of Katsuki -to pay respect to his family name-. So you would be (in Japan anyway) Bakugo y/n (if you choose to take his last name) and strangers/aquaintnesses/not so close friends and co-workers would call you Bakugo instead of y/n. Annd due to me not liking Bakugo a whole lot I call him Bakugo or Baka/Bakuhoe instead of Katuski and call Todoroki and Midoriya, Shoto and Izuku- do you get what I'm saying?? I hope you do <33

Series' masterlist | Bakahoe's Bakugou's masterlist | Main masterlist | Navigation

Reblogs and feedback are greatly appreciated<33

Do not copy, repost, nor plagiarize my work. Ask before you translate or use my work in any way, minus reblogging.

[diejager]

Hi! I've been binging your works and I absolutely LOVE how you write Ghost's character.

I was wondering if I can request mentor! Ghost with an Fem! recruit who's like his mini-me (mask and everything) and some others decide to play a prank and pull off her mask in front of the team, cue angry, protective Ghost. Thank you!

Mask prank

He was reluctant at first, his heart frozen over to a cold, dead and unfeeling thing. Ghost liked to keep himself closed and at an arm’s length of people he didn’t know, you fit in that category. An unknown aspect of his entourage that he hated, he abhorred the new and strange.

An yet, you squirrelled your way into his mind, your jumpiness at loud sounds, your tense figure and flinches when people got near to you, wandering hands of ignorant fools that couldn’t understand your jarring behaviour towards physical touch and that exhausted gleam in your eyes, ones that have seen too much for your age. You reminded him of himself, a younger and pained self with a twitchiness towards touch and an awkward personality.

Perhaps that’s why you got to him so quickly, he tested your limits, standing closer and closer to you every time to see where he had to stop before you crashed. With encouragement from the others, he got to the point where he could touch you, placing a hand on your shoulder or forearm, guiding you this way or that way. You reminded him so much of the person he tried burying, to kill off. You reminded him of Simon Riley.

And yet, he gifted you a mask after your first mission with them, one of his balaclava with a painted skull. He remembered the happiness in your eyes and the joy of his team, letting them embrace you tightly and patting you proudly. He’d never seen anything so precious and worth protecting.

That’s why - he thought - he got so mad at a group of privates that pulled a prank, a mean one, on you. He was there when it happened - he was always near you, whether it’s beside you or in the same room, he was always with you as your support buddy - when the men and women approached you, watching your body grow rigid and tense, a frown hidden under the same mask he wore. It started with harmless banter, them surrounding you without much intent until someone reached for you mask.

You panicked, arms jerking outwards to stop her, but another one pulled the mask off you from behind. You weren’t fast enough and outnumbered, and you were paying the price for it. You froze, hands hastily covering your face in a frenzy of harsh breaths and panicked thoughts.

Ghost saw red, he stomped over to you slumped figure, looming over you and glaring at the calling and jeering group that saw no issue in taking your mask away, your shield.

“The fuck you think you’re doing,” he barked, eyes narrowed so much that his eyes seemed to turn black.

He watched them stutter, lining up before him while he stood before you, blocking their view on your agitated and fearful figure. His eyes stared down at the person who tried to take your - his - mask off and the one who did, burying them down with his gaze alone. If his gaze could kill, they would’ve been burned and buried six feet under a hundred times, that red-rimmed glare with abysmal eyes made his name a joke.

“It- it was a prank, sir!” The person holding your shield in his hand spoke up, trying to defend himself with he word prank.

“A prank? Are you bloody children?!”

What a fucking excuse, they were adults, privates on duty for any deployment and they decided to play a prank on another? He couldn’t believe his ears when they blurred out those words, he couldn’t put his anger in words. He was never good with his emotions, never articulate enough to show or tell people how he felt, it felt jarring.

Without a word, he snatched the mask out of their hands, turning to face you with comforting gestures. He hated how small you made yourself, crumpled into yourself with so much terror, hate and trauma. He pushed the mask over your head, hushed words to your ears alone as e held you by your biceps.

“Scram,” he glared over his shoulders, watching the privates squeak and flee, steps quick and clumsy as they ran from the room.

Turning back to you, he led you away from the room, catching on your shallow breaths and your erratic heart. He walked you to your room with a hand on your upper back, a firm and grounding hand that reminded you that he was here, that you were with him in a disclosed base in the British isles. He stayed the night, taking your desk chair while you dozed off to a night plagued by your demons.

He’d have to leave you under Gaz and Soap’s watchful eyes and talk to Price about this tomorrow. If Price doesn’t do anything about them - although he doubted Price won’t, he was fiercely protective of his group of troubled children - Ghost will have to think of something by himself, a lesson for everyone to remember.

Taglist: @sae1kie @yeoldedumbslut @tallmanlover @distracteddragoness @vxnilla-hxrddrugs @konigsblog

[lets-try-some-writing]

I wanted to ask, in the kids turned sparkling au, Starscream was teaching Miko how to be the next winglord. Assuming he lived after Predacons Rising, or died and came back like Optimus, would she still treat him like a secondary parent, and eventually become winglord?

Ah yes Starscream.

Previous part here.

━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙ ━━━━━━━━━━━━

The matter of Starscream was one Tari did not like to consider. She had memories of Starscream trying to kill her when she was still Miko, but she also had recollections of a time when things were better. She remembered Starscream carrying her through the skies, letting her small wings flutter with the currents before she had learned to fly. She could still recall when he'd held her in his arms, telling her tales of Vos and the glory of the city he proclaimed would one day be hers. She had listened with such intent that even as a fully framed adult, she couldn't help but sometimes wonder if he was still out there, and if he still cared.

She was happy being a Wrecker, and she was happy being away from her family, even if she missed them at times. But as she aged, she felt a void within her, one that was for once, not caused by the loss of her Sire. She remembered stories of the great city that even after Cybertron's restoration, was not again floating in the sky. Starscream had always said that it was the duty of all fliers to watch over their city, to protect it, and to ensure that all who followed after them would have a place to call home.

Tari remembered, and so she decided to act.

Before Optimus's return, she set out on a journey across the stars. Her goal was simple: Find Starscream and get him to help her restore Vos. Sure, he might have been a Decepticon, but her memory painted him as a far more reasonable mech than some of the Autobots she dealt with on a regular basis. And without her Sire? Well... maybe digging up a few old memories would do something good for her aching spark.

It was far easier than she expected to find Starscream, although it hurt to track him down. He was hidden on Earth, her world of origin (a fact she will only begrudgingly admit). When she found him, he was wrapped up in his plans to get back at everyone and everything. She took him by total surprise, and their first meeting was by no means the one she had been hoping for. Starscream didn't recognize her, all he saw was her Wrecker badge.

Tari: Starscream! Hold your fire! I come in peace!

Starscream: An Autobot comes in peace? HA! As if I would believe that!

Tari: My designation is Sagittarius, Tari for short. Don't you remember me?

Starscream: A flier named after this mudball's constellations? How the mighty have fallen.

Tari and Starscream shot at each other for a while, and in the end, Tari had to hunt him down several times over the course of a few months. It was due to this hunt that she ended up with Bumblebee and his team on Earth for a time. She needed the extra guns to get into the Decepticon base on Earth where Starscream was supposedly hiding out. Her adventures with Bumblebee and his team were a whole other series of shenanigans. But in the end, she got her prize.

"Well Autobot? You've caught me. Are you going to kill me now?"

"No, I want you to talk to me. Please, just take a moment and remember me Starscream. I've already lost Optimus, I don't want to lose the only other bot that came even close to being my Sire."

"..."

"..."

"Mistress of the Terran skies. That was your full designation... wasn't it?"

Silence reigned over the duo for a time as Tari led Starscream out in cuffs. He would still need to answer for his crimes... but she would do all she could to lessen the sentence. For once, he went along without argument and allowed Tari to take him back to Cybertron to face justice. Seeing her reminded him of what he had been hoping for all those years ago when the war still raged. He had all but forgotten the precious sparkling he'd been so keen to raise once Megatron died. Predacons, Vehions, Terrorcons... it had all kept him distracted, especially as he sought out his old frame once more.

He would need to make things better.

Tari returned him to Cybertron and worked with anyone willing to side with Starscream during his court case. With a lot of effort, she was able to convince the Council that keeping Starscream alive was not only beneficial, but in the best interest of all of Cybertron. How did she do this? Why, she simply made it clear that Starscream had named her the heir of Vos... on live television. What was the Council to do? If they claimed Tari was lying, they would be disregarding the words of the Prime's sparkling. If they claimed her station was irrelevant, then they would earn the collective ire of every flier on Cybertron. There was almost no choice but to let Starscream out on parole and give Tari the funds needed to begin preparing to rebuild Vos.

Tari and Starscream were still rather tense, but working together on a common goal eased a lot of the pain that had developed over the years. Starscream guided Tari in her efforts and covered for her when she returned to the Wreckers. He laid low when she wasn't around and taught her as much of the old culture of fliers as possible. Over time, the wounds healed, and Starscream was able to proudly call himself Tari's mentor. Optimus was not made aware of Starscream's station in Tari's life until Vos rose into the skies once more and Starscream was there to announce Tari is official heir. It was a shock to say the least, but Tari relished in the companionship of her old secondary caretaker.

"Thank you for coming back with me."

"Thank you for giving me a second chance. To see Vos rise once more is a far greater accomplishment than anything I ever did during the war."

"You aren't so bad Starscream."

"HA! Lord Megatron would have a thing or two to say about that!"

[silencedvoices]

June of Doom Day 3

"Well, well, well..." | Hiding | Ambushed | Stalking |

Content: implied stalking, implied torture, drugging, recapture

Whumpee had a sinking feeling that someone had been watching them. Everyone, even themself, tried to brush it off as just the result of being held captive by Whumper for so long. It was just them being paranoid. Or so they thought.

One night after Whumpee had come home from a somewhat normal day at work, they swore they heard footsteps from upstairs. They listened closely and stopped in their tracks as they heard someone making their way down the stairs. Nope, definitely not their imagination. They grabbed a kitchen knife and scrambled into the back of the nearest closet.

Whoever was there was taking their dang time. This made the situation all the more real, and Whumpee hardly noticed they were holding their breath.

As the intruder got closer, Whumpee could make out the all too familiar click of shoes across the tile floor. When the closet door was pulled open, the knife was rendered useless as Whumpee completely froze in terror, dropping the knife as menacing eyes looked down on them.

"Well, well, well," Whumper grinned, "What do we have here?"

Whumpee merely looked up at Whumper dumbfounded. After all the effort in running and rebuilding their life, Whumper had still found them.

"I'm honestly disappointed you thought you could hide from me Whumpee."

"How'd you-?"

"It was quite easy honestly. After you escaped I just asked around. It wasn't hard to notice a traumatized little person like you wandering around begging for help. Gosh, almost everyone I asked had heard about you. I just followed the trails and here I am."

I mean Whumpee couldn't really be surprised at that. They had learned in their time with Whumper that Whumper had ties everywhere. They were overall a kind person to those who knew them under different circumstances and therefore a lot of people trusted them. Whumpee internally cursed themself for thinking they ever had a chance. Whumper would always have the upper ground.

"How long ago did you find me?"

"Oh, months ago. It's been fun watching you try to undo all the work I've done. No matter what you do, I'm still there. Heck, the evidence of me is all over your body."

Whumpee shivered as the scars littered under their sweater became all the more noticable. It was like someone had stuck a match to them and everywhere Whumper had ever hurt them was on fire, burning so hot they couldn't scrub away the pain.

"I'm surprised you could even hold this knife without being reminded of me," Whumper easily picked up the knife, Whumpee too scared to try anything. "We both know that deep down, you'd never be able to hurt me anyways, not after all I've done to you."

Whumpee didn't know what to do anymore. They were corned and Whumper was right, they'd never be able to hurt Whumper no matter how much they wanted to. They could at least waste some time by talking, maybe get some of the answers they'd been hoping for.

"So it was you all along. Everyone thought I was crazy. Even I thought I was."

"Yeah. That's the other thing that was fun. Watching you always on edge trying not to lash out at everyone that tried to help you, but you still ended up pushing them all away. That's why no one is here to save you Whumpee. I'm the only one you have whether you like it or not."

Whumpee shivered at that thought. It was the truth no matter how much they tried to wipe it from their mind. Whumper knew them all too well.

Whumper couldn't help but love how careful Whumpee was being. Trying to stall time, barely saying a word, not even fighting back. That was a big improvement from when they'd first taken Whumpee.

"Ready to go?" Whumper asked, even though they both knew Whumper would drag Whumpee kicking and screaming out the door.

Whumpee's heart dropped, "Wait... what?"

Whumper laughed, "Come on Whumpee, you really thought I just came here to scare you? No, I'm taking you with me."

"You- you can't! This is my home now. I- did so much to get here and... and you can't just take it all away again!"

"Oh, just watch me," Whumper's grin was something Whumpee was all too used to, but this time it was filled with a coldness Whumpee had never seen before and it scared them so, so much.

Before Whumpee could even blink, Whumper injected something into their neck.

"Nonono. You did not," Whumpee's world began to spin and nausea crept up their throat.

"Oh yes I did."

The last thing Whumpee remembered before their world went dark was Whumper scooping them up and their cold voice in their ear.

"Time to go home Whumpee."

[pippin-pippout]

I just watched MelonTeee's video on Ace and Worth and man the internal debate I have with myself on whether I agree with the choice or not...

Her video explains the fandom's love for the character so well, as well as why the tragedy hit so hard. For me personally I have not been that affected by a character death in a LONG time.

And I understand it from a certain narrative perspective – mainly how Ace's past continues to feature in the story a decade later, and Whitebeard's line that someone would carry Ace's flame, because that clearly describing Luffy. He goes after the mera mera no mi and finishes what Ace started in Wano.

But there are two major narrative reasons given for Ace's death that I disagree with. And are largely why I think it shouldn't have happened, and also why the death has hit me so hard.

This is going to get long, but I would really love to hear everyone's thoughts on it if you choose to read!

To give Luffy the push he needed to be stronger: I am pretty confident this is Oda's stated reason (in addition to Oda wanting to prove he could kill characters which I guess he said at one point and which is bleh given the level of injury a character sustains seems to have nothing to do with whether they die or not lol it's just what the author wants to happen). Anyway. That push already happened on Sabaody when Luffy lost everyone to Duma. He was HELPLESS. More helpless than he was through most of marineford. And when Rayleigh convinces Luffy to do the 2 years training, Rayleigh only brings up their epic defeat on Sabaody. He does not bring up marineford or Ace's death as a reason Luffy needs to get stronger. Because Luffy did not need that reason. The only argument I can think of is that maybe once he landed on Amazon Lily, and he realized the strawhats were likely alive, the terror he felt on Sabaody abated slightly. And therefore maybe he needed a reminder of what "loss" truly is to re-motivate him. However, I don't think that is really fitting with his character or the story.

Ace's dream was fulfilled: Oda has talked about the reason he doesn't kill villains is because not having your dream fulfilled is a worse fate than death. I think part of the tragedy of Ace's death was that his dream wasn't fulfilled. Even for those who accept his last words - that he had only one regret which was not seeing Luffy accomplish his dream - the amount of time he got to live with that dream was literally the last moments of his life. But I don't think just because you die with no regrets, does not mean your dream is fulfilled. Especially when Ace never truly internalized what his dream was. His final choice to turn around showed HOW MUCH he still was that lonely, scared little kid he was at 10 despite his warm smile and his growing family. The most heartbreaking part of the flashback was not Sabo's death. It was watching Ace asking the question "do I deserve to exist?" and giving all his devotion to those who said yes. It was him making the exact same decision he would make 10 years later, to refuse to run, because he felt like if he ran he would lose everything and Luffy was standing behind him. Ace's final words do more than state he has no regrets. He also gives the answer to the question he'd asked Garp, and that Garp had said only his actions could decide. Ace died thanking Luffy and his family for loving him despite the "worthless" or "good for nothing" person he was. Ace was moved to tears to hear his family emphatically saying "YES. You do deserve to live! We want you to live!" But Ace never actually believed it. His last words were a reflection of gratitude for the love he was given that he didn't feel he deserved. And thus his final answer to the question "Do I deserve to exist?" was no.

That he was too "good" This is kind of the most upsetting one I've heard (thankfully not a lot) and also the one easiest to dismiss. Ace, being the actual son of the pirate king, being super powerful, growing in strength and reputation faster than Luffy (debatable), put him narratively in competition with Luffy. What I mean by that is it positions him as too much the golden character, the mary sue, the typical protagonist, when One Piece is about Luffy's story, not Ace's. I disagree with the premise of seeing Ace's character that way. But also even he was "that" character, it's pretty clear Ace's dream would have taken him to becoming Whitebeard's heir - whose dream it was to build a family - while Luffy is Gol D Roger's heir. So Ace's journey would have supported the main story of One Piece and also be narratively satisfying.

---

What Was Ace's Dream?

The dreams Ace stated out loud were more reflections of his actual, deeper dream. "I want to be the king of the pirates" - because he wanted to prove his existence and his worth to the world. Which switched to "I want to make whitebeard the king of the pirates" - because Whitebeard loved him despite his blood, and so even if that wasn't what Whitebeard wanted, it was how Ace understood he could repay Whitebeard.

Both of those stated dreams get back to this question he'd been asking his whole life - that of worth. Worth and Love, which, for Ace's character, are inseparable.

For Ace's dream to truly be fulfilled, it's not enough for him to accept he was loved – which he did on the scaffolds, crying from happiness – he had to believe he was worth that love. He had to love himself.

Ace died with that dream tragically unfulfilled.

---

The Purpose of One Piece

Of course the decision to kill Ace makes the story more realistic and of course it is heartbreaking, tragic, moving, and obviously inspires deeper discussion.

However, what rankled me from when I first learned about his death, which was way before I was even introduced to the character in Alabasta, was that he is the only character of the younger generation (outside of flashbacks) to die.

Honestly when I first heard Ace was one of the only characters to die, I was just worried it would make him seem weaker or stupider than every other character, which is a personal pet peeve of mine. Luckily for most fans, it didn't do that.

Instead, what wound up upsetting me was how it seemed to contradict the purpose of the story that is One Piece (at least what I think the purpose is). In doing so, it opposes the meaning that many fans find in this absurd, ridiculous, inspiring, heartfelt, heroic tale about a boy made of rubber.

One Piece is an escapist story about a boy named Luffy who inspires every good guy he meets to pursue and achieve their dream. It's also about Luffy beating up every bad guy who punishments are that they cannot fulfill their morally reprehensible dreams.

Because of Ace's premature death, he is the only good guy character in the main timeline who does not get to pursue his dream. And what's extra tragic is that he is also one of the most deserving of seeing his dream fulfilled.

[rachi-roo]

AAAAAHFINALLY SOMONE WHO DOES ANGELS OF DEATH

breathes

Anyway could I request a ler issac fic cause god him being a mean a sadistic ler and teaser brain go brrrrrr where he chases a reader, their worse spots being their ribs and hips

-------------{ ☆°•○•°☆ }--------------

Angels Of Death: Tickly Terror

Uh oooooh! I've been found by a fellow AOD fan 🫣 Greetings, I think I love you! XD Thanks so much for the request and your patience! Zack is such a MONSTER! I luv it 🤩

Summary: Reader is attacked by a certain serial killer who has a soft spot for people in your line of work. He won't kill you now, but he has other plans to make you suffer.

Ler!Issac, Lee!Reader

Tw: Knifes, Swearing, Cruel tiggles

--------------------☆ ☆------------------------

Well, this was not what you had in mind for a nice Friday out on the town.

Running for your life, that is.

It all happened so fast. You knew taking that shortcut down the backstreets might be a bad idea, but you thought the worst might be some bum asking for a lighter, not a crazed maniac to start chasing after you with a knife.

You glanced over your shoulder, heart pounding in your chest. He was still there. Hot on your heels and gaining. The sound of his boots and insane laughter growing louder and louder. Chills running down the back of your neck.

He's coming! He's right on you!

You feel your stomach drop as you trip, tumbling to the concrete with a thud. You spin your head round, suddenly face to face with your pursuer.

His bandage covered face inches from yours as he smiled an unsettling smile. You can smell blood on his clothes. That coppery scent was dried onto his dirty hoodie.

It felt like an eternity of staring at each other before he finally spoke.

"Not gonna beg for your life?" He asked, standing over your body with a chuckle as he toyed with the knife in his hand, feeling the blade from handle to point. "I'll make this quick if you do." He continued, lowering himself onto your waist and placing a hand over your throat, holding you in place.

Petrified, you just lay there, staring at him. Your chest heaving, heart about to jump from your ribs.

A squeak left your lips as his knife suddenly slashed towards your throat. You clench your eyes shut. Waiting for the impact-!

...Impact?

You anxiously open one eye, looking up at the attacker who now held your ID card from work as it had fallen from your pocket. He narrowed his eyes as the words.

"... Does this say nurse?" He asked, showing you the card.

You gulp, trembling as you speak. "Y-Yes... I'm a c-childrens hospice nurse... I work with orphans."

The attackers face sank as he tossed your ID aside with an aggrivated groan. "Damn it. I can't kill ya' now I know that... Damn, Ray. She made me soft!" He cursed himself as you watched on, wondering who 'Ray' was.

Though, that didn't really matter. What mattered was the fact you weren't going to die! A small sigh of relief passing your jittering lips. The feeling didn't last long though.

"However, I'm still going to have to make you scream. I went through the trouble of chasing you down after all. I've earned it." The boy nodded as he leaned closer, softly tracing the dull side of his knife up and down your side.

The feeling of the dull point dragging across your side, through your thin shirt, sent a tingling sensation across your torso. You bit your lip, biting back a smile as your fingers curled up reflexively. What if a smiling pisses him off?!

But, it tickles! So bad! The cold tone of your attacker reminded you of the situation you're in.

"Your tag said y/n... So tell me, y/n, where should I start? Don't worry, I'll keep the injuries hidden. I don't want to worry the kiddies or-... Are you fucking smiling right now?" He asked with a dumbfounded glare.

"N-No! No, I'm not! I'm really not!" You blubbered, your hands shooting up defensively as you fought down a giggle.

"Yes you are! I saw it! You we're so smiling! You think this is funny? You got some kind of pain kink or something? Youd better tell me cus' I aint here for that noise."

"No! No, I-I swear it's not that! Your knife! It- It just- Eek!" You squeal as he traced the length of your stomach with the dull blade again.

The boy smirked, a sadistic glint in his eyes as he finally put all the pieces together.

"Oooh." He chuckled.

"No! No, it's not what you think!"

"Haha, I think it's exactly what I think." He shifted his weight, trapping your arms by your side, beneath his knees. He knacked his knuckles, grinning a fanged grin as he prepared himself for the fun he was going to have with your helpless body.

He held his limber didgets out, flexing them close to your stomach to start with, revelling in the way you squeaked and tried to suck your belly in to avoid the fingers.

"I'd say sorry, but I'm really not." He chuckled before diving into your soft skin, vibrating and clawing at your tummy.

"Gh-! Haha! N-Noho! H-Hehey! Wait! WAIT! PleheEEEHE-!"

You giggle, legs kicking out behind your attacker as he dug into your tummy, chuckling with you.

"Hmm, I think you can beg better than that." He smirked, his hands shifting to ruthlessly claw at your sides. Even rolling up your shirt to attack the bare skin directly.

"WAH! S-Stahap! Please! Pleheheee-! Aha!" You yelp, twisting and turning, doing anything you can to escape.

This just eggs your attacker on. The hood of his hoodie shrouding his expression in a shadow, but you can feel him grinning at you, enjoying your suffering.

"Haha, poor little thing. Look at you, so helpless. And I'm not even hurting you! You're just too ticklish for your own good, huh?" He sneered, pinching up and down your sides, until he inched juuust too far upwards, finding your lowest ribs.

"FUHUCK! Wait!" You yelp, curling in on yourself to the best of your ability in your trapped state.

"Hm? Ooohohooo. Is that your sweet spot?" He jeered, latching onto your ribs with deadly precision, vibrating his fingertips into the sensitive dips and bumps that made up your ribcage.

A scream ripped from your mouth as he tickled you there. It really was the worst! This whole situation was a nightmare!

"NOHO! ShihiIIIIHIT! AHAAA-!... gasp AHA! Noho! NNNAAAHA!" No amount of kicking and squirming was working. This sadistic stranger had you trapped and completely at his mercy. Something he definitely wasn't going to give you.

"Take that! And that! Haha! Bet you're regretting coming out tonight now, hah? Tickle, tickle, tickle! Weak, ticklish little looser, aren't ya?" He teased, cruelly insulting you in a childish manner. Not letting up from your sensitive ribs yet.

"Pleheheee-!... gasp GAHAHAAAD!"

"I ain't no God, call me Zack." He chuckled.

"Zahack! Plehehease! Stop! Stop! Stop! StahAHAHA!" The more you begged, the more he tickled. He was truly an evil being.

Zack grinned, shifting his hands and drilling his thumbs into your hips as he spoke.

"Ooh, look at that expression. So much suffering under such a bright smile. Haha! So silly looking~ Coochie, coochie, coo~"

"NYAAHAHA! ZAAAHACK!" You arch your back, desperately trying to dislodge his vicious thumbs from your protruding hips. "Fuhuck! NnnOHO-!... *gasp* AHAHA!"

Nothing worked! Nothing was going to work! You were completely at his mercy.

Hearing your pleas, he laughed, mocking your attempts to make him stop. "Oooh, Zaaack! Please! Don't tickle me! Oh nooo! Haha! You sound so pathetic! Tickle, tickle, tickle~! How about here? Or here? Nah, back to the ribs!"

He teased and taunted, his hands dancing between various different areas of your torso before latching back onto your ribs.

As the tears pooled in your eyes, and the laughter became breathy and full of hiccups, you wondered if he would ever stop.

"HEHELP! Help-! Ahaha! H-HeheaaaAAAHA! Help mehehe! Please!"

"Calling for help now? Pff, you really are completely helpless, aren't ya?" His cruel smile sent a shiver down your spine, realising just how right he was.

"NOHO! S-ShihihahaAHA-! AH!" A yelp passed your lips as the crook buried his face into your neck, blowing a raspberry into your skin, making you shrill in ticklish delight.

He loved the sounds you were making. So pained, yet so happy! It's weird, even this killer knows that. "Haha, I wonder how long you can take this. An hour? Several hours? A day maybe?! PfffAHAHA! Let's find our, shall weeee? Yyyyy/nnnn~?"

You weren't sure how long this torture had gone on for, but the awful tickling sensations on your hips suddenly stopped. You blinked the tears from your eyes, realising that Zack was no longer sitting upon your waist.

He stood, yawning and stretching his arms as if he was the one who was tuckered out. "Aaah... Bored now. You can go." He chuckled, nudging your shoe with his.

".... Oooor you can stay on the floor? If that's what you want?" When he realised just how tired you were, he scoffed, standing over your head and grinning down at you.

"Let's put it this way, if you stay there too long, I might get all worked up and start tickling you again."

"I'M UP! I'm going!" You scramble to your feet with a sudden burst of energy. The thought of another round of tickles made you feel ill. You dashed a few feet out of his range before turning back to see... No-one.

The Tickly Terror was still out there somewhere. He's probably looking his next victim...

---------------------☆ ☆-----------------------

Thank you for reading! 😚❤️

[shuckinbeanz]

Red Spiderlily

warnings/notes: northern duke!au. this is dark, but can be read as dark romance ig. reader is implied to have been sent to their death in exile after being wrongfully? accused(ya'll committed it or not, up to you) of bad bad shit use your imaginations, arranged marriage(not forced, but can be read that way, just know that reader isn’t supposed to outright hate their husband-to-be), dark fairytales, regaining hope, and opening a new chapter in life. this is short af but i love shiggy so I may or may not expand on this because atp i've burnt myself out tryna get in the groove of my other wips :/ i'm probably gonna start a few new series too because i put those ideas on the back burner for a loooong time so yah

New series anyone? Dukes of the North style, BNHA.

MINORS 👏 DNI! 👏 AGE 👏 IN 👏 BIO 👏 OR 👏 DNI! 👏 Head on over to @candybowbeansies please for my SFW pieces, or be blocked if you interact here! 😇

There were tales about the North, and the vicious eyeless demon who cursed its Dukedom with its eternal oppression. Hair damaged by winter’s neverending harshness, torn skin shamed by the moon. Harebringer of terror, an ugly creature shroud in darkness, bringing fear with him. But the moment that you, who had been accused of great sin and sent to marry into the Northern Dukedom-a so-called ‘flowery exile’ if you will, a complete mockery-had laid your eyes upon him, the so-called eyeless demon, you had realized he was in fact, no demon without eyes at all.

Silvery-white locks that bring shame to the brightest of stars shimmering on the surface of frozen lakes. Skin, though heavily marred, fairer than winter’s first snowflakes. Crimson hues, dulled and almost lifeless from the burden he was born to carry.

In the moment those hues met yours, you could tangibly imagine them lurid. Bright; full of luster, full of spirit, full of love. They reminded you of-

“Spider Lilies.”

“Pardon?” his rasp makes you jolt, realizing you’ve spoken out loud. Old habits die hard. The sight of his frown, of his browline furrowed in perplexion elicits a soft laugh from you. A small smile.

You were always outspoken, despite your family’s best wishes.

“Your eyes remind me of the red spiderlily. Keeper of death, taker of souls.” you begin, “He who drags his victims to their grave, he who protects their rotting corpses from Hell's hounds…” you trail off, watching his frown deepen in what you assumed to be disdain, though it only lasted a moment, “...posing as a purifying poison dyed by the crimson of blood.” 

His chin lifts and a brow quirks, regal in his glory, telling of his lineage; close yet so very distant Royalty.

“He who guides weary souls with his lurid hue to the cycle of rebirth.” you speak, your words, and the meaning behind them, oddly and darkly…romantic, in a sense.

“The red spiderlily.” you repeat softly.

Because the moment you were cast aside from all you knew, you were all but dragged to what they had hoped to be your damned grave; the North. And here, in a place meant for despair, where you had expected your end in nothingness, you encounter a reminder of a dark fairytale from your childhood that inspired what you thought you no longer had. Hope.

A silent understanding hung in the air, heavy. He lifts his arm, offering his palm, with a soft rustle of his heavy cloak and muted metallic chinks sounding from his armor.

Perhaps you did not fall in love with him at first sight. 

Yet, you knew this; he would not drag you to your grave an unwilling soul like they would in a heartbeat. The Duke-the man in front of you, would stay by your side and defend you to the bitter end. He would be that beautiful crimson hue that would lead you beyond to be born anew.

You swear you can already feel the warmth of the future.

You knock the ice from your bones, reaching for his offered hand without hesitation. He releases a soft huff, and you swear, you could see light in his eyes, only for a brief moment. As he turns, you step by his side, and he leads you to the next cycle of your life.

[mareenavee]

It's WIP Whenever Time Again!

Hi. So Wednesday arrived ridiculously fast, didn't it?

I've been tagged for this by the amazing @saltymaplesyrup, @oblivions-dawn and @thequeenofthewinter! Thanks for reminding me what day it was, I was completely unaware LOL

Tagging the fantastic @paraparadigm, @thana-topsy, @changelingsandothernonsense, @snippetsrus, @wildhexe, @elfinismsarts, @nuwanders, @miraakulous-cloud-district, @throughtrialbyfire, @expended-sleeper, @kookaburra1701, @archangelsunited, @dirty-bosmer, @viss-and-pinegar, @ladytanithia, @polypolymorph, @gilgamish, @tallmatcha, @rainpebble3, @late-nite-scholar, @greyborn2 and YOU -- yes, I know I haven't caught all of you in my tags, but I do wanna hear from you, so feel free to tag me back!

I have been BUSY lately with tons of prompts and some ask answers in prose and so I have a smattering of WIP fragments from different projects. SOME are gonna be sequel and/or spoiler territory for World. I'll mark them! Below the cut! THERE IS A LOT. 845 words or so, total.

1) In the Woods Somewhere - a ghost story told about an alternate version of Valenwood where the Wild Hunt went horribly wrong. 145 words.

They tower over all around them, monsters ever shifting from creature to terror and back again, mindless in their fury. All antler, exposed bone, sharp fangs and strips of rotting flesh held together with vines and thorns. If the pallid light of the bioluminescent fungi hits their talons just right, it might look like ebony daggers. But these? They are far sharper, designed to rend flesh from bone—to leave you as nothing but fertilizer for the soil in which new, gnarled trees might grow. There is no care—only malice, forms twisted by violence and starvation. In the darkness, all you can see is the red of their eyes which never leave you as you wander. They stalk through the night as if all living things are prey—as if all that remain in their realm have been deemed the enemy.

And they do not hunt alone.

2) By The Break of Dawn - A collab with @thequeenofthewinter and, for the art side of things, @thana-topsy (: Spooky, Doomed World sort of chaos. 182 words.

[Lydia] struck in the opening Uldwin had given her. She threw all of her fury behind the one movement she’d have time for. That which gave her the strength to drive her sword through his spine was not Aedric in origin, but she would take it, if it meant ending Uldwin’s suffering. She could almost hear Meridia cackle as the holy fire erupted from Dawnbreaker, enveloping his corpse. The stench of dry, burning flesh seared her nostrils and made her eyes water worse. Tears trailed through the ashes and dirt on her face as that which once had been Uldwin collapsed onto the floor at her feet. She withdrew Dawnbreaker with a sickening crunch which turned her stomach. The icy light where his eyes should have been blinked out. It was just as it had always been when fighting draugr.

Uldwin had been more than a draugr, though. He was her brother, in all ways that mattered. Neloth had taken him from her, and now it was time to pay for his crimes. Lydia would not let him escape her ire again.

3) And I'd Like To Say You're Never on My Mind - a fragment in Athis's POV, and is a SPOILER for World. 135 words.

“But you’d already made your choice long before.”

Amazing how easy it was to weaponize words. These, too, cut him as he spoke. He watched as she struggled and failed to hold back more tears. She could have just said instead of leaving him alone in what had once been their home to pace nervously, imagining the million ways she could’ve died. He felt hollow, but resisted once again the urge to wrap her in his arms. She didn’t need another chance. He’d given too many, and lost too much of himself in the process. 

Nyenna did, at least, have the courtesy to nod. She swallowed hard. “I’m so sorry, Athis. I didn’t mean—”

“—you did. You did mean it. Because you always had a choice. And each time you chose anyone else but me.”

4) Untitled Sequel - Teldryn's POV observing his daughter, Eris Sero, after being away from her for three years. Spoilers for World and the Sequel itself. 183 words.

“Ata!” she said with her usual bright smile. Her voice was slightly deeper than the last time he’d seen her, with more of a Winterhold brogue than he’d ever get used to. She regarded him briefly with her one good eye, its vermilion color brought out by the wine red of her mage's robes, then turned her dark eye to him. The grin faltered for a second, and then she reasserted it, shaking her head as if to dislodge a thought. Unnerving, whenever that happened. She dropped her bag there by the railing and rushed to him.

“Hla’sil,” he sighed, and enveloped her in his arms. She’d braided back her white hair, but, just like her mother’s, curls always escaped. He flattened out the shock of black strands that tended to fall into her face and kissed the top of her head. She’d only just turned twenty eight. What was that in human years? Gods, but time didn’t make any sense and passed like the flowing of a river. Ninteen, or there about. Too young for this kind of chaos. She’d always been.

5) Untitled Sequel - Eris's POV on another character, Nammu, technically not an OC. (: Spoilers, major spoilers, for this sequel. 200 words.

The Vision this time didn’t really match the ascetic monk sitting cross-legged before her now, but that didn’t matter much. She knew there was something other about him, even though he pretended to be just another Ashlander wanderer. He had magic, though, and, as Alma would say, the more of that, the better. Ata, she knew, would wholeheartedly disagree. In fact, her mere suggestion of Nammu meeting Ata back at the inn in New Balmora would likely cause problems. She just had a feeling about it, coming from the same place as the memories earlier. Weird.

Nammu stretched as he stood, leaning on a plain wooden staff. Unenchanted. Uncle Neloth would have tutted, calling it a wasted resource, but he was not here now. Nothing on Nammu was actually enchanted at all, come to think of it. Not the plain brown cloak, or the simple linen clothes, nor the dust covered boots. Not even the two lacquered wooden amulets he wore around his neck, one each with the Daedric symbols Ayem and Seht burned into them respectively. Maybe he meant to enchant them eventually. They looked more like mementos, to be perfectly honest, but she was not about to pry.

[alwaysteveswife]

Crazy for you | Steve Harrington x Fem! Reader.

a/n: I apologize for my inactivity 🥲 I have no excuse, I've just been procrastinating as much as I can because I'm going back to school soon 🙂.

After days of being terrorized by Vecna, the group of older teens decides to confront him once and for all, even if their lives are in danger.

Warnings: Angst, Y/N being sensitive about her relationship with Steve, insecurity, Steve being half a jerk and preferring Nancy over his girlfriend, narrated in first person.

Words: 2,419

"Okay, so me, Robin and Steve will go attack Vecna while he's with Max, and you three" Nancy points at me, Dustin and Eddie "You'll be the distraction".

"The bait, you mean" I cross my arms, frowning, "Don't you think it's a bad idea? Just look at us! None of us could fight those bats" I sighed, crossing my arms. "We barely made it out of there alive last time".

"Don't worry, it's impossible for things to go wrong, we know how to attack now" Steve took my hand, stroking it to calm me down.

"How can you be so sure of that, are you blind? The three of us can't fight off a flock of killer bats!" I pulled his hand away angrily.

"Y/N..."

"No! Don't try to convince me!" I left the trailer and slammed the door shut, hurrying to the forest, wiping away my tears.

Now a bit away from the others, I sat down on a log and began to cry, letting out everything I had been holding in this past week.

"Y/N" Steve stopped in front of me, looking at me sympathetically. He knelt down and made me lift my face to look at him, "Look, I know these last few days have been hard for you, for everyone, but you have to understand that we don't have a choice".

"re you serious?" I gritted my teeth, holding back the urge to yell at Steve. "Steve, that.... Nancy wants to use us as bait, she wants to see us die, don't you get it? Do you really think music is going to save us? This isn't a stupid musical, and you know it".

He sighed, pulling his hair back.  He took my hands and kissed my forehead. As if that would change my mind.

"Nothing bad is going to happen, okay? Eddie and Dustin will be there with you".

"But I don't want to be with them, I want to be with you" I wiped away the tears, they were coming back. "We're supposed to be a team, Steve. I... I don't like the way things are between us".

He opened his eyes, surprised. I could see the fear in his eyes, he stood up, looking down at me.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I don't know if I'm capable of going through with this" I looked down at my hands, unable to look him in the face. "I love you, Steve. I love you very much".

"Then why?" I heard his voice break. He was starting to cry.

"Why is that? Oh, I don't know, maybe because you spend all your time with your ex lately, even though you know she has a boyfriend, and to make matters worse, she's flirting with you" I replied in a sarcastic tone, taking away any feelings of sympathy for him.

"Sometimes it seriously amazes me how childish you can be".

In another situation I would have taken the comment as a joke, but not in this one. I stood up, watching as he had begun to frown in anger.

"Childish? Do you really think I'm childish? Do you want me to remind you of what you've done this week with her?" I had started breathing hard, and to make matters worse, my chest hurt like hell itself. "All this week I've been trying to ignore how she hints at you, hints that I know you pick up on!" I pressed my index finger to his chest angrily, "Damn it, Steve, all I asked you to do during this mess was to stay with me" I'd started crying for real, I could swear even the guys could hear me. "This could have been our last night alive, and you preferred to spend it with Nancy".

"She was lonely..."

"I was lonely too! I felt lonely, and stupid, and horrible" this time I clenched my fist, pounding it hard on my chest "I'm your girlfriend! I should be your priority between the two of us, and every time you've preferred her it breaks a part of me" I hit him again, screaming loudly-. I know I'm not as pretty as her, and I'm not as smart, or funny, or anything, but you said you loved me, and I... I believed you" I relaxed my hand, passing it over my head "I believed you..."

"Y/N..." He took my hands again, and for a moment I could have sworn he was shaking. "Listen".

"Don't touch me" I pushed him hard, "Don't talk to me, don't even dare to look at me" I took a breath, pushing past him to get back to the trailer. "If anything happens tomorrow... if this really ends up being our last day, I hope you remember that I warned you, Harrington".

After that fight I could hardly sleep. I stayed outside, watching the night sky, listening to Dustin's light snoring. I could also notice Steve watching me from the doorway, but I preferred to pretend not to notice, I didn't have the courage to face him again, I knew I would fall for his charms.

When it was time to start the plan, everyone had their weapons and suits ready. Eddie and Dustin were serious about the band. We moved to the other side, first was Steve, who helped by putting a mattress on the floor and help.

I refused, I had legs and arms, I could get up from a simple mattress.

"Okay, remember, no one can get out of the plan, okay? "

Steve approached us, he had the spiked bat in his right hand, and was carrying a large bag in his left arm.

"Remember, you're just going to be the distraction, after that you run to the van and go home. No heroics, okay?"

"Easy, Steve, we're not heroes" Eddie smiled, wrapping his arms around Dustin's shoulders and winking at me.

"Hey" He walked over to me, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"I thought I made things clear yesterday" I pushed his hand away, nodding my head, "Nancy is calling you, you should go with her, unless you want to ruin her much loved plan" I turned around, grabbing the mic and walking with the guys to set things up.

We had the whole van covered with tights and boards, so we were sure that no flying bats could attack us. The three of us stood on top of it, Eddie plugged in his guitar and my mic, Dustin set up the amps, and the show started.

I could have sworn it was the longest minute of my life. I knew the words by heart, but there were still times when I almost ruined the song out of nerves.

When they were close to us, we jumped out and into the van, ready to jump into the other side. Our plan had everything to be perfect, except for one thing. The fans. Those things would fit through them, and we found out the hard way. Eddie was shooing them away with his spiked shield, I was just pushing Dustin up the rope so he could cross to the other side.

Then, for a second, I noticed how Eddie was determined to stay to fight, and I was determined to stay with him to help him. To defend Steve.

"Sorry, Dustin" I took a knife and cut the sheets, throwing the mattress to the side to keep him from crossing. I looked at Eddie and he nodded. We were ready to do our part. Be the bait.

We ran outside and hopped on a bike, me on the seat and Eddie up. I could tell he was driving with all his might, but it wasn't enough, they were catching up to us. I closed my eyes, knowing it would soon be the end of us, praying that at least there would be no more dead besides the two of us.

When I opened them again, I was floating in the air and crashing to the ground. Eddie had crashed the bike. We both got up to start running, but a few steps beyond where we fell, he turned and raised his spear, ready to strike.

"Eddie, what are you doing!" I shouted in desperation, watching those things approaching faster and faster.

"Stop being a coward!" He struck a fighting pose, ready to fight those beasts.

I tightened my grip on the spear in my hand. I couldn't leave him there. I couldn't abandon him and let Alex lose another important person. I ran to his side, ready for my end.

"We're in this together, Munson".

He smiled at me, nodding. In less than a second, everything around us went black, and a blizzard nearly tripped me. They were flying very hard. We started fighting, punching and burying knives anywhere we could.

We had managed to bring a few down, but there were more of them than us, and they were stronger. In less time than we thought, we both ended up on the ground, being bat food.

I don't think I had ever screamed so much in my life. I could feel them tearing at my skin and eating my body. For a brief moment I could even make out how one of them pulled out a large chunk of meat. I turned to look at Eddie, he was still struggling from the ground, he was doing much better than me.

When I had no more hope of staying alive, the bats fell to the ground like autumn leaves, lifeless. Eddie was a few feet away from me.  He was breathing hard, but he was still laughing, he made it, he survived.

"Y/N, Eddie!" Dustin came limping toward us. He was crying.

"Dustin, we did it!" Eddie got up with Dustin's help, celebrating. "We did it!" He stopped when he saw me on the floor. I knew I couldn't save myself from this one.

"Y/N!" Dustin left Eddie and came over to me as fast as he could. "Holy shit!"

"Does it look that bad?" I tried to smile, but even the thought of it made my whole body ache.

"No! We're going to get you fixed up, we're going to go home, and we'll call a hospital, and you'll be fine" He started to cry even more, caressing my face.

"Dustin, I can't move" I said with difficulty, closing my eyes from exhaustion.

Eddie offered to carry me in his arms, and we stayed in the van, sitting on Eddie's couch. We planned to wait for the others to cross, we couldn't do it alone, not in these conditions.

Dustin and Eddie spent the next few minutes trying to keep me awake and one hundred percent awake. I felt myself losing more and more blood with each passing second. My strength was draining away. I couldn't hold on much longer.

"We won, guys, we won!" Robin came in cheerfully, behind her came the others. They were all happy.

Dustin looked at them, still crying. He opened his mouth, trying to say something, but only sobs came out.

The others looked at each other worriedly, approaching him to ask what happened. I guessed it was so dark they couldn't see all the blood I haved lost.

"Don't cry... Dustin" I realized my voice was barely audible. "You said it... remember? We're going to... go home and... call a hospital".

Dustin turned away, unable to see me. The others remained static, and Eddie just hugged me releasing a couple of tears that fell on my shoulders.

"Why... those faces? We won" I smiled, trying to keep from showing how much it hurt to talk.

"We did it, Y/N, we won" Robin came up to me, crying. She took my hand and looked at Eddie, who just shook his head.

I looked at Steve, who had sat on the floor in front of me, he kissed my forehead and brushed a strand of hair out of my face.

"You did great, honey".

I smiled, closing my eyes. The pain had begun to subside, and my body felt lighter.

"Remember what we talked about in... the trailer?" I started coughing loudly, feeling a thick liquid come out of my mouth. Eddie's grip tightened, as did Dustin's crying.

"The Harrington family?"

"Yes" My breathing began to slow, my eyelids felt heavier, I was sleepy. "About the... six mini Harringtons" I laughed as best I could, imagining what it would be like to have six Steve's running around the house. Robin and Dustin would take care of them.

I heard him let out a sort of laugh combined with a sob. I always loved his laugh, I felt complete when I could make him laugh at a difficult time for him.

"And we would go to California, to a beach" I felt his hand caress my cheek with great care. "The eight of us would watch the sunset, you'd be taking pictures of the scenery, and I'd scold the kids for going too far away".

I nodded, starting to feel a chill run through my body.

"And on the way we would play 'Crazy for you' by Madonna, do you remember the lyrics?"

"Of course I do" he waited a few seconds before he started singing softly, "Swaying room as the music starts..."

"Strangers making the most of the dark..." I used all my strength to open my eyes to look at him. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I really love you, Steve".

He shook his head, still crying.

"I'm sorry, you were right, about everything" He looked at the floor, and I closed my eyes again "Allyson, I..."

And then everything went black. I couldn't hear anything, all the pain I felt before was completely gone. And that's when I realized it was the end of me.

The price to pay for winning the final battle.

Masterlist

[mandareeboo]

If you’re still looking for moon girl Drabble prompts, maybe she gets hurt pushing a member of her family to safety, and they help her after :)?

Adria Lafayette says, "You are never doing this again!" and Lunella's entire body rejects it. Rejects it hard. Rejects it like an organ transplant. Her mind buzzes with half-baked plans, with terror, with that familiar shaking of her hands.

"No."

It slips out. It's not even intentional. It's just so full-bodied, so powerful, it eeks out her chest like blood from a gash. Lunella feels herself straighten, her shoulders square. Battle ready. She's going to fight for this.

Mom's face tightens. She's scared too, Lunella realizes. "Excuse me?"

"No, ma'am," she corrects, even though that's not what she means. Lunella shakes with the force of her refusal- shakes her head, shakes her chest, shakes her hands. Everything's shaky. "I can't stop."

It's not a won't type of situation. Lunella simply didn't think her body would be able to at this point. So much of herself is tied up in Moon Girl- her confidence, her dreams, and even her nightmares- that if she tried to stop it would fundamentally change something inside of her. It's too late. She's too far gone.

"You don't have a choice," Adria reminds her. "I am your mother. You can't just-"

Lunella rocks on her heels. "S.H.I.E.L.D. wants me," she blurts out, and it's true, sure, but interrupting is a great way to get grounded. Lunella feels out of control. "I've been given three seperate recommendations for seperate areas of study they're willing to fund me for. And that's not counting the offers I've gotten to study in Wakanda and Hala."

(She doesn't tell her mom that the Wakanda one is for Lunella- which, unlike S.H.I.E.L.D., will require a permission slip- and that Hala is from Kid Khree, making it less than official. What's one more lie to the list?)

"You can't just threaten me-" Adria starts, stops, and pinches her nose. "So, what? I have to let my baby risk her life or you leave us? How is that right?"

"I don't wanna leave," she says, because she doesn't. Because leaving feels permanent, and Lunella can't stand the thought of one day leaning over a building and watching as her mother celebrates another birthday without her. "But I can't stop."

"Yes, you can," she insists. Adria falls to her knees and grabs her shoulders. Lunella feels her jetpack jostle awkwardly as her mom squeezes. Moon Girl's suit isn't really built for close contact. "Baby, you know why I'm doing this, don't you? This isn't a punishment."

"It feels like a punishment," Lunella replies, but somehow this feels worse than just a grounding. She could live with a grounding.

"It's not, sweetheart. I love you. I'm so proud of you. But I'm not gonna have you risk your life."

Lunella blinks back tears. "What happened to one girl can make a difference?"

"One girl can make a difference. But not like this."

"Lu-" Mimi starts, breaking the silence from the rest of the Lafayettes, and Lunella's hands tighten into fists. It's not fair. Mimi isn't getting grounded. Mimi isn't losing her only way to cope. "Maybe you should-"

"No," she says harshly. "I can't stop, Mimi. I can't."

There's a sudden, strong shrieking of metal. Devil lets out a warning as the last scraps of his metal arms give in, falling out of the holster and towards them.

It's instinct. It's her job. Lunella rockets forward and shoves her mother away. The metal lands solidly behind them, just barely clipping her ankle. She lets out the smallest little yelp.

Adria's gaze hardens. "You see? You see? You should never put yourself in harms way like that! What if you died?"

"What if you died?" Lunella echoes back, frazzled. "This is what I do! This is what I have to do!" She gestures frantically to the ripped metal. "You didn't think to run! I did! That's what I'm good at- thinking of ways out of danger!"

Lunella shudders as she remembers Molecule Man's touch. She just forgave the man who almost killed her. A hurt ankle is nothing. "I can't stop," she whispers, like a broken record. "I can't."

[heart-of-roses-and-quartz]

Voice Lines~

VA Headcanon: Sean Chiplock

Specifically something like his voice for Revail in BOTW

First Meeting: "Hmph. Call me Rose Quartz. One of the Stonehearts of the IPC. I won't be sticking around you long, so don't get too attached."

Greeting: "What? Don't tell me you're about to drag me into something."

Parting: "You’re leaving now? Good. Maybe we'll cross paths again, maybe we won't."

About Self, Prosthetics: "Huh? My limbs...? Ah. Right. You probably haven't seen many people like me. Ah-! Be careful, you-! Ugh...don't just touch them like that. They're...they were expensive, you know? *sigh*....at least warn me first."

About Self, Albinism: "Hm? My eyes? Yes, I've got Albinism. What of it? *sigh* Yes, I'm more sensitive to light than normal people. *long sigh* No, I'm not a vampire. And no, we are not going to test that! Ugh..."

Chat, IPC: "The IPC...? You know I can't just divulge secrets, even if we're...friends, I suppose. Huh? My opinion...? Well, I don't exactly have any strong opinions. The IPC keeps commerce flowing and keeps dangerous criminals from terrorizing planets. My opinion stops there."

Chat, Hair Color: "Ugh...I'm gonna have to dye my hair again. I have time take care I don't stain my bathroom again...huh? What do you mean you thought this was my natural color?"

Hobbies: "Hobbies? Well...I guess you could say that makeup is a hobby of mine. I pride myself on my eye makeup, if you couldn't tell— hey! Don't touch! It took me hours to do it this morning!"

Annoyances: "If you tell anyone I told you this, I'll end you, but...I'm actually very afraid of pinching someone with my joints...huh? I...suppose you can try and hold my hand. Just...be careful, please."

Something To Share: "Ah- ah- *achoo!* Ugh...have you been playing with Miss Ruan Mei's cat cakes again...? Why? Ugh...I'm a bit allergic. Wh- don't laugh!! Rude..."

Something To Share, Pyrophobia: "I'll admit, the sight of fire makes me anxious...huh? Yes, I know I use the powers of Fire, you don't need to remind me. It's...it's complicated."

Knowledge: "I'm actually very skilled at repairing mechanical things. Oh? Don't believe me? Watch. ...aha! See? And just like that, I've detached my hand from my arm. And with this...there. It's back. Didn't I make that look easy?"

About Aventurine: "Ah. Him. An impulsive gambler, a thrill seeker, a smug little...hmph. *sigh* Despite that, we're...actually good friends, if you can believe it. He's...he's not half bad. Wh- what's the look for?"

About Topaz: "Admittedly I haven't had many interactions with her just yet. But she seems to be good at her job, I suppose..."

About Jade: "She's...interesting. Whatever deal she tries to make with you, do be careful; there's always a price to pay with her. Hmph...I should know."

About Dr. Ratio: "The doctor from the Intelligentsia Guild...at first, he seemed unapproachable. However...he's not so bad once you get to know him. And...he's got an adorable little smile...

About Ahanon/Blythe: "That young Fool? They're an interesting one. They practically have Aventurine wrapped around their finger...but they're not a pain to be around, I suppose. Kinda fun, actually."

Added to Team With Trailblazer: "Ah, there you are. I suppose we'll be off on an adventure today?"

Added to Team With Aventurine: "Aventurine. Don't try to gamble with our fates today, yes? *soft chuckle*"

Added to Team With Dr. Ratio: "Ah, Doctor, a bit of a surprise to see you. A pleasant one, though."

Added to Team With Topaz: "Miss Topaz, please don't hesitate to call for my help if you need."

Added to Team With Jade: "Miss Jade? My, my...is there something terribly wrong?"

Added to Team with Ahanon/Blythe: "Oh? Little Mask, funny to see you here. Do be careful. Aventurine would have my head if you got hurt on my watch..."

[thewadapan]

Post-War Escapism in Godzilla Minus One

Many people lauded the period-piece creature-feature Godzilla Minus One as one of the best films of last year. It's definitely not a bad movie! But after finally sitting down to watch it, I was surprised to see very few people talking about some of the film's weaker elements, which stood out to me and my friends as being very obvious shortcomings. In this essay, I talk about post-traumatic fantasy, mixed metaphors, and the Unspoken Plan Guarantee. Smash that "Keep reading" button to keep reading!

This is definitely a more human story than Shin Godzilla, the only other Godzilla flick I've seen, but I think it's less effective at delivering what it sets out to achieve.

The film's opening is easily the best part of the movie, unburdened by thematic considerations, narrative momentum, or tons of CGI in broad daylight. We're introduced to our protagonist, Shikishima, a kamikaze pilot who's clearly fled his duty, landing at an island repair base which is promptly attacked by Godzilla. The kaiju appears differently here to his traditional appearances, a smaller, T-Rex-like predator that runs around biting people in half. Great stuff. We immediately grasp the emotional states of the pilot, experiencing a heady mix of mortal terror and utter shame, and of the head engineer, resenting everything about this guy. Godzilla is quickly established on a thematic level as the embodiment of the senseless violence Shikishima is running from, and on the narrative level as an unstoppable threat.

Shikishima returns to Tokyo to find that his parents are dead and his neighbour, Sumiko, fucking hates him, blaming the bombing of the city (which killed her entire family) on his cowardice. Such is the venom of her invective that she comes off as a vengeful ghost, haunting this poor shellshocked man by reminding him of his sin at every opportunity. We're also introduced to Noriko, a survivor roughly his age, and Akiko, a random orphaned infant she's ended up adopting. They form a kind of found family, with Sumiko in particular intervening to save the baby from starvation.

The film never really allows Sumiko to explicitly state how this affects her feelings, and although I felt her character was well-conceived, this meant she often came off as a bit cartoonish; less a person, and more a stock archetype you see in a shōnen story. The tension between her and Shikishima is very well-established, and the film never delivers on a specific moment of catharsis, where Sumiko admits something along the lines of: "I'm sorry for blaming you for this tragedy. I'd lost everything precious to me, and was lashing out. You are as much a victim as I am. Thank you for giving me a family again." And the thing is, even as I write that, I don't like it, I wonder if there's something more realistic in all of this going unspoken: but what I mean is, Godzilla Minus One is not by any means a subtle fucking movie. It's a WWII film with a giant killer dinosaur in it. The fact that the film did not take a moment to reflect on Sumiko's journey therefore struck me as an oversight rather than a deliberate choice.

Indeed, there's a lot of stuff in this film that feels similarly underdeveloped. I think this is primarily an anti-war film through the specific lens of a) kamikaze pilots and b) Godzilla, but it did not leave me feeling like I had just watched the definitive film about kamikaze pilots, nor the definitive Godzilla film. Although it occasionally gives lip-service to the horror of a government which would so blatantly view its citizens as disposable, it doesn't spare a thought for the many kamikaze pilots who did die; indeed, following that initial terrifying opening, the film is completely bloodless, with only offscreen or heavily-implied deaths taking place, and the finale of the film hinging thematically on an ending where not only does nobody die, but someone believed dead is actually revealed to have been alive after all.

Because ultimately, right, the horror of war isn't that people are dying—that's the horror of a natural disaster, which Shin Godzilla intelligently chose as the lens with which to frame its titular monster—but rather, that people are being killed. It's the fundamental irrationality and evil of one man being compelled to kill another, and this happening over and over again, on a scale beyond the ability of the human mind to fathom; hell, war films exist as an futile attempt to make us fathom it. Godzilla Minus one thus represents the perfect opiate for a nation grappling with its involvement in a senseless and horrific war at the whim of an insane government: it is an encore consisting of a just war, conducted not by the government but by the people, against an inhuman monster, which is defeated through bravery without a single life being sacrificed.

You see a lot of comparisons of this film against Marvel movies, mostly along the lines of "the VFX is so much better! the budget was so much smaller! the story was so much deeper!", but in terms of the fundamental character of the work, I honestly don't see the fucking difference. It's like in Top Gun: Maverick—a film people have compared favourably to this one—which laughably does not even name the country Tom Cruise is flying into to bomb the shit out of or whatever, I haven't seen that film, why the fuck would I want to watch that film?

I have no suggestion for how I would retool the script to fix this perceived shortcoming, because I'm ultimately criticising the fundamental premise of the film. In slightly shifting focus away from Godzilla as the personification of impersonal, indiscriminate nuclear holocaust, towards a more generic view of Godzilla as an embodiment of death and war, the film invites us to think of him more as an invading nation or army, and it didn't work for me, because war is personal and political in a way a big rampaging animal just can't be.

I really hate to say it, but the film was also really let down by many of the performances. Shikishima's minesweeper crew are straight out of a tokusatsu show for children, which I realise is kind of what Godzilla is, but c'mon, nobody's giving a bad performance on purpose! There's one bit where the younger lad takes mock offence at something someone's said, and it's like he's improvising in the background of a high school play. Although the leads themselves were generally better, they were let down in many places by the direction, which was often so melodramatic it wrapped around into being unintentionally funny. Finally, while this is kind of just a problem you run into with a lot of translated media, I felt that the dialogue itself was stilted, boring, and would often belabour the same points over and over ("it is good to live! it is cowardly to die!") instead of allowing the characters to actually express real feelings.

But hey, I am not immune to the charms of a well-choreographed sea battle. The first scene where the minesweeper runs into Godzilla is absolutely phenomenal, great spectacle and tension. The final plan is also well-conceived and visually engaging, but it does suffer from an absolutely textbook narrative stumble: a lot of time is devoted to explaining the plan, and then we see that same plan go off basically without a hitch. Like, it goes wrong, but only in exactly the one way it's obviously going to go wrong, which is to say of course you can't fucking kill Godzilla by sinking him to the bottom of the ocean and then dragging him back to the surface. All the elements of the plan which are kept from the audience with the intent of being surprises later are still so heavily telegraphed that they're not surprising in the slightest: of course those ships are unmanned! Of course there's an ejector seat! I liked the bit with the tugboats, I guess, that was fun, if a little cloying—again, what's the difference between that and "but there are more of us!" in The Rise of Skywalker? Okay, I'm sorry, that was unnecessarily mean of me.

Again, the big problem here is that the film has overplayed its hand with respect to its themes: there's a huge speech about how they're going to try and do what the government couldn't, which is to carry out the plan without sacrificing any lives. Everyone gets to live. It's so direct that you'll very quickly realise Noriko probably isn't dead either. At this point, what are even the stakes of the battle? Do we seriously think the movie is going to end on a note of Shikishima flying his jet into Godzilla's gullet, finally proving the value of kamikaze by using it to kill a big fucking dinosaur? Compare to the final act of Nope (I haven't seen Jaws, the ur-work both of these films are influenced by), which maintains a serious sense of danger throughout. This critical failure to maintain rising and falling tension, even during a scene which literally hinges on Godzilla falling and rising, was entirely avoidable and basically unforgivable.

The film is such a slave to very basic notions of setup and payoff that it sometimes seems to lose track entirely of what it's even trying to communicate. The younger guy on the minesweeper, who never fought in the war, is early on chastised strongly for expressing that he wishes he'd been able to fight. Then in the final act, he's initially denied participation in the plan, but then he shows up to save the day with his fleet of tugboats. I can perceive no subtextual justification for this: it's just, "well, this guy's there earlier in the movie, so he has to be there during the ending too!" Whatever.

Still, all my complaints aside, I ultimately enjoyed the experience of watching this film. It's fun, which I think is the main thing it's trying to be. Godzilla looks great, he has such a wonderful expression on his face. The basic elements of the story have a bit of bite to them. It's a shame, then, that as Sumiko felt towards Shikishima, so too do I feel towards this film: "you were so afraid of death, that you left me with nothing I cared about."

Rating: 7/10

If you've enjoyed this review, you can find dozens of similar essays written for every film I've watched in the last year over on Letterboxd, including this one. Letterboxd definitely favors snappy one-paragraph zingers over in-depth analysis, and I've never had much response on that site, so this is me experimenting with tumblr. I used to post godawful reviews here as a young teen, so I guess I've come full circle!

[the-haunted-office]

An anguished wail from outside the Office sends Thursday and Stanley Johnson - who were sharing coffee and chatting in the employee lounge when they heard the screams even through the closed windows - booking it down four flights of stairs, across the lobby, through two turnstile doors, and around the building in search of the source of the noise.

Panicked and out of breath, the two Office workers round the building to find Timmy - one of the Office ghosts - pacing around with his semi-transparent hands buried in his golden blond hair, distressed as a mother hen watching her eggs being devoured by a python. Except in this case it's his garden that's been devoured, apparently by some creeping, vine-like bright green plant speckled with lovely pink flowers. The creeping plant appears to have crept in from out of nowhere and blanketed all of Timmy's garden - all of the tomato plants, the cucumbers, the peppers, the onions, the basil, the thyme. All of it. Strangled by this other plant.

Their browned, withered corpses can barely be seen peeking out from underneath the snaking mass there on the ground.

"Oh wow," is all Thursday can think to say after a moment two. She goes over to examine the blanket, amazed by it. Just yesterday this very garden was healthy and fully intact. "Where did all this come from?"

"I don't know!" Timmy sobs, his hands still tugging at his hair. "I don't know! Where did it come from?! It- It- It killed all our vegetables! Agggghhh!"

Stanley had been hanging back in shock, but now he comes forward to offer the young ghost some comfort, which Timmy immediately accepts by sobbing into his elder's shirt. Being a ghost, Timmy has no ability to actually shed any tears, although he certainly is making a lot of noise for it. Stanley frowns and pats him on the shoulder, doing his best to console him. While he does that he looks to Thursday and gestures at her for her attention.

She looks up at him. "Huh? Oh. I mean, Stanley, I've never seen anything like this before. Well, I mean, it kind of reminds me of that plant in The Ruins. You ever read that? No? It's this book where this plant grows really fast and basically kills people, I won't go into a lot of detail-"

As she says this, Timmy lets out a little cry of terror at the idea of such of a plant, which is precisely why Thursday chose not to go into detail.

"-but yeah, that's what it reminds me of. But we haven't see any of this around here before. This stuff seems like it's just come from out of nowhere. You know what?" she says, standing up and brushing her hands off on her pants. "I'll have Doom come out here and burn it all. How's that?"

There's a short pause, and then Timmy nods.

"Right! I'm sorry about your vegetables, Timmy. Whatever plant this is, man, what a bunch of shit," she says, going over and giving him a small pat on the his other shoulder. "You wanna come back in with us?"

The ghost gives a small nod. It's not like he knows what else to do anyway. The garden was his favorite place to hang out, and now it's gone. He feels totally lost now.

Stanley keeps his arm around Timmy as the three of them head back inside.

[daincrediblegg]

If you like listening to music or podcasts, what have you been listening to lately? Any recs?

Honestly I haven't been listening to podcasts much lately. I used to listen to MBMBAM with fierce regularity but I got into the habit of letting episodes build up so that when I'm doing a project or go on a long car trip I have plenty of episodes to listen to (also there have been a few show-based podcasts for the terror and chernobyl that I've been meaning to listen to. but I'm reserving those for when I'm out from school) ... however that being said, in a similar vein, I watch a stupid amount of youtube stuff daily. which is kinda similar but different I guess lmao. My favorites right now are Tasting History with Max Miller (which scratches a great historical terror stuff itch because he's done a bunch of videos on stuff like hard tack (aka ships biscuits) and what kinds of stews sailors and overland explorers would make with them seriously his channel is so fantastic. he also ate leather for fun just to see how it'd be like. I really love that man a lot), The Game Grumps (forever a mainstay for me because they genuinely never fail to kill me with laughter all the fucking time no matter what in the hell they're playing or doing. Also they have helped me through my worst insomnia episodes I've ever had and I owe them my life), and Strange Aeons (who is on tumblr!!!) and she does a lot of REALLY COOL internet culture investigative journalism that I think is both really informative and neat but also has inspired me a lot in terms of ideas of what to do with a youtube channel of my own, should that ever come to pass. I also watch stuff like Bernadette Banner and John Oliver (and ofc anything put out by watcher entertainment but that's kindof a given) Also keep up with Julien Solomita sometimes.

AS FOR MUSIC!!! I've actually been on a huge classical music bender lately because someone in my Edgar Allan Poe class did a presentation on his thematic influence on classical music and brought up Saint-Saens (Danse Macabre) as an example. and it actually made me make This Playlist (among several other more lady terror-focused playlists) that are pieces that would have existed around the time period that the terror happened, or songs that reminded me of the terror vibe in some way. It's a good time (my favorite is Chopin's Nocturne in C Sharp Minor no. 20. it gives so much lady terror- especially her backstory, her childhood, the broken family she came from, the hard things she had to overcome to get to where she is, the hope she was given for her life by other people. it's very near and dear to me. but also others like Serenade by Schubert and David Garret's version of paganini's La Campanella? absolute divinity. so many more also in there that I love but those have been the ones I've had on loop a lot lately. Today Rondo Alla Turca has been giving me good vibes for some reason)

[starry-blue-echoes]

So I'm going through bits of Part 2 and was reminded of something silly that happened the first time I watched Jojo's so Story Time >:D

The Story Of The First Time I Cried In Jojo's

don't worry, it's mostly humerous.

So I'm sitting there with my best friend right? Over the course of the last few weeks, the two of us had been hanging out and watching Jojo's together, and we had just gotten to episode 20 of "season 1", aka a bit over 2/3 into Part 2 and the episode where Caesar died

now, I was 110% sure that what Caesar was doing was Dumb And Not Going To Go Well

however........ because of how early this was in me watching Jojo's and because of how I had almost religiously avoided spoilers, it still hadn't quite clicked that Hey Characters Can Die. Sure there had been Jonathan and Zeppeli, but I thought any more deaths would be reserved for like. the end, and there were still several episodes before that point

So when Wammu beats Caesar and leaves him bloody, broken, and bubbleless, me in my unknowing dumbass glory said in the Ms.Keisha voice "oh my fuckin god, he fuckin dead"

and I swear to god, my friend choked

but then the scene goes on. The music stays somber. The lighting stays dark. Caesar kept trying to fight

And slowly, I start to realize what's going on

So I then start crying because Oh Fuck Wait No Shit That Was A Joke It Was A Joke I Didn't Mean It Wait-

at the very least, that was the death that finally made it click and from there on after I've had a healthy amount of terror for every character's life :D